Taleju

Etymology

There hasn't been a widely accepted etymology for Taleju yet. The most cited theory was proposed by Bledsoe who theorized that taleju might come from the Newar term "tale" meaning "higher or upper" and ju which is a Newar honorific suffix, thus meaning "the deity of the high temple". There are also alternative etymologies suggest a link between her and the goddess Tulja Bhavani. These proposals, however, depend in part on the identification of Taleju with the name Tulajā, whose earliest known attestation is only in the 19th century and have consequently been rejected by some scholars.

Timeline

The earliest dated object in the Taleju temples of the Kathmandu Valley is a wooden tympanum in Bhaktapur, dated to NS 671 bhadra sukla 7 (August 1550), which names her yeṭā parameśvarī. In Classical Newar, yeṭā means "south," a reference to her shrine's location in the southern building of a courtyard in the palace of Bhaktapur, while parameśvarī is a Sanskrit epithet meaning "the supreme goddess".

Earlier textual evidence indicates that the Taleju temple in Bhaktapur was already established by the mid-sixteenth century, although it was not yet explicitly called Taleju. A historical diary from Bhaktapur dated to 1655 records that in NS 665 Vaiśākha 12 (May 1544), King Prana Malla had offered five golden gajura to the temple of Taleju, with the text using the name "āgama" for the goddess, translating as "the family deity" from Classical Newar. The same name "āgama" is used in the chronicle for another event in NS 666 Mārgaśīrṣa 15 (December 1544). Similarly, when recording another event relating to the temple in Bhaktapur dated to NS 706 phalguna sukla 2 (March 1585), the chronicle uses "yeṭā āgama" where "yeṭā" again means "south".

In Kathmandu, the earliest name associated with the goddess is tavadeora meaning "tall temple" in Classical Newar, referring to the Taleju temple of Kathmandu. It is used in the form tavadevara sveṣṭadevatā meaning "tutelary deity of the tall temple" in a treaty between Lakshmi Narasimha Malla and Siddhi Narasimha Malla, dated to NS 741 māgha vadī caturdaśī (January 1621). The Malla period chronicles use the name tavadeora when referring to the establishment of the Taleju temple by Mahendra Malla in NS 684 Māgha kṛṣṇa (January 1564).

The name Taleju itself is first attested only later, in a Newar language copper plate of Pratap Malla in Kathmandu dated to NS 764 jestha purnima (June 1644). Since then the name Taleju was very commonly used to refer to the goddess in sources from the Malla period.

Her name was recorded as "Talagu" by the Capuchin Costantino da Ascoli, in an essay from 1747. Similarly, the 8th Situ Rinpoche in his 1748 account of Nepal uses the name "Tārāju" to refer to the goddess Taleju of Bhaktapur.

The East India Company diplomat Kirkpatrick in his 1811 book uses "Toolaja Bhowani" and is the first instance of the use of the name Tulajā for the goddess. The subsequent chronicles of Nepal from the 19th century also exclusively use the name Tulajā for the goddess.

Mythology

The earliest known source for an account for the origin of Taleju is a Tibetan text by Chos kyi dbang phyug (1584–1630), the sixth Shamarpa, in his pilgrimage diary, A Jewel-Studded Garland, a Journey to Nepal (Tibetan: བལ་ཡུལ་དུ་བགྲོད་པའི་ལམ་ཡིག་ནོར་བུ་སྤེལ་མའི་ཕྲེང་བ།, Wylie: Bal yul du bgrod pa’i lam yig nor bu spel ma’i ’phreng ba). The text gives the following account:

A terrible epidemic once broke out in Nepal while Lord Milarepa was staying at a residence in Nyishang. After the king learned of his fame as one who had attained realization, he wished to invite Lord Mila. Then this, Tārā image spoke a prophecy: “Even if you invite Lord Mila, he will not come. Offer your prayers to him with an offering of arura and one kashika muslin cloth.” The king of that period was one who had attained the power of magic stares and glances, and by means of such a stare he offered and transferred some arura and a roll of such cloth. From his side, the Majestic Lord, by his own magic sight, accepted these; thus, it is locally said.

The earliest Nepalese source regarding the origin of Taleju are Sanskrit genealogical texts belonging to the Rajopadhyaya families of Bhaktapur and Patan titled Talejvāgama and Tulyāgama dating to the 17th century. Brinkhaus connects these texts to a genealogy that King Jagajjyoti Malla of Bhaktapur had developed in 1628, which traced the descent of the Malla dynasty from Harisimha, the last king of the Karnata dynasty of Mithila. The two texts incorporate Taleju into this tradition by linking her arrival in Nepal to Harisimha's own arrival there.

