Yogini temple

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Yoginis in the Chausath Yogini Temple of Hirapur ( Orissa )

The north Indian yogini temples are rare evidence of a Hindu - Tantristic initiation cult that was widespread in the Indian Middle Ages . Since the Yogini temples are all located in rural or remote areas, one can assume that rural beliefs and cult practices - as they can also be found in the cult of the "mothers" ( matrikas ) - are hidden behind the yogini worship .

Yogini cult

How far back the yogini cult went into the past is largely unclear. Yogini lists with different names of the yoginis are already contained in the Agni Purana , the Skanda Purana and the Kalika Purana . Other scripts come from later times and - especially in Nepal - only date back to the 16th century. From the sources it can be inferred that yoginis were originally female guardian spirits, but also witches or female demons, who later assumed the character of (half) goddesses. Little is known about their veneration and evocation, because in the past, entering a yogini shrine was only reserved for initiates, who had to keep absolute silence about initiation and cult practices. Other sources are written in a kind of abstruse secret language ( sandha bhasa ), which - supposedly - can only be understood by the initiated. Usually there are 64 or 81 yoginis, the number of whom is likely to have arisen from an exponential increase of 8 or 9 - numbers that play a role in the cult of the mother goddesses ( matrikas ).

architecture

Almost all of the yogini temples that have survived are hermetically sealed off from the outside world in architectural terms and are not very differentiated. They do not strive upwards like other Indian temples, but extend - circular or exceptionally rectangular ( Chausath Yogini Temple (Khajuraho) ) - in the surface. The outer facade of the temple is usually largely without decoration; on the walls of the inner courtyard there are usually 64 - in exceptional cases Bhedaghat 81 - niches or shrines with figurative yogini reliefs. The size of the temples varies from around 7.50 meters in diameter ( Hirapur ) to 37.50 meters (Bhedaghat). Usually there is another shrine in the middle of the courtyard, which is dedicated to one of the Indian high deities.

sculpture

In the temples of Mitaoli (also Mitawali or Mitauli ) and Bhedaghat ( Madhya Pradesh ) as well as of Ranipur-Jharial and Hirapur ( Odisha ) yogini cult images have been preserved. Yogini figures have also been preserved in Lokhari and Shahdol ( Uttar Pradesh ) - but the temples belonging to them have been destroyed. Yogini figures from the other temples can be found in museums. They are female deities with mostly well-formed bodies with four arms, but sometimes also with animal heads. A skeletal, emaciated figure, whose representation is comparable to the goddess Chamunda , is sometimes found among them.

List of Yogini temples

Like many Hindu and Jain temples, the Yogini temples were also destroyed in the course of the Islamic invasion of northern India. Only two Yogini temples in remote regions of Central India and the two temples in Odisha have remained largely intact - they are marked with an *. The structural remains of the partially destroyed Yogini Temple of Khajuraho are also worth a visit.

rectangular Chausath Yogini Temple (Khajuraho)

literature

  • Vidiya Dehejia: Yogini Cult and Temples - A Tantric Tradition. National Museum, New Delhi 1986.
  • Suresh Balabantaray: Sixty four Yogini Temple, Hirapur . Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, Bhubaneswar 2013.

Web links

Commons : Yogini Temple  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files