Bhairava and the Eight Charnel Grounds: On the History of a Monumental Painting at the Jayavāgīśvarī Temple, Kathmandu

Berliner Indologische Studien Berlin Indological Studies Bhairava and the Eight Charnel Grounds: gegründet von / founded by Klaus Bruhn Gudrun Bühnemann 21 . 2013 herausgegeben von / edited by Gerd J.R. Mevissen ¼ WEIDLER Buchverlag On the History of a Monumental Painting at the Jayavågï¸varï Temple, Kathmandu The focus of this paper is the large mural of Bhairava on the northern wall of the Jayavågï¸varï Temple in Deupå¶an, Kathmandu. A recently discovered artist’s sketch shows that the colourful painting, far from being a modern creation, is the product of a tradition of renewal dating back to at least 1755/56 CE. The paper also analyses the representation of the Eight Charnel Grounds in the painting, which features a directional guardian, a Mahåsiddha with a female attendant, a Mother Goddess, a bh÷ta tending a funeral pyre, a caitya, a ¸ivali¼ga, a tree and a characteristic animal. Such a detailed representation is rare in ˜aiva works of art and was possibly modelled on Buddhist iconographic practice. The Layout of the Temple The temple of Jayavågï¸varï1 (Fig. 1) in the western part of Deupå¶an (Deopatan) is located up the hill from the Pa¸upatinåth Temple in Kathmandu on what is now the busy Ring Road. It dates at least from the last part of the seventeenth century.2 The nineteenth-century chronicle Bhå¹åvaº¸åvalï (vol. 2, 94) reports that N¡pendramalla of Kathmandu (r. 1674-80 CE) renovated the temple. REGMI (1965-66, vol. 3, pt. 2, p. 9 [fol. 21] and vol. 2, p. 94) provides evidence that the Harasiddhi dance was performed on the temple’s main platform by a troupe from Harasiddhi village (near Patan) in Nepåla 1 The name is sometimes written as Jaibageswari, Jayabåge¸varï, Jayabageshwori or even Jayabhåge¸varï. 2 RAU (1984: 243) writes that the temple dates from the sixteenth century but does not provide any supporting evidence. BERLINER INDOLOGISCHE STUDIEN | BERLIN INDOLOGICAL STUDIES 21 · 2013: 307-326 308 G. Bühnemann [2] Fig. 1 The front (or western) side of the Jayavågï¸varï Temple, Deupå¶an. Photograph: G. Bühnemann samvat 800 (which corresponds to 1680 CE). Records in the Newari language document elaborate ritual activities that took place at the temple in December of 1755 CE, including purification rites, the coating of the image of Jayavågï¸varï with gold and silver and the ritual of infusing life (prå½aprati¹¶hå) (SHAKYA 2001: 30, 37-38, 47). It is thus evident that in the eighteenth century the Jayavågï¸varï Temple was being accorded the respect due to an important shrine. The sanctum houses three statues (Fig. 2). The one in the centre, with a now grey but what was originally likely a white face (said to be of clay and renewed and repainted every twelve years)3 is worshipped as Jayavågï¸varï. A commercially reproduced photograph of the statue put up on the wall of 3 MICHAELS (1994/1: 81, 95) reports that the feet of the statue are made of stone and that the parts which are made of clay and the statue’s robes are replaced every twelve years, at the same time the Bhairava painting is touched up. [3] Bhairava and the Eight Charnel Grounds ... 309 Fig. 2 The sanctum of the Jayavågï¸varï Temple. Photograph: G. Bühnemann the temple’s bhajan hall labels the goddess alternatively as ‘Swet Sarashwoti’ (i.e., ˜vetasarasvatï, the white Sarasvatï). The statue is draped with a long robe and scarves. Only one of the hand-held attributes is discernible: the sword in the upper right hand. One of two pendants suspended from the temple’s roof, however, features a medallion displaying a miniature representation of the goddess holding a sword and shield in her upper pair of hands and a hammer (or knife) and mirror in her two lower hands (Fig. 3). On the statue’s pedestal (but according to MICHAELS 1994/1: 94, on the statue’s stone feet) an undated Licchavi inscription was found (VAJRÅCÅRYA 1973: 124), possibly dating from the late fifth or early sixth century. It mentions one Guhasoma as the donor. The inscription was not discernible during my visits to the temple in June of 2011, since offerings were then regularly being placed in front of the statue.4 4 An old photograph is published in SLUSSER 1982/2: pl. 537. It shows the goddess’s feet and the pedestal on which she stands but the inscription cannot be discerned on either. 