The Androgynous Form of Viṣṇu and the Yet Unpublished Vāsudevakalpa

Streszczenie

Although the androgynous form of Viṣṇu is little known, some stone and metal sculptures as well as painted scrolls of the deity have been discovered in Nepal, Kashmir, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. This paper discusses literary and epigraphical references to this deity starting from the ninth century ce. It then presents additional materials from Nepal which suggest that this deity has been continuously worshipped in Nepal from at least the eleventh century down to modern times. It also gathers information to show that this composite form of Lakṣmī and Viṣṇu is still worshiped in Bengal, Odisha, and Rajasthan. Even more importantly, it reports on a Tantric text surviving in a palm-leaf manuscript dated to Nepal Saṃvat 372 (equivalent 1252 ce) that focusses exclusively on the eight-armed androgynous form of Viṣṇu, and narrates some selected themes from this text.

Bibliografia

Primary Sources: Manuscripts and Editions

Ardhāṅgī-Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇopaniṣad. Private collection of Rāmā Tivārī. Nepali Paper. Devanāgarī Script. NGMPP Reel no. E 2740/17. Folio 1.

Jayākhya Saṃhitā. National Archives Kathmandu. Manuscript No. 1–49. Palm-leaf. Newari Script. NGMPP Reel No. B 29/3. Folios 117.

Lakṣmīvāsudevapūjāvidhi. Private collection of Mahesha Rajopadhyaya. Nepali Paper. Newari Script. NGMPP Reel no. E 2924/12. This short text covers three pages of a leporello (thyāsaphu).

Netratantra. Netratantra with the commentary (uddyota) by Kṣemarāja. Ed. Madhusūdan Kaul. Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies 46, 59. Bombay. 1926, 1939.

Pādmasaṃhitā. Padma Samhita (Part I). Critically edited by Seetha Padmanabhan & R N Sampath. Madras: Pancaratra Parisodhana Parisad. 1974.

Śāradātilaka. Shāradātilakatantram. Ed. Arthur Avalon. Tantrik Texts XVI. Calcutta: Āgamānusandhāna Samiti. 1933.

Śilparatna. The Silparatna by Srî kumâra. Part I: ed. T. Gaṇapati Sâstrî. Part II: ed. Sāmbaśiva Śāstrī. Trivandrum Sanskrit Series 98. Trivandrum. 1922 and 1927.

Vaiṣṇavāmṛtasāroddhāra. National Archives Kathmandu. Manuscript No. 1–12. Palm-leaf. Maithili Script. NGMPP Reel No. A 1086/5. Folios 121.

VK = Vāsudevakalpa. Kaiser Library Kathmandu. Manuscript No. 420. Palm-leaf. Newari Script. NGMPP Reel No. C 44/6. Verse numbers refer to my edition of the text in progress.

Secondary Publications

Acharya, Diwakar (2015). Early Tantric Vaiṣṇavism. Three Newly Discovered works of the Pañcarātra: The Svāyambhuvapañcarātra, Devāmṛtapañcarātra and Aṣṭādaśavidhāna. Critically Edited from their 11th- and 12th-Century Palm-leaf Manuscripts with an Introduction and Notes. Collection Indologie 129: Early Tantra Series 2. Pondicherry: Ecole Française d’Extrême–Orient / Institut français Pondichéry / Universität Hamburg.

Bhattacharyya, D. C. (1966). ‘The Composite Image of Vāsudeva and Lakṣmī’. Journal of the Asiatic Society Fourth Series. VIII (4): 261–266.

Bhattacharyya, D. C. (1980). Iconology of Composite Images. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.

Deo, S. B. (1968). ‘Some Ardhanārī Forms of Viṣṇu’. Bhāratī X–XI: 125–133.

Gail, Adalbert J. (1984). Tempel in Nepal. Band I. Ikonographie hinduistischer Pagoden in Pāṭan Kathmandutal. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt Graz, Austria.

Gail, Adalbert J. (2011). ‘Bisexual Viṣṇu. The evidence reconsidered’. Pandanus: Nature in Literature, Art, Myth and Ritual 5(1): 119–140. Prague: Seminar of Indian Studies, Charles University.

Kielhorn, F. (1887). ‘A Gayā Inscription of Yakshapala’. Indian Antiquary XVI: 63–66.

Malla, Bansi Lal (1996). Vaiṣṇava Art and Iconography of Kashmir. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications.

Pal, Pratapaditya (1963). ‘Composite Form of Vāsudeva-Lakṣmī’. Journal of the Asiatic Society. V(3–4): 73–80.

Pal, Pratapaditya (1970). Vaiṣṇava Iconology in Nepal: A Study in Art and Religion with 110 Illustrations. Calcutta: Asiatic Society. Reprint 1985.

Pal, Pratapaditya (1973) ‘Bronzes of Kashmir: Their Sources and Influences’. Journal of the Royal Society of Art, October 1973: 726–749.

Regmi, D. R. (1966). Medieval Nepal. 3 volumes. Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay.

Sanderson, Alexis (2004). ‘Religion and the State: Śaiva Officiants in the Territory of the King’s Brahmanical Chaplain’. Indo-Iranian Journal 47: 229–300. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10783-005-2927-y

Sanderson, Alexis (2007). ‘Atharvavedins in Tantric Territory: The Āṅgirasakalpa texts of the Oriya Paippalādins and their Connection with the Trika and the Kālīkula, with critical editions of the Parājapavidhi, the Parāmantravidhi, and the *Bhadrakālīmantravidhiprakaraṇa’. [In:] Griffiths, A. and A. Schmiedchen, eds, Atharvaveda and its Paippalāda Śākhā: Historical and Philological Papers on the Vedic Tradition. Aachen: Shaker Verlag, pp. 195–311.

Sanderson, Alexis (2009). ‘The Śaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Śaivism During the Early Medieval Period. [In:] Einoo, Shingo, ed., Genesis and Development of Tantrism. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Institute of Oriental Culture, pp. 41–349.

von Schroeder, Ulrich (2019). Nepalese Stone Sculptures. Volume One: Hindu. Weesen: Visual Dharma Publications.

Schwarz Linder, Silvia (2014). The Philosophical and Theological Teachings of the Pādmasaṃhitā. Beiträge zur Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte Asiens 82. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Sircar, D. C. (1970). ‘Inscriptions of Two Brahmaṇa Rulers of Gayā’. Epigraphia Indica XXXVI: 81–94.

Sircar, D. C. (1971). Studies in the Religious Life of Ancient and Medieval India. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

Sircar, D. C. (1983). ‘Gaya Sitala Temple Inscription of Yakshapala (c. 1075–85 A.D.)’. [In:] Select Inscriptions. Volume II: 102–104.