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at least insofar as she is Korravai, goddess of victory [n.46]--might not her north orientation in South Indian temples mirror exactly the defensive posture taken by early Aryans toward the South? Might not the conceptual face-off between Yama and Korravai be a vestige of the age-old conflict between the northern Aryans and the southern Dravidians? Though not conclusive, the appearance of a buffalo motif in the iconography of both Yama and Durga provides a tantalizing link, particularly in view of the buffalos' antithetical meanings. While Durga's archenemy is the buffalo demon Mahisha (in sacerdotal terms, [end.p.61] the buffalo has always been the victim of choice for blood sacrifice), Yama, the Aryan "controller" of death, is symbolized by a buffalo, insofar as Hindu vahanas have totemic significance.[n.48] This is not to suggest that Yama and Mahisha were ever consciously equated--their mythic contexts are too far removed--but they may have had a common source in the realm of mundane and ritual observance. The dark water buffalo, if for no other reason than its contrast in color with the typically white bos indicus, the sacred animal of India par excellence, has long endured perceptions of being the specter of death. Speaking of the obvious contrasts in color, species, and association with deities between water buffalo and bos indicus, it must be stressed that they have not passed unnoticed by the authors of puranic myth. In fact, the Victorious Durga image appears in an entirely different |
light when one reflects upon the dichotomy between Durga's victim Mahisha and her husband Shiva, whose vehicle is the bull Nandi. According to David Shulman in a study of South Indian myth of unprecedented comprehensiveness, conflation of victim and husband does in fact sometimes occur.[n.49] In more than one retelling of the essential myth, after Durga cuts off Mahisha's head, she is horrified to find a linga (the phallic symbol of Shiva) tied to his neck and must perform austerities to expiate the crime. Unwittingly, she had murdered a Shaiva devotee, if not Shiva himself in a temporary manifestation, as at least one version baldly surmises.[n.50] Without beginning to reckon with the numerous ramifications of this perplexing role reversal, nor another by which Mahisha's contest with the goddess begins with a sham courtship, it is sufficient for our purposes here to recall as a sort of validating paradigm the later and much-better-known Tantric images of Kali dancing upon Shiva's corpse.[n.51] Furthermore, sometimes Kali dances on the corpses of her devotees. This brings us back full circle to the early Tamil images of head-offerings to Korravai, both literary and sculptural. The recurrent association of self-decapitation with images of Durga standing on Mahisha's head cannot be fortuitous. The two decapitations are, I submit, virtually interchangeable. In the words of a Calcutta respondent to the question of what Mahisha stands for metaphorically, the contemporary reply rings true to ancient (perhaps forgotten) archetypes: ''he is us.''[n.52] [end p. 62] |
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47. A. L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India (London 1963) 236. 48. "These vehicles or mounts (vahana) are manifestations on the animal plane of the divine individuals themselves"; Zimmer, Myths 48. The best-known depiction of Yama upon his buffalo may be in the south gallery of Angkor Wat, where he is shown presiding over a vast "Last judgment" scene. See also Susan Huntington, The Art of Ancient India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (New York 1985) fig. 15.25. 49. David Dean Shulman,Tamil Temple Myth: Sacrifice and Divine Marriage in South Indian Tradition (Princeton 1980) 177. 50. In the Kalika-purana, cf. Shulman, ch. IV.4, "The Murderous Bride," esp.185-186. 51. E.g., Philip Rawson, Tantra: The Indian Cult of Ecstasy (New York 1973) pls.17, 18, 22,40-42,44. 52. The anecdote is told by Edward Dimock, Bengal specialist at the University of Chicago. | |
