Yoginiss

Fig 1 Hirapur, Khorda District

T h e sixty-f our Yoginis A s e cret cul t st i l l u nex pl ored * H e i n r i ch vo n S ti eten cr o n Fig 2 Ranipur Jharial, Nuapada District

Medieval India in the post-Gupta period (600-1000 a. d.) was a time of fascinating intellectual achievements. Philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, astrology and medicine reached an amazing perfection, and the Hindu religion as we know it today was substantially formed by intellectual developments that are rooted in this period. Knowledge was the key to social recognition and wealth. It was precious, and pupils were carefully tested before they were allowed to share their teacher’s intellectual heritage. For us to rediscover that knowledge from monuments in stone is a fascinating task *

First published in ‘The Divine Play on Earth, pp.138-145

Fig 2 Hirapur Siva temple, Khorda District

Fig 3 Ranipur Jharial, Nuapada District

Fig 1 The round temple of the 64 Yogini at Hirapur near Bhubaneswar are dated to the 10th century. Only a few Yogini temples exist in India, and all are open to the sky. People belief that the Yogini who fly through the air, used to come to their meeting from above.

Hirapur is one of the finest examples of this still unexplored tantric Yogini worship.

Hirapur, Khorda District. Photo 9.11.2007, © C. Mallebrein Fig 2 In the centre of the open shrine is the four pillared mandapa with a stone slab depicting Martanda-Bhairava. Only about fifty of the Yogini have survived. Today they are protected by iron grills. Ranipur Jharial, Nuapada District, 24.1.2000, © C. Mallebrein Fig 3 The famous round and open-air Yogini temple at Ranipur Jharial, a mystical place on top of a huge rock plateau, dated to the 10th c. There is no exterior decoration. The other shrines close to the Yogini temple are no longer in use for worship. Ranipur Jharial, Nuapada District. Photo 24.1.2000, © C. Mallebrein

Fig 4a Ranipur Jharial, Nuapada District

Yogini temples of Orissa There are two circular temples in Orissa, a type of temple that has puzzled scholars since the discovery of one of them at Ranipur-Jharial, close to the western border of Orissa, by Sir John Campbell in 1853. The temple, which is of impressive size, stands completely isolated on rocky ground that gently slopes down to a group of partly dilapidated temples and to a lake. An ashram, probably of the Mattamayura sect of Saiva ascetics, existed here in the ninth and tenth centuries.1 The other circular temple, much smaller and more refined, is a true masterpiece of Orissan art that was hidden in a dense bamboo grove near the village Hirapur, just across the river Bhargavi near Bhubaneswar.2 These two circular buildings bear witness to the medieval cult of the Yogini, about which, in spite of several publications, relatively little is known.3 In the ninth and tenth centuries, the Yogini cult reached the peak of its development, with several temples in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa testifying to its importance in this period.

These temples differ substantially from the normal temple in that they are round instead of rectangular and have no roof: the temples are open to the sky. Ordinary people did not dare to remain in the vicinity of these places after dusk. Even the watchman of the Archaeo¬logy Department at Ranipur-Jharial left the place hurriedly before nightfall. It is believed that Yogini meet there at night and that any ordinary person who happens to be

around will be captured, used for pleasure and then devoured by the bloodthirsty witches, who disappear before dawn.

Today, the magic of these places is gone. The tourist department has normalized Hirapur by adding a modern pavilion, a paved road and flower beds. In Ranipur-Jharial, the Archaeology Department has ‘imprisoned’ the Yogini’ images behind iron bars to prevent theft.

An ancient temple dedicated to Siva Somesvara, probably built in the ninth or early tenth centuries, and a number of smaller shrines in memory of the deceased members of the ashram indicate that the community of Saiva ascetics existed for quite some time. The ascetics were convinced that, as a result of yoga and service to Siva, their soul would melt into the highest Lord. The Sivalinga in each of these temples is therefore named after one of these deceased Yogis.

The Yogini –dangerous mothers What do we know about the Yogini, and who are they? What makes them so dangerous?

