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The President and Fellows of Harvard College

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

Giving up and Taking on: The Body in RitualAuthor(s): Michael W. MeisterSource: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, No. 41 (Spring, 2002), pp. 92-103Published by: The President and Fellows of Harvard CollegeThe President and Fellows of Harvard CollegeThePresident and Fellows of Harvard Collegeacting through the Peabody Museum of Archaeology andEthnologyPeabody Museum of Archaeology and EthnologyPeabody Museum of Archaeology and EthnologyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20167558

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2/13

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Giving

up

and

taking

on

Thebody in ritual

MICHAEL

W.

MEISTER

If

iconoclasm

in

Western traditions

seems

to

represent

a

profound

distrust of the

human

body

as

a

vessel

of

sacred

meaning,1

in

India it is

precisely

the

body

that

acts

as a

model for

cosmic

creation

(figs.

1-2).2 Stella Kramrisch wrote of the Indie ritual of

sacrifice

(figs.

3-4):

[i]n

building

up

the

sacrificial

body,

the

altar,

the sacrificer

.

. .

becomes

the

very

altar

itself;

he builds for himself

a

sacrificial

body

and

by

doing

so

he

is

beyond

time

and

death.3

We

often think of South

Asia

as a

region

of

icon

worshipers,

with

vast

temples

to

house

images,

profusely

covered

by

divine and

semi-divine

figures.4

To

discern India's

understanding

of

the role

of

the

body,

however,

we

must

return to

the

root

meaning

of

idol

as

that which makes visible that which

cannot

be

seen. 5

We

know that brahmanic rituals

in

ancient India first

focused

on

altars

and ritual

sacrifice rather than

on

cult

images.6

Such

altars

(vedi)

were

open

to

the

air,

as

is

the

stone

altar

marking

the

place

of Buddha's

enlightenment

at

Bodhgaya (fig.

3),

set

up

under the

Bodhi

tree

there

during

the

period

of the

Mauryas

(ca.

third

century

B.c.),

or

those

that surround

li?ga

pillars

as

depicted

on a

number of

stone

reliefs carved for

use

in

the sacred groves of Mathur? in the first centuries B.c.

and

A.D.

(fig.

4).7

All

the surface of

the earth

is

vedi

[the

altar],

says

one

text

for

the

geometric

construction of altars

(Srautas?tra)

of

the fourth-third

century

B.c.,

still,

selecting

a

particular

part

of

it

and

measuring

it

they

should

perform

the

sacrifice

there. 8

In

ancient

India's

cosmogony,

the

image

of the

human

body

measured

the

altar and the

universe. Its

flayed

skin

marked the

surface of the

original

square

altar

in

diagrams

of

ritual

construction

called the

v?stupurusamandala

(fig.

5).

The male

figure

of

the

v?stupurusamandala

represented

both

the demon who

was the first sacrifice and his transubstantiation

through

sacrifice

into

the

guardian

of all construction.9

A

somewhat later

image

type,

but with older

antecedents,

shows the female

body,

with

a

lotus

instead of

a

head,

as

the surface of the

earth/altar,

her

knees

drawn

up,

her

pregnant

potential

rooted

to

the

soil

through

the soles of her

strangely

down-turned feet

(fig.

2).10

1.

Virgil

C?ndea,

in

Mircea

Eliade, ed.,

The

Encyclopedia

of

Religion,

vol.

7

(New

York: Macmillan

Publishing

Company,

1987),

p.

2,

wrote

that

iconoclastic

theologians

claimed that

representing

the

Savior

was

tantamount to

either

separating

his dual

nature

or

limiting

his

person,

which

could

not

be circumscribed.

They

insisted

rather

on

the

essential

indescribability

of God.

2.

This

essay

was

first

prepared

for

an

international

symposium

on

Sarira

at

the

University

of

California,

Santa

Cruz,

April

1999.

Literally meaning 'body',

sarira,

according

to

the conference

literature,

is,

inmore

figurative

terms,

the manifestat ion of

spiritual

ideas

in

such embodiments

as

art,

theater,

and

music.

3.

Stella

Kramrisch,

The Hindu

Temple

(Calcutta:

University

of

Calcutta,

1946),

p.

69.

4.

Vishakha

N.

Desai

and Darielle

Mason,

eds., Gods,

Guardians,

and

Lovers,

Temple

Sculptures

from

North India

a.d.

