bhairava on a cadaver from Nepal
netrAku~nchana-sAraNa-krama-kR^ita-pravyakta-naktaM dino
dik-chakrAnta-visarpi-sallari-saTA-bhArAvaruddhAmbaraH |
hasta-nyasta-kapAla-kandara-darI-muktAbhra-dhArAH pibann
unmukta-dhvani-bhinna-karNa-kuharaH kravyAd ayaM nR^ityati ||
netra= eye; Aku~nchana= closing; sAraNa= opening; krama= periodic; kR^ita= act; pravyakta= manifest; naktaM= night; dinaH= day; dik= direction; chakra= circle; anta= ends; [dikchakrAnta= horizon] visarpi= spreading; sallari=lashing (onomatopoeic) ; saTA= bristles; bhAra= mass; avaruddha= covered; ambaraH= sky
hasta= hand; nyasta= held; kapAla= skull; kandara= bowl; darI= fissure; mukta= release; abhra= cloud; dhArAH= streams; pibann= drinking; unmukta= let out; dhvani= noise; bhinna= split; karNa-kuharaH= ear-drum; kravyAd= corpse-eater; ayaM= this; nR^ityati= dances.
By the periodic closing and opening of his eyes he has made day and night manifest;
By spreading his lashing, bristly mass of hair, he has covered the sky till the horizons;
Drinking cloud-streams released from the fissures of the skull bowl held in his hands,
having shattered ear-drums with the roar he has let out, this corpse-eater dances!
The bhairava ectype of rudra became central to the shaiva traditions related to the kApAlika branch of the old pAshupata form of the shaiva-shAsana. Some sAdhaka-s of these traditions engage in niHsha~NkAchara, which involves practices such as consumption of human flesh at cremation grounds. This is indeed the practice alluded to here. This might have deep roots earlier Hindu thought. In the shruti the deva rudra is closely associated with agni – to the point that they are explicitly identified with each other right from the R^igveda (e.g. tvam agne rudro asuro mahodivaH |). The deva agni is said to come in two earthly forms: 1) havyavAha – one who carries the oblations to the gods; 2) kravyAda – one who devours the corpse of the cremation pile. The former auspicious and the later inauspicious (kravyAdam agniM pra hiNomi dUraM | i.e. I send afar the corpse-eating agni). This dichotomy in agni is also reflected in rudra: on one hand he is shiva (auspicious) and daivyo bhiShak (the divine physician) or jalASha-bheShaja (one with anti-fever drugs) on the other hand he is the terrifying rudra who is described as goghna (cow-killing) and pUruShaghna (man-killing), traits shared with his Greek cognate Apollon.
Given these Vedic antecedents, in the later days of the shaiva-shAsana the bhairava was conceived after the image of agni kravyAda: His common iconography (as seen above at the Durbar Square, Kathmandu) depicts him as standing upon a corpse with flaming hair. Thus, he appears to be a personification of agni kravyAda, as he is called in the above verse.
continued…
Filed under: art, Heathen thought Tagged: bhairava, Hindu, poetry, saiva, sanAtana-dharma, Sanskrit, shaiva