One thing is clear: there are 64 Yogini.4 This number is fixed, though the names in the various lists differ. Ob¬viously the names are arbitrary and derived from local contexts, while the number belongs to the essence of the Yogini. It is also clear that these Yogini are derived from the eight mothers, the astamātrikā, each of whom multiplies into eight Yogini, resulting in the number 64. But the original ancient number of the mothers, which we know already from a terracotta image from the first century a. d., is seven.

Seven mothers are also represented in early temples of the seventh to ninth centuries, and still today the villagers in Orissa worship the seven sisters or saptabhāunī (see p. 51), whose names are mostly derived from regional or local deities. In classical Sanskrit literature they are the consorts of the major gods: the creator Brahma, the world destroyer Siva,

Fig 4a, 4b, 4c View of the Yogini temple at Ranipur Jharial in 1971, when the temple was hardly known and the Yogini were not protected by iron grills. Photo 1971, © H.v.

Stietencron

Fig 4b Ranipur Jharial, Nuapada District

the world protector Visnu, who takes the middle position, the war god Kumara, the king of Vedic gods, Indra, and the lord of the netherworld, Yama. Only the last one, Camunda, who is dreadful and greedy for blood, has no male partner. This group of females is led by Virabhadra, a destructive manifestation of Siva, and protected ultimately by the elephant-headed god Ganesa. To these seven mothers, tantric Saivism adds an eighth one: Mahamaya also called Yogesvari, the mistress of the Yoga. She too is bloodthirsty and terrifying and is the most important of them all. One may be surprised to learn from the Varāhapurāna that these mothers are the vices which have already been known since antiquity and have to be overcome: pride, anger, miserliness, arrogance, envy, faultfinding, gossiping and greed or craving for life, the latter being the worst of all, since it binds the soul to the physical world and separates it from the spiritual.

The list shows that the vices too are part of the divine. But why are the mothers considered in such a negative way? It is the mothers who promote life in all its cruelty, only to devour it again, and keeping in motion the cycle of birth and death. The Yogi, on the contrary, wants to end life definitely. He wants to escape the circle of rebirths and unite with Siva in the realm of absolute spirit. First of all, though, he has to overcome the vices which the mothers represent.

In popular belief, the mothers are a Fig 4c Ranipur Jharial, Nuapada District

dangerous crowd. They devour children, bring illnesses, roam about on cremation grounds and become intoxicated by blood and liquor.

It is only possible to appease them with bloody sacrifices. In sculpture they are often represented with a smiling face and with a child on their lap or in their arms in the hope of inspiring motherly feelings in these cruel ladies.

Yet this is of not much help. They desire the blood of a male sacrificial animal, preferably a human, a man. It is not the brahmanic Vedic tradition that is reflected in these mothers, but rather the experience and belief of the autochthonous tribal and village population of Orissa and elsewhere in India.

Already in the Brhadsamhitā, a text of the first part of the sixth century A. d., we can read that Yogini temples were being built on a circular ground plan.5 An inscription datable to 424 A. D. refers to a temple of the mothers erected by a minister of the Emperor Kumāragupta.6 A terracotta fragment found during excavations at Sonkh near Mathura shows the circular disposition of the mothers as early as the first century b. c. Later sources tell us that the mothers used to dance in circles around Siva, who stands in the centre as the ‘Lord of horror’ (Ugreśvara) or the ‘Lord of a hundred skulls’ (Śatakapāleśvara). Another name of this terrifying figure is MartandaBhairava.

Yet the group of eight mothers does not remain that small. Each mother multiplies into eight, resulting in 64 Yogini.

Fig 5 Hirapur, Khorda District

Fig 6b Yogini at the Hirapur temple

Fig 6c Yogini at the Hirapur temple

Fig 5 God Martanda-Bhairava with ten arms sitting on a double lotus (viśvapadma) supported by a corpse. Although he wears a girdle, his genitals are visible. His strand of hair is piled up into a magnificent crown.

