It emerged 2000 years ago in the Gandhara school of Buddhist art which originated in the north-west frontiers, i.e., present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Greeks had settled there and were good at making idols. They heard Buddha’s story, loved the idea and made the first statue of Buddha. In philosophy, a knowledgeable one is also considered beautiful. Nobody knows what the Buddha actually looked like. Jesus too. Today in movies you see him with white skin and red eyes, but he was from an Arab country and hence should have been dark; but the artist paints him in his idea of perfection. So the Buddha has long ears, delicate features, broad chest and narrow hips. He looks like a muni, a hermit, sitting there. He has various postures. Sometimes he’s touching the ground or his hands are in a gyan mudra—basically the pose of a teacher.
The most popular images show Buddha in the meditative pose. In some, he has ten hands.
The latter is the Bodhisattva image. It was mainly a meditative pose. Gradually, he started to be shown in action. Bodhisattva is compassionate. He listens to others and sees others’ sorrows. So there will be many heads, his eyes will be open, listening to people, and his many hands will comfort them. Here you see a shift in Buddhism. The older school of Buddhism—Theravada—saw Buddha as a guru who teaches techniques and ideas. The later compassionate Buddha is of the Mahayana school, where the bhakti concept is more important than dhyana (meditation).
I’ve seen some violent images of Buddha—holding a sword, some almost like Shiva—which is odd since Buddhism is associated with non-violence.
This is from Vajrayana Buddhism which is from Tibet, Bhutan, the Himalayan area. A Buddha guru called Padmasambhava took Buddhism into the Himalayan belt. It is said that he travelled there sitting on a tigress. Vajrayana Buddhism is different from Mahayana in that it focuses more on tantric practices. In tantra, you see violent, sexual images, so the idols will look almost like Shiva dancing the tandava, which are seen in Tibetan paintings and monasteries. It probably shows all our inner vasanas or passions which need to be conquered. Or it is a metaphor to suggest that without compassion, knowledge cannot be had. The tension in the world is shown in this violent form.
You spoke about the different traditions of Buddhism—Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Today, many people seem to be following Buddhism. Which tradition or school do they follow?
The revival of Buddhism in the twentieth century is called Navayana or new form of Buddhism. Political Buddhism became important in the last century. Ambedkar adopted Buddhism to revolt against the caste system as the Dalits were oppressed in India. In Myanmar and Thailand, Buddhism became political to mobilize people towards democracy. Another reason is that people in western societies are rejecting religion and becoming atheists. So this form of spirituality, where there is no god, is popular. There’s a guru, Buddha, who will show you the path or Dhamma. Richard Gere and Dalai Lama have made it popular. It’s a twentieth-century rediscovery of Buddhism.
In the Ajanta Caves, I saw a different depiction of the Buddha. He wore a crown and ornaments. Can you tell me more about it?
This is an image of Padmapani, bearer of the lotus. The story is that after a discourse, one of Buddha’s disciples goes up to him and says he hasn’t understood anything. So Buddha picks up a lotus flower and in that one gesture, the student understands everything. Knowledge is not always learnt through words. Images also convey knowledge. Sometimes you have to meditate, go on a journey or see images. The Padmapani image is interesting. Normally the Buddha image is masculine and sits steady. The Padmapani image is tribhangi, bent, like a dancer, has ornaments and is almost feminine. Buddhism has changed from the masculine. Woman power has entered the picture. The image of the Buddha also has become feminine. When Buddhism went to China, the Sui dynasty had the first empress and she used the religion to unite the country. Earlier, she wasn’t able to unite the Confucius and Taoist traditions. People saw the Buddha in the image of their queen. In China, you find idols of female Buddha or Guanyin. Bodhisattva is seen in the female form there. It’s famous in China, Taiwan and Singapore. It’s related to Padmapani. This is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition where the female principle is accepted.
9
Dwarka
Krishna was born in Mathura but he is called Dwarkadhish. Why?
Krishna’s story is told in two parts. The popular part happens in Braj bhoomi, which is in the south of Delhi in the Gangetic plains near the Yamuna. Krishna was born in Mathura and then taken to Gokul where he was brought up. Then he went to Vrindavan or Madhuban and then back to Mathura where he battled Kamsa. Kamsa, Krishna’s uncle (mama), was out to kill him but was killed by Krishna. The residents of Mathura were happy because Kamsa was a tyrant. He oppressed them, imprisoned Krishna’s sister, killed his nephews, and so on.
