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Day 2 Talk 3: Our ritual manuals are stained with sacrificial blood – a talk by Dr Mathew Martin

Dr. Mathew Martin explores tantric rituals in South Asia, focusing on ritual manuals and performative traditions in Nepal and Kerala.

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Key Takeaways

  • Tantric ritual traditions in Nepal and Kerala share a common typology but manifest as distinct vernacular variants.
  • Dancer mediums embody and transform ritual texts through performative, bodily enactment, merging textual and noetic knowledge.
  • Ritual manuals, though foundational, are often hidden or secondary to the embodied knowledge of performers.
  • The concept of V Shakti frames these traditions as interconnected assemblages rather than hierarchical systems.
  • Ritual knowledge is a dynamic bricolage of oral, textual, and performative elements shaped by historical and cultural forces.

What the video covers

  • Dr. Mathew Martin presents research on tantric rituals, focusing on two South Asian case studies: Navadurga in Bokur, Nepal, and Theem in Northern Kerala.
  • The talk explores how ritual dance and mediums embody a goddess family, reviving ritual kinship and harnessing terrestrial power called Chaki.
  • Both case studies represent vernacular variants of a worldview termed V Shakti, connected through a non-hierarchical, rhizomic assemblage or bricolage.
  • The lecture critiques the dichotomy between ritual texts and performances, suggesting that dancer mediums transform medieval texts through embodied ritual.
  • Printed ritual manuals are often absent or hidden in performance, with dancer mediums subsuming textual authority via bodily enactment.
  • Ritual knowledge is described as a bricolage web composed of overlapping oral and literary sources, emphasizing bodily experience and motion.
  • The ritualized body of the dancer medium is cultivated through years of training, memorization, and preparation involving vernacular manuscripts and songs.
  • The title phrase originates from a close interlocutor in Bokur, highlighting the deep connection between ritual manuals and sacrificial blood.
  • The talk situates these traditions within broader historical and cultural contexts, including the early medieval Shiva age and local kingdom politics.
  • The ritual performances valorize innate ability and intuition over strict adherence to textual prescriptions, emphasizing the power of Shakti.

Chapters

  1. 00:00Introduction and gratitude
  2. 01:53Fieldwork and core data set overview
  3. 03:32Common typology and V Shakti worldview
  4. 05:07Text and ritual performance relationship
  5. 06:48Embodiment of goddess family in ritual
  6. 08:28Training and preparation of dancer mediums
  7. 09:55Origin of lecture title and interlocutor
  8. 11:21Role and status of ritual manuals
  9. 12:49Textuality and cosmological symbolism
  10. 14:29Innate ability and ritual intuition

Answers

Questions about this video

What are the main case studies discussed in the talk?

The talk focuses on two case studies of tantric ritual traditions: Navadurga in Bokur, Nepal, and Theem in Northern Kerala, based on fieldwork conducted between 2014 and 2015.

How does the speaker view the relationship between ritual texts and performances?

Dr. Martin argues that dancer mediums embody and transform ritual texts through their performances, merging textual knowledge with bodily enactment, thus transcending the primacy of printed manuals.

What is meant by the term 'V Shakti' in this context?

'V Shakti' refers to a particular worldview shared by the ritual traditions studied, representing vernacular variants of a goddess-centered spiritual and performative system interconnected through a rhizomic assemblage.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

