The Aya: Fragments of an Unknown Tibetan Priesthood

Charles Ramble

This is a detailed historical study of the cult of the Tibetan Buddhist protector deity named Pehar (Tib. Pe har) as it grew to prominence at Nechung Monastery (Tib. Gnas chung dgon) in seventeenth-century Lhasa under the auspices of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s burgeoning government. This study explores Pehar’s mythic and iconographic characteristics, liturgical development, and monastic and institutional deployment at this crucial juncture in Tibetan history. Deity cults are ubiquitous in world religions, but the precise form that they take in Tibetan Buddhism and the dynamics driving the changing popularity of specific deities over the centuries has been inadequately studied. Given his centrality in Tibetan religious history, a sustained examination of Pehar’s cult at Nechung Monastery and its influence in later centuries will act as a case study that will significantly enhance our understanding of deity cults within Buddhism and within religious traditions more broadly. A central dynamic of Tibetan Buddhism is its extensive pantheon of supernatural beings, which collectively function as key players in religious practices across time, space, institutional histories, and sectarian intersections. Perhaps the most fascinating type of such beings is the hybrid figure of the Tibetan Dharma protector (chos skyong), each of which has complex histories, profoundly local associations, and yet resolutely Buddhist characteristics. Pehar is one of the most significant of such Dharma protectors since he possesses multiple forms and is venerated within all major Tibetan Buddhist sects. According to popular legend, Pehar was subjugated by the great Indian tantric exorcist Padmasambhava in the eighth century and assigned as a protector deity of Samyé Monastery (Bsam yas dgon pa), Tibet’s first Buddhist monastery. Pehar’s significance increased dramatically during the seventeenth century, when he became intimately linked with the Fifth Dalai Lama and his administration. The central argument of this study is that the cult of Pehar at Nechung Monastery experienced a meteoric rise in popularity in the seventeenth century primarily through the deliberate efforts of the Fifth Dalai Lama and his regent Sangyé Gyatso in reliance upon multiple mythic, ritual, and institutional devices. Pehar was given greater attention than other deities because of his numerous connections to the Fifth Dalai Lama, which included ancestral, transmissional, institutional, and geopolitical ties. These connections made the deity an ideal choice for inclusion within the larger ritual management of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s government.

What does it mean when Tibetans say that Songtsen Gampo, first Buddhist emperor of Tibet, was divine - that he was Chenresik, patron deity of the Snowy Lands? This article examines the earliest versions of this claim, found in the post-dynastic texts, as exemplified in the story of the Khotanese monks, and argues that between the early 11th and 12th centuries, the story undergoes a profound shift, from treating Songtsen Gampo as a tantric initiator into the cult of Chenresik, to treating him as a manifestation of the deity - a shift which changes both the symbolism and narrative drive of the tale.

The paper is a first attempt of a complete translation and interpretation of two short and only partially preserved manuscripts, ITJ 489v and ITJ 562r. In terms of their contents, ITJ 489v and ITJ 562r belong to the collection of Buddhist texts that were composed to discredit funeral practices and afterlife beliefs attributed to non-Buddhist ritual specialists and their community. The manuscripts have to be treated in the broader context of the spread of Buddhism on the Tibetan Plateau and the methodical replacement of local rites and customs by their Buddhist equivalents in practice and on the linguistic level by new, Buddhist interpretations.

WIENER STUDIEN ZUR TIBETOLOGIE UND BUDDHISMUSKUNDE GEGRÜNDET VON ERNST STEINKELLNER HERAUSGEGEBEN VON BIRGIT KELLNER, HELMUT KRASSER, HELMUT TAUSCHER HEFT 70.1 WIEN 2007 ARBEITSKREIS FÜR TIBETISCHE UND BUDDHISTISCHE STUDIEN UNIVERSITÄT WIEN PRAMÞѐAKĈRTIЮ PAPERS DEDICATED TO ERNST STEINKELLNER th ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 70 BIRTHDAY EDITED BY BIRGIT KELLNER, HELMUT KRASSER, HORST LASIC, MICHAEL TORSTEN MUCH and HELMUT TAUSCHER P ART 1 WIEN 2007 ARBEITSKREIS FÜR TIBETISCHE UND BUDDHISTISCHE STUDIEN UNIVERSITÄT WIEN Cover painting "die bunte hoffnung" (detail) by Arik Brauer, ¤ by Arik Brauer Copyright ¤ 2007 by Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien ISBN: 978-3-902501-09-7 (Part 1) IMPRESSUM Verleger: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universitätscampus AAKH, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 2, 1090 Wien Herausgeber und für den Inhalt verantwortlich: Birgit Kellner, Helmut Krasser, Helmut Tauscher alle: Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 2, 1090 Wien Druck: Ferdinand Berger und Söhne GmbH, Wiener Straße 80, 3580 Horn Contents Ernst Steinkellner – Imprints and echoes Publications of Ernst Steinkellner . xi ................................... ....................................... xxvii Katia Buffetrille, “Pays caché” ou “Avenir radieux?” Le choix de Shes rab rgya mtsho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... Gudrun Bühnemann, ivaligas and caityas in representations of the eight cremation grounds from Nepal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 23 Christoph Cüppers, Die Reise- und Zeltlagerordnung des Fünften Dalai Lama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 37 Elena De Rossi Filibeck, The fragmentary Tholing bKa’ ’gyur in the IsIAO Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 53 Max Deeg, A little-noticed Buddhist travelogue – Senghui’s Xiyu-ji and its relation to the Luoyang-jialan-ji. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 63 Hildegard Diemberger, Padmasambhava’s unfinished job: the subjugation of local deities as described in the dBa’ bzhed in light of contemporary practices of spirit possession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 85 Georges Dreyfus, Is perception intentional? A preliminary exploration of intentionality in Dharmakrti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 95 Franz-Karl Ehrhard, The biography of sMan-bsgom Chos-rje Kun-dga’ dpalldan (1735–1804) as a source for the Sino-Nepalese war. . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 115 .... 135 ........ 163 th 1 th Vincent Eltschinger, On 7 and 8 century Buddhist accounts of human action, practical rationality and soteriology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eli Franco, Prajñkaragupta on prattyasamutpda and reverse causation Toru Funayama, Kamalala’s distinction between the two sub-schools of Yogcra. A provisional survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 187 ..... 203 ................................... 213 Richard Gombrich, Popperian Vinaya: Conjecture and refutation in practice Michael Hahn, In defence of Haribhaa . Paul Harrison, Notes on some West Tibetan manuscript folios in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jens-Uwe Hartmann, Der Sattvrdhanastava und das Kranadstra .... 229 .......... 247 Guntram Hazod, The grave on the ‘cool plain’. On the identification of ‘Tibet’s first tomb’ in Nga-ra-thang of ’Phyong-po . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 259 x Contents Harunaga Isaacson, First Yoga: A commentary on the diyoga section of Ratnkaranti’s Bhramahara (Studies in Ratnkaranti’s tantric works IV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 285 Takashi Iwata, An analysis of examples for the interpretation of the word ia in Dharmakrti’s definition of the thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 315 David Jackson, Rong ston bKa’ bcu pa – Notes on the title and travels of a great Tibetan scholastic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 345 Christian Jahoda, Archival exploration of Western Tibet or what has remained of Francke’s and Shuttleworth’s Antiquities of Indian Tibet, Vol. IV? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 361 ..................... 395 Muni r Jambvijayaji, Dignga’s Nyyapraveakatra Shoryu Katsura, Dharmakrti’s proof of the existence of other minds . ........... Deborah Klimburg-Salter, Tradition and innovation in Indo-Tibetan painting. Four preaching scenes from the life of the Buddha, Tabo mid 11th century. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Taiken Kyuma, Marginalia on the subject of sattvnumna 407 .... 423 ................... 469 Horst Lasic, Placing the Tabo tshad ma materials in the general development of tshad ma studies in Tibet. Part one: The study of the Nyyabindu . . . .... 483 Christian Luczanits, Prior to Birth II – The Tuita episodes in Early Tibetan Buddhist literature and art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 497 WIENER STUDIEN ZUR TIBETOLOGIE UND BUDDHISMUSKUNDE GEGRÜNDET VON ERNST STEINKELLNER HERAUSGEGEBEN VON BIRGIT KELLNER, HELMUT KRASSER, HELMUT TAUSCHER HEFT 70.2 WIEN 2007 ARBEITSKREIS FÜR TIBETISCHE UND BUDDHISTISCHE STUDIEN UNIVERSITÄT WIEN PRAMÞѐAKĈRTIЮ PAPERS DEDICATED TO ERNST STEINKELLNER th ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 70 BIRTHDAY EDITED BY BIRGIT KELLNER, HELMUT KRASSER, HORST LASIC, MICHAEL TORSTEN MUCH and HELMUT TAUSCHER P ART 2 WIEN 2007 ARBEITSKREIS FÜR TIBETISCHE UND BUDDHISTISCHE STUDIEN UNIVERSITÄT WIEN Cover painting "die bunte hoffnung" (detail) by Arik Brauer, ¤ by Arik Brauer Copyright ¤ 2007 by Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien ISBN: 978-3-902501-09-7 (Part 2) IMPRESSUM Verleger: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universitätscampus AAKH, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 2, 1090 Wien Herausgeber und für den Inhalt verantwortlich: Birgit Kellner, Helmut Krasser, Helmut Tauscher alle: Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 2, 1090 Wien Druck: Ferdinand Berger und Söhne GmbH, Wiener Straße 80, 3580 Horn Contents Klaus-Dieter Mathes, Can stra mahmudr be justified on the basis of Maitrpa’s Apratihnavda? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 545 Claus Oetke, About the assessment of views on a self in the Indian philosophical tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 567 ............. 587 Patrick Olivelle, The term vikrama in the vocabulary of Avaghoa Parimal G. Patil, Dharmakrti’s white lie – Philosophy, pedagogy, and truth in late Indian Buddhism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 597 Ole Holten Pind, Ngrjunian Divertimento – A close reading of Mlamadhyamaka-krik VII 30cd and VIII 7cd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 621 Karin Preisendanz, The initiation of the medical student in early classical yurveda: Caraka’s treatment in context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 629 Ernst Prets, Implications, derivations and consequences: prasaga in the early Nyya tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 669 ........ 683 Charles Ramble, The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood Ludo Rocher, Commentators at work: Inheritance by brothers in Hindu law ...... 721 Rosane Rocher, Henry Thomas Colebrooke and the marginalization of Indian pandits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 735 Cristina Scherrer-Schaub, Immortality extolled with reason: Philosophy and politics in Ngrjuna. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 757 ....... 795 Lambert Schmithausen, Problems with the Golden Rule in Buddhist texts . Walter Slaje, Werke und Wissen: Die Quellensammlung (AD 1680) des Kaschmirers nanda zum Beweis der Superiorität der karmajñnasamuccaya-Doktrin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 825 Per Sørensen, Restless relic – The rya Lokevara icon in Tibet: Symbol of power, legitimacy and pawn for patronage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 857 Tom J.F. Tillemans, On bdag, gzhan and the supposed active-passive neutrality of Tibetan verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 887 Toru Tomabechi, The extraction of mantra (mantroddhra) in the Sarvabuddhasamyogatantra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 903 Raffaele Torella, Studies on Utpaladeva’s varapratyabhijñ-viv ti. Part IV: Light of the subject, light of the object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 925 ..... 