human agency and divine power transforming images and recreating gods among thenewar

8/22/2019 Human Agency and Divine Power Transforming Images and Recreating Gods Among TheNewar

1/41

Human Agency and Divine Power: Transforming Images and Recreating Gods among theNewarAuthor(s): Bruce McCoy OwensSource: History of Religions, Vol. 34, No. 3, Image and Ritual in Buddhism (Feb., 1995), pp.201-240Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1062940 .

Accessed: 08/08/2013 05:21

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toHistory

of Religions.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 202.52.244.42 on Thu, 8 Aug 2013 05:21:07 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpresshttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1062940?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1062940?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress


2/41

Bruce McCoy Owens HUMAN AGENCY ANDDIVINE POWER:TRANSFORMINGIMAGES ANDRECREATING GODSAMONG THE NEWAR

During the symposium that ultimately inspired the papers collected inthis issue, Joanne Waghorne observed that the "gods" displayed in theexhibit upon which we were commenting were essentially "dead."Objects honored as deities in Hindu and Buddhist traditionstypicallyrequire regular reconsecration, and their adoration entails ongoingtransfiguration.The vitality of the images on exhibit, unadornedand un-changed since theiracquisition, dependedupontransformativepracticesthat had ceased.The question thus arose of how one could reconcile the fact that thesurfaces of many of the images on display were very finely articulatedwith the ethnographicevidence that these details would have been ob-scured throughthe cumulative effects of ritual practices. My answer tothis-that the creative process of evoking divinity in plastic form cannever stop-has led me to consider further the topic explored here: therole of human agency in the constitution of the power and form of im-ages worshiped as gods.One of the principal deities of the KathmanduValley of Nepal, var-iously known as Bumgadyahor Karunamaya o his Newar devotees andResearchuponwhich this article is basedwas supportedby the Wenner-GrenFoundationfor Anthropological Research, a Traveling Fellowship from Columbia University, theSouthern Asian Instituteof ColumbiaUniversity, a Floyd LounsberryFellowship for An-thropological Research from the American Museum of Natural History, the AmericanPhilosophicalSociety, and the Center for InternationalStudies at the Universityof Chicago.I also thankMatthewKapsteinfor his valuable comments on earlierversions of the paper.

? 1995 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.0018-2710/95/3403-0001 $01.00

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/41

HumanAgency and Divine PowerRato Matsyendranath o most others, is considered to be at once quitepowerful and yet in many ways highly dependenton humanagency forhis power.1 The ritual cycle and constellation of beliefs that articulateinterrelationshipsand interdependency between Bumgadyah and thosewho seek his support illustrate a wide range of dimensions throughwhich humanagency can be viewed as an aspect of divine power. I arguethat the degree to which Bumgadyah'spower is understood to be depen-dent on human intervention is exceptional, although some requirementof humanintervention for the empowermentof deities is the rule ratherthan the exception in Nepal. I will also argue that the form of Bum-gadyah's image (fig. 1) can be understoodas a physical manifestationofthis dependence, and I will suggest why both the image of Bumgadyahand his dependency on humans might be unusualeven as they serve toexemplify typical processes and dynamics of human-divine interactionand interdependencyin south Asia.

THE NEWARThe humanagents in the rituals to be described are all Newars, an eth-nic group popularlyknown as the indigenous people of the KathmanduValley. Like most definitions involving the word "indigenous,"this oneobscures a complex history. Until the threat of the expansionist westernhill kingdom of Gorkha was clearly felt in the KathmanduValley in themiddle of the eighteenth century, the term "Newar"referred simply tothose living in the valley then known as "Nepal." The descendants ofthose who came to be known as Newars share a language (albeit withsignificant dialectical variations) but encompass substantial diversity.Although the valley has an indigenous written history extending backto the fifth century, the term "Newar" was first used in the writtenrecord to describe an ethnic group less than 300 years ago.2 The issueof Newar ethnic identity is therefore a particularly complex one thatcannot (and need not) be fully addressed here.3One critical component

1 The method of Newari transliterationused here representsa compromise between in-dicating Newar pronunciationsand using Sanskrit loan words in their conventional formfor the sake of comprehensibilityfor the non-Newar specialist. Hence, the Newariparsddis renderedprasad, a term also comprehensible to the Newar, andBhailadyah is renderedhere as Bhairab,an alternateNewar pronunciationthat is more generally familiar. Com-monplace names and well-known proper names have been rendered, for the most part,without diacritics in conventional forms. I have retainedthe authors'own transliterationsand spellings in citations of their works. The final shorta is rarely pronouncedin Newariand is thereforeomitted unless the Sanskritform is used. Finally, h is used to indicate theprolongationof the vowel that precedes it, indicated in Newari with the visarga.2 Theodore Riccard, "The Royal Edicts of King Rama Shah of Gorkha,"Kailash 5,no. 1 (1977): 54.3 See David N. Gellner, "Language,Caste, Religion andTerritory:Newar IdentityAn-cient and Modern,"Archives europeenes de sociologie 27 (1986): 102-48; hereafter,

202



4/41

FIG.1.-Bumgadyah (Padmapani Lokesvar) of Bungamati and Patan,just after repainting has been completed, prior to life-cycle reconsecrationrites (dasa karmapuja), Patan,May 1983. (Photo by author.)



5/41

HumanAgency and Divine Powerof contemporary Newar formulations of ethnic identity is that it wastheir ancestors who ruled and for the most part inhabited the complex,urban-centeredkingdoms of the KathmanduValley until 1768,4 whenParbatiya troops under the rule of PrithvinarayanShah of Gorkhacon-quered the valley as part of his campaign to unite underhis dominionwhat was essentially to become Nepal. The currentking, now a consti-tutional monarch, is a descendant of Prithvinarayan.He and a descen-dantof the king whom his ancestorconqueredboth play importantrolesin the ritualcycle devoted to Bumgadyah.Their participationis criticalwith respect to one of the aspects of human agency to be examinedhere: the interdependentnature of the interrelationshipsbetween mon-arch, subjects, and gods.There are both Buddhist and HinduNewars, as well as some who pro-fess to be bothBauddhamargiandSivamargi: followers of both Buddhaand Siva. Although Newar religion is often described as a curious ad-mixture of Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism, it appearscurious onlyby virtue of the fact thatMahayana Buddhism was virtually extirpatedin India during the first centuries of the second millennium C.E., elimi-nating whatever practices might well have demonstrated the same kindof confluence of these traditions thatis noted in contemporaryreligiouspracticein Nepal. The characterizationof Newar Buddhist ritualpracticeas curious implicitly entails comparisonwith an IndianBuddhismimag-ined on the basis of texts intendedprimarilyfor monks, notpractices thatengaged laity.Newar Buddhists, who are the focus of this essay, are also describedas anomalousby virtue of their caste system, the householder status andpriestly ritual activities performedby those initiated into a samgha, andthe prevalence of sacrifice in Newar Buddhist ritual.5I and others havearguedthatin essence (thoughnot by virtue of his essentialism) Sylvain"Newar Identity"; and Declan Quigley, "Ethnicity without Nationalism: The Newarsof Nepal,"Archives europeenes de sociologie 28 (1987): 152-70.4 Though the Newar refer to "Newar kings," those so identified often claimed a heri-tage from outside the valley. Historiansgenerally contrast them with the Parbatiya rulers,however, who have maintained a distinction between Newar traditionsand their own.5 Concerning Newar castes, see Stephen Greenwold, "Newar Castes Again," Archiveseuropeenes de sociologie 18 (1977): 194-97; Gellner, "Newar Identity";Colin Rosser,"Social Mobility in the Newar Caste System," in Caste and Kin in Nepal, India and Cey-lon, ed. C. von Furer-Haimmendorf1966; reprint,New Delhi: Sterling, 1978). On NewarBuddhistpriests, see Stephen Greenwold, "BuddhistBrahmans,"Archives europeenes desociologie 15 (1974): 101-23, and "The Role of the Priest in Newar Society," in Hima-layan Anthropology: The Indo-TibetanInterface, ed. J. F. Fisher (The Hague and Paris:Mouton, 1978), pp. 483-503; Michael Allen, "Buddhism without Monks: The VajrayanaReligion of the Newars of KathmanduValley," South Asia 3 (August 1973): 1-14; andDavid N. Gellner, Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and Its Hi-erarchy of Ritual (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). On Buddhist sacrifice,

204



6/41

History of ReligionsLevi might well have been right when he wrote that Nepal was "l'Indequi se fait": a place to contemplate aspects of what might have been inIndia if Muslim and/or British rulehad not intervened.6 The point is thatin spite of these apparentlyanomalous aspects of Newar Buddhist or-thopraxy, there is a body of work that suggests that Newar practicesshould be considered a potential resource for betterunderstandingBud-dhist rituals that might have prevailed in India, rather than being dis-paragedas deviant or peculiarly syncretistic.7Certainlythe basic formalaspects of the rites to be described here will surprise no one familiarwith Hindu or Buddhist ritual. The accounts of origin and the form ofBumgadyahas well as the ritual cycle of which he is the center are ex-ceptional by virtue of the degree to which they engage humanagency inconstituting and situating his divine power, not because the principlesthroughwhich that power is constituted and situated are unusual.