00:27
Speaker A
Hello everyone. Given this presentation is being recorded, Wednesday for this conference and for posterity, I've included my email address on this slide and the last. So if you have any questions, then please drop me an email and I'll do my utmost to respond to your questions in good time or at least within reasonable time.
00:45
Speaker A
questions in good time or at least within reasonable okay so um onward then so as a preface to today's talk I would like to express my profound gratitude to Jen I for organizing this conflict but above all for providing a
01:04
Speaker A
Okay, so onward then. So as a preface to today's talk, I would like to express my profound gratitude to Jeni for organizing this conflict, but above all for providing a golden opportunity for those of us studying the niche fields of tantric rituals. In doing so, she has prepared a forum within which we can share our respective research angles. Chiefly in my case, this occurs following a somewhat protracted hiatus of being off the academic radar, which at present is nearing on a decade. My sincerest hope is that at the very least I can do justice to this material deferred until now and say something even vaguely coherent about Chakati tantric texts and rituals, both of which constitute this conference's main theme in its broadest sense.
01:21
Speaker A
the academic radar which at present is nearing on a decade my sincerest hope is that the very least I can do justice to this material deferred it has been until now and say something even vaguely coherent about chakat tantric Tex and
01:36
Speaker A
In that vein, this lecture will zero in on two specific case studies in South Asia, namely Navadurga in Bokur, Nepal, and Theem in Northern Kerala, which together form my core data set, each based on fieldwork conducted in these locales between 2014 and 2015. In a nutshell, within these ritual traditions, salon dance and mediums perform as members of a goddess family consisting of Biva, Ganesha, and the goddesses in an effort to revive ties of ritual kinship and harness a terrestrial power, Chaki, which once typified a former kingdom.
01:53
Speaker A
together for my cor data set each based on field work conducted in these locals between 2014 and 2015 in a nutshell Within These ritual traditions saalon danc and mediums performed members of a goddess family consisting of biva Ganesha and the
02:12
Speaker A
Staying true to the comparative method to which I subscribe, I shall alternate both case studies throughout, giving no preference to one above the other. As Alexis Sanderson tells us, northern and southern regions of the subcontinent, Bokur and Kerala included, were part of, I quote, "a more widespread system" during the early medieval period, an eparchy he calls the Shiva age, where new sovereign states established following the demise of Gupta imperialism began absorbing Shaiva Shiva traditions into their localities.
02:33
Speaker A
to one above the other as Alexis Sanderson tells us northern and southern regions of the subcontinent bokur and Kerala included were part of I quote a more widespread system and quot during the early medieval period an eparch he
02:50
Speaker A
Royal religion, henceforth I call conflict culture, by worshiping ferocious divinities ordered as the goddess clan. The aim of T culture in these smaller kingdoms was to manipulate the material world for defensive purposes, creating a strategic bulwark against potential invasion by other neighboring states. Navadurga and Theem were at least in part impelled by these broader social cultural changes, though they occurred much earlier chronologically, but whose appeal had knock-on effects for later generations in shaping these performative traditions, which were formed from a part of diverse influences, both local and translocal.
03:12
Speaker A
kingdoms was to manipulate the material world for defensive purposes creating a strategic Bull workk against potential Invasion by other neighboring we navad and Tatam were at least in part impelled by these broader social cultural changes though they occurred much earlier
03:32
Speaker A
It is fair to say then that both case studies are, in a word, culturing distinctive variations on a common typology, by which I mean vernacular variants of a particular worldview I call V Shakti. In keeping with Del and Gitari's notion of arisal, these two case studies, like text and ritual, are as such separate entities interconnected in a non-hierarchical, rhizomic assemblage, or to use Levi-Strauss's term, a bricolage.
03:49
Speaker A
culturing distinctive variations on a common typology by which I mean vernacular variant of a particular world viiew I call V Shak TP in keeping with Del and gitari's notion of arisal these two case studies like Tex and ritual are
04:07
Speaker A