The 19th century chronicles of Nepal expand on the story from the Talejvāgama and Tulyāgama. Following is the story of her origin from the Padmagiri chronicle dated to 1825^: 1:

Harisimha, the son of Rāmasimha, a Sūryavaṃśī Rajah of Oudh, having left his own native country arrived in Simraungarh, and took up his lodgings in a separate fortress according to the instructions of a Rakṣas of Laṅkā. On a certain day he was ordered by the goddess to take her with him and proceed to the hills. He arrived and settled at Bhaktapur on Saturday, the 9th of Dussudi 1345 Śaka (A. D. 1323). The followers of Harisimha were 6 Kanauja Brahmans, 2 Ācharyas, 3 Khadgis or warriors/ butchers, 4 Rajikas or washermen, 5 Vaidyas, 6 Newārs, and 7 Tels or oilmen—that is, his followers were of those several castes; and when he finally settled in Bhaktapur, the Rajah of that place left his throne and gave it to Harisimha, who built a temple in the centre of the Darbar and placed in it the goddess Tulaja.^: 52–53

The Capuchin Cassiano Beligatti [it] wrote in his journal from 1744 regarding Taleju: "In all of Nepal, the statue of Bhavani of Batgao is the most esteemed of the others, not only because it is of gold, but because they say it is descended from heaven".

Association with the Karnata Dynasty

The chronicles of Nepal from the 19th century all describe Taleju as originally being the tutelary goddess of the Karnata Dynasty of Mithila. However, this is largely seen as a construction of the chronicles themselves rather than being a historical source. The idea stems from a claim that the Malla Dynasty itself was descended from the Karnata Dynasty after Harisimhadeva fled his capital of Simraungadh after an invasion by the Delhi Sultanate and then entered Bhaktapur as a refugee and eventually took control of Nepal and established his tutelary goddess Taleju in Bhaktapur.

However, the philologist Brinkhaus discovered that the idea that Harisimhadeva was the ancestor of the Nepalese Mallas is not present in the earliest of the sources, like the Gopal Raj Vamshavali written in 1389, nor in any of the epigraphy from the earlier Malla kings. He also found that the descent claim is also inconsistent as the Mallas claim Solar Dynasty whereas the Karnata in their epigraphy claim a Lunar dynasty as their origin. The Gopal Raj Vamshavali instead gives the following account of the demise of Harisimhadeva:

In N.S. 446, on the day of Magha Sukla Trtiya, King Harasimha of Tirahuta, having assembled all his subjects, led an invading party from Mithila, and attacked the Turk of Delhi (Gayas-ud-din Tugalak). Simraungarha was destroyed. The King and ministers all deserted the place and ran away from there. After some time, they re-entered the place. After some time, when they were on their way to Rajagrama in Dolakha, King Harasimhadeva died in Timpata (Tinpatana). Both his minister and son were held in confinement. They asked for asylum. The noble of Rajagrama grabbed all their wealth.

Brinkhaus found that the claim actually first appears in Muditakuvalayāśva, a 1628 drama by Jagajjyoti Malla, king of Bhaktapur. In it, he presents his 14th-century ancestor Sthitirajmalla, whose ancestry is not given in any earlier source, as a direct descendant of Harisimhadeva through four intermediate kings: Harisimhadeva → Vallasimha → Devamalla → Nagamalla → Asokamalla → Jayasthiti Malla. These four kings are not attested in any earlier source and were most likely literary inventions of the king. In an earlier manuscript dated 1614, the same king had traced his ancestry only as far back as Yaksa Malla. The genealogy in the drama was later recorded in the 17th-century Sanskrit chronicle Nepalavamsavali. However, neither Jagajjyoti Malla's drama nor the Nepalavamsavali yet connects Taleju to Harisimhadeva.

The earliest sources to connect Harisimhadeva to Taleju are two 17th-century private genealogical texts of the Newar Brahmins, the Talejvāgama and the Tulyāgama. However, the story of the fall of Simraungadh, written down in 1740 by the Capuchin friar Cassiano Beligatti as told to him by the people of Bhaktapur, does not mention Taleju as belonging to Harisimhadeva. The story connecting Taleju and Harisimhadeva only took its full modern form only in the 19th-century chronicles.

Bibliography

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• Brinkhaus, H. (1991). "The Descent of the Nepalese Malla Dynasty as Reflected by Local Chroniclers". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 111 (1): 118–122.
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• Vajracarya, Chunda (1987). Madhyakālayā Chuṃ Ghaṭanāvalī Chagū Adhyayana (in Newar).{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)