Sri Varaha - What a Boar!

One of the many intriguing things about the temples of Khajuraho is the prominence given toVaraha - the boar incarnation of Sri Vishnu.

As is the norm, nearly all the temples here face the rising sun, and many temples dedicated to Shiva have a Nandi, the bull, facing the deity, looking towards the west. At Khajuraho, in front of the 10th century Lakshmana temple stands a shrine dedicated to Varaha.  It does not seem big until you climb up a fleet of stone stairs to see the massive, beautifully carved and polished,  single-stone sculpture of Varaha that almost looks like a huge piggy bank rendered through flights of imagination. 

Mythology is of course a time tested way of communicating an underlying philosophy through engaging stories. This one is no different. The ASI boards at the temple does not tell us anything beyond the estimated timelines of construction. So I thought this sculpture was a one off thing until today when I came across a tweet by William Dalrymple with a Varaha image from Eran in Madhya Pradesh that looks almost exactly like the one in Khajuraho.

Intrigued, I got in touch with a cousin, an archeologist at MSU Baroda, who told me that Varaha was a popular cult in central India during the early phase of the Guptas, around 300 CE. "In fact the largest of these Bhu-Varahas is at the Udayagiri caves near Sanchi, where the 12 feet high rock-cut statue, in an area that has the earliest surviving evidence of Hindu structural temple construction."

Why would the earliest temples give so much importance to an animal form, and that too, a wild boar? What do all those intricate carvings on the boars head and torso signify? Apart from some distant memories of stories I heard from my grandmother, and those that I read in Amar Chitra Katha comics, my bandwidth was rather limited. 

These are stories that have survived thousands of years, from one generation to the next. My grandmothers generation is no more but her children have grown up seeped in poetry, and the epics. So when I reached out to my mother I was not surprised to receive at the outset an admonition, a gentle rebuke of a reminder - "How many times have I told you to read the Srimad Bhagavatham? It is a treasure trove of wonderful stories!"

Easier said than done. The Srimad Bhagavatham, or Bhagavata Purana, consists of 12 books (skandhas) with 332 chapters (adhyayas) containing about 18,000 verses... in Sanskrit!

The story of Varaha-avatara is covered in canto 3, chapter 13, and goes something like this: 

Four baby-faced nerds of the spiritual world, the elder sons of Brahma called the Sana-Kumaras, once went to visit Vishnu.  At the gates of Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu, they were stopped by two guards, Jaya and Vijaya, who refused to let them through - the kids just did not look serious enough to deserve a meeting with the boss.

The Kumaras got enraged. They cursed Jaya and Vijaya to be born on earth thrice, as three villains with characteristics of "lust, anger and greed". In the first round, during Satya Yuga, the guards were reborn on earth as asuras named Hiranyakashyapu and Hiranyaksha. 

So one of the insolent guards turned into the demon Hiranyasha. While living up a life of lust, greed and anger, he once assaulted Mother Earth (Bhu-devi), and dragged her down into the cosmic ocean. People were distraught, they prayed to Vishnu for help, and this time he took on his third avatar to become a wild boar - the Varaha. Varaha dives into the ocean, and finds Bhu-devi. After this rescue mission, as he swims out of the ocean with the Devi clinging on to his curved tusk, Hiranyaksha tries to stop Varaha. A fight ensues, the villain is killed, and Mother Earth is saved.

As always these mythologies are full of hyperlinks - wheels within wheels, stories within stories, popping up like Matryoshka dolls. 

What remain unclear is the reason why the cult of the Varaha is restricted to Central India. There is a place near Thiruvananthapuram called SriVaraham named after a shrine dedicated to the same avatar. But why are there no shrines to this avatara elsewhere? 

Also, in terms of iconography, the rest of the picture remains unclear - Why is the goddess of wealth (?) placed at the nostrils? What is that fat snake crawling on the ground? why are there 'thousands of sages' attached to the boar's body? 