941 Kurt Tropper, The Buddha-vita in the skor lam chen mo at Zha lu monastery . vi Contents Helga Uebach and Jampa L. Panglung, A silver portrait of the 6th wa-dmar Karma-pa (1584–1630) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Käthe Uray-K halmi, Geser/Kesar und seine Gefährtinnen . .... 975 ................... 989 Leonard W.J. van der Kuijp, *Ngabodhi/Ngabuddhi: Notes on the Guhyasamja Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 1001 Roberto Vitali, The White dPyal: Early evidence (from the 7 century to the beginning of bstan pa phyi dar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 1023 Chizuko Yoshimizu, Causal efficacy and spatiotemporal restriction: An analytical study of the Sautrntika philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 1049 Kiyotaka Yoshimizu, Reconsidering the fragment of the B hak on inseparable connection (avinbhva). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 1079 th The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood Charles Ramble, Oxford Introduction When Srong btsan sgam po was building the first of his Buddhist temples, the construction work was impeded by a five-headed nga-demon inhabiting a nearby lake. The large crowd that was present included the following people: gNam grags and ’Byung grags of the Tshe mi clan; ’Brug snang of the lCog ro clan and his sons, the Aya Bonpos (a ya bon po) Co tshug and Sra tshug. These two transformed themselves into sparrowhawks with razor-sharp wings and took to the air amid a sound of thunder. Swooping down on the monster they sheared through its five necks at a stroke, killing it. The rumbling of thunder was heard from inside the water, which had turned deep red with the creature’s blood, and the temple was subsequently named “Hawk Thunder” (Khra ’brug). They then performed a ritual to atone for the killing, after which a group of four priests, among them at least two Ayas, magically drained the lake. The king subsequently built a set of stupas on top of the lake, and the Ayas performed the consecration ceremony. When the king and queen eventually died, their tombs were built for them by Aya Bonpos. Who were these Ayas? The eleventh-century bKa’ chems ka khol ma, from which this account is taken,1 attributes to them a role of considerable signifi1 This paper was originally presented at the Eighth Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, held in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1998. I would like to take this opportunity, a decade on, to express my appreciation of the hospitality and hard work of its convenor, Eliot Sperling. Since the paper was delivered, a translation of the passage cited above has been published in Sørensen and Hazod’s Thundering Falcon (2000: 155–56), and I have therefore made do with a simple paraphrase here. For a lucid translation, and further information on the versions of the source text, the reader is referred to this fine study. Some of the references to Ayas contained in this article I stumbled across by chance. Others I owe to the vigilance and thoughtfulness of friends and colleagues. I am espeB. Kellner, H. Krasser, H. Lasic, M.T. Much, H. Tauscher (eds.), Pram akrti . Papers dedicated to Ernst Steinkellner on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Part 2. (Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 70.2) Wien 2007, pp. 683–720. 684 Charles Ramble cance in the ritual complex surrounding Srong btsan sgam po, but leaves many issues unclear. The main question to be addressed by this article is whether the name Aya2 designates a category of priest with distinctive attributes, performances and traditions, or is simply a name applied to a wide range of unconnected offices. The sources used are both literary and ethnographic: priests called Aya are still to be found in Tibet and the Himalaya, but only an examination of the evidence will enable us to decide if they have anything to do with the Ayas who feature in the literature of past centuries. While the title of this article begs the question of whether we are dealing with a priesthood as such – or whether it is even Tibetan – it is at least honest with regard to the fragmentary nature of the material. The first section will present parallel passages from a number of historiographic accounts – mainly chos ’byung – in some of which the protagonists are identified by the title “Aya.” This will help us to obtain a sense of the degree of consistency with which they are described. Some of these passages have been translated into European languages in the past, but I present them here again, with the Tibetan text, for convenience of comparison. The excerpts relate to two occasions in the dynastic period: first, the appearance of the first king, and secondly, the restoration of the dynasty in its ninth generation following the assassination of the reluctant usurper, Lo ngam rta rdzi. The second section will set out half a dozen excerpts from a range of works in which Ayas make cameo appearances. We are told very little about the priests in question in any of these excerpts, but the passages will contribute to the overall picture that will be discussed in the conclusions. cially grateful to Hildegard Diemberger, Larry Epstein, Guntram Hazod, Samten Karmay, Dan Martin, Robert Mayer and David Templeman for the leads, references and suggestions they have given me, only some of which I have had the space to include here. My understanding of the more intractable passages of Tibetan cited below has been possible thanks to the patience of Samten Karmay, though any remaining errors are of course my own. Most of the research for this article was carried out in the context of a project based at the University of Vienna and generously supported by the Austrian Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung. 2 Except when quoting primary or secondary sources, the term “Aya” will be presented throughout this article in this form. It should be emphasised that this rendering is also intended to cover apparently related terms, such as Aga and Ala. As a general rule, personal names and familiar toponyms will be presented in roughly phonetic transcription unless the Tibetan orthography is relevant to the context. The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 685 The third and final section will consider some ethnographic material concerning Ayas in modern and recent times in Tibet and Nepal. In certain instances the activities of these priests have been discontinued, and information was obtained from interviews with people who had observed or taken part in the cults concerned. The conclusion will review some of the literary and ethnographic material that has been presented in order to assess the general features of Ayas that emerge from the sources, and to make some tentative suggestions concerning the etymology of the term itself. Part 1: Ayas in the dynastic period 1.1. Ayas at the time of the first king A possible reference to a priest with a name resembling “Aya” as a contemporary of gNya’ khri btsan po occurs in a number of chos ’byung. Superficially, the line implies that once the first king had built his castle, he went on to defeat a Bonpo of the Sumpa named A yong(s) rgyal ba. The form of this line, and the context in which it appears in the various chos ’byung, is worth examining. Let us begin with dPa’ bo: …mtshan du gnya’ khri btsan po zhes byung grags / sku mkhar thog ma yum bu bla sgang mdzad / sum pa’i bon po o (sic) yong rgyal ba btul (p. 160). He was named gNya’ khri btsan po. He made Yum bu bla sgang(,) his first castle; he subjugated O yong rgyal ba, a Bonpo of the Sumpa. No mention of this character is made in the corresponding section in lDe’u, which states simply: …de nas phar po zo brang du gshegs so / de nas sku mkhar yun bu bla sgang brtsigs te / sum pa shang gi rgyal po btul ste rdzu ’phrul dang ldan no / From there he went to Phar po zo brang. Then, after building his castle Yun bu bla sgang, he subjugated the king of Sum pa shang, and was endowed with magical powers (pp. 237–38). In his important study of the Can lnga texts, Karmay adds the following footnote to his gloss of this passage: The line sum pa’i bon po a yong rgyal ba btul / “A-yong rgyal-ba, the Bonpo of Sumpa, was subdued (by gNya’-khri btsan-po)” first occurs in [Bu ston chos ’byung] (p. 181) and then was repeated in several chos ’byung e.g. [Deb dmar] (p. 30)…. It did not make sense to me, but now [lDe’u chos ’byung] shows that it has got nothing to do with a Bonpo of Sum-pa (Karmay 1998: 303, fn. 76). 686 Charles Ramble As Karmay states, a form of this problematic line does indeed occur in the Lhasa blockprint edition of Bu ston, of which two published versions are known to me: Bu ston H1 and Bu ston H2. In the following quotation, the asterisk marks the point at which a gloss has been added, and then the intercalated text itself: mi bzhi’i gnya’ ba la khur nas ’di la kho bo cag gi jo bo bya’i zer te ming yang gnya’ khri btsan por* btags rgyal po snga shos yin no / *sku mkhar yum bu bla sgang brtsigs pas mtsho mi gshin gyi dbu (H2: dpu) rgyal gyis bon bsgyur zer / sum pa’i bon po a yongs rgyal ba btul lo // (Bu ston H2: 181). After he had built the palace of Yum bu bla sgang, the dbu (H2: dpu) rgyal of mTsho mi gshin promulgated (or transformed) Bon, and subjugated A yongs rgyal ba, a Bonpo of Sumpa. (H2’s variant reading here may well represent a wish on the copyist’s part to align the term dbu rgyal with the familiar name spu rgyal.) In his critical edition of Bu ston chos ’byung, Janoš Szerb notes that the line occurs in only one version of the six that were available to him: the Lhasa blockprint (H, the abbreviation I have adopted here), which was prepared as late as 1921 under the auspices of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. This suggests that the line may have been interpolated from elsewhere – possibly a work dating from later than Bu ston’s original composition. The likeliest candidate of which I am aware is Deb dmar, where the relevant episode in the story of the first king reads as follows: … rje gnya’ khri btsan po zhes grags te / bod kyi rgyal po la snga ba yin no / / des (B: des) las thabs su sku mkhar un bu bla sgang brtsigs / tshe mi gshen (B: bshen) gyis (B: gyi) dmu rgyal gyi (B: gyis) bon bsgyur / sum pa’i bon po a yongs rgyal ba btul lo / (Deb dmar G: fol. 15b; Deb dmar B: 33). Known as the Lord gNya’ khri btsan po, he was the first king of Tibet. As [one of his] acts he built a castle, Un bu bla sgang. The gshen Tshe mi promulgated dMu rgyal bon. [ – ] subjugated A yongs rgyal ba, a Bonpo of Sumpa. The sentence concerning the A yongs remains as obscure as ever, but the significant point is that, contrary to the context provided by dPa’ bo, it is not a non-sequitur: it is preceded by a phrase – apparently garbled by Bu ston’s commentator – concerning the priestly attendants of gNya’ khri btsan po.3 I 3 The Fifth Dalai Lama’s history of Tibet preserves the line concerning Tshe mi, but omits the subsequent one about the a yongs and the subjugation of the Sumpa. Curiously, this work substitutes don for bon (Bod kyi deb ther: 12), but this may be a straightforward typographic error. Thus Ahmad’s translation: “He changed the mean- The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 687 would tentatively suggest that the line, as it was available to the author of Deb dmar, was a conflation of two distinct issues: the identity and activities of the king’s priests on the one hand – omitted completely in lDe’u – and his military conquests.4 In most accounts of the first king the attendant priests are mTshe mi and gCo’u (variously spelt), though at least one version, the Ya ngal gdung rabs, adds a third: the eponymous founder of the clan, Ya ngal himself.5 It may be the case that Deb dmar has preserved another tradition according to which the first priests included mTshe mi and another named A yong(s). 1. 