(.

, c (
(
f. {rfu{,)( t(. Eei.Qll*l,,,,t;#r!, ,AI,: krl;, L rt :, J.A{^ r,lr2$-Ld4t{ I
rt {ruL'a, }l \-/ cf Bua",(hni.i*9,,t1^i*"*fr{PD
O 9 they tell us a good deal about the characrer of "official" religion. [n this chapter, I
t
lL bJ da Y6,N,L U^rl 3oc-i"{.,f9l-r, investigate the activities of women in me<lieval Thmilnadu as supporters of Hindu,
Jain, and Buddhist insticutions and practices, based <in an examination o[the Tamil
inscriptions between c.e. 700 and 1700 rhat record rheir gifts. The evidence of
these inscriprions cha[enges the idea that women conformed to scriprural norms
and were thercfore outside the mainstream of public religious life. The inscriptional
evidence also raises questions about the extenr to which the normative texts are
Women's Wealth and Worship capable of providing us with a complete or accurate view of horv religious life was
actually organized in a particular time and place, in terms of the definition of
Female Pafionage of Hinduism, central religious values and practices.
Because I propose to consider activities relared to three different religious
Jainism, and Buddhism in
tradirions-Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism-it is first necessary to describe the
Medieval Thmilnadu nature ofthe inscriptional evidence available to us in each case.-Brahmanical,
Jain, and Buddhist ideas and institutions have coexisted and interacted inTamilnadu
since before the beginning of the first millennium. In chis milieu, the three religious
traditions developed certain distinctively "Tamil" features and appear to have shared,

Asian scriprural.norms-and popular

in many ways, a common religious culture.l In the course of rhe last thousand
Qouth
t'-J
stereorypes-have led us to believe years or so, however, the history of each of the three traditions has had a different
thar women in trre subcontin.n, r,r".-.ro,'r,"i'l
participation in religious activities ouut,. presence and rhat their character, and the material evidence associated with each has been preserved in a
has been 1"., irnpor,"rr, and less ,,official,, different manner. The most abundant material remains can be considered to belong
thac of men. Dhmmatxtra lirerarure, rhan
*f,i.f,-,, ,",alfy .onria.."J-,o frr* ,lr"r, to the Hindu rradition, and the vast rnajoricy of the twenty thousand Tamil
the behavior of Hindu *oT:.,, d"fi.r",
*o*.rrlrirnarlly as wives rvithin the inscriptions that have been found are associated rvith Hindu institutions.4 One of
framework of the patrilineal family,
,.r..;,;;;_enb economic capacity and the reasons for this is that many of the remples dedicated to Siva and Visnu that
autonomy as severely restricted, and, in part
regards a woman's religious
because of her lack of pe;;;i;;;;il.r, were important centers of religious life in medieval times continue in use. These
activity ,, i.per,du.rt on ,h"..rppor, and temples have been renovated and expanded, and frequently considerable care has
her husband. Although dharm^ permission of
lit.rrt.,re ,"a ,..,^rr* literarure, such as rhe been taken to ensure that the inscriptions on the cemple walls were recopied or
carefully describe the qualificatio., ,"d dgarldr,
sacrificer, renouncer, teacher, or priesr,
;;";;r;;r?,_.n to take up the roles of preserved. Although a few older Jain temples in Thmilnadu are still active, many
*" r"r.J
ir.rain in these texts for official
sanction for women to o."upy ru.h publicly...ogiir"a rnedieval Jain centers fell into disuse, particularly afrer rhe thirteenth century, when
roles'l Jain and Buddhist normarive f.*r"fi, iJ-;;;.r, the number of supporters ofJainism seems to have declined and the Jain population
""a
texts, by ."on..rrr, do prorride *.r* .r.'.lrgr.. became concentrated in the northem part of Tlmilnadu. As a result, many of the
which women may enrer
.",.,u.,.i"r,J'i;;i:; ;;;;;:,J :'j'H.,
conducive ro attainment ofllro.rh:
the highesr roi.r,*i gJJ-and detair
stones bearing records ofJain patronage and worship in the medieval period were
of femaie monastic orders as officillly the organizarion destroyed or displaced. Many of the Jain inscriptions that remain are engraved
.""r,iiri.i.i.ments in rhe structure of the below images of Tirthankaras and deities that were sculpted on the rock faces of
religious community as a whore.
a* ,i-,"* rr*"'lJ*,ri"orn" that Jain and Buddhist remote hillsides; most evidence of Jainism! presence in the villages and towns of
nuns be subject ro restricrions ,Uor"
,r,J i"vJ th*. to their male medieval tmilnadu has been erased. The siruation is similar but worse for
counrerparts' that nuru be excluded "pplying
from cerrain tyfes ofactivities in which monk Buddhism, which appears to have survived in Tamilnadu until about rhe sixteenth
may engage, that nuns show deference
,o n onkr, l.d that ,h; ;;;;;';'.d.";. century and subsequently disappeared. There are Buddhist texts in Tamil and
ciependent o. and subordinate
ro the authority of mare monastic institutions.Z Buddhist images fashioned in *re Thmil style-but, surprisingly, scarcely a single
These normative rexrs may, however,
C. ,irJ..i,.r. The images they provide Buddhisr shrine or monastery has been thus far identified or unearthed in
.of woment religious rives-as depena""i Hi"ar- *Je cor,fined .ro
realm or as marginarized Buddhit the domestic Thmilnadu.5 There are no Buddhist inscriptions in situ or even on stray stones that
r"t'"""r]rr""d
""J or-ti"
historical evidence that reveals ,o-.rrri'g ,o be compared with may have been distodged or removed from Buddhist structures. The only Buddhist
activities and roles' "r"*.**r-.trch ,.ruaity of.women,s
rerigious inscriptions we have are those engraved on images of the Buddha.
w" fortunate rr evidence for medievar
South India in the form T."
of irscriptions. ThL urid"rrl. is especially
In the three rables of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist inscriptiors, I show the extent
issue at hand, inasmuch ,, relevant to the to which women and men are represented as donors in che inscriptions of each of
th.r. i"r..iprio"r'*.r-" aoigrr"a to be public and the three maditiors. The available information is handled differently in each case.
permanent documents and were
sanccioned by locar religi.'s authorities. Thus, Because of the overwhelmingly large quantiry of Hindu inscriptional data, I have

124
 (
( ( (( ((
( t ( : :( ( t.
. .-
(, (
l:.i::jj
(, ( (((((( (
,.-it- l, l
i

i ii ..:,
I1..:; i . 1. - .- i' | -"1 ;.
,.E, ,r,olir.eh and i,*.'i-
Women's Wealth and Worship lZ7 i
surveyed onry rhose inscriptions in
eighr smau study areas in various parts
i

Tamilnadu ro generare rhe figures in rabl-e 9.t.0 gr"., of raole 9. I Hindu lnscripcions by Century and Type of Donor I

*ithin",i*. i*,",ii, ,*0, I

involved examinarion of 2,990 inscriprions. Fo, Donor 8rh 9th l0rh llth 12th llch l4th l5th l6th l?th I Total t
the *u.h ..rrr"r'i"irr'.r
inscriptions, I attempted ro examine all availabre rr^
inscriptions, which amounrecr to No ll 11 l2r l0B 73 l7t 5? Z0 60 14 28 681
397 (table 9.2). The stiil smaller group
of Buddhist i"*d,;;;;-;;;L"J in ,t,t, donor
:h1ql.r was gleaned from T. N- Ramachandran,s The f.iugrp.,Jr", ,r'a Orn., Donor = I J 6 58 25 t't 28 5 5 19 4 t77
Buddhisc Bronzcs in tlwMadrasMuseum, which
caralogue, ,h. #;;;B;d1i,.1,,.,r"r",
whose provenance appears to be Tamirnadu (most
are a part of the massive trove
Corpor- I 6 36 29 l8 ll 5 4 I 135

of Nigapartinam, in Tanjavur district) orrd th.t atc donor 7% ?% 6% ll% 6% 7% 6% 4% 2% 3% 30A ..5.2% I , "
are today housed in mrrseums in
Madras and elsewhere.?.of the277 images
Ramachandran described, most of whic, Femalc I I 8 l5 3 3l
represenr Gautama Buddha, 85 are insiribed (table religiou
9.J).
In rhe case of each of the three bodies of i.scriptionar donor
evidence, the vasr
majorirv of records describe a religious gifr,
and th. *,r.t *"11.,,, Queen 115419410 l9l
were made in support of worship. In all gir,, donor
three of the religious "irligiou.
;";,"."irJi,;;;;
well represented as donors. In.ihe eight study-areas,:16 ,.. Other 2 r7803734203210 I 208
' l-r to \l'omen Hind, i.,r.rip,i-onr."r..
as donors, a figure trrat is i4.lyo of ferote
gift-recording i.,r"riptio.r's o-n *hich
ir is possible ro discern the id-eq!1r of the dono"r (see donor
'--:r' mention men as donors table S. f t- Hil"'i"...iptior,,
in g0.5% of these inscriprions and corporate groups, Total l 1913754464432 ll 7 376
- ) as "assembries" (sabrraivrir) or "townspeopre', (ndiraua),i" such Fena!. 2l% 23% 24% ZW 14% l0% 4% 3% 6% l8% (_.14.3% i i
5.2i. Th; or"pl*,"""r
figures for.Jain inscripiions ,r.
donors, which rneans rhat r6yo ".r,
,i*it"r, ifr-tou, inscriptions mention female Male rsrionzz l8 11 65
ofihe inr.riprion, with idenrifiabre donors record religiow
women's gifrs, and rhe percenrages
are gr% and 3yo for ,".;;;;;";;;;';.""0., donot
respectively (see table 9.2). Inihe ."r. u141525619t7l83I196
of th. Buddhist inscriprions I examir.red, King donor 2
women are proportionally represenred
at even higher t.r"tr, *o*.r, ,..rlfrnribl. Other mle 9 5l l9l t'15 210 312 61 46 tt3 25 79 1458
for 307o of the gifrs of images, where we
can disc'em the identity of the donor, dorcr
men for the other 70yo Gee table 9.3). and
In certain periods, *,o1.., are especially prominent Totr,l l1 64 +tZ r94 7.65 183 74 65 178 39 30 l?15
as donors. As patrons of Mde 79% 78% 7Z% 7396 82% 85% 90% 93% 93% 98% 79%,' 80.5% ,

Jain institutions and worship, women ilrr. ;:,;e presence

in the eighth cenrury ll0 748 398 651 r44 58 73
at the beginning of the n".ig.a Total 28 4r4 95 77t 1990
1
extant Jain records were inscribed. "-r" :r-.r;;;, *ir.., , frrg. pipir,i." ,n. Ilwiptioru
In thi. ...rtirv women are featured in close "f ro
a quarter of donative inscriptions. The inscriptiom in this table are atl the published lnscriptions, written in Tamil or Sanskrit, that fa[[
For women who made gifu i., ,rppori-oiH,.rau
temples, the earlier part of the period into the period under analysis and arc found in one o[ rhe eight study area, cxcluding rhose I have
under ,"ri.* i, equalry significant: throughout
of the eighrh to rh. eleu.nth ..;;;;;, coroidcrcd to be'Jain" ircriptioro. Thc cight study areas are Kanchipuram taluk (Chingleput district),
the nT19d women are menrioned in more Tirukkoyilur taluk (South Arcot district), Chidarnbaram taluk (South Arcoc district), Kumbakonam
than 207o of all donative records, and in
the ,.n,t ..n,r.y_*i", *., frrr. uluk (Tanjavur district), liruchimppalli taluk (l"iruchimppalli district), Kulartur taluk (liruchimppalli
-\ number of Hindu inscriptions were made-women figure in a z5vo of "rhem. with disricr-fotmer Pudukkottai State), Madumi and Melur talulc (Madumi disr(icr), and Kovilparti and
the small number, unceriain dating, Ambasamudram taluks (limnelveli district). (Taluk and district boundaries are those ued by thc
*or"-l*liized provenance of rhe Buddhist
inscriptions, we cannot make too-much ".,a Archaeologiel Suruey of India and rcflect pre.lndependence political administrarion.)
of rlle fr"t, but, like th" Hi.,J, ,.a
inscriprions, the singre cenury-in
which *o-.r i*Jp,io* were made had rhe
.Jri. In this table, the row of "no domr" figures refers to inscriptions thar arc nor records of donations
proportion of female donors. For highest or imriptiom in which the intcnt of ihc record is not ctear. "Donor = l" refcrs to inrriptiom that
rhe Buddhist inscriprions, this peak comes record gifa where the identity or *x o[ thc donor is not clear
thineenrh century a century when there in the
is.ro, u ri.rgt. reference to a female donor The numbers in this table reprcnt imcriptioro rather than individuals. Percentages represent
in the Jain inscriptions and when fbrnrr. thc proportion of insriptioru where rhc identiry of rhe donor is clear (i.e. the "total irocriptions"
less and less in evidence. But,
d;;;;;. Hindu institutions seem to be minus "no donor" and "donor - l") that bclong to a pamicular etegory. For cxample, in the eighrh
as I h""";;g.;;;;*hu.",s racking
thrgueh the ages is not a simple *"rt"" women,s.,srarus,, century 2l% (3 of ,17) of the imriptioro where the donor\ identity is clear rcfcr to a fcmalc donoq in
frnr,i. *"r.t noting in this case is rhar- thc nineth centrry thc figurc is 23% (19 of 881, etc. In rcmc cmo, a single inscription records the gifts lr.l
within- the Hindu, the Jain, o, rt. gud]hir, .orr,.*r_r,rhenever there are of seeml qpes of donors (e.g., , qreen a.id her female attendant, a huband and wife, a male temple !J
particularly large numbers of .
;;;;n are prominent as donors.
religious gift., seryant and a nonreligiouc man); rhercforc, the figures in each column add up ro more than the toml
(.1