700-1200

(New

York: The

Asia

Society

Galleries,

1993).

God

images

in

human

form,

however,

do

not

play

an

important

role

until the first

second

century

a.d.

5.

The

American

Heritage Dictionary

of

the

English

Language,

New

College

Edition

(Boston:

Houghton

Mifflin

Company,

1979),

p.

654,

says

Archaic.

Something

visible but

without

substance,

tracing

it

from

Greek

eidolon,

image,

form,

apparition,

from

eidos,

form.

6. For

early

Vedism,

see

Louis

Renou,

Religions

of

Ancient

India

(London:

University

of

London,

The Athlone

Press,

1953).

7.

Cf. Susan

L.

Huntington,

The

Art

of

Ancient

India:

Buddhist,

Hindu,

Jain

(New

York:

Weatherhill,

1985),

fig.

4.10;

Michael

W.

Meister,

ed.,

Discourses

on

Siva

(Philadelphia:

University

of

Pennsylvania

Press, 1984),

figs.

4, 20,

26.

8.

The

Apastambha

Srautas?tra,

cited

by

R. N.

Apte,

Some

Points Connected with the

Geometry

of the

Vedic

Altar,

Annals of the

Bhandarkar

Oriental Research

Institute

7

(1926):14.

9.

C.

P.

S.

Menon,

Early

Astronomy

and

Cosmology

(London:

George

Allen

&

Unwin,

Ltd.,

1932);

Kramrisch,

The Hindu

Temple

{see

note

3),

pp.

49-50;

Michael W.

Meister,

Symbology

and

Architectural

Practice

in

India,

in

Emily

Lyle,

ed.,

Sacred Architecture

in

the

Traditions

of

India,

China and

Judaism

and

Japan

(Edinburgh:

Edinburgh

University

Press, 1992),

pp.

5-24.

10.

Stella

Kramrisch,

An

Image

of

Aditi-Utt?napad,

ArtibusAsiae

19

(1956):259-270.

The

most

remarkable of

these

images,

ca.

seventh

century

a.D.,

now

in

the

Alampur

Museum,

is

from

the

Sangamesvara

temple,

Kudavelli,

A.P. See

Carol

Radcliffe

Bolon,

Forms

of the

Goddess

Lajj?

Gaurl in

Indian

Art

(University

Rark,

PA:

Pennsylvania

State

University

Press,

1992),

for

antecedents for this

image

from

the

second-fourth centuries

a.d.

(fig.

52)

and

from textual

sources.


4/13

94

RES

41

SPRING

2002

Figure

2.

Kudavelli,

Andhra

Pradesh.

Image

of

a

headless

goddess,

called

variously

Lajj?

Gaur?

or

Adit?

Utt?napad, Alampur

Museum,

ca.

seventh

century

a.d.

Photograph by

Michael

W. Meister.

Figure

3.

Bodhgaya,

Bihar.

Sandstone

altar beneath the Bodhi

tree,

Maurya

period,

ca.

third

century

B.c.

Photograph

by

Michael

W.

Meister.


5/13

Meister:

Giving

up

and

taking

on

95

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure

4.

Mathura,

Uttar Pradesh.

Details of

Tinga pillars represented

on

early

reliefs:

(a-b)

as

a

jambhu plant

and

in

phallic

form surrounded

by

a

railing

(no.

52-3625,

Government

Museum, Mathura);

and

(c)

in

phallic

form

with

a

projecting

face,

emerging

from

a

brick

altar

(no.

53.123,

State

Museum,

Lucknow).

After

M.

Meister,

Discourses

on

Siva

(Philadelphia:

University

of

Pennsylvania

Press, 1984),

plates

20 & 26.

Courtesy

of

Doris

Meth

Srinivasan.

Perhaps

one

of the earliest

surviving

icons

used

for

some

form of ritual

in

India

is

a

polished

sandstone

male

torso

from

Lohanipur

near

P?tna,

capital

of the

Maurya

dynasty

in

the third

century

B.c.

(fig.

1).11

This

would

seem

to

have

represented

a

Jain

tirthankara

( one

who

crosses

over ).

