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Title: Volume 63 - Issue 2
Date: 2011
Table of contents:
    p. 12-15: Corinna Wessels-Mevissen, Introduction | “Visuality” refers to what is expressed, perceived, and created through “vision” in its wider sense. An object of vision may be simple or complex, it may be short-lived or more permanent, and may be carried and communicated by various media. Visual manifestations of religious rituals are used by religions all over the world in an attempt to lead humanity towards greater perfection. In India, religious rituals speak an intricate “visual language” and it is revealing to perceive how visuality is valued and shaped during various kinds of rites. In the introduction to this thematic issue the guest editor explains how basically “anthropomorphic” forms are represented in statues, reliefs, and paintings, and that the aniconic or non-figural category is still well-represented in India. Although this issue is largely concerned with documentation and analysis, it also celebrates and indulges in religious visual culture. Temporary non-figural configurations with a complex visual aspect, in which one or several deities are invoked, also form a focus of this issue.
    p. 16-27: Tarabout, Gilles, Visualizing the Gods | In the visual relationship (darshan) between god and devotee, it has been assumed that the deity’s physical representation is anthropomorphic, with eyes which are ritually opened at the time of installation. However, there are many other ways to figure out the presence of deities that remain invisible – through lamps, weapons, trees, shapeless stones, diagrams, or bare platforms. In this article, the darshan of a divine image appears to be a particular instance of more diversified visual relationships between humans and the divine world. Ritual thus acts as a bridge between these different aspects of visualization. Cultural conceptions may provide for specific ideas of power residing in images, but the control of this power, and the meaning attributed to it, eventually rests in ritual activity. The article is accompanied by a short note on the Bhagavathi kalam, the ritual involved in the worship of goddess Bhagavathi in Kerala, by Pepita Seth.
    p. 28-39: Kooij, Karel Van, The Buddha Revisited: Ritualizing and Visualizing Sacred Places | Buddhist sacred places are to be regarded first and foremost as “Sites of Memory”. Visiting these is practically equivalent to remembering the Buddha and his message. Artists working at Bharhut and Sanchi rendered memories into sculpture in picturing the worshippers visiting these places as well as the rituals and festivities they performed. Moreover, they introduced narrative elements to point out the story associated with the place. This innovative compositional scheme was worked out in the earliest stages of Buddhist art in India until approximately the first centuries CE. Not representing the Buddha is a logical consequence of this place-oriented iconography. This so-called “aniconism” is not an isolated phenomenon. Monks are not represented either, nor is the scene of the birth of the future Buddha at Lumbini. The emphasis is not yet on a complete biography of the Buddha, but on places where the Buddha could be remembered.
    p. 40-49: Bühneman, Gudrun, Bhadramandalas: Invoking Divinities in Smarta Ritual | This essay examines how one category of mandalas, the bhadramandalas, is used in ritual. Bhadramandalas are coloured square diagrams constructed by Brahmins of the Smarta tradition for temporary use. They are drawn up for Vishnu, Shiva, Gauri, Ganesha, or Surya, though the ones for Vishnu and Shiva are more commonly used. The essay discusses the construction of such mandalas and their constituent parts. It then examines how the officiating priest transforms the physical structure of the mandala into a receptacle for a complex pantheon of deities. In conclusion, it offers some thoughts on the significance of mandalas in religious ritual, especially on features that set the process of invoking divinities and worshipping them in aniconic objects placed in mandalas, apart from the worship of statues with anthropomorphic features on domestic altars or in temples.
    p. 50-61: Luchesi, Brigitte, Jhanki: Ritual Visualization of Hindu Deities in Himachal Pradesh | The visualization of divine beings is widespread in Hindu India. In Himachal Pradesh, so-called jhankis (public display of decorated idols of gods) were and still are popular. One or more actors present mythological or historical episodes while remaining silent and in a motionless posture. In this they correspond to what in Western traditions are known as tableaux vivants. The most common form of jhankis in the southern regions of Himachal Pradesh are those in which children and young men are dressed up and pose as gods and goddesses whereupon devoted spectators worship them. While jhankis formerly used to form part of theatre performances, especially Ramlila plays, today they are commonly presented on the occasion of religious festivals like Holi or Janamashtami.