This finding suggesrs th"t iuo*.i *.r.-r.iir" number of inscriptiom. In elculating rhe number and proporrion of inscriptioro that refer ro female
participants in mainsrream (or mle) donon, ere hu ben takcn to adjut for this multiple repwnration.
 (( (( ( (
( ( ( ( ( (( ((((((( {: ( ( ( ( {
I
i .i,..-., .,i* .o*i,
Women's Wealth and Worship 179
TABLE 9.2 Jain Inscriptions by
Cenrury and Type of Donor
Donor 8th 9th TABLE 9.3 Buddhist loscriprions by Cenory and Type of Donor
l0th llth l2rh llrh l4th l5rh l6rh lTrh i Total
donor Donor 8fi 9th l0th I lth 12th llth l4th 15th l6th l?rh I Total
No 6 l5 I 5 6 loI ll l8?l No donor r77381 t4 37
Donor - I 5 7 l ) 6 7tz 2 844 Donor = I ll )5
Cor1pmre 2 I
donor
I z II l9
2% 2% Clrpomte
?% t3% 5% l]% 9% 3% dono.
Female zt 3
religious 25
Female I l,
donor
religious

()reendonor donor
I 1 I
Quecn donor
Other 4532r
female l6 Other I 6lr 3tz
donor
female
donor
Toml 25 95 Jr I I
Femab zt% 16% t?% 2t% 6% l3%
44 TotoJ I 7 l ll
l6% Fomle 100% 4r% 100% z50a r9% 30%
Male 212562
religiou
?
Ill59
Male
donor
rcl igious

King donor I I
donor lt 7
2 t6 ll King donor
Other male 58 21188131?6243s15g
donor Other male
donor J9 3 13 28
Totol 80 47 z4 lo ll zl 6 3
'15% ll 4 to
Mab 82% 83% ?l% 8t% 95% 75% rm% l0o% lm% 9l%
229 Toul 410 l l3 30
8l% Mde 100% 59% 7 5o/o 8l% ?o%
Toal 118 ?9 40 22 28 .39 I 6 24 5 2?
Irompabru ]g? Toal zt'l 25411 I 33 85
Insoiplioro
The inscriprions in thii tablc
are a subset ofthose lisred in
A. Ekambannarhan and C. K. Sivapmkcamt
.laim lrucnpa'ons in Iamlnadu (Madms The in*riprions in this mblc are rhose reponcd in T. N. Ramachandmn's Tfu Ndgcpctgr'm atd, Oth,er
Resarch Foundarion for
irucriprioro whoe texc have Jainology, 1987), including only thce
been prblished and whete enough Bu/dhist Bronles in tfu Madrc Mueum (Madm: Govemmcnt Pres, 1954). All the inrcriptions arc
intent o[ the inrription, irrcriptioro of the tcxt remaim to determine
the found on Buddhist image. Dates; based on an historiql stylc and paleography, are thcc provided by
mitten in Tamil or Serokrit that fall
and those rhat can, by virtuc inro the pcriod under amlpis,
of their locarion or content, be .Jain,, Ramachandran.
Ekambaranathan and Sivapmtamm considered irocriptiom. I follow
in dating these inscriptions. ln this table, the row of "oo donor" figuro refer ro insc(iptions that evidcntly upply rhe namc of
ln this tablc, the row of "no donor" Iigures the Buddha on which they arc inscritred, mthcr than rhe donor. "Donor = l" rcfcr to imcriptions
rcfeo to inscriptions rhat are nor records
"Donor = l" refes to imriprios ofdonatioro_
whcre thc scx of the donor is not clear.
rhar reord gifts wherc the idcntity
Thc numbers in this mble rcprent or ex of the donor is not clear
imcriptiom mther than individuals. The numbes in this table represnt imdptions mther than individuals. Perccntags rcpresent
thc proportion of insriptions Pcrcentages reprsent
where the identiry of thc donoc
is clear (i.e. thc "total imripcions"
rhe proportion of inrcriptions whcre the idcntity of the donor is clear (i.c., thc "total irocriptions"
minu "no donor" and "donor 1,,)
= rhat belong to a particular catcgory minu "no donor" and "donor = l") that belong to a particutar otegory For example, in the l0rh
century, 2% (2 of 107) of the For example, in the cighrh
imcriptioro where the donor's identiry entury, 100% (l of l) of the iuriptioro wherc thc donor's identity is clear refer m a female donor; for
73% (25 o( l0?) refer to femalc is clcar refer to corpontc donore,
donoa, and ?'5% (80 of l0?) refer
to male donon. thc wholc corpus o[ inariptiom, ]0% (13 of 43) of thc imcriptions where the donor'c identity is clear
rcfer to a female donor
 ((((( ( (" (t ( (
( (t (: (, (t (r (: (r (: (r (.(' (r ( ( ( ( ( ( ( I , ; r.:i
'I ::: l:;-:: :-- :': I-.: l-:-
i-' i
r- l:: r:

tj,i L'i.- L;"*I; jnd i''::rer l'":; a' i rl

'-rr ija, I
i -r.l i,.:. -'-'

B'' Womeu's Weakh and Worship ll I

religious practice and not margina.[ E
to publrc religious life or subordinare to or
dependenr on male ki. or ma[J l."f each inscriptional corpus, I have classified individual female donors as "religious
igio,,,
almost alwavs refer to rhem as autonomous "r,honr,
,n.
records of rvoment gifrs donors" "queens," or "other female donors" and individual male donors as "religious
agenrs, capable ofacquiring, possessing, ff donors," "kings," or "other male donors."
and alienating properry withour p"rr.rirrio,.,
in wl'rich women's gifcs are made and'r"cora.J,
.r.-i.,,;;;...
from others.g The manner IE; Among the Buddhist inscriptions, there seem to be three records of gifts made
object of rhern find exacr para,ers t"-rl'"
,i.
,rr,ronce of their gifrs, and the E
by "religious donors"-people termed, in this case, ciramana (= Skt. Sramana)-
,"r..,0,r"o.r, ,hr, record rhe gifts of men.
The evidence for female patronage oiHlnd, two men and a woman (see table 9.3).tl 411 three have donated images of standing
Tamilnadu clearly
instirurions and worship in meciieval $ Buddhas, which are datable to the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. The Buddhisr
indicarcs thar-*om".,l *r,ttr..r h
behavior was nor constrained inscriprions provide no evidence ofrbyal patronage, although, given the small size
by the rrorms enshrined in the Dharma(&s;.iJ,;,';
which women! limited rights
to properry and rhcir dependent rerigious of this inscriprional corpus, it is unwise to draw very definite conclusions. Apart
iderrtity effectivery precrude the possibirity
of rhis extensive and auronomous gifr giving from rlre three "religious donors," al[ of the other sponsors of Buddhist images are
The lack of fir benv
on ,1.," por, oi rvornen. F "orher donors," male or female, and, from the records of rheir gifts that we can
l;
a pparen r ror
"a
Jai
coruiderable encouragement
n,
a,,a'i;,,'i'Jiil:* l':
for women a
Hl l:U ii, J:Iil:, :: I,fi :f,::
:.
. *r,*irr support, in the form of a.ns
f il
E
dare, the bulk fall in the rhirteenth century, when, as we have seen, female donors
are rvell represented. Because of the nature of these Buddhist inscriptions, as very
given ro mendicanr monks and "n lrlr,r",ial
nuns or *"* short "[abels" engraved on bronze images, we are provided with virrually no
charirable giving, or ddna, is regardecr
donations; indeed, such information about the donors other than their names. It is interesting to note,
as an important rerigious activiry. H
Tlre medieval Thmir inscriptions sho*,tr, ",.,r.*.r, howeveq that the women\ names are not distinctively "Buddhist"; in facr, in many
u",i-'r"or"cn and men were, facr,
i"a,.",.;;;;;;r., from the normarive in
involved i.r this acrivirry but rheyalso E cases they are identical to the names of female donors mentioned in Hindu
in several respects. First, arthough ,t. parrem inscriptions-including names of Hindu goddesses (e.g., Umai = Uma, Tukkai =
p.i.u.yliL..,, of the Jain and Buddhisr texts
concemed rvith danzr is on parronage H Durg:)-and the men's names have a more Buddhist flavor (e.g., Qtiputtira
a few of
of monks and nuns, the gi{ts recorded bv
inscriptioru are almosr entireiy il,.sipporr
an image' In the case ofthe Buddhisr'.ria""..,"f
tl.re
;;;;p, f";,hlH;;;;r,"0.*,il.i, It'
Il = Sariputra, Tlrmmasenan = Dharmasena).
"Religious donors" are more prominent in Jain inscriptions than in Buddhist
s
ii,ilcan be clearly be atrribured to
the characrer of the extant inscriptional Ii and Hindu records. Of rhe 282 Jain inscriptions in which the donor's identity is
inscriptional evidence, too, indicates
it is striking that rhe Jain
-r,".irrl-u, evident, 25 (g(/o\ record gifts of "religious women" and 59 (217o) record gifcs of
ascericism'10 This pararlers
m".h €,;;;;r;port
of devotionarism than of "religious men." Thus, "religious donors" are mentioned in almosr a third of all
what is found rL ,t" ii'"i, i"...,p,ion..-rt.r,'ilr'r,r rI
three religious tradirions, th.. i.*.ip,io.,rr'lr,a'""..'r*rests Jain donative inrcriptions, whereas the comparable figures are 7o/o for Buddhisr
monasteries or maths, received patronage
that shrines, and not ,l
inscriptions and less than 5% for Hindu irtscriptions. I use the rather vague terms
and that gods (or T-mharikaras or t.
and not. ascetics or guRrs' were Buddhas), "religious women" and "religious men" not only to provide a basis for comparison
receiving offeri,rg"s. Second, rhe I
texts exhort members of the.lairy,o.rigrg" Jain and Buddhisr among the different retigious traditions but also because the ways in which tl-re
nuns are always depicted as the
," Ii,g.*
giving, while monks and
f1 inscriptions identify these people are not in conformity with the terminology and
recipienr-s Jf arr", i"r, rhe Tamil T]
different story in which rerigious pr,."-"g. inscriprions tell a clear-cut deftnitions of "religious" status (in terms of ordination or initiation, for
evidence for the involve.".,i
,;;i ;;
excrusivery rav acrivirv. The
I
I example) that are presented in the normative texts. For example, Jain "religious
of *o.,k, ,ii I
stronger for Jainism than for ";";i;;:;eligious,, men and women) is
Bucldhism, ,, f"rri-i" 'l;i
women" are not called "nuns" in the.Thmil inscriptions, but are referred to as
more surprising, given the tT,r::"..:
,f,. Thmil counrry, but it is also kuractis ("teachers," from Skt. gurus) or mdryikkildr ("srudens," related to Tc. rruini,
on-nonpossessio a (apmigolw)as
of rhe Jain mendicant rife', Finally a central feature found in the Hindu inscriptional context referring to brohmacdins, or male celibare
,r,"ili" .-J]ial* texs (and panicularly
those in the Digambara tradition, students). ForJain "religious men," we find the parallel terms kuroqar ar.d ma4al<J<nn,
*rrtJ r'i..rr'; il. been the dominant form of
Jainism in medievar Thmirnadu) impose;" as well as aciriyilw ("teacher," from Skt. raarya) and terms meaning "ascetic" (e.g.,
;;: or ,i.,r,.,io.,, on nuns thar would
aa1asikal, oohdgjyar).14 Jain religious women are particularly prominent as donors
seem ro have the effect of diminirt
ing rr,.i. p"ur,.'ruit-,or,a, and activiry f
that of their male countemaftsr2-yerJ-ain rerarive ro in the eighth century when they are mentioned in twenty-one ( 20%) of all donarive
a"i B;;il;"r.ligious women,, are presenr
in the medieval ramil inscriptioru and inscriptions (see table 9.2). Jain religious men are present in equal numbers in the
r"pr".".,,"d* having a srarus and access to
material resources comparable *ith eighth century and also constitute a very substantial presence among nlnth century
An examinarion of the,various types
those of "rei;;;; ."".,, donors, mentioned in more than 40% of donative inscriptions, whereas the number
of doriors referred to in the inscriprions
will fill out our picture of th. .cruarii of female religious donors drops off abruptly after che eighth century. Even though
and help us ro see how ir differs
.i *;;";';rrticipation in religious tife they make a relatively brief appearance, religious women outnurnber other types of
fr; ;il";-;g;'o-,.ir.o by normative rexts, how
it may differ from riren's invorvement, female donors. t00e find a few queens-the daughters and wives of Chola rulers-
Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist institutions ""il";J';;;"ms of female parronage to mentioned as patrons in the Jain inscriptions of the ninth to eleventh centuries.
*"y t different shapes. within
".,.'ot"n There are more references to kings than ro queens, but most of the kingly donations