Hirapur, Khorda District. Photo 9.11.2007, © C. Mallebrein Fig 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d Various Yogini at the Hirapur temple: No. 4, No. 29, No. 25, No. 26. Photo 1970, © H.v. Stietencron Fig 7 The four-armed Yogini dancing on a dog holding the hide of a tiger with the upper hands, a sword (broken) and a human head with the lower hands. Photo 9.11.2007, © C. Mallebrein

Fig 7 Four-armed Yogini dancing on a dog

Fig 6a Yogini at the Hirapur temple

Fig 6d Yogini at the Hirapur temple

From literature and inscriptions, we know of several temples to the mothers and Yogini.

Only fourteen are still in existence, and only a few are well known: Khaju¬raho, Jabalpur, Hirapur, Ranipur-Jharial and Bheraghat.

All Yogini temples are open to the sky, which is very unusual for an Indian temple, with its traditional temple tower linking earth to heaven. People believe that they are open because the Yogini, who fly through the air, used to come to their meetings from above instead of using a door.

There are two levels on which the term ‘Yogini’ appears, both fraught with danger.

One group belongs to the goddesses, since they emanate from the eight ¬mothers. The other group consists of apparently ordinary humans, often married women who conceal their Yogini character in daytime but turn into a Yogini on certain nights. These are what Europeans would call witches. They too arrive through the air to settle down in the temple.

If no temple is available, they assemble on a cremation ground. Yogini can assume human or animal forms or even a mixture of both; they are also believed to be able to change men into animals.

Often the Yogini are said to appear in enchanting beauty in order to seduce a man.

They will dance with him and have fun with him, only finally to sacrifice him in their circle.

They also can show a protective mood at times, as in the story of Kandarpa told in the Kathāsaritsāgara, ‘The Ocean of Streams of Fairy Tales’.7 The story commences in the rainy period.

Kandarpa is a young Brahman from the village of Ratnapur on the banks of the river Vena.

One day, when he had gone to the river and had bent down to draw water, he slipped and fell into the torrential river, which immediately carried him away. In vain he struggled to escape from the strong current and fought for his life the whole day. When finally he managed to reach the bank of the river, he was far away from his village and deadly tired. He climbed the steep river bank, found himself in the vicinity of a temple consecrated to the eight mothers, asked these for protection and fell asleep.

That evening, when it became dark, 64 Yogini came out of the statues of the eight mothers. Their intention was to fly to a meeting at Chakrapura, but they hesitated to leave their sleeping protégé behind. Therefore they adorned him festively, took him along and

left him in the vicinity of the house of a rich Brahman. This man had prepared everything for the marriage of his daughter and was waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. Kandarpa was therefore received with a hearty welcome, the marriage took place, and everyone was happy that the beautiful girl had obtained an equally handsome husband. The couple had a joyful night. But before dawn the Yogini returned, found their protégé and took him along with them. On the way they met another group of Yogini. These saw the good-looking boy and wanted to have him, but the first group did not consent to part with him. A quarrel arose and scuffles broke out. In their excitement no one noticed that Kandarpa had fallen to the ground and escaped. After many more adventures he was finally able to trace his wife’s house and started a happy life with her.

Many such stories about the Yogini are current in India.

Yogini temples and astronomy - a new interpretation We now return to the monuments. It is not likely that temples built of such size and quality were constructed by the local villagers.

We are rather dealing with a cult that enjoyed royal protection and sponsorship.

Why are these temples round in contrast to all other Hindu temples? What should we think about the Yogini? A Yogini is certainly a female expert in Yoga. She is also, as we have seen, an emanation or product of the mātrikās, the mothers. Mātrikās can be mothers, but they are also the sounds of the Indian alphabet and the letters that represent these sounds. Through ever new combinations, these sounds or letters create the manifold words and represent all things as well as the laws that are effective in this world. The well-known perception, ‘at the beginning was the word’, as handed down in the Bible (gospel of Johannes 1,1), is old. In the West it goes back to the Greek philosopher Plato. In India it goes back to the Vedas. At the beginning is an idea which initially assumes shape in its formulation in words. Through the medium of words, all concepts, ideas, and things, and consequently the entire knowable world and the laws that govern it originate. In words, produced by combinations of mātrikās, the entire cosmos is contained.

Fig 8a Martanda-Bhairava

Fig 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d Martanda-Bhairava and three Yogini.

