mahesh_puranic texts from kashmir

8/4/2019 Mahesh_puranic Texts From Kashmir

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PURANIC TEXTS FROM KASHMIR:VITASTA AND RIVER CEREMONIALSIN THE NILAMATA PURANAMahesh SharmaPUNJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH, INDIA

ABSTRACT Focusing on the western Himalayan provinces ofKashmir and Himachal Pradesh, this article argues that the Indianhagiographic texts of the Puranas should be understood as a nu-anced literature that sought to effect a paradigm shift in liturgyand praxis, fusing polity and religion, largely in contravention tothe earlier VedicUpanishadic texts and their commentaries, butalso building on them. Emphasis on local Sanskrit literature,

specifically the Nilamata Purana, which uses popular iconographiesof river goddesses, served many centuries ago to reconstruct thegeography of the area within the wider context of the subcontin-ental sacred geography.

Keeping within the Puranic tradition, the article focuses on therituals and ceremonials associated with rivers, while also chartingthe process by which regional pilgrim centres were formed on theirbanks, devising a sacred space parallel to the subcontinentalcosmos. This reinforces the logic of the sacred river, the worshipped

deity, as a process by which brahmanic dominance was asserted inthe peripheral areas of early India, or ideologically and politicallycontested regions such as Kashmir. In the sacrality of the riverVitasta, Brahmanism as an ideology reasserts itself by restatingthe tradition in relation to its sacral past, creating a new sacredspace and devising a sacred icon to reclaim this particular geographyfor the devout Brahmanas.

KEYWORDS: geography, hegemony, iconography, Kashmir, Kumbha

mela, pilgrimage, Prayaga, Puranas, ritual, river-goddesses, rivers, sacredspaces, Vitasta, water festivals

Introduction: Texts as Agents of Change

Historians have paid scant attention to the transition from the Vedic fire-based sacri-ficial practices to the complex liturgy that evolved in India along with temple imageworship in the midfirst millennium CE. In fact, they have taken such practices for

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124 South Asia Research Vol. 28 (2): 123145

granted, mostly trying to find linkages with the shrauta practices of Vedic revealed(shruti) literature, as precursors to temple-centred Hinduism and remembered (smriti)ritual. Moreover, theisticAgamicpractices have been largely written about as conjuncts

to the shrauta practices, not as a nuanced literature that challenged the early hegemonicritual, intervening to create in turn a new hegemonic ideology across the temporal-sacred domain in South Asia. Though Puranas, the genre of popular Sanskrit literaturedeveloped in the midfirst millennium CE, focusing on image and related ritual,have been extensively written about, they have not been analysed as tools for whatseems like a powerful intervention, a strategy to construct hegemony and dominancethat not only replaced the earlier shrauta ritual, but also created new ideological andpolitical centres. Kashmir and Bengal are two such cases, not to mention southern

India, which brought to the forefront the notions of new forms of worship and ritual,along with ascendant polities and empires. It is thus argued here that such earlyreligious texts are clearly not without political relevance and were partly designed tousurp new territory and to associate it with the old Hindu cosmos.

The Puranas have been largely seen as sectarian liturgical/hagiographic texts,ideologically involved texts that vied for sectarian space, rather than as mechanismsthat created or devised such theistic sectarian space with political and ideologicalintentions. What is being suggested here is entirely the reverse, however, turning the

question on its head: These texts are sites that polemicised the past by creating newgenealogies, dynasties and histories. They co-opted the existing texts to create conscioushomologies that harvested similarity as a legitimating tool, but largely replaced theVedic fire sacrificial practices without sounding like doing so. That polity and ideologycould be so soundly fused to create a dominant hegemony was manipulated by par-ticular textual strategies employed by the compound authors of the Puranas. Thedominant question we need to ask, therefore, is not what the Puranasconstitute, orwho does or did what, but for whom and why. That these texts were agents of change,while also themselves subject to change, is central to our understanding of the processinvolved in effecting ritualideological transitions over time and space.

This article, part of a wider research project, restricts itself only to the motif of theriver, a dominant strain in the Nilamata Purana (NP). It is argued how by workingout the iconography of rivers through Kashmir and north India, the NP envisions alarger role for the polity of Kashmir. Alternatively, this indicates how a new centralityis provided to Puranic Kashmir which had existed on the periphery of pre-Puranic

society.

Literature Review: Dialectical Foundations

Recently, Inden (2000a; 2000b) has tried to address the subject in his analysis ofVishnudharmottara Purana (hereafter VDhP) and Pancaratra Vaisnava strategies tohegemonise the sacredtemporal space, particularly in Kashmir. Inden rightly sug-gests that certain categories of texts, particularly the Puranas, enmeshed in specific


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South Asia Research Vol. 28 (2): 123145

circumstances and as articulations of the world in which they were written, are dis-cursive and narrative literary products that can be historically situated as transformativeagents. The Puranasalso constitute supplementations and are dialogical texts. Such

dialogues are mostly dialectical, representing a constant synthesis to arrive at a positionthrough persuasive argumentation, and they are sometimes eristical, seeking to per-suade through force if necessary.1 This distinction is perhaps a peep-hole into thecreation of hegemony, by fusing ideology and polity (force) to create dominance.These texts, therefore, serve as ideological instruments and political weapons thattempered and manipulated cosmologies and co-opted and altered geographies.

Inden (2000a) shows howPancaratra Vaishnavism gained prominence and controlin early medieval Kashmir through the instrumentality of the VDhP, which impinged

upon and influenced the north Indian sacred space, as a larger design of the Kashmirrulers eyeing this territory. Inden (2000b: 27) suggests that the VDhP is one of themajor texts involved in the rise to hegemony of temple Hinduism at the expense ofboth the Vedic sacrificial liturgy and Buddhist monasticism. The ontological positionof the VDhP, as of earlyPancaratras, is bhedaabheda or identity-in-difference, andnot non-dualism, as constituting the relationship of god and man (Inden, 2000a: 53).

This change has also ritually significant dimensions, bringing a whole paradigmshift. The major change advocated by the Puranasis replacing the symbol of fire, as

a central part of Vedic rites, by the symbol of water, signifying the predominant no-tion of ritual purity in image Hinduism. This also has complex theological ramifi-cations. While the fire ingests the oblations made to the gods, water purifies theindividuals who make the oblations. The fire cooks and digests, while the water pre-serves. The fire destroys impurities, the water absorb impurities into its body. Centralto each ritual was the object of worship, linking the unseen and the seen, the imaginedand the imaged.

