From Mātṛgaṇa to Sapta Mātṛkās : Brahmanical Transfiguration of Autochthonous Goddesses
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概要
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From a close observation on various textual and archeological evidences, it is certain that heterogeneous autochthonous goddess(es) cults have been incorporated into the Brahmanical traditions from the end of Vedic period. However, it does not mean that the incorporation has accidentally occurred. It is rather a historical process of 'selective and conscious adoption'of various local cults and customs by the brāhmaṇas. This process, needless to say, has proceeded in various ways according to different regional contexts. A significant point is that the autochthonous elements were transfigured and given new connotations in different socio-religious context by means of the carefully constructed Brahmanical theology. In essentialist interpretation of goddess(es) cults, however, the consideration on historical transition and disjuncture were often submerged in the presupposition of phenomenological continuity. Focusing on 'mātṛkās (mothers)', one of the representative groups of goddesses in South Asia, this paper will argue the process of the Brahmanical adoption and transfiguration of autochthonous goddesses. The period between the 4th and the 8th centuries A. D. witnessed a critical change of the characteristic, attribute, and role of the mātṛkās. In most early references, they are described as a loosely-organized band of innumerable local goddesses, often called mātṛgaṇa (a band of mothers), without clearly defined individual identity. Though they seem to have acquired their benevolent nature, so-called 'motherhood', in the process of their initial entry into the Brahmanical pantheon, they remained cruel, uncontrollable, and dangerous. From the 4th century A. D., the mātṛkās began to appear as a distinctive cluster. Their names, numbers and iconographical features were gradually standardized following those of male deities, but not yet crystallized. During the early medieval periods, especially from the 7th century onwards, the Brahmanical transfiguration of the group seems to have been completed. The seven goddesses emanated from male deities are considered to be the fixed members of the sapta mātṛkās. The artificial grouping of the seven goddesses was perhaps a conscious attempt to reformulate the mātṛkās, from the loosely-clustered feminine divinities with ambiguous nature and autochthonous background to the distinctive group of warrior goddesses closely associated with male gods in the Brahmanical pantheon.
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