Temple consecration rituals in ancient india text and archaeology by anna a slac

Temple Consecration Rituals in Ancient India Brill’s Indological Library Edited by Johannes Bronkhorst In co-operation with Richard Gombrich • Oskar von Hinüber Katsumi Mimaki • Arvind Sharma VOLUME 26 Temple Consecration Rituals in Ancient India Text and Archaeology By Anna A. “lPaczka LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 On the cover: Manuscript 8561, Grantha script This book is printed on acid-free paper. ISSN: 0925-2916 ISBN: 978 90 04 15843 6 Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.

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printed in the netherlands CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xi CHAPTER ONE.1 What is a relic? .2 Why do I prefer not to use the term ‘ritual deposit’? 10 CHAPTER TWO. Character, authorship, date of the Kâåyapaåilpa .1 Kâåyapaåilpa - a Åilpaåâstra or an Âgama? .2 The Kâåyapaåilpa and the Aäåumad .3 The Kâåyapaåilpa and Kâåyapa .4 The supposed date of the Kâåyapaåilpa.

Some remarks on the present edition of the three ritual chapters from the Kâåyapaåilpa .1 Previous editions and unpublished manuscripts of the Kâåyapaåilpa.3 The presentation of the text, the critical apparatus and the translation .4 Overview of the sources used for the edition .5 Common errors in the manuscripts of the Kâåyapaåilpa .6 Unusual grammatical and stylistic forms in the Kâåyapa- åilpa. Three chapters from the Kâåyapaåilpa: edition, translation and commentary. 35 Manuscripts and transcripts used in the edition .1 The placing of the first bricks (prathameæøakâ) on the basis of the Kâåyapaåilpa: text, translation and commentary .2 The placing of the consecration deposit (garbhanyâsa) on the basis of the Kâåyapaåilpa: text, translation and commentary .3 The placing of the crowning bricks (mûrdheæøakâ) on the basis of the Kâåyapaåilpa: text, translation and commentary .4 Analysis of the ritual structure of the prathameæøakâ, garbhanyâsa and mûrdheæøakâ on the basis of the Kâåyapaåilpa. Broader textual context: the prathameæøakâ, garbhanyâsa and mûrdheæøakâ rituals in the related texts .1 The differences determined by the geographical origin of the texts.2 The differences determined by the religious affiliation of the texts .3 The differences between the ritual and the architectural Texts .4 Minor differences between the texts.

The function and meaning of the garbhanyâsa, the prathameæøakânyâsa and the mûrdheæøakânyâsa as expressed by the textual sources.2 The prathameæøakânyâsa and the mûrdheæøakânyâsa. Theory versus practice: traces of construction rituals in South and Southeast Asia .1 Material traces of construction rituals in India.1 Characteristics of the consecration deposits according to the textual sources .2 Consecration deposits excavated in India.2 The accounts of witnesses of construction rituals .3 Material traces of construction rituals outside India .1 Archaeological finds, discovered outside India, bearing similarities with the prathameæøakâ ceremony as described in the texts.2 Archaeological finds, discovered outside India, bearing similarities with the garbhanyâsa ceremony as described in the texts.3 Archaeological finds, discovered outside India, bearing similarities with the mûrdheæøakâ ceremony as described in the texts.4 Consecration deposits discovered in Buddhist structures. List of Abbreviation. List of Sanskrit texts describing the Prathameæøakâ.

Index of the technical terms .Catalogue of the archeological finds. 403 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The following book is based on my doctoral dissertation at Leiden University (PhD, 2006). The work on this book could have never been accomplished without the support of several institutions and individual scholars, to whom I am deeply indebted. In the first place, I wish to thank my supervisor, Prof.

van Kooij, for his wisdom and constant support, and my co-supervisor, Dr. Herman Tieken, for his patience during the long hours spent on discussing the difficult passages of the Kâåyapaåilpa. I would also like to thank Dr. Marijke Klokke, Dr.

