Yogini temples

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Yogini temple at Mitaoli
, on a rocky hilltop, open to the sky
Map of Yogini Temples in India

The Yogini temples of India are 9th to 12th century roofless

Hindu tantra, broadly equated with goddesses especially Parvati, incarnating the sacred feminine force. They remained largely unknown and unstudied by scholars until late in the 20th century. Several of the shrines have niches for 64 yoginis, so are called Chausath Yogini Temples (Chausath Yogini Mandir, from चौसठ, Hindi for 64,[1]
also written Chaunsath or Chausathi); others have 42 or 81 niches, implying different sets of goddesses, though they too are often called Chausath yogini temples. Even when there are 64 yoginis, these are not always the same.

The extant temples are either circular or rectangular in plan; they are scattered over central and northern India in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha. Lost temples, their locations identified from surviving yogini images, are still more widely distributed across the subcontinent, from Delhi in the north and the border of Rajasthan in the west to Greater Bengal in the east and Tamil Nadu in the south.

Overview

Yoginis

Further information: Yogini
A kapala, a cup carved from a human skull, used in tantra, including by yoginis

From around the 10th century,

esoteric tantric knowledge. They have siddhis, extraordinary powers, including the power of flight;[4] many yoginis have the form of birds or have a bird as their vahana or animal vehicle.[5] In later Tantric Buddhism, dakini, a female spirit able to fly, is often used synonymously with yogini.[6] The scholar Shaman Hatley writes that the archetypal yogini is "the autonomous Sky-traveller (khecari)", and that this power is the "ultimate attainment for the siddhi-seeking practitioner".[7]

A Shaiva cult of yoginis flourished roughly between 700 and 1200. It is documented in the Brahmayamalatantra scripture.[8] Non-yoginis consulted yoginis in "visionary, transactional encounters".[8] The cult led to the building of stone temples from the 10th to perhaps the 13th centuries, across the Indian subcontinent.[9]

Rediscovery

India's major extant shrines of the 64 Yoginis (Chausathi Jogan) are in

Chausathi Yogini Temple at Hirapur was only rediscovered in 1953, despite its proximity to the Bhubaneshwar temple site, something Dehejia describes as "quite amazing".[10]

Characteristics

Infographic on significance of Yogini temples, showing design for communion with yoginis, thought to be capable of flight[7]

The Yogini shrines are usually circular enclosures, and they are hypaethral, open to the sky, unlike most Indian temples. Inside the circular wall are niches, most often 64, containing statues of female figures, the yoginis. Their bodies are described as beautiful, but their heads are often those of animals.[10] Yogini temples normally stood somewhat outside the main group of temples, and at the highest point of the site.[11]

The iconographies of the yogini statues in the yogini temples are not uniform, nor are the yoginis the same in each set of 64. In the Hirapur temple, all the yoginis are depicted with their Vahanas (animal vehicles) and in standing posture. In the Ranipur-Jharial temple the yogini images are in dancing posture. In the Bhedaghat temple, the yoginis are seated in lalitasana, the royal position,[12] and are surrounded by cremation-ground scenes complete with "flesh-eating ghouls" and scavenging animals.[13]

Significance

Hatley, following

lotus flowers, the total of 64 petals denoting the 64 yoginis.[16]

Hatley comments that "tantric worship of 'circles' of yoginis (yoginichakras) appears to predate the temples by at least two centuries, and the remarkable congruity in Shaiva textual representations of yoginis and their depiction in sculpture suggest direct continuity" between the practices described in tantric texts and the yogini temples.[15]

Practices

Hindu tantric practices were secret.[17] However, texts from c. 600 AD describe esoteric rituals, often linked to cremation grounds. Female practitioners of Hindu tantrism, also called yoginis, were seen as embodying the superhuman yoginis.[18][19]

Activities included

Prana Pratishtha, the ritual consecration of images, such as of yoginis. Present-day rituals of this type can last three days, with a team of priests, involving ritual purification, an eye-opening ceremony, worship (yogini puja), invocation of protectors, and the preparation of a yantra diagram containing a yogini mandala and an array of areca nuts for the 64 goddesses. The earliest yogini practices were kapalika mortuary rites.[20]

The Varanasimahatmya of the Bhairavapradurbhava describes ceremonies of worship involving singing and dancing in the yogini temple at Varanasi, summarised by Peter Bisschop:

For men who worship there nothing becomes in vain. Those who stay awake that night, performing the great festival of song and dance, and worship the circle of kulayoginis at daybreak, acquire the Kaula knowledge from them ... All Yoginis delight in that abode in the centre of Varanasi. The goddess Vikata stands there, it is the most divine abode.[21]