Hence, in positing this position, I seek to circumvent a topological conflation of technic and noesis, or for our purposes, ritual performances and printed texts. With text, you're referring to a multiplicity of literatures that have inspired these ritual traditions to whichever degree, from vernacular almanacs to Puranic PEs, here meaning ritual manuals. This ritual text dichotomy is an age-old debate in religious studies, where discussions surrounding the primacy of written knowledge systems, specifically in the academy, are well documented.
04:26
Speaker A
performances and printed texts with text you're referring to multiplicity of literatures that have inspired these ritual Traditions to whichever degree from vernacular Almanac toonic PES PES here meaning ritual manuals this ritual text dichotomy is an ageold debate in religious studies where
04:47
Speaker A
In response, semiotic critiques emerged with the writings of J.L. Austin and his theory of speech act being particularly influential in that respect. As an alternative in our context, however, I suggest that a dancer medium's body, through ritual performance, melds both the textual, noetic, theological, and performative at a single stroke, and in the process transforms a medieval text into a reconfigured semantic one.
05:07
Speaker A
context however I suggest that a dancer medium's body through ritual performance mels both the textual no theological and performative at a single stroke and in the process transforms a medieval text into a reconfigured sematic one for the most part printed compendia absent in
05:26
Speaker A
For the most part, printed compendia are absent in ritual performance, away is, and resultingly hidden in plain sight. In other words, the dancing mediums have simultaneously subsumed and superseded text by such means. Dancer mediums have acquired the status of semantic textuality, thereby standing in for the earthly power of sources, surya, and distributed in a bricolage web of ritual knowledge, as I call it.
05:49
Speaker A
distributed in a brage web of ritual knowledge as I call it um much like the menstrual synchrony of the Goddess family on which it is based which emically aligns with Taun emphasis on bodily experiences just as M Tomlinson in his
06:06
Speaker A
Much like the menstrual synchrony of the goddess family on which it is based, which emically aligns with Taun's emphasis on bodily experiences. Just as M. Tomlinson in his book Ritual Textuality advocates the metaphor, specifically motion, to capture the feeling of ritual performance and textuality, I follow suit in advancing my own bricolage web as a way of emphasizing how ritual knowledge in folk Shaiva performance is a veritable constellation composed of distinct but overlapping sources, oral and literary.
06:24
Speaker A
composed of distinct but overlapping sources oral and literary how it comes to pass that a Biolage web of ritual knowledge becomes thematic and ritual can be explicated as the follows every Dan and medium embodies a member of a goddess family who was made
06:48
Speaker A
How it comes to pass that a bricolage web of ritual knowledge becomes thematic and ritual can be explicated as follows: every dancer medium embodies a member of a goddess family who was made manifest in him via three discreet but intertwined performative elements, each imbued with cultural significance that play out in ritual performances and ultimately give bodily form to and thus reshape textual knowledge.
07:09
Speaker A
through mudras and ad doned on medium's bodies a symbol be those on God masks headdresses B PS and so forth as distinctly encapsulated in the malum term M meaning B writing two verbal epistemic I.E ators mantras or songs are
07:29
Speaker A
These three constituents are one, sotic, i.e., expressed through mudras and adorned on mediums' bodies as symbols, be those on god masks, headdresses, BPS, and so forth, as distinctly encapsulated in the Malayalam term M meaning B writing; two, verbal epistemic, i.e., ators, mantras or songs are involved, the deities in question; and three, spatial, i.e., geometrically depicted as a mandala representing either A, the performative space, often described in metaphorical terms as wind in a courtyard, sometimes labeled prana, life breath, or B, the ancestral territory where performance takes place, which was in the medieval period part of a paty kingdom.
07:51
Speaker A
where performance takes place which was in the medieval period part of a paty kingdom who shock the or material energy the mediums resurrect in performance ascribed to each component of this Triad is a spatial bodily technique VI mudra Mantra and Mandela
08:11
Speaker A
Vishakti, the or material energy the mediums resurrect in performance, ascribed to each component of this triad is a spatial bodily technique, VI mudra, mantra, and mandala, each partly grounded in local resources whose enactment is predicated upon the organic intuitive press of the medium, which in turn brings this bricolage web of ritual knowledge into being.
08:28
Speaker A
ritualized body is a power they cultivate through years of teacher Legion training which may involve for instance reading vernacular manuscripts though not inist few that is to say doing ritual performance but in advance thereof memorizing month of songs and