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REFERENCES & LINKS

* Bhagavata Purana - https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/

Trek to Kaylong Kartik Temple and Kugti Pass

I'm sitting at my desk, with my eyes on a glowing laptop screen, but my mind is still in the Himalayan mountains.

Having spent the whole of last week trekking through the stunning Chamba valley, attempting my first Cross-Over trek through the Kugti Pass to Lahaul-Spiti in Ladakh, I realize that this trip has been an eye-opener is more ways than one.

I did not know, for instance, that affordable trekking was possible for a small group of five, with the support of two guides, one porter and a cook! Since much of the grunt work of setting up camp, cooking food and foraging for fuel is outsourced, it leaves you with enough and more time to take in the scenery, observe the birds and insects, and enjoy the journey.

This trek passed through the Manikaran Kailash area, an ancient pilgrimage circuit. It was therefore not surprising to see the route dotted with tiny roadside shrines and larger temples. What was intriguing, however, was the set of beliefs and traditions that blended so well with that of the nomadic shepherds who form the economic lifeline of this remote district.

The Keylang Kartik Temple is an excellent example. It is open only from 13 April to 30 November every year - the time when the shepherds are taking their flock from their summer grazing grounds in Lahaul-Spiti down the green meadows and fields of the Chamba valley and the plains, to escape the harsh winters in the mountains.

The temple itself is at multiple levels, blending with the steep slope on which it is located. At the lowest area are the toilets, a little further up, attached to the main building is a shop selling votive's and offerings. This shop is run by the same family that takes care of the temple - priests from the Kugti Village. At the next level you have the temple with a large courtyard, attached to a cooking shed and a little spring-water pool purported to contain the footprints of the presiding deity.

The main temple is a wooden structure divided into two areas - a prayer hall with a window on each of its three walls, facing the towering snow-peaks, and the sanctum containing three idols, one each of silver, panchadhatu (?) and marble. As in most North Indian temples, devotees can walk right into the sanctum and touch the idols before going around the narrow passageway surrounding the sanctum.

The evening Aarti takes place at 7 PM. The priest corrals whoever is around to help with the puja. I was handed a Yak-hair fly-whisk while our guide took charge of the cymbals as we walked around clanging numerous bells hanging overhead. We all then stepped out to offer prayers to two more deities in the courtyard area - Ganesha and Kartik again represented by his vaahana, the peacock.

One thing you will not miss at the temple is the iron chains and tridents along the temple walls. While most of the tridents / trishuls are offerings from the pilgrims on the Manikaran Kailash circuit, the chains are more than just symbolic. They are used by soothsayers from the nearby villages to flagellate themselves as they go into a frenzy while "talking" to the mountain spirits. They become the medium through which the Gods speak to the villagers, and vice versa.

According to the temple priest, the older chains are considered more potent by the villagers. If they need to borrow the older chains to be used in the village temples, they have to deposit two new ones as security. Also, a chain borrowed from the temple is to be carried "without touching the ground", even if it is tucked away inside a bag.

Animal sacrifice is the most accepted form of thanksgiving here. Villagers and shepherds come here to offer animals in gratitude for a successful crossing, or after surviving another winter in the mountains. Perhaps quite appropriately, the main prasad here is mutton-curry and rice. While this may not be to the liking of many Hindu purists in the plains, its best to leave those who survive in the mountains to frame their own rules!

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Unanswered Qs:

* Is there any other temple in India where Kartik is considered the protective diety of nomads and shepherds?
* Mythology says that Kartik lost a bet to his brother, Ganesha, and destroyed himself. Does it talk of a sister named Matala-Devi who sits atop a craggy peak on the opposite side of the river?

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REFERENCES & LINKS

Manimahesh Parikrama - http://www.bharmourtreks.com/show_tour.php?tourid=3&cat=1
Kaylong Kartik Temple - Mythology - http://www.bharmourtreks.com/show_tour.php?tourid=3&cat=1