I
 ( (,( { (
( (({ ( ( (( ( { ( { ( {
( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( i'i i..i t
I .l
: i,,. l
l. t, ,: ..: . .,., i-t_rWcr '
",.-
Women's \?ealrh and Worship 133
were rather late in the medieval period,
in the sixteenth century. Among ,,other
female donors".in the
Jain inscriprio^s are women who are ,a.",,n.i'r, iiu*",*..,
Not only is the range of types of female donors similar in the case of each of
or wives, including the rvives of chiefs
and merchants. After the.l"r.;;i;:";;r.y, the three traditions but also the kinds of religious activities that rvomen's gifts were
rhe Jain inscriptions scarcely-menrio.,
,.,y r"*"t. aonors, but the numbers of rnale designed to support in each case. These activities are, in rhe great maiority ofcases,
donors-and rhe number oiJain inscripti""r-rl* associated with rvorship-with producing images and building shrines, with bathing
a*rndre in the later medieval
period. and adoming images, with arranging for offerings of lamps, food, and flowers, and
In the case of trre Hindu inscriprions, the classificarion with employing service personnel rvho were charged rvith preparations for and
of "rerigious donors,,
includes people of a somervhar different
.t officiation of worship.ts This focus on the patronage of worship rvas characteristic
Buddhist inscriptions, who, even if they ^.r.r.,
?.o* thor. ..n,ioi"J;"il of rvonen of all rypes--queens or commoners, "religious" or not-and of men, ancl
".
are .ro, ,.f....d to as,.nuns, and,,monks,,,
appear to be renuncianrs of some ,o.r-
T}r. female patrons of Hindu institutions it was characteristic of donation wherher in the Hindu, Jain, or Buddhist context.
classed as"religious women,,are those whorn l r.r* ,,r"*pt. I have discovered only one difference in donative style and purpose among the
women,, and who are
frequently referred to as deuadisrs.rs t" three traditions, among different types of donors, or betrveen male and female doriors.
,h.-*",ji"r"r rr*iL r"*.,pir""], ,n.',".*
used mosr often for rhese women is
rcuaratiydr, "devotee of god.,,r include in This difference relates to the expression, in a small proportion of the Hindu and
the
category of Hindu "relipious women,, women
referred to by"this *;*i;;"r;;r;n, Jain inscriptions, of the wish thar the merit generated by the gift be transferred to
makal "daughter of god"i and women
who .r. a.r.lli"a in rhc inscriptio.,, another. l9
'of thc ternple" or as performing some u"ing Among the 208 inscriptions recording gifrs by "other female donors" ro Hindu
n r.ri." l" ii. ",
temple. ,,Religious men,,
the Hindu conrexr ,r. .ef"rr"Jto Uv in insritutions, rve findsuch a transfer of merit in 16 cases. In 14 of rhe 16 cases, the
, aif"r"", ,r.rg" of rerms (some of whic[_r,
bearing the meanings of "teacher" o. ,t...,i.-ll-*.rlp *ith thoo';:.i'r";;;," woman specifies that the spiritual benefit arising from her gift be transferred to a
"religious men"), but they, like th.i, relarive---6 times to a son, 4 times to her husband, twice ro her mother, once to a
fe-ore .ouir,".pr*r, are also classed as
"religious" by virtue of being "of the
tempr.;; * ,.,ir. in various roles (e.g., daughter, and once to a brother. Expressions of the desire to transfer the merit ofa
priest, drummer, or gardener) in the temple, as gift are not found in inscriptions recording the gifts of temple wornen or queens to
Vartly *or. religious;;;i;; ifi;r,
women are me'rioned in Hindu inscriptions, Hindu insritutions. We do find such expressions in che case of rnale donors-
religious women are at least as numerous
but, chroughlh. thir,...rth .;;?;r, althougl'r, again, not in the case of Hindu religious men or kings-in 94 of the
as religious men as donors (see table
9'l)'10 4*5o.'gh religious women are not 1,458 records of the gifts of "other rnale donors" in support of I-lindu worship. But
as numerous as orher types of female
parrons to Hindu insrirutions, as we
saw in the rhe transfer of merit is, in two-thirds of these cases, directed torvard the benefit of
particularly prominent among female Jain case, Hindu ,.*pi" *.*." ,*
donors il th. thi.t.".,ti;;; nonrelatives, particularly the king and other men.20 Alchough male and female
centuries, queens were very much in evidence ;;;il". patrons of Hindu institutions express the desire to transfer thc merit of their gifts
as donors. In the tenth and eleventh
centuries, the wives and daughters of wirh about the same frequency ( in the case of 60z5 to 7olo of the donations recor&d),
Chola rulers made up more,f..r" r',fri.i .irff
female donors, and their gifr-giving
activity ."""1rJ"*.a that of kings. Afrer this we see a striking difference rvith respect to the beneficiary they name.
period, nrale royal parronage be-cam9 The patrern ofgifu that support Jainism is, once again, different. Jain religious
..t",i""fy ,ig"in""r,t o.,ly i., ,t.,? ,fr',.,*"rf,
and subsequent cenruries,
larricularry i" ,r-r" nr*!.,n and sixteenth centuries in worren and religious men were involved in the rransfer of the rnerit of their gifts
the era of the vijavanagara and Nayal
*r.". I-r. *";ority of female supporters in a way that is not seen in their I{indu counterparts. Three of rhe 59 inscriptions
Hindu institutio* o.,J Hindu worship ,.r. of that record gifts made by Jain religious men express the wish that the merit be
;;i;i;; temple women nor queens,
but were "other femare donors"-incluai"g transferred to another (in two cases, male relatives, including a brother and a
wives of landowners and merchan*, -."ru... of local chiefly families, the
nephew). But lt isamongJain religious women that the frequency of such expressions
nrrm'i" *"*.n", a.rd palace women.lT These
especially acrive d;";;;;';il is at its highest: 7 of the 25 records of thesc women's gifcs (28%)-transfer the
as pe,iod of the ninii ,r.,..,cl
;lf,'i :."#;.Xere merit of the gift to another. It is also noteworthy that none of the beneficiaries of
the merit of Jain religious women's gifts is said to be her relative, and all of the
. - )A:" we compare the partems of woment religious parronage revealed in the
Hindu, Jain, and Buddhisr inscriptions, beneficiaries are male. Even if we consider that Jain religious women might have
*" ,.. ,h'" i.rrorvement of a varietv of
types of women in all three donative
*"**r.. rlr. o;,r".r*;;'";;;i::1":. renounced connectiors with their families (although, as we have just seen, Jain
whose gift giving is directed
io*ra',i."*ro*, of one or another of religious men did not), we would expect that they would honor their preceptors-
"r.lurir.ly
the three traditions is the caregory of "iemale religious donor,,: the Hindu temple most of rvhom, acconCing to the inscriptions, were female-by bestowing on them
woman pa*onizes onlv Hindu.institutioru, the merit of their donations. Indeed, one of the beneficiaries of the merit o[a Jain
the
Jain worship, and the only.reference,".'i;;;1"';;mana
Jaii religious ,"*r".;i;;;;;;. religious womant gift is a religious man, rvho may have been her teacher, but no
that we find is on an
image of a Buddha. Apan from
this, rhere i, inscriptions regisrer the transfer of merit to a Jain religious woman. Among the
"o."ia""* ttrt pr.ti"uir. arr"..f
wom€n, or women generally,,felt
especially drawn to provide *o*i i..-;;;;, Jain inscriptiors recording the gifu of "other female donors," only 1 (of 16) mentions
another of these religious tradirions. a rransfer of meric a rvoman, the wife of a shepherd, makes her husband the
beneficiary. "Other urale donors" to Jain irutitutioru transfer the merit of their
 ( ( (( (t (' (t (' (,( ( ( ( (.( (' (: ( ( ( (; ( ( I (
t:
(((( ( (

ft.: i ,.: .1.:

a'
I
'
]:
-
.:l
t: 1:r:: L:.,l
tt;
'l.t ' vJomin ind ['ower
gifts at a greater rare (arrhough
nor as orien, proponionarcry, as
iffi Women's Weakh and Worsh4r ll5
women). Tivenry of rhe. I59
inscriptions ,nr, ,"tr,l ,h.irl,r*
Jain rerigrous ones, that linked rhe religious virtuoso to the world were decried as unfortunate, if
.;riil,t",a*irn
that merit be cransferred,
in both cases, the donor,s 1.d ""rv;;;;i.^,i"'i"iipr.n, of the merit a rerative-
father.
T^e norion of the rransfer of merir
ffi incvitable, signs of spirirual decline.24 When we have such ideas as these in the
background and turn our gaze on medieval India's religious practice, we are likely
to fail to find what we are [ooking for or wifl regard what we do see with little
as an aspect of rerigious donation
by patrons of borh Iain and
Hindu t"r,,,*..r,
is shared appreciation, as we focus on rvhat we perceive as the self-interest of patrons-
the two cornmunities of patrons, we see differences betwecn
seeking local fame, personal welfare, and gain-or the manipulation and greed of
of nonretigious ;;;';b
bestow merit on rheir familv
";il;h;;;;.;"
sreater concern, rerative
"i,Lugh

members. ii; f;:;;;, rhis

,liil.il *,'j1'"'j,"iJ;:,:::T ffi those who accepted gifts on behatf of the temple, shrine, or rnonastery.2S
Gift giving is not ignored in the normative texts, but the transactions described
found in inscriptions that notion of rnerir transfer is
record the gifts in the earlier texts are almost invariably gifts made to people-to Brahmins and
that ir is a concepr of relevance
;; "rrr,, ,.'r,gi"rs women and rnen indicares
;;i;';;;.'lr"i,y,, ascetics, monks and nuns-and these gifa always flo* from the person of loyi:r
bu, arso to members of
religious elites in medieval
in only a fraction of rhe
Tat il""j; ;;1,".*.,rr"rgl, ir is
Jain ,"a ni"ar'i,.r;;;;;r, this shared
exphcitly expressed ffi religious status toward hlm (or, very occasionally, her) ofsuperior status. The later
textual traditions betray ongoing tensions and adaptations linked to the activity of
us with an idea of rhe s.irirual
,is"ir;;;.;;;;".i;;.r, parronage notion provides $trr gift giving as they attempc to resolve such issues as whether a gift to a temple can,
In medieval tmilnadu,,ma[ing gifts
important religious acrivity.
in general.2r
;;;;;r, worship was an exrremely ,' in the absence of a recipient, be considered dina in rhe strict sense, whether a gift
r, i. at..?.rigi"rr rltatr,r, mosr in whose substance or rvhose donor is of questionable purity can be accepred, or
an-o.n.usric inscriptionar record, evidence in rhe 'r.ffil whether a gift to a recipient who is unworthy can nonetheless be meritorious.26 In
{r1clat i.".*;; the participation of members rfrffil
ot every religious community
and vinually "# the context of these discussions, two problems seem perennially resistant ro
inscriptionat record-sheph*dr, ";;;;;;" of person represented in the ,'ffii resolution: the firsr is that the most worthy donee is the person who is most loath
-;;;ilI;;j;;';..rr, Brahmins, queens and
kings, teachers, priesrs, r"a
Indian religious life' gift giving
*..r*.'i**r"ri.rJr,o,ions and interpretarions
is deprecatej J;;.. merit making, part of the
of ffi to accept gifts, and the second is that the greatest benefit is realized by the donor
who makes a gift in the spirit of complete relinquishment of benefit. One solution
inferior religious parh fotLweiuv to these problems, which emerges in the literature of all three traditions considered
,tr"r. *irrt"* ,h. oppo.runiry or artainmenrs
t^at would alrow trrem ro pursue
results in an exrremely narrow
a higher spirituri*rr- r believe
view or.rr.
that trris judgment ffi here, as well as in scholarly analyses of religious patronage, centers on the notion
of the king as paradigmatic patron. Because it is the dharma, or religious duty, of
experience and misleads us -.."i"f lt o.turl religious pracrice and the king ro promore and protect religious institutions, the difficulties associated
inro thinking .i,^.l'*r,";;;;;:
incltrding fioures who, ,, b;;;:
;"-;;i;ffi;_ ,#' with self-interest in gift giving are dissolved; meanwhile, such patronage is regarded
religious drama is o"rrr'rl00".,,., roles while rhe central as appropriate on the part of its beneftciaries, inasmuch as the mutually supportive
by orhers.
"r,r.,"-o
This image and assessment of Indian alliance between king and Brahmin or king and monk can provide a framework
retigious rife have raken root for
of reasons. First, of course, rhere a number within rvhich religious virtues and behaviors are encouraged.z? But there still seems
that has characterized che,study
;;;;;r,f..1ir.,..
o ,h. on rextual evidence ffi,
.rrrJ"" ..1rg,."r1 ,n,, partem of schorarship to be a gap between these systems of ideas about gift giving and the ways that gift
found even amons anrhropologists. ':w giving works in practice. The ideals and meanings related to religious patronage
undersranding of thr ch'ract",
L*ir";;*""t, tor example, whoseis
of indirn r;;;;# that are found in the normative texts cannot fully explain che religious significance
hisinterpretation on the no.*r,i".'r"1,, "r.,dbeen extremely influentiar, of donative activity in medieval Tamilnadu, where institutions and not individuals
1r: l::.0
rhe economic realm-the rearm,,ithin .o.,.lrd"s, therefore, that
are being patronized, where the king does not act as the premier patron, where
can have no religious significance
*rri.rrlrr.l"rge
is of necessiry based-
oreven social importance.z2 A Jain and Buddhist "religious" figures act not only as recipients but also as donors of
reason for the devaluation second and relared gifts, where donors do not enrirely relinquish their gifts but as worshipers are able
of_r.ligrr.
fai;;;;;;,
of comparative assessmenrs
of the "material" and the "ir"a-ii
out-of the complex hisrory
r"]iii" $"ff,ff.]},"..f the porarized categories
ffi to continue to enjoy the use of what has been given, and where women are
prominent as sponsors of worship-a female role about which the normative texts
"spirituar,' *hi.h *;;" i*;rtanr in the deveropment
colonial, rndorogicar, and India.,;,.;;il;,il;i,lli'*. of are silent.28
of the nineteenth cenrurv emersence in the course
,i. Perhaps because of the radical definition of renunciation within the Jain
wore whollv "spiritual" had "r ".ii"" ,ffiil;
rhe .n3.-,-Ji.rri",
culrurar genius and identity ffi tradition and the apparent incommersurability of Jain ascetic values with the wealth
Indiat religions. This notion Ir'i.i-r,,o., on rhe ,,inner trurhs,,of
inspired, ." .n" l,'rr], .rch scholarly of pious lay Jains, the gift giving of contemporary Jains in westem India has recently
Max webert analysis of India,s productions as attracted scholarly attenrion. In the works of Reynell, Banks, Babb, Cort, and
*iici"* hira;""j,]" *r" reform movemen*
within Hinduism, fainism. ,na Laidlaw, an effon has been made to examine Jain religious goals and religious
aiaanir*;'J;;'h, ro "rf,er, rerrieve an
authentic religious .*..,...
t" U.rl, *""r,',fr.:.r#*'.Adly', life of original and meanings from a perspective other than that of the renunciant in order to take
was idealized; the externals
were "f
*firi""r'prr.#;:;.i as the worship
deprecated as ratter-day accretions;
and the relationships, incruding
the renunciant
of images, ffi seriously the apprehension of laypeople that they are, indeed, "real" Jains, whose
religious activities are nor inferior to those undertaken by the nun or monk, or
economic
#i necessarily dependent on the presence and authoriry of members of the mendicant

