the journal of hindu studies volume 6 issue 2 2013 [doi 10.1093%2fjhs%2fhit026] birkenholtz, j. v....

8/10/2019 The Journal of Hindu Studies Volume 6 Issue 2 2013 [Doi 10.1093%2Fjhs%2Fhit026] Birkenholtz, J. v. -- Seeking Svasthani- The Politics of Gender, Location

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Seeking Svasth@na: The Politics of Gender,

Location, Iconography, and Identity inHindu Nepal

Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz*

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract: The goddess Svasth@nas textual-ritual complex is one of Nepals mostpopular traditions, celebrated in every Hindu household in Nepal. Yet, despiteher ubiquity and popularity, Svasth@na is nearly invisible both within andoutside of her own tradition. This article examines the elusive identity ofthis local goddess in an effort to understand where and in what formSvasth@na is and is not found and what this tells us about the politics of

gender, location, iconography, and Hindu identity in Nepal. I argue thatSvasth@na gradually transforms from an invisible, private, unfixed, indeter-

minate goddess into a visible, public, fixed, specific, and local protector ofplace. In seeking to locate Svasth@na within both the pan-Hindu pantheonand Nepals regional divine and human populations, we are able to see thecomplexities of coming into being, of being female in Hindu thought and

practice, and of being Hindu in medieval and modern Nepal.

For eleven months of the year, the goddess Svasth@na, wrapped cosily in red cloth,is safely stored in the homes of Nepals Hindus, locked away in closets or cabinets

or sometimes stashed (forgotten?) under a bed. During the twelfth month, thewinter month of M@gh (mid-January to mid-February), Svasth@na is not onlybrought forth from these private, protected places but is also worshipped through-out Hindu Nepal as the local divine patroness of Nepals annual month-long reci-tation of the celebratedSvasth@naVrata Kath@(SVK), orThe Story of the Ritual Vow tothe Goddess Svasth@na, and the ritual observance based upon it, the [email protected] Svasth@na textualritual complex is one of Nepals most popular traditionsand, according to most Nepalis, is celebrated in every Hindu household in Nepal.Yet, despite the ubiquity and popularity of the goddess Svasth@na, she is alsoremarkably elusive and nearly invisible outside of and even within her own trad-ition. She is historically absent from the public sphere and confined instead to the

The Author 2013. Oxford University Press and The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. All rights reserved.For permissions, please email [email protected]

The Journal of Hindu Studies 2013;6:198227 doi:10.1093/jhs/hit026

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private domain of the home, where she is kept out of sight for the greater part ofthe year. She thrives in the Kathmandu Valley and is worshipped elsewhere inNepal, but she is generally not known outside of Nepal or even among non-Nepali

Hindu communities in Nepal.1 She is the object of a communal worship ceremonyperformed by hundreds of women and men in a public ritual space, yet is histor-ically absent from most accounts of Nepals religious traditions. She is beloved byNepals Hindu majority, yet has largely escaped scholarly attention.2 How are we tounderstand this goddess, who is so popular and celebrated by so many, but whoremains virtually invisible to those who are not explicitly looking for her?

WhoisSvasth@na? In this article I present an exploration of the often elusive andsometimes unexpected nature of this local Nepali Hindu goddess in an effort tounderstand where and in what form Svasth@naisandis notfound, why, and what

this tells us about the politics of gender, place, iconography, and Hindu identity inthe context of medieval and modern Nepal. Drawing on over a decade of archivaland ethnographic research, I retrace and reconstruct the emergent identity ofSvasth@na, the goddess whose name, quite literally, means ones own place. Iuse, first, the prolific manuscript tradition of the SVK, which has an unbrokenhistory since the late sixteenth century that has produced hundreds of extentmanuscripts,3 and, second, other non-textual representations and associations ofthe goddess found in sculpture and other artistic images. Specifically, I explore thecharacter and changing role of Svasth@nain the following contexts in which they

are most explicit: the narrative tradition of the SVK; an eighteenth-century statueconsecrated by the king of Kathmandu, which was until recently the only suchimage of the goddess; other pictorial images that witness the transformation ofSvasth@nafrom a tantric symbol to an anthropomorphic figure, and; the Svasth@nastatue recently commissioned by locals and consecrated in Sankhu, Nepal. Asurvey of these depictions of Svasth@na specifically highlights the ambiguity ofher character and more generally reflects the ambiguities and contradictions thatepitomise the feminine, both divine and mortal, in the Hindu tradition. I demon-strate that Svasth@na, whose newness calls to mind Indias relatively recent divinephenomenon SantoXaM@, complicates the so-called wild (ugra) and mild (saumya)categories to which Hindu goddesses are commonly assigned.4 She is, for example,variously associated with benign consort goddesses such as P@rvataand Uma, localmanifestations of the fierce goddesses such as Durg@ and Taleju, and protectorgoddesses such as the AXbam@tPk@. Such a diversity of identities within a singlegoddess tradition is not unheard of among South Asian deities. A fellow secretiveNepali goddess, Guhyesvara, for example, similarly exhibits a multitude of identi-ties, which Indologist and Nepal scholar Axel Michaels argues are context-sensitive(Michaels 1996). The kind of hybridity that these goddesses exhibit is significantfor our understanding and analysis of the goddesses of South Asia. Examination of

Svasth@nis different associations and representations invites consideration of theways in which her identity evolves according to the evolving sense of place andcommunity in the Himalayan region in which she resides among a diverse and

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fluctuating mortal and divine population. I argue that over the course of herhistory, Svasth@naundergoes a gradual transformation from a relatively invisible,private, fluid, indeterminate goddess to a more visible, public, fixed, specific, and

local protector of place and, significantly, the embodiment of a place to be pro-tected. I aim to demonstrate that while a fluid indeterminacy characterisesSvasthanis identity and while she is arguably more absent than she is present,Svasthani nevertheless represents something female, local, and Nepali that isempowering.