310 G. Bühnemann [4] [5] Bhairava and the Eight Charnel Grounds ... 311 Fig. 4 The stone which features a wheel flanked by two deer and serves as a stair step to the temple’s entrance. Photograph: G. Bühnemann Fig. 3 A pendant suspended from the temple’s roof with a representation of Jayavågï¸varï. Photograph: G. Bühnemann To Jayavågï¸varï’s proper right is a smaller statue with a disproportionately large head. The priest-in-charge refers to it as Nïlabhairava,5 but this is likely based on no more than the statue’s blue face. –A̿—AN (1996-99, pt. 1: 570) and SHAKYA (2008: 209) call it ˜vetabhairava, the white Bhairava, perhaps because the statue in the middle goes by the name ˜vetasarasvatï. The smaller statue to the goddess’s proper left is said to be an unusual form of 5 A commercially reproduced photograph hung in the temple’s bhajan hall labels the statue ‘Nil Bhairav’. RAU (1984: 243) renders the name as Bïlabhairava, which must be a misprint for Nïlabhairava. Ga½e¸a as a child, before he had a trunk. A trunkless Ga½e¸a has never been heard of, but since it is not possible to enter the sanctum and examine the statue closely and without its robes, it remains unclear what deity it may actually represent. A commercially reproduced photograph hung in the temple’s bhajan hall labels it ‘Adhi Ganesh’. These two smaller figures appear not to be full-length figures but rather heads placed on parts of torsos covered by garments. The nineteenth-century chronicle edited by WRIGHT (p. 127) refers to an image of Bhairava Navali¼ge¸vara (perhaps named after a locality?) and of Gajakar½aka (i.e., Ga½e¸a) in connection with the ‘village goddess’ (gråmadevï) Jayavågï¸varï. It is possible that the two smaller statues currently flanking Jayavågï¸varï in the temple represent these two deities, even though they may have replaced statues of what were originally different deities. A stone serving as a stair step to the temple’s entrance (Fig. 4) features a well-known Buddhist motif, the flaming wheel flanked by two couchant deer. According to SLUSSER (1982/1: 178), it was originally “the halved plinth of a Licchavi caitya.” The top part of the tympanum (Fig. 5) features a GaruÜa with a human face holding an am¡takala¸a in his two main hands in front of his chest and clutching two winged någas with his claws. The tympanum’s sides bear 312 G. Bühnemann [6] Fig. 5 The tympanum of the Jayavågï¸varï Temple. Photograph: G. Bühnemann images of S÷rya (proper right) and Candra (proper left) and two makaras. The centre shows three forms of Durgå,6 each with four visible heads: a 6 For a sketch of the historical development of the three manifestations, see BROWN 1990: 132-154. Mahåkålï, Mahålak¹mï and Mahåsarasvatï are worshipped successively at the time of the recitation of the Devïmåhåtmya or Durgåsapta¸atï, a text ascribed to the Mårka½Üeya-Purå½a (ca. 500-600 CE). The goddesses are associated with the colours dark, red and white respectively, with the qualities (gu½a) darkness (tamas), passion (rajas) and purity/goodness (sattva), and with the cosmic functions of reabsorption, maintenance and creation, which are usually attributed to ˜iva, Vi¹½u and Brahmå. The text of the Devïmåhåtmya does not contain descriptions of the goddesses. They appear later in the Rahasyatraya, a text of unknown date, which is appended to the Devïmåhåtmya and is considered an