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Books by Marzenna Czerniak-Drożdżowicz

Cracow Indological Studies, 2022

The Holy Island in the Kāverī: a Hagiotopography. Critical Edition and Translation of the Śrīraṅgamāhātmya, 2023

Importance of Water Bodies in the Māhātmyas Water reservoirs have always challenged the imaginati... more Importance of Water Bodies in the Māhātmyas Water reservoirs have always challenged the imagination of the inhabitants of India for obvious reasons, which are also valid in other cultures. Water not only gives life, ensuring vegetation, but also, through its natural and sometimes unbridled power, resembles gods or rather goddesses. Therefore, rivers are often personified as females. The topic of Indian rivers as constituents of both the natural and cultural landscapes of India has already been treated by scholars, among them Indologists. 2 It is also an element of the ongoing project within which we are working on various South Indian māhātmyas (glorifications). In this contribution we would like to concentrate on the particular region irrigated by the South Indian river Kāverī and the māhātmyas that praise various Vaiṣṇava sacred sites along the river and the Kāverī itself. Working for some time on the māhātmyas of the holy kṣetra (area) of the South Indian temple town Śrīraṅgam, we cannot overlook the importance of water and the river for this place, but also for the whole region. Therefore, in our contribution, using the example of the ten-chapter version of the Śrīraṅgamāhātmya and passages from some other texts of this genre, we would like to investigate how nature, especially the river and other water bodies, is present in the process of shaping the place which, also due to its natural specifics, becomes suitable for the worship of god. We ask in which way the river and water reservoirs connected with it are present in the religious literature, and how natural phenomena are used to build the position and authority of a holy spot.

Water bodies, being elements of the natural landscape, are often connected with religious holy si... more Water bodies, being elements of the natural landscape, are often connected with religious holy sites and provide ready examples of a mutual relationship between nature and culture. The present article introduces nine holy ponds-tīrthas of the Śrīraṅgam Raṅganātha temple-each with its characteristic features directly connected with a particular tree, residing deity, resident ṛṣi, and certain boons. Short descriptions of the ponds are given in Chapter 10 of the Sanskrit text, the Śrīraṅgamāhātmya, which praises the glory of the holy place, kṣetra, and constitutes my main source material. Even though the nine ponds play an important role in the religious landscape of the site and the life of the religious community, they have not been studied till now. The article presents descriptions of the tīrthas found in the Śrīraṅgamāhātmya and supplements them with a brief report and some photographic evidence from the field research of 2020.

Verità e Bellezza’. Essays in Honour of Raffaele Torella, 2022

Studia nad pańćaratrą. Część III. Świątynia, 2019

Cracow Indological Studies, 2019

Papers by Marzenna Czerniak-Drożdżowicz

Cracow Indological Studies

Water bodies, being elements of the natural landscape, are often connected with religious holy si... more Water bodies, being elements of the natural landscape, are often connected with religious holy sites and provide ready examples of a mutual relationship between nature and culture. The present article introduces nine holy ponds—tīrthas of the Śrīraṅgam Raṅganātha temple—each with its characteristic features directly connected with a particular tree, residing deity, resident ṛṣi, and certain boons. Short descriptions of the ponds are given in Chapter 10 of the Sanskrit text, the Śrīraṅgamāhātmya, which praises the glory of the holy place, kṣetra, and constitutes my main source material. Even though the nine ponds play an important role in the religious landscape of the site and the life of the religious community, they have not been studied till now. The article presents descriptions of the tīrthas found in the Śrīraṅgamāhātmya and supplements them with a brief report and some photographic evidence from the field research of 2020.

