Vernacular Tantra? An Analysis of the Bengali Text The Garland of Bones
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.19321Keywords:
Tantrism, Yoga, Hatha yoga, Bengali Literature, Jogis, NathsAbstract
The paper introduces the Middle Bengali text The Garland of Bones (Haramala) into Western scholarship, and poses the question of what milieu it was produced and transmitted in. The main subject matter of this work is Tantric yoga, particularly the concept of the body. Content analysis reveals that it draws from different known sources (East Indian Kaula Sanskrit Tantras and vernacular works), but also contains a substantial amount of material that seems to be unique. Although the study of this text is full of uncertainties, and several questions related to it remain unanswered, the paper concludes that The Garland of Bones was probably composed in seventeenth-century Chittagong in a vernacular Tantric milieu, which was separate from the mainstream Sanskrit-oriented Kaula tradition. Later, probably in the eighteenth century, the text was adopted by the householder Naths in the eastern parts of undivided Bengal, and became one of their most important scriptures.
References
Primary Sources
Bauddharanjika. Bipradas Baruya and Dilipkumar Baruya (eds). Srinilakamala Dasa viracita Bauddha-ranjika arthat bauddhadiger mul dharma-grantha. 2nd rev. edn. Dhaka: Nabayug prakasani, 2005 [1890].
Brahmajnanatantra. Bhuvanacandra Vasaka and Navacandra Siromani (eds). Brahmajnanatantram: Srimacchankaramukhavinihsrtam. Kalikata: Samvadajnanaratnakarayantre, 1887.
Goraksabijaya. Munsi Abdul Karim (ed.). Goraksa-bijaya: Sekh Phayajulla pranita. Kalikata: Bangiya-sahitya-parisat mandir, 1917.
Haramala. See Caudhuri 1971. Cited by page and line number in Caudhuri's edition.
Jnanasankalinitantra. In Gopinatha Kaviraja (ed.), Tantrasangrahah: dvitiyo bhagah: 359-70. Varanasi: Sampurnanda-samskrta-visvavidyalaya, 1992.
Nirvanatantra. In Gopinatha Kaviraja (ed.), Tantrasangrahah: dvitiyo bhagah: 1-62. Varanasi: Sampurnanda-samskrta-visvavidyalaya, 1992.
Pranatosinitantra. Saumyananda Natha (ed.), Pranatosinitantra: Ramatosana Vidyalankara sankalita. Kalikata: Nababharat pablisars, 1991.
Sangitaratnakarah. Mangesa Ramakrsna Telanga (ed.), Sangitaratnakarah: Srinihsankasara-ngadevaviracitah: caturakallinathaviracitakalanidhyakhyatikasamvalitah. Punyakhyapattane: Anandasramamudranalaye, 1942.
Saradatilakatantram: pracinabharatiyatantrasastrasekharibhutam. Arthur Avalon (ed.). Repr. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1982 [1933].
Yogasarasangraha. Electronic version of the transcript (IFP T0859) of the manuscript D4373 belonging to the GOML, Madras, available at the Muktabodha Digital Library https://muktabodha.org/digital-library.
Secondary Sources
Bandyopadhyay, Asitkumar. 1993 [1966]. Bamla sahityer itibrtta: trtiya khanda, pratham parba: saptadas satabdi. 3rd edn. Kalikata: Madarn buk ejensi.
Bandyopadhyay, Pramada Caran. 1940. 'Brahma-jnana haramala haraparbbati sambada.' Siksa-sebak 15 (4): 1-6 (baisakh 1347 BS), 16 (1): 7-16 (sraban 1347 BS).
Banerji, S. C. 1992 [1978]. Tantra in Bengal: A Study in Its Origin, Development and Influence. 2nd rev. & enl. edn. New Delhi: Manohar.
Bechert, Heinz, Amit Das Gupta and Gustav Roth. 1978. 'Hindu Elements in the Religion of the Buddhist Baruas and Chakmas in Bengal.' In Heinz Bechert (ed.), Buddhism in Ceylon and Studies on Religious Syncretism in Buddhist Countries: Report on a Symposium in Gottingen: 214-16. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Bhattacarya, Asutos. 1967. Bangiya lok-sangit ratnakar: bamlar lok-sangiter kosgrantha, caturtha khanda: bha haite ha. Kalikata: Pascimbanga lok-samskrti gobesana parisad.
Bhattacaryya, Taraprasanna (ed.). 1932. Parisatputhisalay samgrhita bangala pracin puthir bibaran: trtiya khanda, trtiya samkhya. Kalikata: Bangiya-sahitya-parisad mandir.