2. Ayas during the reign of sPu lde gung rgyal The excerpts compared in this section are taken from the following works: rGyal rabs; dPa’ bo; lDe’u; Nyang; rGyal po bka’ thang. The Tibetan text of each excerpt, with the variant readings, will be followed by an English translation, and discussion of the content deferred until all the passages have been presented. Certain excerpts contain untranslated passages that will be subjected to closer scrutiny in the discussion. 1.2.1. rGyal rabs …bu de kun las rgyal zer kyang spu de gung rgyal du grags so / rgyal po ’dis rgyal sa bzung ste / blon po ni ru la skyes kyis byas so / rgyal blon ’di gnyis kyi dus su / g.yung drung gi bon byung ste / ston pa gshen rabs mi bo bya ba stag gzig ’ol mo’i lung rings su sku ’khrungs / khams chen po brgyad la sogs pa bon po’i chos thams cad / zhang zhung gi yul nas bsgyur te / dar zhing rgyas par mdzad / bon la rigs dgu ru phye ste / rgyu’i bon po la rigs bzhi / ’bras bu’i bon po la rigs lnga’o / ’bras bu’i bon rigs lnga ni / g.yung drung theg pa bla na med pa la zhugs pa ste / bde ’gro mtho ris kyi lus thob par ’dod do / rgyu’i bon po rigs bzhi ni / snang gshen bal thod can / ’phrul gshen bal tshon can / phya gshen ju thig can / dur gshen mtshon cha can no / de la snang gshen bal thod can gyis phya dang g.yang ’gug / lha dang sman gsol / dge legs dang dpal bskyed nas mi nor rgyas par byed / … (p. 57). Because that young man was victorious over all (bu de kun las rgyal) he was known as sPu de gung rgyal. This king occupied the throne, and Ru la skyes acted as his minister. It was during the time of this king and this minister that gYung drung Bon ing of the rMu-rGyal of TSHe-Mi gŠen” (Ahmad 1995: 10). On other variants, see Haarh 1969: 105. 4 It may be worth noting that a Bonpo of Sumpa does make an appearance shortly afterwards in lDe’u’s account, just before the live burial of ’Bro snyan lde ru (lDe’u: 251). 5 sku gshen dag tshangs yang ngal tshe bco gsum gyis mdzad / (Ya ngal fol. 21r). 688 Charles Ramble came into being, with the birth of the teacher known as gShen rabs mi bo in ’Ol mo’i lung rings in sTag gzig. All the Bonpo religious works, including the Khams chen po brgyad, were translated from the land of Zhangzhung, and promulgated widely. Bon was categorised in nine classes: Four Ways of the Bon of Cause, and Five of the Bon of Effect. The Five Ways of the Bon of Effect belong to the Supreme gYung drung Vehicle which, it is believed, can lead to rebirth in the higher realms. The Four Ways of the Bon of Cause, on the other hand, entail the gShen of Appearance who wear the woollen headdress; the ’Phrul gshen with the coloured wool; the Phya gshen with their divinatory knots, and the weapon-bearing Funerary gShen. Among these, the gShen of Appearance with the woollen headdresses performed phya ’gug and g.yang ’gug rituals, worshipped the gods and the sman divinities, and caused people and livestock to multiply by generating virtue and glory. (The specialisations of the other gshen are then detailed.)6 1.2.2. dPa’ bo The main version cited here is dPa’ bo SP, with variant readings from dPa’ bo B in brackets. ...sha khri nya khri bya khri gsum yang bltams / de tshe rgya gar yul dang stag gzig mtshams / gur a wa tra (B: gu ra wa ta) ces bya’i yul khams nas / mu stegs bon po ’a zha zhes pa byung / gnam la phur zhing kha nas mngon shes smra / shing la ’breng ’gra (B: ’dra) rdo la lhu gzug ’dral / rtag du sha chang gis ni dre mchod byed / de la rgyal pos bla mchod bkur sti mdzad // g.yu yi g.yung drung dpa’ ba’i stag slag (B: slog dang) / ’ging ba’i ral khas bstod cing mnga’ thang spar (B: sbar) / khu deng (B: dang) nu bas che zhes a yar (B: yang) bos / mu stegs lta (B: lha) log bon gyi byin rlabs chungs / (pp. 160–61). ...Also, Sha khri, Nya khri and Bya khri were born. At that time, a heretical Bonpo called ’A zha came from the region known as Gur awatra, on the border between India and sTag gzig. He would fly in the air and utter predictions; shing la ’breng ’gra (B: ’dra) rdo la lhu gzug ’dral, and constantly worshipped demons with meat and beer. The king revered him as his chaplain, honouring him with a turquoise swastika, a hero’s tiger-skin robe and a grandiose sword, and enhanced his power and authority. The Khu and the Nu ba7 addressed the so-called Great One as “Aya.” This heretical Bon, with its false views, offered few spiritual benefits. 6 An annotated translation of this passage is given in Sørensen’s seminal study of the rGyal rabs gsal ba’i me long (1994: 144–45). I offer my own translation here only for the sake of consistency with my rendering of the other excerpts. 7 The justification for understanding Khu and Nu ba as priestly lineages is based on the appearance of Khu as the clan name of two priests in Nyang: the priests in question The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 689 dPa’ bo subsequently cites a version from another account. In the time of Ru las skyes: ...gnam bon gshen po che dang bon gzhung byung / gshen yul bon mo lung ring zhes zer ba dbus kyi ’on du rus gshen gyi byis pa bong bu’i rna ba can byung ba lo bcu gnyis lon tshe dres khrid nas lo bcu gnyis su mi khyur ma tshud / lo bcu gnyis ’das nas log byung tshe yul ’di na ’dre ’di yod pa ’di ltar mchod thams cad shes pa cig byung nas bong bu’i rna ba sgrib pa’i phyir bal thod bcings ste ’dre mchod pa’i rdol bon dar zhing gzhan yang ’bras bu’i bon rigs lnga g.yung drung bla med kyi theg pa zhes ’bras bu bde ’gro mtho ris thob par ’dod pa dang / rgyu’i bon rigs bzhi skad pa snang gshen bal thod can gyis phya g.yang gugs mi nor rgyas par byed / ’phrul gshen bal mtshon can gyis yas dang mdos gtong ’gal rkyen sel / cha gshen ju thig can gyis legs nyes ston thag zag bcas kyi mngon shes ’chad / dur gshen mtshon cha can gyis gson gshin gyi rtsis byed / thams cad rnga gshang gi sgra ’khrol / ’jim pa’i sha ba nam mkha’ la ’gro ba dang / rnga la bzhon nas ’gro ba sogs zag bcas kyi rdzu ’phrul mang po yod skad / mdo sde ’byung ba’i ltas su sgrung rnams dar / ro langs gser sgrub kyi sgrung dang ma sangs kyi sgrung dang / mchil pa’i sgrung sogs nyan bshad dang / mngon pa’i sde snod ’byung ltas lde’u sprod / srang la them gnyer lba ba che ci yin / por mgo mgo can skyed cing rgyags ci yin zhes dri ba sogs ste bon sgrung lde’u gsum gyi tshul lha sa’i gdung rnams la bris nas yod skad / de yis bod rnams cung zad blo kha bye / (pp. 164–65). The great gNam bon gShen po appeared, together with Bon scriptures. In ’On, in the centre of the land of the gShen called Bon mo lung ring, was a child of lineagepriests (or, the gShen clan) who had donkey’s ears. When he was twelve years old he was taken away by demons and was not seen for a dozen years. When he returned after twelve years he did so as one who knew what spirits were in which locations, and all the ways in which they should be propitiated. To conceal his donkey’s ears he wore a woollen turban. The rDol bon, for the propitiation of demons, spread. Furthermore, it was held that the Five Ways (rigs) of the Bon of Result, known as the Supreme Vehicle of Eternal Bon, would ensure attainment of the higher realms, while in the so-called Four Ways of the Bon of Cause, the gShen of Appearance who wore the woollen turban would perform the phya ’gug and g.yang ’gug rituals and would effect the proliferation of people and cattle. The ’Phrul gshen with the coloured wool made offerings of yas and mdos and dispelled adverse circumstances. The Phya gshen with the divinatory knots (cha gshen ju thig can) would reveal good and ill, and utter prognostications of a worldly character. The Funerary gShen with the weapons would make astrological calculations for the living and the dead. All these played drums and flat bells. [On] deer made of clay [they] would travel through the air and ride on their drums, and exhibited many other such cheap magical tricks. The proliferation of stories augured the coming of the sutras. Tales of corpses being transformed into gold, of ma sangs spirits, and of were the chaplains of the kings gNam spu and gZhung btsan lde on the one hand, and of Khri gNyan gzung btsan on the other (Nyang L: 163, 165). 690 Charles Ramble birds and so forth, were a portent, provided by the riddle-makers, of the Buddhist teachings and the Abhidharma that were to come. It is said that questions in the style of the Bon, the sGrung and the lDe’u, such as: “What has notches like wrinkles and a goitre?” for a set of scales, “What has a head that grows and gets fatter?” for a grass tussock8 may be found inscribed on roof-beams in Lhasa. They helped a little to develop the intellect of the Tibetans. 1.2.3. lDe’u de’i dus su yu ’gur sna sa sna bya ba na mu stegs breg pa’i bon po wa zha bya ba gcig la bon byung ste / rdzu ’phrul che nas / gnam la lhab lhab phur zhing kha nas thol thol smra / shing la ’breng du ’dra zhing rdo la lhu gzugs byed pa des / zhugs bcad kyis btsan la las su mchod do / de la mnga’ thang bstod pa ni / g.yu’i g.yung drung/ dpa’ bo stag slag / ’ging pa’i ral gas bstod / khu dang bu bas ches bas / a pa bya bar bos pas / bon byin rlabs chung pa dang /… (p. 244). At that time, in the land (yu = yul) called Gur sna sa sna a heretical shaven-headed Bonpo called Wa zha acquired Bon. His magical powers were great: he would glide through the air and recite torrentially; shing la ’breng du ’dra zhing rdo la lhu gzugs byed pa des. As his ritual activity he would propiate the btsan in a worldly manner (zhugs bcad = zag bcad). As for the exaltation of his power and prestige, he was honoured with a turquoise swastika, a hero’s tiger-skin robe and a grandiose sword. Because he was [greater than they were], the Khu and the Bu ba addressed him as “Apa.” The spiritual benefits of [this] Bon were small.... 1.2.4. Nyang In the following excerpt I have used Nyang L as the basic text. There are in fact numerous differences between this version and Nyang M, but I have indicated only those that are of particular relevance to the present study. Note that, according to Nyang, the events related occur not during the time of sPu rje (sic) gung rgyal but of his father, who is identified with Dri/Gri gum himself. de nas srib khri’i sras gnam phru po gzhung btsan lha’i sku ring la / gnam gyi rdor (M: rdol) bon byung ste u rgyan gyi tshu rol / kha che’i yul gyi pha rol / stag gzig gi bar na yul ’gyur snang bar snang bya ba ru sa zha’i bon po / mu stegs nyi tshe ba’i ston pa / stong pa don dam du ’dod pa dang lta ba mthun pa gcig byung / des ’jig rten pa’i lha ’dre kun gyi srog snying nas ’dren nus pa / mi dang lha srin du dmangs dum shes pas kun rdzob tu thams cad sgo nga las skyes bar ’dod pas snga rtags 8 My rendering of these opaque riddles is taken almost verbatim from the translation given in Norbu 1995: 22. See ibid.: 231, fn. 2, for an explanation of the riddles, and for alternative translations of the term gdung, which I have rendered here as “roof-beams.” The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 691 dangs / phyi rtags dang / da lta ji ltar yin pa rnams thol thol du smra shes pa / lto khu lto nag bya bag cig lhu dang rdums du ’brel ba / nam mkha’ la ldeb ldeb phur nus pa / lag cha ni skya mo khugs su bcug / lpags pa ni rla bzhi ’phreng du bkug nas phub pa ming la nga phod lnga zer / yas btags ni shing dang rus pa la sngon dmar gyi ri mo bris / gzugs brnyan ni khams (M: kham) sa la byed / nam mkha’ dang rgyang pu ni btsugs / gson gyi lha bon byed zer nas g.ya’ ri dang gangs ri’i lha ’dre la zhung shang / srab shang / gser skyems kyis mchod / gshin dur byed zer nas mi shi ba la mgo gnon dang / skyid kyi lha lug dang rta rgod ma gsod / mi na ba’i glud du nges pa med zer nas ra lug dang / bya phag dang / yas thag gtong zer nas srog chag gsod / yang na ’thom stong zhing ’gal dum dang ’dre yas skyur ba / a ya chab nag bya ba cig byung de rgyal po spyan drangs nas chab nag srid pa rgyud kyi bon bya ba cig byung / bod yul du gyer bon la snga ba de yin no / de ston pa’i bka’ ni ma yin skad / (pp. 160–61). Then during the lifetime of gNam phru go gzhung btsan lha, the son of Srib khri, the rDol (L: rdor) bon of the sky originated. In a land called ’Gyur sna par sna (L: ’gyur snang par snang), between O iyana on the far side and Kha che on the near side, in the middle of sTag gzig, was a Sa zha’i bon po who held a philosophical position that accorded with that of the insignificant heretical teacher(s) who considered emptiness as ultimate reality. This individual was able to lead all earthly gods and demons by their life-syllables, and could mediate in disputes between humans on the one hand and gods and demons on the other. On a conventional level, he held that everything had been born from an egg and was able to provide torrential recitations of signs about the past and the future, and how things stood at the present. lto khu lto nag bya ba gcig lhu dang rdums su ’brel ba. He could glide through the air. (Nyang L: lag cha ni skya mo khugs su bcug / lpags pa ni rla bzhi ’phreng du bkug nas phub pa ming la nga phod lnga zer / Nyang M: lto khu lto nag bya ba 1 lhu dang rdum du brel pa / nam-mkha’ la ldeb ldeb ’phur nus pa / lag cha na shing-gi skya mo khugs-su bcug / lpags pa ni brla bzhi brang du kug nas phubs pa ming du phyed rnga zer). As for his yas gtags, he would make blue and red paintings on wood and bone. He would make clay effigies and set up thread crosses and wooden tablets. Saying that he was a lha bon [priest] for the living, he would worship the gods and demons of the slate hills and the glaciers with [flat bells know as?] zhung shang and srab shang, as well as with libations; saying that he performed funerary rituals (L: gshin dur; M: gshen dur) he would crush the heads of the dead and kill divine sheep and mares for the happiness [of the deceased?]