1il
 ( r ( r"( (((r(
(
(( I
t
( ' : ::. a
t

( ( ( ( .(,(.(,,(, .( ti t.-,
t

,' ,1 ,t,1 l',',: !:-.:' i.;:'-' t': rI, : !i

I
+i - Women's Wealth and VorshiP 117
:t [..i, tr*1,
the "official" of nun' as described in the I
orders.29 Here we begin to see the possibility of a positive evaluation of the religious there were women rvho fit into :Itcoy. r

significance of gift giving, including the building of remples, the corsecration of lain texts. But rvhen tt l"tk""'il"
*"Jt"t'f Tairil inscriprions' we do not Iife'
find
Ve x
tvpes of women acti'e in religious I
images, and the sponsorship of worship. Such patronage does not have to be regarded ,r.h,ro*..t; instead, *t di;:;;;t;therfi"i rvomen; we do not find wonren
do not find female priests, ;;;;;
i
temPle l
as auxiliary or incidencal to more fundamental religious practices and can, indeed, rvomen' as
be viewed as embodying rhe highest Jain values and conducing to the highest who seem to be "rea[" "'"t' il;
;t ;o find femate Jain teachers' These markers of
i

bt"t titles and various other

spiritual goals, inasrnuch as giving is renunciation.lo Furthermore, providing, through thev are represented i" th; ;;";;;"'' i

u":
:Ys j:r::,:il::ffitJ :iJ:,i::
i

the estabhshrnent of shrines and images and services, rhe opporrunity for orhers to ,'i.i, o"ui,ii,,.r."o*t"ds;.';'i;til' """'' women
i

reap the benefirs of worship surely cannot be regarded as wholly self-serving.3l ,rta af "t as men do lndeed' i[ we focus on loom large in [he normarive texrs and i

These perspectives on the religious meanings of the patronage of worshlp would men have played in '"tigioiiii*-'o1t"tt"t filled-we l
of rhe inscriptilns' have' in fact'
that men, according to th;;;;"^;;y
'
seem useful in our efforts to understand the pattems of religious activity that we
had ontv a marginal religious status',4
have the strong impresi";;h*;;;;;t"
i
territorv i' dtfitttd' lf instead
l-rave discerned in medieval Tamih-radu. of
But marginality atpt"J' o" how the
I

Cift giving, becausc it is a social transaction or because it takes place rvithin

I

and Buddhist "religious

tf't"
I

Hindu' Jain'
considering th. t"ligio"-"ti'''it"'-
Tamil societv-were not engag€d in'
an institutionat framework, is almost by definition a public act and one chat may we I

$omen"-and o,h"' *o"l"i^ *"Jr*"r

i
be highly ritualized.3? Certainly the donative activity recorded in the Tamil complerely differenr. rf, instcad I

Iook at whar rh.y a.rurllyir"r.

ao,rrr, rhe picture is i
inscriprions has arr extremely public character. At the same time, gift giving can in what we regard as kev religious
and should also be regarded as a private, individual, and interior religious matter.ll of seeking evidence f"' *;;:;;;1;i;*" o(keys can
are open to seeing that a number
The public narure of rhe religious gift does not exhaust its significance or reveal its roles-priest, ascetic' 3nd msnk-rve there were many
activity' we will discover that
motive. \')7e have already seen how religious giving can be experienced and unlock the meanings "f ';ii;i;tt
significance we are iust beginning
considered as an acr of renunciation and an act of selflessness. In the conrext of people playing .,tht' the normative texts'
'o*'"of""]t*''lptopld'*t'ose that
to appreciate. ff *" oi"^g'gt i'[*'tttt
assumPtion
the religion of devotion of medieval Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, patronage groups, represenr what is
rerigious.erite
ofworship expresses the core religious values ofservice, honor and reverence, and authored by male ^.**iJiorrticular for all time' we can begin to
dedication of oneself. If rhe past resembles the present, it is likely that private or essential and authoritat;;;
il;""ditioris and
;;;; life as it has existed in real time
domestic ritual-abour which the inscriptions are silent-had many points of draw another ,vpt or *"i"tt'; ';ligious shows that women
and space. This map, *hich
hat tttigiot" patronage at its center'
sirnilarity with the worship activities conducted in temples and that similar religious
values were embodied in both rhe public and private spheres. Thus, religious gift were far from marginal'
giving may be regarded as an activity thar bridges the public and the private, the
exterior and interior aspects of religious self-expression. It is significant that women
v/ere among those who had the ability to participate, through gift giving, not only Noces
at Concordia
in private but also in public religious life. studenrs in rhe Department of Religion
I arn grateful to my colleagues and on an earlier version of
The medieval Thrnil inscriptions document one particular field of religious
University for their ""',tittt"'f'f:;;;;;'"" 1"i."'lgnpl.comments
sharing with me her unpubtished
activity; they do nor reflect the totality ofreligious life. They do not give us access this oaper. I would also to tft^'ii Sttison Banks Findly for
to the religion of the household or to the religion of the poor, nor do they tell us
i:,
l\yo..r,,. w.rl,t ,.,a iii;;;ilr; (forrhcomine), and for discussing with me
very much about the particular activities of ascetics and religious teachers, whose
Iil *ork,
various issues related to *orn""t
religious patronage; thltt
"*th"ngtt
have been of
paper'
lack of visibiiity is rather surprising, given their prominence in later accounrs of help to me in working out iht id""t P*::-"t* in this
considerable
l's+ixor' l' Leslie (le8e)' pp' 41-41' 110-
t. Kane (lelo-le6z),;;'';:4:;ils'
this period and their'apparent embodiment of authotitative and traditional religious pp' 107-41; Iamison (1996)' pp 36-
o"iis94)'
ideals. But, with respect ro rhe field that the inscriptions do document-a public
F l5,3lB-21; olivelle (1991),;;' ii+-so'
I
in the Temple" (rorthcomins)'
and "official" territory-they indicate that the major feaure of Hindu, Jain, and ;: ,it;;: 1ea-e5, b", "wo*"n
irdil'H"er (le?5 reprint' tel0)' Falk (1e80)'
Buddhist religious life was parronage of worship. If we accept that rhis donative 2. Deo (1e56), sh"""ii;;;i'i;',.' Tamilnadu" (forthcoming)'
errty'Vf"ai.r"l
On,Iain and Hindu.R.ligiJ \U"*'.;'i., have stressed the antiparhv
activity was, indeed, central and that it was, as I have previously argued, religiously I . 3. Most accounts tf th:il;;i;o'Ii i"di""
"tigionsthe earlv medieval period' ln
meaningful, then it is impossible to view women as marginal. t"ditio*in
ii and conllict berween "Ht"d;;;;il*'odo*" Tamilnadu in the fifth and sixth
The normative texts of Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism and scholarly these accounts, heterodox
ti#; ;;at^iiiit way to a
understandings of the character of Indian religion, as well as contemporary standards ii
centuries, during a shadowv o"lJ'mt*"
* the "Kalabhra interregnum"'but gave accounts
'i1t

tti"*'t*a over ]ainism and Buddhism' These

for evaluating the assignment ofgender roles, have encouraged us to look for women t, Hindu "revival,'*hith ultifittJy by drc
in particular types of religious roles. For example, in a quest for evidence of women's ll seem to be influenced U, il'll*],*.
1"i* r"a Buddhists expressed
".Ir"J.-.o*"a
tt.if' to ninrh centuries' the A[vars and rhe Nayanmers'
"official" parricipation in Hindu religious life, we mighr rry to seek out women Vaisnava and Saiu" po"t-*i''t litftt there is little
l, struggle agairst heterodoxv. But
who played roles equivalent to those of the renunciant or priest that are authorized who are taken ,o u" 1."a.o'i"ai^;;;.i".r po"ices were so radicallv opposed
for men in the Dharmasiuras or the dgamas, or we might attempt to discover if t, evidence that Hindu and'hj::;'";;iil;;-a"'i' ""i
;-.- t.
4i..'.;ttc", i-

i:1
 ( ( ( ( ( ('(', ( (
( (" ( ("(' ( ( ( ( ( (
(, (t (r ('(, (, (" ( (' ( (' ( , t...-
{ ,,'
.-.
i' -:r r: :, l- " I:.:i

