Olga Nowicka

Literary Cartography in the Keralan Hagiographies of the Advaita Vedānta Tradition

The proposed paper concerns the hitherto unstudied regional hagiographic tradition of Śaṅkara – the great Indian philosopher and founder of the pan-Indian monastic order within the Advaita Vedānta doctrine in Kerala (South India). This literary tradition is represented by a series of lesser-known texts in Sanskrit and Malayalam. The objective of this article is to examine some of the cultural and literary methods of space valorization and creation of literary cartographies. The sacred topography created through the hagiographic narrative causes the overlap of spatial religious concepts and physical geography of temples, monasteries and pilgrimage sites. Therefore, the theoretical approach applied during the examination of the hagiographic tradition in question remains informed by the method of literary cartography.

The article concerns the hitherto unstudied regional variant of the Advaita Vedānta monasticism of the Nampūtiri tradition in Kerala. The main objective of the paper is to present the spatial distribution of the Advaita Vedānta maṭhas (skr. maṭha – “monastery”) in the state of Kerala (South India). Through the cartographic visualisation, I intend to prove that the monastic tradition in question has, in the past, created a network of intricate ritualistic, economic, social and political interrelations spreading across whole Kerala region. The spatial analysis will allow to evaluate the qualities of the maṭhas’ geographical distribution.

Man is Commensurate with the Sacrifice: Anthropometry in the Vedic Śrauta Sacrificial Ritual 

The institutionalisation of the Vedic śrauta fire ritual in ancient India was strictly connected with the priest class’s establishment of a systematic theory of ritual. However, the pivot of ritualists’ reflections turned out to be not the gods receiving the fire oblations but the human being. As Taittirīya Saṃhitā states: man is commensurate with the sacrifice (TS.5.2.5). The first activity just after fixing the proper area for conducting the Vedic ritual was taking the sacrificer’s measurements. Then, using the units of measure modelled on the dimensions of man, the ritual enclosure was meted out and built. The origin of the mentioned procedure of taking human dimensions as units of measure can be traced to the Vedic passage of Taittirīya Saṃhitā: with man’s measure he metes out(TS.5.2.5). The constructed ritual enclosure therefore belonged to the sacrificer in a strict sense – it was his altar.

According to Kerala legends, around the 9th century, direct disciples of the philosopher Śaṅkara established four Advaita Vedānta Maṭhas in Trichur in Kerala, thereafter appointing Nambudiri Saṃnyāsins as heads of these religious institutions. What is peculiar about these monasteries is the prescription according to which Trichur Maṭhas were, and still are, intended only for Nambudiri Brahmins, and moreover only for Nambudiris from specific families who keep the Vedic sacrificial tradition. However, the Advaita Vedānta doctrine was not a current concept among Nambudiri Brahmins. Presumably, in the medieval period it was the mīmāṃsā schools of Bhāṭṭa and Prābhākara which were favoured among Nambudiris. Nevertheless, the appropriation of the Śaṅkaric model of monasticism somehow seemed to be an alluring modus operandi for the aristocracy of the Nambudiri community to gain considerable power.