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From the NITYANANDA INSTITUTE NEWS Fall 2003
The Karmacharyas of Bhaktapurby Leiko Coyle
For many years, Swamiji has searched to find a living remnant of the Shaiva tantric tradition in India. He concluded that none existed and turned his attention to Nepal. In the spring of 2001, during his retreat in Kathmandu, he finally encountered what he had been looking for. A friend introduced him to Surendravir Karmacharya, one of the last remaining members of a caste of royal tantric priests, the Karmacharyas of Bhaktapur.
Bhaktapur, which served as the Nepalese capital and seat of the royal palace from the 12th to the 16th centuries, is one of the most important historic cities of the Kathmandu Valley. The Karmacharyas, a caste of Newaris indigenous to Bhaktapur, rose to prominence there as priests to the royal court under the rule of the Malla kings from the 14th to the 18th century. The Karmacharyas were employed by the kings to perform elaborate goddess-based tantric rituals to protect the kingdom and ensure its prosperity. With the fall of the Mallas in the late 18th century, a new kingdom ruled by the Shahs shought to create a Nepali national identity which rejected traditional Newari culture. As a result, the kings of Bhaktapur stopped using the Karmacharyas, a core tradition of Newari culture, as royal priests, and the Karmacharya tradition went into decline.
Swamiji recognized the significance of this ancient tradition and was eager to learn more from Surendravir. As Swamiji puts it, “Tantric culture was pre-eminent in all the royal courts of South Asia from Vietnam to Persia at one point in time. The Karmacharyas are the last living link to that remarkable philosophical, spiritual and ritual culture.” Surendravir is the younger brother of the head Karmacharya, and a direct descendant of the family that served the Malla kings. He spent many hours with Swamiji discussing rituals and looking over ancient texts passed down by his ancestors. He also performed two pujas at our retreat center in Kathmandu—the first time that those pujas have been seen by Westerners.
In the course of his work with Surendravir, Swamiji found that the ritual aspects and techniques of the practices of the Karmacharyas shared a common ancestry with Kashmir Shaivism, and that the goddesses they worshipped were related. The principal deity worshipped by the Karmacharyas is the goddess Nava Durga (who is related to Durga). “Nava” which means nine, implies the nine manifestations of Durga, including eight mother goddesses and Tripurasundari. The goddess Taleju is one of the eight mothers and is the primary goddess of the royal courts and the kingdom. She has both a public form and a secret, or esoteric, form called Siddhi Lakshmi. This secret form was worshipped only by the kings and the Karmacharyas, who had the exclusive knowledge of her mantras and specific rituals.
An earlier form of Taleju/Siddhi Lakshmi is the goddess Kubjika, who was worshipped by the Licchavi kings (the predecessors to the Malla kings). Kubjika is the earliest form of Kalasamkarsani, an aspect of Kali who is the innermost goddess of the Trika. She is represented in the Trika mandala as the lotus in the center. In essence, she is the same as Siddhi Lakshmi, representing the vitality of Shiva and the potential for manifestation. She gives rise to the other three goddesses of the Trika mandala: Para, Para Para and Apara. In form, Siddhi Lakshmi is less wrathful than Kalasamkarsani and is associated with prosperity. To remind us of our connection with the royal court tradition of tantric Shaivism, a thangka of Siddhi Lakshmi (painted in the Newari style) is now hanging in the Portland meditation hall.
Last year the Institute joined the Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies of Tribhuvan University, the national university of Nepal, for a research project to study the Karmacharyas and their religious and secular role in Bhaktapur. The project was an effort to document and preserve the unique sacred practices of the Karmacharyas, whose tradition is now in danger of becoming extinct. There are only a small number of practicing Karmacharyas who still live in Bhaktapur. These priests occasionally perform rituals at public festivals, but their importance in the development of tantrism in Nepal is largely forgotten.
The study included a survey of extant source materials, including rare ritual texts, as well as field observation and interviews with practicing Karmacharyas. The steering committee for the project was led by Professor Tirtha Prasad Mishra of CNAS as Chairman and Swamiji as Co-Chairman. The chief researcher for the project was Dr. Purushottam Lochan Shrestha.
We have invited Surendravir Karmacharya and Dr. Shrestha to visit Portland in the fall, and we look forward to meeting them and learning more about this fascinating tradition.
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