Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c22: Chapter XIII: The Theory of the Paṇḍitas, Koṭālas, Āminis, etc.

Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c22

Language: English

Chapter XIII: The Theory of the Paṇḍitas, Koṭālas, Āminis, etc.

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Lord Dharma has five *Paṇḍitas* in the five ages, Setāi in the golden age (*Satya-yuga*), Nilāi in the silver age (*Tretā-yuga*), Kaṃsāi in the copper age (*Dvāpara-yuga*), Rāmāi in the iron age (*Kali-yuga*) and Goṃsāi in the void-age or the age to come (*Śūnya-yuga* or *Anāgata-yuga*). Setāi is white in colour, Nilāi is blue, Kaṃsāi yellow, Rāmāi red and Goṃsāi green. The five *Paṇḍitas* are really the five priests of Dharma in the five ages including the age to come.¹ But at the time of the worship of Dharma all the five ages meet together with all the five *Paṇḍitas*, whom we find placed in the five quarters, and these five quarters are again represented by the five gates of the temple of Dharma facing the five quarters. This theory of the gates in the different directions with respective presiding deities over them is also found in the *Gājana* songs of Śiva still now current in West Bengal as well as in East Bengal. In the versions of West Bengal the presiding deities over the southern, western, northern and eastern gates are Jagannātha, Ekādaśa Bhīma, the Sun (*Bhānu-bhāskara-rāya*) and Kāmākhyā of Kāma-rūpa respectively.² In the versions of East Bengal the deities in the west, south, east and north are Jagannātha, Vaidyanātha, Śrī-muṇḍa-cakra-vāhinī and Śrī-sabhā-liṅga-vāhinī respectively.³ Sometimes Jagannātha, Kṣira-nadī-sāgara, Sūrya-divākara (the sun) and the Himalayas are also saluted in the four directions.⁴

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¹ The tradition of Paṇḍita Goṃsāi is not found in all the descriptions.

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² Vide, Ādyer Gambhirā by H. Palit.

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³ See infra, Appendix D.

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⁴ See Vaṅga-sāhitya-paricaya, Part I, pp. 159-60.

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The five priests in the five quarters have again five Koṭālas, or guards, or rather gate-keepers with them, viz., Candra (the moon) in the west, Hanumān in the south, Sūrya (the sun) in the east, Garuḍa in the north and Ulūka in the void. The Koṭālas, as they are depicted in the Śūnya-purāṇa, seem to be so many attendants on the priests and gate-keepers in the five directions of the Dharma temple; they open doors to the visitors and again shut them up. The association of the sun and the moon with the east and the west is well-known, and the association of Hanumān with the south is also well-known through the stories of the Rāmāyaṇa (Ceylon, which was the field of activity of Hanumān being situated to the south of India). So the appointment of these three Koṭālas in the three quarters is easily explicable. Garuḍa and Ulūka are well-known as the mounts of Viṣṇu and Dharma-ṭhākura respectively. As Hanumān, associated with the south, happens to be something like the mount of Rāma-candra, it is perhaps by the law of association that the two other well-known mounts are placed in the other two quarters. In the Dharma-pūjā-vidhāna, however, the Koṭālas or the guards are differentiated from the gate-keepers (Dvārī or Dvāra-pāla), who are again attended by four Pātras (attendants). The four gate-keepers in the four quarters (the fifth gate of void being omitted here) are, Jharjharī-sundara (or Jharjharikā) or Mahākāla in the west, Jambhava or Tikṣṇa-damṣṭra in the south, Mahākāya in the east, and Nandideva in the north; and the Pātras are Paḍihāra, Hanumān, Ḍāmaraśāni and Kāmadeva respectively. We have somewhat detailed description of these Dvāra-pālas in the Dharma-pūjā-vidhāna.

