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Goddess encounters: Mughals, Monsters and the Goddess in Bengal*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2013

KUMKUM CHATTERJEE
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Abstract

This paper makes a case for exploring the cultural facets of Mughal rule as well as for a stronger engagement with sources in vernacular languages for the writing of Mughal history. Bengal's regional tradition of goddess worship is used to explore the cultural dimensions of Mughal rule in that region as well as the idioms in which Bengali regional perceptions of Mughal rule were articulated. Mangalkavya narratives—a quintessentially Bengali literary genre—are studied to highlight shifting perceptions of the Mughals from the late sixteenth century to the eighteenth century. During the period of the Mughal conquest of Bengal, the imperial military machine was represented as a monster whom the goddess Chandi, symbolizing Bengal's regional culture, had to vanquish. By the eighteenth century, when their rule had become much more regularized, the Mughals were depicted as recognizing aspects of Bengal's regional culture by capitulating in the end to the goddess and becoming her devotees. This paper also studies the relationship of the Mughal regime with Bengal's popular cultural celebration—the annual Durga puja—and explores its implications for the public performance of religion and for community formation during the early modern period.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 5 , September 2013 , pp. 1435 - 1487
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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Footnotes

*

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the South Asia Seminar series at Yale University in 2009 and at the Annual conference of the Asian Studies Association at Philadelphia in 2010. I am grateful to audiences at both places for suggestions and comments. I would also like to thank Rajarshi Ghosh and Utsa Ray for making available a hard to find copy of Dwija Madhava Rachita Mangalchandir Geet and to Madhuri Desai for patiently listening to preliminary ideas about the paper. Mrinalini Sinha, Muzaffar Alam, Richard Eaton and Sanjay Subrahmanyam offered much-needed support and finally, I owe a sincere vote of thanks to the editor of this journal.

References

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3 This literature is too large to permit comprehensive citation. Selective examples include, Kinsley, David R., Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1986Google Scholar; Bayly, Susan, Saints, Goddesses and Kings: Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society, 1700–1900, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989Google Scholar; Pinchtman, Tracy, The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition, SUNY Press, Albany, 1994Google Scholar; Erndl, Kathleen M., Victory to the Mother: The Hindu Goddess of North-West India in Myth, Ritual and Symbol, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993Google Scholar; Rodrigues, Hillary Peter, Ritual Worship of the Great Goddess: The Liturgy of Durga Puja With Interpretations, SUNY Press, Albany, 2003Google Scholar; Bhattacharjee, Sukumari, Legends of Devi, Orient Longman, Mumbai, 1998Google Scholar; Bannerjee, Sudeshna, Durga Puja: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Rupa and Company, New Delhi, 2004Google Scholar; Acharya, Haripada, Mahalaya Theke Bijoya, Sri Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur, 1991Google Scholar; Prajnananda, SwamiMahisasuramardini Durga, Sri Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, Calcutta, 1990Google Scholar; Chakrbarty, Kunal, Religious Process. The Puranas and the Making of a Regional Tradition, Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2001Google Scholar; McDaniel, June, Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls. Popular Goddess Worship in Bengal, Oxford University Press, New York, 2004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar There are countless internet websites about the history and traditions of goddess worship in different parts of India including Bengal as well as Bengal's Durga puja.

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13 Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses, p. 95.

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18 Coburn, Encountering the Goddess, p. 78: 11.45.

19 Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses, pp. 126, 147.

20 Ibid., pp. 16–118.

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22 Sen, Sukumar (ed.), Kabikankan Birachita Chandi, Ananda Publishers, Calcutta, 1993, p. 64.Google Scholar Interestingly, Dwija Madhav's Mangalchandir Geet (ed. S. Bhattacharya) composed slightly before Mukunda Chakrabarti's Chandimangal describes the goddess as ‘dasabhuja’ (p. 65) i.e. ten-armed, but contains no explicit reference to being surrounded by her offspring gods and goddesses.

23 Bhattacharya, Tithi, ‘Tracking the Goddess: Religion, Community and Identity in the Durga Puja Ceremonies of Nineteenth Century Calcutta’, Journal of Asian Studies, 66, 4, 2007, pp. 919–962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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25 Ibid.

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31 Simha, Bankura Samskriti, pp. 82, 92.

32 Ibid., p. 89. According to Maniklal Simha, many village goddesses who were worshipped particularly in the Northern parts of the Bankura district were originally Buddhist deities (pp. 86–87).