By way of background

A brief survey of the SVK narrative tradition and ritual practice will help context-

ualise the discussion that follows. The SVK has an unbroken history that spans thelast five centuries and three languages (Sanskrit, Newar, and Nepali). From thesixteenth century to the present, the SVK text expanded from a handwritten eight-folio palm-leaf local legend on the origin of the Svasth@navrat, or ritual vow, into afull-fledged Pur@>a of thirty-one chapters in over four hundred printed pages. Thetext is read cover to cover, one chapter each night throughout the month [email protected] narratives can easily be divided into three main sections. The first is con-cerned with the creation of the universe and its divine, demon, and human popu-lations. The second focuses on well-known pan-Hindu accounts of the family

stories of DakXa Pr@japati, SataDeva, Mah@dev, P@rvata, and others. The final sectionconcentrates on the domestic and marital struggles of two women, the pious butever-suffering Gomayaju5 and her selfish and sinful daughter-in-law [email protected] is married as a child to an aged, decrepit man who dies soon afterleaving to beg for alms in order to support his newly pregnant wife. After herson Navar@j is older and married, he goes in search of his father, at which timeCandr@vataabandons her mother-in-law and returns to her natal home. Gomayajuperforms the Svasth@na vrat, which effects the return of her son and his subse-quent coronation as king of a neighbouring region. Navar@j sends for his wife, butCandr@vatais waylaid when she desecratespras@dfrom the Svasth@navratalong theway, which results in her suffering in great misery for many years. Once sheperforms the Svasth@na vrat, Candr@vata is reunited with her husband andmother-in-law and they all live happily ever after. The plight of Gomayaju andCandr@vataand their son/husband, Navar@j, is regarded as a local legend of Nepaliorigin and constitutes the entirety of the oldest SVK texts available.

Similar to the textual recitation, the Svasth@na vrat lasts the duration of themonth ofM@gh. It is an annual re-enactment of the ritual vow or fast that femalecharacters in the SVK undertake in honour of the goddess Svasth@na in order toearn a boon from her. The vratcan be performed individually in the privacy of

ones home or communally in Sankhu, a traditional Newar village located eighteenkilometres east of Kathmandu. Nepalis believe that many of the events narrated inthe SVK occurred in or near the Sali Nadi, the river that flows near the village and

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figures prominently in the text. There are several hundred female participants, butthe number of male participants in Sankhus communal vratobservance typicallydoes not exceed two dozen. The majority of participants are Hindu Newars, who

typically number several hundred, but there are also a large number (around onehundred) of high-caste hill Hindus, i.e. Bahuns and Chetris (Skt Brahmans andKXyatriyas, respectively), and an occasional smattering of people from amongNepals numerous other ethnic groups.

Svasth@nain the SVK narrative tradition

Although the patron deity of the textual and ritual traditions that bear her name,Svasth@nas physical presence in both the text and ritual is historically limited.6

Throughout her tradition, she exists largely as an aniconic goddess and, as we shallsee, iconographic representations of her are rare. Our first introduction toSvasth@na in the SVK is therefore both fitting and ironic. In the oldest extantmanuscripts from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, it occurs inthe opening dialogue between the ascetic god Mah@dev (as Siva is commonlyreferred to in Nepal and particularly in the SVK) and his consort P@rvata, inwhich P@rvata asks him to tell her about the most difficult vow in the threeworlds. Mah@dev complies, but first relates the basic instructions for preparationand performance of the vow, which includes meditating upon the image of the

Svasth@na. He offers the following rich physical description of the goddess:

Her beauty is luminous like the color of gold. She has three eyes and her face islike a lotus. She is seated on a lion, and is decorated with all kinds of ornaments.In her left hand she holds a blue lotus while making the fear-dispelling gesture.With her right hand she makes the boon-giving gesture. She holds a sword andshield upraised in her [other] right and left hands, respectively.(Svasth@n@paramesvaryy@vratakath@ [sic] NS 693 [1573 CE])7

From this earliest portrait of Svasth@na, there are already clear signs that her identityand nature are complicated. The fact that she sits upon a lion and holds upraised asword and a shield conjures images of the well-known goddess Durg@. At the sametime, however, she also holds a blue lotus and makes both the fear-dispelling andboon-giving gestures, which evokes images of the popular goddess P@rvata. From thisvery first introduction to Svasth@na, we can begin to understand that she does notreadily conform to either of the customary categories of the benevolent, marriedconsort goddess or the fierce, virgin warrior goddess to which divine women areoften assigned. That is, goddesses such as P@rvata, LakXmi, Saraswata, R@dh@, and Sat@are extolled for their dual roles as benign, nurturing mothers and submissive, sub-

servient wives. It is their married state that has rendered these divine women to alarge degree passive, for upon partnering with their respective male consorts, theytransfer their inherentsakti, or the female principle of empowering energy, to their



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consorts. In contrast, goddesses such as Durg@ and K@la are characterised by theirindependence and lack of male partner, on account of (a lack of) which they retaintheirsaktiand consequently have the capacity to be wild and destructive (although

Durg@ in particular is also celebrated for her creative prowess and both K@la andDurg@ are commonly approached by devotees as mothers). Because Svasth@nasiconographic representation in the oldest extant SVK manuscripts suggests thatSvasth@na is not easily nor exclusively identified as either a so-called mild orwild goddess, let us explore Svasth@nas role and nature in the text further.

Svasth@na makes only a single appearance in the oldest SVK narrative, whichdates to 1573 CE [Vikram Samvat 693]. One morning, while Navar@j performs hisdaily rituals,

the goddess Svasth@naappeared in the form described [earlier in the text], andsaid [to Navar@j], O, young king! I am pleased because your mother is devotedto me. All that has happened I made happen. I made you king. And so, if yousuccessfully protect your prosperous kingdom here in this world, you willobtain liberation. (Ibid.)

Svasth@nas appearance and direct communication here is unexpected if we con-sider her conspicuous absence both elsewhere in this text and, more remarkably,in later manuscripts.8 In the later SVK tradition, the goddess does not manifest

herself at all or speak with anyone. Rather, she is depicted as an omnipresent forceor entity whose mouthpiece and go-between is most commonly [email protected], from this rare appearance described above, we see a kind, generousside of Svasth@nathat shows her desire to reward her devotee. In this instance, it isNavar@js mother Gomayaju who undertakes the Svasth@navratwhen she is aban-doned first by Navar@j, who sets off to find his long-gone father, and then by hiswife Candr@vata, who selfishly returns to her natal home in the absence of herhusband. Gomayajus successful completion of thevratresults in the speedy returnof Navar@j and his subsequent coronation as king of a neighbouring region.