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The Paṇḍitas of the five ages are associated with different number of followers, different Āminis or Ghaṭa-dāsīs who are female attendants on the Lord. The whole thing can be illustrated with the help of the following Chart (the discrepancies of the descriptions being neglected) :—

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This theory of the five Paṇḍitas, Koṭālas, Āminīs, etc., is nothing but a popular adoption of the later Buddhist theory of the Pañca-tathāgatas, also known as the five Dhyānī Buddhas.¹ With the growth of the docetic conceptions in Mahāyāna Buddhism the five skandhas or elements began to have ontological significance and gradually gave rise to the conception of five deities. In the Pañca-tathāgata-mudrā-vivaraṇa of the Advaya-vajra-saṃgraha we find that the five Tathāgatas are but the modes and modifications of the Dharma-kāya of the Vajrasattva. These five Tathāgatas, though originally conceived as the five deities over the five skandhas, are later on regarded as the five presiding deities over the five gross elements (viz., earth, water, fire, air and ether) and the five senses (viz., senses of vision, taste, hearing, smell and touch). In later Buddhistic esoteric literature these deities are described with their Bodhisattvas, human Buddhas (Mānuṣi Buddha), Śakti (female counterpart), mounts (vāhana), postures (mudrā), crest, family (kula), bija-mantra etc. They are again associated with the five gross elements (pañca-bhūta), five kinds of sense-perception and the five sense organs. They are again located in the five places within the human body. We are giving below a chart of the whole thing, wherein the controversies over the details are ignored.²

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¹ See an article by P. K. Mukherjee in the Bengali monthly Pravāsī, (1329 B. S., No. 1).

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² For a detailed study of the subject see an article Vajra and Vajrasattva by the present writer in the Indian Culture, Vol. VIII, No. 1. See also Śrī-guhya-samāja (G. O. S.), Advaya-vajra-saṃgraha (G. O. S., Chs. on Pañca-tathāgata-mudrā-vivaraṇa, and Pañca-kāra), Sādhanā-mālā (G. O. S., Vol. II, pp. 445-46), Hevajra-tantra, Paṭala IX, Sampuṭikā, Ch. I, Pañca-krama, Ch. I. The Gods of Northern Buddhism by A. Getty, Buddhist Iconography by Dr. B. Bhaṭṭācārya, pp. 1-8, and An Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism by Dr. B. Bhaṭṭācārya, Ch. XIII.

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If we put side by side and compare the two charts, one illustrating the theory of the five *Tathāgatas*, or the five *Dhyāni* Buddhas and the other illustrating the theory of the five *Paṇḍitas* of the Dharma cult, no room will be left for doubting the fact that the latter is but a transformed version of the former. With the five *Tathāgatas* and the five *Paṇḍitas* we may compare also the popular Islamic tradition of the five *Pīrs* (or saints). It may also be cursorily noticed that the Kabir Panthis have the belief that the *Sat Puruṣa* (i.e. the Supreme Being) has four different messengers in the four ages, viz., *Sat Sukrit* in the *Satya-yuga*, *Munindarji* in the *Tretā*, *Karuṇāmaya Ṛṣi* in the *Dvāpara* and *Kabir Saheb* in the *Kali*.

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Already in the *Hevajra-tantra* we find that there are four corners and four gates or doors of the *Maṇḍala* or *Cakra* (mystic diagram) of goddess *Prajñā* and four are the *Śaktis* in charge of the four gates ; they are *Gaurī* in the east, *Caurī* in the south, *Vetālī* in the west and *Ghasmarī* in the north ; there are other two goddesses, viz., *Bhūcarī* and *Khecarī* in the downward (*adhas*) and upward (*ūrddhva*) directions.¹ These goddesses in the different directions are again said to be the presiding *Śaktis* over the five senseperceptions. Again the presiding Śaktis over the five *Skandhas* are said to be Vajrā, Gaurī, Caurī, Vajra-yoginī and Nairātmya-yoginī respectively.¹ These goddesses are placed in the different quarters.² Without entering into the anomalous details it will be sufficient for us to note that the conception of the four gates or doors were already there in Tāntric Buddhism. In the exoteric form of northern Buddhism we find the theory of the five Buddhas represented in the Buddhist *Stūpas* or *Caityas* of latter time, where one of the five Buddhas was given prominence to be the Lord Supreme and was placed in the centre and the other four were placed on the four gates or doors on the four sides. Such a scheme is to be found also in the sculptural representation of the later Buddhist *Stūpas* or *Caityas*. Esoterically, however, these *Tathāgatas* and also their Śaktis are placed in the central, eastern, western and northern directions of the mystic diagram (*Maṇḍala*) of secret practices. In later times all these esoteric and exoteric traditions transformed themselves into the scheme of the five gates (including the void-gate) of the temple of Dharma, where the five *Tathāgatas* or the five Buddhas have become the five worshippers of lord Dharma in the five ages in the form of the five Paṇḍitas.