This dichotomy required a resolution, teleologically explained through the symbolof the river in the NP.2 That such a powerful symbol as a river emerged in the Indiantradition was reinforced and glorified by stotras or mahatmayas. The most sacredrivers, Ganga and Yamuna along with the lost Sarasvati, were iconographically stand-ardised as water deities and integrated in the veritable Puranic cosmos, reflected intemple architecture, perched on the torana or gate to the cella orgarbhagriha of themain deity.3 The river symbol was used to create a sacred space that incorporatedlarger cosmologies, perhaps a precursor to hegemonic political claims and designs of

seventhtenth

century Kashmir in the present case. Yet, the symbol of river also co-opted the shruti/smritinotion of water as a ritual purifier, the only difference beingthe new emphasis on water that gradually replaced the fire as the dominant symbol.

This article tries to rework some of the grand designs achieved through the localPuranas, usually a precursor to the main Purana or a supplementation to it. Both theVDhP and the NP were written in Kashmir over a couple of centuries. While Indens(200b: 31) work antedates NP to VDhP, we cannot be so sure. Perhaps some parts ofboth texts were concurrent, while others used the scale of texts, a strategy through


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which homologies were used to legitimate the key argument.4 While the NP uses theVDhP, the reverse does not happen. Inden thinks this was a deliberate strategy tonegate locality, but it appears that the NP text does want to change the local.

Rather, the NP vision is Shaivite, while that of the VDhP is Pancaratra Vaishnavism.The NP uses the term Pancaratra only once and is consistent with its vision. Indenthinks that it is a precursor for the ultimate rule ofPancaratra Vaishnavism. This maybe so, but I think we have to be cautious with this reworking; over-reading of thetexts may also obfuscate their focus. Both the VDhP and the NP play a similar role increating new cosmologies, appropriating geographies and devising new ceremonialsand rituals. Using both texts in conjunction helps to explain why such texts werewritten and influencedas well as being influenced themselvesby religio-social

developments and their political agenda.

The Iconography of Rivers

Though the symbol of river as goddess is well represented (Agrawala, 1970; Awasthi,1976; Darian, 1978), the iconography of a large number of rivers has not been con-sidered in depth. Keeping with the Puranic tradition, the present article focuses onthe ritual and ceremonials, here associated particularly with rivers, perceiving the

process by which regional pilgrim centres (tirtha) were established on their banks,devising a sacred space parallel to the sub-continental cosmos. This reinforces thelogic of river iconography, the worshipped deity, illustrating the process by whichBrahmanic dominance was asserted in the periphery, or in ideologically contestedregions such as Kashmir and its western Himalayan neighbour, Chamba.

Chamba, the north-western district of Himachal Pradesh flanked by Kashmir inthe west and Punjab in the southwest, had a tradition of erecting fountain stonesto the ancient water god Varuna. These fountain stones often became sites to makesubtle sectarian statements by manipulating and reordering the space occupied bysectarian deities. The enormous 66" high and 7 wide Salhi fountain stone, locatednear the Sach Pass (at 8412 feet) on the trade route to Pangi and Lahul from Chambaand Kashmir, provides a significant iconographic departure, enabling us to understandthe process by which regional rivers were Sanskritised to harmonise with the dominantculturalreligious symbols of the post-Gupta subcontinent. In this fountain stone,the four-armed water god Varuna is relegated to the periphery as the protector of

the western realm, holding a noose (ankusha) and lotus (padma) in his right hands,and a mace (gada) and conch shell (sankha) in the left. He is seated on what Vogel(1911: 21624) saw as a horse or a mule, which appears, however, rather like aserpent crocodile.

There is an identifying inscription over his head as Lokapala Varun. The focus ofthe slab is, however, inscribed as Shesha-sayiVishnu, resting in his yoga-nidra poseover the coiled serpent (shesha), bearing his traditional attributespadma, cakra,sankha andgada; with Brahma seated over a lotus springing from his navel; fanned


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by Lakshmi seated at his feet. On both sides of Vishnu are two panels of water goddessesholding a water-vessel and lotus stalk. The water goddesses are identified by individualinscriptions, for there are more than the distinctive figures of Ganga, Yamuna and

the occasional Sarasvati. These other goddesses have a specific iconographic featureidentified and differentiated by their particular vehicle (vahana). While Ganga andYamuna stand on a crocodile and tortoise respectively, the new deities like Indus orSindhu are characterised by a snake; Vethi (Vitasta or Jhelum river) by a fish, thetraditional vehicle of Sarasvati, who is now shown standing on a lotus; Bea (Vipashaor Beas river) rides on a hypocamp; while the vehicle ofSatuldhara (Sutlej river) isobliterated. There are two more defaced uninscribed water goddesses, probably thetwo prominent rivers of Chamba, Candrabhaga/Chenab, and Iravati/Ravi (Vogel,

1911: 21624).While the iconographic novelty and artistic translation is well appreciated as the

only one of its kind, evidence of the elevation of the local rivers to the subcontinentalSanskritic tradition is largely based on the early medieval text of the NP that extendedthe breadth of river iconography.5 The Nilamata or Nila, the blue mountain, is de-scribed by the Vayu Purana as varsha-parvata (1.85), a place where Siddhas andBrahmarishis dwelt (Patil, 1946: 310). The text of the NP was composed by Candradevaof the Bhargava gotra between the seventh and eighth centuries in Kashmir. Later

parts of the text as available today, however, seem to have been interpolated till thetenth century.6 The verses reflect considerable borrowing from the VDhP, also ofKashmiri provenance and composed around the mid-seventh century, though theinfluence of other Puranas is palpable. Both texts are thus regional Puranas. TheVDhP is also categorised as an upa-Purana and not the main Purana, while the NPmay be more precisely described as Kashmira-mahatmaya, a text that glorifies Kashmir,modelled on and borrowing from the Vishnu Purana, the VDhP being conceived asits extension.7

The NP as a virtual Kashmira-mahatmaya explicates the geography of Kashmirwhile reconstructing and Sanskritising its sacred space. It also links and integratesthis sacred geographical identity with subcontinental cosmologies. Hence, a parallelsacred cosmology is now carved out in the Kashmiri mountains and rivers, associatingthe pantheistic deities with this particular area, also to forge new pilgrim centres, ex-tolling their sacredsacral purport and firming up the mode of worship by contrivinga revised grammar of festivals and rituals. The NP, in the process, transcends the

larger body ofPuranicliterature by innovating myths and iconography around rivers,both regional and subcontinental, subtly appropriating the cosmologies and therebyfixing connectivities.8

Iconography

Before venturing into cosmologies, a deeper look at the iconography reinforces theevidence of restructuring. Varuna, of the soothing blue hue oflapis-lazuliand adornedin white apparel, is characterised bythe VDhPas a four-armed water god, holding a