While the above example illustrates the benevolence of the goddess, a reflectionof her nurturing, mild side, the SVK narrative makes plain that Svasth@naalso hasa wilder streak and may just as readily use her power to punish those who dis-parage her. This is best illustrated when the self-important Candr@vatadesecrates

pras@d from the Svasth@na vrat. This occurs when her newly crowned husbandsends palanquin bearers to bring her back from her natal home. On theirreturn, the palanquin bearers see a group of apsaras-s perform the Svasth@navrat. After taking leave of their charge to witness the vrat, they return toCandr@vata with some pras@d, which she promptly spits upon. She punctuatesher disdain with verbal insults to the goddess.

The brahmunic@ then became exceedingly angry and said to them, Sinners!You left me here in the palanquin and are now speaking nonsense. From



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In a 1603 CE [VS 723] SVK, in the Newar language translation of this Sanskrit slokathere is little ambiguity about the relationship between Siva and Svasth@na:

Such is the image of Svasth@naParamesvara. Such is also the image of Siva. Theonly different feature is his vehicle, which is a bull. One should meditate on theimage of Sivasakti, with their four arms and three eyes. (Ibid.)

The designation of Svasth@naand Mah@dev as Sivasakti clearly identifies Svasth@naas Sivas consort, his sakti. This is explicitly stated again in the p+j@vidhiwhen, inSanskrit, Mah@dev explains to P@rvata that the devotee should worship you andme in an image (ibid.). The Newar language translation provided immediatelyafterward clarifies in the following way: P@rvata! In thisvratone does not perform

religious rites of other deities. If there is a statue of you [P@rvata] and me[Mah@dev], then one should worship the statue (ibid.). Mah@dev here clearlyequates the goddess Svasth@na with his consort P@rvata.

Their conjugal association is further entrenched later in the SVK textual trad-ition on account of the fact that since the mid-eighteenth century the text alsointroduces P@rvata and Sata Deva (as the goddess Sata is commonly referred to inNepal and the SVK), both wives of Siva. These two goddesses become prominentdivine players in the SVK with the incorporation of the popular DakXa Praj@patiSataDevaP@rvatacycle of myths in the course of the texts ongoing Pur@>icization

during the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.9

Pur@>icizationrefers to the process by which the SVK text transformed from a discrete local

narrative on the origin of the Svasth@navratinto a Pur@>a text that encompassescosmology and genealogy of the gods and Manu, for example. Originally limited tothe story of Gomayaju, Navar@j, and Candr@vata, the SVK gradually comes to spendthe first two thirds of the text recounting the trials and tribulations of Sat a Devaand P@rvatabefore, during, and after their marriages to Mah@dev. The emphasis onthese divine wives as well as on other womanly, wifely, and motherly concerns including child marriage, the move from onesmaiti(natal home) to husbandsghar(home), kinship, childbirth and child rearing, and widowhood serves tostrengthen Svasth@nas association with Mah@dev as his consort and wife.

At the same time, however, we see yet another important association and aspectof Svasth@na in her association with the great goddess Deva, in the form ofMah@m@y@. Deva/Mah@m@y@ is introduced into the SVK with the inclusion of thepopular creation myth of the daitya (demon) duo Madhu and Kaibabha during thesecond phase of Pur@>icization the SVK experienced near the close of the eighteenthcentury. Since then, this myth of the creation of the universe, in which the goddessMah@m@y@ plays a key role, has been the opening narrative of SVK texts. TheMadhuKaibabha episode, although originally from the Mah@bh@rata, is perhaps

most well known as one of the three main episodes of the Deva-m@h@tmya and isalso found in other Pur@>a texts such as the Devabh@gavata Pur@>a.10 The centralfigure in this myth, particularly as presented in the latter two texts, is Devi, here in



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the form of Mah@m@y@. Mah@m@y@represents the illusory female principal ofm@y@,which can be used for constructive or destructive ends. It is she who enables ViX>uto awaken and fight thedaityaand she who deludes the duo, thereby contributing

to their final demise. In the popular contemporary SVK version of this narrative,Mah@m@y@s role is limited to (the critical task of) awakening ViX>u so that he canengage Madhu and Kaibabha in battle. There is at least one SVK that draws a directconnection between Mah@m@y@and the goddess Svasth@naby explicitly referring tothe Goddess of this episode as [email protected] Whether explicit or not, the immediatepresence of the supreme Sakti at the opening of a local text that extols the virtuesand power of the local goddess Svasth@na intimates a connection of consequencebetween Mah@m@y@ and Svasth@na. This is significant because of the additionalassociation the Goddess of the Deva-m@h@tmyaandDevabh@gavata Pur@>a have with

the goddesses Durg@and K@la, which in turns reinforces Svasth@nas association withthese fierce warrior goddesses.

So what do we know of Svasth@naso far? We know nothing of her origin. Whilemost deities in the Hindu tradition have an origin myth and while vrat kath@-soften narrate this myth, neither is true in the case of Svasth@naand the SVK. Whatthe SVK provides is an account of the origin of the Svasth@na vrat among thehuman population. But it also makes it clear that the Svasth@na vratwas alreadypreviously known within the divine realm. After Mah@dev travels tomartyalok, therealm of mortals, to take care of some business and returns back to Mount Kail@s,

we are told the following:

When SraMah@dev arrived there, many gods, goddesses, and daughters of godshad gathered on the top of Mount Kail@s and were performing the vrat ofSvasth@na Paramesvara. When P@rvata saw the face of Mah@dev, she said, Thisvratis only known in heaven. It is not known among those of the mortal realm.Therefore, in order to teach the middle realm [i.e. the realm of mortals] youshould be pleased and send someone to instruct them. After saying this,Mah@dev instructed a PXi named ?sava, ?sava PXi! Go to the realm of mortalsand whether there may be very rich people or whether there may be people

suffering greatly, to one person among both kinds of people, tell the precepts,process, merits, and fruits of thisvratand then return. Meanwhile, the world ofthe gods performed this vratin heaven. (Svasth@nipalamesvayyauvratakath@ [sic]NS 723 [1603 CE].)

Later in the kath@, when Navar@j sends palanquin bearers to return his wifeCandr@vata to him in his new kingdom, the travelers encounter a group of ap-

saras-s performing the Svasth@na vrat. It is this performance that evoked suchanger and impropriety from Candr@vata discussed earlier.