Bhattacharjee, Jatindra Mohan. 1978. Catalogus Catalogorum of Bengali Manuscripts. Calcutta: Asiatic Society.
Bhattacharya, France. 2003. 'Un texte du Bengale medieval: le yoga du kalandar (Yoga-Kalandar): Yoga et soufisme, le confluent des deux fleuves.' Bulletin de l'Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient 90: 69-99. https://doi.org/10.3406/befeo.2003.3608
Bhattacharyya, Narendra Nath 1993. Buddhism in the History of Indian Ideas. New Delhi: Manohar.
Bose, Manindra Mohan. 1930. The Post-Caitanya Sahajia Cult of Bengal. Calcutta: University of Calcutta.
Bouillier, Veronique. 2011. 'Kanphatas.' In Knut A. Jacobsen, Helene Basu, Angelika Malinar and Vasudha Narayanan (eds), Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism, vol. III: Society, Religious Specialists, Religious Traditions, Philosophy: 347-54. Leiden: Brill.
---- 2013. 'Religion Compass: A Survey of Current Researches on India's Nath Yogis.' Religion Compass 7 (5): 157-68. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12041
Brunner, Helene, Gerhard Oberhammer and Andre Padoux (eds). 2004. Tantrikabhidhanakosa II. Vienna: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Cakrabartti, Praphullacaran. 1955 (?). Nathdharmma o sahitya. Alipurduyar, (Jalpaiguri): Praphulla Caran Cakrabartti.
---- 1965. 'Madhyayuger bamlar yogi-sahityer paripreksite Dvija Satrughna-biracita nathpanther sadhan-grantha "Haramala".' PhD thesis, Jadavpur University, Calcutta.
Callewaert, Winand M. 2009. Dictionary of Bhakti: North-Indian Bhakti Texts into Khari Boli, Hindi, and English. New Delhi: D. K. Printworld.
Cashin, David. 1995. The Ocean of Love: Middle Bengali Sufi Literature and the Fakirs of Bengal. Stockholm: Association of Oriental Studies, Stockholm University.
Caudhuri, Nrpendranath. 1971. Haramala: brahmajnana yogasastra. Syamla bhila, Kachar: Nrpendra Nath Caudhuri.
Chatterjee, Rama. 1985. Religion in Bengal During the Pala and the Sena Times: Mainly on the Basis of Epigraphic and Archaeological Sources. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak.
Dasgupta, Shashibhusan. 1946. Obscure Religious Cults: As Background of Bengali Literature. Calcutta: University of Calcutta.
---- 1962. Obscure Religious Cults. 2nd rev. edn. Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay.
Davidson, Ronald M. 2002. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. New York: Columbia University Press.
De, S. K. 1938. 'The Buddhist Tantric Literature (Sanskrit) of Bengal.' New Indian Antiquary 1: 1-23.
Debnath, Upendra Kumar. 2011. Nath itihas o sadhantattva-brahmajnan. Dattapukur (Uttar 24 pargana): Saiba bharati.
Debnath, Upendra Kumar. 2013 [2006]. Nath sampradayer itibrtta. 3rd rev. edn. Dattapukur (Uttar 24 pargana): Saiba bharati.
Dyczkowski, Mark S. G. 2009. Manthanabhairavatantram Kumarikakhandah: The Section Concerning the Virgin Goddess of the Tantra of the Churning Bhairava. Vol. 2, pt. 2. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and D. K. Printworld.
Elmore, Mark. 2007. 'Definitional Transgression, or the Revenge of the Vernacular in Hindu Tantric Studies.' Religion Compass 1 (6): 752-67. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2007.00041.x
Furui, Ryosuke. 2020. Land and Society in Early South Asia: Eastern India 400-1250 ad. New York: Routledge.
Ghos, Baridbaran. 2011. Nath sampradayer itihas. Kalkata: Sri pablisim haus.
Goodall, Dominic. 2016. 'How the Tattvas of Tantric Saivism Came to Be 36: The Evidence of the Nisvasatattvasamhita.' In Dominic Goodall and Harunaga Isaacson (eds), Tantric Studies: Fruits of a Franco-German Collaboration on Early Tantra: 77-111. Pondicherry: Institut Francais de Pondichery; Paris: Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient; Hamburg: Asien-Afrika Institut, Universitat Hamburg.
Goodall, Dominic and Harunaga Isaacson. 2011. 'Tantric Traditions.' In Jessica Frazier (ed.), The Continuum Companion to Hindu Studies: 122-37. London: Continuum.
