A History of Indian Literature - Vol. II: Epic and Sanskrit Religious Literature - Fasc. 1: Medieval Religious Literature in Sanskrit

321 Pages·1977·9.34 MB·English

by  Jan Gonda

A HISTORY
OF INDIAN LITERATURE
JAN GONDA
MEDIEVAL RELIGIOUS
LITERATURE IN SANSKRIT
OTTO HARRASSOWITZ • WIESBADEN

JAN GONDA
MEDIEVAL RELIGIOUS
LITERATURE IN SANSKRIT
1977
OTTO HARRASSOWITZ • WIESBADEN
A HISTORY OF INDIAN LITERATURE
Contents of Vol. II
Vol. II: Epics and Sanskrit Religious Literature
Fasc. 1: J. Gonda Medieval Religious Literature in Sanskrifc
O. Botto Sanskrit Epics
L. Rocher Pur anas
T.Goudriaan and S.Gupta Tantrist Literature
CIP-Kurztitelaufnahme der deutschen Bibliothek
A history of Indian literature / ed. by Jan Gonda. - Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz.
NE: Gonda , Jan [Hrsg.]
Vol. 2. Epics and Sanskrit religious literature. Fasc. 1. -> Gonda , Jan : Medieval religious literature in
Sanskrit
Gonda , Jan
Medieval religious literature in Sanskrit. - Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 1977.
(A history of Indian literature: Vol. 2., Ease. 1.)
ISBN 3-447-01743-0
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER I General Introduction. The Agamas 1
CHAPTER II Visnuism 7
CHAPTER III Bhakti 10
CHAPTER IV The Pafiearatra Samhitas: introduction, name, chrono-
logy, geography 39
CHAPTER V The Pafiearatra Samhitas: contents 57
CHAPTER VI A survey of the main Samhitas extant 87
CHAPTER VII The Pafiearatra Samhitas: their relations with the earlier
religious Sanskrit literature .. .. 108
CHAPTER VIII The Pafiearatra Samhitas: structure, themes, motifs, style 117
CHAPTER IX Vaikhanasa literature 140
CHAPTER X Sivaism 153
CHAPTER XI The Sivaite Agama literature 163
CHAPTER XII The individual Agamas 180
CHAPTER XIII Pasupatas, Natha-Yogins, worshippers of Dattatreya,
Vira-Saivas 216
CHAPTER XIV Stotra literature 232
CHAPTER XV Gitas, mahatmyas and other religious literature .. .. 271
Glossary 287
Abbreviations 289
Index 294
Jan Gonda
MEDIEVAL RELIGIOUS LITERATURE IN SANSKRIT
CHAPTER I
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. THE AGAMAS
The subject of this fascicle, medieval religious literature in Sanskrit, is varied
and wide in scope, including an almost countless number of mainly Visnuite
and !§ivaite hymns, treatises, ritual manuals, commentaries and ancillary
writings. A considerable part of these works has not yet attracted the attention
which they deserve; regrettably enough, most Indologists are not, or not much,
interested in these important sources of knowledge of India's living religions.
Many texts have not even found an editor; translations are few in number.
That is why the following pages can hardly be expected to offer the reader
more than a survey of this literature so far as the publication of texts, the
limited number of translations, and the books and other studies written by
predecessors and obtainable in Europe have made it known to the present
author. Attention will be focussed mainly on the contents of the works dis-
cussed, their significance, influence and position both from the point of view
of the historian of Sanskrit literature and from the angle of the student of
Indian religions. These texts are in fact first and foremost documents of reli-
gions which in many respects differ from the ideas formed by students in the
West under the influence of their one-sided interest in the ancient periods of
the Indian religious history. Whether Sivaite or Visnuite these ritual hand-
books, legends, hymns, eulogies, mythology and philosophies reveal a Hinduism
that essentially concentrates upon devotion, sacrificial cult, pilgrimage and
adoration of images and symbols and a belief in Divine grace.
Although it is not possible exactly to delimit the various genres of literature
dealt with in this fascicle bhakti texts, hymns of praise and some other categories
will, as far as feasible, be treated separately. However, a good many of the
works studied belong to or are more or less dependent on the so-called Agama
literature of the Hindu period.1 This class of writings should therefore be charac-
terized first.