Along the way, there was a sudden shower of flowers on the bank of the rivernext to the road. The palanquin bearers left their mistress and went to see thisunusual occurrence. In the place where there had been the shower of flowers,



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the daughters of the gods and the daughters of the n@ga-s were gathered to-gether and sat doing thevratof Svasth@naParamesvara. Seeing this, the palan-quin bearers returned to the palanquin with incredible happiness and said to

their mistress, Brahmunaju, we both are so very lucky. We saw the daughters ofthe gods performing the vrat of Svasth@na Paramesvara. We brought flowersfrom thevrat. We are very thankful. (Ibid.)

Svasth@naand hervratare therefore evidently familiar to those residing in devalok.Yet, curiously, in the opening verses of the oldest SVK manuscripts, the con-

versation between P@rvataand Mah@dev suggest that the Svasth@navrathas in factbeen kept a secret from those in both devalok andmartyalok. P@rvata asks,

Master! Is there a vratthat you have kept very secret? Whatkarmanshould bedone to benefit you? Gods, daitya-s (demons), n@ga-s, brothers and their ownwives, sons, and husbands, many relatives, each person who is a devotee: Whatvratis there that has been kept secret from these people? You should be pleasedand tell me. (Ibid.)

Moreover, despite the fact that P@rvatais herself present in the vrat kath@ and infact urges Mah@dev to make known the Svasth@navratamong the human popula-tion as described above, in this opening dialogue she claims to be ignorant of therite. After P@rvata learns from Mah@dev that this secreted vratis that of the god-

dess Svasth@na, she again asks,

Isvara, I have a great desire to listen to the story of who first heard this kath@[of thevrat] and of who first performed thisvrat, to listen to this vratfrom you.If I am worthy of this matter being told, then you should be pleased to tell it tome in detail. Upon her asking, SraBhagav@na Mah@rudra related this matter indetail. (Ibid.)

These inconsistencies reflect the complex nature of the Goddess figure in theHindu tradition. Svasth@na both is and is not P@rvata, and Svasth@na and P@rvataare both emanations of the divine feminine. Given her various ties to P@rvata, it isnot surprising that Svasth@nais also positioned as Sivas consort in the text and inthe popular imaginaire. What is surprising, however, is that she is simultaneouslyportrayed as independent and unfettered by a male companion or master.Svasth@na is generally benign and benevolent, granting boons to devoted suppli-cants, but is also quick to temper and lash out at those who wrong her. With onehand she sent the palanquin bearers to heaven and with her other she relegatedthe sinful Candr@vatato a (temporary yet long) life of misery. She is depicted withiconographic emblems that evoke images of Durg@, sitting astride her lion with

weapons raised. But she is likened to Mah@m@y@, whose creative and destructivepowers of illusion and delusion are perhaps most applicable for our understandingof Svasth@na.



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Svasth@nain art

The oldest image of Svasth@na

Given the varied narrative portrait of Svasth@napresented in the SVK, what do wefind when we examine representations of the goddess in the few non-textualimages of the goddess available to us? Just as, in stark contrast to the hundredsof extant SVK manuscripts available to us, Svasth@nais notably absent (or at leastlargely invisible) in the SVK, physical images of the goddess are few in number.Svasth@nas ambiguous nature as somewhere between that of a mild and wildgoddess is initially reified in these limited images. However, it is in theseimages that we also see the physical manifestation of the transformation of

Svasth@

nainto a protector deity.In 1674 CE [NS 794] Prat@p Malla, the king of Kathmandu, consecrated an image

of the goddess near the royal palace in Kathmandu and so made permanent thepresence of Svasth@nain the Nepal Valley12 (Fig. 1). This is the first known, extantphysical image of the goddess and, remarkably, the only extant statue of Svasth@nauntil the twenty-first century,13 a development discussed below. In this unique andsizable statue, Svasth@nais almost identical with the description of her offered inthe earliest SVK manuscripts. She is seated upon a lion, and in her raised righthand she holds a sword and in her raised left hand a shield. With her lower righthand she makes the boon-giving gesture and her lower left hand makes the fear-dispelling gesture. She is ornamented with a flower necklace, earrings, and armletsand a headdress. A blue lotus appears to hover near her upraised raised left handthat holds the shield. Because of the layers of colourful red and yellow powderused in deity worship, it is difficult to discern whether or not Svasth@na has thestated third eye. It is similarly impossible to recognise Sivas token third eye.Nevertheless, it is Siva, similarly situated and depicted with four arms, who sitsto the right of Svasth@na. He sits upon a bull, holds in his upraised right hand astring of beads (akXam@l@) and in his upraised left hand a trident, and makes thefear-dispelling gesture with his lower right hand while holding ap@traor vessel inhis lower left hand. He is also draped with a garland of skulls, wears earrings andarmlets of serpents, has a crown on his head and a crescent moon in his mattedhair.14

In this singular image of the goddess, we see carved in stone the complexities ofSvasth@nas identity described in the narrative text. Perhaps the most visuallystriking aspect of this image is that Svasth@na is depicted not alone but withSiva. She is seated next to him in a manner emblematic of his union with hisconsort, thereby assuredly announcing that Svasth@nais his consort. As such, sheimmediately becomes interchangeable with the other personas of Sivas consorts,

most notably Um@and P@rvata. Prat@ps inscription, however, clearly identifies thefemale seated with the easily recognisable Siva as a goddess named Svasth@na:Together with the Thrice Illustrious Siva, the Thrice Illustrious Svasth@na was



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established (sra3 sivasahitena sra3 svasth@naparamesvara . . . ). The goddesss nameis also conspicuously painted above the stone carving further clarifying what wasalready clearly stated in the inscription - though the date of this nametag, whichmust be much newer, is unknown (Fig. 2). Nevertheless, scholars have all butunanimously identified this happy couple as none other than Um@ Mahesvara.Gautam Vajr@c@rya entitles his transcription of the statues inscription The in-scription of Prat@p Malla at the base of Um@Mahesvara at Tana Bahal (Vajr@c@rya2003 [1976], p. 231).15 Similarly, although Hemraj Sakya and T. R. Vaidya firstidentify the stone image as Swasth@naparamesvara, they immediately offer par-enthetical clarification that this represents Siva and P@rvata (Sakya and Vaidya1970, p. 141). What is surprising is that these scholars see but fail to consider the

importance of the differences in the physical representation of these two pan-Hindu goddesses, Um@ and P@rvata, and the local goddess Svasth@na. Sakya andVaidya, for example, comment without further remark that in the Svasth@nastatue

Figure 1. The Siva-Svasth@na statue installed in 1674 CE by King Prat@p Malla in Makhan Tol,Kathmandu. Photo by author.



