The necessary demons: Righteous wrath in the Purāṇic creation

myth in the Anādī Pātana

By, Deeplakshmi Saikia

The Anādī Pātana was a treatise composed by Śaṅkaradeva in mid-16th century Assam based on
the third book of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa and the Vamana Purāṇa. Meaning the beginningless
process of evolution of the universe, it is a discourse on the metaphysics of the Hindu myth of
creation. It has been claimed that rather than be considered as outstanding examples of Indian
miniatures, the Anādī Pātana paintings are more important as book illustrations and as a source
of Hindu mythology. Nevertheless, from the three illustrated transcripts of the Anādī Pātana that
have been found, it can be said that the text was popular among the artists of 17th -18th century
Assam. The paintings of the Anādī Pātana, executed on sāñcīpāt or bark of the agar or aloe tree
(Aquilaria agallocha), can also be taken as a specimen of the late 18th century pictorial style in
Assam. 1 More specifically, they are illustrations of the Darrang school of miniature painting
which rose in the Koch kingdom in the Darrang district of Assam.

The transcripts of the Anādī Pātana which will be discussed are the ones stored in the Guwahati
University library, the Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti, and the Assam State Museum that are
currently under discussion.

All religions contain in them creation myths- a paradigm to make sense of the universe and how
it came into being. In Hinduism, it is the Purāṇas which have developed cosmology and
cosmogony going to great lengths to explain the creation of the worlds and their resident beings.
It is said that Śaṅkaradeva composed the treatise in order to answer the questions related to
metaphysics by one Budha Daivajña. However, artworks also acted as a religious instrument for
Śaṅkaradeva. This context is important when considering the fact that the manuscript begins with
the scene depicting the sage Suka narrating to the king Parikhit the creation of the cosmos. These
figures can be said to represent the scholar-saint Śaṅkaradeva himself and the consumers of the
manuscript. It is important to bear in mind this representation at the very outset because
coinciding with the notions of creation, are also myths of destruction. If people are to be told and
convinced about their creation, their sins, and consequently their terrifying end, it has to come
from an authoritative source.

1
Choudhury, R.D. & Kalita, Naren, eds., Manuscript Paintings from the Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti, Kamarupa
Anusandhan Samiti, Guwahati, 2001, p. 115

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 © Anādī Pātana, 18th century, Kuji satra

Destruction and creation are supposed to keep occurring in a cyclical pattern and the Purāṇas
have assigned specific deities and agents for these purposes. Therefore, the myth in the Anādī
Pātana begins with the destruction of the world by Rudra. The painting radiates violence and
terror, as the white Rudra, contrasted against the saturated red background, is shown crushing
mountains with his feet as if they are termite mounds. His carnage causes the denizens of heaven
to fall down. With one of his several āyudhas, the trident, he pierces a dig-gaja. The dig-gajas,
who are themselves enormous, and regents of the sky, appear toy-sized before the destructor of
the universe. Thus, his colossal size is beyond comprehension. He wears a garland of human
skulls, and has human heads in each eight of his arms. His face imparts dread and no mercy. His
hair is disheveled and he is assisted in his aggression by Ananta, the cosmic serpent. He is
endowed with several arms and āyudhas, perhaps symbolizing the many Rudras and their
potentialities coming together to end everything.2

2
Tiwari, Maruti Nandan & Giri, Kamal, eds., Indian Art and Aesthetics: Endeavours in Interpretation, Indian Art
History Congress, Guwahati, 2004, p. 92

2
 © Anādī Pātana, 18th century, Kuji satra

This scene is also represented in the Anādī Pātana manuscript at the Guwahati University
library. However, the effect in this painting is not as dreadful. Rudra is shown as a three-headed
being here, swallowing human legs in two of his mouths, strangling one man with one of his
several hands and flinging another person with another hand. Two dig-gajas are hurled away in
opposite directions and four persons are running away in fear from the wrathful deity. Rudra here
has fountain-like hair and a manic wide smile on one of his faces. Other than that, he is devoid of
weapons and human parts as accessories.

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 © Anādī Pātana, 1782 CE, Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti, Guwahati

Ananta, along with the twelve Ādityas, further cause the annihilation of the universe by blazing
it with fire. In the next painting, the flames reducing the world to ashes, is aptly portrayed by the
use of flaming reds and yellows. All the Ādityas blaze simultaneously while Ananta from below
spews poisonous fire. The burning of the world is followed by a great deluge. Relentless rain
from dark threatening clouds causes the earth to almost sink below the flooded vast ocean that
has been created. Thus, the manuscript begins with providing a sense of fear and hopelessness
from the destruction of the world. The immensity of the destructive forces can only be imagined.
Neither their enormity nor their intensity is described in the text, but the images suffice.