Ellen Raven and Mrs. Pauline Lunsingh Scheurleer for their valuable remarks, Dr. Janice Stargardt of the University of Cambridge for her willingness to read and comment on my chapter on archaeology, Dr. Hinzler for providing me with information on Balinese consecration rituals and allowing me to publish some of the photographs from her collection, and my colleague Véronique Degroot, for sharing with me her knowledge of Javanese temples and for her help in reading Indonesian archaeological reports.

Special thanks are also due to the chief librarian of the Kern Institute Library, Dr. Dory Heilijgers, for providing miraculous solutions at times when a so-much-needed book could not be found or when the number of books I needed was considerably higher than I was allowed to borrow. Several people offered me their support during my fieldwork in India in 2000 and 2001 and during my short trip to Cambodia in 2004. In the first place, I must express my profound gratitude to Prof.

Bruno Dagens and to the directors and employees of the French Institute of Indology and the École Française d'Extrême Orient in Pondicherry, India, for providing me with the opportunity to copy and read several manuscripts of the Kâåyapaåilpa and the Åaivâgamas. Here mention must be made of Dr. Sarma for his help in obtaining several manuscripts of the Kâåyapaåilpa, Dr. Ganesan for reading my first Grantha manuscript with me, and Dr.

Charlotte Schmid, the head of the Pondicherry EFEO centre at the time of my second stay there, for x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS making all difficult things suddenly easy and for being just such a good friend. My gratitude goes also to Årî K. Anujan Bhattathiripad of Trichur, Årî B. Sannaiah of the National Institute of Prakrit Studies and Research in Sravanabelagola, the pañèits of the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute in Chennai, and the employees of the Kerala University in Trivandrum, who in various but essential ways helped me to understand the Kâåyapaåilpa.

Further, I wish to thank Dr. Christophe Pottier from the École Française d'Extrême Orient in Siem Reap, Cambodia, for allowing me to photograph the consecration deposit stones preserved at the Conservation d’Angkor. Finally, I want to thank all the people, in Europe, India and elsewhere who, by means of a smile, a simple gesture or a word of support helped me to accomplish this study. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Plate 1.

Manuscript 8561, Grantha script Plate 2. Manuscript 16847, Malayalam script Plate 3. Consecration deposit boxes discovered in Candi Bukit Batu Pahat, Kedah, Malaysia. Lembah Bujang Archaeological Museum, Malaysia Plate 4.

Figures of goddesses cut out of gold leaf. Discovered inside the deposit boxes of Candi Bukit Batu Pahat, Kedah, Malaysia. Lembah Bujang Archaeological Museum, Malaysia Plate 5. Figures of bulls cut out of gold leaf.

Discovered inside the deposit boxes of Candi Bukit Batu Pahat, Kedah, Malaysia. Lembah Bujang Archaeological Museum, Malaysia Plate 6. Gold objects used during building consecration rituals in contemporary Bali. Gold objects recovered from consecration deposits of Ayuthaya, Thailand.

National Museum, Bangkok Plate 8. Gold objects recovered from consecration deposits of Ayuthaya, Thailand. National Museum, Bangkok Plate 9. Stone casket discovered in Jolotundo, East Java.

Museum Nasional, Jakarta. Candi Merak, Central Java. Candi Singosari, East Java. Deposit box with thirty-three cavities.

Prambanan Museum Plate 13. Deposit box with seventeen cavities. Borobudur Museum Plate 14. Deposit box with nine cavities.

Sonobudoyo Museum, Yogyakarta Plate 15. Consecration deposit boxes at Gunung Kawi, Bali Plate 16. Consecration deposit casket from Wat Mahathat, Sukhothai, Thailand. Ramkhamhaeng National Museum, Sukhothai Plate 17.

Consecration deposits stones in the Angkor Conservation. The stone with a triangular cavity in the centre was found in Neak Pean, Angkor xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Plate 18. Pedestal deposit stone. Terrace of the Elephants, Angkor, Cambodia.

Remains of a pedestal deposit stone at the front of the main staircase of Pre Rup, Angkor, Cambodia Plate 20. Pedestal deposit stone. Preah Khan, Angkor, Cambodia Plate 21. One of the stone tortoises discovered in Angkor.