integral part of it by commentators. These iconographic descriptions are also found in Devïbhågavata-Purå½a 9.50.65-72, which is part of a section of the Purå½a assigned to the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries (BROWN 1990: 225). Contemporary editions of the Devïmåhåtmya prefix the iconographic descriptions of the goddesses to the three main sections of the Devïmåhåtmya, as explained in more detail in BÜHNEMANN (2000-01, vol. 1: 186-191). The verse describing Mahåkålï precedes the ‘first account’ (prathamacaritra) of the text, the one addressing Mahålak¹mï precedes the ‘middle account’ (madhyamacaritra), and the one on Mahåsarasvatï is inserted before the ‘final account’ (uttamacaritra). However, the descriptions do not agree in every detail with the iconography of the three goddesses on the tympanum, especially in the case of Mahåsarasvatï. The iconography of Mahåsarasvatï on the tympanum also differs from that of the statue in the temple. [7] Bhairava and the Eight Charnel Grounds ... 313 larger figure of Mahålak¹mï on a lion in the middle, and a smaller figure of Mahåkålï on a corpse to Mahålak¹mï’s proper right and of Mahåsarasvatï on a peacock (instead of a goose) to Mahålak¹mï’s proper left. According to an inscription below the three figures, the tympanum dates from the month of mårga in N.S. 980 (1859 CE). On the front (or western) side of the temple, wooden carvings of the charnel grounds can be seen, three on either side of the entrance. They feature Bhairavas, funeral pyres and characteristic animals. Though recent works, they may have replaced similar carvings from an earlier time. The four wooden struts on this side of the temple display Mother Goddesses and, on their lower parts, Mahåsiddhas with their female attendants. These struts are also new but again may have replaced older ones with similar carvings. An adjacent shrine on the south-western corner of the temple houses ancient stone sculptures of the Mother Goddesses (MICHAELS 1994/1: 95, pl. 28); animals are sacrificed there regularly. One of the ¸ikhara shrines in the temple compound currently houses an image of S÷rya on a chariot pulled by seven horses. This image, locally known as S÷rya-Nåråya½a, is not likely to be the original one. Numerous complex goddess figures are found on the outer façade of the shrine, which may indicate that it was originally dedicated to a goddess. A sculpture of Dhanvantari is found in the sanctum of another shrine located near a sunken stepped fountain on the other side of the road. The Bhairava Mural The northern wall of the temple bears a large colourful mural of a Bhairavalike figure surrounded by the Eight Charnel Grounds (Fig. 6). It is covered by a protective screen, already visible in photographs taken by John C. Huntington in 1970 (Fig. 7).7 Below the painting is a wooden shrine of Nåsadya, the god of dance, identified in Nepal with ˜iva Na¶aråja, and to its sides, paintings relating to the theme of witchcraft, featuring women leading their husbands on a leash to a sacrifice. One rather similar painting is seen in Patan’s Momadu-gallï (“the lane of Chinnamastå”). In an appreciation of the Bhairava painting, Ronald M. BERNIER (1978: 139) wrote, 7 The Huntington Archive, scan nos. 0020670-0020673. 314 G. Bühnemann [8] [9] Bhairava and the Eight Charnel Grounds ... 