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the disposition of symbols in the hands of the two deities differs from the normalUm@-Mahesvara image (ibid.). These differences in this stone image are that Sivaholds a vessel and, more importantly, Svasth@na holds a sword and shield. While

Siva here essentially conforms to traditional Um@-Mahesvara iconography, thegoddesss possession of both a weapon (the sword) and warfare-related armour(the shield) is a notable divergence from Um@s conventional iconography. Um@typically nestl[es] on her husbands left thigh with her right hand. Her left legraised on the seat. The lower part of her body is turned gracefully outwards withher right foot hanging down and resting on the back of her tiny mount, the lion.Um@is holding a flower in her left hand (Sakya 2000, pp. 5960). The only aspectof this established iconography that is found in the Svasth@na stone image is thegoddesss holding of a flower in her left hand. Even when depicted alone, Um@often bears a string of beads, a vessel, sometimes a staff, and makes the boon-granting gesture and sometimes the fear-dispelling gesture.16 In other words, asSivas peaceful, benign consort, she is not customarily associated with emblems ofwar such as a sword and shield. These symbols are, on the contrary, typical of thefierce warrior goddess [email protected]

At one and the same time, then, Svasth@na is associated with Um@/P@rvata onaccount of her physical proximity and demeanour with Siva, but also aligned withDurg@ because of the weaponry she wields. The location of this Svasth@na imagefurther reinforces this latter association with the fierce warrior goddess. Ratherthan installing this image in the goddesss own place, namely, in her own sanc-

tuary or in the village with which her tradition becomes so intimately associated,Prat@p placed it near the royal palace in Kathmandu.18 More specifically, heerected the Svasth@na statue in close proximity to the main Taleju temple in

Figure 2. The srasvasth@na painted above this 1674 CE statue leaves little doubt as to the iden-tity of the goddess seated next to Mah@dev. Photo by author.



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Kathmandus royal palace square. The statue is located in Makhan Tol, in a smalltemple courtyard called Tana Bahal that is adjacent to the northern side of Talejusstoried temple. Upon entering Tana (which is the commonly abbreviated name of

T@n@deva or T@ra>a Bhav@na) Bahal through its west (and only) gate, Siva andSvasth@naare the first deities encountered. Off to the south of them in the court-

yard is a late-fifteenth-century small house-like temple dedicated to T@n@deva/T@ra>a Bhav@na. This unimposing temple is, according to one local legend, intim-ately associated with Taleju. During the construction of the great Taleju temple,portions of the temple fell down on Tana Bahal. An accomplished tantric thenprayed in this shrine who was instructed by an oracle to take a pinnacle of thisshrine and install it on the Taleju temple. Then the Taleju temple was completed(Majupuria and Kumar 1993, p. 70). There are, of course, countless temples and

statues of any number of deities in the vicinity of Talejus watchful gaze from herown temple. Even in the courtyard of Tana Bahal there are a handful of smallerstone images of K@la and of ViXnu in the form of his fish avatar, which flank theSiva-Svasth@naimage, as well as of Ga>es. The inscription itself offers no indicationof the significance of its particular location, nor does the SVK manuscript makeany mention or even hint of this area in its local geography. However, I wouldargue that Prat@ps choice of location in such close proximity to his favouredTaleju and the royal palace cannot be merely coincidental.

What, then, is the connection between Taleju and Svasth@na? Talejus primary

role as the protective tutelary deity of the Hindu monarchy is well established.Taleju, a local form of the goddess Durg@, was established as the tutelary deity ofthe Nepal monarchy by Jayasthiti Malla in the fourteenth century. She has sincethen served the historically critical and prestigious role of protecting the kingdomthrough the medium of the monarchy. Her patronage and protection were of theutmost importance to the Malla kings, such as Prat@p Malla, in the medieval periodand the Shah rulers in the modern period.19 I would like to suggest that Svasth@nasimilarly emerged in Nepals divine pantheon as a protector deity and that it is inthis capacity that she shares mutual interests and associations with Taleju.Whereas Taleju protects the political well being of the king and state, Svasth@naprotects the social, cultural, and religious well being of the state and its (Hindu)population. To explicate this further, let us explore a brief but relevant tangent toconsider the significance of the goddesss name. The name Svasth@nais a compos-ite Sanskrit word that consists of sva, which in a compound most often meansones own, and sth@nam, which means place, standing, situation, abode, region,and so on. Prin. Vaman Shivaram Apte provides a gloss for the whole compound inhisA Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary: svasth@nam[:] ones own place or home,ones own abode (Apte 1998, p. 1737). The addition of -a to the compound thenfeminises it. Svasth@na, then, is the Goddess of Ones Own Place. Given that the SVK

textual tradition is rooted in the Nepal Valley20 and that the tradition has not hadin historical or modern times any currency in India, it is reasonable to concludethat ones own place here broadly refers to the Nepal Valley. To expand on the



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possible implications of each component of the goddess name, it is worth notingthat sva can also mean belonging to ones own caste or tribe (Apte 1998, p. 1736)which suggests that Svasth@na serves also as a divine figure who represents and

protects a specific community that seeks protection or differentiation from othercommunities. This interpretation is further supported by the additional definitionsof sth@nam Apte offers, such as (In politics, war &c.) [t]he firm attitude or bearingof troops, standing firm so as to repel a charge and [t]hat which constitutes thechief strength or the very existence of a kingdom, a stamina of a kingdom; i.e.army, treasure, town, and territory (Apte 1998, p. 1721). These alternative ways oftranslating and understanding the implications of ones own place yield add-itional levels of significance to Svasth@nas identity and relationship to theHindu communities that worship her. As the embodiment of ones own place,

she simultaneously represents the individual, the home or family, and the largerlocal, regional, and eventually national community, all of which are engaged innegotiating their specific time and place in the immediate and broader contexts oftheir socioreligious and geopolitical standing. During Nepals medieval period andwell into the modern period, Nepal and its indigenous Newar Hindu populationwere navigating their place and identity as Hindus and Nepalis in response to theinflux into the Nepal Valley of high-caste hill Hindus and orthodox BrahmanicalHindu ideology and practice. Moreover, Nepal was also navigating its emergingidentity as the asal Hindustan, or pure land of the Hindus, which the ruling class of