. Saying that there were no particular ransoms for those who were ill, and that he would offer goats and sheep, chickens and pigs and ritual items (yas thags), he would slaughter living creatures, or …(? ’thom stong [M: btong]) and resolve disputes and cast out ritual items for demons (’dre yas). Such an individual, known as the Aya of Chab nag, was invited by the king, and the so-called Bon of the Chab nag srid pa rgyud was instituted. This was the first of the gyer bon in Tibet. It is said that this was not the doctrine of the Teacher [gShen rab]. The passages I have left untranslated above deserve closer examination, since they may help to clarify a problematic passage concerning the rituals of the 692 Charles Ramble early Bon priests that appears in the rGyal po bka’ thang. The passage runs as follows: rgyal po gri gum btsan po’i sku ring la / ta zig ’a zha (Hoffmann, B: ’a zha’i) bon po gdan drangs nas / rdo nag thom do lhu dang sdum du sbral (Hoffmann: sgril; B: sbrel) / shi lpags skya me’i (B: mo’i) bla gzhi breng (Hoffmann: brang; B: bring) du ’dra / (Haarh 1969: 100; rGyal po bka’ thang B: 115). Haarh proposes the following translation: In the lifetime of King Gri-gum-btsan-po, Bon-po were invited from Ta-zig and ’Aža. (They) brought the black stone(s) and the dipper, these two, together with pieces of meat. The greyish-white skin of the corpse was like the exalted abode of fire. Hoffmann sensibly avoids translating the last two lines, but provides the following comment in a footnote: Die folgenden zwei Verse wage ich wegen der mangelnden Kenntnis der zugrundeliegenden Realien nicht zu übersetzen. Hoffentlich werden uns eingehende Studien über die tibetischen Totengebräuche das Verständnis dieser wichtigen Zeilen erschließen. Im ersten Vers ist von schwarzen Steinen (rdo nag), von einem Paar (do) Schöpflöffel (t’om) sowie von den Zwölfteln der Opfertiere (lhu) die Rede. Der zweite Vers spricht von der “Haut eines Gestorbenen” (ši-lpags); skya me’i bla gži heißt vielleicht “der hohe Sitz eines Reiters,” da skya-myi in dem Wörterbuch Brda-yig mi don gsal-bar byed-pa’i zla ba’i od sna mit mong. moritai kümün wiedergegeben wird (1950: 246, fn. 5). Let us consider the second line of the rGyal po bka’ thang excerpt in the light of the other passages (the translations are again Haarh’s): rdo nag thom do lhu dang sdum du sbral (Hoffmann: sgril; L: sbrel) “(They) brought the black stone(s) and the dipper, these two, together with pieces of meat.” dPa’ bo: shing la ’breng ’gra (L: ’dra) rdo la lhu gzug ’dral “On wood he skinned the hide; on stone he ripped open the quartered parts.” While these two sentences appear to be very different, the presence, in both, of the rdo, the lhu and the verb sbral/’dral raises suspicions about the possibility of a common provenance. Although Haarh’s translation of the dPa’ bo line is convincing – not least because the ritual skinning and quartering of animals is the sort of thing we would expect of Ayas – it is also worth noting that the alternative readings of sbral – sgril and sbrel – convey the sense of putting something together. The corresponding passage in lDe’u is ambiguous as it could signify either making an entire effigy out of stone body-parts, or else reducing a whole to its component parts: The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 693 shing la ’breng du ’dra zhing rdo la lhu gzugs byed pa… Now consider Nyang: lto khu lto nag bya ba gcig (M: 1) lhu dang rdums su (M: rdum du) ’brel ba (M: pa). The rdo nag of rGyal po is now lto nag. lTo (ostensibly meaning “food”) is clearly a misspelling of the term gto, denoting a category of rituals. gTo nag rituals are a well-known class of mdos and glud rites, and though I have never encountered gto khu, the context suggests that this, too, is a type of ritual effigy or performance. The same is probably true of the term ’thom; the context in which it appears in Nyang indicates that it is some sort of ritual activity (that may or may not have something to do with spoons or ladles). Significantly the gto nag ritual involves making anthropomorphic effigies out of clay and other substances. Now after attesting to the priests’ powers of flight, Nyang L states: lag cha ni skya mo khugs su bcug / lpags pa ni rla bzhi ’phreng du bkug nas phub pa ming la nga phod lnga zer / This opaque passage is significantly clearer in Nyang M: lag cha na shing-gi skya mo khugs-su bcug / lpags pa ni brla bzhi brang du kug nas phubs pa ming du phyed rnga zer / Regarding his accoutrements: he would bend a strip of wood [into a ring] then, taking a hide, he would cover [the ring] by [stretching it across] and pulling the four limbs in to the breast. This was known as a “half-drum.” A glance at the last line of rGyal po bka’ thang cited above is enough to indicate that that mysterious phrase must surely be a garbled version either of Nyang itself or, more probably, of an earlier source used by the two accounts. What appears at first sight to imply a funerary or tantric ritual is in fact a description of the process whereby the priests made their one-sided drums. Some of the salient points that emerge from a comparison of these excerpts may now be summarised briefly: • Bon originates in, and is imported from, a land situated to the west of Tibet; • There is a higher and a lower form of Bon, but this description is concerned with the lower, non-soteriological variety that is not gYung drung Bon; • The promulgator is called ’A zha (etc.), or comes from a land or group of people of that name; • The priests’ activities include divinations, lengthy recitations, phya ’gug and g.yang ’gug rituals, rites (sometimes specified as mdos and gto) involving effigies, funerals and (possibly) animal sacrifice; • Some of the priests wear distinctive woollen headdresses; • The priests are known by a title that is, or closely resembles, “Aya.” 694 Charles Ramble Some aspects of these excerpts are too well known to require further comment,9 but certain features deserve closer attention. First, the donkey’s ears that the twelve-year-old boy is obliged to cover with a woollen headdress: the story appears to be a version of the well-known tale of King Midas, who was cursed with donkey’s ears by a vindictive Apollo and had to conceal them beneath a turban. Midas was a Cimmerian king of Phrygia, in modern Anatolia, but the story of the turban is a relatively late supplement to representations of him on Greek vases, where he is depicted with donkey’s ears. In fact, donkey or mule ears were Bronze-Age attributes of royalty that are likely to have been adopted by the Phrygian kings (Morris 2004). Secondly, the sacrifices described in Nyang: the text is ambiguous but it is probable that the various sets of activities listed are meant to be the province of different specialists. In any event, smashing the heads of corpses during funerals, and sacrificing horses, have a very Indic ring to them. Offerings of pigs and chickens are more evocative of Himalayan rituals. And finally, the location of the ’A zha: the balance of evidence suggests that ’A zha is an epithet of the T’u-yü-hun (Tucci 1950: 54–55). Curiously, the references cited above give the ’A zha promulgator of Bon a western location, whereas the T’u-yü-hun territory lay to the north-east of Tibet. Objections to the identification of the ’A zha with the T’u-yü-hun were in fact raised by F.W. Thomas precisely on the grounds that the ’A zha territory extends too far to the west (Thomas 1927). Chinese sources examined by Molé, however, state that the T’u-yü-hun territory “abuts on to Turfan to the north and Khotan to the west” (1970: 74). A discussion of the identity and range of the ’A zha lies well beyond the scope of the present article, but I shall return to the matter in the conclusion. For now, we may leave the question open with the observation that, in spite of the generous reach of the T’u-yü-hun demonstrated by Molé, it still does not extend to the more westerly location implied by the Tibetan excerpts.10 Part 2: Ayas in Tibetan literature This part will simply present some appearances of Ayas in an assortment of Tibetan works. 9 For example, concerning the subdivision of Bon into nine “Ways,” within the categories “Cause” and “Effect,” see Snellgrove 1980: 9–12; Karmay 1998c: 111–13. On Chab nag as a ritual system and a toponym see also Karmay 1998a: 215. 10 For a discussion of other hypotheses concerning the identity of the ’A zha, see Molé 1970: 73–75, fn. 22). The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 695 2.1. dBa’ bzhed The dBa’ bzhed (11th century?) contains two references to priests whose titles may be cognate with the name Aya: Meanwhile one hundred and twenty-seven Bon po such as A gShen, Byi sPu, mTshe Cog, Ya ngal arrived from Phan yul in order to celebrate the funeral [of Khri Srong lde btsan] (Wangdu and Diemberger 2000: 94–95). These priests are later singled out for criticism by Vairocana, the advocate of Buddhist reform, as exponents of a benighted religion: It was said that the view and practice of the Bon as well as the sacred law (gtsug lag) are good. This, too, is false. Khri ’phang gsum, the king of Zing po, worshipped the compassionless god Thang lha yar lha, the two Ag gshen of ’Phan yul killed many animals such as sheep (gnag lug) and horses…. (ibid.: 101). In a footnote to the first excerpt (p. 94, fn. 369) the translators suggest that the term A gShen “could be a contracted form for A [ya/la] [sKu] gshen,” and consider the possibility that these priests may be connected to the horse-sacrificing Ayas mentioned in Nyang. 2.2. Padma bka’ thang Chapter 92 of the Padma bka’ thang contains a series of verses in which Padmasambhava responds to Khri Srong lde btsan’s query concerning the future discovery of certain treasures. The text is cited from Hoffmann 1950: 360.11 The variant readings refer to the Chengdu edition (1988: 561). Each stanza begins with the line “He will not remain, but after he has attained enlightenment…,” a reference to the treasure-discoverer cited in the previous stanza. One of the verses runs: de nyid mi gnas mya ngan ’das ’og tu / byang gi phyi gong ru ba tshub mas ’khyer / bod ’dir dam chos bstan pa gsum du gyes / bka’ gter gnyis kyis sangs rgyas stan (Ch: bstan) pa skyong / gtsang gi ru mtshams sbas pai gter ka ’di mi bzhag ’don pa’i rtags der bstan nas byung / ’a (Ch: a) ya bon po lha bum zhes bya byung / He will not remain, but after he has attained liberation The encampments of Phyi gong, in the north, will be carried away by whirlwinds. 11 German and French translations of this stanza are given respectively in Hoffmann 1950: 141 and Toussaint 1933: 378–79. 