From Cosmogony to Exorcism in a Javanese Genesis, 5


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5. Cosmogony in the Mantra-s


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sectio

paginae

5.1

Behaviour and Belief

133-137

5.2

Invocations and the Mantra-Corpus

138-142

5.3

Tata Winanci : Creation of the World

143-155


5.1 -- p. 133 esoteric knowledge

[quoted from Wilkinson 1906] "an esoteric knowledge of the origin of any being ... gives the possessor of that knowledge an extraordinary power ... if he wishes to control a demon,

{This knowledge on the part of the mortal is admired by such daimon, thereby securing admiration from the daimon for the mortal, and therewith friendship, with resultant eagerness for co-operation on the daimon's part.}

he alludes to the theory of its generation from the placenta and other concomitant of childbirth."


5.1 -- p. 134, fn. 1 prayers which are said by by royal-palace officials

In "the twentieth century, Muslim palace officials were still required to be versed in purely Javanese {i.e., non-Muslim "pagan"} religious lore.


{Such requisite devotion to non-Muslim religious lore on the part of Muslim religious officials is known as /Yarsan/ ('heritage'), which is in Iran to ante-Muslim heroics in the S^ah Nameh, and in Yemen likewise to ante-Muslim heroics.}

The list of the diverse qualifications for the position of the principal officiant (Bupati Anom Juru Suranta) for certain rituals in the Surakarta Palace reflects ... traditional ... astrology, numerology, traditional week- and month-based divination ..., and Malay language ... . ...

{"Apprenticeship in the weikza-lam entails training in any one or several of the following disciplines: the use of magical incantations and spells (mandan); alchemy (aggiyat) ...; ... and importantly because of its efficacy, the casting of runes or magical diagrams (in, aing, sama)." ("OS&W", p. 470)}

By the 1980s, however, the Bupati himself was saying only Muslim prayers and his chief assistant was saying the pre-Muslim ones."

"OS&W" = Patrick Pranke : "On Saints and Wizards : Ideals of Human Perfection and Power in Contemporary Burmese Buddhism". J OF THE INTERNAT ASSN OF BUDDHIST STUDIES 33.1–2 (2010/2011):453–88. https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/viewFile/9290/3151


5.1 -- p. 135 prayers in sotto voce

"Much of Javanese prayer is whispered (Headley 1996a:195-204). ... Indeed throughout Javanese practice of prayer and ritual, mantras usually project their potency through the use of a whispered voice (Keeler 1987)."

"where prayers are pronounced ... Those who form them address deities and await responses."

Keeler 1987 = Ward Keeler : Javanese Shadow Plays, Javanese Selves. Princeton Univ Pr.


5.1 -- p. 136 prayer & exorcism

"The Birth of Kala rite sets the scene for prayer to, or a dialogue between, the suppliant and the gods. The parameters of cosmology and the description of their appearance create an ordered belief system in which to pray. It is this description of the parties to whom the prayer is directed which forms and shapes the message.

The Birth of Kala rite ... describes the Javanese behaviour (offerings and mantras) necessary to exorcize.

For non-Javanese, the mantras are interesting because they serve as a guide {A by-far-more-trustworthy guide than such mere literary texts, however, is available through experiential reports in the biographies of yogin and of yogini, of parama-hamsa and of parama-hamsini.} to a total belief system which is vanishing."

{"Vanishing"? Totally false!! Whereas attendance of Christian relgious services hath greatly decreased in Western Europe during recent decades, attendance of Bharatiya puja services (whether in Bharata itself or in Jawa) hath remained stable. [p. 136, fn. 2 : "all observers agree that the spirit world continues to occupy an important place in the minds of Javanese".] The "total belief system which is vanishing" must, therefore, be Christianity (such as, Episcopalianism), and not Bharatiya Varna-as`rama Dharma.}


5.1 -- p. 137 royal caerimony, with audibly enunciated mantra-s

"The Mae`sa Lawung ... is offered by the ruler, Susuhunan of Surakarta, or the Mangkunagaran, on the tertre of Bathari Durga in the village of Krendawahana on the anniversary of the king's coronation. During the ceremony I have heard the officiant speak the mantras quite loudly, before the tree representing the door to Durga's invisible kingdom {sic! : read "queendom"}."


5.1 -- p. 137, fn. 4 the 12 mantra-s

"J. W. van Dapperen published in an appendix to his article on a Tegal ruwatan in Djawa (1934:223-30) twelve mantras from a dhalang, 'Kalnunglungan' (the giver, exchanger, i.e. Wisnu) ... . ... For instance the Ajale` Kala mantra (van Dapperen 1934:227-8) reduces kala to his 'original'... state, rendering him limp".