Nepal consciously constructed vis-a-vis what they perceived as the defilement ofIndia and its Hindu population at the hands of first the Mughals and then theBritish. As the Goddess of Ones Own Place, one of Svasth@nas central roles is,therefore, to demarcate and protect this place, this site of social, religious, andcultural identity formation and negotiation, guiding devotees as they navigatetheir way through complex relationships. In this way Svasth@na emerged as asocioreligious ambassador for medieval and modern Nepal.

The idea that Svasth@na represents a place to be nurtured and protected con-tinues to gain currency over the coming centuries, as evidenced by her eventualassociation with the AXbam@tPk@, or Eight Mother Goddesses.21 In Nepal, thesegoddesses all are classed as hitv@dyo, somewhat fierce or forbidding deities whoexpect blood sacrifice (Slusser 1982, p. 322). In this way, the AXbam@tPk@are linkedto Durg@ and Taleju. These goddesses are all invested with the critical role asguardian protectors of Nepal Mandala (Slusser 1982, p. 344).22 In contrast to theprotection Durg@historically offered on the battlefield and Taleju provided in theroyal courts, the AXbam@tPk@ physically demarcate the area they protect. Thisprotected area may be as local and personal as ones home, with the eightmother goddesses personified in household tools (Iltis 1985, p. 641) or a neigh-bourhood, or a town or city (such as Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur, which are

each encircled by AXbam@tPk@ temples), or a nation (ibid). This role of theAXbam@tPk@ and Svasth@nas own role as a goddess of place and protection takeon new significance when the SVK tradition establishes a connection between the



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mother goddesses and Svasth@na, a connection that develops over hundreds ofyears before it becomes physically manifest in the tradition.

Artistic images of Svasth@nain SVK manuscripts

In the nascent years of the SVK tradition in the late sixteenth and early seven-teenth centuries, the text described Svasth@na in words but offered no physicalrepresentations of her. In the last third of the seventeenth century, a statue of thegoddess materialised near the royal palace in Kathmandu. Yet it is not until overanother hundred years later that we find the first artistic drawings and paintingsof the goddess. Since their gradual emergence beginning in the early nineteenthcentury, the imagery surrounding Svasth@nahas ranged from symbolic represen-

tations to anthropomorphic images that associate the goddess not with Siva/Mah@dev but with the AXbam@tPk@. Initially, images of Svasth@nas likeness werepainted on the insides of the wooden covers that protected handwritten manu-scripts, such as that on the front cover of an 1830 CE [NS 950] SVK (Fig. 3), theearliest image of the goddess that I have discovered. Svasth@na is here seen withher various emblems and seated with Ga>esto her right and Kum@r to her left.More rarely is an image of the goddess included in the text itself. A SVK from 1885CE [VS 1942], for example, offers several drawings of events described in the text,including an unusual image of Svasth@nabeing fanned by a female devotee as she,

again outfitted with her symbolic paraphernalia (which rarely match thosedescribed in the text itself), sits on an ornate chaise while seemingly greetingand/or giving/receivingdarsanfrom Mah@dev23 (Fig. 4).

In the same 1885 CE manuscript, there is another image (that precedes the onejust described) that provides an important link between earlier and later depic-tions of Svasth@na. The image presents a darpana, or mirror used for ritual pur-poses, situated between two trees (Fig. 5). In the middle of thedarpanais drawn aneight-petal lotus flower. Each petal is marked with the name of one of the eightMother Goddesses. The diagram as a whole is labelled as the yantra of Svasth@na(srasvasth@naparamesvarakoyantra). This unusual symbolisation of the goddessSvasth@na suggests a connection between Svasth@na and LakXma, the pan-Hindugoddess of wealth, with whom the darpana is commonly associated. Aside fromtheir shared characterisation as benevolent goddesses and the fact that all god-desses are ultimately one with the Goddess, this association with LakXmais tenta-tive. Perhaps more telling is the presence of a Svasth@nayantra at all, which mayreflect the influence of Tantrism on the Svasth@na tradition.

By the early to mid-twentieth century, both these sporadic individual portraitsof the goddess and the Svasth@nayantraevolve into a different image of the god-dess that increasingly become a fixture in the majority of SVK texts from the mid-

twentieth century onwards.24 No longer seated upon a tiger, Svasth@na is nowpictured sitting in the middle a lotus flower. She is surrounded by theAXbam@tPk@, each of whom is seated on a petal of the lotus and is identified by



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their name, emblems, and vehicles, as seen in a 1947 CE SVK (Fig. 6). Under this re-

envisioned picture in the 1947 CE SVK is a Sanskrit verse that describes this newimage of Svasth@na:

Svasth@naJagadasvarais seated among the eight Mother Goddesses on an eightleaf petal. Her beauty is radiant like the color of gold. She has four arms andthree eyes, and is adorned with all kinds of ornaments. She holds upraised [intwo hands] a sword and trident, and with her lower [hands] holds a shield and ablue lotus (Sarm@1947, p. 3).

While it is common for pictorial representations of Svasth@nato deviate from the

description of her given in the body of the SVK text, it is notable that in this imageshe now holds a trident, one of Siva/Mah@devs iconic symbols. The inclusion ofthe trident comes in addition to or at the expense of the shield and boon-giving

Figure 3. An early image of the goddess Svasth@napainted on the inside of the wooden cover of a1830 CE SVK (private copy, Kathmandu).

Figure 4. One of the earliest illustrations of the goddess Svasth@nain the pages of a SVK manuscript.This Nepali language text was produced by lithography in 1885 CE (National Archives, reel no. I25/41).



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Figure 6. Svasth@na seated in the center of an eight-petal lotus and surrounded by the?Xbam@tPk@ in a SVK from 1947 CE (Madan Purask@r Pustak@laya).