HUMAN AGENCYMy use of the term "agency" follows that of Anthony Giddens, whostates that "agency refers not to the intentions people have in doingthings, but to their capabilityof doing those things in the firstplace." Headds that "agency concerns events of which an individual is the perpe-trator, n the sense thatthe individual could, at any phase in a given se-quence of conduct,have acted differently.Whateverhappenedwould nothave happenedif that individualhad not intervened."8RonaldIndenhasrecently made the case that Indological histories of ancient India have"stripped" ts people and institutions of "agency," or "the capacity ofpeople to ordertheir world," throughthe Indologists' imposition of es-sentialist notions about such "things"as caste, divine kingship, and vil-lage society that deny people this capacity.9 These essentialisms, bothOrientalistandOccidentalist in thatthey serve the interdependent"imag-ining" of both India and the West, continue to obscure the perpetuallynegotiated and contested power relations that Inden, acknowledgingMichel Foucault, suggests were and are characteristicof what he callssee Bruce McCoy Owens, "Blood and Bodhisattvas: Sacrifice among the Newar Bud-dhists of Nepal," in The Anthropologyof Tibet and the Himalayas, ed. Charles Rambleand MartinBrauen(Zurich:Universitat der Zurich, 1993).6 Sylvain Levi, Le Nepal: Etude historique d'un royaumeHindou (1904; reprint,NewDelhi: Asian EducationalServices, 1990), 1:28.7 See, e.g., David N. Gellner, "Ritualized Devotion, Altruism, and Meditation: TheOfferingof the GuruMandalain Newar Buddhism,"Indo-IranianJournal 34 (1991): 161;David Snellgrove, Indo-TibetanBuddhism (Boston: Shambala, 1987), 1:3; and John K.Locke, S.J., Karunamaya(Kathmandu:Sahayogi Prakashan,1980), p. 70.8 Anthony Giddens, The Constitutionof Society: Outlineof the Theory of Structuration(Berkeley: University of CaliforniaPress, 1984), p. 9.9 Ronald Inden, Imagining India (Cambridge,Mass.: Blackwell, 1990), p. 1.

205



7/41

HumanAgency and Divine PowerIndianpolity (ratherthan society). Inden's notion of "humanagency" isconsistent with Giddens's but it goes further,for he means by this phrase"the realized capacity of people to act effectively upon their world andnot only to know about or give personalor intersubjectivesignificance toit. That capacity is the power of people to act purposively and reflec-tively, in more or less complex interrelationshipswith one another,to re-iterate and remake the world in which they live."l0 Significant for theproject undertakenhere, Inden also recognizes gods as agents "whosevery existence may be contested [but who] may in a sense be real."llThis article concerns this notion of agency as it pertainsto Newar ideasabout their relations to objects they worship as gods and to the powersthey attribute o these gods. It is an attemptto heed Inden'scall for newunderstandingsof power relationships that fully recognize people's ca-pacity "to act effectively upon theirworld,"and it seeks to do so in areaswhere one might least expect to findhumanagency explicitly articulatedas operative:in the accountsof origin andthe physical form of a god. In-den suggests that"we may take such agents [as gods] to be real to the ex-tent that complexes of discursive and nondiscursive practices constituteand perpetuatethem,"12and it is upon such practices that I focus here.He also notes that people not only act as agents but "also have the ca-pacity to act as 'instruments'of otheragents, andto be 'patients,' o be therecipients of the acts of others."13Presumably, given his statementsabove he would agree that this is also true of gods. This article is in-tended to documentand offer the beginnings of an explanation for howBumgadyah, one of the most revered of KathmanduValley deities, isalso explicitly described and acted upon as patient and instrumentto anextraordinarydegree by those who worship him.The Newar word that corresponds most closely with the word "god"is dydh, a term applied to images as well as to forces distinct from im-ages yet which reside in them. As James Preston has said of the "Hindusacred image," "such images of divinity are 'lifeless' until ceremoniesof installation are performed"(presumablyreferring to images createdrather than self-emanated), but "thereafter,the image is the deity, notmerely a symbol of it."14Newars appearto use the termdyah inconsis-

10Ibid., p. 23.1 Ibid., p. 27. Indenalso differs fromGiddens in otherrespects, perhapsmost importantin his ideas about "complex agents" (p. 26), the implications of which I can only tenta-tively explore here.12 Ibid., p. 27.13 Ibid., p. 23.14 JamesJ. Preston,"Creationof the SacredImage:Apotheosis andDestruction in Hin-duism,"in Gods of Flesh, Gods of Stone: TheEmbodimentof Divinity in India, ed. JoannePunzo Waghorne and Norman Cutler (Chambersberg,Pa.: Anima, 1985), p. 9. See alsoInden's critique of Ananda Coomaraswamy'snotion of the image as symbolic device inInden, pp. 111-12.

206



8/41

History of Religionstently unless one accepts that the materialembodiments of deities are infact deities even though human interventionmay be requiredin ordertomake them so. This is furthercomplicated by the convention thatdeitiescan be manifest in multiple forms in many locations. Thus, Bumgadyahis recognized as Padmapani Lokesvar, but only one particular imagethat resembles PadmapaniLokesvar is generally referred to as Bum-gadyah.15Furthermore,the life force that is "installed" in the imagemay be derived from multiple sources; thus, "Bumgadyah" s broughttothis image, with which he is cosubstantial, from two locations.16 Fi-nally, althoughthe rites of annual reconsecrationare in some ways con-sistent with the notion that the image is a mere vessel for a god's life(jivan), in other ways these rites continue to honor the image as deityeven while its "life" has been removed temporarily.17Thus, my use ofthe term "god"shifts between, andat times encompasses, both an imageand the life or force that empowers it, depending upon the context. Inthe account of origin that follows, for example, the "god" that isbrought to Nepal is extracted from its human form, and its physicalmanifestation undergoes several transformations,all the while remain-ing the Karunamayawho came to be called Bumgadyahand who is nowrecognized primarily in only one image.

THE ORIGIN OF BUMGADYAH IN NEPALAccounts of origin that explain Bumgadyah'spresence in Nepal and re-count the inaugurationof his annual festival repeatedly emphasize hu-man agency. Although there are many versions of this story, bothpreservedin texts andrecountedorally, one form published by Asa KajiVajracarya s well known andhas come to be considered "authoritative"by many of the priests who attend the deity.18 At this writing, 3,500copies have been published in four editions and a fifth is about to beproduced,an extraordinarynumberfor a Newari book of this kind. "Au-thoritative" s qualifiedwith quotationmarksbecause I have worked ex-tensively to discount the notion that there is one authoritativeaccountfrom which all others vary; Bumgadyahis multiply situated in the lives

15Artisans do sell papier-mach6replicas of Bumgadyah'simage at religious festivalsfor use in private shrines, but these replicas emphasize features unique to Bumgadyahratherthanconforming to iconographicconventions thatare typically employed to portrayPadmapaniLokesvar.16 See the section below entitled "The Reconsecration andRe-creation of Bumgadyah"concerning the second series of reconsecration rites for Bumgadyah.17 During the repainting of Bumgadyah's image, for example, only designated ritualpractitionersarepermittedto touch it, andthose who do touch it continue to performbriefrites of worship to it as well.18Asa Kaji Vajracarya,Bumgadyo Nepale Ha:gu Kham, 4th ed. (Patan: Subash, v.s.2037/1980 c.E.). Several of Bumgadyah'spanju attendantsrefer to this booklet simply as"the vamSavali."

207



9/41

HumanAgency and Divine Powerof many differentpeople, and different stories of his origins are likely toemphasize links between the deity and the story's teller in idiosyncraticways. This tendency is completely consistent with the level of humanin-tervention found in accountsof origin and in ritualassociated with Bum-gadyah and underminesany defense of privileging one account as beingthe one from which others deviate. Therefore, in presentingthis accountand the others that follow I have mentioned whatever other accountsmightbe construedas challenging the generalizationsI makeconcerningcommon understandingsabout the gods I consider.