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¹ *cakraṃ pūrvaṃ yathā kathitaṃ hāra-rddhahāra-śobhitam |* *catuṣ-koṇaṃ catur-dvāraṃ vajra-sūtrair alaṃkṛtam ||*
* * * * *niḥsṛtā indra-dig-gaurī pūrva-dvāre tu saṃsthitā |* *mantha-manthāna-yogena caurikā niḥsṛtā punaḥ ||* *niḥsṛtya dakṣiṇe dvāre caurī saddvāla (?) — vālike |* *bola-kakkola-yogena vetālī niḥsṛtā punaḥ ||* *niḥsṛtya paścime dvāre niṣaṇṇā māra-bhañjanī |* *mahā-dvandva-samāpattau niḥsṛtā ghasmarī punaḥ ||* *niḥsṛtya uttara-dvāre niṣaṇṇā ghora-rūpiṇī | etc.* *Hevajra-tantra, MS. pp. 55 (B)—56 (B).* *Cf. also indre gaurī yame caurī vetālī vāruṇe diśi |* *kaubere ghasmarī caiva adho bhūcarī smṛtā li* *ūrddhve khecarī proktā utpatti-krama-pakṣataḥ | etc.* *Ibid, MS. P. 25 (B)* *See also Sādhana-mālā, (G. O. S.) Vol. II, p. 445.*

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¹ *rūpe gauri samākhyātā śabde caurī prakīrtitā |* *vetālī gandha-bhāge ca rase ghasmarī kīrtitā ||* *sparśe ca bhūcarī khyātā khecarī dharma-dhātutaḥ |* *Hevajra-tantra*, MS. P. 25 (B) *rūpa-skandhe bhavet vajrā gaurī vedanāyām smṛtā |* *saṃjñāyām caurī yoginī saṃskāre vajra-yoginī ||* *vijñāna-skandha-rūpeṇa sthitā nairātmya-yoginī |* etc. *Ibid* MS. P. 15 (A)

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² See also *Sādhana-mālā*, Vol. II. p. 545. *Sādhana-mālā*, Vol. II, p. 444

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The tradition that there are different deities presiding over the different quarters is, however, as old as the Vedas. Thus in the *Atharva-veda* we find that, of the Eastern quarter Agni is the overlord, black serpent is the defender, the Ādityas are the arrows, and homage is paid to the overlord, the defender and the arrows. Similarly, of the Southern quarter Indra is the overlord, cross-lined (serpent) defender, the Fathers the arrows; of the Western quarter Varuṇa is the overlord, the adder defender, food the arrows; of the Northern quarter Soma is the overlord, the constrictor defender and the thunder-bolt arrows, of the fixed quarter (dhruvā dik) Viṣṇu is the overlord, the serpent with black-spotted neck defender, the plants the arrows; of the upward quarter Bṛhaspati is the overlord, white serpent defender and rain the arrows.¹

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¹ (3.27.1-6).

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It will be very interesting also to note, in connection with this Buddhist theory of the Pañca-tathāgatas and their Śaktis and the corresponding theory of the five Paṇḍitas with the five Āminīs as found in the Dharma cult, that this theory has its correspondence also with the Hindu Tantras. We have seen that the five Tathāgatas, though originally said to be five deities over the five Skandhas, are associated with the five gross elements. These five elements have been represented in the Hindu Tantras by the five (out of the six) lotuses or plexuses, viz., Mūlādhāra representing earth, Svādhiṣṭhāna representing water, Maṇipura representing fire, Anāhata air and Viśuddha ether. There are five presiding gods and five goddesses associated with these lotuses. The gods are, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Rudra, Īśāna, and Mahādeva respectively; and the goddesses associated with the lotuses are Ḍākinī, Rākiṇī, Lākinī, Kākinī and Śākinī respectively. The bīja-mantras of the lotuses are lam, bam, ram, yam, and ham; the bīja-mantras of the five Dhyāni Buddhas are also almost exactly the same (i.e., l, b, r, y, and oṃ). The first three gods associated with these lotuses are respectively of red, blue and vermilion colour, and the last two are white. The goddesses are of red, deep blue, dark-green, smoky and white colour.