    p. 62-67: Goodall, Dominic, Chandeshvara, the “Fierce Lord”: Guardian of Temples, Eater of Offerings, Chastiser of Transgressions | While studying Chandesha, the fierce Shaiva divinity who punishes transgressions, a question that naturally arises is whether one should continue to perceive him primarily as a South Indian figure belonging to the religious tradition known as Shaiva-Siddhanta. The focus of this article is on how Chandesha's principal roles in ritual are reflected in visualization and in sculpture. In an earlier publication, Hélène Brunner had appealed for a general study of the evolution of Chandesha, the fierce Shaiva divinity who punishes transgressions and who is Shiva's nirmalyadharin – the divinity who receives food and garlands that have been offered to Shiva and thereby rendered dangerously empowered. Such a broad general study has recently appeared. The article in this volume by the same author summarizes the major facts, problems, and results.
    p. 68-73: Dhar, Parul Pandya, Shila, Shilpa, Devata: Invoking the Divine in South Indian Sculpture | A stone (shila) that once rested in a quarry is transformed into a sculpture (shilpa) through the skilful interventions of the sculptor (shilpi). This may hold true for cultures past and present, distant and near. When intended to image a deity, such a stone needs to undergo several ritualistic procedures before deemed fit for worship. The visualization of a divine image involves preparatory rites prior to and during image-making, artistic creation of the image, and consecration rites that precede the rites of image worship. Several of these are recorded in ritualistic texts of southern India. The complex processes involved in image making reveal interesting details about the network of relationships between the chief protagonists involved: the artists, the priests, and the patrons. The essay explores the relationship between ritualistic image, ritualistic texts, and social contexts in the making of medieval south Indian sculptures.
    p. 74-83: Mallebrein, Cornelia, The Divine Play on Earth: The Sirha Tradition of Orissa | In Orissa the sirha, the medium in his role as embodiment of the divine, plays a significant role in the religious landscape. The fascinating concept of “living gods on earth” can be encountered everywhere in Orissa, in urban, village and tribal settings, at all levels of society. The essay looks at the importance of the sirhas during one of the major festivals in the border region of Orissa and Chhattisgarh. The mandei jatra (“the great meeting of gods”) is performed every year in the month of Magh (January/February) in the village Kosagumunda. Hundreds of gods from all the surrounding villages and mountains come together to enjoy the day with a procession and dance. It is the sirha who represents the most important deities. The sirha wears a cowry-decorated ritual dress. During this festival the sirha becomes the mouthpiece of the divine, a channel of communication between man and god. The deities perform their “divine play” on earth, and everyone can take part in it.
    p. 84-89: Schmid, Charlotte, Rite and Representation: Recent Discoveries of Pallava Goddesses of the Tamil Land | Stone sculpture appeared in the Tamil lands during the 6th century CE, on sites patronized by the Pallavas. The iconography of their armed female deities shares some characteristics with the earlier, northern, type. However, the devotees offering their blood or their heads who frame these goddesses of the Pallava realm mark them as different. The same devotees are encountered on numerous free-standing steles scattered around the countryside, which represent a multi-armed female often accompanied by a deer. Such female deities are likely to be related to “Korravai”, a goddess of slaying and victory appearing in Tamil literature through the rites celebrated in her honour: it seems that we are in front of a visualization in stone of a deity arising from a ritual centred on death. Sanskrit epics are pervaded by the equivalence of war and sacrifice, of which a deity in the face of whom heroes die, is another variant and beyond the metaphor. The iconography of female deities in Tamil Nadu shows how important the role played by sacrificial rites in the adoption of stone representation of human-shaped deities might have been.

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