33 K. Chakrabarty, Religious Process, p. 177.

34 Datta, Sekaal Theke Ekaal, p. 198.

35 Basu, Jogeshchandra, Medinipurer Itihasa, Sen Brothers and Company, Calcutta, 1940, p. 314Google Scholar. See also Simha, Bankura Samskriti, pp. 82–87.

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37 Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses, pp. 83–84.

38 Eaton, Richard M., The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1994, pp. 58–59.Google Scholar

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40 Basu, Medinipurer Itihasa, pp. 350, 531–533.

41 Ibid. pp. 128–129.

42 Dasgupta, Chittaranjan, Bharater Shilpa Samskritir Patabhumikaye Bishnupurer Mandir Terracotta, Sushama Dasgupta, Bishnupur, 2000, pp. 289–290.Google Scholar

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49 S. Bhattacharya, Mangalchandir Geet.

50 A. Bhattacharya, Bangla Mangalkavyer Itihasa, p. 448.

51 Ibid., pp. 488–490.

52 S. Bhattacharya, Mangalchandir Geet, pp. 7–8.

53 Ibid. pp. 15–16.

54 Ibid., p. 19.

55 A. Bhattacharya, Bangla Mangalkabyer Itihasa, p. 448.

56 S. Bhattacharya, Mangalchandir Geet, p. 19.

57 See Chattopadhyaya, B. D., Representing the Other? Sanskrit Sources and the Muslims, Delhi, Manohar, 1998.Google Scholar

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61 Mukhia, Harbans, The Mughals of India, Blackwell, Bodmin, Cornwall, 2004, pp. 2–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

62 Karim, Social History of the Muslims of Bengal, pp. 154–155; Tarafdar, M. R., Husain Shahi Bengal, 1449–1538: A Socio-Political Study, Asiatic Society of Pakistan, Dacca, 1965, pp. 311–312Google Scholar. For Tarafdar's more detailed explanation as to why the term ‘Mongol’ or ‘Mangal’ could have been used in the late fifteenth century to denote the Mughals, see p. 312.

63 Well-known Bengali narratives of the sixteenth century and beyond attest to use of the term ‘Mughal’ rather than ‘Mongol’. See for example, Kabikankan Mukundaram Chakrabarty's ‘Chandimangala’, probably of the late sixteenth century, and Bharatchandra Roy's ‘Annadamangala’ of the mid eighteenth century.

64 The well-known ‘Ramacharita’ of Sandhyakara Nandy, composed in Bengal during the Pala period was, for instance, entirely in slesha. See Shastri, Haraprasada (ed.), revised with English translation and notes by Basak, Radhagovinda, Ramacharita of Sandhyakaranandin, Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 1969Google Scholar. For the legacy of Sanksrit literary conventions on Mangalkavyas, see, A. Bhattacharya, Bangla Mangalkavyer Itihasa; also see Chatterjee, Kumkum, The Cultures of History in Early Modern India, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2009, pp. 91–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar; for the exchange via double entendre between the goddess and the boatman, see, ‘Annadamangala’, pp. 156–160 in Brojendranath Bandyopadhyaya and Sajanikanta Das (eds), Bharatchandra Granthabali, Bangiya Sahitya Parishat, Calcutta, 1369 B.S. For the importance and use of slesha in Indic literature see, Bronner, Yigal, Extreme Poetry: The South Asian Movement of Simultaneous Narration, Columbia University Press, New York, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

65 S. Sen (ed.), Chandimangala, p. 28. It should be noted that Sen refers to two eighteenth century copies of Dwija Madhava's composition, but was of the opinion that it was not possible to ascertain a more precise date for the actual composition of this work. I find the careful and much more detailed scholarship of S. Bhattacharya about this work to be more convincing in this regard and have therefore accepted Bhattacharya's assignation of the date of this work to be 1579 AD See S. Bhattacharya, Mangalchandir Geet: Preface. A. Bhattacharya, Bangla Mangalkavyer Itihasa, p. 490, attributes this Mangalkabya to the late sixteenth century also, and is thus in agreement on this point with S. Bhattacharya.