Van Dapperen 1934 = J. W. van Dapperen : "Het Tegalsche Roewat". DJAWA 14:223-30.


5.1 -- p. 137, fn. 5 the 5 prayers

"five prayers in common between the two rituals [Mae`wa Lawun and Murwa Kala] ... are ..., namely : (1) 'Footsoldiers/Wagon of Letters'; (2) 'Kalacakra'; (3) 'Mandhala {Man.d.ala} Mountain'; (4) 'Flaming Moutache'; and various prayers for ablutions. See Table 5.1, p. 143. ... . ... the older Calong Arang and Sudamala puifications ... mantras ... have been ... in ... van Stein Callenfel's copies ... lent to Schrieke ... of the latter mantras".


5.2 -- p. 139 from-guru-to-cela transmission of mantra

"East Javanese mantras are memorized (apalan), sometimes from a ... source not found in the village. An elder (mancakaki) will confide a mantra to a disciple in whom he has confidence, and the latter will keep it secret. 'Spoken' prayer continues to have authority for those who know ... . This recitation of texts learned by heart is still as widely practiced as it was in the past."


5.2 -- p. 141 repraesentational structure is assistful in specifying communication with deities

"representational structure (frame, script, symbol, picture, etc.) that accompanies dialogues with invisible deities ... emphasizes it by specifying the nature of the contact that is made with them."


5.2 -- p. 142 World-Sweeper

"The last mantra in many ... collections ... describes the 'world sweeper' who will use his iron broom to sweep away any remaining followers of Kala.

[p. 220 8.2.17 "The dhalang 'speak the world' (kandha buwana) finishes by bathing himself, calling in the 'world sweeper' (sapu jagad) to use his iron broom to sweep away the followers of Kala who may still remain."}


5.2 -- p. 144 palace-ritual to protect newborn royal babies

"The Tata Winanci's most common ritual context is in the palaces of Surakarta, where this myth/mantra of the creation of the world is read and chanted to protect newborn royal babies, recalling the almanac (primbon) literature's use of protective lullaby mantras. In this palace cosmogony, the genesis draws on an analogy between movements of the parts of the body of the macro-anthropos and the creation of the world's mountains, wind, thunder, etc.

Evoking this analogy apparently suffices to orient the newborn baby propitiously in the nine cardinal directions of the renewed cosmos."

{That which this invocation accomplisheth is not so much to orient merely the baby itself, but moreover to orient the baby's relationship with its personal protective spirits "propitiously in ... the renewed cosmos."}


5.2 --pp. 145-7 Tata Winanci [p. 144 : "in the palaces of Surakarta, ... this ... is read and chanted to protect newborn royal babies".]

p. 144, fn. 19

"Sri {S`ri} has been pursued by the ogre armny sent out by her royal father to prevent {hindre} her from marrying her elder brother Sadana


Sadana {/Sadana/.

{/sadana/ 'text recited when anything is being set down' (Apastamba S`rauta-sutra)}


In certain versions, the attack is led by the bull Kala Gumarang. The rice goddess has taken the form of a python in the ripening rice field. She is then adopted by a human father and mother. In return she ... becomes ... the protector {protectrix} of newborn children and ripe rice."

p. 145

6. "when there was north-west,

{According to the ('Poe:try Classic') S^ih C^in, C^>u Lun is able (CM&S, p. 265, s.v. "Torch Dragon (Chu Lung)") "to direct its brilliance towards the northwest."}


there was no west."


8. "When there was height, there was no firmament."

11. "When there was shore, there was no beach."

12. "Alhough without form, tis form was like dew."

13. "The top was revolving, glittering, shining, and white."


15. "Authority was carried out; no authority was carried out."

{Perhaps democratic government is thus hinted at.}

p. 146

20. "The language of Harta was numbers.

[p. 146, fn. 23 "Harta ... comes from the Sanskrit artha and here may be translated as meaning utility ... or what gives material well-being (Zoermulder and Robson 1982:130)".]


Hetu was mixed with the world."

{/hetu/ 'impulse, motive' (S-ED)}


22. "Oh, {read "O!"} Measurer {in terms of numbers} ..., your yoga does not generate the world."

{implying that the universe is qualitative [involving, e.g., qualities of ethics] rather than quantitative -- This is an important point of theory in public-ethics-based modern understandings of the "categorical imperative".}

25. "Such was this world that Sang Measurer Supreme Being {i.e., erroneously regarded as supreme by proponents of a quantitative metaphysics} enjoined a great snake."