Photo 1971, © H.v. Stietencron

Fig 8b Martanda-Bhairava Fig 8c Martanda-Bhairava Fig 8d Martanda-Bhairava

Yet the origin of the cosmos does not happen in the absolute Divine Being, which is eternal and unchangeable. Rather, the cosmos originates in time, and it ceases in time. Time, though, and with it the entire world and most of the gods, belongs to the realm of Maya.

The absolute and timeless highest Being remains totally untouched by all temporal existence.

For this reason the Yogi focuses his attention on time, the motion of which is marked by the change of day and night, of the waxing and waning moon, and by the seasons and the sequence of years. The architects of the Yogini temples tried to reproduce these time factors in a sacred building.

Once this thought is pursued, it leads do a different trail and to numerous texts that deal with speculations on time and the wheel of time, the kalacakra. In this context one also finds iconographical information which proves the correctness of this interpretation.

We need to look more closely at the temple. In its centre is a square building oriented precisely to the four directions. It contains an image of Martanda-Bhairava, a name of the sun identified with Siva. This god is the lord of the circle and the lover of the Yogini.

The Indian ritual calendar attempts to combine solar and lunar time, both being important for selecting the most auspicious moment for ritual. But sun and moon move in different rhythms. When observed in the night sky full of stars, the moon, in the course of one year, is seen as rising in 27 different constellations. These are called ‘lunar mansions’ in the West and ‘naksatras’ in India.

To complete the full circle of naksatras, the moon requires, roughly measured, 354 days and a quarter, this being the length of a lunar year. The sun, in contrast, requires, again roughly measured, 365 days and a quarter to travel through all the signs of the zodiac and thus complete the solar year. Thus there is a difference of slightly more than eleven days between the lunar and the solar year. In order to harmonise solar and lunar time, it

is necessary to insert one extra lunar month after every 64 months. That additional month, in Indian ritual tradition, is inauspicious. No important ritual is performed during that month.

In the Yogini temple, the 64 Yogini represent the 64 months that are fit for ritual.

The extra and ritually impure month to be inserted after the 64th month is presided over by Virabhadra, the destructive aspect of Siva. No ritual is performed in this period.

In this interpretation, the cult of the Yogini appears in a completely different light. It was certainly no cult of witches. It is possible and even probable that the sexual union of Yogi and Yogini was ritually practised in this cult at certain periods. This is likely, since oral tradition insists on the sexual union of male and female in these circles, and also because in tantric symbolism the Yogi is associated both with pure consciousness and the moon, while the Yogini as śakti or female energy is equated with Virāj, the sun.

The union of Yogi and Yogini, of moon and sun at the end of the leap month, would be a logical consequence of this system, which aims at reconfirming the harmony of the world. In this context of stars, zodiac and lunar mansion, together with the circular movement of sun and moon, it is also entirely natural that these temples are circular and open to the sky.

It is equally clear why the rituals are performed at night under the starry sky.

However, the union of Yogi and Yogini can only bear positive fruits if the seven vices are conquered and turned into the seven spiritual virtues: intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, reflection, firmness, remembrance and discriminating cognition.

Together, these are the preconditions for reaching mahāvidyā, the great wisdom, which, as Mahamaya or Yogesvari, is the central goddess in the circle of Yogini.

To conclude: in the Middle Ages, a group of male and female tantric ascetics seems to have attempted to realize the harmony of the cosmos, both in the Yogini temple and in themselves.

End Notes: 1.

On Ranipur-Jharial, see Das 1999.

2.

Hirapur is discussed by Mahapatra 1953.

3.

For an initial analysis published in Italian, see v. Stietencron 1989.

4.

On the cult of Yoginis, see Behera, K.S. 1967 Biardeau 1993, Chitgopekar 2002, Dehejia 1986, Donaldson 2002, Keul 2004, Mishra 1995, Thomson 1976, Singh Deo 1978, 2001, Bhattacharya 1974.

5.

Bṛhad Saṃhitā 60, 19; 57, 56.

6.

See FLEET 1963.

7.

See Kathāsaritsāgara 123, 4; Penzer 1968, 9, 57 ff.