66 K. Chatterjee, The Cultures of History in Early Modern India, pp. 24–61.

67 Representative examples include, Raychadhuri, Tapan, Bengal Under Akbar and Jahangir. An Introductory Study in Social History, Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi, 1969Google Scholar; Sen, Dinesh Chandra, Banga Bhasha O Sahitya, vol. 2Google Scholar; Bandyopadhyaya, Asit Kumar (ed.), Pashchim Banga Rajya Pustak Parshat (reprint), Calcutta, 2002, pp. 555–707Google Scholar, Ashutosh Bhattacharya, Bangla Mangalkavyer Itihasa, pp. 804–806, Zbavitel, Dushan, History of Bengali Literature, Otto Hassarovitz, Weisbaden, 1976, pp. 165–166Google Scholar; Ghosh, Pika, Temple to Love. Architecture and Devotion in Seventeenth Century Bengal, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2005.Google Scholar Two more nuanced and balanced views of the Mughal conquest of Bengal are to be found in Sir Sarkar, J. N. (ed.), History of Bengal Muslim Period, 1200–1757 Patna, 1973Google Scholar and Eaton, Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier.

68 Chatterjee, K., The Cultures of History; and ‘Cultural Flows and Cosmopolitanism in Mughal India: The Bishnupur Kingdom’, IESHR, 46, 2, 2009, pp. 147–182.Google Scholar

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70 Eaton, Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, pp. 151–153; Eaton, Richard M., ‘Kiss my Foot’ Said the King: Firearms, Diplomacy and the Battle for Raichur, 1520’, Modern Asian Studies, 43, 1, 2009, pp. 289–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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74 Mirza Nathan, Baharistan-i-Ghaibi, book 1, p. 7.

75 Bharistan-i-Ghaiibi, vol. 1, Book 1, p. 2; See also Raychaudhuri, Bengal Under Akbar and Jahangir, p. 84.

76 Banerji, R. D., History of Orissa. From The Earliest Times to the British Period, Bharatiya Publishing House, Delhi,1980, volume 2, pp. 1–65.Google Scholar

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78 There are other examples within the Mangalkavya tradition where evil and dangerous entities—whether invading armies or, infectious diseases—were represented as monsters. See for example, Ralph Nicholas, ‘The Fever Demon and the Census Commissioner: Sitala Mythology in eighteenth and nineteenth Century Bengal’, in Nicholas, Ralph, Fruits Of Worship: Practical Religion in Bengal, Chronicle Books, New Delhi, 2003, pp 105–163.Google Scholar

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80 These refer to the shrine of Joychandi near Mughalmari village in the Keshiari area of Midnapur, and to shrines to Boanichandi and Amraichandi near another village called Mughalmari in the boundary area between Bankura and Burdwan districts of West-Bengal. C. Dasgupta, Bishnupurer Mandir Terracotta, pp. 291–292.

81 Ibid.

82 For a discussion of the general character of the Mangalkavya genre, see A. Bhattacharya, Bangla Mangalkavyer Itihasa; Curley, David L., Poetry and History. Bengali Mangal-kabya and Social Change in Pre-Colonial Bengal, New Delhi, Chronicle Books, 2008.Google Scholar

83 For a discussion of certain historiographical, political and cultural themes in these two Mangalkavys, see Chatterjee, K., ‘The Persianization of Itihasa: Performance narratives and Mughal Political Culture in Eighteenth Century Bengal’, Journal of Asian Studies, 67, 2, 2008, pp. 513–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

84 All references to the Annadamangala are based on Brojendranath Bandyopadhyaya and Byomkesh Mustafi (eds), Bharatchandra Granthabali, Bangiya Sahitya Parishat, 1369 B.S.

85 ‘Annadamangala’, pp. 156–160. The description of this trip in the Annadamangal constitutes one of the best-known passages of Bengali literature.

86 Basu, Ramram, Raja Pratapaditya Charitra, Mission Press, Searampore, 1801Google Scholar.

87 ‘Annadamangala’, pp. 316–320.

88 Ibid., p. 320.

89 All references to this text are based on Dimock, Edward C. Jr. and Gupta, Pratul Chandra translated, annotated and with an introduction, The Maharashtapurana. An Eighteenth Century Bengali Historical Text, Orient Longman, Calcutta, 1985Google Scholar. For discussion of background and circumstances of Gangarama, and whether this narrative can be regarded as a Mangalkavya or not, see Chatterjee, ‘The Persianization of Itihasa’.

