The cult of the jyotirlin˙gas and the history of Saivite worship.

摘要

The medieval Hindu god Siva rivaled Vis&dotbelow;n&dotbelow;u in popularity. Yet the origins of Saivism remain mysterious. How can we explain Siva's seemingly sudden appearance as a major figure on the Indian religious scene? To address this question, this dissertation focuses on the tenth to thirteenth centuries CE, exploring our earliest literature for the cult of the jyotirlin˙gas ("lin˙gas of light"). This cult is, arguably, one of the first attempts to establish Saivism on a pan-Indian scale. It may also reflect an impulse, evident already in the Mahabharata and Ramayan&dotbelow;a, to map sacred geographies onto the Indian landscape.;Chapter one considers the origins of the twelve jyotirlin˙gas. Drawing on evidence of other groupings of lin˙gas, most notably in the newly-published "early Skanda Puran&dotbelow;a, " I propose that the twelve jyotirlin˙gas are modeled on pilgrimage circuits in Varan&dotbelow;asi. In chapters two and three, I examine the cycle of stories extolling the jyotirlin˙ga sites in the Siva Puran&dotbelow;a, analyzing two parallel versions: the earlier version (Jnana-sam&dotbelow;hita ) refers to diverse rituals, whereas the later version ( Kot&dotbelow;irudra-sam&dotbelow;hita) emphasizes lin˙ga worship. To explain ritual diversity in the earlier version, chapter four investigates the history of Saivite altar worship with attention to the term parthiva and vedic ritual. In chapter five, I ask why authors of the jyotirlin˙ga cult chose to interconnect twelve sites and associate them with "light" ( jyotis). Their identification as jyotirlin˙gas resonates with fire/light imagery from vedic traditions of twelve suns and medieval traditions related to the term jyotis.;My dissertation sheds new light on the cult through an analysis of its earliest literature. It contributes to our understanding of Saivite worship, particularly with regard to the establishment of the lin˙ga as the primary object of worship. This development, I argue, is part of a medieval process of consolidation that shaped classical Saivism.