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lotus and noose in the righthand, and a conch and jewel-pot in the lefthand. He rideson a chariot of seven swans, with the crocodile (makara) as the motif on his banner.His wife sits on his lap, holding a blue lotus in her left hand, while the right is placed

on Varunas shoulder.9

He is flanked by two river goddesses, Ganga to his right andYamuna to his left. Moon-white complexioned Ganga holds a fly whisk and whitelotus, riding another makara, while the serene Yamuna rides on the back of a tor-toise (kurma), is dark like the blue clouds, and holds a fly whisk and blue lotus(Pratimalakshana 52.67). The attributes are pregnant with meanings, as explainedby the VDhP. The lotus in the hand of Varuna recognises him as the upholder of law,he who orders the cosmos (rita). The blue lotus in his wifes hand represents fortuneleading to delight. Similarly, the conch represents wealth; the jewel-pot is the earth,

bearing treasure, as Varuna is also the lord of the nether world (Pratimalakshana52.1416). The seven swans of his chariots are the seven seas.10 The lotus in the handof the Ganga, however, is representative of its attribute as purifier, representing heaven,while the makara represents happiness. The blue lotus in Yamunas hand is the symbolof majesty, while the kurma signifies time. Ganga bestows success (siddhi), even asYamuna is majestic (Pratimalakshana 52.19). The NP (256) applauds Yamuna asthe destroyer of the noose of Yama (see also Haberman, 2000: 343). It seems that

makara is not purely a crocodile, but rather a sea-monster, an amalgam of fish-crocodile, emphasising the association of Varuna with sea/ocean. Owing to such anassociation, interesting forms have been experimented with while translating the textinto sculpture.

The iconography of the VDhP may be contrasted with a few contemporaryPuranicreferents. Varuna, the RigvedicSindhupati, is also characterised as a two-handed deity,holding noose andpadma alternated with varda pose; or four-handed with attributesofvarda pose,pasa or axe, snake, and kamandalu or water carrier. He rides a monster

makara, as in theAgni Purana, while the Brihatsamhita has a gander (hamsa) as hisvehicle.11 Similarly, the NP shows the Sarasvati on her vehicle, the fish or gander, inPushkar or the Kailashapati temple, Ellora; on a lotus in the Salhi stone, and peculiarlyon a buffalo.

The question becomes thus: how fixed were these iconographies at the disposal ofthe sculptor? Alternatively, why and how were new iconographies contrived? Moreover,innovations manifest regional preferences systematised bySthal-Puranassuch as the

NP, thereby masking the ideological contest in the shared vocabulary of values toremould them in the hegemonic brahmanic culture (Chakrabarti, 2001: 135). Often,these innovations were maps of problematic social reality and matrices for the creationof collective conscience (Geertz, 1973: 220). Negotiation and manipulation, therefore,of any contested space ideologically oriented such a collective consciousness, whichwas brahmanic in content. For instance, the NP (103) formulates that the shepherdsshould worship god Varuna. Peculiarly, the fountain-stones honouring Varuna wereerected in an area where shepherding was vigorously followed. Similarly, in coastal


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areas Varuni and Kurukulla were worshipped as goddesses of boats. According toLalithopakhyana, Varuni, decorated with water-flowers, was red-complexioned andcarried a wine pot and blue lily in her hands, while the spirited Kurukulla was blue-

black in complexion, draped in black clothes with hands wet with blood (Rajeshwari,1989: 345). It must again be emphasised that the tradition reflects and is built uponor influences the existential concerns of the respective society, and, therefore, is boundwith an ever-shifting present. Since new concerns are thrown up by the requirementsof local societies and communities, assimilative texts like the NP incorporated themand theorised around them, fixing the iconography and assimilating local elements

into the broad brahmanical sacral space (Chakrabarti, 2001: 47).The Ganga and Yamuna have a more enduring iconography across the subcontinent,

described and depicted as river goddesses, holding a water vessel and lotus, riding acrocodile and tortoise respectively. However, Ganga was deified as an independentgoddess (Shakti) in the SkandaPurana, elevated to the status of, perhaps, the VedicSarasvati. She is described as four-armed(caturbhuja) and trinetra (three-eyed likeShiva), holding a vessel full of water and a white lotus in her two upper hands, thelower hands being in varda and abhaya mudras.12 In contrast, Sarasvati is knownmore by her association with male gods in the Puranas, as the daughter of Brahma in

theMatsya Purana or the consort of Vishnu, as Pastri, in the Brahmavaivarta Purana.Individually, she is patterned as fair-complexioned with two or four hands, holding alyre (vina), a manuscript, a rosary and a kamandalu; riding on a swan or peafowl(Awasthi, 1976: 1414). Alternatively, she is seated on a blue seat, symbolisingSamaveda, riding on a vulture (garuda). Blue-black in hue and attired in yellow silkclothes, she also carries various Vaishnava attributes like sankha, cakra, gada andabhayamudra (Rajeshwari, 1989: 19).

These are the major motifs of river goddesses, with minor variations, in the entire

genre ofPuranic literature that has received scholarly attention (Baartmans, 2000;Kumar, 1983; Rao, 1914). Even in Chamba, and other Himachal Pradesh or Kashmirtemples, the accepted GangaYamuna iconography has been used, represented as thedeities guarding the sanctum sanctorum (Goetz, 1969; Ohri, 1991: 1001). In contrast,the little known NP provides an iconographic formula of 28 rivers encrypted inseven hymns (shlokas), each comprising a set of four rivers. All these river-goddessessport a standard attribute, a water vessel and lotus, in each of their hands. The charac-

teristic differentiating trait, however, is the vehicle carrying the goddess (vahana),listed in Table 1 to facilitate identification.13

River Sacrality

The NPclearly aims at the glorification of Kashmir, the infusion of a Puranic cosmosto make this an equally sacred territory as other parts of India, as is quite evidentfrom two quotations:


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Table1

RiverGoddesses

RiverGoddess

Vahana

Vehicle

GoddessAssociation

Ganga

makarena

crocodile

Sati/Mangala(Sircar,

1948:27)

Satadru(Sutlej)

vrisaruda

bull

Saptarupa14

Sarasvati

mahesena

buffalo/

lotus15

Kashmira

Vipasha(Beas)

ashvaruda

horse/hypocamp

Amoghakshi(Sircar,1948:29)

Iravati(Ravi)

gajaruda

elephant

Sidhida(Sircar,1948:29)

Candrabhaga

simhena

lion

Sivadharini16/Kala

(Chenab)

(Sircar,1948:28)