Goodall, Dominic and Marion Rastelli (eds). 2013. Tantrikabhidhanakosa III. Vienna: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Goudriaan, Teun and Sanjukta Gupta. 1981. Hindu Tantric and Sakta Literature. A History of Indian Literature, vol. 2, fasc. 2. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Hatley, Shaman. 2007. 'Mapping the Esoteric Body in the Islamic Yoga of Bengal.' History of Religions 46 (4): 351-68. https://doi.org/10.1086/518813
---- 2010. 'Tantric Saivism in Early Medieval India: Recent Research and Future Directions.' Religion Compass 4 (10): 615-28. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2010.00240.x
Hayes, Glen A. 2017. 'Tantra.' Oxford Bibliographies. www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399318/obo-9780195399318-0090.xml (accessed 20 July 2019).
---- 2018. 'The Guru's Tongue: Metaphor, Imagery, and Vernacular Language in Vaisnava Sahajiya Hindu Traditions.' In Paul Chilton and Monika Kopytowska (eds), Religion, Language, and the Human Mind: 186-209. New York: Oxford University Press.
Horstmann, Monika. 2014. 'The Emergence of the Nathyogi Order in the Light of Vernacular Sources.' International Journal of Tantric Studies 10 (1), http://asiatica.org/ijts/10-1/emergence-nathyogi-order-light-vernacular-sources.
---- 2017. 'Nath and Dadupanthi Critique of Jains.' International Journal of Jaina Studies 13 (1): 1-72.
Isaacson, Harunaga and Francesco Sferra. 2015. 'Tantric Literature: Overview South Asia.' In Jonathan A. Silk, Oskar von Hinuber and Vincent Eltschinger (eds), Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism, vol. I: Literature and Languages: 307-19. Leiden: Brill.
Islam, Samiyul. 1976. 'Yogi gan: Rampur.' In Alamgir Jalil (ed.), Lok-sahitya: caturdas khanda: 29-70. Dhaka: Bamla ekademi.
Jana, Priyanath. 1975. Bangiya jibanikos: pratham khanda: adi-astadas satabdi. Kalkata: Matrbhasa parisad.
Jha, Subhadra. 1985 [1958]. The Formation of the Maithili Language. Repr. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
Kar, Sujan Sarathi. 2012. Nathsahitya: dharma o samaj. Kalkata: Pustak bipani.
Kiehnle, Catharina. 1997. Songs on Yoga: Texts and Teachings of the Maharastrian Naths: Jnandev Studies I and II. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.
Kitada, Makoto. 2012. The Body of the Musician: An Annotated Translation and Study of the Pindotpatti-Prakarana of Sarngadeva's Sangitaratnakara. Bern: Peter Lang.
Kvaerne, Per. 1977. An Anthology of Buddhist Tantric Songs: A Study of the Caryagiti. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Lorea, Carola Erika. 2016. Folklore, Religion and the Songs of a Bengali Madman: A Journey between Performance and the Politics of Cultural Representation. Leiden: Brill.
Majumdar, Surescandra Nath. 1954 [1923]. Rajguru yogibamsa. 3rd enl. edn. Nadiya: Pramathanath Nath.
Mallinson, James. 2011. 'Nath Sampradaya.' In Knut A. Jacobsen, Helene Basu, Angelika Malinar and Vasudha Narayanan (eds), Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism, vol. III: Society, Religious Specialists, Religious Traditions, Philosophy: 409-28. Leiden: Brill.
---- 2020. 'The Amrtasiddhi: Hathayoga's Tantric Buddhist Source Text.' In Dominic Goodall, Shaman Hatley, Harunaga Isaacson and Srilata Raman (eds), Saivism and the Tantric Tradi-tions: Essays in Honour of Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson: 409-25. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004432802_019
Mallinson, James and Mark Singleton. 2017. Roots of Yoga. London: Penguin.
Manring, Rebecca J. and Hena Basu. 2006. Catalogue for the Sukumar Sen (Barddhaman Sahitya Sabha) Manuscript Collection. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Asian Studies.
McDermott, Rachel Fell. 2001. Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams: Kali and Uma in the Devotional Poetry of Bengal. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mishra, T. N. 1997. Impact of Tantra on Religion and Art. New Delhi: D. K. Printworld.
---- 2000. Buddhist Tantra and Buddhist Art. New Delhi: D. K. Printworld.
Mishra, Vijay. 1998. Devotional Poetics and the Indian Sublime. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Mukherjee, Soumen. 2020. 'Sufis, Yogis, and Genealogies of "Islamic Yoga": Broaching Religio-cultural Encounters in Premodern Eastern India.' Religion Compass 14 (8): e12368. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12368
Mukhopadhyay, Prabhatakumar. 1981. Bamlay dharmasahitya (laukik). Kalkata: Di. Em. Laibreri.