The full account of the origins of Bumgadyah that I briefly summa-rize here is highly elaborate. Individual narratives of Bumgadyah'scoming to Nepal are not likely to include all of the events noted in thisstory as published but will, in most cases, mention several of them inparticular.Individual versions will also vary with respect to such fac-tors as whether the priest in the story was a HinduAcarya or BuddhistVajrdcarya,which of the valley's Bhairabs (fierce and powerful formsof Siva) carried the deity, if the farmer was accompanied by his wife,and so on. One striking feature that emerges from comparing thesedifferent oral and written accounts is the degree to which they consis-tently include reference to events that do not seem critical to the majorplot line but that stress humancontrol of deities. Thus, the version sum-marized here is representative of Newar popular belief in that it in-cludes most of the wide range of elements that I have noted in otherversions, shares a common emphasis on human intervention, is widelydisseminated in its own right, and is referred to by many of the priestswhom other Newars most often query about details of the deity's ritualcycle. This summary retains the use of the epithet "Karunamaya"asfound in A. K. Vajracarya'sbook, both to preserve some authenticityand because the name "Bumgadyah"is derived from events that thisstory recounts.This account begins with Nepal having suffered a twelve-yeardrought.SantikarVajracarya, he first initiated Vajracdryapriest of Ne-pal, informed the king thatonly Karunamayacould end the droughtandthat he must be brought from Kamuni (in Assam) in order to do so.A Vajracdryapriest, the king, and a farmer set off to Kamuni and ontheir way encountered Karkotaka Naga Raja lying in their path.Through a combination of clever flattery and the power of his mantra,the priest captured the powerful serpent deity and compelled him tojoin them in their quest.1919The passage that includes this incident opens by referringto the priest as "bauddha

tantrarajevrayamahapraksaguru,"stressing his tantricvirtuosity (ibid., p. 43). In anotherversion, the assistance of Karkotaka s secured with the help of Yogambara-Jfinaadakini,

208



10/41

History of ReligionsWhen this group arrived at Kamuni, the king and queen (referredto

as yaksas),20 refused to part with Karunamaya,who was the youngestand dearest of their 500 sons. The priest left and used his power to per-form the visualization technique of sddhana to extract the life (jivan)from Karunamaya(who is characterized as a young boy), transformitinto a bee, and capture it in a flask (kalas).21 The group returned toNepal with the help of four powerful Bhairabs, also summoned by thepriest throughhis power of sadhana. Upon reaching Bungamati,the vil-lage south of Patan where one of Bumgadyah'stwo temples is now lo-cated, the Bhairabsput down the palanquinin which they were carryingKarunamaya,all the gods came to honor him, and it began to rain.22When the group arrived at the outskirts of Patan, the priest, farmer,and king, who were each from a different KathmanduValley kingdom,argued about where they should bring Karunamaya,each favoring hisown city. The decision was entrusted to the eldest man of Patan, whochose his own city underduress because Patan'sking (in collusion withthe farmer, who was also from Patan) sent the elder a sign of his wishthat he decide in his kingdom's favor. To enable the people to worshipBumgadyah, the kalas containing his life force was broughtto a Sdkyasilversmith, who made an image in which this power could reside.

whom the priest summons through sadhana to aid them (Daniel Wright, The Historyof Nepal [1877; reprint,New Delhi: Asian Publication Services, 1990], pp. 142-43).20 The designation yaksa is ambiguous, both as defined in the literatureand in popularusage. Locke defines yaksas as "semi-divine, generally benevolent beings" (Karunamaya[n. 7 above], p. 479), whereas AghehenandaBharatidefines them as "semi-demonic"(TheTantric Tradition [New York: Samuel Weiser, 1975], p. 125), and N. J. Allen states that"this category of supernaturals s linked with vegetation and with Kubera,god of wealth,but yaksas can also be devils" ("The Coming of Macchendranath o Nepal: Commentsfrom a ComparativePoint of View," Oxford University Papers on India [Delhi] 1, pt. 1,[1986]: 75-102). Wright'sversion of the account of origin identifies Bumgadyah'smotheras a yaksini named Gyana-dakini(Jfiinanadkini), hose most famous form, Mhaipi-ajima,is an ominous deity who demands blood sacrifice and is associated with witches (boksis)(p. 143). Several of the sacrifices offered over the course of Bumgadyah'sfestival are di-rected towardhis motherand/orother demonic denizens of her realm, and many have ex-plained these sacrifices to me in terms of the need to maintain vigilance against theirpredations,particularlythe threatof their abductingBumgadyah.21 Bharatihas describedsadhana as a psycho-experimentalmethod of achieving releasefrom reincarnationand the hallmark of tantric traditions (pp. 18, 228). For the NewarVajracdryaandthose on whose behalfhe performsritualsinvolving sadhana, it is primarilya visualizationtechiquewherebythe practitionerachieves identitywith the deity summonedthroughmeditationandtherebyattainssome controlover the deity. See also Gellner,Monk,Householder, Priest (n. 5, above), pp. 158-59; and Locke, Karunamaya,p. 115.22 In Wright'sversion, one of the BhairabscarryingKarunamayautteredthe sound "bu"whenthe partyreachedBungamati.The priest interpreted his as asign indicatingthe birth-place of Karunamaya,which promptedhim to declare Bungamatito be the site on whicha templefor thegod be established(p. 146). As Locke points out, A. K. Vajracarya'sversiononly explicitly accounts for the location of Bumgadyah'sPatantemple, even though it ac-knowledges the existence of his other temple in Bungamati (Karunamaya,p. 294).

209



11/41

HumanAgency and Divine PowerInthis story, presentedhere in greatlyabbreviated orm,humanagency

plays a role in several key dimensions.3 Both the presencein Nepal (i.e.,the KathmanduValley) and form of the power of Karunamaya hence-forth, Bumgadyah) have been determined by humans. Bumgadyah'spower was brought to Nepal by humans with the help of deities sum-moned by humans.Humanstransfigured he form in which Bumgadyah'spowerwas originallymanifest as a boy into the form of a bumblebee.Hu-mans also determined, through deceitful contrivance no less, that onetemple for Bumgadyah's mage should be located in Patan,andthe makerof the image to house Bumgadyah's power is also identified as human.Thus, both the location andcreation of Bumgadyah's mage are also ex-plicitly attributed o humanagency.THE ORIGINS OF OTHER MAJOR DEITIES IN THE KATHMANDU VALLEY

The extent to which humanagency is involved in accounts of origin ofBumgadyah becomes all the more striking when compared to other ac-counts that explain the presence of other principal deities in the Kath-manduValley. The arrival of majordeities is often attributed o cosmicevents outside the sphere of humaninfluence. Perhapsthe most impor-tant Buddhist deity in Nepal, Swayambhunath, is described in theSwayambha Purana as self-existent, manifest as a flame emanatingfrom a lotus that floated on the primordial lake that once filled theKathmanduValley. This text tells us that when Mainjusridrained thelake by cleaving a gorge in the valley rim with his sword, the lotuscame to rest on the hill where the Swayambhu stupa now stands. San-tikarAcarya, the firstguruof all of Nepal's Vajracaryapriests (referredto as SantikarVajracarya n A. K. Vajracarya'spublished account of theorigin of Bumgadyah), built the stipa in order to shield Swayambhufrom human contact. He did this lest people bring misfortune uponthemselves by dishonoring the deity in the inauspicious kali yuga.Human agency in this case is limited to explaining the existence of astructureoriginally intended to distance divine power from human in-terference.24The root of this primordial lotus, according to Buddhistinterpretations,was anchored at Guhyeswari, a place honored by both23 I have omitted any mention, for example, of the cause of the drought,which in A. K.Vajracarya'sversion is broughtaboutby a disciple of Karunamayabecoming angeredbyhaving been duped by an innkeeperandconsequently binding the serpentraindeities (na-gas) who had aided in duping him. Many of these details provide furtherexamples ofhumanagency determiningthe actions of deities, but they are too numerousfor consider-ation here. See John K. Locke, S.J., Rato Matsyendranathof Patan and Bungamati(Kath-mandu:TribhuvanUniversity, 1973), for a lengthy summaryof this story.24 This is not to say thatthe integrity(if not efficacy) of this stupa is not dependantuponhumanmaintenanceandrenewal. For example, the centralwooden shaft, or yasti, must bereplaced from time to time, and lime is regularlyapplied to its domelike anda surface.

