Ritual Innovation

Strategic Interventions in South Asian Religion

Brian K. Pennington, Amy L. Allocco, Brian K. Pennington, Amy L. Allocco

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781438469027, 9781438469034
• eBook ISBN: 9781438469041
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Hinduism

Religious rituals are often seen as unchanging and ahistorical bearers of long-standing traditions. But as this book demonstrates, ritual is a lively platform for social change and innovation in the religions of South Asia. Drawing from Hindu and Jain examples in India, Nepal, and North America, the essays in this volume, written by renowned scholars of religion, explore how the intentional, conscious, and public invention or alteration of ritual can effect dramatic social transformation, whether in dethroning a Nepali king or sanctioning same-sex marriage. Ritual Innovation shows how the very idea of ritual as a conservative force misreads the history of religion by overlooking ritual's inherent creative potential and its adaptability to new contexts and circumstances.

Part I

RITUAL INNOVATION AND POLITICAL POWER

Chapter 1

Coronation of the Hindu King

Tradition and Innovation in Nepalese History

NAWARAJ CHAULAGAIN

Introduction

In Hindu traditions, the coronation or royal consecration (rājyābhiṣeka)1 is regarded as a religious ceremony whose pivotal moments consist of sprinkling the person of the king-select with waters and “sacred” liquids of various types, the king mounting the royal throne, and the crowning.2 This ritual formally and ceremonially installs a (royal) person into kingship and invests him with worldly and spiritual powers. The ritual was mandatory for any Hindu king, and it had to be repeated in miniature forms on a regular basis, especially on the anniversary of the coronation or on the king’s birthday. The ritual handbooks were often the preserves of the royal priests, and the public did not have access to them. The secrecy of rituals and mantras for each ritual act were well guarded, and the public participated mainly to show their allegiance to the throne. Although the coronation ritual has a long textual history in South Asia from Vedic times, one of the earliest references to it in Nepal is King Mānadeva’s Cāṅgunārāyaṇa inscription of 467 CE, which mentions his coronation. Later references show that this ritual (formerly observed as puṣyābhiṣeka or paṭṭābhiṣeka) was a norm for the installation of any king. Hindu kings in Nepal and India have variously celebrated this occasion with pomp and splendor, with the last coronation of the Nepalese king, Bīrendra (reign, 1972–2001), in 1975.

This chapter concentrates on three Sanskrit coronation texts, the only ones available so far from Nepal: the first handbook called Rājyābhiṣekavidhānam (Ritual Manual for Coronation) is attributed to the sixteenth-century Gorkhā king Dravya Shah (reign, ca. 1559–1577);3 the other two Sanskrit manuals, still unpublished manuscripts, were prepared by the Brahmins working for the palace for the coronation of Mahendra (1956; reign, 1955–1972) and of Bīrendra (1975). All these coronation texts have directly or indirectly drawn on the Vedic and Puranic materials and on the local traditions of their own. This chapter argues that despite the persistence of certain common rituals (e.g., sprinkling and mounting the throne) handed down from Vedic times, the ceremonies as recorded in these three handbooks, and most possibly as practiced, in the coronations of these three kings, have distinct foci and innovations–tantric (in Dravya Shah’s), Shaiva (in Mahendra’s), and Vaishnava (in Bīrendra’s). Moreover, these religious systems are variously employed, mainly for gaining worldly power through war and conquest (tantric), for asserting the national Hindu identity (Shaiva), and for promoting the Vaishnava aspect of divine kingship (Vaishnava) and the ecumenical form of Hindu tradition. The rituals described in these manuals also show the shifting dynamics of Nepalese royal ceremony and religious culture.

This study departs from those conducted by scholars dealing with the coronation of ancient kings in its focus on ritual innovations and their possible causes and implications in Nepalese history. Scholars such as A. M. Hocart, J. Gonda, and J. C. Heesterman have emphasized the symbolic contents of the rituals and interpreted coronation as the “rebirth” of the king (Hocart 1927; Gonda 1966; Heesterman 1957: 13–39). Heesterman’s study is especially important; however, his analysis is limited to the ancient Yajus texts and not concerned with any later contents as given in the Gṛhya, Puranic, and other ritual digests. Ronald Inden’s study of this ritual as described in the Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa (VDhP) is a structural analysis of transcendental and immanent aspects of kingship, which he illustrates through the king’s ritual transformation from his status as a “passive recipient” to his rule as an “active agent” (Inden 1981: 42–43). However, the strict binaries he posits do not hold quite true in the texts under discussion; his construction of the divine kingship is limited to the VDhP and cannot be similarly maintained in the Nepalese coronation texts. Michael Witzel’s study on the coronation of Bīrendra focuses on the making of the divine king and discusses a long history of coronation from the earliest Vedic times (Witzel 1987: 417–65). Despite very important insights into the development of the rituals, his paper does not pay much attention to the relationship between the ritual texts and their sociopolitical contexts and to the question of how certain historical situation could alter, even if slightly, the performance of the rituals.