{Its length is apparently a standard unit for measurement of lengths generally. It must be flexible (so as conveniently to measure along curved objects) and alive (so as to be conscious of its activity of mensuration; therefore, a snake [and also perhaps, for shorter lengths, a worm].}


26. "With a golden puppet, {scil., to indicate} shape, its name was Sang Nangkurat {Hellenic goddess /Ananke/ + Skt goddess /Rati/?} ... .

27. "Its glancing left and right was the beginning of the sun."

28. "It fluttered its eyelashes up and down and that was the beginning of the earth and the sky."

29. "It gave its eyebrows a right-left movement and that was the origin of the rainbow."


30. "It breathed and that was the origin of the wind."

{Concerning Zhu-yin (C^>u-yin 'Torch Shadow'), according to (S^an-hai C^in 'Mountain[s] [and] Sea[s] Classic') S^an-hai Jin 8, (HChM, s.v. "Zhulong", p. 247) "when he did breathe in and out his breath would make the wind."}


31. "... it gave its nose a right-left movement and

{Twitching of a rabbit's nose? : a rabbit is said in India and in Mexico to be visible on the moon.}


that was the origin of the mountains."

{"Malyari, the Moon on Pinatubo, and Sinukuan, the Sun on Arayat" : "these deities ... are expressly said in multiple accounts to live within the mountains" ("M&LP&A").}


32. "It moved its ear from right to left, and that was the origin of the slopes."

{"dragons have a body part on their heads shaped like overlapping hills." (HChM, p. 102)}


33. "Its mouth was the origin of the caves."

{Cf., e.g., in an "Olmec frieze from Chalcatzingo, Morelos, ... the cave-like mouth of the earth monster." (MMGG, s.v. "Feathered Serpents", p. 181)}


34. "... could blink, and that was the origin of lightning."

35. "... could sneeze, and that was the origin of thunder."

36. "... could cough, and that was the origin of distant thunder."

37. "... could hiccup, and that was the origin of illness."

p. 147

39. "Its name was the Sang Uncouth ["canthula"], the origin of the beams of light in the world of such an extent." {extent = length : for in the Taoist text Origin of the Gods, each star-deity is stated to have extending upward from apex of head a ray of luminance having a certain stated length in measurement}

42. "There [then] emerged Sang Order Authority; next he was joined by the Sang Hyang Power."

43. "Sang Hyang Power then enjoined the Sang Hyang 'Unified' ["tunggal"]."

44. "Next was enjoined ["Bathara"] Sambu {S`ambhu}, the first-born Mahadewa {Maha-deva, the middle one Wisnu emerged from splitting the halves."

45. "Then he rubbed his chest and there emerged Bathara Endra {Bhat.t.ara Indra}."

47. "The Sang Hyang Guru spoke to Bathara Narada : Disseminate the 'illusion of visitation' ["tinjomaya"]."


50. "Then because they were all in place, the stones became the world."

{But which "world" -- that is, which one of the Tala-s? According to the Vayu Puran.a, "there are numerous stones and boulders in s`ri[-]tala".}


51. "The child of Bathara Guru that emerged was weak.

Named the Sang Pefect One ..., he can move.

Named Holy Faulty One, he can stand up.

His name is Holy White Uncouth One."

55. "Sang Perfect One like Bramasthi {Brahma-sthin 'Standing as/for Brahman'}


is netted ["?kamrub"]."

{reference to the Indra-jala ('Indra's Net', enclosing the cosmos)?}

CM&S = Anne Birrell : The Classic of Mountains and Seas. Penguin Bks, London, 1999.

Zoetmulder & Robson 1982 = Petrus Joseph Zoetmulder & Stuart Owen Robson : Old Javanese-English Dictionary. The Hague : Martinus Nijhoff.

S-ED = Monier Monier-Williams : A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Clarendon Pr, Oxford, 1899.

"M&LP&A" = "Myths and Legends of Pinatubo and Arayat". https://www.academia.edu/11314629/Myths_and_Legends_of_Pinatubo_and_Arayat

MMGG = Kay Almere Read & Jason J. Gonza`lez : Mesoamerican Mythology : a Guide to the Gods ... . ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara (CA), 2000.


5.2 -- p. 149 what is the Samskr.ta aequivalent to Jawi /Hon/?

"The standard opening formula in most mantras is 'Om ... (Hong ...)' ... . ... The syllable Om (Javanese Hong) ... ."