210



12/41

History of ReligionsHindus and Buddhists as a powerful pitha. This, according to one pointof view, is the place at which the "hidden part," or vagina, of Sati'scorpse fell as her grief-maddened spouse, Siva, carried her body aboutthe world after her self-immolation. In these stories as well as manyothers, the presence of deities in Nepal and the location of their shrinesare attributedentirely to the actions of gods.Also in contrast to Bumgadyah, images of majordeities are often de-scribed as having been miraculously discovered, usually with the helpof hints provided by gods. Pasupatinath,a manifestation of Lord Sivaand arguably the most importantHindu deity of Nepal, is said to haveoriginated from a time when Siva came to the KathmanduValley in theform of a deer in order to escape the tiresome adulation he received inVaranasi. The gods entreated him to return and finally seized him byhis horn. The hornbroke into pieces, however, allowing the deer (Siva)to escape to the site of his futuretemple by the Bagmati river, where hedeclared that he was to be known as Pasupatibecause he had taken theform of a beast. Visnu then used one of the horn fragments to fashiona litiga to be worshiped as Pasupatinath.After the temple had falleninto disuse, the location of Pasupatinathwas revealed to a herderby hiscow, who offered her milk to the place on the ground under which thefamous lihga lay buried.25So, too, the gigantic image of Budhanilkanthareclining on a bed ofserpents, variously identified as JalasayanaNarayanaor Avalokitesvaraand known by historians to have been commissioned by Visnuguptaabout 641 c.E.,26is said to have been disinterredundermiraculous cir-cumstances. Promptedby the extraordinaryproductivity of the land inthe area and/orby a dreamin which a goddess informed the king of theimage's location, the image was excavated, and in the process its nosewas brokenandthe image bled. An alternativeaccount simply has it thatthe image was discovered by a jyapu farmer who, while plowing hisfield, struck what he thought to be a mere stone only to see it bleed.27According to anotherlocal tradition,the famous Krsnatemple in thecenter of Patan houses Krsna only because Visnu appearedin a dreamto King Siddhinarasimhamalla,who was at thattime building the templeto house Lord Siva. Visnu informed the sleeping king where an imageof Krsna could be disinterredfrom the ground near his palace and toldhim that this image should occupy the temple in Siva's stead.

25For summaries of this story based on the Nepala-mahdtmya, see Mary ShepardSlusser, Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley (Princeton, N.J.:PrincetonUniversity Press, 1982), pp. 226-27; and L6vi (n. 6 above), pp. 357-60.26 Slusser, p. 255.27 See Mary M. Anderson, The Festivals of Nepal (New Delhi: Rupa, 1977), p. 180;and L6vi, pp. 366-68.

211



13/41

HumanAgency and Divine PowerAll of these majordeities are said to have been discovered underre-markable circumstances through the agency of deities. These storiesdeny that images were made or that the location of their shrines wasdetermined by the humans who built them, thus distancing objects ofdevotion from human agency except insofar as people served as theirexcavators.28

Bodhisattvas, COMPASSION, AND HUMAN INTERVENTIONIt might be suggested that the degree to which humansdetermineeventsin the variousaccounts of origin of Bumgadyahcan be explainedin termsof his identification with the bodhisattvaPadmapaniLokesvar.AlthoughPadmapanis conventionallyidentified as an emanationof the PaficaDhy-ani BuddhaAmitibha and, thus, as a deity whose origins lie outside therealm of any humanintervention,29bodhisattvasare,by definition,mark-edly responsive to the needs of humansby virtue of their compassionatenature.It could thus be arguedthat the mythological incidents revealingBumgadyah'ssusceptibility to humanagency might, therefore,be under-stood as accentuationsof his benevolent bodhisattvanature.The questionthus arises, Is this compliance with human volition evident in the ac-counts of origin of other bodhisattvas?The accounts of origin of four other deities are ideally suited forcomparison with the stories of Bumgadyah'scoming to Nepal, for thesedeities, with Bumgadyah, constitute the members of a Newar categoryof preeminent bodhisattvas known as the pengu thay lokesvars, or"lords of the world of the four places." These lokesvars are each iden-tified with a particularmanifestation of Avalokitesvara. That five ratherthan four deities are recognized as such is owing to the fact that not allagree on which of the valley's many lokesvars should be included inthis select group.28 Samuel Parker ells of a Tamil Nadustone carver who emphaticallydenied that he hadplayed any role in restoringa stone temple, saying that it was a sin to even hear the sug-gestion that any humanmight have been involved in its creation ("Makersof Meaning"[Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1989]). Not all accounts of the origins of majordeitiesin Nepal feature such distancing from humanagency. But explicit reference to their man-ufacture s certainlyunusual,and the location of their shrinesis, insofaras I know, most of-ten determinedthroughthe explicit intervention of divinities. These generalizationsapplyonly to majordeities, for there are many instances of secondaryshrines being establishedusing sddhana as a meansof locating a majorgod's power in a new place andinstallingthatpower in an image made for this purpose. This is often done for the sake of convenience,so that devotees may more readily partakeof the blessings of a deity whose majorshrineis located far from them.29 The convention to which this refers is recordedin the SwayambhiiPurana and is rep-resented iconographically in the western chapel of the Swayambhi stupa as well as else-where. The appellation dhyani ("meditation")as applied to the five Buddhas (Aksobhya,Amogasiddhi,Vairocana,Amitabha,andRatnasambhava),who aremore widely describedas "transcendent," s typical of Newari sources (Locke, Karunamaya, pp. 127-28, n. 8).

212



14/41

History of ReligionsCobahahdyah(Anandadi Lokesvar) of Cobahah (at Chobar) (fig. 2),

Naladyah (Srstikanta Lokesvar) of Nala (fig. 3), and Bumgadyah (Pad-mapaniLokesvar) of Bungamati and Patan(see fig. 1) are always men-tioned as pengu thay lokesvars. Residents of Patan are likely to includeCakvadyah(JatadhariLokesvar) of Tanga Bahah in Patan (fig. 4), butpeople from Kathmanduare apt to include Janmadyah(also PadmapaniLokesvar) of Janabahah n Kathmandu(fig. 5), ratherthan Cakvadyah,in this tetrad.30The presence of each of these deities is accounted for indistinctive yet similar ways. For none of these other deities does a textas widely known as the one about Bumgadyah published by A. K.Vajracaryaexist. In each summary of the accounts of origin outlinedbelow, I note story variations that pertain to the issues examined hereratherthan simply select versions that fit the analysis most perfectly.Each of these accounts of origin point to humanagency as playing a de-cisive role in determining the fates of these gods, but none so exten-sively as that of Bumgadyah.NALADYAH

All of the accounts of Naladyah'sorigins that I have heard or readagreethat Naladyah was stolen from Bungamati and abandoned by thethieves just outside the eastern edge of the valley, near the town ofNala. The priests of Bungamatiwho attendto Bumgadyahalso performthe annual reconsecration rituals for Naladyah, and they cite the god'stheft from Bungamati to account for their participation in these rites.Some renditions state that the god made himself too heavy for thethieves to carry, forcing them to abandonhim near the spot where histemple now stands,but others state that the thieves threw the image intothe river and that it floated to its present location. I have never heard orread any account of the origin of the image itself, so only the locationof the deity is explicitly linked with humanvolition (the theft), albeit inone version the deity himself interceded and made himself too heavy tobe carried. John K. Locke summarizes a more elaborate textual versionthat he describes as "a standardstory of the history of Nala which is re-cited atAstami Vrataceremonies";31 his version includes the prophecy30 These identifications of the images with these particular orms of Avalokitesvaraarealso contested, at least in the Newari and Nepali literature,althoughthese are the identifi-cations madeby those whom I asked. AmoghabajraBajracarya dentifies BumgadyahwithRaktaryavalokitesvaran his LokesvarayaParicaya (Kathmandu:Lokesvar Samgha Ne-pal, N.s. 1099/1978 c.E.), as does Sanu Bhai Dangol and his associates in his Sri Adinath([Kathmandu:Adinath AnusandhanNidhi, 1989], p. 1), who may well have derived thisidentification from Bajracarya'sbook, as they cite secondary sources extensively. Thisidentification is quite curious, for Bajracarya's own description and illustration ofRaktaryavalokitesvaraportraya seated deity with four arms (pp. 24, 40).31 Among the Newar, Astami Vrataare religious observances, typically performedandsponsored collectively by a group and usually involving fasting, that take place on the

213



15/41

FIG.2.-Cobahahdyabh (AnandadiLokesvar) of Cobahahbeing preparedfor repainting,March 1984. (Photo by author.)



16/41

FIG.3.--Naldyah (Srstikanta Lokesvar) of Nala being carried back tohis temple by his dyih pahlah afterrepainting,March 1983. The man to hisleft is carryingone of his two Taraconsorts. (Photo by author.)



17/41

FIG. .-Cakvadyah (JatadhariLokesvar) of Tanga Bahalh n Patan,duringlife-cycle reconsecrationrites (dasa karmapaja), May 1983. (Photoby author.)