t.i t , -l ',J ..: .,tr a1,.. i'Ow&i'-

'Women's
Wealth and Worship 139
to one anorheq that Hindu and''heterodox"
forces formed embattled camps, or
and Buddhism suffered defeat. The facr that Jai.ism 6. The eight study areas are-from north to south-Kanchipuram raluk (Chingleput
,1,r, ,i,"-a.".ri.nal poetry of rhe Alvers
and the districr), linrkkoyilur taluk (South Arcot district), Chidambaram taluk (Sourh Arcot district),
Nayanrndrs has parallels in rhe very simila.
,"".k';i.;;;;*J;i;iJJ;::ffir:li-" Kumbakonam mluk (Tanjavur disuict), llruchimpalli taluk (f iruchirappalli disrrict), Kulattur
demonsrrates both rhe r..embranies ,i.-,rJninn, ,na the survivar of heterodox
religion As I will show in this chapter,"-ong taluk (1-iruchirappalli district-former Pudukkottai State), Madurai and l/elur taluks (Madurai
,h.;,".;;i:;;i"r." b"r* simirar testimony. district), and Kovilpatti and Ambasamudram taluks ('lirunelveli district). ln the case of
For brief descriptions of the
Jain and Buddhist devotionar literature in Thmir, see these "Hindu inscriptions," as also for the ]ain and Buddhist onu, I have used only those
Nagaswamy (1975); Vijayavenugopal (1929),
pp. Si_SZ, r"a Kandaswamy, (l9Bl).
work of rhe Alvars and the Nayarmis, see,';;.;;,il: On the inscriptions that have been published so that I could refer to the fulI texr of the inrription.
*.rks, Hardy ( pererson l98l) and I would like to thank Steven Engler, Paul Hammett, Philip Moscovitch, and Michelle Folk
(I 989).
For other descriprions of the character for their assistance in my work with the inscriptional material on whiclr this chapter rs
ofJainism and Buddhism in medieval Tamilnadu brserl.
and discussions of rhe interactions of
these t.aditio,rs *ith Hinduism, refer
Chakravarti (19?4); Rao (19?9); Arunachrh; ro Desai (195?); 7. I have rclied on Ramachandran's rvork-although it is more than fifty years.old
'Jain Worship in Medieval titr"d{
ai;r;);;itai
(r980);
Richnran (1988); Orr, and heavi[y rveighted toward the representarion of activiries at a single sire-because it is
( f"r,i..,"i;;j; orr, .Jain arrd Hindu ,Religious
!,omen" (forthcoming); Davis, "The case still the most comprehensive and systematic documentation of Tamil Buddhisr material
of the Disaipearing jains: Retefiing the evidence available. A great deal of further work remains to be done, rvhich would be of
)ain Encounrer in Medievar s,outh India" (f;r,h..;*gi:'rnd pererson, ,,sramarras saiva-
asainst corsidcrable value; there are, for example, a large number of Buddhist stone images fronr
and Buddh isa i,,h. Hy;;, ;;',# t,n,r S",". s"l" J ii",iffi *rl,
.1; I:lilllrllns Tamilnadu, scattered in museums around the world, that could be caralogued and examined
for inscriptions (see Dehejia, 1988, pp. 53-74).
4. The differences among inscriptions I am classifying as.,Hindu,,,,Jain,,,or ,.Buddhist,,
are very minon In most cases, my crassification 8. On, "Women in che Temple, the Palace, and the Family" (forthcoming).
i, brsej
inscription-the setting in which it was engrar"d-be.rrs" entirery on,rr. .. ,._a or',n" 9. In some inscriptions of the twelfth and thineenrh ceflturies, wonren's involvement
ins€riprion, the name of rhe.donoq
.,.itt,", ,rr" ,.r*i".r"gr li,r.," in buying and selling land is mediated by an agent (mltu.kan), but this lack of independence
nor Je record,s ot i.., (tf," *f,*f.". r",*i,i, in property transactions is not cypical of women's donarive activity even in these centuries
supported and name ofthe being to be worshiped) ,.,U"
is dis;i;crivery Hindu, and virtually absent in other periods (Orr, "Women in the Temple, thc Palace, and rhe
I am equally anxious to avoid giving Jain, or Buddhist.
the ,*pr"",*',r-1",',h. .hupr.r\ di..ussion Family," forthcoming). There is, in my vierv, no reason to accept the suggestion of Miay
on "Hindu women,"'-fain women,';and is cenrered
"Buddhist *;;;,' inasmuch as I believe that our Nath that the identification in inscriprions (e.g., in Jain records from lv{athura) of female
contemporary understandings of these
identities wi, misread ,, i. ou.
rhe activiries of most of the to ..^rrr"i..a donors as wives, mothers, and darghtes indicates "the gencral economic dependence of
rypes o[ women i" _.d;;;;i f","ifr"ar"*i,i';il;";:.r,.
"ffort, women on their menfolk, especially in matters of giftmaking" (Nartr, 1987). [n mcdieval
concemed' In other words, paronage is
not necessarily a marker of secra.,"" ,a."a,,, Tamil inscriprions, both men and women are identified with reference to kin (including
may be particularly mre when sectarian *inf,
distinctions are as indisrincr as the medievar female relatives); although these forms of identification may have considerable significance
inscriprions suggest. ramil
with respect to social and family organization, I do not believe thcy have much to tell us
5' inscriprions dating from the secona cenEury
B.c.E. to the fourth about economic relationships.
',mil'Brahmi
century c.E., which record the_gifts of cave shelrers an.
rock u"ari".""l., ;;;;" 10. ln this connection, we can contrast rhe focus on supporr of worship that
found in the far south of Thmirnadu; ,r*,"rgi
identuy of-these nronks, they are now generally
ir,... i.,r] u"." scholarly debate about the characterizes the Jain inscriptions of medieval Tamilnadu with earlier Tamil inscriptions,
consiclered ro have been which u,ere exclusive[y concerned rvith donations to monks (see n. 5) or rvith medieval Jain
Buddhists (Mahadevan, 1995, pp. Jains rarher rhan
173-s8). In ihe rnidnineteenth cenrury rhere were inscriptions from neighboring Karnataka, whictr refer a gteat deal mo.e frequently to ascetic
remains of a Buddhist ,,pagoda,' some
at Nagapargir.ram, il, ;il;; ,"*,ure seems, judging by the practices, such as the Jain fast to death, and to the suppon of Jain ascetics (Orr, "Jain
style of ia consrrucrion, to have beerispor*J'rrr" non-rna,rn Buddhist. This sire has Worship in Medieval Tamilnadu," forthcoming).
yielded
a very large numb.r ofbronz-,."1g". tr, not, evidently, any archirecturar
:ub*:*ll,
remains (Ramachandran,
ll. Although the picrure of Buddhism in medieva[ tmilnadu is so far very sketchy,
1954, pp. 13_25). There i;;." more success at the site there is considerable irscriptional cvidence from outside Thmilnadu that Buddhist monks
Kaveriyartinam, where excavationi of
huu" sriJno, monasrery and temple that and nuns acted as patrors of religious gifts, as well as recipiens (see, e.g., Schopen, 1984,
seem ro dare from the perio<l
of ,f,. ^.or"..a ^
ttrira to if,.
.about
associared with these srructures (soundara
.ifh-,h ..rr,rriof;-i.n.,.;;ilr;;" pp. I 10-26; Schopen, 1988-B9, pp. I 53-68; Moscovitch, 1995, pp. 54-67; Singh, 1996, pp.
n"i"",lisar.'Frrth.,
north, in Kanchiputam, in 1-35. lndividual owneship on the part of]ain "religious" seems ro be a long-standing fearure
the vicinitv of the Kamaksi rample,
archaeoril; ir;r"';;Ji a snttery shard inscribed of Tamil Jainism: the early Tamil-Brehmi irscriptions indicate that rhe donated dwelling
Brdhmi characters thrt ",n^v represent with
th. i"me or r-nuaarrir, monk,,, places rvere transfered into the possession of individual renunciants, who were most likely
"possibly forming part of
, Buddi isr,f,.i".1;, .r"pf-li""l*u.,r..,,daring some srructures
from the early Jains (see n. 5). \7e seem not to find evidence for religious giving by Jain rnonks and nuns
centuries of the first millenium, and ,,a
small .ir..tr.-.,ru.,u.., perhaps serving outside Tamilnadu (Orr, "Jain and Hindu 'Religious Women,"'forthcoming). In che context
basemenr of a votiue stuoa " d2ring as the
f; ;f;;; ;',i.'rou.,t, to ninth centuries (La[, of Tamil Jainism, I prefer to use the expressions "religious women" and "religious men"-
1973, pp. 34-15; Deshoa.a"
]Dli, pp. izJ;t.'m. i.l.irifi.rtio., of these rather than "nuns" and "monks"-bccause the inscriptions do not use these latter terms.
Buddhist seems rather s'recrlrtive, materials as
alrriough ,u"lk.o* .ir, irr,.t ip,r."m was 12. For the Digambara posirion on women\ (minimal) eligibiliry for pursuing the path
Buddhist cenrer in m.ji"url times an important
and rh"t *," fa*at 9i ,u*pt", built of the true mendicant, seeJaini (1991). Digambara "nuns" are not,.in fact, admitted to full
century conmins a huge cache in rhe fourreenrh
ofBuddhist images (Srinivasan, 1960). ordination. The Svetdmbaras are much more open to women's panicipation in the renunciant
life; in fact, Svetambara nuns outnumber monks ih lndia today (Laidtaw, 1995, pp. 5G58).
 ( ( ( ( { '( ( (( r.'-i
(( f (,r :::-: -..,
{
i:::::
(
'.1
l':-
i.r'-.'
(
i::.,i
!
|.

((( ( I .'l t:'i

E:'r
l-r
I -- l-:-.1 i':' i"': i. .- ! 1::

(( ', Women's'!0ealrh and \?orshiP i41

J ti [i l,..ln.,.Lo,ri, rJ.,;.i
may refer to religious merit-rs in the context
It is Falk (1980) who first argued that the extra rcstrictions on Buddhist nuns and their to the donor- Another way in which inscriptions
.*p."r.iott' th" ot occasion appended to the record of a gift' including
subordinarion to the authority of rnonks had the effecr over time of preventing them from ;;;r; il;il "tt *o.,.t the terms of the grant and phrases that describe
gaining pub{ic standing as leachers and of receiving adequate material support, so that the imprecatiors againsr those *nnl*ta
protmtos of endoulnents' A very small proportion
nuns'order in India eventually died out. the merit attaching to donors ancl to the
expressiom' Apart from rhese types of refererlces
11. Of the three inscriptions, the one referring to a female citamam is most definitely of medieval Thmil inscripriorolttf'a" *tft
corpus of Hindu inscriptions suweyed here
a
to religios merit, in u ,1o"" ot in the
indicarive of rhe "religious" sratus of the donor. I-ler name is Ciri (= Skt. -{ri). In the orher 'oL* causing somcone's death' and in
eift is said to have been ,o'at " t*pi"ion for inadvenently
two inscriptions, the term ciramnrw cannot be so clearly made out, and in one of thse rwo, for the binh of a son
as well, the sex of the donor is not obviously male-
il" c;s:'.il i"""t n"a *'d" ' do^u'iot r a thank offering
sphere o[ activity which may property
l

22 "No doubr ,n"." i, i.tirrdi, today a distinct

14. For a more complete description and discussion of rhe characrer aud activitisof go,..n*tni o'hich made this possible' ' ' ' One
be called cconomic, t u, i, *., ii" Britirh
Jain rcligious women and men in medieval Tamilnadu, see Orr, 'Jain and Hindu'Religiors *'y tntotnp'*es politics' so. politrcs ctrcompasses economics
'Women"' (forthcoming). can say that iust as religion in
"
thri th. politico-economic domain is seParated' named' in a'
15. For details on "religious women" and "religious men" in the Hindu context of within irself. The difference is
while economics remains undifferentiated within
rnedieval Thmilnadu, see On (1995), pp. 109-36; Orr (1994); On, "Jain and Hindu'Religiots subordinate position as againsr religion'
politics. lndeed' o,..."^ itliJin in the Hindu textsr even if it receives less careful
Women"' (forthcoming); On, Donors, Deuotces and Daughter of God. "udl step further and raise the question of the
treatment than priesthood' ilt ;;;;
one
16. Although the area study whose findings are represented in rable 9.1 shows male (Dumont' 1972 pp' Z l0- I I ) ' Dumont ry-"-:."." to
merchant, the normative tex6 are silenC' '
religious donors as more numerous than female religious donors, this obscures the fact that,
ii, g.n",,llv *g"tive assessment of weber\ ideas' he approves of web':is
proqtionatzly, retigious women were much more likely to act as donors than were religiors ;;;i;;l;;ril activity and "heresy"and between
mercantile
men; in an earlier study, I calculated tlrat close to half of the inscriptions referring to Hindu norion ofa link, i., th. tnairri.o,irexL between in
of and Buddhism' This idea of a dichotomv
temple women record their activity as donors, but only 2% of those referring to religiors
il ;;;;t;;.;;i trade and rhtt rise Jainism
*""h'nt' the man tied to the land arrd
the religious culture of ,h" ;;t;li,;;is;tttJ-tht
men do so (Orr, "Jain and Hindu 'Religious \(/omen,"' forthcoming).
the city dweller,.or,..r'u""tt'J in o( rhe dichotomy of adherence-to Hindu or
17. Orr, "Women in the Temple, the Palace, and the Family" (forthcoming). "tt' les useful-than might be suggesred. by i:*:qYt"'
,,heterodox, rradirions ir, i" ;;;i"*, *uch
18. On, 1995; Orr, "Jain Worship in Medieval Tamilnadu" (forthcoming). [ndian religions' See Stein ( l9B0) and Reiniche
occurence in scholarship t" ift" iotot, * even
19. I suspect that ifwe are able in the future ro uncover more medieval Tamil Buddhist
(1985) for the application ;t" in the conrexr ofTamitnadu' lt should be clear'groups
materials, we will find evidence of the transfer of merit in the Buddhist donative contexr as "i;il p"tems presenred here' that merchatlt or urban
from the brief summary of puttot'ngt
wel[. Outside Tamilnadu, Buddhist inscriptions provide arnple documentation of this notion
were not especially a,o*.t t tttt"p'i'o*gt of ;"ini':'.::t
th" those dwelling in villages
and practice (see, e.g., Schopen, 1984). Like these Buddhist inscriprions, the Tamil Jain *t?" t*"iu'i"ly "Hindu" (see also Orr' "]ain \Uorship
and engaged with ,tt" ,goti"i *otlo-v
inscriptions show us that in practice, actions may be motivated by religious notions whose
in MeJiwal Tamilnadu," forthcoming)'
possibility is not admitted by the normative texts, which hold, for both the Buddhist and
23. \Taghome (1994), pp' 85-103' 755-6'L' . . .
the Jain, that a person's karmic condition and spiritual destiny are matters of individual type of negative viry in.the case of
24. lvan Strenski h* ffi;J; '""""o^tt" o{ 'his
responsibiliry alone (for the docninal Jain position, see Jaini, 1983). In the Tamil inscriptions and "domesii.ation" of the Buddhist s.tghd
scholarly analysis of the b-ur'eaucrarizarion
of the early medieval period, we do not encounter the use of terms (e.g., panya) explicitly (monasticorder)inth".ou*"ofitsdevelopmentinancientlndia.Hepointstothefact
denoting "merit," which are more in evidence in the second half of the period under review; in the communiry in a system of "generalized
that ,onarions ," ,h" ,r,ig;;;. ,..i."rhti
the earlier inscriptions indicate the transfer of merit by stating that a gift was made that rvas and political interest
exchange" and emphasizes the idea that the increase of economic from
"connected to" (airta) the recipient of rhe benefit of the donation. In a few of the inscriptions,
focused on the sarigha i. ,."*rrt and normal development, rather than a deviation
it is clear that the reiipient of merit is deceased, but this is certainly not the case for all isCi' pp' +61-i?)' On Jain attitudes toward the '
Buddhism's'purpose" tstt"^trti,
ransfers of merit.
"domesticarion" of at'"l"itt otdtts and for an account of some of the refonn
70. Of 94 cases of the transfer of merit, male donors named nonrelatives as recipiens 'o""'tic
tht ties between Jain renunciants and society and
property'
movemenrs that sought ,o
of the merit in 63 inscriptions (the king in 22 cases, another man in Jl cases, the queen in (I9S?-SB), 181-94'
'"tt'
see Dundas PP'
{ cases, another woman in 3 cases, a preceptor cwice, and a guild once). Of the I I inscriptions outtint'"ttt" tot"*t behveen Indian and Westem attitudes tolvard
ionathan e".ry
in which relatives were named as recipients by male donors, we find fathers mentioned l2
acquisition of wealt[r:
times, mothers 5 times, sons 5 times, brothers 4 times, "ancestors" twice, an uncle once, a
trade is tegarded as inrriruicalll
sister once, and a wife once. The differences between the kinds of relatives named by men . Nothing I have ever heard would suggest that
bad, or that trade" J;";J;* as confiontei by' ' ' moral perit' ' ' ln Hinduism
as beneficiaries and those named by women are rather interesring: for example, women notions as the love of
;;';;'i"J p"*rf"rt for such Biblica[
. never mention their fathers as recipients of the merit of their gifu, although the father is it is bv no .t""' an easier time getting
or having
money being'tttt toit of aII evil"
as camels
the relative most frequently named by men, and there are more transfers of merit from wife
getting to heaven' ' ' ' Hindu thought has
to husband than vice versa. But given that the numbers of examples of transfers of merit through needles'";t;;;1il;n -explanarion
for suffering and eril' Yet by
found in the area study are rather small, it is premture to draw any conclusions. elaborated ,t-o* "*i-Lncei*able is drat [there isl ' '
21. The vast maioriry of medieval Thmil inscriptions that raord religious gifts do not comparison titrt ot' l-Jtt-lJ"f n*it"g" tttt striking thing
rn"""t-"rra avaricJ' Indeed the whole thnist of rhe most
indicate a rationale or motivation for the gifr. The expression of the wish to tmnsfer the hardly a mention of
"i
I;;';i;; to the problem of theodicv-the doctrine
merit of the gift is the most frequently encountered indicator of the sigrrificance of rhe gift charactuisticallv

