Determining the Date and the Place of Origin of the Hayaśīrṣa Pañcarātra

Abstract

This paper discusses the dating and the place of origin of the text Hayaśīrṣa Pañcarātra, a compilation that sets down the rules and rituals governing the construction of that most dramatic, physical representation of religion in South Asia, the Hindu temple. The Hayaśīrṣa Pañcarātra is, as it states itself, a compendium. It gathers material from previous sources. The oldest known manuscript is from the 16 th century.Texts that cite the Hayaśīrṣa Pañcarātra date from between the 9 th or 10 th century to the 17 th century. The Hayaśīrṣa Pañcarātra must be older than these texts. Previous scholars have suggested dates ranging from c. 500-1600 CE in respect to the dating of the Hayaśīrṣa Pañcarātra, which is a very wide window indeed. The general scholarly consensus, however, is that the text was produced around 800 CE. Some details in the text, like the descriptions of circumambulatory paths, can be used to date the text as well as identify its place of origin. References to north Indian scripts in the text indicate that the Hayaśīrṣa Pañcarātra was produced shortly before the 10 th century. Since the text has borrowed sections from the Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa, it must be younger than that text, i.e. it was compiled after the 7 th century CE. The ways that vyūhas and lokeśas are described in the text suggest an earlier rather than later date. Thus, the 8 th -9 th century CE seems to be an acceptable working hypothesis. The references to scripts may suggest a date later rather than earlier in that period.All the extant manuscripts of the text have been found in Bengal and Orissa, which makes them the best candidates in respect to the text's place of origin. References in the text, like names of kings, which can be connected to a place, are either north Indian or specifically Bengali. The text is, therefore, of a north Indian origin and most likely was compiled in northeast India, probably Bengal or Orissa.

Śivagṛha: religious harmonization and the concept of unity in diversity

“…The Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala concept, which is closely related to building patterns, Vedic cosmology, and theology, is followed when building a complex or a significant site of Hindu worship. According to Raddock (2011), the Hayaśirṣa Pañcarātra uses the idea of vstupuruamaala to put the temple at the center of the universe. Taddock's interpretation states that Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala is both a ritual and a practical diagram.…”

“…The Hayaśīrṣa Pañcarātra claims that it is related to the design of the temple. The Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala serves a variety of purposes (Raddock, 2011), though this is not its only objective. In order to bring order to the world and invite Devatas to a maṇḍala created to benefit humans, the original idea behind creating a temple was to do both.…”

Haribhaktivilāsa of Sanātana Gosvāmin, Volume One

“…For instance, in his influential work on the early Sanskrit works of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism, Sushil Kumar De (1942: 340-402) discussed the text and summarises its contents, and Rasik Vihari Joshi's (1959) study on Kṛṣṇaite ritual was mainly based on the hbv. More recent studies include Krishnadas Sinha's (2009) doctoral thesis on the influence of the hbv on the Bishnupriya Manipuri community, Elisabeth Raddock's (2011) work on its relationship with the Hayaśīrṣa Pañcarātra and Barbara Holdrege's (2015: 287-289) discussion of the way in which the hbv deals with reconfiguring the elements of the practitioner's body before worship.…”