Temple Consecration Rituals in Ancient India: Text and Archaeology (Brill's Indological Library)

428 Pages·2007·1.6 MB·English

by  Anna A. Slaczka

Temple Consecration Rituals in Ancient India
BIL-26-slaczka.indd i 24-4-2007 12:04:00
Brill’s
Indological
Library
Edited by
Johannes Bronkhorst
In co-operation with
Richard Gombrich • Oskar von Hinüber
Katsumi Mimaki • Arvind Sharma
VOLUME 26
BIL-26-slaczka.indd ii 24-4-2007 12:04:00
Temple Consecration
Rituals in Ancient India
Text and Archaeology
By
“ P
Anna A. laczka
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2007
BIL-26-slaczka.indd iii 24-4-2007 12:04:00
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.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
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provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center,
222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
BIL-26-slaczka.indd iv 24-4-2007 12:04:00
CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..............................................................ix
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................................................xi
CHAPTER ONE. Introduction.......................................................... 1
1.1 General introduction............................................................ 1
1.2 Terminology........................................................................ 7
1.2.1 What is a relic?.......................................................... 8
1.2.2 Why do I prefer not to use the term ‘ritual deposit’? 10
CHAPTER TWO. Character, authorship, date of the Kâåyapaåilpa.11
2.1 Kâåyapaåilpa - a Åilpaåâstra or an Âgama?.........................11
2.2 The Kâåyapaåilpa and the Aäåumad..................................13
2.3 The Kâåyapaåilpa and Kâåyapa...........................................16
2.4 The supposed date of the Kâåyapaåilpa...............................18
CHAPTER THREE. Some remarks on the present edition of the
three ritual chapters from the Kâåyapaåilpa.......................21
3.1 Previous editions and unpublished manuscripts of the
Kâåyapaåilpa........................................................................21
3.2 Editorial notes......................................................................23
3.3 The presentation of the text, the critical apparatus and
the translation......................................................................26
3.4 Overview of the sources used for the edition......................27
3.5 Common errors in the manuscripts of the Kâåyapaåilpa.....29
3.6 Unusual grammatical and stylistic forms in the Kâåyapa-
åilpa.....................................................................................31
CHAPTER FOUR. Three chapters from the Kâåyapaåilpa: edition,
translation and commentary................................................35
Manuscripts and transcripts used in the edition..................35
4.1 The placing of the first bricks (prathameæøakâ) on the
basis of the Kâåyapaåilpa: text, translation and
commentary.........................................................................38
4.2 The placing of the consecration deposit (garbhanyâsa)
on the basis of the Kâåyapaåilpa: text, translation and
commentary.........................................................................84
vi CONTENTS
4.3 The placing of the crowning bricks (mûrdheæøakâ)
on the basis of the Kâåyapaåilpa: text, translation and
commentary........................................................................130
4.4 Analysis of the ritual structure of the prathameæøakâ,
garbhanyâsa and mûrdheæøakâ on the basis of the
Kâåyapaåilpa.......................................................................173
4.4.1 Prathameæøakâ..........................................................173
4.4.2 Garbhanyâsa............................................................176
4.4.3 Mûrdheæøakâ.............................................................180
4.4.4 Concluding remarks.................................................184
CHAPTER FIVE. Broader textual context: the prathameæøakâ,
garbhanyâsa and mûrdheæøakâ rituals in the related texts.187
5.1 Introduction........................................................................187
5.2 The similarities...................................................................189
5.3 The differences...................................................................192
5.3.1 The differences determined by the geographical
origin of the texts......................................................192
5.3.2 The differences determined by the religious
affiliation of the texts...............................................193
5.3.3 The differences between the ritual and
the architectural Texts..............................................195
5.3.4 Minor differences between the texts.........................196
5.4 Concluding remarks...........................................................197
CHAPTER SIX. The function and meaning of the garbhanyâsa,
the prathameæøakânyâsa and the mûrdheæøakânyâsa as
expressed by the textual sources.........................................201
6.1 The garbhanyâsa................................................................201
6.2 The prathameæøakânyâsa and the mûrdheæøakânyâsa........215
CHAPTER SEVEN. Theory versus practice: traces of construction
rituals in South and Southeast Asia...................................221
7.1 Material traces of construction rituals in India...................221
7.1.1 Characteristics of the consecration deposits
according to the textual sources...............................222
7.1.2 Consecration deposits excavated in India.................227
7.2 The accounts of witnesses of construction rituals..............232
CONTENTS vii
7.3 Material traces of construction rituals outside India..................233
7.3.1 Archaeological finds, discovered outside India,
bearing similarities with the prathameæøakâ ceremony
as described in the texts............................................234
7.3.2 Archaeological finds, discovered outside India,
bearing similarities with the garbhanyâsa ceremony
as described in the texts............................................239
7.3.3 Archaeological finds, discovered outside India,
bearing similarities with the mûrdheæøakâ ceremony
as described in the texts............................................250
7.4 Consecration deposits discovered in Buddhist structures...251
7.5 Concluding remarks...........................................................254

TABLES...........................................................................................261
Table One.................................................................................262
Table Two................................................................................263
Table Three..............................................................................264

APPENDIXES.................................................................................267
Appendix One. List of Abbreviation........................................268
Appendix Two. List of Sanskrit texts describing the
Prathameæøakâ.........................................................269
Appendix Three. Index of the technical terms.........................272
Appendix Four .Catalogue of the archeological finds..............275

BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................387
Primary sources........................................................................387
Secondary sources....................................................................389

PLATES

INDEX.............................................................................................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. Dr. K.R. 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. H.I.R. 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. S.A.S. 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.P.C. Anujan
Bhattathiripad of Trichur, Årî B.S. 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.