There has been

some

debate

over

why

Jain

images

may

have used

the

body

first,

but

I

contend

that

it is

because

of the

Jain

philosophy

that

sees

the

body

as a

residue?as

the

universe is

a

residue

of the sacrifice?and

therefore

appropriate

to

use as a

symbol

of what stands

invisibly beyond.12

In

Jain

cosmic

diagrams

(?y?gapata)

of the first

centuries

b.c/a.d.,

it is

the physical body of

a

jina that sits

at

the

center

as

the

navel of

cosmic

creation.13

In

early

Buddhist

art,

scholars

argue

an

aniconic

controversy. 14

Yet

Buddhist

art

in

India

begins

a

long

tradition of

figured

narrative;

only

the Buddha's

body

does

not

appear

in

these

early

narratives. A

famous relief

from

Amaravati

(now

in

the

British

Museum)

shows the

narrative of the Buddha's

conception

and birth and for

me

best defines this debate

(fig.

6).15

In

that

relief,

at

the

top

right,

is

a

reclining

figure

of

M?y?,

mother of

prince

Sidd?rtha,

the future

Buddha,

whose dream of

a

white

elephant

signals

her

impregnation.

At

the lower

right

she

stands

as

if

she

were a

nature

spirit

(yaks?) clutching

a

flowering

tree;

Sidd?rtha

is

born

miraculously

from her

right side, received

into

the hands of Indra, lord

of

11.

George

M. A.

Hanfmann,

Classical

Sculpture

(Greenwich,

CT:

New

York

Graphic

Society,

1967),

fig.

278;

Huntington

(see

note

7),

fig.

4.11;

and for

a

different

dating,

Frederick

Asher and Walter

M.

Spink,

Maurya

Figurai

Sculpture

Reconsidered,

Ars

Orientalis

19

(1989):1-25.

12.

Radmanabh

S.

Jaini,

The

Jaina

Path of Purification

(Berkeley:

University

of

California

Press, 1979),

pp.

124-126,

speaks

of three

bodies

{sarira)

in

Jain

thought,

the

manifest

physical

one and

two

subtle bodies

which

constitute

the 'vehicle'

whereby

a

soul

moves

from

one

incarnation

to

another,

leaving

the

physical body

behind.

13.

Alex

Wayman,

The Mathura

Set

of

Astamangala

(Eight

Auspicious

Symbols)

in

Early

and

Later

Times,

in

Doris

Meth

Srinivasan,

ed.,

Mathur?:

The

Cultural

Heritage

(New

Delhi:

Manohar,

1989),

pp.

236-246,

plate

26.I;

N. P.

Joshi,

Early

Jaina

Icons from

Mathur?, ibid.,

pp.

332-367,

pi.

34.I;

Sonya

Rhie

Quintanilla,

Ayagapatas:

Characteristics,

Symbolism

and

Chronology,

Artibus

Asiae 60

(2000):79-137.

14.

Most

recently

in

a

series of

exchanges

between

Susan L.

Huntington, Early

Buddhist

Art

and the

Theory

of

Aniconism,

Art

Journal

49

(1990):

401-408;

idem,

Aniconism

and the Multivalence

of Emblems:

Another

Look,

Ars

Orientalis

22

(1992):111-156;

and

Vidya Dehejia, Early

Buddhist

Art

and the

Theory

of

Aniconism,

Ars

Orientalis

21

(1991 ):45-66.

15.

Douglas

Barrett,

Sculptures

from

Amaravati

in

the British

Museum

(London:

British

Museum

Press, 1954),

plate

VII;

see

also


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96 RES

41

SPRING

2002

Figure

5.

V?stupurusamandala (diagram

of

construction).

This

often

published

?mage

follows

one

drawn

by

a

traditional

Gujarati

architect,

O.

Sompura.

heaven, yet

Sidd?rtha

remains

invisible,

marked

only by

a

cloth

in

Indra's

hands

to

receive

the

child

(fig.

6).

To

the

lower

left,

the newborn

Buddha-to-be,

still indicated

only by

that

cloth,

is taken

to

an

altar of

a

local

spirit

(yaksa);

he,

recognizing

the universal

divinity

of the

Buddha,

bows

to

the

child

invisibly

present

on

the cloth

now

held

by M?y?.16

The

baby

is

not

shown.

I

would

argue

that the

paradigm

set

up

is

one

of vision: that which

is

neither

real

nor

seen?the

spirit

or

yaksa

of the altar

(a

ghost )?can

be made

visible

(represented);

and that

which

represents

ultimate

reality,

the

Buddha,

remains

invisible,

or

visible

only

to

the

mind

(as

the first

brahmanic

sages

were

also called

mind-born ).17

Bodies

can

be

given

up

or

taken

on.