Kontynuując rozpoczęte kilka lat temu rozważania na temat jednej z najbardziej interesujących i w... more Kontynuując rozpoczęte kilka lat temu rozważania na temat jednej z najbardziej interesujących i ważnych dla kultury południa Indii tradycji religijnych jaką jest wisznuicka pańćaratra, autorka przyglada się bliżej fenomenowi południowoindyjskiej świątyni. Kult świątynny stanowi jeden z najbardziej charakterystycznych elementów religijnego życia południa Indii. Świątynie skupiały i nadal skupiają wokół siebie rzesze wyznawców, znajdujących tu miejsce rzeczywistego i bezpośredniego kontaktu z bogiem, a przy tym dają możliwość przebywania w społeczności współwyznawców, co wpływa na budowanie tożsamości i pozycji wiernych związanych z konkretnymi tradycjami religijnymi. Wzmacniając społeczności wiernych, świątynie jednocześnie same wzmacniały swą siłę, swoje oddziaływanie na wiernych, a także budowały swoją ekonomiczną, a niejednokrotnie także polityczną potęgę. Często stawały się ważnymi ośrodkami ogniskującymi różne elementy kultury regionu, a jednocześnie stawały się kluczowymi eleme...

Cracow Indological Studies

Peter C. Bisschop's recent publication is yet another valuable addition to the list of seminal wo... more Peter C. Bisschop's recent publication is yet another valuable addition to the list of seminal works brought out by the Institut Francais d'Pondichéry and the École française d'Extrême Orient and comprising of critical editions of the hitherto unpublished, often even unknown Sanskrit source texts. On this occasion, Bisschop presents us with an edited text of the māhātmya genre related to the development of the Hindu holy sites in India. Māhātmyas, be they found in the purāṇas or circulating as independent, stand-alone texts, are now viewed as important sources for the later, well-known narratives but also the history of the sacred places, including shrines, many of which have developed into influential temples. The occurrence of this particular type of text is well attested to over centuries, with the māhātmya under study, according to the author, being one of the older. The author bases his work on the manuscript held in the Kaiser Library, Kathmandu (NGMPP C 6/3), which consists of a collection of māhātmyas focused on Vārāṇasī, among them, for example, one from the Skandapurāṇa, and another, as the author informs us, not extant in any other source. By publishing this particular māhātmya, related

Cracow Indological Studies, 2022

The Holy Island in the Kāverī: a Hagiotopography. Critical Edition and Translation of the Śrīraṅgamāhātmya, 2023

Verità e Bellezza’. Essays in Honour of Raffaele Torella, 2022

Studia nad pańćaratrą. Część III. Świątynia, 2019

Cracow Indological Studies, 2019

Cracow Indological Studies

Water bodies, being elements of the natural landscape, are often connected with religious holy si... more Water bodies, being elements of the natural landscape, are often connected with religious holy sites and provide ready examples of a mutual relationship between nature and culture. The present article introduces nine holy ponds—tīrthas of the Śrīraṅgam Raṅganātha temple—each with its characteristic features directly connected with a particular tree, residing deity, resident ṛṣi, and certain boons. Short descriptions of the ponds are given in Chapter 10 of the Sanskrit text, the Śrīraṅgamāhātmya, which praises the glory of the holy place, kṣetra, and constitutes my main source material. Even though the nine ponds play an important role in the religious landscape of the site and the life of the religious community, they have not been studied till now. The article presents descriptions of the tīrthas found in the Śrīraṅgamāhātmya and supplements them with a brief report and some photographic evidence from the field research of 2020.

Cracow Indological Studies

Księgarnia Akademicka eBooks, 2014

The issue of feeding gods is one of the important topics treated in religious texts, for example ... more The issue of feeding gods is one of the important topics treated in religious texts, for example in those connected with the Tantric traditions of India, such as the Vaiṣṇava Pāñcarātra. The strong belief articulated by these traditions that the god is really present in his earthly representations is the reason for treating him as a real person with natural needs for food, drink, adornments, pleasures, etc.1 Therefore, the offering of food – especially in India, which frequently faces the danger of famine and where food is a vital issue, becomes a very important subject. A god needs food, but the food offered to him is not the usual trivial food – it has to be chosen, collected, prepared, and offered to him in a proper way. Then, when it is consumed by the god (which means, when it is touched by him), it contains his energies, which are potentially dangerous. The practice of dealing with sacrificial food is therefore an important and also interesting subject commented upon in the re...

