Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c12: Appendix to Chapter IV.: The Rūpāvaliya
Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c12
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- c12.s1 Summary — 15 parts
Appendix to Chapter IV.: The Rūpāvaliya
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A part of the artistic canon of Sinhalese painters is found in a Sanskrit work called the Rūpāvaliya, which is much relied on in Kandyan painters of the best sort. The versions procurable are usually very corrupt and imperfect. Nothing is known of the date of the work, which is clearly of Hindu origin. The learned Mudaliyar, E. R. Gooneratne, to whom I am indebted for a revised text and a translation based on my own and other copies of the work collated by Sīlakkhandha Thēra of Simbali Āvāsa, thinks that from the language the work may have been written in the eleventh century. I proceed to give an analysis of the contents, with translations of verses of interest in connection witn Sinhalese art; which reservation it is necessary to make, because the figures of many of the gods The Rapavaliya are never or hardly met with, though the best painters still possess the traditional knowledge necessary to represent them, and can do so when required. The verses are in the form of an invocation to, or meditation (dhyāna) on, the beings described.
Summary
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1. Of Nātha deviyō. 2-14. The eight Nāthas, Śiva, Brahma, Viṣṇu, Gauri, Matsyēndra, Bhaddra, Bauddha, Gaṇesha. 15, 18. Brahma dhyāna. 16, 19. Viṣṇu dhyāna. 18. Īsvara dhyāna. 20. Gopala nātha. 21-29. Śrī Rāma Candra. 39-41. The ten avatārs of Viṣṇu: Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vāmana, Parasu Rāma, Daśaratha Rāma, Bauddha, Kṛṣṇa, Kalki. 42. Narasimha dhyāna. 43. Rāma. 44. Garuḍa dhyāna. 45-54. Garuḍa dhyāna in full. 55. Śarabhā dhyāna. 56-58. Śarabhā dhyāna in full. 59-62. Lakṣmī dhyāna. 63. Sarasvatī dhyāna. 64, 65. Sarasvatī dhyāna at length. 66. Gaṇapati dhyāna. 67. Gaṇapati dhyāna in full. 68. Heramba Gaṇapati dhyāna. 69. Three-eyed Gaṇapati dhyāna. 70. Ālinga devī dhyāna. 71, 72. Skandha dhyāna. 73. Skandha dhyāna in full. 74. Sadā Śiva dhyāna. 75. Sadā Śiva dhyāna in full. 76. Īsvara dhyāna. 77. Īsvara dhyāna in full. 78-80. Ardhanārēśvara. 81-83. Naṭa, the dancer. 84. Vīrabhadrā dhyāna. 85. Aghora dhyāna. 86-90. Aghora dhyāna in full. 91-96. Great Aghora dhyāna. 97. Vaṭuka-nātha dhyāna. 98. Vaṭuka-nātha dhyāna in full. 99. Śiva Vaṭuka dhyāna. 101-109. Kāma Śiva dhyāna. 110 Ambika svarūpa. 111. Bhuvanēśvara dhyāna. 112. Bhuvanādhi-pati. 113. Jagadeka-Mātā. 114. Śiva dēvī dhyāna. 116. Bhadrakālī dhyāna. 117. Kalyāna bālā dhyāna. 118. Mātaṅga dhyāna. 123-127. Paramēśvarī dhyāna. 128. Manmata svarūpa. 129-138. Of measurements. 139, 140. The sixteen kinds of ‘lions.’ 141-143. Another sixteen kinds of ‘lions.’ 144. Haṃsa rūpa. 145. Aśvaya. 146. Laṭā kinnara. 147. Nāsit tālam. 148. Makara. 149. Viśvakarma. 150. Vaṭa rūpa. 152-156. Divinities from whose influence result humors and fever. 157. Result of making images incorrectly. 158. The symbolism of the fingers.
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Translation of certain verses as examples.†
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† By E. R. Gooneratne, with slight verbal modifications. Verses 42, 56-8, 139, 149, describing the kinnara, śarabha, haṃsa, makara, lion, horse, and Viśvakarma deviyō have been already quoted, pp. 82, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88 and 90, above.
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3, 4. Śiva Nātha. “A fair face with three eyes, a bow and an arrow, a garland of serpents, ear flowers, a rosary, four hands, a trisula, a rope, a spear having a deer impaled upon it, hands pointing upwards and downward, a garment of tiger skin, his vehicle a white bull, these are the marks of Śiva Nātha.”
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11. Bhadra Nātha (Kārtikēya). “Two handed, of purple hue, a long-handled axe, a flag with a cock upon it, a crown, an adze, a purple garment, his vehicle the peacock, these are the marks of Bhadra Nātha.”
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113. Jagadeka-Mātā. “I worship the one mother of the world, having four hands, and the moon as a brow gem, high-bosomed, shining like gold, hands holding a fair white lotus, a goad, and a garland of flowers.”
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129. “The height [of a man] is 992 yava, or 124 inches (aṅgal); 13½ ‘inches’ and one yava are equal to one mukha (‘face’). Nine mukha and one kalā is the height of a man.”
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130, 131. “I describe the dimensions,‡ the height and the length and the measurements given in the world, and the size of the body and diversity of the figure of Brahma and other chiefs of the world, of Sarvajña, of Dēvas, Asuras, of Danava Rākshasas, of Yakshas, of *Rapavaliya* Nāgas, of Garuḍas, of Kinnaras, of Bhūtas, of Khumbaṇḍas, as well as of men, and of tigers, four-footed beasts and birds.”
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∗ The work, in the examples which I have been able to procure, is manifestly incomplete.
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‡ The significance of these canons of measurement will appear later, in Chapter VIII., ‘Figure Sculpture.’
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132, 133, 134. “The Bandhuka is one *tala* (=‘face,’ *mukha*), the height of birds is two *tala*, of Kinnaras three, a Bhūtas four, of Gaṇesha five, of a tiger six, of a Yaksha seven, of a man or a woman eight, of Asuras nine, of Dēvas and Buddhas ten, of Asura Rākshasas eleven; there are no beings twelve *tala* in height.”
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135. “An *angala* (‘inch,’ or unit) is one *matra*, two *matra* make one *kolaka*, two *kolaka* make one *bhaga*, three *bhaga* make one *tala*.”
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137. “The height of Gaṇesha is five *tala*; three, two, two, eleven, twelve, six, six, three, six *tala*, are the hair, face, neck, chest, belly, private part, thighs, teeth, and calf of the leg respectively.”
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138. Dimensions of Kinnara: “The two eyes are five *kolaka*, the hair and the crown of the head are twelve *kolaka*, the neck, the chest, the navel, the private part, the thigh, the knees, the calf of the leg, the feet, these are three *tala*.”
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157. In the making of an image, if aught be lacking to the head, it will result in the death of parents; if aught in the back, to the destruction of the clan; if in the neck or two feet, to the destruction of the wife; if all be lacking, to the destruction of all.
Linked texts (1)
- Dhāturūpāvalī — Sanskrit