Cracow Indological Studies

Front Matter

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Overview of the Volume

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Back Matter

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Adding Insult to Injury

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In the Mahābhārata (MBh), whipping is mainly resorted to by charioteers while driving their horses and the terms designating whips are therefore frequently found in the war-books. Used metaphorically, the expression “whip-like words” designates cutting, hurtful speech. Excessive whipping of draught-animals is considered cruel and is seen as a sign of low birth. When humans are whipped, this is regarded as particularly insulting, since such treatment is usually reserved for animals, but the outcome for the offenders is unequal: kings who whip brahmins are swiftly punished and cursed, whereas brahmins who flog kings get away with it scot-free. Such tales are most frequently found in the MBh’s Anuśāsanaparvan, where they serve to underscore the brahmins’ superiority.

Split in bhakti, United in bhakti

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Jaimini’s Book of the Horse Sacrifice (Jaiminīya Āśvamēdhikaparvan) is a late mediaeval Vaiṣṇava text that is unusual for several reasons. In this article we examine the interplay of violence, devotion and ritual in the Sanskrit vorlage and its Kannada transfiguration—the Jaiminibhārata of Lakṣmīśa (ca. 1500 CE). Violent emotions or extreme feelings are deeply imbricated in South Asia religious discourse. Extreme feeling is entangled with the history of texts that emerged as a result of interreligious and intra- religious debate. Our article puts forth the idea of violence as a mode of bhakti devotion, and we historicize the emergence of violence-as-bhakti in the Vaiṣṇava context, using the tale of Mayūradhvaja from Jaimini’s Book.

Cruel Substances

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In the paper, I examine the concept of “cruelty” (kaṭumai) of physical substances in the Tamil siddha alchemical literature, by taking as the starting point an analysis of the selected texts ascribed to Siddhar Yākōpu alias Rāmatēvar (ca. 17th–18th c.), a prominent author of the Tamil siddha alchemical tradition. The alchemical works of Yākōpu repeatedly describe certain alchemical operations, the names of which allude to acts of violence, such as “binding” (kaṭṭutal) and “killing” (kollutal). Such operations, according to the texts, should be mastered and performed by alchemists on various material substances. In the paper, I analyze passages that shed light on the purpose and character of such operations in the alchemical tradition of the Siddhars. I also address the issue of the non-human material agency related to the perspective of material ecocriticism as presented in the Tamil siddha texts.

Kṛpa

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In a recent study (Pontillo 2016) it has been argued that the Mahābhārata contains traces of a heterodox culture, the Vrātya-culture, and these emerge most clearly in connection with Bhīṣma and Droṇa. In this article it will be strongly suggested that any analysis of these two epic characters should take Kṛpa into account as well, since he has many features in common with them, especially with Droṇa. Furthermore, after a briefly outlined proposal to explain these commonalities, the function of the narrative character of Kṛpa will be examined.

Shattering the Crown of the God

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Among the extensive repertoire of Pāṇḍya dynastic themes, the motif of clash between a Pāṇḍya sovereign and Indra is ubiquitous. This topos which supposedly originated around middle of the 5th century CE, can be traced to Cilapattikāram XI, 17–30, which celebrates a Pāṇḍya monarch wearing Indra’s garland, capturing the clouds, and breaking the god’s crown. The narrative was later employed in the Tiruviḷaiyāṭaṟpurāṇam (late 13th century) and its Sanskrit rendering, the Hālāsyamāhātmya (14th–15th centuries), where the actions of the Pāṇḍya kings were inserted in the narratives about the divine līlās of Śiva in Madurai. Since the early phase of the dynasty, this mytheme was employed as a tool of political display in the South. After a survey of the motif in the first phase of the imperial documents, the paper will focus on the reemployment of the category of royal violence in the Teṅkāśi dynastic period (14th–18th centuries CE), using the lens of the official copper plates of the late Pāṇḍya chancery and the previous Sanskrit literary production.

Vīrabhadra, the Dreadful Destroyer of Sacrifice

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When Śiva is not invited to the great sacrifice organised by Dakṣa, his bride Satī’s father, he emanates from himself the terrible Vīrabhadra, who completely destroys the sacrificial arena. The remote origins of this mythical story, which is extensively narrated especially in the Purāṇas, lie in some myths concerning Rudra, Śiva’s Vedic-Brahmanic precursor. The cult of Vīrabhadra spread throughout South India during the Vijayanagara empire, mainly thanks to the Śivaite sect of the Vīraśaivas. The long-lasting diffusion of his cult is also demonstrated by the wide production of metal plaques depicting this god. A few years ago the art collectors Paola and Giuseppe Berger donated a conspicuous collection of these plaques to the Veneranda Accademia Ambrosiana of Milan; they are currently on display in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. Many of these plaques are possibly attributable to the 18th and 19th centuries and their exact provenance cannot be defined at the present stage of studies, but most of them presumably come from Karnataka. They show an almost constant basic iconography, but also a wide range of different artistic languages. Here we propose a general analysis of this repertoire, and a more detailed description of some of the specimens.