In

the first few centuries

a.D.,

all

sects

in

India

experimented

with

what

I

would call

cosmogonie

figuration ?an

attempt

to

find

a

means

to

use

the

image

of the

body

to

focus the

mind.

In

one

of the

stranger

of

these

experiments?that

of the

second-century

N?nd

I

inga,

Vaisnava

figures

surround the shaft of

a

pillar

with

a

recessive head

where

four

ithyphallic

sages

sit

(fig.

7).18

Described

by

T.

S. Maxwell

as a

Vaisnava

meditational

construct,

open

to

the

air,

could this

pillar

have been

used

by

sages

as a

device

to

focus

the

mind,

concentration

on

its

images

one

by

one

leading

to

a

transcendent

state

comparable

to

that

of

the aroused

sages

at

its

top?19

More

common

were

the

I

inga pillars

of

Saivism

framed

on

open-air

altars

or

surrounded

by

a

railing

in

this

early period;

on

some

the

face

of

Siva

is

physically

present,

as

if

it

were a

vision

brought

forth

by worship,

or a

mask

is

attached,

as

in

later rituals

(fig.

5).20

In

front

of

one

of the

earliest

free-standing Tingas

surviving,

from

perhaps

as

early

as

the

second

century

B.c.

at

Gudimallam,

Andhra

Pradesh?surrounded

by

a

simple

stone

railing

exposed

recently by

excavation?Siva's

power

(vira)

is

prefigured

as a

semi-nude male

standing

above

an

aquatic

dwarf.21

Not

unlike

the

jina

from

Lohanipur

(fig.

1)

or

the

yaksa respecting

the Buddha

at

Amaravati

(fig.

6),

thisVFra

(hero-figure)

of

Siva

makes

visible

something

that

is

without

substance,

an

index

of

a

symbol forming

an

icon.22

If cosmic creation

can

be

figured

in

the human

body,

then

within each

body

is contained time's breath and

the navel

of

all

ritual

centers,

whether altars

or

temples.

As

images

of Hindu

deities

began

to

be

given

human

form

in

the first

to

fifth centuries

a.D.,

many

were

given

what

one

colleague

describes

as

multiple bodily

parts 23?eyes,

limbs,

and

heads?as

in

an

important

Robert

Knox,

Amaravati: Buddhist

Sculpture

from the

Great

St?pa

(London:

British

Museum

Press,

1992).

16. See

also

Ananda

K.

Coomaraswamy,

Yaksas,

2

pts.

(Washington,

DC: Smithsonian

Institution, 1928,

1931)

and

new

edition revised

and

enlarged,

Yaksas,

Essays

in

the

Water

Cosmology,

ed. Raul Schroeder

(Delhi:

Oxford

University

Press,

1993).

17.

Michael

W.

Meister,

Indian

Seeing

and

Western

Knowing:

An

Art-Historian's

Perspective,

in L. K.

Srinivasan

and

S.

Nagaraju,

eds.,

Sri

N?g?bhinandanam

(Dr.

M.

S.

Nagaraja

Rao

Festschrift)

vol.

1,

(Bangalore,

1995

Dr. M. S.

Nagaraja

Rao

Felicitation

Committee),

pp.

157-170.

18.

R.

C.

Agrawala,

Caturmukha

Siva

Li?ga

from N?nd

Near

Pushkar,

Rajasthan,

Pur?tattval

(1968-69):53-55.

19.

T. S.

Maxwell, N?nd, Rarel,

Kaly?npur:

Saiva

Images

as

Meditational Constructs, inDiscourses on Siva (see note 7), pp.

62-81;

U. P.

Shah,

Lakul?sa:

Saivite

Saint,

in

Discourses

on

Siva,

pp.

92-102.

Li?ga

should be taken

to

mean

sign,

not

phallus,

useable

by

many

sects.

20.

Gritli

v.

Mitterwalner,

Evolution of

the

Li?ga,

inDiscourses

on

Siva

(see

note

7),

pp.

12-31,

plates

21,

24,

26.

21.

Ibid.,

pp.

12-20 &

fig.

18,

argues

for

a

third-second

century

b.c.

date.

Doris

Meth

Srinivasan,

Many

Heads,

Arms

and

Eyes:

Origin,

Meaning

and

Form of

Multiplicity

in

Indian

Art

(Leiden:

Brill,

1997),

p.

