Entrevista a Elena Badillo jefa de Sección de EFE Audiovisual y Mayte Valero

construction of the Great Goddess’s identity in these four different complexes, examining in turn texts and songs from each category: the warrior (BKP and SL); the priestly (BM); sorcery (DV); and female-centered (DV and BP).

Waves of Beauty

As the ritual artist (a Marar or Kurup male, hereditary temple artists) begins to draw the black geometric outlines of the ka¬am, or powder drawing, portraying the Goddess in her fierce form as BhadrakŬi, he imagines the representational picture he will draw to be the bindu, or center, of an unseen yantra, the ÷rç Cakra. The ÷rç Cakra is an abstract ritual diagram, consisting of a series of forty-three triangles, meditated upon by initiates into the ÷Åkta cult of the Goddess to realize the fundamental structure of the universe. In 1992, Krishnan Kutty Marar, an expert ka¬am artist whose father was initiated into the ÷rç VidyÅ form of ÷Åkta practice, described in detail the correspondences be-tween the triangles of the ÷rç Cakra and specific entrances to the Goddess’s fort, guardian deities, planets and syllables associated with each part of the diagram.⁹ For Krishnan Kutty Marar, the ÷rç Cakra is a precise map of the military battlements of Tripurasundari, the God-dess at the center of the ÷rç Cakra, destroyer of the fort of the demon DÅrika. Krishnan Kutty asserts that DÅrika’s fort can be found at Ko¯latiri, an ancient ruin in northern Kerala, where the Asura king was believed to have reigned on earth. The goddess’s fortifications, how-ever, are located in another dimension, not visible on the earth. Al-though Krishnan Kutty Marar was not himself initiated into the ÷Åkta cult, he asserts that a close relationship existed in earlier times be-tween the ka¬am tradition and the ka¬ari (martial arts) training of ritual specialists (who also danced mu‡iyÆt

¯t

¯u and other ritual dances dedi-cated to the Goddess). For him the representational powder drawing of the Goddess, victoriously holding DÅrika’s bloody, decapitated head in her left hand, is an integral expression of this esoteric military imagery, extolled in her stories, and enacted in her ritual dramas.¹⁰

A central practice of the ÷rç VidyÅ cult is the recitation of the Saundarya Laharç [SL], the “Ocean [alt., waves/flood] of Beauty,” a Sanskrit text attributed to the Kerala saint ÷aÙkarÅcÅrya (eighth cen-tury?) describing the Goddess’s physical charms as well as the esoteric powers that may be obtained by meditating on her. In ÷Åkta esoteric religious doctrine, especially as practiced by kings and warriors in Kerala, military might has become a metaphor for spiritual attain-ment.¹¹ This spiritual attainment in turn derives from partaking of the

Goddess’s mystico-erotic power. The goddess as supreme deity of the universe is conceived in this poem as a beautiful, erotic, supremely pure, mature female. The repeated emphasis on her erotic appeal is an integral part of her power and greatness. By meditating on the exquis-ite and erotically stimulating form of the Goddess, the most remark-able powers may ensue to the male devotee:

If Thy gracious side glance falls on even a very decrepit old man who is ugly to look at, and whose erotic sensibilities are dead, he will be followed in all haste in their hundreds by love-lorn young women having their locks scattered, their rotund breasts exposed by the loosening of their brassieres, and their girdles suddenly broken in excitement, thus letting their wearing [sic] clothes slip down. (SL, Verse 13)

The goddess’s physical beauty is a sign not only of her perfection, but also of her power over the mind (of men), the power to attract, to focus attention, and to provoke desire. In this central metaphor of the

÷Åkta meditation tradition ±akti itself is the conscious, physical force that manifests as knowledge, desire, and power. By pleasing the God-dess who possesses all these, the male worshipper himself will attain the same powers over others and will ultimately merge into her. In this highly gendered combination of “martial” and “priestly” values (to use Freeman’s terminology) in a fundamentally ÷Åkta ethos, medi-tation upon and incorporation of the female body’s erotic power be-comes for the tantric NÅyar warrior the very source of his martial potency.¹² In the social realm, the Goddess was considered the repre-sentative of NÅyar and K„atriya political concerns, a queen leading valiant warriors into glorious battle.

The SL describes the Goddess’s beauty in typically florid San-skrit poetry:

Surrounded by curly hair resembling swarms of young bees, Thy face scoffs at the beauty of the lotus-flower; in which face, smiling gently, rendered handsome by the filament-like bril-liance of the teeth and endowed with fragrance, the bees of the eyes of the Destroyer of Smara revel. (Verse 45)

Oh mother! In the region of Thy breasts is a flawless necklace made of pearls got from the frontal globe of Gajasura (the elephant-demon). It rests there with its white brilliance varie-gated from within by the reflection of the ruddy tinge of Thy Bimba-like lips, as if it were the confluence of the (white) fame

99 Waves of Beauty, Rivers of Blood

and the (red) valor of Thy Consort, the Destroyer of the Cities.

(Verse 74).¹³

As the form of the ÷rç Cakra is related to the Bhagavati ka¬am, so is the SL comparable to the songs of praise accompanying ka¬am draw-ing. These songs are known as Bhagavati Ka¬am P҇u [BKP]. The BKP, sung in an old form of Malayalam, uses some of the same meta-phors and similes as the SL, and like it, describes the Goddess’s body from “foot to head and head to foot” (a form common to invocations sung throughout the Indian subcontinent). The poetic diction, how-ever, is far terser. In the following excerpt from the BKP sung by Koratty Narayana Kurup, we can see the traditional description of the Goddess’s beautiful limbs augmented by local motifs like the oracle’s jingling anklets, DÅrika’s head, and local place names.¹⁴

I salute you oh beautiful Kurumbayil Bhagavati

I salute your heavy hair which has the color of deep darkness I salute the fiery eye which is like a bindi on your forehead I salute the shining doe-like eyes and the big nose

I salute your honey-oozing lips and your red teeth and tongue I salute your two ear-drops which are two elephants . . . I salute the big tÅli [pendant] on your chest and the big flower

garland

I salute your divine breasts, which have beauty and shape equal to the big Meru Mountain . . .

I salute with my hands your outer feet and toes

I salute your divine dance which makes the whole world shiver I salute with my hand the anklets that shake when the oracle

dances

I salute having seen your body from head to foot Oh Bhagavati of Vayambrakkavu I salute you.¹⁵

Directly after this opening hymn of praise, another descriptive verse follows, using a very different set of images:

The one who wears with pleasure wild elephants in her ears One in a state of high intoxication

One who rides on the VÆtŬa

She who cut the chest of the tormentor DÅrika With thick red blood indeed

One who gives the blood to Kâ¬is as food

She who cuts to pieces the enemies

She who shoots booming arrows at the foe and catches with the sword

Oh my mother of ÷rç Kurumbakavu who reigns with pleasure One who reigns with many good qualities

I bow before you oh Terrible One.

This verse, sung in Malayalam, introduces violent images of battle in language reminiscent of Tamil poetry. This song stays within the descriptive praise genre but introduces themes developed prominently in the DÅrikavadham texts.