315 Fig. 7 The mural in 1970. Photograph: J.C. Huntington (The Huntington Archive at The Ohio State University, scan no. 0020673) Fig. 6 The mural on the northern wall of the Jayavågï¸varï Temple in 2011. Photograph: G. Bühnemann The mural on the outside of the temple is another unusual feature. Recent in date, the painting is very large, covering an entire projecting wall from base to cornice. It shows a large figure of a fierce god encircled by flames and many attendant figures. The figure, which is bright blue in color, appears to represent Bhairava, who is associated with the goddess for whom the temple is named. The implements held in the god’s many arms suggest this also. Several Shiva symbols are also found around the structure, but the large exterior painting of Bhairava is by far the most outstanding iconographic element as well as one of the most colorful exterior temple paintings in Kathmandu Valley. Like the lithographed holy pictures that flood Nepal from India, the mural has universal appeal no doubt. The mural is indeed quite unique, as I will show below. An informant8 reported the following legend about the mural’s origin. A Bhairava from the locality Tusål near Godåvarï came to Jayavågï¸varï. Since 8 Interview with Mukunda Vaidya, who oversees the temple’s bhajan program, on June 19, 2011. the goddess was very beautiful he started following her. When Jayavågï¸varï noticed this, she ordered her son Ga½e¸a to deal with him. Ga½e¸a cut off the Bhairava’s head and peeled the skin off his body. The mother and son affixed the skin to the wall of the temple and it turned into the Bhairava painting. In conformity with this legend, a photograph displayed in the temple’s bhajan hall (Fig. 8), which reproduces the mural without a protective screen, labels the Bhairava ‘Tusal Bhairav’. MICHAELS (1994/1: 81-82) records a slightly different version of the legend, according to which Jayavågï¸varï requested protection from ˜iva, who proceeded to tear the skin off of the Bhairava. MICHAELS does not record the name Tusål, and refers to this Bhairava as Nïlabhairava. This is likely a popular name given to the deity because of his blue complexion. As noted before, this label is occasionally also applied to the blue-faced Bhairava inside the temple’s sanctum. However, the name Nïlabhairava does not seem to be attested in manuscripts or printed texts, the name Kålabhairava being the common one. The mural is renewed every twelve years. MICHAELS (1994/1: 81, 96, fig. 29) describes a renewal in 1989/90 which lasted about six months and during which period the outer walls of the temple were covered with white 316 G. Bühnemann [10] [11] Bhairava and the Eight Charnel Grounds ... 317 Fig. 10 The mural in 1981 or 1982. Photograph: A. Michaels Fig. 8 A commercially reproduced photograph of the mural in the temple’s bhajan hall. Photograph: G. Bühnemann Fig. 9 The temple covered during the ritual renewal of the painting in 1989/90. Photograph: A. Michaels cloths (Fig. 9). That the tradition of renewing the painting was already in place by V.S. 1904 (1848 CE) follows from a decree of Surendra Vikram ˜åh, which guaranteed that those involved in the process were released from unpaid labour (text and translation in MICHAELS 1994/1: 156, 349). A sketch prepared for the mural (Fig. 11), which I recently discovered in an artist’s sketchbook in the Newark Museum (acc.no. 82.253), allows us to push this date back by almost one hundred years. The mural was photographed by John C. Huntington in 1970 (Fig. 7), by Axel Michaels in 1981 or 1982 (MICHAELS 1994/1: 81, pl. 19; MICHAELS/ TANDAN in HUTT et al. 1994: 190) (Fig. 10) and by myself, most recently, in 2011 (Fig. 6). When one compares the photographs, which show the mural in different cycles of renewal, it becomes clear that the iconography has changed little over time. In the mural photographed in 2011 three of the eight måt¡kås and five of the Mahåsiddhas appear in different charnel grounds, and some of the characteristic animals are found in different spots. Unlike the sketch, the mural as photographed in 2011 features various species of trees, and the bh÷tas can be distinguished on the basis of the hand-held attributes. One should, however, keep in mind that painters have the freedom to add details not outlined in a sketch. 318 G. Bühnemann [12] [13] Bhairava and the Eight Charnel Grounds ... 