223,

says

only

that the Gudimallam

Siva

Li?ga,

whose

exact

date

is

still under

dispute,

is

agreed

to

be the

earliest ; also, idem,

Pre

Kus?na

Saivite

Iconography,

in

Discourses

on

Siva

(see

note

7),

pp.

32-3*4.

22.

See

note

5.

23. Srinivasan

(see

note

21).


7/13

Meister:

Giving

up

and

taking

on

97

Figure

6.

Amaravati,

Andhra Pradesh. Relief

from

a

Buddhist

stQpa

showing

the

nativity

of the Buddha and his

presentation

at

the

altar of

a

local

nature-spirit (yaksa)

(lower

left).

Copyright

the British

Museum.


8/13

98

RES

41

SPRING

2002

Figure

7.

Nand,

Rajasthan.

Vaisnava

pillar,

Kushan

period,

ca.

second

century

a.d.

After

M.

Meister,

Discourses

on

Siva

(Philadelphia:

University

of

Pennsylvania

Press, 1984),

plate

46.

Courtesy

of

T.

S. Maxwell.

three-headed

image

I

recently helped

excavate at

a

sixth-century temple

site

on

the

River

Indus.24

From

these material bodies sprout the diverse forms of the

created

world,

maintained

by

the

continuity

of

ritual,

perhaps

most

remarkably

realized

in

the

unique,

over

eleven-foot

high,

Saiva

visvardpa

(form

giving) image

from

P?rel,

Maharashtra

(fig.

8).25

Such

cosmogonie

Figure

8.

Parel,

Maharashtra.

Image

of

Siva

Mah?deva,

ca.

fifth

century

a.d.

Photograph by

Michael W. Meister.

parturition

was

also

figured

in

the

Vaisnava

tradition

in

a

series

of

visvardpa

images,

most

detailed

in

an

eighth

century Visvar?pa-Visnu image from Changu N?r?yana

in

Nepal

where

Visnu's

body

is

represented

twice:

reclining

on

Sesan?ga

as

the

cosmic

ground

and

as

the

rising

axis from which the

vortex

of cosmic birth and

destruction

spring

and

are

absorbed.26

By

the sixth

century

A.D.,

the cults of

temple

Hinduism had defined their

cosmic

gods

and

given

them

4.

Abdur

Rehman,

The

Discovery

of

Siva

Mahesvara

Figure

at

Kafirkot

North,

Lahore

Museum

Bulletin

9.2

(1996):

51-54;

Michael

W.

Meister,

Temples Along

the

Indus,

Expedition,

the

Magazine

of

the

University

of

Pennsylvania

Museum of

Archaeology

and

Anthropology

38.3

(1996):41-54,

and

Discovery

of

a

New

Temple

on

the

Indus,

Expedition

42.1

(2000):37-46.

25.

Maxwell, N?nd, Rarel,

Kaly?npur

(see

note

19),

plates

49-53.

26. T.

S.

Maxwell,

Visvarupa

(Delhi:

Oxford

University

Press,

1988),

for the

Vaisnava

tradition of

Visvarupa ?mages;

for

Changu

N?r?yana,

see

Meister,

Indian

Seeing

and

Western

Knowing,

(see

note

17),

plate

19.


9/13

Meister:

Giving

up

and

taking

on

99

Figure

9.

Nimaj, Rajasthan.

Goddess

temple, image

of

Durg?

as

slayer

of the demon

Mah?sa,

ca. tenth

century

a.d.

Photograph

by

Michael

W.

Meister.

faces;

each

had

a

role

in

this world and stories to

tell.27

These

gods

moved

easily

from

non-being

to

a

state

of

becoming

and

to

an

active

presence

in

this

world,

perhaps

most

tellingly represented

in

the

triadic

hierarchy

of

images

in

the

great

cave-temple

at

Elephanta.28This

narrative

imperative

flowed

from the

cosmogonie

figuration

of

previous

centuries,

but

created

a

newly

varied iconic

world. The

icon

becomes

narrative,

as

in

the increasingly widespread image of the goddess who

unites

all

gods

and

goddesses

through

action,

Durg?,

slayer

of

the

earth-threatening

buffalo

demon

(fig.

9).29

Narrative,

first

shown

as

stasis,

the

frozen

moment

in

time

creating

the

icon,

becomes

part

of

the indexical

sign

value of

India's medieval

divine

images.

In

ancient

rituals

the

body

had remained

unseen,

receiving

and

returning

the

sacrifice

in

the form of the

altar.