696 Charles Ramble Here in Tibet the excellent dharma will be divided into three parts. The Buddhist doctrine will be protected by two treasures containing teachings. These treasures [will be] hidden on the border of gTsang. Signs that they should not be left there but are to be revealed will appear To one named A ya bon po lha ’bum. 2.3. Kun dga’ bzang po In his study of the kingdom of Ya tse, Tucci refers to the correspondence of the Sa skya pa hierarch Kun dga’ bzang po with certain dignitaries of that kingdom in the early fifteenth century. One of the letters is written to a certain “Ya ts’e blon po, the minister of Ya ts’e A ya dba phyug, who had sent him a bronze vase and some medicines” (Tucci 1956: 115). The identity of this figure is uncertain: in any event, even though he is said to have a minister he is not the ruler, who at that time was Hastirja.12 2.4. Kong po bon ri’i dkar chag The eighteenth-century pilgrimage guide to the Bon Mountain of Kongpo by gYung drung phun tshogs contains excerpts and paraphrases from the biographies of several eminent lamas.13 One of these is Blo ldan snying po, the fourteenth-century scribe (born in 1360) of the gZi brjid. This short excerpt is tantalising: one would love to know more about what is going on, but the Tibetan – especially the prophecy – is gnomic, to say the least; my translation is partly guesswork, but at least we see that the Ayas are somehow associated with the propitiation of gods and with rituals concerning phya and g.yang. lha klu mi ma yin gyi dad gus brtan / a ya bon bzhi drang srong sngon po dang / rgyal mos lung bstan do gong ’phar (L: mkhar) chen mnos / skal (L: skas) med the tshom rten mchog gshegs pa’i shul / sa yi bcud nyams gter srung lung bstan nas / a ya’i lha gsol phya g.yang zhi bde byas / (p. 175) Then the gods, the serpent-spirits and the non-humans became firm in their devotion. The four Aya Bon, the blue[-robed?] hermit and the queen made a prophecy: 12 For this reference, and to the Aya in the biography of U rgyan pa, I am indebted to Dan Martin. 13 Two versions of this work are available to me. One is a manuscript that I photographed at Srid rgyal dgon chen monastery on Kongpo Bonri itself in 1986 (hence SG); the other version is the printed Lhasa edition (L) of 1995. Although the latter is probably based on the same manuscript, it contains several typographic errors that completely alter the meaning of the text. The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 697 “Take the Great Conch [from its place of concealment] this evening; as a record of [the Teacher’s] passage, it is an excellent sacred support for unfortunate ones who are beset by doubts; [however,] the potency of the place will be diminished” – so went the prophecy of the treasure-guardians. The Ayas’ propitiation of the gods, and their [performance of?] phya and g.yang [rituals] brought about peace and wellbeing. These Ayas, then, belong to a group of mysterious-sounding local priests who act as the guardians of the treasures concealed around the Bon Mountain. The “Great Conch” (’phar chen) is a relic of one of sTon pa gShen rab’s canine teeth: he had blown it to silence the dismal wailing of the demons he had defeated during his epic battle with Khyab pa lag ring. 2.5. U rgyan pa In the biography of U rgyan pa, an encounter with an Aya is the prelude to the master receiving an invitation to teach in India. de’i dus su mu stegs byed a ya zhes bya ’jal [mjal]14 du byon pas / shin tu dad nas ral pa bregs te / sangs rgyas kyi bstan pa la rab tu byung zhing / zab mo’i dbang dang gdams pa gnang nas ’grol bar mdzad / yang mu stegs byed dbang phyug gi grub mtha’ la gnas pa / lag pa g.yon pa dbang phyug gi rten bzung nas / ras kyis dkris nas lag pa zha ba gnyis kyang / dad pa thob nas sangs rgyas kyi bstan pa la rab tu byung zhing / gsang sngags rdo rje theg pa’i lam stan [bstan] / dus phyis mu stegs byed rab tu byung ba de dag gis / rje grub chen rin po che’i sku’i snyan pa grags pa las / rgya gar na mu stegs byed bco lngas / bstan rin po che’i sgo ru ’jug pa’i don du ’ongs pa las / rje grub chen rin po che rgya yul du gdan drangs so / At that time, an Aya who practised the religion of the Heretics came to visit him. Filled with faith, he shaved off his matted locks and took the vows of a Buddhist novice. He was given profound initiations and precepts and was assured liberation. Then there came another two Heretics, who had clutched images of iva in their left hands and bound them with cloth, thereby crippling their hands. However, they too became his devotees and took novitiate vows, and he taught them the Vajrayna of Secret Mantras. Those Heretics who had become novices subsequently spread word about the precious master. Fifteen Indian Heretics came to him with a view to converting to the precious Buddhist doctrine, and invited him to India. 14 Orthographic amendments have been made by the editors. 698 Charles Ramble Part 3: Ethnographic observations Although I had encountered Ayas in the course of my fieldwork in Mustang District in Nepal, I had assumed that the name was entirely local, and confined to the priests of a few settlements in the enclave of Panchgaon. I was therefore very surprised to learn from Hildegard Diemberger and Guntram Hazod of the existence of Aya priests in Porong, an area in southern Tibet corresponding partly with the modern county of Nyelam. We decided to pursue the matter further during future visits to Tibet by actively seeking out traces of priests called Aya. 3.1. Aya Pema of Porong15 Aya Pema was the last practising aya of Porong, a semi-autonomous principality in southern Tibet that emerged from the myriarchy of Southern La stod in the fourteenth century.16 Pema left Tibet in 1959 and settled in Kathmandu, where there is a large and dynamic Porongwa exile community. In Tibet, the Aya had enjoyed a position of considerable prestige, and was referred to as “the one who could put his hand on the shoulder of the rje dbon,” the hereditary ruler of Porong. Pema implied rather ruefully that this was no longer the case; cults involving animal sacrifice are something that many in the diaspora community feel were better forgotten in the light of modern international expectations of Tibetan Buddhism. The principal territorial divinity of Porong, and the focus of the Aya’s ritual attention, was – and still is – the god Potakyung, who resides on a hill known as the Copper Mountain (Zangs kyi ri kha). The etymology of the god’s name is not clear: Po may be a respectful prefix (such as spo bo, “grandfather”), since he is more commonly referred to simply as Takyung – possibly for rTa khyung or rTa skyong? Following Diemberger and Hazod 1997, I shall use the latter spelling. The hill in question is located not in Porong but in the adjacent territory of Nanggong. rTa skyong, Pema explained, originated as a magician-tantrist (mthu rgyab mkhan sngags pa) in U rgyan yul as a manifestation both of rTa mgrin and of Khro thung, the troublesome uncle of the epic hero Gesar. He left U rgyan yul with the aim of travelling to Porong, but stopped to watch the annual horse racing festival in Nanggong. So absorbed was he by the finery and 15 An interview with Aya Pema is published in Diemberger and Hazod 1997: 271–72. The findings presented here overlap with some of the material presented in that work. 16 For a brief history of Porong and its rulers, see Ramble 2002. The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 699 the displays of horsemanship that he became rooted to the spot, and never reached his intended destination. rTa skyong would receive a blood-sacrifice of a sheep every year on the fifteenth day of the first month. By the time the offerings came to an end in 1959, Pema said, the god must surely have been very rich in sheep. On these occasions, the Aya and the nobility of Porong – including the rje dbon – would visit the hill of rTa skyong along with some forty people of Nanggong as their assistants (zhabs phyi). The live sheep was tethered on a brocade belonging to the rje dbon while the assistants cast lots to determine who would have the honour of performing the sacrifice. A simple altar was set up nearby. Among the images on the altar was a dough effigy of rTa skyong himself, identified by his wild tresses (ral ba). The Aya would sing a short invocation to the god. Pema recited a few lines as an example, saying that the whole text could be obtained from a handwritten script he permitted me to photograph. What he recited did not in fact correspond to anything in the transcript. In any event, the last two lines of his excerpt were: chibs su rkyang chung kha dkar chibs / rkyang chung kha dkar gar chams ling se ling / …riding a small white-faced kyang as your mount; the small white-faced kyang dances ling-se-ling. These lines explain a traditional prohibition in Porong against killing kyang (wild asses): they were regarded as the mount of the principality’s territorial divinity. The Aya would then utter a mantra to the sheep: om ma ni mu ri ma so ha, immediately after which the sheep would begin to totter “as if it were drunk,” and a vulture would appear, circling in the sky above the gathering. The sacrificer would then kill the sheep by stabbing it, holding the knife in his left hand. Following the dismemberment, the ribcage would be filled with tsampa and placed near the altar. The left foreleg was kept separately for the subsequent performance of the g.yang ’gug ritual, and later given to the Aya. The latter would carry out a divination for the community by examining the entrails of the sacrificed sheep. Pema provided only a few examples of how the signs were interpreted: • If the bladder was full, there would be drought, while an empty bladder signified abundant rainfall; • If the “white” (dkar) – i.e. the small – intestine were twisted, this portended war from the direction of China (rGya nag); Charles Ramble 700 • A twisted “black” (nag) intestine, the large gut, indicated war from the direction of India (rGya dkar).17 The following day the chest containing the tsampa was cut up and distributed to the people as a blessing (byin rlabs). The remaining meat was mixed with rice and boiled up to make soup. Contrary to the case of the Aya of Kyar (see below), whose divination operates according to homology, the principle of prognostication in Porong is that of opposites. This is borne out by another divination that the Aya would carry out annually for the community. Every year, the Aya would place inside a cave in the mountain of rTa skyong a clay pot filled with grain topped with a single coin. The pot was covered with a flat stone and left for one year. Pema listed the various possible transformations of the pot’s contents (caused mainly by rodents) and how these were to be interpreted. Condition of pot Interpretation 1. Completely empty Best possible outcome 2. Completely full Worst possible outcome 3. Only grain remaining, but no coin Higher taxes in the coming year 4. Only coin remaining, but no grain A mediocre year to come 5. A dead mouse Problems for children 6. Small bones present Problems for the elderly (see no. 10) 7. Yak dung present Problems for yaks 8. Horse dung present Problems for horses 9. Sheep and goat dung present Problems for sheep and goats 10. White hair present Problems for the elderly (see no. 6) 11. Black hair present Problems for the young Aya Pema would – and indeed still does – propitiate rTa skyong on other occasions with libations that do not involve sacrifice. He himself is not literate, but his recitation had been written down on a single sheet of paper by someone else. The many orthographic irregularities of the text make certain passages difficult to understand, but a few excerpts may be cited here. The opening of the text bears out the association between rTa skyong and Khro thung with the line “Here in this land of Khrom, in Upper gTsang….” In this excellent place Is the copper castle sdem se sdem 17 For other auguries, see Diemberger and Hazod 1997: 272. The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 701 With its turquoise dome lam se lam And its door of gold and conch-shell khrig se khrig. And as for the main occupant of the place: The father-mountain Deep Lake King And the mother-mountain lake Dharma Queen, Those two united and their manifested son Was the divine btsan Po rdi ri re khyung, Khu! He is white in colour and holds benign attributes; He wears a great cloak of red silk And has a jewelled belt of gold; On his feet he wears