1 J. FILLIOZAT, Nouvelles recherches sur l'Hindouisme et son expansion, Journal
2 J. Gonda • Medieval Religious Literature
Constituting, beside the epics, dharma texts and purdnas, one of the most
important bodies of Hindu tradition couched in Sanskrit the dgamas mainly
teach sddhand, that is, how to realize practically the truths of religion. Reli-
gious devotion being up to the present day strong among the masses and
religious practice being a constant part of village life the influence of these
works has been profound. They govern, to a large extent and in various ways,
temple and household ritual of all traditional religious communities and life
and behaviour of their members.2 Since religion comprises the whole of a com-
munity's belief and practice toward the supernatural these works include also
chapters on the theoretical foundations of their ritual institutions, on origins
and on various philosophical concepts. Far from being a uniform and homo-
geneous collection they embody doctrines of several religious currents. In a
narrower sense the term dgama ("tradition" or "sacred traditional doctrine")
is especially applied to !§ivaite works (saiva dgama). Whereas the sdkta dgamas,
agamic books of the Saktists or worshippers of Durga—which will not be
included in the following chapters—are better known as tantras3—a term
which is however not foreign to the two other religions to denote their own
literature— the Visnuite texts of this category are often called samhitdA It
is true that this enormous literature, sometimes also comprehensively known
as tantra writings,5 included similar works of some minor currents, those of
Brahma, the Sun, Skanda-Kumara (e.g. ViS. 2, 20); the vestiges left of these
religions do not however belong to this class.6
The subject-matter of the dgamas is generally held to be dealt with under
des savants 1962, p. 193 is a good introductory article. See also H. BRTJNNER,
Importance de la litte*rature agamique pour l'etude des religions vivantes de l'lnde,
in Indologica Taurinensia, 3. For this class of writings in general see FARQTTHAR,
R.L.I., esp. p. 182ff.; GONDA, R.I. I, p. 223; II, p. 353 (Index); BHANDARKAR,
V. S\; D.CH. SIRCAR, J. SINHA, K.R. VENKATARAMAN, V. RANGACHARYA, in
C.H.I. IV, p. 108 etc. RENOTT(-FII^IOZAT), I.C. I, p. 423; 631; 648; DIEHL, I.P.,
p. 42. For an incomplete bibliography: HAJIME NAKAMITRA, Religions and philo-
sophies of India, III Hinduism, Tokyo 1974.
2 See e.g. also P.T. SRINIVASA IYENGAR, History of the Tamils, Madras 1929, p.
103; J. WOODROFFE, Shakti and Shakta, Essays on the Shakta Tantra Shastra,
Madras 1951, p. 407.
3 See e.g. P.T. SRINIVASA IYENGAR, Outlines of Indian philosophy, Benares
1909, p. 130.
4 For the application of the term dgama to their own scriptures by Visnuites see
VAN BTHTENEN, Y.A.P., p. 5; 36.
5 Or dgama is said to be the name for 'scripture' of all the three currents and
this is constituted of scriptures called tantras (Arthur Avalon, pseudonym for
J. Woodroffe). Compare also GONDA, R.I. II, p. 27. Mbh. 13, 133, 60 "dgamas are
the established usages of the popular religions ordained in the past" (dgamdl
lokadharmdndm marydddh purvanirmitdh). The term tantra is often preferred in
the North, dgama in the South.