Mathura was the land of the Yadavas. Kamsa’s father-in-law, Jarasandha, king of Magadha, got very upset at Kamsa’s death and swore revenge. Both his daughters, Asti and Prapti, had been widowed. He said he would destroy Mathura and brought his army there. Krishna and Balarama, leading an army of the Yadavas, defended the city. There is a lot of violence in this story. Jarasandha attacked Mathura eighteen times. The last time, he brought with him a new commander called Kal Yavan (Black Greek). It was believed that whenever a black Greek would attack Mathura, it would be destroyed. Krishna then decided to leave Mathura with the Yadava clan and go to Dwarka. It is said that Krishna used his yogic power to transfer all the Yadavas to Dwarka.
What is the difference between the Krishna of Mathura and that of Dwarka?
Krishna’s childhood ends in Mathura. His life is divided into the Bhagavata and the Mahabharata. The Krishna of the Mahabharata is connected with Dwarka, not Mathura. In the early stage of Krishna’s life, he is a child in Vrindavan (Gokul) amidst a village environment with Radha and the gopis; he plays the flute, frolics with Radha, is surrounded by song and dance and there’s playfulness and romantic innocence. All this ends when he leaves Madhuban; such details are absent in the Mahabharata.
In Mathura, as a teenager, Krishna starts showing signs of being a warrior. Here he wrestles and kills Kamsa; there’s no romance or fun. As an adult, in Dwarka, he gets involved in Kuru Vansh politics which are part of the Mahabharata stories. This is an urban environment where he is married with several wives. This is the story of a mature Krishna, which is not a popular one. The stories of Krishna in Vrindavan and Mathura are more famous than the ones in Dwarka, although it is one of the Char Dhams and has a big Krishna temple.
How was Dwarka city established?
Before the Yadavas, nobody used to go there. It was an island in the sea believed to be haunted. In folk tales and some Puranic myths it is said that tall rakshasas lived there.
Krishna decides to go to Dwarka. When the Yadavas reach there, they see a giant man and woman—Revat and Revati. They are decent people but they scare people away as they do not want to be disturbed. When Krishna meets him, Revat tells him that many yugas ago this was a city kingdom, Kushasthali Samrajya, where people were very tall, and he used to be its king. Revati is his only daughter and he wants her to marry the perfect man. In his search for one, many years ago, he had gone to Brahma. Brahma had said that there was a good boy for Revati, but Revat had spent a lot of time to come to Brahma-loka that by the time he returned, several yugas would have passed and all the eligible boys would have gone. People would have become shorter and nobody would remember him or his city. This was because one day in Brahma-loka is several yugas on earth. Revat would be so much taller than the others that they’ll think he’s a monster.
During this exchange with Krishna, Revati and Balarama recognize each other because of Brahma’s boon. Balarama asks Revati to bend and he touches his plough to her shoulder. She shrinks in height, and they get married. He gets that island as dowry, which is Dwarka.
In other stories, Krishna calls Vishwakarma, the architect of the gods, to build a beautiful city far away from Jarasandha.
It is said that Dw
arka had many palaces for Krishna’s wives. Tell us about his wives.
Krishna had eight main queens (ashtabharya). Among these, the prime ones were Satyabhama and Rukmini. Jambavati (daughter of Jambavan) and Kalindi (River Yamuna) were his wives too. He also had around 16,000 minor queens.
The story goes that Indra comes to ask Krishna for help in fighting Narakasura because Krishna is Vishnu’s form. For the first time, he is seen as Vishnu. Krishna mounts Garud and fights Narakasura and kills him. The 16,000 widows of Narakasura tell Krishna that nobody will accept them since they are the wives of an asura. So Krishna takes them as his wives to Dwarka and promises to build palaces for them.
Are there any other interesting stories of Krishna and his wives?
In Andhra Pradesh, Krishna’s dampatya (marital) stories are very popular. These are called Bhagavata katha. In the south, the Radha and gopi stories are not as popular as those of Krishna and his wives in Dwarka. The conflict between Satyabhama and Rukmini is particularly popular. They have very different personalities and always compete with each other.