The Kashikhanda section of the

Skandapurana, which narrates the myth of the arrival in disguise of the 64 yoginis in Varanasi,[22] states that worship can be simple, since the yoginis only need daily gifts of fruit, incense, and light. It prescribes a major ritual for the autumn, with fire libations, recitation of the names of the yoginis, and ritual offerings, while all residents of Varanasi should visit the temple in springtime at the festival of Holi to respect the goddesses.[23]

Dehejia writes that

It seems probable that the Kaula Chakra [tantric ritual circle] was formed within the circle of the Yogini temple, with offerings to the Yoginis of matsya [fish], mamsa [meat], mudra [gesture], madya [alcohol], and finally maithuna [tantric sex] too.[24]

Active worship (puja) continues in some yogini temples, such as at Hirapur.[25]

64-yogini shrines

Hirapur

Main article: Chausath Yogini Temple, Hirapur

The small 9th century

signs of the zodiac, including a crab, a scorpion, and a fish, suggesting a link with astrology or calendrical work.[28]

The scholar István Keul writes that the yogini images are of dark

ithyphallic representations of Bhairava".[29]

Around the outside of the temple are nine unsmiling goddesses, locally described as the nine katyayanis, an unusual feature for a yogini temple.[27] The entrance is flanked by a pair of male dvarapala, door guardians.[27] Two additional images near the dvarapalas may be bhairavas.[29] The scholar Shaman Hatley suggests that if the temple is seen as a tantric mandala embodied in stone, Shiva is surrounded by 4 yoginis and 4 bhairavas of an inner circuit, and sixty yoginis of an outer circuit.[30]

  • Chausathi Yogini Temple, Hirapur, Odisha, 2012. The yoginis have recently been venerated with a gift of headscarves.
    Chausathi Yogini Temple, Hirapur
    , Odisha, 2012. The yoginis have recently been venerated with a gift of headscarves.
  • One of the Hirapur yoginis, with an offering of flowers at her feet
    One of the Hirapur yoginis, with an offering of flowers at her feet
  • Plan; scholars have noted the resemblance to a yoni-pedestal
    Plan; scholars have noted the resemblance to a yoni-pedestal
  • A yoni-pedestal with central Shiva lingam, for comparison
    A yoni-pedestal with central
    Shiva lingam
    , for comparison

Ranipur-Jharial, Balangir

Main article: Chausath Yogini Temple, Ranipur Jharial

The Chausathi Yogini Pitha in

Nateshwar, Shiva as Lord of Dance.[32] The similar-sized image of Chamunda in the temple may once have been housed with Shiva in the central shrine.[32][33]

Ranipur-Jharial was the first of the Yogini temples to be discovered; it was described by

Major-General John Campbell in 1853.[34]

  • Exterior of the Ranipur-Jharial yogini temple
    Exterior of the Ranipur-Jharial yogini temple
  • Simple 4-pillared central shrine
    Simple 4-pillared central shrine
  • Yogini images in cells in the perimeter wall
    Yogini images in cells in the perimeter wall
  • Statue of Nateshwar, Shiva as Lord of Dance, in central shrine
    Statue of
    Nateshwar
    , Shiva as Lord of Dance, in central shrine

Khajuraho

Main article:
Chausath Yogini temple, Khajuraho

The 9th or 10th century

Mahishamardini), survived at the site and are on display in the museum there.[36]

  • Khajuraho's Yogini temple is unusual in being rectangular.
    Khajuraho's Yogini temple
    is unusual in being rectangular.
  • Plan, with 64 small shrines around a rectangular courtyard, and one larger shrine opposite the entrance
    Plan, with 64 small shrines around a rectangular courtyard, and one larger shrine opposite the entrance

Mitaoli, Morena

Main article: Chausath Yogini Temple, Mitaoli

The well-preserved 11th century yogini temple at Mitaoli (also spelt Mitavali and Mitawali) in Morena district, Madhya Pradesh, 30 miles north of Gwalior, also called Ekattarso Mahadeva Temple, has a central mandapa sacred to Shiva in an open circular courtyard with 65 niches. The niches are now all filled with statues of Shiva, but they once held statues of 64 yoginis and a deity.[37][38]