6 Cf. FARQUHAR, R.L.I., p. 148; 151; 388.
General Introduction. The Agamas 3
four heads or rather is theoretically divisible into four categories:7 higher
knowledge (jndna) which gives access to final emancipation (mukti, moksa);
the doctrine and practice of concentration (yoga); 'action', that is all activities
in connexion with the building of temples, from their foundation to their
completion as well as the installation of the images according to prescribed
rules (kriyd); and the performance of daily worship and other rites, festivals
etcetera (caryd). However, statements about the distinction between kriyd
and caryd are often vague. Sometimes kriyd is denned as the ritual activities
proper, caryd as the attendance at temple worship and auxiliary service;8 it is
conventional behaviour as a means of shielding one's life from external disrup-
tions and of regulating it in such a way that it appears to men and divine
powers as predictable. Elsewhere kriyd comprises worship in general and caryd
ethics, customs and conventions a3 well as caste distinctions, the place of the
worshipper in society and his ritually correct behaviour.9 There is moreover
considerable variation in these works in respect of the stress laid on and the
space devoted to the four subjects. In many books, it is the practical portion
(kriyd and caryd) that is dealt with at greater length and many works focus
attention exclusively on ritual practice. Moreover, those which do discuss all
the four categories are usually arranged in other ways and under other aspects.10
One of the very few works which actually consists of the above four sections,11
the Visnuite Padma-Samhita or Padma-Tantra, shows what was the proportion
of interest taken in each of the four branches: in a printed edition (Mysore 1891)
these occupy 45, 11, 215 and 376 pages respectively. To judge from the number
of pages kriyd is often the most important section and it has even been said
that this subject contains the other three and therefore is the most important
one.12 The division into four parts does not indeed fit most texts very well,
sometimes not at all. The theoretical parts are as a rule treated by way of
introduction or digression.
These works are, on the other hand, almost self-sufficient and in a way
encyclopaedic in their special field. Just as the Veda was already at an early
date held to be "endless in extent" and the Mahabharata prides itself on con-
taining all traditional lore and being the source of all stories found on earth,
the Sivagama pretended absolute comprehensiveness in all matters dealt with
7 Cf. e.g. ViS. 1, 34 jnana-caryd-kriyd-yoga-snhhapddacatustaydm (vi§nttsam-
hitdm).
8 Cf. also DIEHL, I.P., p. 50; ViS. ch. 29.
9 Suprapetakamam, Madras 1907, quoted by DIEHX, I. P., p. 50.
10 See also DIEHL, I. P., p. 51.
11 Among those authors who were incorrect in suggesting that the fourfold
division is proper to all works of this class was R.W. FRAZER, Saivism, in ERE XI,
p. 95.
12 SANMUKA CTJNTARAR, Preface to the Kamikagama (Kamikam), I, Madras
1889.
4 J. Gonda • Medieval Religious Literature
in other authoritative treatises.13 Actually, however, they show little interest
in myths and legends which are so frequent in the purdnas. It is an erroneous
belief that all purdnas are older than the dgamas—some purdnas have indeed
absorbed much agamic subject matter—although most works of the agamic
variety are no doubt younger than many purdnas with which they have, on
the other hand, a number of striking characteristics in common. However, all
agamic schools accept the doctrine of the "three realities" (tattvatrayam), viz.
the Supreme Being, the individual souls, and the objective universe. That
means that they do not take the point of view of Sankara's monism. Some ele-
ments of their philosophical convictions are distinct from those of the six
darsanas (the so-called orthodox philosophical schools). Another feature—pro-
nounced, it is true, especially in the scriptures of the Visnuites—of this litera-
ture is bhakti.14 Although a thorough and comparative study of all agamic
texts is far from being completed and it is therefore difficult to say to what
extent these writings differ from each other in detail15 the present state of our
knowledge seems to allow of the opinion that "they are largely variant aspects
of the same general ideas and practices".16 In any ease, the three great cur-
rents—Vaisnava, Saiva, and Sakta—have all the chief elements of their cult,
to which we shall have to revert, in common and base these—it is true not
without interesting differences—largely on the same theoretical foundations.
A problem which must be touched upon at greater length in some of the fol-
lowing sections concerns the position of the agamic literature in the religious
traditions of the Hindus. It has often been said that their 'orthodoxy' is, gener-
ally speaking, dubious. One should rather speak of and ask about their affirm-
ative or negative attitude towards the Vedic and brahminical traditions.
Because of their attachment to the non-Vedic tenets of their scriptures the
adherents of the agamic systems were often stamped as deviating from Vedic
truth and tradition. Indian authors of repute even discarded not only the
Buddhists and the Jains, but also the Pancaratras17 (Bhagavatas) and the Si-
vaite Pasupatas as being outside the true Vedic tradition, because their teach-
ings are contrary to the contents of the Veda.18 In many puranic texts the
Visnuite Pancaratras are, for instance, described as "destitute forms of
13 TB. 3, 10, 11, 4; Mbh. 1, 2, 238; 240. The text quoted from the Vayusamhita
by Mrs BRTTNNER-LACHATTX, S&P. I, p. VI, n. 2 is obviously an imitation of Mbh. 1,
56, 33 "Whatever is here on dharma, artha, kdma and molcsa is found elsewhere;
but what is not here is nowhere else".