Rukmini is the princess of Vidarbha who calls Krishna for help when she is being forcibly married to Shishupala. She then elopes with Krishna. Until then, Jarasandha thought that Krishna had been killed in the fire that destroyed Mathura. Seeing Krishna elope with Rukmini, Jarasandha realizes he is alive. As Rukmini goes away with Krishna without any dowry, she is his poor wife.
There is a wealthy Yadava, Satrajit, who marries his daughter, Satyabhama, to Krishna. With this marriage, Krishna also becomes the son-in-law of a Yadava and re-establishes his Yadava status, which sometimes is doubted because of his rustic, cowherd upbringing. So his status, prestige, authority and wealth are all because of Satyabhama.
One wife is poor and looks upon Krishna with love while the other has brought him social prestige. Who is more important? Krishna has to balance the two. It is said that Rukmini is passive and gentle while Satyabhama is demanding. After the defeat of Narakasura, Satyabhama tells Krishna to demand a fee from Indra for all that he has done. She asks for the Parijata tree from heaven to be sent to Dwarka. Indra does not want to part with that tree. Krishna gets angry and fights with Indra and forcibly brings the tree to Dwarka.
The loka katha about this is very interesting. Once the tree arrives, Satyabhama wonders who’ll look after it since she does not want to do any work. She thinks up a clever plan to keep the tree in Rukmini’s garden so that Rukmini will look after it while the flowers will bloom in Satyabhama’s garden. Krishna realizes her trick and tells her that the tree will flower only when he is with Rukmini. So when Satyabhama sees the flowers she’ll know that Krishna is with her rival and thus won’t be able to really enjoy the sight and smell of the Parijata.
Are there any stories of Krishna’s sons?
Krishna has several sons from several wives. But the main one is Pradyumna, Rukmini’s son. As soon as he is born, Pradyumna is kidnapped by a rakshasa called Sambara who throws him into the water. A fish swallows him. A fisherman finds the baby inside the fish and hands it over to Sambara’s kitchen. Pradyumna survives in that kitchen, grows up and kills the rakshasa. A woman called Mayavati looks after him. He marries her and then returns to Dwarka.
Was Krishna the king of Dwarka?
‘Dwarkadhish’ means ‘protector of Dwarka’. Krishna is from the Yadu Vansh and Yadavas cannot be kings because of Yayati’s curse. In a way it was a democratic society. There was a Sudharma council and it was ruled like a democratic senate with separate noblemen. In Mathura, there were Surasen and Ugrasen. Kamsa had broken up this council, so he died a violent death. Dwarka is also administered by many noblemen such as Satyabhama’s father, Krishna, Balarama and Ugrasen.
How does Dwarka get destroyed?
Dwarka’s growth and fall are tied with Krishna’s rise and fall. In the Mahabharata, Gandhari curses Krishna that just as she witnessed the destruction of her vansh, he too will witness the destruction of his clan and Dwarka will be submerged. This curse is realized after thirty-six years. The Yadavas go to Prabhasa tirth (pilgrimage) where there is an argument about the Mahabharata and Kurukshetra. The Yadavas fall into two groups—one that fought for the Pandavas and the other that supported the Kauravas. A war breaks out between the two groups. Krishna watches his sons and grandsons getting killed and is not able to do anything. Later, an earthquake occurs and Dwarka goes under the sea.
Archaeologists have discovered a city under the sea near Dwarka, the Atlantis of the East. Is this Krishna’s city?
The Archaeological Survey of India has found a city which was in Dwarka once. They’ve found a port, jetty, anchor and many such objects. People believe this to be Krishna’s city. It could well be but there’s no proof. It’s a matter of belief. Till we find some inscription or symbol we cannot be sure. But when people go to the Dwarkadhish Temple, they also visit Bet Dwarka with devotion where the archaeological findings have been displayed.
10
Gramadevata
Devdutt, the name Mumbai originates from Mumbadevi, Chandigarh from Chandi and Kolkata from Kali. Why are these city names associated with the names of goddesses?
India is a country of villages, and cities arise from villages. It is said that places where human settlements were formed were originally occupied by a devi, devata, gandharva, yaksha and rakshasa. So if you are going to live there, you have to please the devi of that place—known as gramadevi. All of India’s villages are associated with some gramadevi or devata. Mumbai is a conglomeration of seven villages, each of which has a gramadevi like Prabhadevi and Gamdevi. Mumbadevi is the most famous. Similarly, Chandigarh’s well-known devis are Chandi devi and Mansa devi. The Kalighat Temple in Kolkata is very well known. Dhaka in Bangladesh has the Dhakeshwari Temple.