Sindhu(Indus)

vyaghrena

tiger/snake

Hara/Sindhu-Durga

(Bhatta,1963:116)

Devika

gavyaruda

oxen

Uma/Nandini17

Saryu

mrigena

deer

Mandakini

manushyena

piggybackonman

Payoshini

capyajnena

goat/sac

rificialvessel18

Mahabhaga19/Pingleshvari

(Sircar,1948:27)

Narmada

mayurena

peacock

Sonakshi(Sircar,1948:40)

Gomati

meshena

sheep


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Godavari/

sarangena

saranga-deer

Gaveshvari/Trisandhy

a

Kubjamrika20

(Sircar,1948:27,29)

Kampna

hamsena

gander

Gandaki

bakena

he-crane/heron

Kamakshi/Kamuki

(Sircar,1948:27)

Kaveri

ushtraga

camel

Ikshumati

nakrena

crocodile/alligator

Sita

balakaya

she-cran

e

Lauhita

camarena

chamara-deer

Kameshvari21/Kubjika22

(Brahmaputra)

Vankshu

krodena

hog

Hladini

jivajivena

partridg

e/pheasant23

Hridani

kukkutena

cock

Pavani/Pava

turangena

horse

Sona

sarpagatastaya

serpent

Bhadra(Sircar,1948:41)

Krishnaveni

meghena

clouds

(Krishna)

Bhuvena

shashakena

hare

Vitasta(Jhelum)

mina

fish

Vogel(1911:21624)

Uma(NP2601)


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Those men obtain fame on earth who go to the goddess Vitasta, endowed with variousbridges, decorated with blue and red lotuses, filled with the sound of herds of cows,full of fish and tortoise, possessed of good bathing places. The river that bestows desiredobjects, possessed of water tasty like nectar, charming to the eyes of men and one that

grants boon like a mother. (NP 14424).The Ganga does not excel Vitasta. The only thing that the water of the Ganga has

more than the Vitasta is the bones of the dead. The purity of bathing in the Vitasta issimilar to the Ganga. (NP 14278).

Kashmir was now conceived as the place of Prajapati, derived from the root Ka,the designation of Kashyapa, the patron sage, who is also Prajapati, the creator (NP2267). The territory is the body of Sati (NP 245), purified by the river Vishoka,

Lakshmi (NP 239). Vitasta is the gift of water by Uma, who here assumes the form ofa river,24 to meet Hara (Shiva), in the shape of the river Sindhu, the chief-drain inwhich all rivers flow (NP 25761).

The NP apparently also tries to resolve early medieval competing sectarian ideologiesby providing equal spaces to Lakshmi and Uma. The notion of equality needs to betempered, however, as the NP is basically a Shaivite text. Such a space was devised inthe VDhP as well, where Shiva is portrayed as the enumerator of Vaishnava Pancaratraliturgy (Inden, 2000b: 57). Pashupata Shaivism, the other major theistic sect ofKashmir, is subtly co-opted into Pancaratra Vaishnava tradition in the VDhP. Boththe NP and the VDhP, along with other Puranic texts, are nuanced. Theistic hegemonyis subtly asserted by providing a prominent space to the opponent that also sub-ordinates it to the dominant tradition. Thus Uma, as the river Vitasta, expresses herinability to absolve, for which Lakshmi in the guise of the river Vishoka is implored.It is categorically stated that she is capable of purifying the three worlds. Aditi, theriver Trikoni (NP 299), Diti, the river Chandravati (NP 300), the great river Ganga

and all other rivers do not bear any comparison to her (NP 2768). Along withShaci, the wife of Indra, represented here as river Harshapatha (NP 300), all theserivers merge into Vitasta, which, in turn, flows into the Sindhu. At the confluence,Sindhu is regarded as Ganga, and Vitasta as Yamuna (NP 306). The confluence isthus regarded as equal to Prayaga (NP 307), todays celebrated pilgrim centre ofAllahabad. The Vitasta supersedes the Ganga, as the Ganga only leads to heaven,while Vitasta paves the path to salvation (NP 322). Quite obviously, sectarian tensionhas had a bearing on the carving of the Kashmiri sacred space.25 This sacred geography

co-opts the entire range of VedicPuranic goddesses by associating them with rivers,creating thereby a new divine hierarchy. Since the goddess motif was often used forregional sacrality, the river metaphor is not unusual at all.

In a similar discussion on Bengal, Chakrabarti (2001) concludes that the brahmanicideological dominance was created by assimilating the local goddesses along withvows (vratas) within the larger Puranic fold. The divisibility of the forms of goddessesand the multiplicity of myth, held together by the conception that all forms are ofone Goddess, aided assimilative flexibility. Moreover, co-option of such symbols,


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here again as river goddesses, was to subtly draw on the notional authority of theVedas and Puranas, the sources that gave birth to the concept (in the scale of texts), inas much as to legitimise the constructed parallel space (Chakrabarti, 2001: 545).

The construction of a parallel Prayaga is not an exception, as such co-optionswere fairly systematic, offering parallel sacral sites. For instance, the meanderingCandrabhaga housed such redemptive tirthasas Vaivitalamukha, Shankhamardala,Guhyeshvara, Shatamukha, Ishtikapatha and Kadambesha. Supplication in thesepilgrim-centres was said to be particularly propitious on the 13th day of the brighthalf ofMagha in conjunction with Pushya, since on this day, all sacred places, includingthe seas, go to Candrabhaga. However, the area from Guhyeshvara to Shatamukhawas treated as particularly auspicious, equated in holiness to Varanasi and considered

even higher than that (NP 1205). Similarly, the territory between Trikoti andRaupyeshvara Hara (NP 1351) or the territory at the confluence of Pavana wasconsidered the same as Varanasi (NP 13779). Like Kashi, the tirtha of Pavana,Cirapramocana, was considered as a gateway to heaven (NP 1380). Like Kashi, itwas considered auspicious to die and to be cremated at this place. Likewise, the riverMayuri was as holy as Mathura (NP 1400), while the tirtha at the confluence ofVitasta with Dhanadharini was as holy as Prayaga (NP 13578).

The text abounds in such semantic strategies, using similes for creating deft linkages

with pan-Indian pilgrim centres and metaphors to appropriate them. Thus, an addeddimension is provided to the conception of sacrality and the spiritual meaning of theregional pilgrimage by adopting such textual manipulations. This was not an exclusivephenomenon but a dynamic process. Such linkages, appropriation and networkingto construct a parallel sacred geography may also be gleaned elsewhere in the hills,particularly in Kangra, as late as the mid-nineteenth century (Sharma, 1999, 2001:14570). That the authors were sensitive to the locality is thus demonstrated. Peoplewere not encouraged to make subcontinental pilgrimages, rather equivalents werefound nearer to home. Perspectives on soteriologies were bound to be affected, withnew meanings altering social modes and local society.

