Banaras jyotirliṅgas: constitution and transformations of a transposed divine group and its pilgrimage

Vera Lazzaretti

doi:10.13135/1825-263X/722

Vera Lazzaretti

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/722

Abstract

Banaras (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India) is renowned as one of the more notable pilgrimage destinations of India. The ways of approaching and investigating the sacred landscape and the religious practices of this city varied throughout times and are still a matter of discussion among scholars. The author firstly addresses this debate in order to re-conceptualize the need and intents of writing (still) about Banaras and its mainstream religious traditions. The contribution addresses one common pattern of Indian sacred geography, that is the spatial transposition of gods. The article, in fact, goes through the formation path of a transposed group of pan-Indian deities, namely the jyotirliṅgas, in a city which is presented by eulogistic literature as a universal tīrtha, where all sacred centres and gods dwell. Through the analysis of textual and visual material the author shows how these divine forms have been produced in the city’s territory throughout time and projected spatially in the various shrines and, eventually, in a procession. The pilgrimage circuit connected with the twelve local jyotirliṅgas is investigated as a recent and evolving practice of Banaras religious life and its currently deviating path is shown as something to be constantly rephrased and negotiated. Ritual transformations appear as challenged by the need to adapt and survive in a developing urban context, where sacred space is shared, contested and cyclically re-written.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Vera Lazzaretti

Vera Lazzaretti (1982) svolge ricerche sulle pratiche religiose di Varanasi dal 2009, prima come titolare di una borsa di ricerca dell’Università degli Studi di Milano e della Fondazione Cariplo, poi come dottoranda di ricerca presso la Scuola di dottorato in studi euro-asiatici, indirizzo indologico e tibetologico, dell’Università degli Studi di Torino. Nel maggio 2013 discute la sua tesi di dottorato che verte sull’analisi delle dinamiche di costruzione della tradizione all’interno dei santuari che ospitano le repliche di jyotirliṅga a Varanasi. Attualmente sta sviluppando alcuni dei risultati della sua ricerca, in particolare, quelli relativi al mutamento dei circuiti di pellegrinaggio nella città contemporanea e la gestione dell’eredità culturale, religiosa e spaziale all’interno di complessi templari contesi. Nel I semestre dell’ a. a. 2013-2014 è docente del laboratorio “Percorsi di geografia sacra indiana: luoghi e tradizioni” presso l’Università degli Studi di Milano.

References

Textual sources

Kāśīkedāramāhātmya, Sanskrit-Hindī, ed. Sri Vijayananda Tripathi, Candra Śekar Paṇḍey, Śrī Kāśīkedārakhaṇḍa Adhyātmika Sansthā, Vārāṇasī, 2006.

Kāśīkhaṇḍa (Skanda Purāṇa), ed., G.V. Tagare, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1996.

Kāśīrahasya, ed. Jagdīś Nārāyaṇ Dūbe, Ādarśa Prakāśan Mandir, Vārāṇasī, 1984.

Tīrthavivecanakāṇḍa, Bhaṭṭaśrīlaksṃīdharaviracite Kṛtyakalpatarau aṣṭamo bhāgaḥ, ed. K.V. Rangaswami Aiyangar, Gaekwad’s Oriental Series 98, Baroda, 1942.

References

Appadurai A. (1988), Place and Voice in Anthropological Theory, in Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 3, pp. 16-20.

Assayag J. (1997), Action rituelle ou réaction politique? L’invention des processions du nationalisme hindou dans les années 1980 en Indie, in Annales. Histoire, Science Sociales, 52e Année, No. 4, pp. 853-879.

Bahura G.N. e Singh C., ed. (1990), Catalogue of Historical Documents in Kapad Dwara Jaipur. Maps and Plans, Jaipur Printers, Jaipur.

Bakker H., Construction and Reconstruction of Sacred Space in Vārāṇasī, in Numen XLIII.1, pp. 32-55.

Bakker H. e Isaacson Z. (2004), “A Sketch of the Religious History of Vārāṇasī up to the Islamic Conquest and the New Beginning”, in The Skandapurāṇa, volume IIA (Adhyāyas 26-31.14) The Vārāṇasī Cycle, a cura di H.T. Bakker & H. Isaacson, Egbert Forsten, Groeningen, pp.19-82.

Bayly C.A. (1992 [1983]), Rulers, Townmen and Bazars: North Indian Society in the Age of the British Expansion, 1770-1870, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Chatterjee P. (1993), The Nation and Its Fragments. Colonial and Postcolonial Histories, Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Cohn B.S. (2001 [1987]), An Anthropologist among the Historians and Other Essays, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

Dalmia V. (1997), The Nationalization of Hindu Traditions. Bharatendu Harischandra and Nineteenth-Century Banaras, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Desai M. (2007), Resurrecting Banaras: Urban Spaces, Architecture and Religious Boundaries, PhD thesis in Architecture, submitted to the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley.

Dodson M.S., ed. (2012), Banaras. Urban Forms and Cultural Histories. New Delhi, Routledge.

Doniger W. (1997 [1973]), Śiva. L’asceta erotico, Adelphi, Milano.

Eck D.L. (1983), Banaras. City of Light, Penguin Books, London.