319 (Translation:) “Hail! The representation (phuta) was made for Jayavågï¸varï (‘Jayavågeseri’) of Gola (‘Gora’, i.e., Deupå¶an).9 Hail! Samvat 876 (1755/56 CE).” Fig. 11 A sketch for the mural dating from 1755/56 CE. Photograph: G. Bühnemann, with the permission of the Newark Museum The Sketch of 1755/56 CE The sketch in the Newark Museum contains the following five lines of text in the Newari language: (Text inscribed on Bhairava's lower right leg:) [siddhi sign] gorayå jayavå geseriyå phuta da yakaº tayå ju ra (Text inscribed on the right arm of the corpse on which Bhairava is standing:) [siddhi sign] samvat 876 It is quite possible that the unknown artist made the sketch before the mural was first painted on the northern wall of the temple, although it could also be that the drawing was used when the mural was renewed in 1755/56. As noted before, records in the Newari language attest to complex ritual activities conducted at the temple during exactly this time period (SHAKYA 2001: 30, 3738, 47). The sketch features an eight-armed Bhairava with flame-like hair standing in a militant stance on a male corpse which rests on a lotus. Bhairava holds a sword and shield along with an elephant hide in his upper (posterior) pair of hands; a rattle drum and a skull-topped staff (kha¶vå¼ga) in the second pair of hands; and a trident and the severed head (of the god Brahmå) with four faces in the third pair of hands. His lower (front) right hand holds a skull cup (kapålapåtra) and the lower left displays the bindumudrå. The bindumudrå is the mudrå of offering as libations (tarpa½a) – by flicking the fingers of one hand – drops (bindu) of a liquid (an alcoholic beverage or blood) contained in a skull-cup held in the opposing hand. Bhairava’s body is adorned with snake ornaments and a garland of skulls. Two smaller emaciated figures holding a skull cup and flaying knife stand near his feet. Their complexion is specified as ni (nïla, dark blue) and ra (rakta, red). These figures are attendants who commonly serve Bhairava or other wrathful deities.10 In the background are seen the Eight Charnel Grounds, four on either side. In the version of the painting photographed in 2011 (Fig. 6) they are separated by a river containing makaras. All charnel grounds feature a directional guardian (dikpåla) seated on a mount; a Mother Goddess (måt¡kå) standing on an animal mount; a Mahåsiddha with a female attendant; and a characteristic animal. In addition, in each of them there are an unspecified 9 For the term Gola/Gvala referring to Deupå¶an, see MICHAELS 1994/1: 24-25 and 2008: 42-43. 10 For a Nepalese painting (whose date corresponds to 1754/55 CE) of a similar Bhairava figure flanked by two attendants in a charnel grounds setting featuring two funeral pyres, scattered bones and skeletons, see BÜHNEMANN 2013: fig. 12. 320 G. Bühnemann [14] naked bh÷ta, labelled as sii (grey), tending a funeral pyre; a caitya; a ¸ivali¼ga; and a tree. While some texts specify the names of the charnel grounds and the names of the entities that inhabit or occupy them, including caityas, trees, lakes with någas, mountains and clouds, the sketch does not do so.11 Only colours are occasionally indicated, using the following abbreviations: ku: ku¼kuma - golden ni: nïla - dark pi or vi: pïta - yellow ra: rakta - red rå or lå: låuna, Newari - ‘flesh colour’, light red sii: siyu, Newari - grey to: toyu, Newari - white vå: våø, Newari - green The Eight Charnel Grounds In the sketch, the figures of the dikpålas in the charnel grounds enable us to determine the cardinal directions. Accordingly, the east, presided over by Indra, who is mounted on an elephant, is off to Bhairava’s lower right side. Proceeding clockwise we then arrive at the following arrangement: 3. South (Yama) 2. South-east (Agni) 1. East (Indra) 8. North-east (ϸåna) Bhairava 4. South-west (Nair¡ta) 5. West (Varu½a) 6. North-west (Våyu) 7. North (Kubera) The individual