Figure 5. A Svasth@nayantrafound in an 1885 CE SVK. The ?Xbam@tPk@are represented as theeight petals of the lotus flower situated in the middle of this darpana, or mirror (NationalArchives, reel no. I25/41).



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and fear-dispelling gestures.25 More importantly, Svasth@nais no longer describedas seated upon a lion but is instead seated among the eight Mother Goddesses onan eight leaf petal. The absence of the tiger immediately distances Svasth@nafrom

her association with Durg@and her role as Sivas consort. The explicit connectionmade here between her and the mother goddesses, however, only reinforcesSvasth@nas fierce, protective nature. Now encircled by the AXbam@tPk@, she issituated at the center of their protective embrace. Svasth@na, who both repre-sented the idea and protected the experience of place as a site of socioculturaland religious identity negotiation among the people of the Nepal Valley, now alsorepresented the place to be protected. As Linda Iltis states:

In her abstract nature, placed at the point of definition of this protective

ma>nala, Swasthani [sic] is the place to be protected. The place differs foreach individual, family or community, so that she actually represents onesown place (Iltis 1985, p. 642).

Many modern SVK texts from the past decade go one step further to state thecomplexity of Svasth@nas personality and purpose, leaving little doubt as to thesignificance of Svasth@nas relationship to the AXbam@tPk@and the meaning of thisma>nala. A SVK from 1970 CE, for example, adds an additional title to this pictureand verse that plainly states that the AXbam@tPk@represent the eight natural forms

of the goddess Svasth@

na(sr

a

svasth@

na

deva

k@ @

bha svarupa). The mother goddessesdo not merely protect Svasth@na and all that she embodies - they are part of herand her identity. Much like afflicting and healing goddesses, such as Sitala/H@rata/M@riyamma@, who are both the disease and its cure, Svasth@narepresents both theplace to be protected and is the source of its protection.

Interestingly, there is no mention of the AXbam@tPk@in the earliest SVK narra-tive variant, nor is there any concrete historical evidence that documents theorigin and development of Svasth@nas connection with the AXbam@tPk@. It isonly in the nineteenth century that the AXbam@tPk@ first appear in the SVK nar-rative, and their presence is in name only much like the presence of Svasth@naherself. In P@rvatas mission to win Mah@dev as her husband, upon Mah@devsrequest, ViXnu instructs P@rvata to perform the Svasth@na vrat. In the course ofrelating to her the necessary instructions, ViXnu describes the goddess Svasth@na,

just as Mah@dev does in the oldest extant SVK manuscripts when P@rvata asksabout the most difficult vrat. In an 1847 CE [VS 1904] SVK, for example, ViX>udescribes her as seated among the eight mother goddesses on an eight-petal lotusflower (Srasvasth@naparamesvary@kath@[sic] VS 1904 [1847 CE]). In some variants, hisinstructions include telling P@rvata to worship Svasth@na and the AXbam@[email protected]

This directive does not refer to an altogether different vrat, but rather suggests

the conflation of a vrat honouring the AXbam@tPk@ with the vrat of [email protected], this close relationship between these goddesses is not present inthe oldest extant Nepali language SVK (dated to 1810 CE [Sakya Samvat 1732]) nor



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This Sankhu m+rti of the goddess and her temple are unusual for several rea-sons. The statue is made of black granite, which is a common material for divineimages in South India, but less common in Nepal. More significant is the design ofthe statue that has Svasth@na seated upon the eight mother goddesses. This is

remarkable because it reflects the relatively modern association found onlymore recently in the textual tradition, on the one hand, and, on the other hand,because it consequently deviates markedly from Pratap Mallas Siva-Svasth@nam+rti. The new Svasth@na-AXbam@tPk@m+rtireflects the transformation of the god-dess from being identified first and foremost as the lesser-known local consort ofthe pan-Hindu great god Siva, whose watchful gaze keeps an eye on Svasth@na, to amore independent goddess self-assuredly situated among her host of fellow divinefemale protectresses. Lastly, there is the mere fact of its existence, which comessome five hundred years after the known beginning of the Svasth@natradition and

over nearly two hundred years after the only other known statue was consecrated.

Conclusion

If we return to the initial question posed at the outset of this essay Who isSvasth@na? it seems that we now have more questions than we have answers.Svasth@na is a local Nepali goddess who embodies the diversity and hybridity oftraditional female and divine characteristics and associations. She is formidablebut also benevolent. She wields weaponry but is not a warrior, nor is she explicitly

a mother figure or a virgin. She has agency but little if any actual voice. She isindependent and claims no consort but is nevertheless closely associated with (andoften overshadowed by) Mah@dev. Like Nepals Guhyesvara, goddess of the secret,

Figure 7. A local Sankhu artists painting of Svasth@na surrounded by the AXbam@tPk@.



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who is variously regarded and worshipped as the Vaidic-Puranic P@rvata orSatadeva, wife of Siva, as a Tantric, alcohol-accepting goddess (e.g. Guhyak@la), asa Mah@yanist or Vajray@nist Buddhist goddess, Buddhist Sakti or consort ofHevajra, and last but not least as a folk deity (Michaels 1996, p. 316), Svasth@nahas not yet fully revealed her identity. While at times these goddesses may con-form to the traditional categories of the so-called mild and wild goddesses, they

just as often highlight the shortcomings of these umbrella categories and demon-strate the fluidity and hybridity that in fact characterises many South Asian god-desses. The Svasth@nagoddess tradition reveals a productive blurring of potentiallyfalse or misleading boundaries and dichotomies, such as private/public, local/regional/supraregional, and Brahmanical/folk. Michaels conclusion that the un-

certainty surrounding Guhyesvaras identity is what gives her and other goddessesunlimited, boundless power (Michaels et al. 1996, p. 30), can well be applied toSvasth@na. This inability to neatly categorise and contain these goddesses reflects

Figure 8. The statue in Sankhu of Svasth@naseated upon the AXbam@tPk@prior to its installationin her own temple. Photo by the author (January 2005).