Purification Rituals

Ritual cleansing by bathing in the consecrated waters was considered the most auspi-cious act, a prelude to offering homage and worship at the tirtha or pilgrimage centrethat the river banks housed. For this, different configurations were worked out, a

strategy by which a large part of the territory was designated as sacred, paving way forand accommodating diverse sects and practices. One such category consisted ofsapta-Ganga, worshipped on the first of Caitra. These seven were: Bhagirathi, Pavana,Hladini, Hradini, Sita, Vankshu and Sindhu. The seven major Sarasvatis, holdingpure water of the mountain, were also worshipped: Suprabha, Kancanakshi, Vishala,Manasahrda, Sumeru, Oghanada and Vimalodaka (NP 6212). These seven riversconstituted the Kashmiri Sapta-Sindhava or seven sacred seas, paralleling the Vedic-epic conception,26 based on variations in theMarkandaya and Vayu Puranas,27 from


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which the NP seems to have borrowed the concept. This number, moreover, conformsto the mythical seven seas surrounding seven continents.28 By such deft connections,

through co-option, hierarchy and association, authority and instruments of legitim-

isation were simultaneously constructed.Bathing in Vitasta was considered highly auspicious on the twelfth day of the

lunar fortnight. Similarly, bathing at the confluence of Vitasta and Sindhu duringthe eclipse provided merit equal to Sannihati in Kurukshetra,29 if followed by donatinga pair of shoes, an umbrella, a pitcher, a pair of clothes and offering meals (NP 8002).Not only bathing at the confluence, but also carrying clay from the river-bed for thepurpose of ritual cleansing, when one could not physically visit, ensured the samemerits as bathing at the confluence (NP 8056). One could attain heaven by per-

forming fire-oblations (homa) on the banks of Vitasta after taking a dip in its water.The fire-sacrifice culminated in making an offering to the Brahmanas, consisting ofboiled rice mixed with pulses with butter-ghee. He who bathed thus for a year attainedsalvation (moksha) (NP 784). Even the waters of Vitasta, like water from the Ganga,were ritually administered to the dying, to ensure a passage to heaven (NP 1432); forVaruna, who regulates the cosmos, knows the man who merely bathes in the Vitasta(NP 1437). These homas were not analogous to the Vedic fire-sacrifices(yajnas), but

were reworked to leverage the new image and temple ideologies. That shrauta firesacrifices became a vestige in the Puranic ritual, and were not altogether done awaywith, further exemplifies the adaptive strategies of the Puranic texts to accomplishsmooth liturgical transition.

Confluence of Rivers

The confluence of rivers gained a special sacral meaning. Not only the confluence of

Vitasta with Sindhu was considered redemptive, propitious and auspicious, but graded

merit and absolution could also be attained by bathing in its tributaries, the sites ofpilgrim centres, and particularly at their confluence with Vitasta. The most sacred,

hence meritorious, sin-bearing, and boon giving, were tributaries like the Sarasvati,Trikoni, Vishoka, Harshapatha, Sukha, Candravati, Sugandha, Punyodaka, Kularani,Krishna, Madhumati and Paroshni (Stein, 1899: 96109). All these rivers mergedwith the boon-giver and celestial Vitasta (NP 14467).

Thus, at the confluence with Madhumati was the pilgrim centre of Gridhrakuta.

Bathing here ensured heaven, while by paying homage at this tirtha one gained thesame merit as would accrue from serving or donating 1000 cows (NP 12767).Similarly, bathing at the confluence of river Krishna ensured merit worth 1000 cowsand worship at its tirtha, Cakresha, a merit worth performance of a Vishnushtoma,the fire-sacrifice to Vishnu (NP 12789). The tributaries of these rivers were equallysacred. One could, thus, attain Rudraloka by bathing at the source of Madhumati;gain merit of 100 cows by bathing at Uttramanasa; of 10 cows at lake Haramunda(NP 1289); merit of a Pundarika at Apaga (NP 1385); of an Agnishtoma at lake


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Manasa on the full moon night ofAshadha (NP 1386); merit of a Vajapaya atMahapadma (NP 13878).

The full list illustrates the comprehensive conception of sacrality, motivated by

rewards, spiritual or mundane, to be gained out of pilgrimage. This is significant tounderstand the transition from Vedic sacrificial tradition to the Puranic image liturgy.First, it gives a nuanced meaning to the fire-sacrifice, which now becomes sectarian,as in Vishnushtoma, Rudrashtoma or Agnishtoma. Second, the Vedic fire-sacrificialrituals were replaced by much simpler and inexpensive rituals of bathing and templeworship, as practised in these tirthas. While gods became seen, the rewards too becameimmanent.

Space is devoted not only to the tributaries of Vitasta, but other rivers as well. For

instance, bathing in Vipasha is mentioned;30 it provided absolution and eternal blissto the pure who visited the Kalikashrama centre that it housed (NP 1079). Similarly,Devahrida granted exoneration and heaven. Its confluence with Vipasha, nearKaravirapura, was visualised as the meeting of Hara and Haririshvara (NP 109).Iravati not only granted absolution but also housed 60,000 sacred places on its banks.The river was particularly worshipped in Revatinakshatra and on the eighth day ofthe lunar fortnight (NP 11011). One such site was at its confluence with Devikathat housed a tirtha extending four kroshas in perimeter (NP 114). Every water-well

and pool within this perimeter was considered holy (NP 11219). In this way localtirtha-kshetras, a whole sacred territory, as well as pilgrim centres (tirthas) were con-structed and legitimised on the banks of rivers or their confluences.31

Tirthas and Pilgrimage Rites

The tirthas were the centres where religious rites were performed. Usually such ritesconsisted of fire oblations (homa), liturgy (puja), vows (vrata), fasts (upavasa), charity

(dana), bathing (snana), libations (tarpana), or offering of funeral cakes to the manes(pinda-dana), ancestoral rites(shraddha), and/or austerities (tapas). Scriptural studyor recitation, and rites de passage were also performed there, particularly tonsure,death cremation and other funeral rites, accompanied by appropriate honorarium(dakshina) and donations (dana) made to the presiding priests of various brahmanicranks (Dubey, 2001: 74). Dana, too, had differential meanings: from pindadanaor offering rice-balls to the manes, to kanyadana or offering daughters to worthyBrahmanas as wives, or donating money, land and jewels.