In

temple

rituals the

body

becomes

seen as

the

icon,

but

only

as

it

figures

that which is

beyond sight.

In

temple

legends

in

Rajasthan

that

I

have

recently

studied, often an ?con emerges miraculously from the

earth.30

A

rock-cut

step-well

at

Mandor

near

Jodhpur

has

a

seventh-century

inscription.31

Since its

excavation,

it

27.

Renou,

(see

note

6);

Ludo

Rocher,

The Pur?nas

(Wiesbaden:

O.

Harrassowitz,

1986);

Wendy

Doniger,

ed.,

Pur?na Perennis

(Albany,

NY: State

University

of New

York

Press,

1993).

28.

Stella

Kramrisch,

The Great Cave

Temple

of

Siva

in

Elephanta:

Levels of

Meaning

and Their

Form,

?n

Discourses

on

Siva

(see

note

7),

pp.

1

11.

29.

Odile

Divakaran,

Durg?

the Great

Goddess:

Meanings

and

Forms in

the

Early

Period,

in

Discourses

on

Siva

(see

note

7),

pp.

271-288;

Thomas

B.

Coburn,

Encountering

the

Goddess:

A

Translation

of the

Devl-Mahatmya

and

a

Study

of

Its

Interpretation

(Albany,

NY:

State

University

of

New

York

Press),

1991. For

a

similar

evolution from

cosmogonie

to

devotional form

in

the

Vaisnava

tradition,

see

Michael

W.

Meister,

Man

and

Man-Lion:

The

Philadelphia

Narasimha,

Artibus

Asiae 56

(1996):291

-301.

30.

As

part

of

a

multidisciplinar/

project,

Continuities of

Community

Patronage:

Pilgrimage

Temples

of Western

India,

with

John

E. Cort

and

L.

A.

Babb

sponsored

by

the

J.

Raul

Getty

Trust

program

for collaborative research.

31.

Michael

W.

Meister and M. A.

Dhaky,

eds.,

Encyclopaedia

of

Indian

Temple

Architecture,

vol.

II,

pt.

2,

North

India: Period of

Early


10/13

100

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41

SPRING 2002

Figure

10. Above: natural-stone

?mage

in

a

roadside

shrine,

Udaipur,

Rajasthan;

below:

portable

version of

the

stone

protrusion

worshiped

as

the

goddess

of the Dadhimat?-mat?

temple

near

Nagaur,

Rajasthan.

Photographs by

Michael

W.

Meister.


11/13

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Giving

up

and

taking

on

101

Figure

11.

Os?an,

Rajasthan. Saciy?m?ta

temple, goddess

?mage

(left)

covered

by

a

silver

cloth,

her

head

just emerging,

following

her ritual

bathing

on

the first

day

of the

Navar?tri

festival;

and

(right)

in

the

process

of

being

re-ornamented.

Photographs

by

Michael

W.

Meister.

has also been

split by

the

moving plates

of

an

earthquake

at

some

moment,

as

if

physically

echoing

stories of

the

goddess

splitting

the

earth

to

emerge

into

view. To either side of the well

at

Mandor,

carved

on

the

natural rock

face,

are,

in

fact,

images

of

Siva

as

master

of

yoga

seated

on a

lotus

at

the

center

of the

cosmos

and of

Siva

dancing,

within human

time,

among

the

Seven Mothers

(saptam?trk?).32

In

many

goddess

temples

in

Rajasthan today,

the

?con

is

only

a

naturally emerging

stone

(fig.

10).33

At

the

temple

of

Dadhimat?-m?ta

near

Nagaur,

for

example,

a

legend

says

that

a

goatherd, hearing

the horrendous

sound of the Goddess

splitting

the

earth,

halted her

emergence

with

only

a

knee

protruding

(a

natural

rock)

with his fear-filled

cries.34

These discovered icons

are

covered with

masks,

clothed and

decorated,

and

in

some

instances

a

substitute

image

is

taken

in

procession

during

festivals,

as

at

the

Dadhimat?-mata

temple (fig.

10),

its

increased

visibility

and

access a

projection

of the

goddess

from

her

unseeable

core.35

Maturity

(Princeton,

NJ:

Princeton

University

Press), 1991,

p.

125 and

plates

270-273.

32.

Michael

W.

Meister,

Regional

Variations in

M?trk?