18/41

FIG.5.-Janmadyah (PadmapaniLokesvar) of Janabahah n Kathmandu,during second day of painting, January1984. (Photo by author.)



19/41

HumanAgency and Divine Powerthat a Kiratiking will steal Karunamaya rom Bungamati, that the godwould be throwninto a river and come floating to Nala, and that Nala'slokesvar would come to be disrespected.32 This latter prediction wasclearly borne out, for Naladyah's ritual cycle and shrine were revivedfrom total abandonment ess than forty years ago.33A version published by AmoghabajraBajracaryais consistent withthe summary provided by Locke but includes a description of the theftthat states that the Kiratiking, with the aid of the serpent deity VasukiNaga, used sddhana to steal Bumgadyah from Bungamati.34 Uponreaching the river at Nala, the skies grew dark, a great wind blew, theriver flooded, and the abductors could take the god no further, so theythrew it into the river and ran away. Bumgadyah then appearedto thepanjus in Bungamati, to the king of Bandipur,and to a Nala temple at-tendant(dyahli) in their dreams and told themwhere to find him.35 Thismost elaborate version only further emphasizes the roles that deitiesplayed in establishing Naladyah's temple by featuringVasuki Naga's as-sistance, celestial signs of foreboding, and Bumgadyah's direct inter-vention in dreams.

JANMADYAHIn most of the legends of which I am aware that recount the origins ofJanmadyah,the image is described as having been discovered acciden-tally by a farmeror by potters digging for clay in Jamal.36This is trueof three of the four accounts cited by Locke in his study of this deity.37These three accounts differ in detail about how the image came to beburied there, but all essentially agree that the image was stolen and in-appropriatelyworshiped or otherwise disrespected and thatJanmadyahthereforecaused affliction to his abductors,who thendisposed of the im-age (either in a pit, well, or pond) uponreturning t to Jamal.These leg-ends also agree that the location of Janmadyah'sshrine was dictated by

eighth day of the lunarfortnight. See Todd T. Lewis, "MahayanaVratas in Newar Bud-dhism,"Journal of the InternationalAssociation of BuddhistStudies 12 (1989): 109-38;and John K. Locke, S.J., "The Uposadha Vrata of Amoghapasa LokeSvarain Nepal,"L'ethnographie,n.s. 83, nos. 100-101 (1987): 159-89.32 Locke, Karunamaya(n. 7 above), p. 368.33 Ibid., p. 366-67.34 Bajracarya,pp. 78-79.35 The description of the deity they then struggled to remove from the river is consis-tent with the white image now honored as Naladyahrather than the image now known asBumgadyah,but no accounting is given for this inconsistency.3 "Jamal"currentlyrefers to an area directly south of the new royal palace in Kath-mandu where a village, destroyed to make way for an immense Ranapalace, once stood.Janmadyah'schariot festival begins there every year in recognition of the deity's origins.37Locke, Karunamaya,pp. 146-60.

218



20/41

History of Religionsthe deity in a dream. Some chronicles suggest that the image had beenworshipedpreviously and name Gunakamadeva ruledca. 942-1004) asthe king who originally had the image made, but these chronicles alsonote that observances for the image had fallen into neglect.38 A long-published account cited at length by Locke does not mention any periodof neglect or the discovery of an image but states, in agreementwith oneof the accounts noted above, that Janmadyahcame to Kathmanduinorder to relieve people of their affliction and that he specified where hisvihdra should be located.39This published version also notes, unlike the otherversions, thatJan-madyah stipulated that a statue of him should be set up in his vihara,now located near Asan tol in Kathmandu. Another version links thisLokesvar with Yamaraj,the Lord of Death (as is Cakvadyahof Patan inan account of his origins related furtheron). In this story of Janmadyah,Yamarajprematurelytakes away a young woman while she is contem-plating Lord Siva, but Siva intervenes on his devotee's behalf, inform-ing Yama that Lord Avalokitesvara lengthens the life span of anyonedeeply engaged in worship. A disappointed Yama then manages to gaina direct audience with Avalokitesvara, who instructs Yama to build ashrine to him at Jamal and promises that he will enter the shrine uponits completion. Yama thus makes the image of Avalokitesvara for theshrine and composes a hymn in his praise. This is then followed by thefamiliar theme of the god being stolen, wreaking havoc in the countryof his abductors,and being returned,rediscovered, and installed (at thebehest of a king) in his currenttemple.40Thus, in the oral accounts ofthe origins of Janmadyahmentioned by Locke, humanagency is limitedto the theft, return,and laterdiscovery of an image, andin the publishedaccount that Locke summarizes (which does not describe any theft ordiscovery), humanagency is limited to the image's creation. In the lastaccount considered, one god makes the image at the behest of anothergod. In all the accounts that mention the theft of the image of Jan-madyah, it is the deity who forces his abductorsto returnhis image toJamal.

38 See Locke, Karunamaya,pp. 157-58, for an assessment of the credibility of theseaccounts.39Locke cites KamalanandaVajracarya,JanabahahdyahydBakham(Kathmandu:Selfpublished, v.s. 2021/1964 C.E.). In this account Yamaraj,bound by a mantra in a king'sthrone, is asked to provide eternal life, which he states he is incapable of providing.Pressed to reveal that his guru, Karunamaya,might be able to do so, Yamaraj begsKarunamaya o come to assist him. Thus, the theme of an imprisoneddeity requiringthepresence of Karunamayafor release once again emerges as in the story of Bumgadyah(see n. 23 above). See Locke, Karunamayapp. 151-54, for a summaryof this story.40 KarunakarVaidya, Buddhist Traditions and Culture of the Kathmandu Valley(Kathmandu:Sajha Prakashan,1986), pp. 285-86.

219



21/41

HumanAgency and Divine PowerCAKVADYAH

Accounts of Cakvadyah'sorigins typically begin with a King Vrsadeva,who was highly regarded by his subjects but who had died and beenmistakenly carried off to the underworld.When PadmapaniLokesvarwent to hell to comfort those there, he found Vrsadeva and intervenedwith Yamarajto allow Vrsadeva to return to the earth, which Yamarajpermitted,having recognized the errorcommitted by his messengers.41Vrsadeva's subjects, grateful for the return of their king, asked him tohave an image of JatadhariLokesvar made.42The king did so, installedthe image in one of his palace courtyards,and then abdicatedthe throneto his brotherin order to lead an ascetic life.

Duringhis brother'sreign, a Bhairabran amok in the valley, wreakingdestruction, so the new king took refuge in CukaBahah,very nearCak-vadyah's current temple in Patan, taking the image with him. Whilesleeping there one night, JatadhariLokesvar came to him in a dreamandsaid that he wanted his own temple and that a sparrow would indicatewhere it should be built. The next morning a sparrow alighted nearwhere the king was staying and then flew straight upwardinto the heav-ens, so the king built a temple there for the image of JatadhariLokesvar,now known as Cakvadyah.In this story we see human intervention in several dimensions. Al-though neither the presence of the power of Cakvadyahnor the form inwhich thatpower is manifest are subject to humanagency, the image inwhich thatpower is situated is clearly a humancreation. The location ofthe shrine for the image, however, is determinedby divine indications.Although explanations of the origins of Cakvyadyahexplicitly state thatthe image was fashioned by humans, several Newars have told me thatno one dares to make another image of this god, so great is the powerit possesses by virtue of its link with Yamaraj.

COBAHAHDYAHA narrativeaccount of the origins of Cobahahdyah, published twentyyears ago by Varnavajra Vajracaryaand summarized by Locke,43 in-

41 This account, summarizedby Locke in Karunamaya,pp. 378-83, is consistent withthe essential features of the oral accounts I have heard and follows that published byNhucherajVajracaryaas Minandthko[sic] Vamsavali (Patan:Self published, v.s. 2029/1972 C.E.). PadmapaniLokesvar'svisit to the underworldrecalls one of the episodes in theGunakdrandavyaha,often read in the presence of Bumgadyah, that details the compas-sionate acts of Avalokitesvara. This partof the text is summarized in JohnC. Holt, Bud-dha in the Crown: Avalokitefvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka (New York:Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 47.42 There is no explanation given for this particularmanifestation of Avalokitegvarahaving been chosen for the form of the image.43 VarnavajraVajracarya,CvabahaKarunamayaydBakham(Banepa:IndraVajraVaj-racarya,v.s. 2031/1970 c.E.). This and the following relatedstories aregiven in more detailin Locke, Karunamaya, pp. 349-57.