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 © Anādī Pātana, 18th century, Kuji satra

This conflagration and flood result in the end of the Kali age. The flood signifies the washing
away of sins, also applied to the purifying ablution. It is from these waters that the Golden age is
born.3 And from here the creation myth begins.

3
O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger, The Origin of Evil in Hindu Mythology, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1976, pp. 18-35

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 © Anādī Pātana, 18th century, Kuji satra

That destruction is necessary for creation is reasoned by the immense sins committed by human
beings. Therefore, the justification is that deities such as Rudra, Ananta, the Ādityas, and others
annihilate the impure world. Fire and water purify, and consequently the conflagration and the
deluge.

The depiction of destruction also refers to the cyclical pattern of the universe. The idea of the
deluge refers to the thought that humanity has to return to the waters whence it came. On a
positive note, it also means the coming of a new time and new humanity. The cyclical engulfing
of humanity by water is at the root of most geographical myths. This is because of the belief in
the purifying capacity of water. Human beings being overburdened by their sins are sent back to
the waters, where they are cleansed, enriched and brought back anew. Thus destruction does not
mean total annihilation. Humanity is brought back in newer forms but to undergo the same
cyclical routine again. Therefore, water here purifies and precedes re-creation. The cosmic water,
despite being given a basket pattern and enclosed in rectangular boxes, is formless, but from it
rises all beings with forms.4 Even though parts of the cyclical pattern of creation are not good,

4
Eliade, Mircea, Patterns in Comparative Religion, Sheed & Ward, New York, 1958, p.212

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the whole is good. And although gods, such as Rudra, commit seemingly evil actions, they are of
cosmic and therefore, greater significance.5

All the destruction is beyond the control of Narāyana, the Godhead of Vaiṣṇavism and he is
grieved by this destruction. Or is he? After the total annihilation, God is represented sitting in a
state of tranquility and loneliness. His head is bowed and unattended by anyone, he seems to be
endowed with the rasa of karuna. It is because of the sins of human beings that the Earth
becomes overburdened and eventually sinks in the cosmic floods. This causes God grief. This is
to instill guilt and cautiousness in the minds of the viewers of the manuscript. Every religion
prescribes a different way to avoid this sinning and lead a righteous life. According to
Śaṅkaradeva’s doctrine, bhakti is the way.

© Anādī Pātana, 18th century, Kuji satra

The manuscript aims to inspire gratitude in the hearts of the people by asserting that jambu-dvipa
or bharatavarsha is the holiest of the island continents, and every being aspires to be born here.
From these assertions that the world in which we are living is so sanctified and eventually, it is

5
O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger, The Origin of Evil in Hindu Mythology, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1976, pp. 3-6

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us, ourselves, who cause its destruction, it can be said that the Anādī Pātana, is in parts, a
discourse about the doctrine of karma too. The manuscript begins with human suffering or
termination or misfortune, and proceeds to explain or imply the cause behind it. People’s
wrongdoings and transgressions cause the destruction of the holy jambu-dvipa and even the
unshakeable mammoth Mount Meru. How immense thus human sins will have to be! So the
manuscript justifies that the fault does not lie with the world itself in which are living but with
the people, and also suggests the solution to this, viz. neo-Vaiṣṇavism.

Another approach to this particular painting can be that the artist deliberately portrayed God as
being without any choice. Since the cosmic process is automatic, destruction will happen,
regardless of God’s feelings in the matter. Thus the complete annihilation is explained in terms
of necessity.6 Is this explanation offered in order to subdue fear or hatred towards the destructive
Vaiṣṇavite God by the devotees?

The solution or the savior to humankind or the earth which is drowning because of sins comes in
the form of the Mahā Varāha avatāra of Viṣṇu, who is represented rescuing the earth (Pṛthvi) by
lifting her on his teeth. He also fights and eventually defeats Hiraṇyākṣa. The demon here stands
as a metaphor for sins or sinful persons who are overcome by the Vaiṣṇavite deity, and thus the
earth is purified.