L'article est consacre aux deux premiers chapitres du Paramasamhita (intitules respectivement... more L'article est consacre aux deux premiers chapitres du Paramasamhita (intitules respectivement srstikrama et prasnaprativacana) contenant un recit de creation du monde. L'A. cherche les courants et les influences decelables dans ce recit, le premier chapitre montrant des traces du bhakti, le second du samkhya et du tantrisme.

Cracow Indological Studies, 2018

Studia Religiologica. Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Dec 11, 2014

Cracow Indological Studies, 2014

When Gods Get Broken-the Theory and Practice of the jīrṇoddhāra and navīkaraṇa in the Pāñcarātrik... more When Gods Get Broken-the Theory and Practice of the jīrṇoddhāra and navīkaraṇa in the Pāñcarātrika sources * SUMMARY: The elaborate rituals accompanying the construction of a temple and the installation of its idols characteristic of Tantric traditions were meant to ensure a perfect abode and receptacle for the highest god in his earthly manifestation. Descriptions of these rituals in religious texts supplement technical prescripts included in texts on art and architecture and provide a theoretical and theological background for the temple cult. The practices enable the proper creation and then the appropriate use of the temple and its idol, guaranteed by the permanent presence of god. But in the everyday temple practice the ritual could be endangered by the fact that the temple and the idol in some situations lose their perfection. This can be caused by impurity or damage. The ideal structure can be spoilt and therefore the religious practice and ritualistic manuals have to provide practical methods of reacting to such inevitable events. The article refers to several Pāñcarātrika sources which in their passages concern the impurity and damages as well as the renovation and replacement of old temples and images. The actions to be undertaken in such cases are presented in the texts under the heading jīrṇoddhāra.

Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2003

Tantra is an Asian body of beliefs and practices that seeks to channel the divine energy that gro... more Tantra is an Asian body of beliefs and practices that seeks to channel the divine energy that grounds the universe, in creative and liberating ways. The subsequent chapters reflect the wide geographical and temporal scope of Tantra by examining thirty-six texts from China, India, Japan, Nepal, and Tibet, ranging from the seventh century to the present day, and representing the full range of Tantric experience-Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and even Islamic. Each text has been chosen and translated, often for the first time, by an international expert in the field who also provides detailed background material. Students of Asian religions and general readers alike will find the book rich and informative. The book includes plays, transcribed interviews, poetry, parodies, inscriptions, instructional texts, scriptures, philosophical conjectures, dreams, and astronomical speculations, each text illustrating one of the diverse traditions and practices of Tantra. Thus, the nineteenth-century Indian Buddhist Garland of Gems, a series of songs, warns against the illusion of appearance by referring to bees, yogurt, and the fire of Malaya Mountain; while fourteenth-century Chinese Buddhist manuscripts detail how to prosper through the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper by burning incense, making offerings to scriptures, and chanting incantations. In a transcribed conversation, a modern Hindu priest in Bengal candidly explains how he serves the black goddess Kali and feeds temple skulls lentils, wine, or rice. A seventeenth-century Nepalese Hindu praise-poem hammered into the golden doors to the temple of the Goddess Taleju lists a king's faults and begs her forgiveness and grace. An introduction accompanies each text, identifying its period and genre, discussing the history and influence of the work, and identifying points of particular interest or difficulty. vi PRINCETON READINGS IN RELIGIONS The range of works represented here is remarkable, spanning the continent of Asia and the traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Islam over more than a millennium. With the publication of this volume, the long disparaged and neglected Tantric traditions of Asia receive the attention they so rightly deserve. This is a groundbreaking work.