The parivAra of tripurA (kAmeshvarI) from Nepal which had a vigorous shrIkula tradition. We shall study the image in some detail.
How do we first identify the deity as tripurA: on top we see the couple of kAmeshvara and kAmeshvarI. We can clearly id the deity as kAmeshvarI as she hold the 5 arrows & bow "pa~nchatanmAtra-sAyakA", pAsha& a~Nkusha (mentioned the red tripurA earlier)
The mAtR^i-s: vaiShNavI-s, kaumArI, mAheshvarI, brAhmI
vArAhI, indrANI, chAmuNDA, chaNDikA
sUrya, agni, soma, as the saundaryalaharI states:
tavAj~nAchakrasthaM tapana-shashi-koTidyutidharam paraM shaMbhuM vande parimilita-pArshvaM parachitA |
yam ArAdhyan bhaktyA *ravi-shashi-shuchInAm aviShaye nirAta~Nkeloko nivasati hi bhAlokabhavane ||
gaNesha and skanda
The 4 legs of the ma~ncha: R-L: brahman, viShNu, rudra, maheshvara. Center: AdhArashakti
kShetrapAla and kShetreshI or some say lakuleshvarI
The red five headed central form signals the form that the devI encompasses all the 4 basic aMnAya-as the UrdhvAMnAya& also the 5 mahAsamayA-s Normally tripurA is seated on the mattress of sadAshiva. It is not clear if he is implied here or kAmeshvara himself.
Unlike the standard tripurA representations here the goddess is shown with a pair of animals. They look like badgers, though dark jackals are mentioned in the mahAsamayA tradition might mean that. However, kShetreshI is shown with a more clearl dark jackal. guhyakAlI holds a
jackal pup in one of her hands, who also has a jackal face.
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The Geser Khan epic is one of the most remarkable texts where we can make out the layers of heathen religions piling one on top of the other. When the Mongolian version was finally published by the Manchus in 1716 CE it was part of their trilingual national formula with Manchu,
Mongolian and Chinese. The epic itself has roots in Tibet. The name of the protagonists Geser is believed by some to faint memory of Augustus or Julius but that is about it for any Roman memory. Its chief god outside of the bauddha overlay is named Qormusda Khan Tengri coming
from the Iranic Ahura Mazda. He is part of pantheon of 33 gods coming from the Indo-Iranian world. The Mongols however visualize him more like indra rather than the Iranic Ahura Mazda. The 2nd of Qormusda's sons incarnates as Geser. He is worshiped as an equestrian deity for the
A quick perusal suggests that but for an out of place imposition of a modern occidental gender fetish on an ancient text in the intro, it is done with quite a sympathetic eye, with fidelity to the text. The author should be commended for making it open access-- this is the future
of academic publication& the Australian University should also be commended for that. By publishing knowledge that few might seek behind ridiculously priced books (especially printed) there is ample choice for the knowledge to be lost & the author to be forgotten for good. This
has been the fate of several H authors of decent works in post independence India. Their good work lost& them forgotten in print books, sometimes only to be plagiarized by others. Coming to the context itself the author is incorrect, like many others before him, in thinking that
There is an active cult of the 2nd pANDava the incarnation of the great god vAyu in some parts of jambudvIpa. In Nepal there is a vigorous one showing him in bhairava-like form with an Agamika worship. Below are 3 depictions of his acts: 1. jarAsaMdha-vadha
Apparently kIchaka-vadha; though there is no draupadI as may be seen in some depictions.
This is likely duHshAsana-vadha which resembles the multiple depictions of this fierce act of the vAyuputra on the kuru field seen in the Himalayan realm. The king shrInivAsa-malla endowed a major temple of bhIma & at the vidhi of his cult melds him with rudra in the secret
A atypical work for a western scholar -- trying to tell the history by including the Iranic perspective. Then end of Iran is a point of great significance to us because they are the closest major IE sister group of our tradition. However, some points should be noted with respect
to: 1) The steppe-sedentary tension. When we look at our own early tradition we see that even after "settling" in India, the Arya-s were not comfortable with large-scale urbanity -- this is reflected even in the rAmAyaNa & mahAbhArata -- eventually the Arya-s of India came around
to go urban. I think the evidence is strongly in favor of the Iranics as a group being even less inclined to total urbanity. The nature of their "post-invasion" domain retained the straddling of the steppe-land on 1 side and West Asian urbanity on the other. It does seem that
good thread. The connection to devAnAM hR^idayebhyaH from shatarudrIya was also what came to mind. But there is another connection to the marut-s that I would like note. vedic sense of a~nji has some mystery to it. It has a clear connection to the marut-s. For e.g. we have
in the RV: ye pR^iShatIbhir R^iShTibhiH sAkaM vAshIbhir a~njibhiH | ajAyanta svabhAnavaH ||
It is normally translated as unguent. In fact has an IE pedigree with that word. However, it is mentioned here with the weapons of the marut-s R^iShTi (spear) and vAshI (battle pickaxe).
Here again it is mentioned with the battle axe, armor and gauntlets: ye a~njiShu ye vAshIShu svabhAnavaH srakShu rukmeShu khAdiShu | dantA~njin should be either interpreted as marked with a tusk or a tusk which is like that special attribute of the marut-s. The a~nji of the