08:44
Speaker A
The medium's propensity to retrieve and later convey sexuality through their ritualized body is a power they cultivate through years of teacher legion training, which may involve, for instance, reading vernacular manuscripts, though not in itself, that is to say, doing ritual performance, but in advance thereof, memorizing months of songs and some improvisation. All of this is overseen by a guru, senior medium within a lineage, who has delegated the task of priming dancer mediums to become thematic text.
09:01
Speaker A
fallacy by suggesting a corate of text were antecedent to Ritual performance and thereby causally produced it but rather I Advanced the proposition that both were mutually exclusive yet symbiotically dependent and dionic phenoma adapting Vis A one another with
09:18
Speaker A
In setting forth my argument, I have sought to avoid committing a post hoc fallacy by suggesting a core set of texts were antecedent to ritual performance and thereby causally produced it, but rather I advanced the proposition that both were mutually exclusive yet symbiotically dependent and dionic phenomena, adapting vis-à-vis one another with the passage of time.
09:40
Speaker A
the banmiller family bokur Dan Medan Clan and my closest interl it was he who utter this S ofok phas one morning on our way to kaml bayak um a neighborhood in Bok you and I were ambling along one
09:55
Speaker A
Before proceeding into the case studies, however, let us return to the quotation featured in this lecture's title. From where does it emanate? Reference here is the title, Enter EES Banmiller, a member of the Banmiller family, Bokur Dan Medan clan, and my closest interlocutor. It was he who uttered this sofok phrase one morning on our way to Kaml Bayak, a neighborhood in Bokur.
10:12
Speaker A
culture is a keeper of ritual manuscripts in Sanskrit and in the vernacular nari and how in bygone days they played a lurgical function in guiding of the integrate process of enacting budhism Rights where animal sacrifice was and is the nor
10:30
Speaker A
You and I were ambling along one of the city's narrow alleyways when out of the blue we happened to pass his family healer, Aboid, who lived nearby. Following a brief exchange, EES started to regale us with an informative account of how the Bokur, like all copal persons in a culture, is a keeper of ritual manuscripts in Sanskrit and in the vernacular Nari, and how in bygone days they played a liturgical function in guiding of the integrate pr...
10:44
Speaker A
what we already know about the historical use of manuals and ual from Whitney Cox we know that s Indian religious culture in the Medieval Age was Lory to the core and for ban Sho medieval epigraphic evidence from soueast Asia confirms the importance of
11:01
Speaker A
PES in directing religious rights of periods contrary to expectations however UGES always discouraged me from seeking out ritual manuals for my own perusal for the uninitiated according to UGES reading posties can precipitate some detrimental effect on the reader sanity
11:21
Speaker A
certainly tonic Tech served in the past as formidable blueprints for Tantra Mantra and his mere presence in ritual spaces had overwhelmingly help of potency in line with this Logic the bmas almanac known Cally as VAV literally Chronicles is stored out of site and
11:39
Speaker A
consulted only when needed typically the almanac is opened only at the AAL equino when the Nao male Elder um in accordance with astronomical factors and his own powers of intuition referred to here or Inari as or in Nepali as
11:58
Speaker A
bavan God within delegates which medium will perform as whichever dat. you the the roles change annually whereupon he jots down these details into the omx record here an already existent Corpus is appended with information elicited from a subjective
12:16
Speaker A
sense of perception and is this custom along with improvisation which renders the text of thought structors on some mediums both as somatic andronic what is more the ceremonial clothing called Jam garbing the medium's bodies are themselves embroidered with
12:32
Speaker A
symbols Crescent moons and a Penta of colors associated with physical space a sort of language in and of itself which theold symbolic power Al B to the mediums lending Credence to the cultural capital standing for the authority of
12:49
Speaker A
text as Robert Levy notes in multiple points in mesocosm the city sets the stage for Perpetual dance of symbols interweaving and bringing to life innumerable text Bic stories cosmological dramas including B's Tale in the Shiva Pana yugas mythological battle Pana and local
13:10
Speaker A
nari Logics pertaining to apotropaic protection under nagas s beings and fusing all of this into this brick Lage into a uniquely sematic text via ritual performance AUM in Northern Kerala their danc medium kakar dear to have their own set of