Why do some places have gramadevatas and some devis?
It’s not a systematic, organized knowledge. Any group of people, any human community, requires food to satisfy their hunger and for protection from their fears. The gramadevis are usually associated with fertility, with the land that gives food, like Annapurna, Gauri and so on. They are locally addressed as mother, by words such as aai, amma, baa or ammavaru. These are food goddesses. For protection, there are kshetra pal (protectors of the area) or guards called veer or veeroba. These are usually male gods, often with big moustaches, holding a trishul (trident), sword or bhala (spear) in their hands. They either have a horse or a dog with them, similar to hunters who protect. So gramadevi is associated with fertility and gramadevata with protection.
But it’s not so clear-cut. In Odisha, there’s Thakurani, a gramadevi who carries weapons in her hand. These are ferocious goddesses, also called matrikaya. In Nepal, too, and, in fact, everywhere in India, we have goddesses associated with both war and fertility. They can have a fearsome appearance with untied hair, long teeth and nails, red eyes, etc. Their descriptions are quite interesting: they come riding elephants, their hair has burning sticks in it and they carry a trishul in one hand with an elephant impaled on it—very violent, powerful images.
If you look at Hindu dharma, in the Vedas, there were gods associated with the rains (Indra), sun (Surya) and moon (Chandra). Later, in the Upanishads, gods were associated with concepts such as creation, sustenance, knowledge (vidya), wealth (dhan), etc. These belonged to the Margi parampara—not associated with a place or time but sanatana, eternal. The gramadevatas and devis are associated with a particular place—river, pond, mountain or cave. If you go to someone’s house you’ll see that they have a gramadevi or kuldevi (god of the family), ishta-devata (personal god) or griha-devata (god of the home). These could have various forms, appearing sometimes as a snake, sometimes as a monkey. In south India, there are big temples of gramadevatas usually outside the village. These can be seen especially in Tamil Nadu where they build tall images of these gods with big moustaches. In Rajasthan, there is Nagnechiya Maa and in Gujarat, Ashapura Mata. In fact, every part of India is associated with gramadevis and devas.
Do these gods and goddesses originate from folk tales?
They originate from the folklore of that area which is often associated with the Puranas. In early times, perhaps the people from that area alone knew about these gods, but as they became known outside the village, spread across India due to foreign visitors or because they became sites of pilgrimage, the local stories and the gods too became famous, acquiring nearly cosmic proportions. So the desi became margi; the local became sanatana.
The Vedas mention earth (prithvi) as a goddess (devi) but you’ll not find Mumbadevi mentioned in the Vedas or the Puranas, not even the Sthal Puranas. If you go to a Mumbadevi temple, they’ll say she is a form of devi, of Durga, and she looks like her too—she’ll be astride a tiger, trishul in hand. If you ask about her story, it’ll be about her killing Mahishasura or some other demon, but not anything specific. But for the people of that area their goddess is very important. If there’s any problem like a drought, epidemic or crop failure, they believe it is because their gramadevi is angry with them. If you go to a temple, you’ll find that the image is usually only of the head of the gramadevi because the village is supposed to be the body. There’ll be a head, a pair of eyes and a hand in varad mudra (giving something) or raised in blessing. The images are usually crude. The Kali goddess image in Kolkata is basically a big rock on which the eyes, hands and tongue have been created with bronze and silver. So before the appearance of a city, town or village, the local tribes must have felt the power of this rock and declared it the devi of the area. It’s a very local form. It does not have anything to do with what is now a conceptual form, that is, Kali or Durga. The local and the conceptual came to be seen as related gradually over time. Similarly, the Tirupati Devasthanam in Chennai, Vitthal Temple in Pandharpur and Jagannath Temple in Puri perhaps belonged to gramadevatas 2000 to 3000 years ago. They slowly got big temples and became famous all over India. The Khandoba Temple in Maharashtra is one such temple. Khandoba is an important local god of the Marathas; he’s called Mallana in Andhra Pradesh and is also known in Karnataka. He is a very powerful, masculine, virile god.
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