iron boots; His hair is tied up in a matted topknot And he wears a silken turban on his head. He is adorned with precious ornaments of gold and turquoise; A fearsome, well-tempered sword shines at his waist; In his right hand he holds a beautiful long spear And in his left a btsan’s noose; At his right side is a tiger-skin quiver, and at this left a leopard-skin scabbard; …(?) khyi ri ri; He rides a yellow-faced goose; … He is surrounded by an entourage of a hundred thousand gods and btsan; The manifestation of your body is A red bear sha ra ra; The manifestation of your speech The sound ha and the sound so – di ri ri, And the manifestation of your mind A black whirlwhind khyi li li! His entourage includes his consort Zang [bZang?] btsun mdzes ma. The name rTa skyong does not feature anywhere in the short list, and I have taken the syllables po rdi ri re khyung to be some form of “Potakyung.” The text, which will be examined in more detail in a separate publication, continues with a number of requests (for good weather, protection and so forth) and a list of items that the god is told he is being offered. The libation concludes with a reminder of the vow he once made to Padmasambhava to protect the doctrine, and of the secret name the master gave him – rDo rje ’bar ba. 3.2. Aya Tshering of Porong During a visit to Porong in 1997 we were able to meet Aya Pema’s son, Aya Tshering, who lives in the village of Ngöndom. Since Tshering had been a 702 Charles Ramble young boy at the time of his father’s departure from Tibet, he had not learned the rituals and recitations associated with the cult of rTa skyong. The god was still worshipped annually, he said; older men of the community would recite the invocations, and although blood-offerings were no longer made, he always attended since the efficacy of the rite was guaranteed by the presence of an Aya. rTa skyong was one of eleven divinities to receive annual live offerings of “sheep for the gods” (lha lug) from different sections of Porong, including the monastic community, the rje dbon and certain officials. In the majority of cases the rites were performed either by Aya Pema or by another Aya who lived in the village of Bormo. In short, the procedures entailed attaching coloured tassels to the wool of the sheep and daubing various parts of its body with red ochre and butter, while entreating the divinity to provide protection and beneficence. Several versions of these recitations were recoded and transcribed, but these will not be presented here in this general overview. 3.3. The Aya/Aga of Kyar In October 1998 I made field trip to Southern Tibet in the company of Hildegard Diemberger and Kalsang Yeshe. While in Shelkar we learned of a practising Aya who lived in a village called Kyar near the Phung Chu, the upper headwaters of the Arun River. After a drive of several hours towards the Kharta Valley we left our vehicle at the village of Shenkhyung, a small settlement distinguished by two massive rammed-earth towers, the corners of a rectangular block of which part of the west wall survives. Directly opposite Shenkyung, on the north-east, left bank of the Phung Chu, was the entrance to the Kyar Valley. In its alluvial fan, below the little settlement of Semi, is a large area of tombs that was locally identified as a burial ground (dur sa). The extensive ruins that punctuate the way from Dingri and the length of the Kyar Valley suggest that this may once have been a prosperous trade route that avoided the Arun and ran parallel to the Himalayas before descending from the plateau at a more easterly point – perhaps along the Chumbi Valley. The imposing structures and the tombs, so unlike the more humble, rural architecture of the present day, are attributed to a long-vanished race of giants, the Dangmo Thobgyal (Dang mo thob rgyal?). We crossed the Phung Chu by a footbridge and made the two-hour walk up the Kyar Valley to the settlement itself. Kyar is a village of eleven houses divided into three small clusters: Nyendza, Sele and Aya, at an altitude of around 4,300 metres. Unsurprisingly, Aya Lhundrub lived in the last of these, in a house that had an air of relative grandeur and prosperity. Aya Lhundrub, a man in his mid-fifties with six sons and two daughters, had enjoyed the favour of The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 703 the Communist Party since the days of the Cultural Revolution. After being made acting leader of the Kyar complex in 1974, he was promoted to being head of livestock management (brog la stud krang) in 1977 for his collective (ru khag). When the position became obsolete following decollectivisation in 1981, he was appointed community leader (grong dpon or tsun drang) over Kyar and several neighbouring hamlets – a total of 31 households – a position he still held at the time of our visit. His combination of Party associations and Buddhist ideals inspired him to some pleasing imagery: by way of an apologia for the Ayas’ preoccupation with minor earth-bound gods, he said that this was an avenue of access to the transcendent divinities, in the same way as one could not expect to be received by high-ranking leaders in Lhasa or Shigatse without first passing via the local and county officialdom. The role of Aya, Lhundrub told us, passes along the male line (gdung brgyud), and cannot be transmitted by women. In his case, since the eldest of his sons was undergoing schooling away from home, his priestly functions would pass to his second son. The name Aya is used interchangeably with Aga. Ayas are also commonly referred to by the epithet nam bdag, “lords of the sky,” because of their power to control the weather. According to “popular superstitious belief” (rmongs dad), he went on, the Ayas were originally a line of Indian scholars (a tsa ra) who could fly in the sky (nam mkha’ la phur ba’i brgyud pa) and travel in mid-air (bar snang du ’gro thub pa). One of these scholars flew to Tibet, where he married a local woman and established the Aya lineage. Lhundrub had never heard the name Zhangzhung. His father, he said, had had several ritual artefacts – such as a phur pa, a flat bell (shang), and a large number of scriptures, but these were destroyed or disposed of during the Cultural Revolution. The main thing his father passed on to him as a “receptacle of blessings” (byin rten) was his hat, a “mushroom-shaped” (as he put it) affair that he later showed us. He at first denied that any of the texts had survived but at the end of the interview was kind enough to show us a handwritten manual for the propitiation of the local gods (bskang gso). The most important ritual at which Aya Lhundrub officiates is the propitiation of the territorial divinity Phra sngon, whose shrine is located on a nearby promontory called Chugo Gang (Chu sgo sgang?). The ceremony is held in the first half of the sixth month. Monks from Shelkar monastery are invited to perform a fumigation rite (lha bsang), while Aya Lhundrub makes a live offering of a “divine sheep” (lha lug) to the god. The animal is daubed with the “five kindred colours” (spun mdog tshon lnga), including red ochre, and braided strips of coloured cloth are attached to its wool. The sheep is also sometimes referred to as a “divine horse” (lha rta), because it is intended as a mount for its divine recipient. 704 Charles Ramble Lhundrub did not inherit the full repertoire of rituals performed by his father. All ceremonies came to an abrupt end in 1959, and the father died in 1976, and although Lhundrub recalled the details of the procedures with remarkable clarity, he had not received the initiations that would have empowered him to perform them himself. The repertoire included performances for the community as a whole as well as for private patrons, and included bla ’gug, g.yang ’gug, tshe grub and lha gsol ceremonies. These were now carried out by Lobsang Sherab, an older monk of Shelkar monastery who himself had family links with the Ayas. The main public ritual for which Aya Lhundrub’s father was responsible was the annual blood-sacrifice of a sheep to Phra sngon. (On this occasion two of the monks of Shelkar would be present to perform the fumigation.) The ideal offering was a sheep in its first year with a black neck and shoulders but a white face and body. After the animal had been killed (the method was not specified), the Aya would examine the entrails. The various organs examined, and the significance of their appearance, were as follows: 1. Kidneys that felt heavy indicated that the god was pleased. 2. The throat: unusual striations were a portent of snow and hail. 3. The gall bladder: if this was full, the livestock would have a bad year owing to predators, disease or inclement weather. 4. The lungs: if the lobes were particularly pointed, taxes would be low. 5. The heart: a high blood content was a generally inauspicious sign. 6. The liver: pale patches on the surface were an indication of early snow in autumn. 7. The bladder: a full bladder foretold abundant rainfall, an empty one drought. The intestines and stomach were not examined. The ceremony was attended by at least one person from each household in Kyar. Unusually for sacrifices to a territorial god, women were welcome to attend the ritual, often accompanied by their children. The carcass of the sacrificed sheep was divided into four quarters, known as gling. The right forelimb was attached to the top of a spear for the remainder of the ceremony and was known as mdung sha (“spear meat”) or dgra sha (“enemy-meat”). Details concerning the distribution of the meat were not clear, beyond the fact that each person who attended the ceremony received a small portion, while the Aya was given the mdung sha as well as a piece from each of the other quarters. Shortly before we left Kyar, Aya Lhundrub asked us if we might know of any sources of funding that would enable him to build a new house. The cost of timber for the roof was especially high, he said. When we suggested the obvious solution that he reuse the beams from his present house, since he was The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 705 planning to abandon it altogether, he became evasive and said simply that this would not be possible. Figure 1: Aya Lhundrub of Kyar with his father’s priestly hat We returned to Shelkar and recounted our trip to Lobsang Sherab, the monk who was well acquainted with Aya Lhundrub’s family and had taken over some of his late father’s rituals. Among the miscellaneous items of information he provided us with concerning the Kyar Ayas was one that explained Lhundrub’s wish to preserve his house intact. Until Aya Lhundrub’s great-grandfather, the Ayas of every generation had been immured after death within the walls of the house. Their remains were an important blessing (byin rlabs) that would be lost if the house were demolished.18 3.4. The Ala of Nyemo19 In 1997 Hildegard Diemberger was carrying out research on the Samding Dorje Phagmo in Nyemo County, and encountered a type of priest known as an Ala, whose attributes and activities are broadly similar to those of the Aya/Aga mentioned earlier. In the course of a conversation with Dr Diemberger, the Ala emphasised his association with the Bon religion, asserting that the principal divinity of his lineage was Srid pa rgyal mo. His ritual items included a twosided drum and a flat bell (shang), and his main activity was the ceremonial protection of the fields when the ears of barley are forming during the summer. 18 Concerning the practice of keeping the bodies of dead male clan members in the walls of the house, see Ramble 1982; Blondeau 1997. 19 Further information about the Ala of Nyemo may be found in a forthcoming article by Nicolas Sihlé. 