The merit/rewards were similarly worked out in detail. Providing salvation wasthe most significant characteristic of a riverbanktirtha. The Skanda Purana ordainssalvation to even birds and animals living on these riverbanks. Cessation from thecycle of re-birth, redemption and freedom from bad karma or sins, the gaining ofmerits and heaven prioritised the pilgrimage (Kumar, 1983: 23270). Thus, the Kulaitinscription refers to a Chamba ruler of the early tenth century, Sahila Varmansvisit and patronage to ritualists at Kurukshetra (Vogel, 1911: 1827). Jasata, anotherChamba ruler, undertook a pilgrimage with other chieftains to Kurukshetra as recorded


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in Kalhanas Rajatarangini(Stein, 1961 [1900]: 319, 151214, 10836). Pratap Singhundertook a pilgrimage to Badrinatha in the early thirteenth century, where he dis-

tributed jewels among the priests. At Kedaranatha, the chieftain made land grants to

a Brahmana after performing a penance as well as undertaking a purifying fast for sixnights(Chhabra, 1957: 4850). Subsequent rulers or princes of Chamba undertookpilgrimages to purify self and family, especially after someones death. For instance, Anirudha undertook a pilgrimage to Prayaga, carrying the mortal remains of hismother (Chhabra, 1957: 1023). Ganga, as a repository of mortal remains, bonesand ash, had already gained currency among Chamba rulers by the early thirteenth

century (Chhabra, 1957: 735). During the course of pilgrimage, these people notonly donated, performed austerities and rituals, but also undertook vows (vrata). Thus,

when the local ruler of Baijnath, in Kangra, undertook a pilgrimage to Kedaranathaaround 1204, he vowed that he would thereafter not co-habit with the wives of hissubjects.32

Against these royal pilgrimages to subcontinental centres, what has the NP tooffer? Absolution, boons, heaven, merits, and redemption! Besides, it offers sacredbanks for cremation, as doors to heaven; fearlessness from death; river-confluences to

perform libations(tarpana) during eclipse, and rites of passage (NP 31622, 5013,

510). Finally, tirthas release one from the cycle of rebirths and provide salvation(moksha). With this regional perspective in mind, NP univocally announces, as citedabove, that the Ganga does not excel the Vitasta, it only provides heaven, while theVitasta grants salvation (NP 1428). This reminds people that the river is a Goddess,the consort of Sharva (Shiva), who after assuming such a form is even higher thanSharva (NP 314). Vitasta, the extensive, serves the people whose goddess the river is.

Such a river commands celebration. It is a well-known fact that as early as PaninisAshtadhyayi, river festivals(nadi-maha) and pond festivals(avata-maha) were celebrated

(Agrawala, 1970: 67). By the time of theMahabharata, the Ganga had acquired thesacred most position, known to the epic as Deva-nadiand Loka-nadi, the daughter ofHimacala and consort of Shiva (Trivedi, 1981: 7980), who gave birth to Skanda(Chatterjee, 1970). Consequently two important festivals, Ganga-maha and Skanda-maha,came to be celebrated (Agrawala, 1970: 68). The Harivamsha provides graphicdetail of a Samudra-maha as well (Agrawala, 1970: 129). It is in this context thatVitasta-maha acquires special significance, demonstrating that the NP does not miss

much while emulating the Epico-Puranicstructures of the sacred place.

Prayaga Festivals

Later celebrations also seem to have been modelled on Prayaga festivals. Scholarshave expressed reservations regarding the founding ofkumbha celebrations, the mostfamous of all water festivals, particularly at Prayaga.33 However, the conception ofkumbha bathing on the banks of Ganga, when Jupiter enters the constellation Kumbha-Aquarius, appears to have been popular since theAtharvaveda. Ritual festivities were


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systematised and promoted by the Puranasand the Bhavishya Purana mentions suchcelebrations.34 The frequent mention of Prayaga by the NP, described as teemingwith sacrifices and destroyer of all sins (NP 245), reflects its popularity at least by

the end of the tenth century, even as Vayu Purana ascribes the performance ofshraddhaor funerary rites on the banks of Ganga and not at the confluence in Prayaga (Patil,1973 [1946]: 315). Chamba rulers were visiting the Ganga at Haridvara on suchoccasions in the early thirteenth century.35 The meaning of festivals or celebrations iscrucial here. Perhaps, ritual bathing took place on such occasions, though these werenot of the same type as Ganga-maha, or Nadi-maha referred to earlier.36 Such massritual festival or fair was organised in the lunar month ofMagha at Prayaga known asMaghamela (Dubey, 2001: 120). This, perhaps, is the model that the NP emulates?

The Sacred Vitasta

The sacred status of Vitasta was structured in a week-long festival in the lunar monthofShravana. The ceremonial began with the propitiation of Varuna, the god of waters(jaleshvara), on the fifth day, along with Uma (Vitasta is also Uma) and Dhanada, thegod of wealth (NP 784).37 On the sixth day, virgins (kaumarih), representing boththe goddess and the river, were purified by bathing; they were anointed to be decorated

on the seventh day (NP 785). On the eighth, people worshipped Ashokika, the onewho brought merriment and cheers, after ritual cleansing by taking a bath and anoint-ing themselves with vermillion powder. They celebrated by organising musicals (NP7867). Free use of meat and wine was allowed in ceremonials, recommended particu-larly in some, though not in this case. On occasion, sexual intercourse was also rec-ommended.38 On the ninth day, people offered flowers, food, incense, bed and seatalong with blankets. Only food mixed with sugar was consumed on this day, a way ofpurifying the body as a requirement for the next performance (NP 788). On thetenth day, Uma, the territorial goddess and the river, was worshipped as a bride withincense, food, earthen-lamps, garlands, curd, grain, sugar, safflowers, saffron, collyriumand bangles (NP 78990). On the twelfth day, the community leaders, priests andwise men observed a fast and propitiated Hari (NP 796). The ritual offerings on thisoccasion (NP 526) consisted of sesame products (tilavacca). Bathing in the con-fluence on the twelfth not only absolved one of bad deeds and sins, but also broughtmerits comparable to the merits gained from the performance of a Rajasuya-yajna

(NP 141113). Moreover, if the twelfth happened to be the astral wonder arrangementwhen the Sun is in conjunction with the planet Buddha (Mercury), it was consideredparticularly auspicious. More so, when after bathing, donations were made alongwith an offering of funeral-rites to gain imperishable merit, everything performedon that day becomes imperishable (NP 799800).However, if the twelfth happenedto conjunct Sun with Mars, then one could bathe oneself to a mastery over theworld (NP 803). On this day vocal musical performances were held and ceremoniesrelated to touching auspicious things were performed (NP 524). On the thirteenth


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day, the birthday of Vitasta was observed and people fasted (NP 527, 7912). Theriver was propitiated by offering perfumes, garlands, eatables, earthen lamps, flags,red threads, bangles, various fruits, offering gratifying fires (yajnas) and donations

made to Brahmanas. It was obligatory that people bathed in Vitasta for seven days,three days before and after the birthday. On the fourteenth day, Maheshvara was pro-pitiated by bathing the linga after removing its woollen covering, the icon was wor-shipped, a night-long vigil was kept and people were engaged by reciting stories ofShiva and his incarnations (NP 530). On the fifteenth day, a mock sacrifice of sheepmade of flour was offered and meals consisting of ripe barley and cakes of sugar,cooked with sesame, were consumed (NP 52733). The post-birthday celebrationsrevolved around dramatic performances, lasting a further three days (NP 7915).

