Organizer and Chair: Stewart Gordon, Independent Scholars of South Asia
Renouncing Renunciation: Viraha Bhakti, Veer Bhakti, and the Rajput Ethos of Dadupanthi Nagas
James M. Hastings, University of Wisconsin, Madison
The classical Brahmanical view of the renouncer is that he severs ties of identity to family and community while becoming assimilated into a new spiritual community of renunciants. Among Rajputs, however, the role of the sadhu has been traditionally represented as but one possible manifestation of Rajput self-identity, as we find in the legends of Gopichand, Pabuji and others
Organized mercenary bands of warrior-ascetics, principally established by sadhus of Rajput heritage, became a widespread phenomenon in eighteenth-century North India. In Jaipur state, the majority, known as Nagas or Sundar Sena, were affiliated with the Dadu Panth. Tracing their lineage to the sixteenth-century sant Dadu through his disciple Sundardas, a Rajput prince of Bikaner, they fused the roles of renouncer and warrior, retaining distinctive elements of their Rajput origins despite their renunciatory vows. From the mid-eighteenth century on, they dominated the Dadu Panth both numerically and in terms of influence, injecting into it a distinct Rajput ethos. In his unpublished bardic accounts, the nineteenth-century Naga chronicler Mangaldas gives clear expression to the ideology and practices which characterized the Nagas, leaving an indelible impression upon Dadupanthi sectarian practices.
Like other proponents of nirgun bhakti, Dadu attracted adherents from all classes by preaching a reformist message which rejected the trappings of traditional religion and denied the significance of caste. This paper examines the manifestations of "Rajputness" as described by the Nagas themselves in unpublished accounts and the effect this dominant caste group had on the dilution of Dadu’s reformist ideology.
Harem Architecture in 16th- and 17th-Century Mughal India: The Impact of Political, Religious, and Demographic Changes on Layout and Design
Naseem Ahmed Banerji, Weber State University
Indian women have been virtually invisible in historical documents. When they are mentioned, it is within the context of their societal role: daughter of, wife of, mother of… There are few direct references to their lives, the spaces they occupied, or to their contributions to the larger culture. Though this paper does not address the issue of women’s roles and contributions, it attempts to alter the earlier monolithic view that royal women lived undifferentiated lives in secluded harems. It aims to address the problem of the changing plans and layouts of the spaces women occupied within Mughal Palace-Fortresses of the 16th and 17th centuries and to study the dynamics that dictated these changes in plan and organization.
Heir to Turko-Mongol and Islamic traditions, the early Mughal rulers appear to have given greater weightage to their nomadic customs than to those dictated by Islam. This is evident in the role and position of early Mughal royal women. Documentary accounts and artistic remains testify to the fact that during the rule of Babur and Humayun (as well as in earlier times), Mughal royal women were not veiled nor were they secluded within harems. The plan and layout of the harem in Akbar’s Fatehpur Sikri, however, appear to reverse earlier practice; and harems, built subsequent to that display even greater divergences from earlier structures. To arrive at a better understanding of the logic behind these changes in harem layout and design which would have directly effected the position and status of women, as well as the spaces they occupied, this paper will critically analyze demographic shifts, changes in politics and religion, and changes in the organization, structure, and rituals of the Mughal court, all of which would have influenced the plan and layout of Mughal harems.
The Kartrika and Kapala: The Iconographic and Philosophical Significance of a Pair of Esoteric Buddhist Implements
Natalie R. Marsh, Ohio State University
When an esoteric male deity or practitioner holds the vajra and ghanta attributes, or implements, he illustrates the completion of the enlightenment process which involves a long path of attainment. The practitioner learns to recognize the illusory nature of worldly phenomena, destroys all egoism, and overcomes all attachments and hindrances before attaining the final realization. This purification process is symbolized by most esoteric female deities, and some fierce male deities, who carry a skull cup and flaying knife, the kapala and kartrika attributes, respectively. The kapala represents the understanding of non-differentiation between substance and non-substance, subject and object, or self and other. The kartrika symbolizes the sharp-edged blade of wisdom and is the symbolic agent in cutting away ego. In general, esoteric Buddhism regards wisdom and compassion as the essential components of absolute realization. This equation is reiterated in the pairing of the kapala and kartrika which represent wisdom and compassion respectively.
Despite their ubiquitous presence in artistic representations, the kapala and kartrika are little discussed, and frequently glossed in art historical and Buddhist literature in the English language. Through iconographic and textual analytical means, my paper intends to show the multivalent symbolic intent of the kartrika and kapala attributes. It is my contention that these little-understood implements are invaluable for furthering iconographic interpretation and understanding.
The Marriage of Draupadi in the Hindu and Jain Mahabharata
Jonathan Geen, University of Rochester
The marriage of the heroine Draupadi to the five Pandava brothers is the one of the most interesting and important events in the Mahabharata, and is also one of very few instances of polyandry in Indian literature. The version of this story that appears in the Critical Edition of the Mahabharata displays a clear consciousness of the moral ambiguity involved in one woman marrying five men. This version includes two almost irreconcilable explanations for how such an outrageous departure from approved custom could remain under the umbrella of what is "lawful." Though there is no equivalent in the Jain tradition to the Hindu Mahabharata as a whole, many individual stories from the Hindu Mahabharata appear in Jain texts, including, but not limited to, those texts which are informally known as "Jain Mahabharatas." The two goals of my paper are: (i) to evaluate when and how the Jains, who generally consider themselves less tolerant than Hindus on issues of morality, transformed the Hindu version of Draupadi’s marriage so as to reduce or remove the moral ambiguity; and (ii) to demonstrate the evolution of this story through (at least) a thousand years of Jain literature, and to show how these Jain versions have seemingly interacted with the Hindu version. A plausible argument in favor of earlier Jain influence upon the Hindu version will also be put forth. To these ends, I will be comparing five Hindu and seven Jain versions of the story of Draupadi’s marriage.