Eck D.L. (1988), The Imagined Landscape: Patterns in the Construction of Hindu Sacred Geography, in Contributions to Indian Sociology (n.s) 32, 2, pp. 165-188.

Fleming B.J. (2006), The Cult of the Jyotirliṅga and the History of Śaivite Worship, PhD thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Religious Studies at Mc Master University, Hamilton, Ontario.

Freitag S.B., ed. by (1989), Culture and Power in Banaras. Community, Performance and Environment, 1800-1980, University of California Press, Berkeley

Freitag S.B. (2008), “Visualizing Cities by Modern Citizens: Banaras Compared to Jaipur and Lucknow”, in Gaenszle M. e Gengnagel J., ed., Visualizing Space in Banaras: Images, Maps and the Practice of Representation, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp. 233-254.

Gaenszle M. e Gengnagel J., ed. (2008), Visualizing Space in Banaras. Images, Maps, and Practice of Representation, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

Gengnagel J. (2005), “Kāśīkhaṇḍokta. On Texts and Processions in Vārāṇasī”, in Gengnagel J.,

Hüsken U. e Raman S., ed., Words and Deeds. Hindu and Buddhist Rituals in South Asia, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 65-89.

Gengnagel J. (2008), “Maps and Processions in Banaras: The Debate Concerning the Pañcakrośīyātrā”, in Gaenszle M. e Gengnagel J., a cura di, Visualizing Space in Banaras: Images, Maps and the Practice of Representation, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp. 145-164.

Gengnagel J. (2011), Visualized Texts. Sacred Spaces, Spatial Texts and the Religious Cartography of Banaras, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden.

Gutschow N. (1994) Vārāṇasī/Benares: The Centre of Hinduism? A Discussion of the Meaning of "Place" and "Space", in Erdkunde. Archiv für wissenschaftliche Geographie 48: 194-209.

Gutschow N. (2006), Benares. The Sacred Landscape of Vārānasī, Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart/London.

Hazra R.C. (1985), The Problems Relating to the Śiva-Purāṇa, in Purāṇa, Vol. 27, no.1, pp. 248-281.

Hüsken U. ed. by (2007), When Rituals Go Wrong: Mistakes, Failure, and the Dynamic of Ritual, Brill, Leiden/Boston.

Kumar N. (1988), The Artisans of Banaras. Popular Culture and Identity, 1860-1986. Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Jaffrelot C. (1996), The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics, Hurst & Company, London.

Myrvold K. (2005), Inside the Guru’s Gate. Ritual Uses of Texts among the Sikhs in Varanasi, Lundu Studies in African and Asian Religions, Vol. 17, Lund.

Mehrotra (1993), “The Secret Parlance of Pandas: case of Varanasi” in Singh R.P.B., ed., Banaras. Cosmic Order, Sacred City, Hindu Traditions, Tara Book Agency, Vārāṇasī, pp. 197-214.

Parry J.P. (1994), Death in Banaras, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Prinsep J. (2009 [1833]), Benares Illustrated in a Series of Drawings, Pilgrims Publishing, Vārāṇasī.

Rodman M.C. (1992), Empowering Place: Multilocality and Multivocality, in American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 94, No. 3, pp. 640-656.

Sarasvatī S. (1993), Kāśī Gaurav, Dharma Saṅgh, Vārāṇasī.

Sarasvatī S. (2001), Kāśī kā laghu māhātmya, Ānandakānan Press, Vārāṇasī.

Sherring M.A. (1868), The Sacred City of the Hindoos: an Account of Benares in Ancient and Modern Times, Trübner & Co., London.

Singh R.P.B. (2002), Towards the Pilgrimage Archetype. The Pancakrośi Yātrā of Banaras, Indica Books, Vārāṇasī.

Shulman D. (1986), Terror of Symbols and Symbols of Terror: Notes on the Myth of Śiva as Sthāṇu, in History of Religion, vol. 28, no.2, pp. 101-124.

Singh R.P.B., ed. by (1993), Banaras. Cosmic Order, Sacred City, Hindu Traditions, Tara Book Agency, Vārāṇasī.

Singh R.P.B. (2002a), Banaras Region. A Spiritual and Cultural Guide, Indica Books, Vārāṇasī.

Singh R.P.B. (2002b), Towards the Pilgrimage Archetype. The Pancakrośi Yātrā of Banaras, Indica Books, Vārāṇasī.

Singh R.P.B. (2004), Cultural Landscapes. Literary Images of Banaras, Indica Books, Vārāṇasī.

Srinivasan D.M. (1997), “Śaiva Multiplicity: the Germination of God”, in Many Hands, Arms and Eyes. Origin, Meaning and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art, Brill, Leiden/New York/Koeln, pp. 260-281.

Sukul K. (1977), Vārāṇasī Vaibhav, Bihār Rāṣṭrabhāṣā Pariṣad, Paṭna.

Varma B. (1925), Kashi or Banaras.

Vyas K. (2011 [1987]), Pañcakrośātmaka jyotirliṅga kāśīmāhātmya evaṃ kāśī kā prācīn itihās, Vārāṇasī

Zolli M. (2009), “Svāmī Karapātrī e il nazionalismo hindū”, in Pellegrini G., a cura di, L’uomo e il sacro in India: Svāmī Karapātrī, Indoasiatica 5, VAIS, Venezia, pp. 127-138.