Dépôt de la conservation d'Angkor, Siem Reap Plate 22. One of the tortoise-receptacles discovered in Angkor. Dépôt de la conservation d'Angkor, Siem Reap Plate 23. Superstructure deposit slab from Prasat Kok 606, Neam Rup group, Puok, Cambodia.

Dépôt de la conservation d'Angkor, Siem Reap Plate 24. Superstructure deposit slab from Prasat Kok 606, Neam Rup group, Puok, Cambodia. Superstructure deposit slab from Prasat Snuol 678, Srok Kralanh, Cambodia. National Museum, Phnom Penh.

Photograph: courtesy National Museum, Phnom Penh Plate 26. The superstructure deposit slab from Prasat Snuol 678, Srok Kralanh, Cambodia, detail. Photograph: courtesy National Museum, Phnom Penh Plate 27. The superstructure deposit slab from Prasat Snuol 678, Srok Kralanh, Cambodia, detail.

Photograph: courtesy National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh Plate 28. The superstructure deposit slab from Prasat Snuol 678, Srok Kralanh, Cambodia, detail. Photograph: courtesy National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh Plate 29. Superstructure deposit slab from Prasat Damrei Krap, Phnom Kulen, Cambodia.

Dépôt de la conservation d'Angkor, Siem Reap Plate 30. Superstructure deposit container used as a floor slab. Ta Prohm of Tonle Bati, Cambodia Plate 31. Superstructure deposit stone.

Ta Som, Angkor, Cambodia Plate 32. Fragment of a superstructure deposit stone. Ta Prohm, Angkor, Cambodia Plate 33. Flower-shaped crowning element from one of the towers, now broken and lying on the ground.

The space in the centre LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii was meant for a deposit stone of the type illustrated in Plates 30-32. Ta Som, Angkor. One of the towers of the Bayon with the crowning element still intact. Superstructure deposit slab.

Candi Merak, Central Java. Deposit receptacle (yantragala) discovered at Dedigama, Sri Lanka. van Kooij Plate 37. Deposit receptacle (yantragala) discovered at Maligawila, Sri Lanka.

Deposit receptacle (yantragala) discovered at Maligawila, Sri Lanka. Consecration deposit receptacle (yantragala) placed erroneously above the entrance of the temple. Nalanda geèigê, Sri Lanka. de Bruijn Plate 40.

A close-up of the yantragala above the entrance to the Nalanda geèigê. de Bruijn CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION The principal aim of this book is to study three important construction rituals of the Hindu tradition: the laying of the first stones, the placing of the consecration deposit and the placing of the crowning bricks. These rituals are described in numerous Sanskrit texts on architecture and religion, which date from ca. 7th to 16th centuries AD.1 It is therefore hardly surprising that the present study is based mainly on textual sources.

The chief source is the Kâåyapaåilpa, a South Indian treatise on art and architecture and ritual, written in Sanskrit, usually dated 11th–12th century AD. Three chapters from the Kâåyapaåilpa, which deal with the three construction rituals mentioned above, have been critically edited, translated and provided with a commentary (see Chapter 4). For this purpose, unpublished manuscripts of the Kâåyapaåilpa were collected in various Southern Indian libraries. In order to place the three chapters of the Kâåyapaåilpa in a broader context, the descriptions of the construction rituals given by cognate texts, some of them still unpublished, have also been studied (see Chapter 5).

The construction rites play an important role in Sanskrit texts on ritual and architecture. Nevertheless, this topic has thus far largely been neglected by scholars. This is particularly striking in view of the numerous publications, which have appeared on the outer appearance of temples, the technical aspects of temple building and temple worship. With the exception of Kramrisch (1946), whose inter- pretations should be treated with caution (see, for example, Chapter 6 note 12), there has never been an attempt to study the construction rituals as a whole and to explain their function and meaning.

1 The placing of the first stones is mentioned in a few earlier texts, for example in the 6th century AD Bùhat Saähitâ (BùS 52.