{Partially, or entirely, false! Jawi /Hon/ may be a composite of /HU- + OM/, or alternatively it may be intended to repraesent uncompounded /HUM/ simply (but it cannot be intended for /OM/). /HUM/ is a Kaula (tantrika) asseveration as commonplace in Kaula dharan.i-s as /OM/ is customary to introduce Vaidik mantra-s. Because no Jawi rite, caerimony, nor text is Vaidik, it would be truly anomalous to insert the Vaidik pran.ava /OM/ into any Jawi rite; but /HUM/ would, on the contrary, naturally be very much expected.}


5.2 -- p. 151 injunction

"Yoga (which I propose to translate as 'enjoining') characterizes many of the propositions presenting creation in the Tata Winanci mantra. The dhalang's ro[^]le is to enjoin creation in a hortative mode. ... In P. 22 there are deictic 'you's' {/ye/-s (multiple instances of /ye/)} (/kita/ [fn. 1 : "Kita in Old Javanese designates the second person ..., singular and plural, and not 'we' {1st person plural}, as in modern Javanese."]) whose yoga are active in creation. ... The verb yoga {exclusively a substantive in Samskr.ta} (to enjoin) does not require a personal agent, however, as it it often used in the passive voice ('X is enjoined'). It is therefore unclear who is capable of such an action. In PP. 41-2 the hortative {i.e., injunctive} verb has as subject the 'you' {/ye/} (kita), presumably representing the desire of the nine deities {cf. the 9fold deity/-ies in the cosmogony of the Books of Chilam Balam} to accomplish creation."


5.2 -- p. 151 golden serpent, golden puppet

"After the movements of the great snake N...angkurat, shaped like a golden puppet, have created a cosmos (PP. 25-40), the gods appear on the scene in order to clarify the agents ... and explicate its presuppositions : '{I (empirical reciter) who are praying, and you {ye} (gods and creatures) who are listening to me, we (empirical reciter and gods) say to you, {Hum[kara]} (Hong), who is divinity, how you created {thou createdest} the world.'

It is tempting to make of {Hum} a quasi-pronoun {as is done in the Eckankar theologic aequating of Hum-kara with the S.uwfiy pronominal deity named /Huwa>/, Strong's 1931 /huw>/ 'he, she' : a name commonly employed for S.uwfiy dikr, and thence for the Eckankar variant of Ruh.ani-Satsangha japa} ... .

{Hum-kara ('Creator-of-Hum') is the Kaula/Vajra-yana Godhead paralleling the Om-kara Godhead of the Rajput/S`ikh theology. Whereas Om-kara is stated to praeside over the world Tri-kut.i (triple-pinnacled mountain, based in a similarly triple-pinnacled mountain of Taoist cosmography), Hum-kara would praeside over a golden realm, perhaps Hiran.-maya, along with perhaps Kaula golden goddess Kamala.}

PP. 27-39. These describe the second, and successful, creation of the world

from the movements of a golden snake, Nangkurat. ... In both accounts each creative action by an animal god is accompanied by a peal of thunder.

{As for on-high-thundrer levin-hurler Aztec "god Tlaloc ..., ... his image held a golden serpent." (ER&E XI, article "Serpent-worship", p. 401b)} {Munag Sumala is sometimes reckoned as a "golden serpent." ("DPhM--KD")}

The motions of the golden snake ... create just as do the mythical birds in the Ngaju genesis."

{Another Indonesian-mythology association between serpent and bird, a Kapampanan myth of marriage between them : "Apung Sukû then sent his grandson Tala (the planet Venus), son of the red serpent Munag Sumalâ and the bird Manalastas, to be born as a man." ("DDV")}

ER&E XI = James Hastings (ed.) : Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. Vol. XI. NY : Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/stream/Serpent-Worship/ereserpents_djvu.txt

"DPhM--KD" = "Deities of Philippine Mythology - List of Gods and Goddesses - Kapampangan Deities". http://www.liquisearch.com/deities_of_philippine_mythology/list_of_gods_and_goddesses/kapampangan_deities

"DDV" = "Dueling Dual Volcanoes". http://sambali.blogspot.com/2004_12_11_archive.html


5.2 -- p. 153 Kabil

""Kabil (perhaps a corruption of kamil, the perfect man)

{The /Kabil/ in the Manik-maya could more plausibly be intended for the /Qabil/ in ("SH&Q") the Qur>an.}

is one of the names for Kama Salah, the faulty seed." {evidently a Nusantuo spelling for Skt KALA-nemi}

{The regular Proto-Indo-Germanic aequivalent to S^emitic /QABIL/ would */GHABHIL/, which by the rule of de-aspiration of an aspirate praeceding another aspiriate would become in proto-Indic */GABHIL/ : and this name is textually extant in its extended form /GABHas-taLa/. . According to the Vayu Puran.a, there is rulership in "gabhas[-]tala by the demon Kala[-]nemi".

