Women and Monastic Buddhism in Early South Asia

Rediscovering the invisible believers

Garima Kaushik

• Publisher: Routledge India
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317329381
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Indian & South Asian History
• Index: History

This book uses gender as a framework to offer unique insights into the socio-cultural foundations of Buddhism. Moving away from dominant discourses that discuss women as a single monolithic, homogenous category—thus rendering them invisible within the broader religious discourse—this monograph examines their sustained role in the larger context of South Asian Buddhism and reaffirms their agency. It highlights the multiple roles played by women as patrons, practitioners, lay and monastic members, etc. within Buddhism. The volume also investigates the individual experiences of the members, and their equations and relationships at different levels—with the Samgha at large, with their own respective Bhik?u or Bhik?un? Sangha, with the laity, and with members of the same gender (both lay and monastic). It rereads, reconfigures and reassesses historical data in order to arrive at a new understanding of Buddhism and the social matrix within which it developed and flourished.

Bringing together archaeological, epigraphic, art historical, literary as well as ethnographic data, this volume will be of interest to researchers and scholars of Buddhism, gender studies, ancient Indian history, religion, and South Asian studies.

One
Sacred spaces and the feminine in Buddhism

This chapter discusses the concept of sacred spaces for Buddhist women. It seeks to investigate the material evidence for the spiritual attainments of female Buddhists, both lay and monastic, and bring them to the fore, by making them more visible in the archaeological records. The chapter also discusses issues concerned with women’s experience of the sacred and female symbols associated with the sacred. What religious authority and power have women held, and how has the spiritually empowering authority of their experience been experienced and transmitted to others? These questions relate to women’s actual participation in religious life. Issues such as what religious roles and rituals women participate in, from which ones are they excluded and the expression of their participation in Buddhist religious architecture have been explored in this chapter.

The Buddhist position on the subject of association of the feminine and spirituality has throughout its history been cloaked in ambiguity. The constantly wavering attitude on the issue and the resulting contradictions are quite loud and cannot be glossed over. While, on the one hand, we have the Buddha’s reluctance to admit women into the order, as attested in the Buddhist Canons, on the other, we have a plethora of female divinities, who occupy various positions as consorts and subsidiary deities within the pantheon. Contrary to the popularly projected view that the inclusion of these deities was very much a Mahayānist phenomenon, recent researches on the subject have brought to light literary as well as archaeological data which compel us to admit that the existence of these female forms as an integral part of the pantheon was a much earlier development and has been present throughout a considerable part of the Buddhist history.

Despite the exhaustive works on female deities, dākinis, Siddhās and the like in the field of archaeological research, there is very little that can be taken to identify the spiritual presence of these female Buddhists at the countless Buddhist sites that dot the South Asian landscape. The simplistic categorisation of structures into stūpas, vihāras and chaityas leaves little scope for the analysis and identification of other types of structures (like circular, apsidal structures) that are found coexisting with the widely known types, at the Buddhist sites (Ray 2009).

Stūpa, chaitya and vihāra are the three types of structures which are commonly used to designate an archaeological site as Buddhist. While some scholars (Bandaranayake 1974:27–8) have identified as many as twenty Buddhist structural sub-units, most accept Mitra’s (Allchin 1995; Chakrabarti 1995; Mitra 1972; Nagaraju 1981) tripartite division of stupa, chaitya-griha or ‘stupa sanctuary’ and vihāra notwithstanding an expansion of the second category to include the bodhi griha or ‘Bodhi-tree sanctuary’ and Buddha image sanctuary’. Although the individual elements of this simple typology have altered through time and space, their presence or absence represents the major techniques for identifying Buddhist sites it should be acknowledged that whilst such monuments are frequently identified during excavation, they represent only a fragment of Buddhist practice. Second, overlap between categories, for example, stūpas within vihāras should be taken into account.

In this chapter, an attempt has been initiated to study the archaeological (structural) proofs that are testimony to the spiritual attainments of the female Buddhist practitioners. It pertains to the deification and worship of the ‘female element’ within Buddhism and the study of the religious architecture at the numerous Buddhist sites. This is an attempt to study and analyse whether the enshrinement of relics and their veneration was limited to male monastics and male Buddhist saints or whether female monastics also at times qualified for this distinction. It further seeks to study whether stūpas were erected for women? If so, was there a subtle difference in stūpa architecture or in the manner of enshrining of the relics that set those dedicated to women apart from those for the men? Which particular group of women (laywomen or almswomen) enjoyed this privilege? On the other hand, was this an isolated case where only the kinsmen of the Buddha were venerated in this manner? Has this practice survived among the later-day Buddhists?

There are numerous stūpa sites that have during the course of archaeological investigation yielded relics of the Buddha, and also those of some of his venerable disciples and venerated Buddhist saints. There is no precedence, however, of the enshrinement and worship of relics of any female Buddhist saint, while, on the other hand, we have a long list of Buddhist Thēris and their spiritual attainments.¹ There is a conspicuous absence of literary as well as archaeological data in the form of stūpas /temples or shrines dedicated to the Buddhist female masters.

The only available reference in this context is that of a modern flat-roofed temple with a spacious paved platform around it in Lumbini, Nepal. Inside the temple is enshrined a fragmentary image variously known as Rupādēi (Rupādēvi) and Rummindēi (Rummindēvi), the tutelary goddess of Lumbini. It presents in high relief the scene of nativity of the Buddha. A life-sized image of Māyā Devi, stands under a tree, grasping its branch with her right hand, her left hand resting on her hip. On her right side and supporting her, is a woman, presumably her sister Māhāprajāpati. Beyond the latter is the slightly bent figure of Śakra, with a high crown, who is in the attitude of receiving the newborn child as the latter emerges from his mother’s right side. The small figure of Gautama with a halo round his head stands below. Just behind Śakra is a male figure. Stylistically ascribable to the early Gupta period, the sculpture is badly damaged (Mitra 1980:232–3).