Conventions,

Artibus

Asiae

47

(1986),

pp.

233-262.

33. For

the DadhimatNm?t?

temple

see

the

Encyclopaedia

of

Indian

Temple

Architecture

II.2,

pp.

252-254,

plates

562-568. For

some

of

its

history

and

ethnography,

see

Lawrence A.

Babb,

Time

and

Temples:

On

Social and Metrical

Antiquity,

John

E.

Cort,

Patronage,

Authority,

Proprietary

Rights,

and

History:

Communities

and

Pilgrimage Temples

in

Western

India,

and Michael

W.

Meister,

Ethnography,

Art

History

and the Life of

Temples,

in

Meister,

ed.,

Ethnography

and Personhood:

Notes From

the Field

(Jaipur:

Rawat

Publications,

2000).

34.

I

first heard the

story

of Dadhimat?-mata's

emergence

from the

earth

in

interviews

with Buddhi

Prakash

Acharya,

Jodhpur,

12/25/91

(who

showed

me

the

painting

of

the

image

circulated

at

the

temple),

and

Dr. Rama

Dadich and

Dr. D. G.

Ohja,

Bombay,

1/12/92.

Widely

known and circulated

through ephemeral pilgrims' pamphlets

sold

at

the

temple,

this

version is

not,

however,

recorded

in

the

community's

Dadhimathl

Purana

(Jaipur:

Shri Dadhimati

Sahitya

Shodha

Evam

Prakashan

Samiti, 1981,

a

reprint

of

an

earlier Ratlam edition that

we

have

not

yet

been able

to

locate).

35.

Mitterwalner,

Evolution of the

Li?ga,

in

Discourses

on

Siva

(see

note

7),

plates

14-17;

Michael

W.

Meister,

Altars

and

Shelters

in

India,

aarp

(Art

and

Archaeology

Research

Papers)

16

(1979):

39. In

an

interview

with Brahma Dhatta Sharma

(Jaipur,

1/5/92),

then

president

of the All-India D?him?

Mah?sabh?,

the

goddess

was

described

as

being

three

murtis: 1.

stationary,

2.

processional,

and 3.

'sleeping'.

Shankarlal

Caturvedi,

in

the

Rajasthan

Patrika, 31/3/98,

(as

trans,

by

John

Cort)

wrote:

On

the

morning

of the

day

of

Saptami


12/13

102

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41

SPRING

2002

Thus

it is

as an

extension

of

the earth?as

at

Mandor?that the

icon

first

comes

(fig.

10);

the

temple

itself

is

also described

in

some

tales

as

spontaneously

rising

up

around the

image

as

part

of

its

garb.36

In

the

Saciy?m?t?

temple

at

Osian

in

Rajasthan,

on

the

first

day

of the

spring

festival of

Navar?tri,

as

the

sun

rises the

image

in

the

sanctum

is

covered,

her

ornaments

are

removed,

and

brought

as a

blessing

to

the

family

who

sponsors

the ritual.37

A

curtain is

drawn,

the

stone

image

is

bathed,

and when the

curtain is

opened

again

the

newly

reborn

image

of

Saciy?m?t?

can

be

seen

barely emerging

from

a

sea

of silver cloth

(fig.

11),

as

if

becoming

visible

in

the

cosmos

for the

first

time.

In

stages,

then,

her

armaments

are

restored,

she

is

dressed

and

garlanded,

and made

ready

to

receive

offerings

from

worshipers

who have witnessed this ritual for

many

hours,

these

offerings

to

be made

to

the

goddess

and

returned

(fig.

12).

As

the

day

progresses,

priests

prepare

a

mixture

of

grains

and

water

that

will

sprout

into tender shoots

as

the festival's nine

days

evolve. Beds of such

sprouts

have

also been seeded

by

Brahmins

during

Navar?tri

at

the

temple

of

Dadhimat?.38

On the

eighth

day

of the

Navar?tri festival

at

both

temples,

a

havan

is

performed?

a

fire sacrifice that takes many hours. Into the fire,

a

similar

mixture

of oil and seeds

is

offered. Ashes

to

ashes,

earth

to

earth,

the

cycle

of the

goddess's

rebirth

and of

our

bodily

sacrifice

as

worshipers

is

complete.

That divinities?as well

as

we?take

on a

body

for

worship

has

many

meanings,

from that of the

icon

itself

to

divinity's

more

social

role

in

the

cycle

of human life.