220



22/41

History of Religionscludes the principal features of the accounts of origin offered to me bythe Vajracairayapriests who perform the deity's annual reconsecrationrites. The origin of CobahaIhdyahs here linked with Manijusri,who, asManijudeva, n the company of Ks'yapa Tathagata,came to the Kath-mandu Valley to visit Swayambhu. They established Pim Bahah inPatan, where Manijudevabecame known as Adinath. Initially the godsfreely conversed with theirdevotees, andthey trainedpriests to performthe necessary rituals. But, just as potential ramificationsof the kali yugaprompted SantikarAcarya to construct the Swayambhf stiipa over theself-emanated flame for which it is named, Adinath and Ks'yapaTathagatabecame concerned about the trouble people might cause ifthey continued to speak with them in this inauspicious age, so they en-tered images and became mute. Devotees, angered at the priests whomthey blamed for the deities' silence, killed all but one, who, in turn,be-came angry at the gods for causing the deaths of his fellow priests. Hetherefore threw Adinath's image into the Bagmati river. The imagefloated past a meditating Acarya, who through his power of sadhanawithdrew from the image the life of Adinath, which came to him in theform of jasmine flowers. The Acarya then took the life of Adinath in akalas to the hill at Chobarand installed it into an image. A Vajracdryapriest who performs Cobaha.hdyah'sannual reconsecration rites ex-plained the god's unusualupturnedeyes to me by saying that this is howthe deity indicated where he should be taken.This story actually contains two series of events. Adinath'spresencein the valley and the location of his shrine at Pim Bahah are the resultsof his own volition. The origin of the image into which he merged isnot detailed, and there is no intervening transformationof the manifes-tation of his power as described for Bumgadyah (whose life was trans-formed into a bee), although the decision to withdraw into an imagewas his own. Adinath's removal from Pim Bahah is, however, the re-sult of human intervention, as is the transformationof his life forceinto the form of flowers, although the creation of the image to whichthe Acarya transferred the god's power is not discussed. Versionsconflict over whether the location of the deity's shrine is a result ofAdinath/Cobahahdyah'svolition, which he indicated with his upturnedeyes, or the decision of the Acarya.A related series of stories recounts that once, when Cobahahdyah'schariot was stuck in the river, he took the form of a girl, who some Ti-betans then abducted to Sankhu, a town in the northeasternpart of thevalley. Upon realizing thatthe girl was in fact a god, they transferred tslife from the girl into an image thatthey then took to Kerung(a pass intoTibet) where they bound it in place with mantras.The temple at Chobarthen fell into disuse, but a cowherd who had been grantedthe boon ofunderstandingthe speech of animals continued to care for Adinath's

221



23/41

HumanAgency and Divine Powercattle, and years later one of the cows indicated to the cowherd the spotwhere a golden pot could be found. Upon returning o this spot, the cow-herd discovered Karunamayasitting there, and Karunamaya nstructedhim to take him up the hill and restoreworship to him at the shrine nowknown as Cobahah.44These related stories also invoke both humanand divine agency: Co-bahahdyahchanges his own form but is abductedby humans who alsotransferhis power into an image that they remove from Nepal. Miracu-lous events account for the revival of Cobahahdyah'stemple, which isclearly directed by the deity himself, and the account of these eventsonce again associates the presence of the deity with a vessel, althoughit is not explicit that the deity is contained within.

AGENCY N ORIGINSCOMPAREDThe stories of origin of all five lokesvars involve their theft orabductionat the hands of humans: a kind of human interventionwhich, althoughnot unique to these lokesvars, is featured in accounts of their originswith strikingconsistency. All of these stories assert that these lokesvarswould not be manifest in the forms they are now, and/or where they arenow, and/orworshiped in Nepal at all were it not for the actions of mor-tals. Taking into consideration the various accounts of the origins ofthese bodhisattvas, the degree to which humanspay critical roles in thefate of Bumgadyah remains exceptional.Recall that the presence of the power of Bumgadyah was compelledby humans,the form in which thatpower was manifest was transformedby humans (i.e., from boy to bee), the location of its Patan residencewas determinedby humans (although its Bungamati residence was de-termined by a deity), and the image was created by humans. For thesake of comparison, one may distinguish these points of interventionofhuman agency as: determining the presence of divine power in Nepal,transformingthe original manifestation of this power (physical form),dictating the location of the deity's shrine, and creating the image inwhich the power of the deity presently resides. Bumgadyah and Coba-hahdyahboth emerge as the lokesvars whose accounts of origin consis-tently entail the most intensive and extensive human intervention, butonly Bumgadyah's accounts of origin unambiguously detail humanagency in all four of these dimensions. Whatever factors may contrib-ute to the preeminence of Bumgadyahamong bodhisattvas in particularand deities in general, this analysis suggests that the degree of his sus-ceptibility to human agency is distinctive and an important component

44 It is this second partof the story thatBajracaryachose to include in his collection ofstories pertainingto lokesvars (n. 30 above), pp. 66-72.

222



24/41

History of Religionsof his identity that distinguishes him among gods. Although the ac-counts of origin of all five of the bodhisattvas considered here involvehumanagency, the most honoredand most powerful of the bodhisattvasis also the one whose accounts of origin most explicitly invoke "the ca-pacity of people to act effectively upon their world" through their in-fluence over divine powers.45But how does this analysis of accounts of origin relate to the consti-tution of the power and form of images that promptedthese investiga-tions? Accounting for how images came to be where they are is usuallythe basis for Newar explanations of what they are: the power they rep-resent as well as their form. As noted above, the accounts of origin ofBumgadyah and Cobahahdyahdescribe the most intensive and exten-sive responsiveness to humanagency; these two deities are also clearlythe most importantof the five lokesvars considered here. Both attractworshipers from far beyond their local communities, especially duringtheirjdtras, and people from many areas come to both deities for dailydarsan over extended periods of time: to Cobahahdyahduringthe Bud-dhist holy month of gumla and to Bumgadyah during his jdtra as wellas during gimla. These gods also have the most elaborateannual recon-secrations of any of the lokesvars. These rites constitute public displaysof human agents' controlling the presence and manifestation of a god'spower duringwhich humansextract and reinstall the vital forces of im-ages that they also disfigure and re-form. The appearance of both ofthese deities is also distinctive; the images of Cobahahdyahand Bum-gadyah are unique among KathmanduValley lokesvars in that theirforms departdramatically from iconographic conventions used to por-tray the lokesvars with which they are identified. Far from emulatingidealized proportions of perfection, their heads are strangely shapedand oversized, and their torsos as well as their heads are crudely fash-ioned, a point to be furtherconsidered below.The extent of human agency described in the accounts of origin ofBumgadyahand Cobahahdyah s echoed in the degree to which humansintervene in the reconsecration and ongoing transformingof these im-ages. I suggest thatthese accounts andthe humaninterventionsthey de-scribe can serve our understandingof the physical forms in which thesedeities are manifest as well as the transformationsthese forms undergothrough ongoing devotion and reconsecration. Because Bumgadyah isclearly the more importantof these two deities and arguably the onewhose accounts of origin involve the most extensive human interven-tion, this analysis returns to focus on him.

45 Inden (n. 9 above), p. 23.

223



25/41

HumanAgency and Divine PowerTHE IMAGEOF BUMGADYAH

The actual composition of the image of Bumgadyah is a popular topicof speculation. The earliest description we have of the image, suppliedby the Tibetan monk Dharmasvamin,who visited Nepal in 1226, tellsus that it was "a miraculous image of Avalokitesvara made of sandal-wood of red colour, in the aspect of a five year old boy" and that afterbathing the image, when "the bright vermillion red paint is washedaway ... they again paint the image with red dye."46Except for twicea year when the image is being painted and once when it is beingbathed, its composition and shape are impossible to discern because ofthe many layers of donatedornaments,flowers, and clothes thatusuallyconceal all but its face.A. K. Vajracarya's published account of Bumgadyah's origins pro-vides details concerning the image's creation beyond those included inthe brief summaryabove. According to his text, when SantikarVajra-carya advised the king how to alleviate the twelve-year drought,he toldthe king that he had, in a previous life, served "Yogesvar Sri Yogambar"at Mhaipi Ajima47and thatwhile attendingthis shrine, the "mothergod-desses of thepith" (pithesvari matrkadevipim) commandedSantikar tomake them a sacrificial offering of his son. When Santikarprotested,Yogambarassured him that the young boy in question was actually anavatar of Karunamaya.The goddess stipulated that Santikar shouldoffer them only the boy's blood and flesh and that he should save thebones so thatan image for Karunimayacould be made with them uponthe god's return to Nepal, when a chariot festival would be inauguratedin his honor.48When Bandhudattaand the others finally broughtBumgadyahto Ne-pal to end the drought, Bandhudatta reminded the king of Santikar'swords and asked him who should make Karunamaya's mage (mirti).The king instructed him to take the "flask womb" (kalas garbha) to

46 Biography of Dharmasvamin,ed. and trans. George Roerich (Patna:K. P. JyaswalResearch Institute, 1959), pp. 54-55.47This hilltop shrine,north of centralKathmanduon the easternbank of the Vishnumati,featuresmanydeities, includingthe navadurgas,buttheprincipaldeity honored here is Yo-gambara-Jiinandakini,nd it is this deity that is connected in particularwith Bumgadyah.48 A. K. Vajracarya n. 18 above), pp. 34-37. N. J. Allen (n. 20 above) has focused onthis and other "threateningsubterranean"aspects of Bumgadyahin attemptingto draw aparallel between beliefs concerning Bumgadyah and Himalayan shamanic traditions.Gerard Toffin stresses the political implications and manipulations of mythology in aneffective response to Allen's thesis, which he presents in his article "L'usage politique dumythe au Nepal: Une lecture ethno-historiquedu dieu Matsyendranath,"Annales, econo-mies, socidtes, civilisations 4 (July-August 1990): 951-74. I have not here further ex-plored this fascinating aspect of this account of origin of Bumgadyahbecause it does notappearto be widely known, althoughit does constitute furtherevidence of the complexityand of human/divineinterdependencyandthe importanceof humanagency in the concep-tualization and constitution of Bumgadyah.