Conclusions

The NP re-orders the regional space (kshetra) of the land of the Paishacas,39 the flesheating demons, to that of Brahmanas and makes it a central locale:

In the centre (of the Kashmir valley) flows, making it as it were the parting of hair, theVitastathe highest goddess visibly born of the Himalaya. (NP 26)

This turns Kashmir from a land of mobile population, with half yearly settlement, toa place of permanent habitation following brahmanical norms and practices.40 TheNP seeks to construct brahmanic conformity in the face of diverse practices, bothcontemporary and earlier, of Mahayana Buddhism and the tantric influences on bothShaiva Pashupata and Vaishnava Pancaratra ideologies. The implicit strain in the textis a pointer to such tension, also resulting in interpolations to accommodate the

growing ShaivaAgamicinfluence.41

It mediates by drawing upon the authority of thesanctioned Vedic/Puranic texts, strategically using the scale of texts to assimilate andconstruct local pilgrim centres, empowered by necessary rationalisations and legit-

imising sanctions. Parallel developments have been shown for Bengal (Chakrabarti,2001: 93).

Cosmologies, therefore, are appropriated and iconographies fixed, to constructthe instruments of legitimisation that paves the way for temple-centred pilgrim centres.Brahmanic rites and norms were asserted. For instance, even flesh-eating demons are

said to avoid meat for five days during the celebrations of Vishnu during Karttika(NP 462), reflecting that the brahmanic values had not yet been totally internalised.But the overarching aim is to homogenise the tirtha ritual, the brahmanic domain.Purification of the body was central to these tirthas. As OFlaherty (1976: 1538)has argued, women and not men were recipients of sin or sin-bearers, hence river

goddesses became the motif for purging sinners, ultimately a mission to purify allpeople.


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The emphasis on purity is a formulaic way of exploring and appropriating subcon-tinental tradition, represented by Ganga and Yamuna and replicated in all Puranas.By assimilating and devising local river iconographies, the abstract is given a form to

be worshipped locally by appropriate rites and celebrations. This is exemplified inVitasta, a river that is the Goddess (Uma), in which ultimately all rivers, and henceall goddesses, merge. Such a construct can then purge the entire region (the Kashmirkshetra), destroying sin for ever, purifying the three worlds (NP 2378, 323). Whiledoing so, however, also a political vision is mapped for a Kashmir kingship that de-sired to rule over the entire earth, a nuanced way of devising hegemony over seventhto tenth century north India.

If we read the NP and the VDhP in conjunction, certain common strategies become

more explicit. At one level, these texts position their temple liturgies as replacementsfor older Vedic sacrifices. The NP fashions sacred space, the VDhP devises templespace for images whose iconography it standardises. In this sense, one would agree withInden (2000a; 2000b) that the NP antedates the VDhP. These new temple styles, asInden (2000b: 57) argues, hoped to be recognised, first, as the emblematic universalrule, making Kashmir the Universal Centre. Second, this transition is managed byusing the scale of texts, whereby Vedic homologies are used to uphold the image ofrituals or temple liturgies from a theistic standpoint. Third, this apparently had

significant political motives as well, as the scale of texts was used as much to appropriateas to negate. The VDhP, for instance, attached the Vedas to itself to replace theBhagavatas (Vaishnava theists worshipping Krishna) byPancaratra liturgy that existedtoo far outside the Vedas according to the smartas. If the authors of new texts couldsucceed in using the legitimating authority of the Vedas for this purpose, they couldalso homogenise the imperial formation of seventh to tenth century India. Thus,these texts were powerful interventions, dialectical but also erestical, as in the presentcase of the VDhP. Fourth, the transition as well as hegemony was constructed as

much by formulating positions, by a scale of texts, as through strategic silence. Whilethe NP devotes some verses to Buddhism, the then dominant ideology in Kashmir,the VDhP totally blanks it out (Inden, 2000b: 54). Buddhist ideas were either silentlyappropriated or rejected as a conscious strategy, without entering into a dialogue, orthrough a scaling of texts, as happened in the case of the epics or the Vedas.

Finally, in the NP and the VDhP, as well as other Puranas, the discursive and thenarrative ordering of the contents of the texts makes more sense if we see them as adialogical response to the political and soteriological situation as it obtained at thetime of their writing. The texts were not just a passive response to ongoing events,but also sought to influence them, they constituted rather powerful interventions.Thus, the NP as well as the VDhP subtly intervened to formulate an alternativespace and liturgy in temples and in sacred geography, hegemonising yet goading thepolity and the kingship implicit in its body. In that sense both the NP as well as theVDhP are definitely transformative.


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Notes

1. Dialectical is used here not in a Marxian or Hegelian sense, as a series of oppositions

that are negated, but after Collingwood (1933), who saw dialectics as a process in which

two agents in a relation of non-agreement come to agreement through a process of dis-cussion, argument and debate. Sometimes one of the agents might claim victory by using

external means, like lies, threat, deceptions; then the process is thought of as eristical(Inden, 2000a: 50-1).

2. Baartmans (2000: 2135), while dealing with the Vedic and Puranic myths, examinesdifferent words for water and its cosmic dimensions and linkages. For Ganga as an organic

symbol, see Eck (1982) and Darian (1978).3. For a larger debate on river and pilgrimage see Choudhary (1998), Morinis (1983),

Bharadwaj (1973) and Dubey (2001).4. Homology is a similitude and not similarity, only the essence is similar. So some shlokas,

removed from their original context and attached to the new body of the Puranas, were

used as authority to signify similar practices and to legitimate deviant or new sets ofrituals. Such culling of evidence, called a scale of texts, is a process chronising and an-

achronising the body of existing literature to the main text. Inden (2000a: 12) suggeststhat a particular text is itself one momentary effect or result of the textual practices in

which agents engageLater agents and their texts overlap with those of their predecessorsand contemporaries and, by engaging in a process of criticism, appropriation, repetition,

refutation, amplification, abbreviation and so on, position themselves in relation to them.5. See Nilamata Purana (1976). While there are two earlier translations of the NP, the edition

and translation by Kumari (1976) is based on a number of manuscripts from libraries in

Srinagar and Jammu. Kumari (1968) emphasises that the NP is a complete Purana basedon the five-fold pancalakshana classification, but may be reminded that while the NPeschews the chronology of the kings altogether, and the cosmogony and manavantrasaretreated at best in a sketchy manner, explication of the sacred geography and rites forms

85 per cent of about 1453 verses.