At

the

Saciy?m?t? temple,

the

process

of

giving

up

and

taking

on

has

another dimension

in

the

goddess's

perceived

role

as

healer of

illnesses.

For

the Oswal

Jains

who have enlivened this

Saciy?m?t?

temple

with

patronage

in

the

past

thirty

years?and

these

are

non

temple-worshiping

(Sthanakvas?)

Jains?Saciy?m?t?

has

come

to

embody

a

special

function.39

She

can

inhabit

other

people's

bodies both

to

speak

through

and

to

cure.

While

we were

doing

fieldwork

in

Osian,

one case

of

spirit

possession

was

observed and

a

history

of others

reported

in

interviews.40

In

the

one case

witnessed,

a

quite unprepossessing

man

from

Bombay,

who the

priests

told

us comes once a

month,

arrived with

a

group

of

pilgrims.

Setting

himself

in

front of the

inner

shrine

as a

supplicant,

he

quickly

became

possessed,

flipping

over

and

falling

on

his

back. He

began

to

call

witnesses?those who had

come

with him?and

to

each,

quietly,

in

the

voice

of the

goddess,

he

gave

comfort and advice.

Through

his human

form,

those who did

not

worship

her idol

(fig.

12)

could

receive

her

blessing; through

his

body,

not

the

icon,

they

claim

to

heal

themselves.

Yet,

as

with the

icon

itself,

the

object

of

taking

on

and

giving

up

is

to

move

beyond

the

body,

which

can

give

shape

to

the world, but does

not

move

beyond it, the

ultimate

goal.

Dadhimathi

Mata is

taken

out

with

a

band,

and the

people

who have

come

for the

mela dance and

sing

songs

to

Dadhimathi

Mata.

In

the

morning,

after

having

bathed

in

the

kund which

is

the

innate

form of

the shakti of

all the

tilths,

the

goddess

is returned

to

the

temple.

36.

A

version told

us

by

Dr. Ram

Prasad

Dadhich

(interview,

Jodhpur,

1/31/98)

went:

Then the

goddess

started

to

emerge

from the

ground.

There

were some

local cattle-herders there. She

told them that

she

was

coming,

and that

they

should

not

be afraid.

But her

emergence

caused

a

great

earthquake,

with

much loud

roaring.

The

herders

became

frightened

and

ran

away.

Hence

she couldn't

fully

emerge,

but

only

her

right

knee

emerged.

At

the

time

that the

goddess

emerged,

the 'inside

temple'

emerged

with her.

For

the

temple

as

embodiment

of

the

deity,

see

also

T.

S.

Maxwell,

The

Five

Aspects

of

Siva

(In

Theory, Iconography

and

Architecture),

Arts

International

25.3-4

(1982):41-57.

37.

My

notes

on

this

ceremony

were

taken

on

the

first-day

celebration

of

Navar?tri

at

the

Saciy?m?t? temple

(Osian,

3/28-29/98).

For

more

of the

history

of this

temple

see

Michael

W.

Meister,

Sweetmeats

or

Corpses?

Art

History

and

Ethnohistory,

Res 27

(1995),

pp.

118-132.

38.

Notes

taken

on

the

seventh and

eighth days

of the celebration

of Navar?tri at the Dadhimat?-mata

temple

(4/3-4/98).

39. Such

Jains

will

not

worship

an

?mage

in

a

Jain

temple,

but

see

being

in

the

presence

of

an

efficacious

goddess

as an

act

of

good

sense.

See

John

Cort, ed.,

Open

Boundaries,

Jain

Communities and

Cultures

in

Indian

History

(Albany:

State

University

of

New

York,

1998).

40.

The

following

describes

a

visit

by

Amar Chand

Rathor,

an

Oswal

Jain

from Mallard West who

comes

every

month

or so

with

a

group,

as

observed

on

2/20/98. Other histories of

healing through

possession

were

described

in

interviews with Navratanmal

Dugar

(Jaipur,

4/14/98),

and Kanak Mai

Dugar

(Bombay,

4/27/98).


13/13

Meister:

Giving

up

and

taking

on

103

Figure

12.

Osian,

Saciy?m?t?

temple,

Saciy?m?t?'s

?mage fully

clothed

and

in

worship.

The food

offerings

in

the

foreground

will be returned

to

the devotees. This

?mage

is

representative

of

photos

sold

in

shops

outside the

temple

as

pilgrims'

souvenirs.

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