charnel grounds are inhabited by the following types of beings: 1. Eastern charnel ground Directional guardian: Indra, ku (golden), on an elephant Mother goddess: Brahmå½ï (called Brahmåya½ï in Nepal), pi (yellow), on a goose Mahåsiddha: Indrabh÷tipå; with attendant, rå (light red) Characteristic animal: crow 11 I have discussed texts on and artistic representations of the charnel grounds in Bud- dhist and ˜aiva sources in BÜHNEMANN 2007. For descriptions of charnel grounds in Buddhist texts, see MEISEZAHL 1974, TSUDA 1990 and ENGLISH 2002: 136-143, 347. For an art-historical study of the charnel grounds in early Tibetan ma½àalas, see NEUMANN 2002. [15] Bhairava and the Eight Charnel Grounds ... 321 2. South-eastern charnel ground Directional guardian: Agni, ra (red), on a goat/ram Mother goddess: Måhe¸varï, to (white), on a bull Mahåsiddha: —ombipå/—ombï Heruka, riding a tiger; with attendant, rå (light red) Characteristic animal: snake 3. Southern charnel ground Directional guardian: Yama, on a buffalo Mother goddess: Kaumårï, ra (red), on a peacock (2011 mural: Vai¹½avï?) Mahåsiddha: Vir÷på; with attendant, rå (light red) (2011 mural: Kukkuripå) Characteristic animal: dog 4. South-western charnel ground Directional guardian: Nair¡ta, rå (light red), on a corpse Mother goddess: Vai¹½avï, vå (green), on GaruÜa (2011 mural: Våråhï on a buffalo) Mahåsiddha: L÷ipå, ni (dark) (2011 mural: unidentified Siddha); with attendant, rå (light red) Characteristic animal: jackal 5. Western charnel ground Directional guardian: Varu½a, to (white), on a makara Mother goddess: Våråhï, ra (red), on a buffalo (2011 mural: Kaumårï on a peacock) Mahåsiddha: Någårjuna, with snake hood, pi (yellow); with attendant Characteristic animal: horse (2011 mural: horse, elephant and crow) 6. North-western charnel ground Directional guardian: Våyu (often called Våyavya in Nepal), vå (green), on a deer/gazelle Mother goddess: Indrå½ï (called Indråya½ï in Nepal), on an elephant (the paper is slightly broken off) Mahåsiddha: Gha½¶åpå, rå (light red); with attendant, rå (light red) (2011 mural: Vir÷på?) Characteristic animal: lion 7. Northern charnel ground Directional guardian: Kubera, pi (yellow), on a horse 322 G. Bühnemann [16] Mother goddess: Cåmu½Üå, ra (red), on a corpse Mahåsiddha: Kukkuripå, rå (light red); with attendant rå (light red) (2011 mural: unidentified Siddha) Characteristic animal: vulture? (The edge of the paper is broken off.) (2011 mural: no animal) 8. North-eastern charnel ground Directional guardian: ϸåna, to (white), on a bull Mother goddess: Mahålak¹mï, ku (golden), on a lion Mahåsiddha: Saraha (or ˜avaripå?), vi (yellow); with attendant rå (light red) (2011 mural: L÷ipå) Characteristic animal: boar As noted before, all charnel grounds feature a caitya as well as a ¸ivali¼ga. As I have shown in BÜHNEMANN 2007, the combined appearance of these two prominent objects of worship became popular in Buddhist as well as in ˜aiva texts and images in mid-seventeenth-century Nepal. Older Buddhist sources describe or feature merely st÷pas/caityas as part of charnel grounds, and ˜aiva sources merely ¸ivali¼gas. The earliest example of the combination of caityas and ¸ivali¼gas in such representations in Newar Buddhist art is in a painted ma½àala of Cakrasamvara (reproduced in PAL 2003: 219) whose date corresponds to 1648. PAL (1975: 97, pl. 64) ascribes a group of metal figures (featuring entities situated within the charnel grounds, including li¼gas and caityas) to the fourteenth century or even earlier. This date, however, is far too early and should be reconsidered. The series of Eight Mahåsiddhas consisting of Indrabh÷tipå, —ombipå, Vir÷på, L÷ipå, Någårjuna, Gha½¶åpå, Kukkuripå and Saraha is the one found in many Buddhist ma½àala paintings (LUCZANITS 2006: 88-89), especially those of Cakrasamvara prepared by Newar artists (HUNTINGTON/BANGDEL 2003: 267; BÜHNEMANN 2012: 67-68, 154-155). These Mahåsiddhas can be discerned clearly, for example, in a paubhå dating from ca. 1812 CE (HUNTINGTON/BANGDEL 2003: 287). The Brahmanical group of the Eight Mothers (måt¡kås) which inhabits the charnel grounds came to be accepted in Buddhist circles in Nepal early on but is not included in descriptions of the charnel grounds in Buddhist texts from India or Tibet. [17] Bhairava and the Eight Charnel Grounds ... 