706 Charles Ramble While all the other participants in the circumambulation of the fields were on foot the Ala was mounted, wearing a white phyu pa. The most distinctive feature of his clothing was his woollen headdress, called the “divine wool” (lha bal). The wool was in effect the entire fleece of a sheep. At certain points in the interview, the Ala used the terms Ala and sngags pa almost interchangeably, and it is clear that there is a degree of overlap between his ritual repertoire and that of certain tantric priests in the area. It is difficult, however, not to be aware of the resonance between the spectacular headdress of the Ala and the epithet bal thod can, “the one with the woollen turban” – applied to the priests of the early Tibetan kings in the texts examined above. Among the chos ’byung examined above, Nyang is unusual insofar as it gives the names of the priests who are said to have “protected the person” (sku bsrungs) of each of the kings it lists. The set of the six kings, the so-called Legs drug, who follow sPu rje gung rgyal, and their attendant priests are named as follows (Nyang L: 163): King Priest A sho legs Bon po Tshe mi Kun snang I sho legs Bon po A la Dun tshe Go ru legs Bon po A so gTsug spud dGe sho legs Bon po Don rtogs rGyal po Brang rje legs Bon po Zhang zhung Khri lde The sho legs Bon po A la Dun cug In the time of the second and sixth kings in this list we see Bonpos who have the clan name, or some other kind of prefix, “A la.” 3.5. The Ayas of Kyirong The Ayas of Porong are members of patrilineages within a larger clan of the same name. We were told in Porong that the clan was also represented in Kyirong, where there were two Aya temples. This information was intriguing, and we were fortunate enough to obtain permission to visit Kyirong to pursue these leads in 1998. The temples in question, we discovered, are situated in the villages of Ne (gNas) and Dra (Grwa), south of the main town. A stiff uphill walk of an hour or so from Kyirong town brought us to a pass called the Doring La. Ne, which lay a short distance beyond the pass in a fertile, woodland-fringed valley is divided into a Western and an Eastern hamlet: Nub and Shar. Nub comprises just ten households while Ne, which is situated a few hundred yards further on over The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 707 a stretch of fields, has forty. Under “the old regime” (spyi tshogs rnying pa), we were told, half the households in each part had been under the jurisdiction of the Central Government via Kyirong Dzong. The remaining houses in Shar comprised an estate of the ruler of Porong, the rje dbon, while those of Nub belonged to the monastery of bKra shis bsam gtan gling,20 two hours walk to the west. The second son in each family of Nub would traditionally join this monastery in accordance with the requirements of the “monk tax” (grwa khral or btsun khral). In the case of Shar, the eldest son in each family would join the bTsun pa’i lha khang, while the second son would join the A ya lha khang. In spite of the name of the Figure 2: The Ala of Nyemo with his luxuriant former, the priests of neither woollen headdress (Photo: Hildegard Diemberger, 1998) establishment were celibate. Some boys of Shar also joined bKra shis bsam gtan gling, but this appears to have been a matter of choice rather than the fulfilment of a tax obligation. The bTsun pa’i lha khang – which our informant also referred to as a dgon pa – was built in the 18th century by Brag dkar Chos kyi dbang phyug, a disciple of Rig ’dzin Tshe dbang nor bu. The temple was destroyed after 1959, but has been rebuilt in a halfhearted way with local funding, and was once more being used for minor ceremonies. During our visit a dozen elderly women were sitting in the courtyard, telling their rosaries together. One of these women was the only daughter of Dorje Gyalpo, the last Aya in Ne. Her only brother had died without issue, while she herself had had one son and one daughter. The former had died, and the daughter had taken an inmarrying husband (mag pa). Even now the house is known as the A ya grong pa. 20 The archives of this monastery are published in Schuh 1988. 708 Charles Ramble On the hill behind the monastery, and close to the western edge of the deep Langchu Valley, were the ruins of the A ya dgon pa. The walls of this building had partly collapsed; the pitched roof had fallen in and the remaining timbers were rotten. Two pillars were left, supporting a single beam, and two poles propped up what was left of the roof. To the left of the door was a large spray of reed bamboos held up with rocks and decorated with small coloured flags: the shrine of the ma mo, the protector of the place. A few murals survived: on the wall behind the altar, to the right, was a painting of the divinity mGon po legs ldan. On the right wall were paintings of the Rigs gsum mgon po, other wrathful protectors, some unidentified clerics, gTer bdag gling pa and Padmasambhava. On the altar was a dpe cha of 100 decaying folios in dbu can script, a text for the propitiation of dharmaplas. Legs ldan, we were told, is the principal divinity of the Ayas, and the fact that the painting was covered in daubs of butter indicated that the god still had a lively following in Ne. In view of the association of Ayas with the epithet mu stegs pa – Hindu heretics – in much of the literature we have examined above, it is difficult to avoid the reflection that Legs ldan is a form of iva. A aivite presence in Kyirong is attested to by the fact that a debate took place here in the thirteenth century between Sa skya Pa ita and a mu stegs pa by the name of ’Phrog byed dga’ bo, i.e. Harinanda (Tucci 1949: 626; Everding 2000: 353). Looking across the Langchu Valley from the shell of the Aya temple, the building immediately facing us in the village of Dra was the Aya temple of that community. As in Ne, the Aya lineage in Dra had come to an end. Descendants of women of the lineage who still lived in the family house here prefixed their personal names not with Aya but with the title “Adrong” (A grong) – a contraction of A ya grong pa: “members of the Aya household.” Our main informant in Dra was Adrong Jampa, who had married a woman of the Aya family. The Aya temple is the highest of four ruined temples at the edge of the valley. Close to it stood the ruins of the bTsun pa’i lha khang – called ’Dzam gling lha khang – of which Jampa himself, as a second son, had been a member. His elder brother had joined the Aya temple. Dzam gling lha khang followed the Tshal pa bka’ brgyud tradition. The murals in the Aya temple had disappeared, but Jampa confirmed that Legs ldan mgon po had taken pride of place on the wall behind the altar. Other murals had featured the mandala of the 100 peaceful and wrathful deities: the 58 Herukas (khrag ’thung), the 42 peaceful gods (zhi ba) and the 28 vars (dbang phyug ma). Pe har and the four lokaplas had also been represented among the paintings. In spite of the fact that the Aya temples of Dra and Ne were rNying ma pa, Jampa told us, their liturgical and performative traditions were different. We had been told that the Ne Ayas followed the tradition of The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 709 sMin grol gling, but Jampa disputed this. However, he added, both groups of priests performed rituals that involved the construction of spectacular mdos effigies. The connection between the Aya clan and the Aya temples remains uncertain. On the one hand, Aya is the name of a clan that is found in several communities of southern Tibet, notably the present-day counties of Kyirong, Nyelam and adjacent areas. The clans with which it is associated include the Se ba, Bar ro, Chags pa and Ba le, among others. On the other hand, the term denotes the priests who belonged to the Aya temples of Dra and Ne. It may be the case that these temples were founded by members Figure 3: Adrong Jampa in front of the ruins of of the Aya clan, and the name the Aya temple of Dra, in Kyirong was subsequently extended to the whole priesthood, irrespective of their clan provenance. Alternatively, the term Aya may have a semantic range – at least locally – that included the sacrificial priest of Porong and certain lineages of tantric lamas in Kyirong. The only text of which I am aware that contains the term Aya in its title is a reference cited in the bibliography of Nebesky-Wojkowitz’s Oracles and Demons of Tibet. The work in question is entitled simply: A ya’i mdos kyi zin bris bkod pa legs so; “Notes about Aya mdos rituals.”21 The content of the work is exactly that: memoranda for the constructioin of mdos effigies and the performance of the associated rituals, such as libations. A wide range of mdos are covered in the work, including one for each of the eight categories of the lHa srin sde brgyad. The text invokes numerous Buddhist divinities – rDo rje ’chang and gShin rje, inter alia – but the specification of the yi dams as Phur 21 I am indebted to Mark Turin, who was able to secure a copy of this work for me from the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden in 1999. 710 Charles Ramble pa, rTa mgrin and various manifestations of Padmasambhava, as well as the frequent refrences to the latter throughout the work, leave us in no doubt that this is a rNying ma pa text. The significance of the term a ya in the title unfortunately remains a mystery, since it appears nowhere else in the 24 folios of the work. However, we are fortunate in that the author identifies himself clearly in the opening lines as: Chos dpal bzang po, a monk of the Rwa family, an adept of both the New and Old Tantras who belongs to the initiation- and teaching-lineages of rTa mgrin yang gsang, spiritual mentor to the Dharmarja of mNga’ ris Gung thang, Khri lHa dbang rgyal mtshan and his son….22 We know something of the two figures mentioned in this excerpt thanks mainly to the valuable work of Karl-Heinz Everding (2000). lHa dbang rgyal mtshan came to the throne of Mang yul gung thang in 1419. As for his “spiritual mentor”: in spite of his rNying ma pa background, Chos dpal bzang po (1371– 1439) was educated in Sa skya pa and Bo dong pa monasteries before becoming the sKu rim pa for the royal family; this would presumably account for his assertion that he was an adept of both the Old and the New Tantras. (Evidence of his Rwa antecedents may be seen in a particular cham performance with which he was closely involved. At one point during the dance, an oversized yak would be transformed into the figure of Vajrabhairava, whose cult his ancestor, Rwa Lo tsa ba rDo rje grags, was largely responsible for introducing to Tibet from Nepal.23) His duties included the performance of rituals for the benefit of the deceased ancestors of the lineage as well as for the wellbeing of its living members. As a manifestation of rTa mchog rol pa, a form of Hayagrva, he used his magical powers to repel the sTod hor. Rather less nobly, he intrigued against Thang stong rgyal po, who had been invited to Kyirong by the royal 22 gsang sngags gsar rnying gnyis ka la mkhas grub tu gyur zhing / rta mgrin yang gsang gi dbang lung gi brgyud pa la bzhugs pa’i rwa ban chos dpal bzang po zhes mnga’ ris gung thang chos rgyal khri lha dbang rgyal mtshan yab sras gyi dbu blar gyur pa… 23 According to the biography of Rwa Lo tsa ba, one of scions of the Sa skya pa ’Khon family stirs up popular hostility against him with the slur that “This individual called Rwa Lo started out as the son of a [mere] tantrist; he has seduced everyone by practising the cult of an animal-headed divinity of the Heretics that he received from a Heretic lama called Bha ro; anyone who meets him shall go to hell!” (Rwa lo bya ba ’di dang por sngags pa gcig gi bu yin pa la / khos bha ro bya ba’i mu stegs pa gcig la mu stegs lha dud ’gro’i mgo can zhig zhus nas sgrub pas mi thams cad mgo ’khor nas dug ste / kho dang phrad tshad dmyal bar ’gro… /) (Rwa rnam: 48) The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 711 family, and succeeded in preventing the development of close relations between that eminent figure and his own patrons (Everding 2000: 514–19). We may tentatively conclude then, that the mdos text by Chos dpal bzang po was written for the benefit of the Kyirong Ayas, though his exact relationship with them – and the possibility that he was counted as one of their number – must remain a matter of speculation until further evidence becomes available. 