The hypaethral temple stands alone on top of a rocky hill. The entrance is directly into the circular wall. The outside of the temple is adorned with small niches that once held statues of couples with maidens on either side, but most of these are now lost or heavily damaged. It is not clear why the temple had 65 rather than 64 cells; Dehejia notes the suggestion that the extra cell was for Devi, the consort of Shiva, who has the pavilion at the temple's centre, so the divine couple were then surrounded by the 64 yoginis. She observes that this could also explain the 65th cell at Khajuraho, in which case there would once have been a central shrine to Shiva there also.[39]

  • Exterior of the yogini temple at Mitaoli
    Exterior of the yogini temple at Mitaoli
  • Walkway around the circle of yogini shrines
    Walkway around the circle of yogini shrines
  • A shrine to Shiva is at the centre of the circle.
    A shrine to Shiva is at the centre of the circle.
  • Detail of the Shiva shrine
    Detail of the Shiva shrine

81-yogini shrine

Bhedaghat, Jabalpur

Main article: Chausath Yogini Temple, Bhedaghat

The 10th century

Yogini temple in Bhedaghat (also written Bheraghat), near Jabalpur in Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh, is a shrine to 81 yoginis. It is the largest of the circular yogini temples, some 125 feet in diameter.[40][41][42][43] Hatley calls Bhedagat the "most imposing and perhaps best known of the yogini temples".[44] The temple had a covered walkway with 81 cells for yoginis around the inside of its circular wall. There is a later shrine in the centre of the courtyard.[44] The 81 images include 8 Matrikas, Mother goddesses, from an earlier time.[44][45]

  • Inside the yogini temple, Bhedaghat, Jabalpur; the central shrine with shikhara is of later date.
    Inside the yogini temple, Bhedaghat, Jabalpur; the central shrine with shikhara is of later date.
  • The circular wall has niches for 81 yoginis.
    The circular wall has niches for 81 yoginis.
  • Yogini images
    Yogini images
  • Yogini, seated in Lalitasana
    Yogini, seated in Lalitasana
  • Yogini temple plan, giving outer diameter as 130 feet
    Yogini temple plan, giving outer diameter as 130 feet

42-yogini shrines

Dudahi

The temple at

Dudahi, locally named Akhada, near Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh, now in ruins, had a circular plan with niches for 42 yoginis. The circle is 50 feet in diameter.[46][40]

Badoh

Gadarmal temple of the Mothers, Badoh, Uttar Pradesh
, has 42 niches for yoginis.
Further information:
Gadarmal Devi temple

Some 30 miles from Dudahi, at Badoh in

Gadarmal temple of the Mothers, another 42-niche yogini temple, and one of the few that are rectangular. 18 broken images of the goddesses that once fitted into grooves in the temple platform are preserved from the waist down. It is composed of a rectangular shrine and a tall and massive Shikhara, adjacent to some Jain temples. Vidya Dehejia writes that the yogini temple must once have been hypaethral.[46][40][47]

The two 42-yogini shrines probably date from sometime between 950 and 1100.[46]

Lost shrines

Several yogini temples have been lost, whether through deliberate destruction or plundering for building materials. These include the following.

Lokhari

There appears to have been an early 10th century yogini temple on a hilltop at Lokhari,

theriomorphic, the figures having the heads of animals such as horse, cow, rabbit, snake, buffalo, goat, bear, and deer, has been recorded. Dehejia describes these as striking rather than specially artistic.[48][49]

Nareshwar

Another set of twenty 10th century images, with careless later inscriptions from the 12th century, was rescued from Nareshwar (also called Naleshvar and Naresar) in Madhya Pradesh, a site which still has some twenty small Shaivite temples, to the

Gwalior Museum, some fifteen miles away.[50]

Hinglajgarh

The site of Hinglajgarh, on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, was cleared of statuary for the building of the Gandhi Sagar Dam. The rescued statues contain enough fragments of yogini images for Dehejia to state that there was once a yogini temple at Hinglajgarh.[51][52][a]

Rikhiyan

Some 150 miles north of Khajuraho on the south bank of the

River Yamuna, in the Banda District, Uttar Pradesh, are the fragmentary remains of what seems to have been a rectangular 64-Yogini temple in the Rikhiyan valley. This is part of a complex of other temples, unlike the solitary Yogini temples such as Mitaoli. When the site was photographed in 1909, ten four-Yogini slabs were present. Dehejia states that the multiples of 4 suggest a 64-Yogini total, while the straightness of the slabs implies a rectangular plan (as at Khajuraho). Seven were stolen on various occasions, and the last 3 of the slabs were moved to Gadhwa fort nearby for their safety. The slabs portray the Yoginis on a plain background without the usual attendant figures. They sit in the ceremonial pose of Lalitasana, one leg resting on their animal vehicle. They have "heavy breasts, broad waist[s] and large stomach[s]".[54] One has the head of a horse, and holds a corpse, a severed head, a club, and a bell, and so may be Hayanana, "The Horse-headed". This and other Yoginis shown with corpses link the temple to a corpse ritual.[54] Also photographed in 1909 were three three-Matrika slabs; Dehejia suggests that these formed part of a rectangular shrine to the Eight Matrikas accompanied by Ganesh.[54] A well-preserved four-Yogini slab from Rikhiyan is held in the Denver Art Museum.[54]

