Natural Stones As Divinities

The figures that we have been calling "major gods" in the previous sections are so referred to because of the overlapping of two qualities: (1) they are major and widely shared figures in South Asian Hindu oral and scriptural traditions, particularly that of the Puranas^[*] , and (2) they are made use of in the integrations of the city as a whole. In addition to such "major gods," however, there are other classes of supernatural figures, with special characteristics and special urban uses. We will discuss them here and in the following sections.

In the previous sections we have been concerned with divinities whose anthropomorphic (or on occasion diagrammatic) forms can be indifferently represented in "man-made" forms in carved wood, cast metal, painting on cloth, paper or wood, masks, or possessed human bodies, or in the case of some Tantric worship (chap. 9), clear mental images. We have noted in this and previous chapters that some divinities were represented and embodied by unworked "natural" stones. Some of these stones may be marked with some kind of symbol carved on them, but it is their "naturalness" that mostly seems to characterize them and give them some special possibilities of use and meaning.

Pithas

In his book on Hindu iconography, J. N. Banerjea notes that from very early periods in India "aniconism" existed along with iconic forms, anthropomorphic and, more rarely, theriomorphic images. Among these aniconic objects were, and are, sacred stones "scattered over different parts of India, which are taken to stand for one or [an]other of the cult divinities. . . . The well-known Sakta tradition about the severed limbs of Sati falling in different parts of India and about the latter being regarded as so many pithasthanas^[*] , particularly sacred to the Saktiworshipers^[*] , should be noted in this connection. In modern times, the most important objects of worship in many of these shrines are usually stone blocks covered over with red cloth" (1956, 83). At the core of Bhaktapur's pithas are such unworked stones, and the pitha goddesses we have discussed are located in them. Almost all pithas are marked by stones, but an apparent exception is Guyesvari, the true Devi pitha located in the Pasupatinatha shrine complex, which is "a water-filled pothole surrounded with the carved stone petals of a lotus" (Slusser 1982, vol. 1, p. 327). In such apparent exceptions there is often a popular or an esoteric understanding that somewhere beneath the surface there is, in fact, a stone that is the seat of the divinity. There are various groups of deities associated with pithas . These are manifestations of the Tantric Goddess and groups of gods associated with her in Tantric theory and imagery among the Newars. Several of these are present as esoteric or lost historical residues in Bhaktapur (Slusser 1982, vol. 1, p. 326; Kölver 1976), but the important persisting ones in Bhaktapur are the pithas of the Mandalic^[*] Goddesses, and, for the internal religion of Taleju, those of superseded royal lineage goddesses, as we have discussed above.

The Digu God, Lineage Gods

Outside the city boundaries in several directions (chap. 7) are natural stones,^[55] which are the divinities that various extended family groups (phuki ) worship once a year as their lineage god. These stones are called "Digu Gods," or, popularly, "Dugu Gods," after the goats, dugu , which are often sacrificed there. Phukis also have shrines and icons of their lineage gods within the city. In those groups in the upper levels of the macrostatus system, those that are entitled to Tantric initiation, the images, called the "Aga(n) God," are elaborately housed and wor-

shiped. The Aga(n) Gods are usually anthropomorphic forms of the Tantric Goddess. The pairing of an external open shrine with its aniconic stone divinity and an internal anthropomorphic or sometimes yantra god-form housed within the city, is parallel in both structure and certain aspects of worship to that of an Astamatrka's^[*] external pitha Goddess and her iconic image in her god-house within the city. The Digu God's shrine is sometimes referred to as a "kind of pitha ." The Digu Dya: stone is usually backed by a carved arch or torana^[*] .^[56] Rarely there is no stone visible in front of the torana^[*] , and the ground is considered the sacred spot, with the stone often assumed to be beneath it. The Digu God is sometimes considered as the lineage god in itself, but for upper-status families it is generally considered as the seat of the particular form of Devi which is their lineage divinity. Whatever the conception of the Digu divinity, it is necessary to offer it blood offerings and alcoholic spirits. We will return to the uses and worship of the Digu God and the Aga(n) God in chapter 9.

