Filming Fire Rituals in Nepal (Agnishala)

Source:

http://www.wendyvanwilgenburg.nl/files/agnimatha.pdf
Research Report
Filming Fire Rituals in Nepal
Installation of a New Fire at the Agnimath
Bal Gopal Shrestha & Wendy van Wilgenburg

Nepal, the only Hindu kingdom in the world, has been witnessing profound social and
cultural changes over the last few decades, and great political turmoil in recent years.
The situation has turned worse since the present king Gyanendra took over executive
power on 1 February 2005. The king has disbanded political parties and is now
directly confronting the Maoist rebels, who are fighting to turn Nepal into a socialist
republic. The impact of the war has been felt in every sphere of Nepalese society. In
such a violent situation, it is fascinating to see that religious rituals at the Agnimatha,
the Vedic fire temple in Patan, continue to be carried out, modestly and silently, with
the idea that they guarantee the continuation of the cycle of the sun and the moon and
thereby secure human existence on earth.

In November 2004, in the months preceding the current crisis, the installation of
new fires and of a new priest and his wife at the Agnimatha fire temple was filmed.
This complemented earlier recordings at the Agnima†ha in November 1992.
Following up on research carried out by the late anthropologist Bert van den Hoek
(1951-2001) and Bal Gopal Shrestha in 1989-90, the ethnographic filmmaker Dirk
Nijland, together with van den Hoek and Shrestha, filmed the Agnimatha rituals,
covering all details of the daily morning and evening rituals, the fortnightly
darßapËrˆamåsa fire sacrifices, and the anniversary rituals.

It was foreseen that the 1992 footage should be completed with the filming of
another important ritual, the installation of new fires and a new priest (yajamåna)
once the presiding yajamåna or his wife should die. When the old priest Vishnu
Jwalananda died at the age of 94 on 27 March 2004, elaborate installation procedures
were carried out at the Agnima†ha fire temple from 20 to 26 November 2004. A film
team was set up, funds for urgent recordings were raised and the filming was carried
out. The following is a short report of our experiences and surprises during these
recordings.
In view of the current political situation we were very fortunate to be in time
to witness and record the rare installation rituals performed at the Agnimatha in
November 2004, just before the borders were closed on account of the state of
emergency declared by king Gyanendra.
Fire Rituals
Agni (fire) is an important god in Hindu religion. Especially in the Vedic tradition,
fire is considered to be a means to link the human world and heaven. Establishing fire
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implies ‘life, wealth, procreation and continuation of family, clan and lineage’
(Heesterman 1983: 76). In Nepal, Rajopadhyay Brahmins have maintained the cult of
fire at the Agnima†ha fire temple for centuries.

It is told that a long time ago an old Brahmin couple arrived to at the present
location of the Agnimatha to spend a night. They carried a walking stick, which they
laid down on the ground before going to sleep. The next morning, when they woke
up, they saw the stick rooted in the ground and sprouted on its top. Seeing this
miracle, they thought this was the right place for them to settle for the rest of their
lives. The couple started to perform daily fire sacrifices and installed the paõcågni or
the five fires. It is believed that the Agnima†ha existed in this place since then. The
Rajopadhyay Brahmins in Patan, claiming to be descendants of the same couple,
assume that the Agnima†ha in Patan has been there for at least four thousand five
hundred years, as researchers found out that a holy Varuˆa tree at the temple
courtyard is about this old.

The priests in charge of the Agnimatha fire temple believe that if the tradition
of maintaining fire at the temple is discontinued the world will come to an end, as
would be the case if the sun would stop shining.

The daily sacrifices performed in honour of Agni are most commonly known as
Agnihotra, and have been preserved until today at the Agnima†ha in Patan. It is the
oldest fire temple in Nepal and one of the most important religious sites in the Valley
of Kathmandu (e.g., Witzel 1986; Van den Hoek 1992; Van den Hoek and Shrestha
1992). The Agnimatha temple contains five fires, one of which is permanently
burning.