6. Inden (2000a: 31) places it between 550 and 750 CE. For the present article, we haveonly used the iconographic portion of the relevant text, called Pratimalakshana (1991)independently published in Bhattacharyya (1991).

7. For a recent formulation onMahapurana and Upapurana, particularly the regional BengalPuranas, see Chakrabarti (2001: 4480). Particularly on Upapuranas, see Chakrabarti(2001: 4751 and 97).

8. On the revised Puranic sacrality of rivers, see Kinsley (1987: 18796). However, suchinnovations were strategies employed to identify with the regional population addressed

in the text, constituting an instrument of legitimation to construct ideological dominance,as also argued by Chakrabarti (2001) for Bengal Puranas and Sharma (2001) for Himachal.9. Pratimalakshana (52.35, 89, 11). His blue hue matches with the colour of the transparent

water as a reflection of the sky. As water is white in its natural state, his garments arewhite in colour. His wife is here named Rati (Pratimalakshana, 52.13).

10. This is the direct interpolation from the VPand is also reproduced in the NP. The sevenseas conform to the seven continents, each sea separating the continents held in the


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29. NP 1313 details that Sanniti is a multitude of holy places where all tirthasand seas andlakes go in the end of the dark half of the month. The performance ofShraddha, here atthe time of the eclipse, is equivalent to the performance of 1000 Ashvamedhayajnas.

30. Dikshit (n.d.: 614) identifies it with a river mentioned in Rigveda IV.30.11, describedas healer. Following Nirukta (IX.25.3), he opines that it was earlier calledArjikiya andUrunjira, which both seem to be the sanskritised names of a local mother goddess.

31. This was a standard Puranicstrategy. For instance, Devi Bhagavata Purana (7.38.530)refers to such tirthas on the banks of the Narmada, Ganga, Godavari, Gomati, Vetravati,Vipasha, Vitasta, Shatadhrutira, Candrabhaga and Iravati, among others. A similar strategy

is adopted by Skanda Purana (53.198.66) mentioning Amoghakshi on Vipasha,Hatakeshvara on Devika (71.278.667), and Mulasthana on Candrabhaga (6.76.2),

among others. Cross-references legitimised the construction of a regional sacred geography.

32. For details see Bhler (1892: 11011). Such instances can be multiplied.33. Maclean (2003: 876) argues that the Kumbha mela first started in Haridvara, that only at

Haridvara today, too, the ritual bathing begins with the movement of the sun into the

Kumbha-Aquarius constellation. In Allahabad, this ritual was started and promoted bythe colonial administration, with a first reference to 1870. Maclean (2003: 8848) further

argues that Kumbha celebrations have been confused byMagha-mela, and the local peopleadapted their pilgrim centre to the changed political and economic climate.

34. Rai (1993: 1922), along with Dubey (2001: 12532), discusses the constellations and

considers that Kumbha at Prayaga was held in Magha and points to the consequent intro-duction of Nasik and Dhara at Ujjain.

35. See Chhabra (1957: 735). For the Ganga Kumbha of 1819, when 430 people died in a

stampede at narrowghatsand the role of the colonial administration in the widening ofghats, for protest against administration in 1916 against utilisation of the Gangas water

for irrigation, the conception of purity versus cleanliness, and the politics of pollution see

Kelly (2000). Prior (1993) discusses sanitation problems faced during colonial times and

their solution during the Kumbha/Maha-Varuni mela at Haridvara in 186092. For avery general account of modern

Kumbhacelebration at Haridvara, see Das and Singh

(1990).

36. Prior (1993) uses the termMaha-Varuni mela for Kumbha in 1892 at Haridvara, whichraises the question whether the Kumbha was perhaps known by another name at differentsites, Kumbha being only on astronomical category. She also discusses the hazards oforganising these festivals at such a massive scale, when 25,000 people bathed in 1892 at

Haridvara for two days.

37. While the ceremonials begin on the fifth day, the celebration of the birthday of Vitasta

occurs on the thirteenth day. But since the Shaivite calendrical rituals of the goddess and

of Shiva were also organised within this period, the actual ceremonial has become conflatedto the entire first half of the lunar month. The actual dates given here are the Pratipada orthe days falling within the lunar reckoning in the month ofShravan.

38. For instance, Brahma was worshipped during the sowing season in the Phalaguna monthwith the flesh of water-born (fish) animals (NP 571). Nikumbha was also worshipped

by offering meat and other non-vegetarian food put in cow-pans and placed below trees,

on crossings, rivers and mountain-tops. The sporting men passed the night in a courtesans

place listening to music and dancing, though vowed to celibacy (NP 57881) Similarly,


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in Nikumbha festivities a carnivalesque atmosphere prevailed (NP 544), while drinking

was common and allowed even in major festivities (NP 542).

39. Nila was ruled by a water-born demon-chief calledJalodbhava. The people were harassedparticularly by his grandson, Nikumbha, who had the following of five crore pishacas(Patil, 1973 [1946]: 21012). The cosmic associations are also devilish, and Nikumbha

had once also desolated Kashi (Patil, 1973 [1946]: 32930).

40. NP 212 refers to people who stay for six months, replaced by those who are permanent

inhabitants (NP 21718). The text indicates brahmanisation by telling the people in NP

225 that [t]hose men in this country who will follow the good customs laid down by you

(brahmanas) will be endowed with animals and grains. Even as late as the compilation of

the Vayu Purana (78.2),the area north to the Sindhu, not exactly Kashmir but its neigh-bourhood, was considered non-brahmanic, where ashramadharma does not prevail and

performance ofshraddhawas prohibited.41. For instance,pancaratra is mentioned, but only once, in NP 433.

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Dr Mahesh Sharma is a Reader in History at Punjab University in Chandigarh,India. He was a Fulbright Senior Fellow at the Centre for India and South Asia,

UCLA in 200708. Address: Department of History, Punjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India.[e-mail: [email protected]]

mahesh_puranic texts from kashmir

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