Coronation Rituals and Their Commonalities across Time

It is important to note that the coronation rituals discussed here are different from the rituals performed for the ascension to the throne (rājyārohaṇa). The ascension ritual as carried out in Nepal was much shorter, lasting only a few hours, and it functioned to give religious authority to the new king who took over the throne as a result of conquest (in the case of Dravya Shah) or as a consequence of his predecessor’s demise (in the case of Mahendra in 1955, Bīrendra in 1972, and Gyānendra [reign, 2001–2008] in 2001). The ritual as observed in the ascension of Gyānendra to the throne of Nepal on June 4, 2001, which occurred in the context of the royal massacre, involved a shorter form of (1) crowning of the king, (2) offering homage to the newly crowned king by people and dignitaries, and (3) a ritual procession around the city and back to the palace. It is stated (e.g., VDhP II. 18.2) that the throne should not remain vacant for long and that the continuity of kingship should be maintained by declaring and installing the new king.

In contrast, the rituals, as observed in the coronation of Mahendra and Bīrendra, extended for days (seven in the case of Mahendra and eleven for Bīrendra), although the main rituals were concentrated on the last two days. The coronations as described in these three handbooks have certain commonalities despite some significant differences. In the preparatory phase of the rituals, for example, the pavilion is constructed and well decorated with the images and banners of various guardian deities. The royal priests working on behalf of the king follow strict rules of purity and auspiciousness, and they perform the rituals with faith (śraddhā), devotion (bhakti), and complete dedication (samarpaṇa). All the implements, such as sacred pitchers, ingredients, and divine icons are sanctified, and the icons of the deities, such as Vishnu, Gaṇeśa, and Indra, are then ceremonially installed and worshipped. During the worship, the deities are invoked, invited, paid obeisance, and offered devotional services (upacāra), such as the seat, sacred water, food, and flowers. Throughout the coronation period (for example, for Mahendra’s and Bīrendra’s coronations), various sacred places and temples of the kingdom also held special rituals, praying for the health and happiness of the king and the prosperity of the kingdom.

On the days of sprinkling and coronation proper, the usual worship to various deities is first carried out. Regalia such as the royal standard, the national flag, the royal swords, the shield, the royal scepters, the fly-whisk, the fan made of yak’s tail, and the white umbrella are also displayed on the pavilion. Then the main rituals commence: a bath with clays from different parts of the earth, sprinklings (i.e., the consecration with sacred liquids) of different types, the crowning, and a procession. In a ritual clay bath (mṛttikāsnāna), different parts of the king’s body are cleansed with earth brought from different places within the kingdom: from the top of the mountain, to purify his head; from an ant hill, his ears; from Vishnu/Shiva’s temple(s), his mouth; from the place where the banner of Indra is installed, his neck; from the courtyard of the king, his heart; from near the tooth of an elephant, his right arm; from near the horn of a bull, his left arm; from the lake, his back; from the confluence of the rivers, his belly; from the banks of the rivers, the two sides of his breast; from the door of a courtesan, his loins; from the elephant’s stable, his thighs; from the horse stable, his private parts (but in Bīrendra’s handbook, shanks and sheen); from the cow stable, his knees; from the wheels of a chariot, his feet; and, finally, from all the places enumerated above, his entire body is cleansed.

The clay bathing is followed by bathing with waters brought from various sacred streams. Subsequently, the ritual of sprinkling (abhiṣeka) is performed, along with the recitation of appropriate verses from the Vedic and Puranic texts. In a pavilion that symbolizes the cosmic recreation, the ministers representing the four classes of traditional Hindu society sprinkle the king, who is seated on a throne where the hides of an ox, a domestic cat, a leopard, a lion, and a tiger are placed. The Brahmin minister sprinkles from the eastern side, from a golden pitcher filled with clarified butter; the kṣatriya minister, from the south, from a silver pitcher filled with milk; the vaiśya minister, from the west, from a copper pitcher full of curds; and the śudra minister, from the north, from a clay pitcher filled with water. In this richly symbolic procedure, the hierarchy of the traditional society is reimagined and reaffirmed. This is followed by a series of sprinklings by the primary priest from jars that contain sacred waters: water with many perfumes; water containing flowers; water with five products of the cow (pañcagavya); water containing five sweet things (pañcāmṛta); water mixed with seeds; water containing fruit; water containing kuśa grass; water containing gems; water from various sacred rivers; and so on. The king is sprinkled not only by the representatives of four classes of Hindu society but also by an auspicious woman who is living with her husband and whose first-born child is a son. An important highlight of this part of the ceremony is the role of the royal astrologer, who finally consecrates the king with a hundred and eighty-two verses from the Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa (II. 22.4–185), a medieval Kashmiri text that seems to have been popular in Nepal with the migration of Indian Brahmins to the Himalayan foothills during medieval times.

After the extended consecration, in which a multitude of deities and entities are invoked from across times and traditions for the purification and empowerment of the king, the king again takes a ritual bath—this time only with plain water. This is followed by the crowning ceremony, for which the king sits on the traditional lion’s throne (siṃhāsana) along with his consort, and the royal couple is crowned by the priest. Now is the time for the officials and public to pay homage to the couple and express their allegiance to the throne. The king...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I Ritual Innovation and Political Power
• Part II Ritual and the Economies of Caste and Class
• Part III Ritual and the Negotiation of Gender
• Part IV Ritual Innovation in Contemporary Transnational Contexts
• Contributors
• Index
• Back Cover