323 Conclusion How does the Bhairava mural on the northern wall of the temple fit in with the statue of Jayavågï¸varï in the sanctum and the representations of the other divinities in the temple complex? The chronicle of Padmagiri (p. 25) and WRIGHT’s chronicle (p. 130) report that Jayavågï¸varï came to Nepal from Månasarovara (in Tibet), crossing the ˜ilå (i.e., the Ga½Üakï) River. It is clear that she is not a regular form of Sarasvatï but rather a form of Durgå, namely Mahåsarasvatï as described in the Devïmåhåtmya. As Durgå, she can then be associated with Bhairava. However, given the eclectic nature of the Jayavågï¸varï Temple complex, which contains shrines and elements from different religious groups and time periods, it may be pointless to try to find such a connection. The Bhairava in the centre of the mural displays his characteristic attributes, but the detailed representation of the charnel grounds is rare in ˜aiva works of art, and possibly adopted from Buddhist iconography. It is also possible that Bhairava’s iconography was conflated with that of a Buddhist figure such as Mahåkåla. Mahåkåla, who can be represented as surrounded by the Eight Charnel Grounds, is also known as Mahåkåla-bhairava in Nepal, where Bhairava is a common element attached to the names of wrathful male divinities. That Bhairava and perhaps Mahåkåla were conflated in seventeenth-century Nepal can be assumed from a paubhå previously in the possession of S. Lienhard (MACDONALD/VERGATI STAHL 1979: 130, pl. 99). Details of the inscription with its date (said to correspond to 1689 CE) cannot be discerned in the published photograph. It features an eight-armed wrathful deity, identified as Bhairava by MACDONALD/VERGATI Stahl,12 surrounded by simple representations of the Eight Charnel Grounds, four on either side. All charnel grounds feature a caitya and a funeral pyre, and all have identical features. Given the representation of the five Buddhist figures in the top register of the painting, however, and of the Siddhas Vir÷på and L÷ipå further below, it is likely that the figure in the centre is actually a Buddhist divinity, possibly a form of Mahåkåla. 12 SHAKYA (2008: 210) reports that he saw a similar painting in Bhaktapur in 1990. It was likely because of the presence of the charnel grounds that SHAKYA assumed that the figure in the centre is ‘Ma¸åna’ (˜ma¸åna) Bhairava, or Mahåbhairava. 324 G. Bühnemann [18] Tibetan prayer-flags now decorate the mural at the Jayavågï¸varï Temple, perhaps indicating that some Buddhists worship there, too. If so, they may perhaps consider the central figure to be, or confuse it with, Mahåkåla. The representation of charnel grounds in the painting may ultimately have been inspired by the burning ghå¶s of the nearby Pa¸upatinåth Temple, on the route to which the Jayavågï¸varï Temple is located. It is said that women committing satï changed their clothes and offered their jewellery at the Jayavågï¸varï Temple on their way to these ghå¶s (SLUSSER 1982/1: 178, note 86; MICHAELS 1994/1: 151). A song in the Newari language (LIENHARD 1974: 119-121, 230-232, no. 95) narrates how Queen Bijyålak¹mï, in the eighteenth century, made an offering to Jayavågï¸varï before committing satï. The painting can be compared to two large well-known Bhairava murals on the outer walls of temples or shrines in Nepal: the wall painting outside the Ca½Üe¸varï Temple, Banepa (SLUSSER 1982/2: pl. 368) and the one