t
 ( (' (t (' ( '( ( (' (t ( (
(' ( ( (, ( ( ( (
{ ((l((((((l((( i:
:-. i-::
rr
I .r t6 i l4l(|
: i
I

iVorn..n ,n.i po*.,' 6;

th Women'sWealrh and Vorship 143
larma-is rhat $
rhe rich deserve and have earned rheir good fortune. Fu
. . . Far from u'1 incidentally (Cranoff, "Patrons, Overlords, and Arrisans: Some Comments on the lntricacies
being an outsider to society, as was rheJew in medieval Ft-,
chrisrendom, rhe financier L|
tends rather to be a paragon of rcrigios orthopraxy. (pil of Religious Donations in Medieval Jainism." forrhcoming).
p. 78;
il''ir*- -
'S_ll 1,,' ,rss, if ';. On the problem of gifts to templcs, in the Hindu tradition, see Kane (1930-62), vot. 2,
see also Rudner, 1994, pp. l3j_15; Laidlaw,
fqbS, pp. It pp. l5?, 889, 915-16; and Sontheimer (1964), pp. 45-100. On the "contentiousness" of
I find Parry! argum€nt quire convincingon rhis point and B ddna in Jainism, see [:idlaw (1995), pp 294-]01.
would therefore reiect Viiay
Nath's interpretation of the motivations of-donors
mentioned in North lndian rexts and
I 27. ln the Hindu contexr, the concept of the king as the prmier parron of the remple-
inscriprions of 600 r.c.e._300 c.r..; I and as drawing his legitimacy from his alliance with the Brahmiq sectarian guru, or temple
ll,
There is a preponderance of thce who belong co the affluent deity-is dirussed wirh reference to Tamilnadu by Appadorai and Breckenridge ( 1976), pp.
ruling and 187-21 l; Dirks ( t98?); and Reiniche ( 1985).
mercanrile classes. This naturally suggests that it
Jas perhaps ,"nr.'oi grit,
lil
28. Among those who have questioned the centrality ofroyal patronage for the growdr
produced by the exploitative nature of
their economic pursuits" as well as rhe li'
i'creasingly impersonal and unscrupurous manner t:
ofreligious institutions are Singh (1996) and Kaimal (1996), pp- 33-66. On Btddhist and.'
of their sociar a.atings *hict
induced them to make ddna. A similar morive
may also be discemed in the case
t,
ti Jain mendicans as donors, sce n. 11. David Rudner discusses the way in u,hich colonia[
of gifts made by members of such profession"l group, Iji' British legistation, based on the understanding of reIigious patronage as clisinreresred
,, ,f,"i .i."r".r"* tr"at ll 'philanthropy," rode roughshod over lndian notions in which private and put:tic interests in
usureru. (Nath, I997, p. ll)
tr gift giving coexisted (Rudner, 1994, pp. 1454'l).1 contrast the realily of rvomen's donative
25 rn Nath's rrearmenr of rhe motives and causes for rerigious Ii
gifr giving, self-interest activiry in medieval Tamilnadu rvith the rather remarkable neglect on the part of rhe Agamic
is dcclared to be the dominanr motive, I
and this t1p1 of morivation is regarded as texts of the notion of women's patronage of rvorship in "Women of Medieval South lndia in
grosn up in the post'Vedic period in a clirnate having Ii
oi "a growing rpi.i. .f iiJiriairalism,,, in ii Hindu Tcmple Ritual" (1994).
contrasr ro rhe contexr of gifr giving in
d,. precedin; vuail p..iJ *ii.hri*ouu .o, ,l
'l 29. Reynell (1991); Banks (1992); Babb (1996); Cort (1991), pp. 391-420; Laidlaw
appear ro reflect an overuhelming egoristicar
concern foi on"s.lpl
There are many representations of medieval Indian
inr;ir, rfi, pp. zg-34). (1995). The contemporary anthropological work on Jains generally $resses a sexual division
..ligion th"i'fo.ur'jn tn" ."tf- of labor in which, among the laity, men! primary religious activity is gift giving, whereas
serving nature of the recipients of gifrs, from
Jain caricatures of portly Buddhisr monks ro I
women engage more in ascetic acrivities such as fasting. There is no evidence in medieval
contemporary descriprions of rhe evorution !

of Hinduism, *r,r.n rrJqr*,rr'r""* ,o b. i Tlmil inscriptions of such distinctively gendered religious roles.
influenced by !fleber's interpreration of religios
deveropmenrs i., lnai". tn rJr"mbit view, J0. For instance, Babb discusses "giving as giving up" and proposes that, for lay Jains,
for exarnple, Brahmin priests, ir1 their effortl
ro incorporate nibal and peasanr communiries gaining merit (through gift giving, for example) is not regarded simply as a route leading
into the Hindu fold, accommodated and preserued
in "an incredibre proriferation of senseress rituar.-
a great variery of local traditions, resulting toward worldly reward but as a means whereby kanna could be'shed," and it is therefore
conrrolled bv the tempre, "mosr of rhe cash
In iddition, ,i" i;;;; ;;; of oroo"r,, conducive to the highest spiritual goal ( Babb, t 996). Laidlaw dirusses the generous gift as
was rocked i""fo;d;l;;;; o. ;.*"1, ro, aformofrenunciation (rJdga) (Laidla*,1995, pp. Jl4-L3). PaulDundasseesreligiousgifting
the gods; or just pock-eted bv the priesthood "o
and their parasites,, (Kosambi, 1969, pp-,2- ,.
:. by lains as an exteruion of the ideal of the frugal and disciplined life and as a religious
?3, 196; cf. Weber 1922, reprinti964,pp. l?_li.Ttrese
ideas ir;;b; activity in which the layperson is relatively autonomous because gift giving is not necessarily
specific case of medievar ramirnadu by .ere.ar
N^r"yrrr"" "pfii.a,o,t.
consider
I

linked to interaction with ascetics (Dundas, 1992, pp. l68-?l).

early.medieval temples as cenrers for the economic "rrtho.r. ""a-v.r"li",,t ,,.*,
do*ir,"tio. oi Br"ir",*,-ti'
I
i,
31. Schopen describes the religious significance of donatiors made in support of
remples were instrumenral in establishing ",,
a feudar and t ighry.rr"cifi"d'r*iar.ilr"**^* i
Buddhist worship, on rhe basis of his analysis of inscriptions of the early first millennium
and Veluthar, 1978, pp. 45-58).
Jha mairt i.s rh"t ,; ;;ili;'the Chola
I

CE in India: "The laymen and monks who made these gifts. . . were giving objects of
deposits and "oh-do.,rt"d
period was converted into unproduccive
did not .i."rl"ie irr'it. ..onorrry, ,na worship, objects which in fact made u,orship possible. They were, then, really giving to any
that dre rerms of 1""',g:,1T,,o ,"",ples tended
to oppres the peasanrry by increasing taxation of their fellorv beings who ritually approached those oblects both the means and the
(lha, 1974, pp. z0r , z]z-t3). Th"s"
economy in 'lhmilnadu are not supported
i-ft;';;,iJlr .r," .d"o.,"; .r i,.ii",J'ti..y *a opportuniry to make merit, they were providing for all both theopportunity and the means
by dre findings or r.nouo *io-rr"r. L"a
studies.on the inscriptional evid.n.e and *,u. to funher their religious life. . . . The initial gifr of the acrual obiect only marked the ftrst
who ff"d;* io.,",io.,, ,o-r"rrrft.J.Jui.a in a" rooment in the donor's act ofgiving. . . which in a very concrere seilrc tnade each consecurive
recirculation ofwealth and the development
ofagricuiru.al, artisanal, anJ *'.r.rnii" ..,,..pro"
(Appadorai, 1936, pp. 274-30t;St.in act of worship possible. It was because the donor's act was continually repeatcd over time,
fleO, pfli6i-26, H"irr.".,, 1985, pp. zz74o).
*
26' is beyond the-scope- of this chaptei m because it took place again and again long after the donor himselfhad disappeared, thar ir
-
religious giving in each of the rhree rerigious
rwiew the whole of the vasr rirerarure on vas necessary to clearly record the donor! name, rhe momenr of the initial act, and. . . the
' "early'' literarure the so-calred canoniir
JiJo*. In the present discussion, I mean by donor's intentions" (Schopen, 1984, pp. 125-26). I believe that dresc ideas are extremely
tot, oij"ioir* and Buddhism, which concem important for our understanding of religious gifting in mediewl Tamilnadu. The Tamil
themselves especially with the conducr
of th" *rri"i"r,r, and, within th" Hi.rJu ,orip,r."t
corpus, late brahmanical,.dicrmalasrra, inscriptions, like the Buddhist inscriptions discussed by Schopen" record gifts whose impact
and epic literature. ,.[arer,,
The literature includes is meant to be felt long after the passing of rhe donor; indeed, ensring this continuiry is a
commentaries and digests based on the texts just
rnentioned, purdnas and ritual tex6 such as
rre dgamas, and various forms or *r""tir. major purpose of the recording of the gift and the engraving of the record.
riterature. phyllis Granoffhas suggesred 32. On the ritual aspects of gift giving and recording the gift in an inscription in
".,1?iJt
that Jain lirerature of the- "later' r,oa" pr.r.lo
riore derailed portrayal of the rearities of
temple patronage than do the Hindu iexr, medieval Thmilnadu, see Stein (1980), pp. 358-61, and Heitzman (1995), pp. ?3-109.
,rhi"h t."t
this aspect of religious life only 33. I am grateful to have had the opportunity-in discnsion, in teaching together,
 { (
( ( ( ( ( ( (

( ( ( ( I { { { :r.l.l
t.: L:

( i .r i:::'.:i i ,'l
i'::-.
Il
[: t:

\Uomen's Wealrh and VorshiP 145

C-ross' eds' Unspoken Worlls:

and in reatling her work-to share ideas about the question of public and private spheres of lndian Buddhism." ln Nancy Auer Falk and Rira M'
l^ ttio"-Wtstern Cultures' San Francisco: Harper and Row'
woment religiorrs activity with my colleague Norma BaumeIJoseph. Her forrhcoming chapter, Women\ Religio:a Ures
"Celebrating Vomen' A Jewish Profile," makes an importanr theoretical conrribution ro t980. ,-^- Buddhisr,
perspectives from R...lrhi<r
and Styres of Giving;
rhis issue. Findly, Ellison Banks.,,women,s \uearth w'*"'' Po,',ontge' and Self' ;
Jaina, and M,eh"l Sit"'i
34. Kersenboom, in her rreatmenr of the roles of temple women, goes to some lengths
;';'.F;;;'i'ld'Ruggles' "d'
(forthcoming)'
in her effort to demonstrate rhat the roles of these women were as ritua[y significant as RePesenrarion the lntricacies of
and Artisans: Sonre-Comments on
those of men and rhat rhe women occupied a structurally symmetrical position ro their male Granoff, Phyllis. "Patrons, O*ift'at' William Jones
i
Jtiti'*'" ltt V' N' Misra' ed' Sir
counterparts in temple ritual (Kersenboom, t9B7). I think that it is unrealistic ro expecr ro Religious Donations t" il;;';;;i
;ii;'*' of the Deccan College Post'Graduate
find cxact parallels, or even complementariry, berween male and female roles in any particular Bicmtzruwq of Deoa cot'*-'i-'a' Bulletin {. n
rirual contexr or religious instiurion. My orvn investigation in medieval rexts and inscriptions andResemch lrudrute (forrhcoming) r-r:- n-rl'
c-..-L Indb Dethi: i'

Hardy, Friedhelm. virrh.-Bh.k;, i i

Eoru Hit*y of Kt*a Dewtion in soudr i: 1
into the representations of women in ritual roles seems ro indicate that women\ presence
and activity in temple ritual were regarded as optional and incidental (Orr, 1994). But, as I Oxford UniversitY Pres, 1983' lndia'"
Politics and Economv in Medieval South
Iry to demonstrate in this chapter, participation in temple rirual is merely one of several Heiuman, James. "Cifts of Po**li"'tpf"''
oI Pennsylvania' l9B5', E
types of religious activity to which women, and men, might have access. Ph.D.'dissertation, University I
(Ne*ork, of So.i"l co"ttoi i" E"trv south lndia'" Jouraal of Asiot anl Afncan I

Stu/ies 50, 1995' t

Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass'
Homer, I. B. Women
-. wtder Pimitiue Brrddhism' 1930; Reprint' I
I
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(((((( (r (r (i (, (, (! ( ( (r (r (r (l { ( (
'' ',t,'
.il l'.; '. :.- i:..:,,rrcl ro r rt
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University of Catifornia Press, 1994. I
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Narayanan' M' C' S' and Kesavan veruthat. "Bhakti Movement Schopen, Cregory. "On Monks, Nuns and 'Vulgar' Practices: The lntroduction o[ the Image I
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Madras: Govemment pres, t954. Press, 1964.