90 Maharashtapurana, pp. 35–36.

91 On this point see, Chatterjee, Cultures of History and ‘Cultural Flows and Cosmopolitanism in Mughal India’.

92 For example, Dasgupta, Shashi Bhushan, Bharater Shakti Sadhana O Shakta Sahitya, Sahitya Samsad, Calcutta, 1367 B.S., p. 74Google Scholar; Datta, Sekaal Theke Ekaal, pp.109–111; Banerjee, Durga Puja, pp. 31–32; T. Bhattacharya, ‘Tracking the Goddess’, pp. 933–934; Chakrabarty, Aloke Kumar, Maharaja Krishnachandra O Tatkalin Banga Samaj, Progressive Book Forum, Calcutta, 1989Google Scholar; Chowdhury, Bhabani Roy, Bangiya Sabarna Katha. Kalikshetra Kalikata, Manna Publications, Calcutta, 2006Google Scholar; Saifuddin Chowdhury et al. (eds), Varendra Anchaler Itihasa, pp. 756–757; Pal, Samar, Tahirpur Rajvamsa, Dhaka, Dhaka, 2007Google Scholar. There are multiple contradictory accounts of the history/chronology of the Tahirpur rajas. Samar Pal, who has carried out the most intensive research about this family, in his latest reconstruction of their history, places Raja Kangshanarayan in the early rather than late sixteenth century. Pal however attests to the close relationship of this family with the Mughals and associates them with having performed the so-called ‘first’ Durga puja. There are also many internet websites which associate these three rajas with performing the ‘first’ Durga puja.

93 Roy Chowdhury, Bangiya Sabarna Katha; Saifuddin Chowdhury (et al.), Varendra Anchaler Itihasa; Pal, Tahirpur Rajavamsa; Roy, A. K., Lakshmikanta. A Chapter in the Social History of Bengal, Mahamandal Press, Benaras, 1928Google Scholar; Pertsch, W. (ed.) Kshitishvamsavalicharitam: A Chronicle of the Family of Raja Krishnachandra of Nadia in Roy, Mohit (ed.), Kshitishvamsavalicharit, Manjusha, Calcutta, 1986Google Scholar; Mukhopadhyaya, Rajiblochan, Maharaja Krishnachandra Roysya Charitram, Mission Press, Searampore, 1805.Google Scholar

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95 Ramacharitam of Sandhyakaranandin, Chapter 3, verse 25B.

96 Datta, Sekaal theke Ekaal, pp. 41–46.

97 Ibid.

98 Ibid. There are plenty of scattered references to this feature.

99 A. Chakrabarty, Maharaja Krishnachandra; Roy Chowdhury, Bangiya Sabarna Katha; Pal, Tahirpur Rajvamsa.

100 Santra, Tarapada, Krishnanagarer Mritshilpa O Mritshilpi Samaj K. P. Bagchi, Calcutta, 1985Google Scholar; Santra, Tarapada, Pashchimbanger Lokashilpa O Shilpisamaj, Pashchim Banga Sarkar Tathya O Samskriti Bibhag, Calcutta, 2000.Google Scholar

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102 Banerjee, Durga Puja, pp. 33–34.

103 Personal communication from Mr Devarshi Roy Chowdhury of the Sabarna-Chowdhury family of Barisha, 30 July 2009, but to date, I have been unable to discover the significance of the goddess Durga riding a ghora-simha rather than a lion.

104 Datta, Sekaal Theke Ekaal, footnote 2, p. 192.

105 Nag, Arun (ed.), Satika Hutom Pyachar Naksha, Subarnarekha, Calcutta, 1991, pp. 60–122.Google Scholar

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107 Pal, Tahirpur Rajvamsa, pp. 40–42.

108 Banerjee, Durga Puja, pp. 37–44; T. Bhattacharya, ‘Tracking the Goddess’.

109 Banerjee, Durga Puja, pp. 43–45.

110 Ramacharita of Sandhyakaranandin, chapter 3, verse 25B.

111 Datta, Sekaal Theke Ekaal, p. 2.

112 http://www.clayimage.co.uk/bengal/Thakur%20dalan.html, [accessed 25 January 2013].

113 Nazimuddin Ahmed, ‘Barendra Anchaler Mandir Sthapatya’ in Saifuddin Chowdhury et al. (eds), Varendra Anchaler Itihasa, pp. 390–425.

114 Datta, Sekal Theke Ekal, p. 82.

115 http://www.clayimage.co.uk/bengal/Thakur%20dalan.html, [accessed 25 January 2013]; A. Chakrabarty, Maharaja Krishnachandra, p. 157.

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117 Cited in S. Dasgupta, Bharater Shakti Sadhana, pp. 77–78.

118 Ibid., p. 77.

119 Datta, Sekaal Theke Ekaal, p. 2.

120 Cited in Ibid., p. 83, also p. 84, footnote 8.

121 Datta, Sekal Theke Ekaal, mentions many Durgamelas founded by local zamindars.

122 A. Chakrabarty, Maharaja Krishnachandra.

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150 Ibid., p. 84.

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