Mukhopadhyay, Sukhamay. 1994. Bamlar nath-sahitya. Kalkata: Subarnarekha.
Nath, Praphulla Kumar. 2013. Asamar nath sampradayar samskrti. Guwahati: Candra prakas.
Nath, Rajmohan. 1924 (BS 1331). 'Nathdharme srstitattva.' Sahitya parisat patrika 31 (2): 76-84.
---- 1934 (BS 1341). 'Nathdharme debatattva.' Sahitya parisat patrika 41 (4): 124-29.
---- 1964. Bangiya nath-panther pracin-puthi. Kalikata: Asam-banga yogi-sammilani.
Ondracka, Lubomir (forthcoming). 'The Search for the Jugi Caste in Pre-Colonial Bengal.' In Daniela Bevilacqua and Eloisa Stuparich (eds), The Power of the Nath Yogis: Yogic Charisma, Political Influence and Social Authority. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Padoux, Andre. 2010. Comprendre le tantrisme: les sources hindoues. Paris: A. Michel.
---- 2017. The Hindu Tantric World: An Overview. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Pal, Ramesvar. 1976. Darsanik sunyabad o bamla sahitya. Kalikata: Pharma Keelem.
Parbhin, Saiyda Pharida, Sahin Sultana and Sayad Ali Akbar. 2006. Pandulipi pariciti: Dhaka bisvabidyalay granthagare samgrhita bamla pandulipir barnanamulak talika. Dhaka: Dhaka bisvabidyalay granthagar.
Raychaudhuri, Tapan. 1969 [1953]. Bengal under Akbar and Jahangir: An Introductory Study in Social History. 2nd edn. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
Robinson, James B. 1979. Buddha's Lions: The Lives of the Eighty-Four Siddhas: Caturasiti-Siddha-Pravrtti by Abhayadatta. Berkeley, CA: Dharma Publishing.
Roy, Asim. 1983. The Islamic Syncretistic Tradition in Bengal. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Sanderson, Alexis. 2009. 'The Saiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Saivism during the Early Medieval Period.' In Shingo Einoo (ed.), Genesis and Development of Tantrism: 41-349. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Institute of Oriental Culture.
---- 2013a. 'The Saiva Literature.' Journal of Indological Studies 24-25: 1-113.
---- 2013b. 'The Impact of Inscriptions on the Interpretation of Early Saiva Literature.' Indo-Iranian Journal 56 (3-4): 211-44. https://doi.org/10.1163/15728536-13560308
---- 2015. 'Saiva Texts.' In Knut A. Jacobsen, Helene Basu, Angelika Malinar and Vasudha Narayanan (eds), Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism, vol. VI: 10-42. Leiden: Brill.
---- 2019. 'How Public Was Saivism?' In Nina Mirnig, Marion Rastelli and Vincent Eltschinger (eds), Tantric Communities in Context: 1-46. Vienna: Osterreichische Akademie der Wissen-schaften. https://doi.org/10.1553/0x003b1d07
Sariph, Ahmad. 1969. Banglar suphi sahitya: alocana o nayakhani grantha sambalita. Dhaka: Bamla ekademi.
---- 1977. Madhyayuger sahitye samaj o samskrtir rup. Dhaka: Muktadhara.
---- 2014 [1971]. Bangali o bangla sahitya: pratham khanda. Kalkata: Naya udyog.
Sen, Sukumar. 1991. Bangala sahityer itihas: dvitiya khanda: saptadas-astadas satabdi. Repr. Kalkata: Ananda pablisars.
Sen Majumdar, Gayatri. 1983. Buddhism in Ancient Bengal. Calcutta: Navana.
Timalsina, Sthaneshwar. 2006. 'Terrifying Beauty: Interplay of the Sanskritic and Vernacular Rituals of Siddhilaksmi.' International Journal of Hindu Studies 10 (1): 59-73. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-006-9002-8
Urban, Hugh B. 1999. 'The Extreme Orient: The Construction of "Tantrism" as a Category in the Orientalist Imagination.' Religion 29 (2): 123-46. https://doi.org/10.1006/reli.1997.0097
---- 2001. The Economics of Ecstasy: Tantra, Secrecy, and Power in Colonial Bengal. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
---- 2003. Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics, and Power in the Study of Religion. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Wedemeyer, Christian K. 2011. 'Locating Tantric Antinomianism: An Essay toward an Intellectual History of the "Practices/Practice Observance" (Carya/Caryavrata).' Journal of the Inter-national Association of Buddhist Studies 34 (1-2): 349-419.
Zbavitel, Dusan. 1976. Bengali Literature. A History of Indian Literature, vol. 9, fasc. 3. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