t
t
*
{(( ('rn (r,r,o(,*
S urrK ' ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ,{,ru{r",{r*n;{,,n,0{,,,t,,f,*',.,(,,rrr-,u ( t (
jsignificantll, lacking. As one often does rrith such ob...tlr.iorr., I ttrckcd volunrc... Ncvcrthclcss, the
sensllous qualitr' ol' tlrc boclt, is
enhanced by thp uppcr cdcc of tlre
Sarmcnt that clo.sely hugythe hips
not only because of thc lack of discu.ssion on it, but also because of and the nvo fleshy arcs rh2lr indicate
the buttocks."6
the possible significalce of changes in rhe depiction of male figrrrcs
between thcse early phases of Indian art. Nonvithstanding thc ftrct that carly
Even a cursory glance at representations of the standing images of Indian female figures arc indeed
the Buddha, Bodhisattvx and other serhidivine male figures of the quite voluptuous ancl combine
tr
.sccond and third ccnturies A.D. from the Mathura region reveals a very notions of fertiliw and eroticism, it is
, specific cnrphasis on the'sexual organs of the images (Fig. i). While rather striking that the sexuality of
o
,malc ligurcs is consistcntly trndcr-
emphasized or not mcntioncd at all.
In the publication rvhere Benjamin
Rowland describes fenrale nudity at
length, his description of an early
male nude sculpturc ip particularly
vague by contrast:
on Indian art withgut coming across them numerous times. . . .this statuettc i3 complctgly India4
Benjamin Rowland, for example, describes thc female imagcs in in thc scrrlptor's rcatisation of thc
rearly Indian art thds: csscntial imagc, a symbolic rathcr
Thc implication of thc Indian Goddcss' procrcativc powcrs is containcd than dcscriptivc rcprcscntation of
in thc cxaggcration of thc globular pcndulousncss of thc brcasts which anatomy, in which thc articulation
appcar l;kc "goldcn jars," and thcre is a corrcsponding frank cmphasis on
of thc body is rcaliscd in broad
convcx plancs of nrodcling. . . . thc
thc widcsprcad hips and pudcnda.. . . thc intcrlocking of thc subtly
fact that thc figrrrc appcars potbcllicd
swclling convcx planc that dcfincs the bosom, abdomcn and pclvis scrvcs
to dcmonsrate, in appropriatclyabstract tcrms, thc roundncss and fullncss
is thcrc[orc, iconographically,
complctcly right and truthful. . . . qhis
lnd rvarmth of an actual body without in any way ncgating thc naturc o[
t is not a litcral imiuetion, such as onc
t.
thc mcdium.t ' finds in rvcstcrn sctrlpturc, brrt a
Even Coomaraswamy, who has dealt with the conceptual basis of suggcstion of flcshirtcss by such
nudity in Indian art morc extensively than most other scholars, dwells at propcrly sculptural and abstract
greater leng*r on descriptions of female nudity: "It will, indeed, havc dcviccs as thc intcrlocking of thc
bcen observed that there is scarcely a single female figure represented smooth and softly rnodcilcd convcx
in early"Indian art without erotic suggestion of some-kind, implied or planc of thc (orso and thc
explicitly expressed and emphasized; nowhere, indeed has the vegetative of thc dcpth of thc
cxaggcration
sexual motif been presented with greater frankness or transpare ncy. . ."0 navcl.T
In descriplions of specilic Kushan period sculptures from Mathura The. fact that thc malc figtrre iri
as well, authors are generally much more forthcoming on female. I question also has very well articu-
sexual body parts: "The rendering of the breasu with welldefincd latcd malg genitals is simply rrot
nipplcs, the fleshy torso and the stomach with deeply set navel aqc
Fig. 2 Indra, nd sandstonc, Kttshan mentionecl.s
nrore realiStic. . .,"u ot the following, "Although the heagr brcasls, 'Tl,i.r,ir'rl.rrlv a Dattern I{ifi most
amplq hips and fleshy thighs cmphasize the sheer phy.sical prescncc ltniorl, Mathura sl)b, Altkdrutra (l) ,t t
of the figurc, thc clcar and mut orrtlinc restrains the srvcllinrl seconrl centur\, ,4.D. (Pholo: 'flv descriptions of malc nudes, even
,\ I tl ro hnl i t n n,\l t r.rru n colbctiort. )
rvhcn tlrcir scxualitl, is vcry clcarly

c
( ('"(Yr)ttuut^NDI?AI ( ( ( ( ( ( I I ( < ( ( ( t( {,ns{,o,r"Ior,,!,r"n!ro*frt"rt*,*,I, n'
((((

,isiblc as is thc casc rvi[lr rnosr of thc surnding male {igurcs fr-orn
JVlathutitirt tltc l(ushan pcdod. Nore, for cxarnprc, rrrc Jescripuo.s
of sorrre nrale figrrrcs in various publications. The sexuat organs of the I t i

stahcl!ng large figure of Indra arc abundantly evidcnt (Fig. 2) but thc
:rqt hiltorical clescription of thc image avoids auy such mcntion: ". . .the
stylc of thc lower part of thc body-with a transparent dhoti, a kutisutra
l>clt and a scarf that conrcs from the back and loops across the right
lcg to tlre rvrist of tfie left arm in the mbde known as salavallika-
l
although. fotrnd in carly inrages such as those irl the Friar Bala group,
1

is-r.rrore.closcly rclated to the rnature Mathura st/le."tt For all of the 1

I ._ .',
visual sp'ecificity according to the description of the drapery the only

,iI thirtg not mentioned is thc scarcely concealed scxual organ of the
t

figure.
I Anothcr description of a Kuslran Bodhisattva image will serve to
make the point about the lack of emphasis on male sexuality, quite
clear (Fig. 3). Once again thc figirre is as nude in appearance as
any femalc image of the Kushan period: its nudicy is emphasizcd
through a transparent undergarment and threugh the lreavy nuistcd
sash just above the penis. The description of the figure avoids any
mention of it:
'
Thc prcscnt sculpturc, conccivcd in thc round, is minus its hcad, artns.and
fcct. Its scnsitivc modclling and grcat bcauty, as wcll as hcroic sizc, classifr
it as one of thc major imagcs of this typc that came from Mathura. Thc
Bodhisatcv-a displays a slight tibhanga stancc; his lcft arm rcstcd on thc hip
(whcrc parr of thc hand and tJrc wrist remain), whilc thc right onc possibly
hcld a Ilywhisk (cauri) ovcr thc right shouldcr. Thc transparcnt dhoti, with
the fabric gathcrcd bctwccn thc lcgs and its hcmlinc markcd, is hcld in
placc by a narrqw sash (partially visiblc dn't}c lcft side) that is incised with
tr roscttc pattcrn and cnds in tasscls. Over it is a bulky scart (uttaria)
that tcrminates in a loop on thc Icft hip of the figurc and cascadcs along
tJrc sidc of thc body. A singlc nccklace mpde of strands of bcads joincd
by clasps (phalahahara)and bracclcts (yalay) on thcwrist of thc rcmaining
Icft hand complcte thc Bodhisatna's attirc.ro
Such descriptions of the sgxuality of the male figure are common in
scholarly and popular literature, regarflless of.&e iconography of the !
image. Additionally, this pattern sepins to be consistently evident
throughout the history of scholarshiir of lndian art, from the early
twentieth. century to dre present <!ay.rt W\en it is men(ioned at all,
little attempt is madc ar trying ro come to some understanding of this
rather visua.fly promincnt feature of many of the Kushan male images
from dre Matl'rura rcgion. Thus, one of the few times when the male
gcniuls afe mentioned, as in the following descriprion of , irrgi Fig.3 tittshaw Bodhisouoa, red'sandslonc, citca 2nd cenlu'n, A'D'
scul!{'urq q( q milt Mathura. (Pholo: J,H. Wadt')
lt\}t\1t king or Brhnmr, there'is no discussio,
lr
of lvhy it is so prev:rlcnt in tl:e Kushan period:
( ( { ( cs(,,rsr{rr,r( r,r(.r ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( { 't1,, rt;i<,,y *{, rr;,{,"s'$"y {"'t"!.'*"d { t'
t '1 'n
b Nonvithst-an<ling cmphasis o11 mass and cxprcssivc contorrr with srrbtlc a

modtrlations ol nc, consciotrs dcviation from thc r]cr.tical axis,

aslrnmctrical d on of thc projccting k1ot, and flattcnccl but I

animatpd coils of scrpcrlt, this is a scnlp turc of cnorrnotrs powcr-and

r"italiry. No is thc prornincnr dclincad on of tlic gcnital orgarl, a
typical fcattrrc.r2 a

This suggests that, very least, rve need to address the issue of
rhc developmenr of male and female figures from a rnore
comprehcrrsivc bf view, r:ather than remain focnssed so,lely on
fe male sexuality. Once we acknorvledge that there is a greater emphasis
on male sexuality in Kushan irnagery, then we have to pondcr thc
rcasons for and significance of such a development. The question is
particularly pertinent since most of the Kushan period images of divinc
and scnlidivine Iigures are among the earliest known visual
manifestations of many deitics. .

As noted by_lptapldirya Pal, thc prominent delinearion of genita]!1,

male and femalc, is indeed one of the most characteristic features of
4.p.s.ha.L--ppng{ sculpture from Mr!Lr{1. Th'i-'iick of any scrious
di;.";;t; "r tr,ii i*paitant iicvelop'fr'""t *^y be due ro more rhan
a simple, unconsciotis'bias; and to some extent, it may have been I

overshadorved by arguments ove r the origin of the Buddha image, see n I

as thc principal issue in the first half 6f the century.

Vogel and Coomarasrsamy wcre among the first writers to arpre that
the sheer physicality of the earliest standing male images from Mathura
such as the Friar Bala Qodhisatwa (Fig. 4) rfas directly related to and
emanated from pre-existing notions of male energy as seen in the I

yaksha imagcs of the prc-Kushan period, and was completely unrclatcd a

to the Greco-Roman ideals of Ku.shan images from Gandhara.r3 The
ri
i logii of their argument was based on perceived inextricable paiterns
of continuity between 'the earlicr yaksha images from the Sunga
period and the earliest known Iluddha/Bodhisattva images of the
I(ushan period. Thus, Coomaraswamy talked of the sheer physicality
in contradistinction to thc tranquility and slveeuress of the Cgndhara
figures. Ht compared the "broad shoulden and the absolute
masculine form with draperyrfthat moulded and revealed &e
flesh" of the Mathura figures rvith the Gandhara sculptures, where
thc "body is concealcd"un?". the heary:folds of draperT and is
articulated in qtriet repose".ri These early scl'rolars, in their efforts
to make a case for the independence of the development of a
Buddha image in Mathura from the one at Gandhara, strongly
cmphasized tlre continuity of the indigcnous Indian aesthctic Musatm'
tradicion. This meant that thcy neither obscrved any distinction Fig. 4 Bod.httatlaa, F'iat Bala, Sarnath
benveen Sunga or other pre-Kushan intages and thc l(ushan
rnale figu res, nor didr they artach any significance to
i
.:'
 '51 ( ( (; I (
( ( t (
( ( r "i"""< ( ( ( ( ( 'i ttu].,,,,:.o,rl,'trr,!,,og,rf!^, q l'tu's'("'rirf
'rlr-

a corrcsponding clccrc:ue
I
t

thc changcs tltat seem quite apparent to(lay berrveen the carlier and is agrcatcr dcgrcc of flonnal {ixtrzcuon-;tntl
"J
later trgurcs Signiticantly' thcre is also ir
T, in thcir 1;ro.icction ot rnascul'irlq Powor' sexiral organ' Ily- the
. ln clmparis0n rvith the carly yaksha standing figures, scveral sr:rdrral tlc-c.rpnasis ""';;;;;;tt" 3-r-t1i"rale
atl:Itonly is qrrite abstfactcd^fo't^'t""t'
differences are ol>vious in the Kr.rshan standing male images. The iixtlt ce,rturl' this part qf thc rnalc rcservcd [or
oti' it it norrnally
Sunga figures arc rnore extensively roundcd with littJe articulation of nralc fiqttrcs \\te)n I tt"Pill^t;."t gf an ercct
" specific icclnograrrhic feature
the body. Tlre Ktuhan figures, on the other hand, are inrrariably more rhosc clcides rtho carry the factors'
ascribed t,o u 't'''tbt' of diffcrent
articulated and rvitl; a greater sensc of physical and athle tic energy. pcrris. Tiris changp lluJbtt'l
changcs in the-Gupta period
fu Stella I(ramrisch has observed, it rvas in the second century that Joanna \tilliams "t'*'"tic
the "malc body began to acquire a heroic chest, the disciplined "gg;;;;tilt
gr*"i;;.:.;lrasis on the visua'i unitl'of
the oblect"'r8
may bc rltrc ro
abdominal region narrorved and enlivened by a modelling as sensitive
"
as that. of the chest".15 The ueatment of the garment is also distinctly
different in the trvo traditions. While the ches6 of the earlier figures
arc exposed like those of their later counte rparts, their lower garment
ip quite elaboratc. Thick and extensively pleated, thc lower garments
dnd sashes invariably conceal the male gcnitalia. In direct contrast, the
sculptors of the Kushan period standing male figures use the drapery
and sashes in such a way that t}e sex organ is unrqistakably ernphasized
I
-. it is as if dre sashes of the earlier yaksha figures, falling heavily
benveerr the legs, were deliberately moved to the side to reveal the
i
male oqgln.
j A similar change is also evident in the depiction of female figures
in tlre Krxhan period. For cxample, the yakshi figures from Bharhut
rvith their claborate jewellery beaded garter belts, pleated garments
and cxtensive sashes conceal their sexual organs in the lower part of
the body while revealing their naked upper bodies. Kushan period
yakshis from Bhutesar are unabashedly sexual by comparison, with very
explicit references to their sexual organs. In femalq figures this
emphasis on the explicit reference to genitalia seerns to occur a little
earlier, initially shorving up in terracotta figures. For example, there
are somc terracotta figurines dating to the Sunga period thac have
$ome suggestion of pudenda,16 even if not as explicitly defined as the
Iater images..similarly, some of the yakstii figrrres at Sanchi, dating
from just before the beginning of the Christian cra, also have very
clearly articulated female organs. A similar emphasis on explicit
sexuality for male figures is actually not as consistently evident until
the development of the large standing male figures of various rypes
in the Kushan period.
That this evident emphasis on male sexual organs is a Kushan period
(Mathura) phenomenon is also cleay when such images are compared
with later figures dating from the fourth century on. If the Mathura I
I
Kushan inale standing sculpcures are described in terms of the ir athletip I
I
presence, youthful viulity and shecr physicaliry the Gupta sculprures, I

even from the region of and around Mathura, arc m0te ab$ract and !