Protectors of Local Space, Chetrapal and Pikha Lakhu

Everywhere in Bhaktapur are natural stones, some lying flat, some protruding from the ground, which are identified as "area protectors," chetrapals , from the Sanskrit ksetra^[*]pala , a guardian of a field or place, or, within the realm of divinities, a "tutelary deity of the fields" (Macdonnell 1974, 79). These are popularly called chelpa gods. They are found near all dya: che(n) (god-houses), all Aga(n) che(n) (the special houses for upper-status thar s' Tantric lineage deities), near many private houses, and near or within the grounds of many temples. Each twa: or important sub-twa: has its own central twa: chetrapal . The various chetrapals are regarded as distinct individual divinities, and may have local names. Some of the chetrapals in public city spaces are identified with Bhairava or Kumari. In theoretical discussion all chetrapals are said to be a "kind of Bhairava," following a general South Asian association of such area protectors with Bhairava, or with a "portion of Siva" (cf. Stutley and Stutley 1977, 153; Mani 1974, 434). Some chetrapals have a yantra , or "mystic diagram" engraved on them—a lotus, a triangle, a six-pointed double triangle, or a more elaborate Sri yantra —but others are left uncarved. Chetrapals protect the nearby structure or the area around themselves from thieves, from illness, and from misfortune caused by evil spirits. They are the kind of divinity (typical of the dangerous divinities) that can cause trouble if inadvertently neglected or

mistreated, and can thus in themselves cause illness or misfortune. Tantric physicians will sometimes ascribe illness to the inadvertent stepping on, spitting on, or otherwise offending some chetrapal . The major chetrapals in each twa: must be given offerings of food by each household at the finish of major household feasts. Some households make an optional additional offering before the beginning of the feast. Chetrapals protecting god-houses and Aga(n) houses may also be offered food offerings in conjunction with feasts in honor of the particular deity whose house they protect. Sometimes people worship local chetrapals in hopes of propitiating an offended chetrapal or curing or preventing some misfortune. The major areal and neighborhood chetrapals are sometimes covered with a decorative honorific canopy and smeared with colored pigments.

Several of the chetrapal have particular legends associated with them. Two are of general city importance. One is associated with the Bhairava who inhabits the cremation grounds. Another, called "Swatuña Bhairava," is of importance as the spot where the power of the goddess Taleju is transferred to the Nine Durgas performers at the beginning of their annual cycle (chap. 15). We will discuss these two figures further in the next section.

There is a kind of aniconic stone divinity that is sometimes regarded as a kind of chetrapal and sometimes as an independent and different form that is of considerable importance for symbolic action. This is a stone placed in front of the main door of every house, between that door and the road (chap. 7). This is called the pikha lakhu ("pikha " has the sense of moving or depositing something "outside"; "lakhu " [lakhu in Kathmandu Newari] is an old Newari word for path or road). This stone, embedded in the ground, may have been found there, but usually is brought from somewhere else during the construction of the house. It is usually engraved with the same kinds of figures sometimes carved on chetrapals . It is sometimes theoretically identified as Kumara, thought of as Ganesa's^[*] brother, a god who has little significance in Bhaktapur. In its use, the pikha lakhu , popularly called the pila laki god, is in each of its locations an individual god in itself. This stone marks the point in front of the main entrance, which locates an imaginary line at some distance from its actual external walls, separating its symbolic interior from the exterior public space. We have noted in chapter 7 something of the uses of that boundary.

Finally, the chwasas , the stones marking major crossroads whose principal functions ally them to the group of pollution-disposing stone

divinities that we shall consider in the next section, are also sometimes secondarily considered as area protectors, and thus as chetrapals .