13:33
Speaker A
local manuals and peral Renditions of Shaka T tenants and myths which are brought to bear on their Collective performances exclusively in carola they have produce their own codices for the purposes of constructing temples installing deities therein and wooding
13:51
Speaker A
off Spirit beings Adis these texts are the T and the much of whose content find this Providence in the Braya um a Kashmir B Tex centered on the yugin and goddesses from approximately the seventh eth centuries Common Era
14:11
Speaker A
that may have influenced pic religion both in bipo and Kerala at least one of the um key texts influenced religion in both regions as with the BOS Almanac these texts are significant only sporadically and they used as a crutch
14:29
Speaker A
for priests while performing their Temple liturgies based on my own experiences working with te and Dancer mediums they seem to valorize inate ability ability above that which is mandated in the official text which they regarded as merely idealized and never truly
14:45
Speaker A
indicative of the gritty realities of being a dancer medium and all and all that that entails things go wrong in ritual performance as I've realized and an important part of being a medium the capacity to improvise that tendency to add La Biz of course
15:02
Speaker A
what imp Parts Shak um their cultural capital as I mentioned earlier on to give an example uh in canu one day was aing a session during which the mediums were training at one point a young dancer medium asked his Guru named Akash
15:19
Speaker A
um for some guidance inquiring about the right way to perform a specific dance as is conventional among dancer medians he rorted a t and wised remark these days days young people ask too many questions is this correct why this way should I
15:34
Speaker A
move in this way the only way you will know anything is if you do end quote that is not to say however the songs sung by non medians du to invoke their deities were rattled off on the spot
15:46
Speaker A
many such songs Al called Totum were written on pal manuscripts Beque in N mesom commended to memory by mediums in preparation of their ritual dances but rarely were they ever Adar to words words on that premise taxu manual serve merely
16:03
Speaker A
as aidman moord ons their performances ritualist is as much contingent than when capability inculcated through coaching provided within the lineage as theying rigidly to the script as I've argued thus far in ritual performance dancing mediums intercalate three elements one somatic two verbal
16:25
Speaker A
epistemic and three spatial in team's context these three elements can be articulated like so one Prana or five breaths of the C body and also the chakras also a pant two Mantra morti or the five deities associated with Mantra
16:44
Speaker A
vadam sorcery and three mam the five aspects of physical space this characteristically taric blending of discursive and somatic is mapped under the body of the dancer medium which is conveyed in local parl as Muk and Ura which both translate respectively as
17:06
Speaker A
writing and to join crucially these terms seem to hint at a process akin to writing but this is not writing as is conventionally understood dramatic textuality is not necessarily inscribing A tabularasa with textual knowledge per se a separate entity alog together
17:24
Speaker A
instead sematic sextuality is highlighting with symbolic signifiers what is already Within that is the power of shaki or what could be interpreted here as the dancer mediums in built powers of intuition to put it in another way the ritual
17:39
Speaker A
performance have become learned in their ritual Traditions read excerpts from various manuscripts preserved in their family Collections and from one performance to the next they continually adapt to the everchanging circumstances that face them each one poses different challenges for the instructions for
17:58
Speaker A
which cannot be fun in any written Source conclud in honor of akashi's lonic consult I shall keep my conclusion brief with a theoretical reflection whilst at the same time echoing in how famous and longstanding victim shared among anthropologists I quote myth is to
18:19
Speaker A
Ritual music is to dance end quot be that as be that as it may in our danc and medium case I argue that their ritual performance is a Cory to that of traditional jazs the musicians own the stage have completely disregarded the
18:36
Speaker A
score read the textual materials or added their own amendments and annotations to the original have memorized the two and interspersed their Melody with segments of improvisation simply put it is the instruments the players their bodies and the Ambiance which together make the
18:54
Speaker A
mement and not the scho alone thank you
Topics:tantric ritualsSouth AsiaNavadurgaBokur NepalTheem Keralaritual manualsdancer mediumsV Shaktiritual performanceritual knowledge

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