.J\.4 ur, once sercllc and cnergetic, dpiritual and voluptuous"'r7 There
I

! s

t'
(({ (,,r(i.sr{A(u{..\(oo.(, ( ( ( ( ( ( (
a
rl
irr tlrc l(trslratr periocl Inay slrgqcst tlreological atrdcorrcsponclilrq
: icor.rographic signil.icances rlrar sh<>rrld nor be overlooked.
It is rvell krrorvn that thc earlicst of Indian marc
cli*inities-Bucldhist,Jain and Hindu-in'isualisations.
t],e Kushan period, especialli,
frorn the Mathura region, are clirectJy linked with the characteristic
features of a chakrar,artin mahapurusha, an idealised superrnan or
ruler. Thus, rhe thijty-rwo lakshanas or characteristic marks of a
chakrav-artin are often quoted as among the principa-l sources for thc
creation of Buddha or Jina figures in Kushan Mathura intages. l his
implies that the visuil conventions of the earlier depictions of male
figrrrcs are now combined rvith some of the iconographic requirements'
for the nerv images of divine and scmidivine mall figures.
ln most early texs:that deal rvith the thirty-two lakshanas,.such
Il4ahayana Sulralamhara, Katinga BodhiJataka, Lalinuistaraand, Chitrasutra,
thcrc is a rcference to the sexualitty of a chakrarrartin. The description
begins with the chamcteristics of facial features and moves on to the
bodily patts. Interestingly, in some early translations of the ftxs, the
references tb sexual :organs are lninimised. For example, Crunwedel
translates the twenty-third lakshdna of the Buddha in the Lalitauistara
in tl'rc following terrns: "Nafurc has concealed the marks of his sex."!!
This would imply thai there should be no indication of sexuality in
l
t in ttrrn may havc affcctcd thc depiction of other images'
I
in the section dealing wit} the qreasurements of the body paru of a
chakrarartin: 'Like an elephant-king, he keeps his sexual organs
withUrawn as if in a cavity."ll In this text, rvhich may date to the early
Gupta period or ev_en earlier,2s there are also very specific rdferences
to the size and appearance of male sexual organs: 'The penis should
be made of the length of six digits. . . In the case of tlose who wear
a lower garrnent and have a girdle ticd around it, the part of the belly
below the navel sliould bc made to the measure of four digits. The
penis is'nro digits broad, the scrotum is six digits long; the testicles
should not hang too much and both should be shown evenly round."26
Significandy, such descriptions of the genitalia occur right after the
mcasurcments for the facc are described and before other body parts
are mentioned. T'his may suggest that explicit references to the
sexuality of a chakravartin, and by extension of the Buddha figure,
ivere very important in the development of early images in the Kushan
period. indeed, the most profound significancg oithi. reference ii
that a prominent depiction of rnale genitalia is an important feature
of tlre tlrirt)-rwo lakshanas, along with such features as ulna or usnisa.
I
I
( ( ( '( ( (
( { tfi,tisn{,,,t,t(..,.,t,,d^,,tp[,.,J,r'd srd.tiq'{l( (
It slrotrlcl also be suetccl that clcsl.ritc its rclltively cvidcnt posititlrt ill
tlrc dcscriptio. ol the tLirty-6vo lrkrllrnts, this fl:rtUt[ \tt$\\ \t \I\\-
bccn dc-emphasizcd by carly rvritcrs on l]trdtlhist art, iildicating a
, prcjudice for a vierv of Btrddhist art that rvorrld resonate with tl'rc nort-
scxrralizcd vierv of Christianiq'. I
orsans is specitically articr]lated in thc
It the depicrion oflscxual
laks[anas of a chakravartil, it cl6cs not secn] to llc accordecl the qamC
clcgree oI emphasis in carlv cicscriptions oI thc yakshas'2? lhis
clisiinction furthcr supports the argumcnt that the dcpicti'on ol'
scxr"raliry in the early rcpreserttation of nralc divinities may not bc
simpll, a fbrmalistic dcvetopment in tltc art 6istorical sense, .trut
spciiiically relatcd ro thc chirngingliconographic conceptions tlrat
as
.,ltipately-rcsulted in the per.sohificltions of the lluddhist, Hirrdu an<l
.|ain divinities in thc Kushan pcriod in Mathura'
Tlrerc is another factor rvhich n',ay' hare led to the "e.ge.dcri.g"
or sexualizing of malc and fcmale imagcs in this early period' It is
possible that thc frank sexuality and youthful openness of many
kushan_Mathura images developed our of a desire to set up cleal
alrernatives to the wel-i established sysrpm of representing the Buddha
in a,ribnic fashion, a comptex of iconographic symbols throrrgh which
rne frddr,a was previously reprcsented. In othcr words, the emphasis
on sexual organs of the early Bodhisattva ligurcs such as the Friar llala
imagc, -"y'i-rrr. come from the desirc to create a new image that
*orld be as humanly direct and physically spccific as possible, which
Ir nceds to be stated that clcarly not all of thc images from Mathura
in the Kushan period arc shown with sextral orSans. This is Particularly
true of seatcd images. As stated by coomaraswarhy, this would not be
unttsualin,,.h",periodof..trnderdeveloped""9unstable
iconography'r.2r'tAfterall,evensuchfcaturcsasthc.4naandthezsarsa'
fcatures ihrt b"[o-c more consistenrly idcnrificd with the Buddha
images, are not seen consistently on all Btrddhist images' In other
.ruo.ir, jusr because all of the Buddhist images are no-t shown with
specifrJ depictions of male sextnlity, cloes not detract from the
fact
tirat rhis is a distinct fcature of l(ushan divine and semidivine images
from lvlathura.
ln fact, the absence o[ the depiction of scxual organs in the seated
Iltrddhisr orJain figurcs lrorn Mithura may also bc duc to yet another
colrceptual and acsthctic considcration' i-ot if the Lexual
"x^mplc'
5ave to be'shown'
' oinrn'*"t" to be evidcnt in a seatcd figure, it would
-, j t;";;e form of erection, and that ivould be contradictory to the
Jcscription of a chafuauarttn as articulated in
thc lakshanas.
Aclditionally, the artists may have deliberately avoided depicting otherl
clivinities in the ithyphallic form sincc, from thc carliest timcs, this f0rrn'
 ( :( ( ( ( (((
{ i (unlhuuarek)
( ( (; ( ( I ( ( ( (' ( ( I
;(
(.
,l t-il"o,1 ,( .l t'ti(..,rog,{.,,hy,{,,1,tou( *ua( -1
"( o
rvas :rssocia(r:rl cxcltrsivcly rvith Slfva and rr,as rr'orslripPcrl
,rlral, Scrtlltture, PP.l$2 t\3 ll
,a
by thc l,iulruitata scct ir and around Mathurz.x, A]nrpsr all of ln\tan "Origin
sec Attatr<la Co<iinraraswanY'
thc r.F,or il tnol'c dctailed cliscursiort of this subicct,
I(ushan-fiathur;r dcpictions o['Shiva shorv hirn n5 ;1fil'phallic and ol-tcn " 'l'he Art BuLbtirt S June, l!)27' pp' 28G329 and.f .l'' Vogcl,
I r>f thc Btrddh:r hnagc,
Brugbcls, I 930.
rl reprcscnt hirrr in tiont <ll a linga.:to One could argue that, in [act, thc '
"[.r SculPturc de lr{athrrra" Ars Asiqtica,vol. 15. l'aris &
very popularity and prevalcnce of the wdhovarcle Slriva of thc rtCoornarasrrat t1', l{istot1, P'37
r5Stella Krarnri scl't, In dian Seulplute in the Philn&lphia lvluatin o/An (Philadelphia
Pashupata sect may havc played a role in thc devclopment of the :

scxualized personification of other divine and semidivine images in, Univelsity of Per-rnsylvarlia Prcss), p.35. '!'ertacoildAr' (Brookly:r: The
, l5r\rnv Poster, Fton htdian Eartlt: Four'l-houand lbars of
the Kushan period. I
:

Ilrooklyn It'[ trsetrnr), p'95.

l, {
I
This preliminay analysis points to threc related factors about thc '
Il(rarnrisch, tnditot Sa!Pn)e, P 36.
lJt-latrtra G. 'v\'illiarns, 'l'he Atl '{ G"Pto lrrlia: EnPin ond
Prwitttz (Plincctott:
study and unde rstanding oI nr,alc images frorn the Mathura region in i

the Kushan period. First, in order to bctter undcrstand the i

Princctot-t Univer:itY Press, 1982)' P'60'
developme4tal cl'ranges in the conception of divine and senridivinc te
lbi,t p.61. I

rKzrnrisch, Indian SculPrture, P'35

figures, we need to carcftrlly look at the depiction of such figures. {n in Rennissatce Art and in the Modern
Obliuiol
rleo Sreinber g, 'libc Sexttality of Christ
a truly feminist f:r.shion, we should go beyond t.Ire accented prejudices .

(Nerv York: I'intheorr Books' 1983')

that fav!,ur the sexually explicit descriptions of female bodies and pay ::A. Crtrrrrvedc l, Bud.d,hist Art hudia in (Lonclon: Susil GuPb 1rc'isccl edn )l
attcntion !o male scxuality. We nced to "re-vierv" their bocliqs and rcvise l{165)' p 16l ' |'
i

is directly relatcd toi

our understanding of male sexualiry in carly Indian art. Secondly, rve art intcrpreta-tion of thc 23rd I laksl'ra'a
"1, i, iir.'.ry ,trat ruch to thcl
need to go beyond norrnally accepted generalisations about the a dcsexualized vierv of carly Buddhism wfrict-r was seen in direct contras(
of the century'
naturalisation of human figures in Mathura Kushan art and recognise *o." p..*t.nt vicw of Hinctpism at the beginrrins E"arU Documatt o! Indian Art::
i

that these sexualized beings are based on rnental constructi with :'A. Darrapicorra and
"'li:t[;;'it;''):;" Manohar' 1976)' p'102'
Chiialatuhano oJ Nagnajit (New Dcihi: ' I
cornplcx iconographic needs. In these'images, the sexual organ is not
I

irnage in thel.
depicted merely as an imitatjon of narural form; it is made evident ff;;;;".;;ili ,.if.r.n.. to the Buddha or ro the Buddha tcxtl
some sqholars have argued.that'tltls
Chitralakshano. n..,*t oithi"t"'on'
becquset it heightens the physical presencc of the male divinity and erz' Got*'amy- and ballapicolla'i
rnay date to the early ."tiuif' of the Christia'i
conireys powerful nodons of a sexualized super human being-a the icnPt
manuscript to llle
the early
earry C'po
vuPE ptJ"Jft"ty
P itt' ceutury) otr thel
horvevci daie
chakravartin-in a guiescent form. basis of la,guage. I

$Goswamy and Dalapicolla, An Eail1 Docummt" verses ?05-34;pp' 8&89' I

!?Fer a more detailed discussion of y"tt''a imagery' see A'KCooinraraswamy'

)'alsi
No.tes
(Washirrgton: S*itt,,o"i"n, vol' 80' no' 6' 1928')
/.{ot*" fitq"a. arld Mary D. Gerrard (eds.) .lezrzu-.airrn and Art History: Q.tustoning I

,v: thc Litanl (New York: Harper & Row, 1982), p.2.
' rT6ii-pipErwi3 firit presented at an annuat meeting of College Art Associarion iu
1994. I should like to acknowlcdge Dr. Vidya Dehejia for hcr encouragemenr and founder', Lakuli, detailedl
persistence to complete the article for inclusion in this publication. of the {btrnder; l

!Benjamirr Rowlarrd,Jr., Art in East atd Wcst (Boslorr: Beacon Press, lg54), p.19. {iscussiorr, see
'Arranda K Coomaraswany, Historl of Indian.and Indoncsian Arf (Ncw York:. Dovcr is da(ablc to;
Publications, 1965, 2nd ed.), p.64. of Shin standing in front of a linga is the Pradesh.
region
thc first cctttury B.C. and comes from the southern
r

, 'Stanislaw J. Czuma, Kushan Sculltture: hnages lrom Farly India (Cleveland:

'I-Ire
I
Cleveland Museum of Arrt, 1985),p.102.
I
6
Pratapaditya Pz'l, Indian Sanltture: Vol I (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, 1986), p.177.
TRorvland, E+st and Wat, p.16.
ERowland, ibid. Fig. 4.
eCzuma, Kushon I

Sculltturc, p.l3l.
roCzuma, Kullwn Scutpture, p.7 b. I

rrTltis I
discusipn is aimed not at such obviously sexdal representatiorls of deities
t ht
I
lfdhUl [nUa S\ivr, \ut railrer at ,r,or. g.n..tized images which are
norretheless cndowed wirh rcrT visiblc scxual Organs.
l
I
I c
(