Mediators to the Underground—Disposers of Pollution

An important use of stones as deities is in the marking and protection of boundaries. The forces of the boundary protectors are directed to the outside of the boundary. They keep things out, rather than in. As we have noted in the last chapter, Bhaktapur has another boundary, that with whatever it is that lies beneath the city. While the space above the city is open to the sphere of the astrologically important "astral deities" and to the vaguely conceived heavens of the various gods, it is not conceived as separated from the city by a boundary. What is below is somewhat more problematic. It joins with the outside of the city beyond its encircling boundaries as a realm of somewhat nebulous forces, such as the nagas , which may be dangerous if disturbed or inadvertently encountered.^[57] The underground, like the area outside the city is a realm into which waste and pollution can pass. Stones that are the loci for the passage act as a kind of valve, which consume the dangerous pollution and/or prevent its return. Like all deities of similar function, the stone deities involved are dangerous in themselves. In the last chapter we discussed the chwasa , stones placed at the major crossroads in each neighborhood. Portions of the head of a sacrificial animal which were used ceremonially at feasts must be brought there by the senior woman of the house. Clothes worn by a person at the time of or just before death are also brought to the chwasa . It is the traditional responsibility of designated members of the Jugi thar to remove these clothes from the chwasa . We have noted in the last chapter other polluting materials deposited at the chwasa in Bhaktapur and other Newar communities. For some religious theorists the god of the chwasa is the dangerous goddess, Matangi^[*] . Matangi^[*] (or more popularly the "Chwasa god," or the "Kala god") consumes the dangerous pollution of the materials left on it.^[58]

Food left over from a feast and thus polluted may be given to a Po(n), as a human pollution remover, or it may be thrown into a garbage pit in the courtyard at the rear of the house. The courtyard is the seat of a form of Siva,^[59] Luku Mahadya:, the "hiding Siva." This is a stone buried in the courtyard and worshiped once a year on Sithi Nakha, the day that ceremonially marks the end of the dry season and the anticipation of the annual rainy season (chap. 15). According to Vogt, Siva as

Luku Mahadya: "feeds upon the waste of the houses and transmutes it into creative power. To do this he takes the form of a ghoul. Otherwise the pisaca [a dangerous spirit, see below] . . . would come and feast on it. They [pisacas ] are evil ghouls with only skeleton frames who are associated with decay and madness" (1977, 103).

A third set of disposers of symbolic waste or pollution are found outside the city in the cremation grounds, and are also natural stones. These are the Masan (cremation ground) Bhairavas. In the main dipa or masan (Nepali, from Sanskit smasana^[*] ), the Cupi(n)ga:, the Masan Bhairava or Masan Bhaila Dya: is represented and focused in a stone believed to be under the ground at the place where the cremations are done. In the other two dipas there are visible stones at the surface of the earth, representing and embodying the divinity. During cremations Masan Bhairava is conceived as being below the burning body. The body must be consumed before the spirit is free to leave the locality. The fire does this, but Masan Bhairava also is associated with the destruction of the body and the liberation of the spirit. In his main location at the Cupi(n)ga: dip , Masan Bhairava is worshiped or at least thought to be worshiped by various peoples whose powers are independent of the ordinary priestly system of the city. These include non-Newar Shaivite pilgrims and sadhus, shaman-like spirit doctors, members of the Jugi thar , and witches. Some Tantric pujas are rumored to be offered to him there. These are all quests for religious/magical power or siddhi beyond the ordinary interior moral controls and institutional arrangements of the city.

The taming of Masan Bhairava is reflected in a legend. The Bhairava of Cupi(n)ga:, whose stone is supposed to have a yantra engraved on it, is associated with an anthropomorphic form of the deity that roamed the city in the past and was the cause of much trouble, including the death of many young people in Bhaktapur. A Tantric priest of great power, understanding the cause of Bhaktapur's troubles, seized Masan Bhairava and pulled out his tongue and cut it into three parts. The three pieces of the tongue are now three contiguous stones, named "Swatuna Bhairava," which function as a chetrapal in the Inaco Twa: in the eastern part of the city, and as important markers for certain important festival actions during the Mohani and Biska: festival sequences.^[60] The remainder of the Bhairava remains now usefully fixed in the cremation ground.

Masan Bhairava is a clear example of the theme common to many stories and ideas about the dangerous deities—that they are destructive

forces captured (more or less tentatively) through power for some special purpose, and put to the use of the city as a city divinity (compare the Nine Durgas legend, chap. 15).