224



26/41

History of ReligionsI Bahi of the "pure-mindedfollower of the dharma,"49SubhasriMisra.So, in accordance with Santikar's instructions, a "Sakyabhiksu"ofI Bahi, using the powdered bone relics (asthidatu) taken from MhaipiAjima, gold, and the kalas containing "Sri Loknath Karunamaya,"made an image with thirty-two auspicious features (laksanamr) or/ofBumgadyah.50Members of the I Bahi samgha affirm that one of theirancestors made Bumgadyah's image, and the Niyekhus who refurbishBumgadyah continue to use clay from Mhaipi Ajima to patch and re-surface the image each year, repeatedly refashioning and adding to itsshape in subtle ways, but details concerning the incorporationof bonesinto the image, much less the bones of an avatar of Karunamaya,arenot widely recounted.Although some say that a statue of pure gold lies within the outerlayers of paint and clay, the fact that one priest can lift the image ofBumgadyah with relative ease suggests that this is not so. Whatevermay lie under its surface,51the torso and armsof the image are remark-ably bulky, and armor-likejoints between the shoulders andupperarmsare quite conspicuous in spite of the layers of paint and clay that haveaccumulatedon top of them over the centuries (see fig. 1). The surfacesof the torso, arms, and top of the head are also quite crudely finished,doppled unevenly with patches of clay. The head is conspicuouslyoversized, accounting for aboutone-fourthof the image's overall heightof approximatelyone meter. These proportionsare consistent, althoughto an exaggerated degree, with the description of Bumgadyah as ayoung child.52The shape of the head (fig. 6) is also distinctive, bearing little resem-blance to the idealized human proportions typical of most images ofbodhisattvas. The relatively flat facial surfaces are smoothly finished,

49 "suddhacittamdharmayana... Sakyavamsa,"A. K. Vajracarya,p. 84. See Gellner,Monk, Householder, Priest (n. 5 above), pp. 164-65, concerning these various Sakyaappellations.5A. K. Vajracarya,p. 84. See also John K. Locke, S.J., BuddhistMonasteries of Nepal(Kathmandu:Sahayogi Press, 1985), pp. 203-5, for furtherdetails of I Bahi and its pos-sible connection with Bumgadyah.I must note that my own observations concerning theoffering of a cow during Bumgadyah'sfestival differ from his and did not include mem-bers of the I Bahi samgha. See Bruce McCoy Owens, "The Politics of Divinity in theKathmanduValley: The Festival of Bungadya/RatoMatsyendranath" Ph.D. diss., Co-lumbia University, 1989), p. 374.51 Locke somewhatoffhandedlymentions thatthe image is madeof wood (Karunamaya[n. 7 above], p. 205). Although it is possible that innerportions of the torso andhead arewooden, this is by no means certain, unless one is willing to take Dharmasvaminat hisword. Furthermore,Locke's point thatthe entireimage may have been replacedin "thepast1300 years" is well taken, but a close examination of the image suggests that it is likelythatonly certain partsof the image were changed at any one time.52 Similarproportionsare to be found in the image of PadmapaniLokesarlocated in thesoutheasterncornerof Kwa Bahah,the one of a set of four in the bahah that is identifiedwith Bumgadyah.

225



27/41

FIG.6.-Bumgadyah, detail of head, May 1983. (Photo by author.)



28/41

History of Religionsand the chin, eyebrows, and nose are suggested sculpturally in a verysubtle fashion. The head as a whole has three slightly roundedverticalsurfaces, with the two flattened surfaces of the face meeting at a slightangle along the protrudingvertical axis of the nose, surmountedby a cu-riously bulging brow and a turbanlikecrown. The most conspicuous fea-tures of the face are its large eyes. Nostrils are suggested by two smalldots of black paint, and the mouth is defined by one thin line. It wouldbe very difficult to identify the thirty-two auspicious features that theSakya at I Bahi was enjoined to include in the image of Bumgadyah.The overall effect of the finish, proportions,anddiscontinuities of theimage encourages speculation concerning what might lie under its sur-face. Some priests who attend Bumgadyah say that, at one time, onecould hear the buzzing of a bee enclosed within the image, whereas oth-ers say that you could once hear the sloshing of water. Both of thesestories suggest that the kalas within which Bumgadyah came to Nepalwas incorporatedinto the figure; A. K. Vajracarya'saccount can be in-terpreted in this way as well, although it is somewhat ambiguous onthis point.The transference of the deity's life into a kalas is also featured in theaccounts of origin of Cobahahdyah.Though Cobahahdyah'simage isclearly made of metal, it, too, is bulky and crudely shaped, apparentlymade in sections of beaten metal joined with conspicuous seams at theelbows andshoulders(see fig. 2). Althoughthe torso is shapedmorecon-ventionally (i.e., with human proportions) than Bumgadyah's and in-cludes repousse and intaglio details that define a necklace and nipples,Cobahahdyah'sarmsare also oddly cylindrical, andhis head is also cov-ered with clay, oversized, and shapedmuch like Bumgadyah's.Whetherthe distinctive forms of these two deities could be related to the incor-porationof the kalases that are said to have played distinctively signifi-cantroles in the origins of these gods can only be amatterof speculation.But, as noted above, it is striking that the images of the two most im-portantbodhisattvas of the valley are not graceful exemplars of canon-ically "perfect" proportions but are, moreover, obvious products ofrelatively crude human crafting, the shapes and surfaces of which sug-gest the concealment of something within.The rough shape of Bumgadyah'sbody, to which clay is appliedeveryyear, contrasts with the relatively finely sculpted and naturallypropor-tioned silver handsandfeet thatprotrude rom it (fig. 7).53The positionsof the hands that emerge from the tubelike arms conform with thegestures (mudras) that are conventionally characteristic of Padmapani

53 Cobahaihdyah'sands are also delicately renderedand emerge abruptlyfrom the de-ity's bulky arms.

227



29/41

FIG.7.-Bumgadyah, detail of hands, Ma



30/41

History of ReligionsLokesvar. Bumgadyah's feet (fig. 8) are apparentlya part of the silverplatformon which they stand. An inscriptionon this platform appearstoindicate that the platform,and thus the feet themselves, were donatedbya king.54These silver appendagescould indicate thata silver image lieswithin Bumgadyah'splastered shape,or they could be additionsattachedto an image made of anothermaterial. The latterpossibility is consistentwith the theory that Bumgadyah was originally simply a local rain godand suggests thatBumgadyah'shands andfeet are elaborationsdesignedto assert its Buddhist identity.55It is also possible that these elementsthat are clearly made of silver are replacementpartsfor a deity partiallydestroyed in a chariotprocession mishap or one of Nepal's many earth-quakes.56That the arms can be moved slightly suggests that the lattertwo possibilities are more likely, although by no means proves either ofthem. It might also be that the handsand feet arethe remnantsof a morerefined, earlier image whose torso and head were destroyed in somecalamity. Although it is impossible, given the evidence available, to de-termine which of these hypotheses is correct, the very composition andstructureof Bumgadyah'simage suggests that it has undergonesubstan-tial transformation hroughtime at the hands of its attendants,occasion-ally at the behest of kings.