Review of literary data

Often spaced out and far between, one comes across references to stūpas commemorating events that have women as their central character. Xuanzang mentions a number of stūpas commemorating important events and spots connected with the mahāparinirvāṇa of Ŝākyamuȵi Buddha. Among these is a stūpa that marks the spot where the men rested for seven days to commemorate the weeping of Mahāmāyā, mortal remains of the Buddha rested following his mahāparinirvāṇa (Mitra 1980). Another was the stūpa dedicated to Haritī, which was approximately 50 li from Puśkkalāvati (to the North West). It was here that the Tathāgata converted the ‘Mother of the demons’, and kept her from hurting men. It is for this reason the common folk of this country offer sacrifices to obtain children from her (Beal 1906). Yet another refers to a stūpa which was located at the site, where the house of Āmrapāli² (daughter of the Āmra-Āmradārikā) existed. According to Xuanzang, it was at this very place where the aunt of Buddha and other bhikşūņīs also obtained Nirvāṇa (Hardy 1995:309).

The above-mentioned textual references have paved the way for a more serious enquiry of the architectural remains from Buddhist sites (especially stūpa architecture) and their association (if any) with gender.

An archaeological assessment

Certain structures, on the basis of the contextual finds and associated antiquities, have been found to be associated with the feminine, at a number of Buddhist sites. These structures are of two broad types:

• (i) circular structures/circular shrines and
• (ii) āyaka-type stūpas (with cruciform ground plan)

Circular structures and their association with the feminine

Three main types of chaitya-grihas are known to exist at Buddhist sites: (i) circular, (ii) apsidal and (iii) quadrilateral. Sanctuaries with apsidal ground plans are fairly widespread, being found as far North as Harwan and as far south as Brahmagiri (District of Chitaldurg, Mysore). The quadrilateral chaitya-grihas are usually astylar. Their largest concentration is in western India at places like Junnar, Kūda, Karādh, Silawādi, Mahād and the like, though the type is also encountered at places in northern India like Dhamnār and Taxila. Chatiya-grihas can broadly be divided into two main types: hall type and cell type. Within these two categories there are three further subtypes. They are (i) apsidal variety; (ii) oblong variety and (iii) circular variety, in the rock-cut series of Buddhist Architecture in western India (Nagaraju 1981).

The circular (hall variety) chaitya in western India comprises the stūpa in the centre, surrounded by a circle of pillars. The roof is domed, for example, Junnar-Tuljalēna 3. While the circular (cell variety) comprises a cell with domical or flat roof, for example, Bēdsa 3, Bhaja 26, Kānhēri 4 (Variants-Bhaja 24, Kanheri 36),³ Salihundam, Guntapalli, Sāñci, Sravasti, Nāgarjunakonda and the like.

Circular structures have been represented in early reliefs of Sāñchī, Bharhūt and Amrāvati. One of the earliest of such structures known was excavated on top of a hill known as Bijak-kī-Pahādi, at Bairāt (200 B.C.). On the basis of associated finds, it has been ascribed to Asoka (Sahni 1937:28). The site comprised of twin terraces and the circular structure was situated on the lower terrace. A gold casket was also stated to have been found in the course of the diggings at the site. It is circular in plan, 27 feet in diameter, and surrounded by a circum-ambulatory passage. The inner wall of the temple consisted of sections of brick walls alternating with 26 octagonal pillars, the charred bases of which alone had survived. The ceiling also consisted of wooden beams covered with well-baked pottery tiles and finished off with a tall terracotta finial in the fashion of the shrines represented in the Bharhūt reliefs (Sahni 1935–6:85). The temple was entered from the East. At a later date, the temple was surrounded by a rectangular enclosure wall.

This is probably the oldest known structural temple in Northern India and one of those which supplied models for the numerous rock-cut cave temples of western and eastern India. The nearest approach, both in plan and design, to this temple is the chaitya cave of about the first century B.C., in the rock-cut series; the earliest among such structures are known from the Tuljalēna 3 at Junnar and Guntupalli. This former is about the same size as the temple at Bairāt and has the same internal arrangement with the only difference being that the sanctum in the cave temple at Junnar is surrounded by a circular row of 12 rock-hewn pillars, with the temple at Bairāt consisting partly of bricks and partly of wooden columns. Though not very large in numbers, these structures can be traced to as far as Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka.

The structure reported from Guntupalli in Andhra Pradesh has been described as a circular brick chaitya-griha. Datable to c. third to second centuries B.C., it is at the eastern extreme of the hill over an elevated terrace, approached by a long flight of stone steps. A record of an upāsikā, datable to second to first centuries B.C., refers to the setting up of these stone steps at the entrance platform. Its external diameter is 11 m and has an imposing adhistana. The wall of chaitya-griha rises to 80 cm height and measures 2.14 m wide. It houses a stūpa at the centre. The circumambulatory path around the stūpa is 1.38 m wide.

Similar evidence comes from Sāñci, Stūpa no. 5, which was erected probably in the sixth century A.D. Unlike all the above-mentioned structures this structure is considerably late and is dated to the medieval period. Like all the stūpas of the medieval period its core is composed mainly of small rubble and earth, and its face...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Diacritical marks
• Introduction
• 1 Sacred spaces and the feminine in Buddhism
• 2 Locating the bhikşunī: identifying nunneries
• 3 Exploring women’s space: conflict between the social and the asocial worlds
• 4 Women as patrons
• Conclusion
• Tables, site plans and plates
• Bibliography
• Index