"SH&Q" = "The Story of Habil (Abel) and Qabil (Cain)". http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=788&Itemid=60

Vayu Puran.a http://hinduonline.co/Scriptures/Puranas/VayuPorana.html


{/Gabhas Tala/ is the Vayu Puran.a (most antique of Puran.a-s) explicit form of a name given in all subsequent Puran.a-s in the ainigmatically pseudonymous form /Tala A-tala/. [The other explicit name is /S`ri Tala/ (evidently the propre above of Jawi vrihi ['rice']-goddess S`ri), given pseudonymously in all subsequent Puran.a-s as /A-TaLa/ (the /ATLantis/ of Hellenic mythography).] /Gabhas/ would be an abbreviated form of Skt /gabhasti/ 'fork'; so that /Gabhas Tala/ may be the realm wherein souls of the dead encountre in their peregrination a fork in their pathway (viz., one toward Svarga, and the other toward Naraka; or whatever). Where "the ground becomes yellow", an attribution in the Vayu Puran.a to Gabhas Tala, there may be sulphur/brimstone, an element praesent in sulphide-compound medicinal antibiotics.} {As concerning /Habil/ (Strong's 1893 /Hebel/), this would be etymologically cognate with Skt /Kambhala/ 'blanket (evidently the flying carpet ridden thither ofttimes by Sulayman/S^lomoh); the city now known as /Qabul/ in Afghanistan'; it would be counterposed to (and therefore praesumably bordering upon) the upa-vars.a Gabhastimana of vars.a Bharata of dvipa Jambu. Thus is would likely be upa-vars.a Tamra-parnin ('copper-feathered'), a name referring perhaps to the 6-winged s`rapiym encountred by the fellow-travellers of Mos^eh, who on their account "lifted up the serpent in the Wilderness" (cf. B-Midbar 21:8-9), to wit, Nh.us^-tan ('copper dragon'). These winged dragons are pertinent to Qabil because (according to Zohar XXXII), in order to slay Hebel, Qayin (i.e., Qabil) "bit him like a serpent." Furthermore, the serpent "attacked and bit" (C&AS&GW, p. 149, fn. 261) S^et.}

B-Midbar 21 http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0421.htm

Zohar XXXII http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/zdm/zdm041.htm

C&AS&GW = Johannes Bartholdy Glenthøj : Cain and Abel in Syriac and Greek Writers (4th-6th Centuries). CORPUS SCRIPTORUM CHRISTIANORUM ORIENTALIUM 567; SUBSIDIA 95. Lovanii/Leuven/Louvain : Aedibus Peeters, 1997. https://books.google.com/books?id=0ViKPYpebc4C&pg=PA149&lpg=PA149&dq=


5.2 -- p. 153 Sis & <anwar

"The next two men usually found in Javanese Islamic genealogies, ...

Sis (Seth)

{Likely be aequatable with /S^et/, /Sis/ may be Strong's 8337 /s^is^ah/ '6', for mal>ak Gabriy->el : (G&MDD, p. 303) "Gabriel ... turning into an angel on the count of six."}

and Anwar,

{Probably /<aner/ (mentioned in B-Re>siyt 14:13 as brother of Mamre>, cf. Strong's 4759 /mar>ah/ 'mirror'); praesumably cognate with Helienic /oneiros/ 'dream' (because mal>akiym/angeloi are usually witnessed in dreams?)}

are also left out of the Tata Winanci mantra."

G&MDD = Jerry Pollock : Gog & Magog : the Devil's Descendants. Shechinah Third Temple, Boynton Beach (FL), 2011. https://books.google.com/books?id=pr61B3T1Ls0C&pg=PT158&lpg=PT158&dq=


5.2 -- p. 155 ritual goose

"The ... important mantra, 'Banyak Dhalang' (Headley 1979a:ch. 5) ... is best elucidated by relating the figure of th

e dhalang's goose (banyak dhalang) to the contemporary Tengger entas-entas ritual for purifying the dead and their families (Hefner 1985).

There the duck, waved over the heads of families of the deceased Tengger Javanese, eats up the impurities that menace them."

{On account of noticing the material-bodied live duck being so waved, a praeternaturally invisible duck is attracted to them, and gobbleth up the offending spirits-of-impurity who have arrived in the invisible guise of spirit-insects.}

Hefner 1985 = Robert W. Hefner : Hindu Javanese : Tengger Tradition ... . Princeton Univ Pr.


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Stephen C.[avanna] Headley : From Cosmogony to Exorcism in a Javanese Genesis : the Spilt Seed. Oxford Univ Pr, 2000.