THERECONSECRATIONND RE-CREATION F BUMGADYAHIn additionto the infrastructural ransformations hatthe image appearsto have undergone, Bumgadyah is also subject to the more typical an-nual reconsecration rituals that effect more subtle changes in his phys-ical form. Although these rites are in many ways typically south Asian,they are also exceptional by virtue of their extensiveness and, I wouldsuggest, in the degree to which they stress the indispensability of hu-man agency in the manifestation and maintenance of divine presence.57All of the pengu thay lokesvars undergo an annualbathing, but it isBumgadyah's,performedthe afternoon of the first day of the darkhalfof Baisdkh (April-May), that is referred to in the astrological calendarsas the mahdsndn, or "great bathing." The evening before this grandevent, the presiding Vajricarya pdnju priest uses the technique of

54 This worn inscription, normally completely obscured by ornaments and clothing,was only partiallyvisible on the one occasion that I was able to see it.55Much has been made of the fact thatbumgdhmeans "spring"or "wateringplace" inNewari, suggesting to some that Bumgadyahwas originally a local rain god, having laterbeen identified as Avalokitesvaraand then Matsyendranath.But see Locke, Karunamaya,p. 328.56 Locke notes, for example, that in 1862 the rath caught fire and that the god wasdamaged(Karunamaya,p. 322).57This is not to suggest that no other deities in South Asia undergo elaborate re-consecration rites thatexplicitly entail humanintervention. The cycle of renewal rites for

229



31/41

FIG. 8.-Bumgadyah, detail of feet, May 1



32/41

History of Religionssadhana to transferBumgadyah'slife from his image into a kalas. Afterperforming this rite inside the Ta Bhahh temple, he performs a secretprotective pacification rite at the bathing platformin Lagankhel, wherelegend has it that Bumgadyah'smother was discovered in a tree and an-chored to the spot lest she attemptto take back her son. The next after-noon, before the bathing, the presidingpanju once again uses his powerof sadhana to transfer the life of Bumgadyahfrom the kalas into a largesilver urnupon which eyes and other facial features have been painted.Once the urn containing Bumgadyah's spirit is placed in the sanctumwhere the god normally resides, the panju temple attendant decorates itwith the ornaments that normally adorn Bumgadyah, and people wor-ship this giant urn instead of Bumgadyah's image until the image isreconsecrated.The bathing itself is a major spectacle viewed by thousands, amongwhom is a ceremonial sword signifying the king's presence, and for"whom"a clear line of "sight" is maintainedby the honor guardof theking's priest (rajguru). Late at night after the bathing, following secretrites performed at the bathing site, the image is brought back to thetemple in a procession that no one other than the officiants should viewlest they die vomiting blood. Among the pengu thay lokesvars, theserites and the procession that follows are secret only for BumgadyahandCakvadyah,whose rites normally transpireonly a few hundredmetersapart. For the other lokesvars, these rites and the processions back totheir respective temples from their bathing sites are public and clearlyfunereal.58 That Bumgadyah's secret procession probably shares thisfunereal aspect is suggested by the offerings for the dead (pindas) thatare preparedfor the secret puja thatprecedes his returnto his Ta Bahahtemple. An image of a god without life is typically treated in someways as a lifeless human, but to represent the lifelessness of the imageworshiped as Bumgadyahwould be in some sense too dangerousfor thepublic to witness. The secrecy that shroudsthis rite makes it impossibleto do more than speculate why this might be so. PerhapsBumgadyah'sextraordinarypopularity, which extends beyond the valley and across

Jagannath s an obvious example. Though much of this Orrisangod's renewal process isconcealed from all but a few officiants, the fact that the images are completely carvedanew is well known, and the logs used for this purposeare broughtto the temple in publicprocession. See G. C. Tripathi,"Navakalevara:The Unique Ceremony of the 'Birth'and'Death'of the 'Lord of the World,"' in The Cult of Jagannath and the Regional Traditionof Orissa, ed. AnncharlottEshmann, HermannKulke, and Gaya CharanTripathi (NewDelhi: Manohar,1986), pp. 223-64.58 Naladyah'sreturnprocession, which I have not been able to witness personally, maynot feature this funereal aspect, although the image is shroudedprior to the reinvestitureof the deity's life force.

231



33/41

HumanAgency and Divine Powerethnic boundaries, makes it prudentfor ritual officiants to conceal ritessubject to provocative misinterpretation.59The image is first placed out of view in a chamber of the Ta Bahahtemple for a period of seven days referred to as the deity's bardy tdye,a rite of confinement thatmany higher caste Newar girls undergo uponreaching puberty.The image is then broughtout to a side chamberthatis open to public view. Here it undergoes a five-day process of prepa-ration for the return of Bumgadyah's life force. Two high-caste HinduSresthas, called Niyekhus, perform this task, beginning by completelyobliteratingthe facial features of the image and plastering over the faceand body with clay from the hill where Mhaipi Ajima's shrine is lo-cated. The Niyekhus then spend the next five days slowly repairing,replastering, and painting the image. Importantfor this analysis andcontraryto previous reports, these processes of obliteration and resto-rationarepublic for all five of thepengu thdylokesvars.60Bumgadyah'sis the most elaborate and prolonged of these procedures, and manypeople come by to witness the process and offer their comments on thepainters'work. Among the items incorporatedin the restorationof theimage are two thin pieces of gold that are cemented onto his forehead.The accumulation of these metal pieces over the centuries may account,in part, for Bumgadyah'scuriously protrudingforehead.On the day before Bumgadyah's life is restored to his image, thechief panju officiant, assisted by anotherpdnju, conducts an elaboratekalas pujd in which he invokes protective deities into seventy-two claypots lined up in a large square formation in front of the Ta Bahahtemple. One panju maintains a vigil inside this square the entire nightto ensure that its integrity is not disturbed. While he is maintaininghisvigil, others in Bungamati are conducting a sacrifice to the Bhairabs,who are featured in the mythology of Bumgadyah as protectors instru-mental in his coming to Nepal. The reinstallation of the life force ofBumgadyah begins late at night on the fourteenthday of the darkhalfof Baisdkh and continues until early the next morning. After furtherprotective rites are performed, the Niyekhus bring the image, nowswathed as if a corpse, into a chambernext to the main sanctum wherethe image is normally located. After once again using the technique ofsidhana in order to transfer the life of Bumgadyahback into his image

59 Inden'sextensive discussion of bathingrites ([n. 9 above], pp. 233-39) raises manyissues that cannot be adequately addressed here. Among them is the question of whetherthose who attendBumgadyah's bathingrites conceptualize the bathingwaterprasad withwhich they are sprinkledas charged with kind of tejas that Inden describes as emanatingfrom such rites, for they are likely to be aware of the fact thatthejivan of Bumgadyahis,at the time of the bathing, located in the urn residing in his temple sanctum.60 These procedures are described as concealed from public view in Slusser (n. 25above), p. 377; and Locke, Rato Matsyendranath(n. 23 above), p. ix.

232



34/41

History of Religionsfrom the large urn in which it has been residing, the Niyekhus removethe shroud from the image, and a "descendant" of King Narendradevaritually opens the deity's eyes with his sword. From this point on, theNiyekhus and the image undergo a series of life-cycle rites performedfor both Newar males and females and collectively known as the dasakarmapujia.While these rites are being performed open to public view,otherpanjus are conducting another series of rituals at Swayambhuinpreparationfor "bringing Swayambhu"to Bumgadyah. These rites in-clude a secret sacrifice to Yogambara and other secret rituals at theshrines of Vayupur, Basundhara,Nagpur, and Agnipur that surroundthe central stupa. The morning after the night-long dasa karma pujawith the Niyekhus, the dasa karma is once again performed publicly,this time with the panjus who will attend to the god during his chariotfestival.61The afternoon of the panju's dasa karmapujd, a group including thepanju who is to sit to the right of Bumgadyah in his chariot, the panjupiujari,a jyipu girl (called the mdlini), and a jydpu man of the suwdhsubcaste all proceed to the gorge through which the Bagmati exits thevalley, called Kotwa Daham, located several miles south of Bungamati.These people, representing the king (Narendradeva),priest (Bandhu-datta), farmer'swife, and farmer(respectively) who first broughtBum-gadyah to Nepal, all perform a series of rites beginning at dawn of thenext day. This being mathutirtha,the day on which people go "to seetheir mother's face" (mdya khwdh swaye), they first worship Bum-gadyah'smother,representedby a handcarved into the rock of the gorgewall. In a rite that is attended by hundredsof people in spite of its re-mote location, they then reenact the capture of the bee/Karunamaya na kalas by using kalases to catch flowers floating down the river thathave been released by the pdnju pijari/Bandhudatta. This is followedby a secret sacrifice to appease the denizens of Kamarupanda feast. Thepriests, mdlini, andsuwah then reenact the entry of Bumgadyahinto thevalley by carryingthese kalases in procession to Bungamatiand Patan,a process they refer to as "bring

human agency and divine power transforming images and recreating gods among thenewar

Documents