Shahdol

A 10th century Yogini from Kaveripakkam, now in Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. She is holding a skull-cup.

Yogini images from

Indian Museum at Calcutta, and the village temples of Antara and Panchgaon in Shahdol district. The yoginis are seated in the ceremonial Lalitasana pose, and they have haloes flanked by flying figures behind their heads.[55]

Kanchipuram or Kaveripakkam

Dehejia publishes and discusses yogini images of the

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Royal Ontario Museum. The British Museum yogini is ascribed to Kanchipuram; the collection site is not known, but many sculptures of the same style were recovered from a large "tank" (artificial lake) at Kaveripakkam, seemingly derived from nearby temples. The image formed part of a large set of yoginis.[57][56]

Greater Bengal

There is evidence from inscriptions and archaeology that several yogini temples were built in

greater Bengal.[58] Dehejia notes that "texts on the Kaula Chakrapuja [worship in the tantric circle] indirectly reveal their Bengali origin in specifying varieties of fish known only in Bengal waters" and that "most of the texts containing lists of Yoginis were written in Bengal".[59]

Varanasi

River Ganges at Varanasi

12th century texts including the Varanasimahatmya of the Bhairavapradurbhava suggest that there was a circular hypaethral yogini temple in Varanasi (also called Benares and Kashi) in the 11th century. Several yogini-related sites have been identified in the city. Just above the Chaumsathi Ghat cremation ground is Chaumsathi Devi temple; it is not mentioned in the scriptures, but is where modern-day devotees gather, especially at the Holi spring festival, as prescribed in the Kashikhanda.[5][60]

Delhi

Legend has it that a yogini temple was built in the south Delhi district of

Yogmaya Temple there, without reliable evidence. The region outside the imperial city of Indraprastha, described in the Mahabharata, was called Yoginipura, the yogini city. Indraprastha has been identified with Delhi.[61]

Influence

India's parliament

The circular plan of the Mitaoli temple is popularly supposed, without reliable evidence, to have inspired the architecture of

Sir Herbert Baker in 1912-1913, and completed in 1927.[64]

The buffalo-headed Vrishanana Yogini image stolen, smuggled to France, and recovered to India[65]

A 10th century buffalo-headed Vrishanana yogini was stolen from a museum in Uttar Pradesh and smuggled to France. The image was identified as one of those published in Dehejia's book, and the collector Robert Schrimpf was contacted by the National Museum, Delhi. His widow donated the sculpture to India in 2008, and it was returned in 2013, described as "priceless" by the Deccan Herald and welcomed "home" to the National Museum with a special exhibition. The newspaper noted that the isolated locations of yogini temples made them vulnerable to antique smugglers.[65]

Padma Kaimal has written a

travel book about the processes by which the yogini statues have been turned from religious images to artworks to be looted, smuggled, purchased, and collected in the western world.[66][67]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Stella Dupuis, author of The Yoginī Temples of India,[52] has placed a set of photographs of the Hinglajgarh yoginis on her website.[53]