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The colour scheme. In the colour scheme, however, there is perfect correspondence between the Buddhist and the Dharmite tradition; they have a faint resemblance with the colour scheme of the Tantras also. The five elements in the five plexuses, *viz.*, earth, water, fire, air and sound are described in some of the texts as of yellow, white, red, smoky and blue colour respectively. Again we find in the Purāṇic literature that there was the tradition of God's having four different colours in the four different ages. God was of white colour in the *Satya-yuga*, red colour in the *Tretā-yuga*, yellow in the *Dvāpara-yuga* and black in the *Kali-yuga*.¹ Rūpa-gosvāmī speaks of the colour scheme as white, red, dark-green and black.² It may also be noted that in the *Anāgata-vaṃsa* (a Pāli text describing the tradition of the advent of Maitreya, the future Buddha) there is the description of four gates in the capital city Ketumati and in the four gates there will be four Kalpa-trees of the blue, yellow, red and white colour.³ In the *Chāndogyo-paniṣat* we find that of the four Vedas, the first, i.e., the *Ṛg-veda* is spoken of as of the colour of the white portion of the eye, and the second, i.e., the *Sāma-veda* is spoken of as of the colour of the deep blue portion of the eye.⁴ Again, of the five material elements *Tejas* is described as red, water as white and earth as black.⁵ Again, the nerves of the body have been described as secreting four kinds of liquids, which are of white, blue, yellow and red colour.⁶

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¹ *āsan varṇās trayo hyasya gṛhṇato' nuyugaṃ tanuḥ |* *śuklo raktas tathā pita idānīṃ kṛṣṇatāṃ gataḥ ||* *Bhāgavata-purāṇa*, (10. 8. 13).

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² *kathyate varṇa-nāmabhyāṃ śuklaḥ satya-yuge hariḥ |* *rakta-śyāma-kramāt kṛṣṇas tretāyāṃ dvāpare kalau ||* *Laghu-bhāgavatā-mṛta* of Rūpa-gosvāmī.

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³ *Vide verses* (10-20).

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⁴ *Chāndogya*, (1. 7. 4).

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⁵ *Ibid.* (6/4).

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⁶ *Ibid.* (8.6.1).

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About the colour of the different articles associated with the worship of Dharma in the five gates, it will be seen that the articles associated with the western gate, which is in its turn is associated with Setāi Paṇḍita, are all white in colour ; similar is the colour scheme of the articles associated with the other gates. Again, as for the metal of the articles it may be noticed that the articles associated with the western gate, which is again connected with the Satya-yuga or the golden age, are all made up of gold ; those of the southern gate, associated with the silver age, are all of silver ; those of the eastern gate, associated with the copper age, are all of copper, those of the northern gate, associated with the iron age, are spoken of as made up of some read metal, or, bell-metal, stone and brass ; and those of the fifth gate, associated with the void age or the age to come, are all of diamond. The tradition of Gosāñi Paṇḍita of the age to come (Anāgata-yuga) may possibly have something to do with the tradition of the advent of the future Buddha Maitreya in the Anāgata age, as it is described in the Pāli text Anāgata-vaṃsa.

Linked texts (12)

Chāndogyopaniṣad — Sanskrit
Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Atharvavedasaṃhitā — Atharvan & Aṅgiras, Sanskrit
Sādhanamālā — Sanskrit
Laghubhāgavatāmṛta — Rūpa Gosvāmin 1530, Sanskrit
Advayavajrasaṃgraha — Maitrīpa, Sanskrit
Pañcakrama — Nāgārjuna (tantric), Sanskrit
Guhyasamājatantra — Sanskrit
Hevajratantra — Sanskrit
Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Sāmavedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Anāgatavaṃsa — Kassapa (of the Coḷa country), Pāli