3.6. The Ayas of Mustang Commenting on a seventeenth-century lawbook (bem chag) from the settlement of Kagbeni, in Nepal’s Mustang District, Dieter Schuh remarks: It should be stressed that, in spite of the purely Buddhist character of the introduction of the bem-chag, the monastery of Kagbeni and its monks played only a minor role in the ritual life of the village at the end of the 17th century, such as it is reflected in the bem-chag. The monastery itself ( hos-sde), for instance, is only mentioned in connection with a lha-bsas ceremony (fol. 4A) performed during the closure of the customs post. The monks (dge-’dun) are referred to only in connection with the observance of a bso-rim ceremony (fols. 7A, 9A)…. The main priestly figure, however, is the a-ya, who had the main role to play in rituals involving animal sacrifice (1995: 24–25). The text, which is then translated, states that the Aya was invited three times a year to perform agrarian rituals on behalf of the whole community. The rituals involved the sacrifice of different animals, though the killing itself was performed not by the Aya but by one of his assistants. The meat was divided up and apportioned out according to the specifications of the text. For example, in the case of the annual yak sacrifice (lo g.yag): The right shoulder blade goes to the rgan-pa [headman], the left (shoulder blade) goes to the a-ya. A third of a lhu24 of meat goes to the wife of the rgan-pa, a third of a lhu goes to the a-ya’s assistant, and the third of a lhu goes to the butcher. The rgan-pa and the a-ya (shall receive) one piece of each of all the types of viscera. The text then goes on to specify the quantities of cloth and barley that are to be presented to the Aya and his assistants (ibid.: 33–34). My own fieldwork enquiries in the area suggest that these sacrifical rituals continued to be performed by an Aya until the late 1950s, when the community abandoned them at the instigation of a charismatic lama from Tibet. Although 24 Although most Tibetan dictionaries define lhu as a twelfth part of a carcass, in southern Mustang – at least at the present time – the term denotes one sixteenth. 712 Charles Ramble Figure 4: A sheep sacrificed by the Aya of Thini. Its heart lies next to it on a bed of birchbark the text does not says so, the dismemberment of the animals was followed by a divination based on the Aya’s examination of the entrails: after inspecting the liver and entrails the Aya would make predictions concerning the type of maladies that might afflict the community’s people, crops and livestock in the coming year (Ramble 1991–92: 54–55). This Aya was not a resident of Kagbeni, but came from Thini, a settlement in the adjacent enclave of Panchgaon, to the south. The Ayas of Thini and other nearby villages were the subject of a study by Reinhard Greve in the late 1970s. Unfortunately, I have been able to consult just one publication (1981– 82) by this anthropologist in which the Ayas are only of passing relevance, though Greve’s findings must surely constitute an important record of a tradition that seems to be in terminal decline. In 1996 I myself was able to film and record a ceremony performed by an Aya in Thini for a private patron, but my study of this material has been only superficial. The ritual entailed a lengthy recitation – in which the Aya accompanied himself on a one-sided drum – that culminated in the sacrifice of a white sheep. The animal had been purified by the steam from a heated white stone, supported on a juniper branch, onto which water was poured. The actual sacrifice was performed by an assistant who made a small incision in the animal’s chest and pulled out the heart. The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 713 Figure 5: Effigies of wild animals on the altar of the Aya of Taye The entrails were boiled and examined by the Aya, who then recited his auguries to the patron. (The prognosis was not good: the patron was going to be the subject of a great deal of malicious gossip [mi kha].) Most of the settlements in the enclave of Baragaon, where Kagbeni is situated, feature a village priest known as a lha bon. This term occurs frequently in Bonpo literature such as the gZer mig, which contains long lists of different kinds of lha bon; and we have already noted its occurrence in Nyang either as a priest or as a priestly function. The rituals performed by some of these lha bon have been discussed elsewhere (Ramble 1998), and I do not propose to review this material here. I mention these lha bon because there is evidence to suggest that they are Aya in all but name, and that the term lha bon may have come to replace “Aya” with the Tibetanisation of the area that has taken place since the fifteenth century. Two lha bon in the Muktinath Valley indicated to me that this was the case, while the lha bon of Taye, two hours walk north of Kagbeni, actually has documentary evidence to this effect. This priest, Karma Tshering, allowed me to photograph the text of his ritual recitation that had been written out by this great-grandfather. In this document, the author refers to himself not as a lha bon but as an Aya. 714 Charles Ramble 4. Conclusions What does the word “Aya” mean? Here I would like to offer a few suggestions as avenues for future exploration, with the barest discussion of the merits of each. 4.1. Aya as a kinship term First, we may consider the possibility that Aya is a kinship term. In this context, two lines cited above, respectively from dPa’ bo and lDe’u, deserve a second look: khu deng (B: dang) nu bas che zhes a yar (B: yang) bos / The Khu and the Nu ba addressed the so-called Great One as “Aya.” And khu dang bu bas ches bas / a pa bya bar bos pas / Because he was [greater than they were], the Khu and the Bu ba addressed him as “Apa.” These lines might equally be translated as: Because he was said to be greater than his paternal uncle and his younger brother (nu ba = nu bo; lDe’u: son), he was known as “Aya” (lDe’u: “Apa”). This is in fact closer to Haarh’s understanding of the line in dPa’ bo: “The suckling (nu-ba) now perceived the Khu (paternal uncle) as big (and) called (him) A-ya” (Haarh 1969: 102). Enquiries that we made in Kyirong about local kinship terminology provide some supporting circumstantial evidence. In spite of their proximity the terminologies of Ne Nub and Ne Shar – where one of the two Aya temples is located – differ in certain respects, as the following list shows. Kin category Term in Nub Term in Shar Mother’s brother Aba (sic!) Aku Father’s younger brother Aba Aba Father’s elder brother Aku Aya That kinship terms should be shared by religious, military or political offices (by whatever route) in Tibet is well attested: jo bo, jo mo, a ni, zhang and dbon The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 715 are five examples.25 As we have seen earlier, “Aya” also featured in the name of a fifteenth-century official from Ya tse who does not appear to have been a religious figure. 4.2. Aya, ’A zha and Arya The features of the present-day Ayas of Tibet and Nepal bear more than a passing resemblance to those described in the literature, from the types of rituals they perform to the accoutrements and clothing associated with at least some of them. To err on the side of caution, we ought not to conclude too readily that the modern Ayas represent a continuous tradition with those of the dynastic period: a relatively late introduction might in principle adapt to the mould of a pre-existing name and set of expectations. Neither in the literature nor in the ethnographic record is there much to suggest that the Ayas are shamans: they are, rather, a type of priest concerned with ensuring the protection and prosperity of their communities. All the accounts, oral and literary, concur that the Ayas represent a non-Buddhist religion that originated outside Tibet. However, the term is also used of religious figures other than Tibetan and Himalayan territorial priests: U rgyan pa’s convert, for example, and the Nyingmapas of Kyirong. What these figures have in common is a more-or-less explicit association with aivism. The original designation of the term could have been extended to include other exponents of religions that were perceived to have a significant Indic component.26 A Bonpo lama of Mustang with whom I was once discussing the cults of territorial divinities referred to the rituals and recitations of the local lha bon as “arya’i chos”: the “religion of the Aryas.” Although the term arya is of course used in Tibetan either as a direct loan or in the calque form ’phags pa to denote “exalted,” its application in this case clearly had pejorative overtones. While the terms “Aya” and “Arya” may well be cognate, we should consider the possibility of a relationship between the terms Aya and ’A zha. In nearly all appearances of the former, the first syllable is the true vowel a, but one version of the rGyal po bka’ thang cited above does have the letter ’a. (This letter, 25 The military significance of dbon is less well known than its more familiar religious application as a category of astrologer-priest. In fact the title dBon/’Bon ’A zha was used of certain ’A zha leaders in the Tibetan army in the seventh and eighth centuries (Molé 1970: 74). 26 A similar development can be seen in the case of the term mu stegs pa itself, insofar as its primary application to mean trthika was enlarged to encompass other perceived heretics such as Bonpos. 716 Charles Ramble which is now pronounced as a low-toned vowel a in Central Tibet, probably originated as a glottal fricative – hence its inclusion among the consonants of the Tibetan alphabet.) As for the second syllable, it is worth noting that the fricative zh is pronounced as the glide y in the dialects of Western Tibet: there would be practically no discernable difference in pronunciation between ’a zha and a ya.27 This brings us once more to the debate surrounding the identification of the ’A zha with the T’u-yü-hun. The objection raised by Thomas to this equation was sustained in part by his argument that ’A zha corresponded to the Kharo Ajha, denoting the Ach-chan valley to the south-east of Keriya: the dates do not coincide with those of the T’u-yü-hun (Molé 1970: 74). Whatever the merits of his argument, there is at least clear evidence of a relationship between the words aya and ajha. Dan Martin has kindly referred me to an article by Janoš Harmatta that examines traces of the Saka language found in Kharo and Brhm inscriptions. As we might expect – the Saka were after all the invaders – many of the terms are military and administrative titles. The first term in Harmatta’s list is aya, a Gandhri form of the Saka *aza-; the word is cognate with the Kharo term -ajha (Harmatta 1989: 300, 305). The literary and ethnographic evidence presented here is clearly insufficient to provide us with definitive answers to the origins, functions and distribution of the Ayas. Although I have referred to them as a “priesthood,” there is certainly no sense among any of the people interviewed that they form the sacerdotal community of a shared, identifiable religion. On the contrary, most were very surprised to learn of the existence of other Ayas outside their immediate locality. Reconstructing a puzzle from which most of the pieces are missing entails the risk of producing a tidy picture that may be largely false: it is all too probable that some of the pieces are in the wrong order, or belong to a different puzzle altogether. For this reason, the connections I have proposed among the Ayas that appear in the literary excerpts, and between these and the Ayas who were interviewed, have been left tentative. Nevertheless, I hope that the findings presented here will remain somewhere in the back of readers’ minds, and keep them alert to further clues that may help to fill in some of the empty spaces. 27 In this context it is worth signalling the name Aye La (A ya’i la < ’A zha’i la?), a high pass in mNga’ ris that effectively marks the western limit of the Tibetan Plateau. The Aya: Fragments of an unknown Tibetan priesthood 717 Bibliography Works in Tibetan bKa’ chems ka khol ma. 11th century. 1989 edition. Lanzhou: Kan su’i mi rigs dpe skrun khang. Bod kyi deb ther rGyal dbang lnga pa chen mo (Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho). 1988 [1957] edition. Bod kyi deb ther dpyid kyi rgyal mo’i glu dbyangs. 17th century. Beijing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang. 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The Aya: Fragments of an Unknown Tibetan Priesthood

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