The Goddess on the Lion

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This paper focuses on the genesis of the association between the Indian warrior goddess and the lion. As is well-known, this is a goddess with a multifaceted identity, who evokes both imperial grandeur and village cultic practices. This figure cannot be identified as Mahiṣāsuramardinī or Durgā in any Pre-Kuṣāṇa and Kuṣāṇa text or inscription. A considerable influence on her burgeoning representation was probably exercised by Nanā, a Hellenistic goddess, who takes on characteristics of the Mesopotamian Inanna-Ištar, typically associated with lions. Significantly, in the early centuries CE, this feline was still a widespread species on the Subcontinent and had already become identified as the fiercest wild predator, informing the long-lasting lion-warrior imagery. While the background and the rise of Durgā have been the object of several studies, relatively little attention has been paid to her symbolic association with the lion as a key perspective that may contribute to providing a deeper understanding of both the shaping and the significance of this divine figure. By analysing some of the most significant of the earliest iconographic and textual representations, this paper is an initial attempt to employ the feline attribute as a prism to trace the earliest phase in the historical process of the development of the goddess. It may provide insights regarding both the degree of entanglement between local cults and early Hinduism, and the interrelation between the representation of this warrior goddess and kingship ideology in Kuṣāṇa and early Gupta India.

Celebrating Violence

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This paper is an attempt to probe into depiction of violence and death in the classical Sanskrit drama, especially in its avatar as Kūṭiyāṭṭam, a living performative tradition related to the temple theatre of Kerala. Stage depictions of terrible scenes of violence, and death as the culmination of it, will be examined here in the context of semiotics by including in its ramifications costume, colour scheme, tonal features and acting. The paper will first review the attitude of the Nāṭyaśāstra to presenting darker side of life on the stage and then turn to issues related to portrayal of violence and death in Kūṭiyāṭṭam. It will also take the opportunity to briefly touch upon other classical performative art forms, like Kathakaḷi, which are based on epic and Purāṇic themes, and are noted for their prominent portrayal of violence on stage.

The Landscape of the Battlefield

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The article presents an in-depth analysis of the description of the battlefield found in the poem Varadāmbikāpariṇaya or “The Marriage of Varadāmbikā,” composed in verse and prose (campū) by Tirumalāmbā, a poetess active at Acyutadevarāya’s court, and most likely his wife. The detailed accounts of war campaigns, with depictions of marching troops and battles, concern the figure of Acyutadevarāya’s father, Narasa Nāyaka, whom the authoress calls King Narasiṃha. The verbal portrayal of the battle against the Chola ruler is particularly striking. It is unlikely to find in other works of kāvya literary tradition a similarly dazzling compilation of images painting a word picture of the battleground by means of objects and situations belonging to a sphere of human life so different from the deadly combat.

Rajput Vocabulary of Violence

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The aim of this article is to reflect on certain keywords of the Rajput world shaped by the “predominantly masculine martial culture” (Kasturi 2002: 12). Those keywords are crucial to understanding the phenomenon of violence in the Rajput milieu, violence that is perpetrated irrespective of kshatriyahood and outside the battlefield. Keeping in mind that violence cannot be identified with a particular community, but certain types of aggressive acts can be associated with certain social classes or groups (Kasturi 2002: 20), this article seeks to demonstrate that terms such as vair, bāroṭiyā, dacoity, and bhomiyāvat, reveal the mechanisms of collective violence in the socio-political practice of the Rajputs. This will be useful in understanding the cultural background of specific regional patterns of violent behaviour in contrast to the colonial stereotype of a Rajput as primitive, violent, but brave.

Studies on Tantra in Bengal and Eastern India. Ed. Madhu Khanna, Singapore: Springer 2022. pp. 188. ISBN 978-981-19-3022-5 (eBook) —Reviewed by Robert Czyżykowski (Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland)

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Razak Khan. 2022. Minority Pasts: Locality, Emotions, and Belonging in Princely Rampur. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Mir Yar Ali ‘Jan Sahib’. 2021. The Incomparable Festival. Ed. Razak Khan. Transl. Shad Naved. Gurugram: Penguin Random House India

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