of Tika Bhairava near Lele village (ibid.: pl. 361). These paintings, however, do not feature the charnel grounds. The monumental seventeenth-century stone sculpture of Kålabhairava on Kathmandu’s Darbår Square, although only sixarmed and stepping in the other direction, also comes to mind, but again, no charnel grounds are represented. Thus the mural at the Jayavågï¸varï Temple with its detailed representation of the Eight Charnel Grounds is quite unique, and the artist’s sketch is an important find proving not only that the tradition of the painting goes back to at least 1755/56 CE but also that the iconography has changed little over the centuries. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Kashinath Tamot for help with the Newari material and Govind Tandan, Mukund Vaidya and Manik Bajracharya for providing useful information. I am indebted to Gerd Mevissen for suggestions on an earlier version of this paper and Katherine Paul for permission to reproduce a line drawing from the collection of the Newark Museum. Special thanks are extended to Axel Michaels and John C. Huntington and The Huntington Archive at The Ohio State University for providing photographs. [19] Bhairava and the Eight Charnel Grounds ... 325 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES 1. Texts and Translations Bhå¹åvaº¸åvalï. Bhå¹å Vaº¸åvalï. Part 1, edited by N. PauÜel. Part 2, edited by D. Laºsål. Kathmandu, 1963-66. Vaº¸åvalï (of Padmagiri). History of Nepal as Told by its Own and Contemporary Chronicles. Edited with a Prolegomena by B.J. Hasrat. Hoshiarpur, 1970. WRIGHT’s Chronicle. History of Nepal, Translated from the Parbatiya by M.S.S. Singh and S. Gunanand, with an Introductory Sketch of the Country and People of Nepal by the Editor, D. Wright. Kathmandu, 1972 (reprint of the edition of 1877). 2. Secondary Sources BERNIER, R.M. (1978) The Temples of Nepal: An Introductory Survey. New Delhi (second revised edition). BROWN, C.M. 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Inhalt / Contents MICHAEL KNÜPPEL Zur Herkunft eines Syngraphems in der Handschrift Ch/U 7570 (Maitreya-Lobpreis und Insadi-S÷tra) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 ALOÏS VAN TONGERLOO & MICHAEL KNÜPPEL Einige Briefe Robert Edmond Gauthiots (1876-1916) an Willy Bang Kaup und Friedrich Carl Andreas aus den Jahren 1909-11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 PRATAPADITYA PAL An Early Image of ˜iva as Mahe¸a/Mahe¸vara from Mathura: An Iconological Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 VINAY KUMAR GUPTA ˜rï/Lak¹mï and Her Association with Other Deities in Early Indian Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 IBRAHIM SHAH Kashmiri-Type Vi¹½u Images in Pakistani Collections: An Iconographic Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 JÜRGEN NEUSS Oºkåre¸var-Måndhåtå. Tracing the Forgotten History of a Popular Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 RUPENDRA KUMAR CHATTOPADHYAY, SWATI RAY & SHUBHA MAJUMDER The Kingdom of the ˜aivåcåryas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 SWATI RAY & BIJAN MONDAL The Reappearance of the Lord: Dhoyï’s Ardhanårï¸vara Resurrected? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 GERD J.R. MEVISSEN Corpus of Ardhanårï¸vara Images from Nepal, Eastern India and Southeast Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 BIRENDRA NATH PRASAD A Folk Tradition Integrated into Mahåyåna Buddhism: Some Observations on the Votive Inscriptions on Sculptures of Pu½Üe¸varï/P÷r½e¸varï/Pu½ye¸varï Discovered in the Kiul-Lakhisarai Area, Bihar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 GUDRUN BÜHNEMANN Bhairava and the Eight Charnel Grounds: On the History of a Monumental Painting at the Jayavågï¸varï Temple, Kathmandu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 Mitarbeiter / Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 ¼