References

  1. ^ "chausath". EngHindi.com. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  2. ^ Hatley 2007, pp. 12–13.
  3. ^ Hatley 2007, pp. 13–14.
  4. ^ Hatley 2007, pp. 16–17.
  5. ^ a b Hatley 2007, p. 14.
  6. ^ Hatley 2007, p. 59.
  7. ^ a b Hatley 2007, p. 17.
  8. ^ a b Hatley 2007, p. iv.
  9. ^ Hatley 2007, p. 21.
  10. ^ a b Dehejia 1986, p. ix.
  11. ^ Dehejia 1986, p. 145.
  12. ^ Chaudhury, Janmejay. Origin of Tantricism and Sixty-Four Yogini Cult in Orissa in Orissa Review, October 2004 Archived 25 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ White 2006, p. 137.
  14. ^ Dehejia 1986, pp. 185–186.
  15. ^ a b Hatley 2007, pp. 117–118.
  16. ^ "Chakras and the 64 Yoginis". ShivaShakti. 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  17. ^ Das 2019, p. 11.
  18. ^ Keul 2012, p. 367.
  19. ^ Roy 2015.
  20. ^ Keul 2012, pp. 370–375.
  21. ^ Keul 2012, p. 378.
  22. ^ Keul 2012, pp. 380–383, 399.
  23. ^ Keul 2012, pp. 382–383.
  24. ^ Dehejia 1986, p. 62.
  25. ISBN 978-0-521-51874-1
    . Hirapur (District Khurda, Orissa) Yogini temple, eleventh century. Goddess under active worship.
  26. ^ Dehejia 1986, p. 10.
  27. ^ a b c Hatley 2007, p. 112.
  28. ^ a b Thomsen, Margrit (March 1980). "Numerical Symbolism and Orientation in Some Temples of the 64 Yoginis". Art and Archaeology Research Papers: 53–56.
  29. ^ a b c Keul 2012, pp. 367–369.
  30. ^ Hatley 2007, p. 113.
  31. ^ Patel, C.B. Monumental Efflorescence of Ranipur-Jharial in Orissa Review, August 2004, pp.41-44 Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ a b c Hatley 2007, p. 114.
  33. ^ Donaldson 2002, p. 670.
  34. ^ Panda, Sasanka S. (December 2005). "Archaeological Explorations and Excavations in Western Orissa" (PDF). Orissa Review. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  35. ^ Hatley 2007, pp. 114–115.
  36. ^ a b "Alphabetical List of Monuments - Madhya Pradesh". Archaeological Survey of India, Bhopal Circle. Archived from the original on 2 November 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  37. ^ Museums (2001). Puratan, Volume 12. Department of Archaeology and Museums, Madhya Pradesh.
  38. ^ "Ekattarso Mahadeva Temple". Archaeological Survey of India. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  39. ^ Dehejia 1986, pp. 122–124.
  40. ^ a b c Hatley 2007, p. 111.
  41. ^ Dehejia 1986, pp. 10, 125–140.
  42. ^ Jabalpur district official website – about us Archived 14 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  43. ^ Chausath Yogini Temple - Site Plan, Photos and Inventory of Goddesses Archived 17 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  44. ^ a b c Hatley 2007, pp. 115–116.
  45. ^ Dehejia 1986, pp. 125–127.
  46. ^ a b c Dehejia 1986, pp. 141–145.
  47. ^ "Gadarmal Temple". Archaeological Survey of India. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  48. ^ Hatley 2007, p. 117.
  49. ^ Dehejia 1986, pp. 156–184.
  50. ^ Dehejia 1986, pp. 145–153.
  51. ^ Dehejia 1986, pp. 153–155.
  52. ^ a b Dupuis 2008.
  53. ^ Dupuis, Stella (15 March 2017). "Protective Yoginis and Goddesses destroyers of demons. Syncretism between Hinglaj Mata and Mahishauramardini". Stella Dupuis. Archived from the original on 21 June 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  54. ^ a b c d Dehejia 1986, pp. 118–121.
  55. ^ Dehejia 1986, pp. 163–174.
  56. ^ a b Dehejia 1986, pp. 177–182.
  57. ^ a b "Figure, museum number 1955,1018.2". British Museum. Retrieved 28 October 2020. Figure of a mother goddess (matrika) carrying a skull topped staff and skull cup. Made of stone (granite).
  58. ^ Hatley 2014, p. 196.
  59. ^ Dehejia 1986, p. 79.
  60. ^ Keul 2012, pp. 366–402.
  61. ^ "The mystique of Mehrauli". The Hindu. 1 January 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  62. ^ Dey, Monidipa (11 May 2019). "Temples which inspired design of Indian Parliament: Madhya Pradesh's Chausath Yogini Mandir". Financial Express (India). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  63. ^ "Government should have confidence in this House". The Hindu. 9 August 2012. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018.
  64. ^ Ghosal, Jayanta (27 September 2019). "Sansad Bhavan to be revamped; all MPs to get separate offices". India TV. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  65. ^ a b Bhaumik, Anirban (18 September 2013). "10th-century Yogini sculpture returns to India". Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  66. ^ Kaimal 2012, pp. 1ff.
  67. ^ Kim, Jinah (October 2013). "Kim on Kaimal, 'Scattered Goddesses: Travels with the Yoginis'". Humanities and Social Sciences Online. Retrieved 29 October 2020.

Sources

External links
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