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a balance between the wild and mild aspects of her identity, whether emphasis isplaced on her association with Mah@dev or the AXbam@tPk@. For example, there is anotable desexualisation of the goddess as she is further removed from her male

partner. At the same time, once hersaktiis no longer safely mediated through Siva,Svasth@na has the potential to become hypersexualised as an independent, fiercegoddess. To suggest that Svasth@na has ever been or would ever be identifiedprimarily as a fierce goddess is to overstate the case. If anything, despite hermore explicit association with the AXbam@tPk@ in contemporary iconography, de-votees continue to celebrate Svasth@na in her sweeter role as [email protected]

It is nevertheless important to note that, as Linda Iltis rightly points out, thefierce nature of many Hindu (and Buddhist) deities, particularly in Newar contexts,is an expression not of malevolence, but of protective potency (Iltis 1985, p. 23).

Moreover, there is a shift in the implication of who and/or what is to be protected.The goddess herself is now both protector and herself protected. As what is inneed of protection evolves with growing import from the individual to the familyand home to the local and then regional community to the nation, Svasth@na, asprotector of these places and peoples and their associated local and translocalidentities as Hindus and as Nepalis, herself becomes a place to be protected. Thisis particularly true during three key periods of transformation in Nepals medievaland modern history. First, in the wake of the Gorkha conquest in the eighteenthcentury, there was the rise of the high-caste hill Hindus and the encroachment

of their orthodox, Brahmanical religious orientation into the social, political,and religious domain of the local, indigenous Newar Hindu (and Buddhist)population, which was subsequently subjugated. Second, during both the colonialand Rana period in the 19th century and the post-Rana and -colonial periods inthe 20th century, the ruling elite in Nepal actively positioned their kingdom as a as the Hindu kingdom as a means of justifying and maintaining their rulingpower and independence. Third, in response to the Maoist insurgency (19962006) and the subsequent fall of the royal monarchy in 2008, many ethnicgroups in Nepal have sought to reassert their presence and group identity vis-a-vis the long favoured and sociopolitically dominant high-caste Hindus. Reassertionof Newar Hindu identity and practice may provide some explanation, for example,as to why Sankhu locals commissioned their Svasth@na statue within the pastdecade.

That these sociocultural and political understandings of the goddess as a pro-tector of ones own place and as a place to be protected continue to be embracedand propagated in the Nepali imaginaire today is exemplified by the illustration onthe inside cover of Tarthal@l R@jbha>n@ras 1985Sra Svasth@naBrata Kath@. The pic-ture depicts a large ray of light that emanates from anomq symbol, passes throughthe royal Nepal crown, and shines upon the full length of an outline of modern

Nepal. Spanning the length of the country are the words srasvasth@nanam, leavinglittle doubt that Svasth@na embodies the historical social, cultural, religious, andpolitical specificity of Nepal.



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But the evolution of the goddess Svasth@nas identity, function, and image weregradual. She initially seems to have lived only within the pages of the vrat kath@text that bears her name. A vibrant description of her is available from the earliest

dated materials of her tradition, yet for centuries it offered only a verbal, one-dimensional representation of the goddess. The lack of artistic representation ofSvasth@nais notable, given the growing popularity of the goddess and her traditionevidenced by the vast number of extant SVK manuscripts from the sixteenthcentury to the present day. One wonders if, at least initially, Svasth@nawas phys-ically represented and so worshipped in the form of the SVK text itself, much likethe cult of the protective PancarakX@ goddesses. According to art historian JinahKim, the PancarakX@goddesses owe their cultic presence to the physicality of the[PancarakX@s+tra] in which they reside, for the book is worshipped as a collective

icon of the five protective goddesses (Kim 2010, p. 1).31 Neither Nepals harshenvironment nor historically non-literate culture was conducive to the reproduc-tion of a lay textual tradition. Physical representations (i.e. inscriptions, statues,etc.) of Svasth@na could have more easily withstood the tests of time and envir-onment. Yet hundreds of SVK manuscripts survived and are virtually our onlysource for accessing the history of the text and its patron goddess. This speaks tothe personal, private, and decidedly local not to mention determined and rele-vant nature of the goddess and her tradition. There are very few sightings ofSvasth@na outside of the text and outside of the homes of her devotees.

Nevertheless, while Svasth@nas import and presence continues to be tied to theSVK text, Svasth@na imagery gradually became increasingly dynamic and evolvedinto two-dimensional artistic renderings and three-dimensional images in stone.From an essentially aniconic image to anthropomorphic in theory to anthropo-morphic in reality, over the last five hundred years of her tradition, Svasth@naemerged from the conceptual realm into the material realm.

We still know little of Svasth@nas actual origin, though all extent evidenceavailable to us suggests a quiet birth in the same vein as the relatively newgoddess SantoXaM@, who appeared unannounced, without a historical predecessor

per se, and without great fanfare in vratpamphlets in last half of the twentiethcentury. Continued scrutiny of the epigraphical information often (but not always)contained in the six hundred plus SVK manuscripts preserved in Nepals archivesor in the hundreds of private copies owned by families throughout Hindu Nepalmay eventually yield more insight as to machinations (human or otherwise)behind the creation of the goddess Svasth@na, though her origin may always beshrouded in mystery. Nevertheless, in seeking to locate Svasth@nawithin both thepan-Hindu pantheon and Nepals regional divine and human populations, we areable to see the complexity of her identity and the evolving nature of her associ-

ations and functions. These reflect the complexities of coming into being, of beingfemale in Hindu thought and practice, and of being Hindu in medieval and modernNepal.



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Acknowledgements

Research for this article was supported by a Fulbright-Hayes Doctoral Dissertation

Research Abroad Fellowship (20042006) and a Mellon/ACLS Doctoral DissertationCompletion Fellowship (2008). I would like to thank the following friends andcolleagues in Nepal without whom this research would not have been possible:Prakash Man Shrestha, Prabin Raj Shrestha, and Bhupendra Man Shrestha inSankhu, and Kasinath Tamot, Jwala Tuladhar (Sthapit), and the helpful staffs atthe Nepal Research Center, National Archives, ?s@Saph+Kuthi, and Kaiser Libraryin Kathmandu. I also thank Anjali Nerlekar, Nida Sajid, Meheli Sen, Mukti LakhiMangharam, and Triveni Kuchi of the South Asian Studies Working Group atRutgers University for their insightful critiques of an early draft of this article

during my tenure as an ACLS New Faculty Fellow in the Department of Religion atRutgers.

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