14 See Chapter III.
15 Cf. GONDA, R.I. II, p. 192.
16 WOODROFFE, Op. cit., p. 60.
17 The texts are called Pancaratra, the doctrines, cult and devotees Pancaratra.
18 See e.g. DASGUPTA, H.I.Ph. IV, p. 7; KANE, H.Dh. II, p. 736; BRTTNNER-
LACHAUX, S&P. I, p. IV; GONDA, R.I. II, Register, s.s.v.v.; S. PADMANABHAN,
Srlprasna Samhita, Tirupati 1969, p.^XIII; H.H. WILSON-HALL, Visnu Purana, V,
London 1870, p. 379. j
& General Introduction. The Agamas ,\< 5
dharma". Others however were more in favour of the agamic doctrines and
distinguished between Vedic and non-Vedic Pancaratras and Pasupatas. Up
to the present day part of the adherents of these saiva and vaisnava religions
are irrationally convinced of the authority of the Veda and the unity of the
Hindu tradition to the point that they deny the presence of any non-Vedic
addition to their systems.19 Others prefer to explain the occurrence of the
non-Vedic elements of their religion by the supposition of an oral esoteric tra-
dition of Vedic origin which in due course was revealed by the compilers of the
agamic literature. Generally speaking, the Visnuites claim recognition of their
orthodoxy because they profess allegiance and regard themselves as true to
the principles of the Vedic-brahminical tradition.20 Part of the Sivaites of the
South, however, regard their agamas as a sanskritization of an originally Dravi-
dian (Tamil) tradition which they believe to have been transmitted orally
before disappearing. This cannot however be shown demonstrably.
It is warranted to assume that some of the elements which the writings
discussed in this fascicle have in common with traditional Brahmanism have
developed from ancient Vedic and upanisadic lore. Other elements must how-
ever be rather regarded as being incorporated in the course of time. These cults
and doctrines were 'sanskritized'21 and held to be based on and to be in har-
mony with, the Veda.22 The followers of the agamic currents sought to prove
their 'orthodoxy', their loyalty to the brahminical tradition, by interpreting
the upanisads in accordance with their own doctrines. The natural bent of the
Indian mind for assimilation, the ample room left for completion and ampli-
fication of the brahminical tradition and the many possibilities of interpreta-
tion and reinterpretation of the ancient authorities contributed much to
facilitating this process. Some communities, especially the Visnuite Vaikhana-
sas, were strongly inclined to stress the Vedic elements of their tradition,
whereas their Paficaratra co-religionists preferred to propagate the 'agamic'
way to be followed in worship services and installation of their images.
Notwithstanding its extent and importance as a source of knowledge of the
two main religious currents of Hinduism these agamic writings are, outside the
circles of the Indian experts, comparatively little known. For many years only
19 BKUNNER-LACHATJX, SS\P. I, p. IV.
20 Cf. GONDA, V.L., p. 46.
21 For the incorporation of outsiders into the fold of Hinduism basing itself on
Sanskrit texts and the 'homologation' of their traditions etc. see e.g. GONDA, R.I.
II, p. 363 (Register); V.S"., p. 62; 173 (n. 10).
22 In this connexion the Veda and (or) the works auxiliary to and explanatory
of the Veda are also called nigama. Sometimes the opinion is expressed that both
nigama and dgama are derived from a common "root" (mula) Veda (see G. SBINI-
VASA MUETI, Introduction to S\ P. R., p. XII). For the term mulaveda see also BhS. 3,
45; par. 1, 12 comm. Remarkably enough Harita, an ancient authority on dharma
(quoted by Kulluka, on Manu 2, 1) went so far as to say that the 'revealed texts'
(sruti) are of two kinds, viz. the Vedic and the Tantric.