6
Ibid., p. 43

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 © Anādī Pātana, 18th century, Kuji satra

Varāha, in the manuscript stored in the State Museum, is a muscular hairy being, who rescues
Pṛthvi. The action of lifting Pṛthvi up from the primordial waters where Hiraṇyākṣa had hidden
her is signified by the upward facing triangle. This deed is sanctified by Brahmā offering
salutation. In the next painting, Varāha gores Hiraṇyākṣa to death which is evident from the
blood spurting out of the demon king. This brutality is legitimized by a gandharva pouring
flowers over the deity from heaven.

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 © Anādī Pātana, 18th century, Kuji satra

In the folio from the Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti, Varāha is taller and bulkier but he has the
same fierce red-rimmed eyes. Hiraṇyākṣa also meets the same fate.

© Anādī Pātana, 1782 CE, Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti, Guwahati

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Hiraṇyākṣa meets with a bloody death but perhaps it is not much compared to the scenes of
retributive punishments in hell which sinners meet with after death. If the preceding folios serve
to generate transcendental delight in witnessing the enormity of the cosmos and the magnanimity
of God, the succeeding folios remind people of providence. In these folios, different beings and
residents of the netherworld are shown punishing sinners employing different methods. In one
punishment, the sinner is being gorged upon by an animal. In another, they are being boiled or
fried alive in a big bowl above raging fire. In another, they are beheaded by one of the punishers.
As another form of punishment, their eyes are poked out by a bird. In yet another, they are
pierced with a sharp weapon. The vigilantes of hell inflicting punishment upon the sinners are
portrayed as fearsomely as possible. The anthropomorphic creatures are dark in colour. They
wear a single loincloth. Their upper bodies are bare. They have curly black hair on their heads
and facial hair. Their teeth are bared in a dreadful way. It seems as if they are enjoying punishing
the sinners. Some of the animals depicted in these scenes are serpent, crane, crow, dog and a
lion-like maneless animal. The brutality of the scenes is jarringly clear.7 They inspire nothing
short of dread. The ultimate fate of sinners is given a clear picture of. These punitive scenes in
hell are supplemented with folk tales which children in Assam and probably elsewhere too grow
up listening to. I, personally, grew up listening to my father advising me against lying if I did not
want to be fried in a large pan along with other liars in hell. The imagery was terrifying and not
unlike the ones depicted in the manuscript under discussion.

© Anādī Pātana, 18th century, Kuji satra

7
Kalita, Naren, ed., An Illustrated Anadi Patana of Kuji Satra (18th century AD), Directorate of Museums,
Guwahati, 2013, pp. 150-159

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 © Anādī Pātana, 18th century, Kuji satra

© Anādī Pātana, 1782 CE, Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti, Guwahati

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 © Anādī Pātana, 1782 CE, Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti, Guwahati

Therefore, the manuscript, by way of talking about the evolution of the universe, also talks about
the progression of human life. If the human being is considered as a model of the cosmos, they
undergo the same beginning and end. Perhaps it is yet another attempt to explain the complex
course of the creation and the end of the universe by considering a minute model or specimen.
Thus, the painted manuscript succinctly picturises the beginningless and endless creation of life
and death. It succeeds in rousing emotions such as amazement, imagination, sadness, joy, relief,
regret and hope in the recipients of the book. At the same time, it is careful enough to not rouse
any resentment or anger towards Narāyana, the Vaiṣṇavite deity, thus maintaining the appeal.

In this way, a creation myth may also take the shape of a discourse about the doctrine of the
cyclical karma, and so validate the wrath of the dreadful punishers in hell who inflict many
gruesome punishments on sinners. Deities or not, these beings in their dreadful forms come into
the scene to cause death, destruction, suffering and mayhem among human beings. However,
these works portraying the demonic also, tactfully, provide a safety net because we don’t want
too much fear or hatred towards the deities of the religion we are trying to propagate.

References:

Choudhury, R.D. & Kalita, Naren, eds., Manuscript Paintings from the Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti,
Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti, Guwahati, 2001

Eliade, Mircea, Patterns in Comparative Religion, Sheed & Ward, New York, 1958

Kalita, Naren, ed., An Illustrated Anadi Patana of Kuji Satra (18th century AD), Directorate of Museums,
Guwahati, 2013

O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger, The Origin of Evil in Hindu Mythology, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1976

Tiwari, Maruti Nandan & Giri, Kamal, eds., Indian Art and Aesthetics: Endeavours in Interpretation,
Indian Art History Congress, Guwahati, 2004

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