The most important participants in the fire ritual are the agnihotrin, or
yajamåna, and his wife. Once they have been chosen, they accept the responsibilities
of keeping the fire burning at the Agnimatha and of taking care of all daily and
fortnightly (darßapËrˆamåsa) offerings, until one of them dies. Only at the death of
the yajamåna, or his wife, are the fires of the Agnimatha discontinued and all five fire
hearths in the Agnimatha broken down. The new yajamåna is chosen among the
elders of each of the six Rajopadhyaya lineages in Patan. The elaborate initiation
ceremony of the new agnihotrin must be completed on the first full moon after the
turn of the Nepali New Year in November.
Filming the Rituals
To film this rare occasion, a team consisting of Bal Gopal Shrestha and visual
anthropologist Wendy van Wilgenburg left for Nepal on 7 November 2004. Financial
support was received from the Gonda Foundation, Royal Academy of Arts and
Sciences, Amsterdam. In addition, the Research School CNWS, Leiden, the
International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden, and the Centre for Nepal and
Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, supported the project. Dirk Nijland
and Jan Houben act as advisors.
In the two weeks before the rituals began, the fire temple in Patan was visited
and the main Brahmin priests were interviewed. Until the new fire was installed, this
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temporary fireplace was used for offering fire sacrifices. An Agnimatha Management
Committee (AMC) had been formed to look after the continuation of the fire rituals at
the temple.
As the most senior member of his clan, 88 years old Pundit Kabijananda
Rajopadhyay was chosen to be the new priest (agnihotrin). Since his physical
condition was vulnerable, the Agnima†ha Management Committee made
arrangements permitting him to attend the temple occasionally, while a representative
performs his daily duties.
The first day’s rituals started on 20 November in the morning. On this day
Vißvakarman, the god of architecture, was worshipped. During one of the AMC
meetings the priests had a discussion on whether to replace the prescribed goat
sacrifice with an egg sacrifice, and decided to opt for the latter. The change was made,
partly to avoid blood sacrifice and partly to avoid excessive expenses, as the priests
would have to organize a feast meal in which the head of the sacrificed goat was to be
shared among the members of the guthi, a socio-religious association of the Brahmins
associated with the Agnimatha.

On the second day of the rituals, 22 November, we recorded the worship of
Paõcagabya or the consecration of the five substances of a cow (milk, yoghurt, ghee,
urine, and dung). A mixture of these five substances is considered to be holy and is
used for ritual purifications.

On 23 November, Varuˆa någa, the divine serpent, was called upon from the
river Bagmati at the Samkhamul confluence. At the riverbank, the priests performed a
two-hour worship to call upon the divine serpent. An unexpected and heavy shower
complicated the filming, but was interpreted by the priests and audience as a veritable
visit of the divine serpent. They believe that någa, the god of water, brings rain.
25 November, the fourth day of the rituals, was the day of consecrating
(abhisheka) the new priest and his wife. This day is also called Purvå"ga. Surprisingly,
the new priest and his wife did not attend the rituals. They were excused because of
old age and were represented by two small wooden statues. On this day, the priests
also obtained fire from the sun using an eyeglass, to be on the safe side in case the sun
would not appear the next day.

The final day's rituals (26 November) were the most important as it was the day to
churn fire and install a new fire in all five fire altars in the temple, as prescribed in the
scriptures. Although it had been announced in preliminary plans, no symbolic
churning was carried out. The priests used the lamp they lit from the sunlight a day
before to transmit fire into the fire altar and then to the other altars. The fire in the
åhavan¥ya was so enormous that the paint started to drip from the ceiling and the
camera equipment began to melt. ‘Agni is fierce’, the priests stated. They had to stop
their worship for a while, to let the fire calm down, as they were hit by falling paint
and had a hard time breathing due to massive smoke development. This day was
called the day of Agni sthåpanå, the installation of the ßrauta fires, and concluded the
five days of rituals.
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Results and prospects
This was the first time that the installation of a new fire and a new priest at the
Agnima†ha fire temple in Patan was recorded completely, together with interviews
and other footage to provide the context in which these unique rituals took place. In
this form it is also the last time because the temple management committee decided
that in case of the future demise of the present yajamåna they will only install the new
priest but not go into the lengthy and costly procedure of re-installing the fires.
The recorded footage is about forty-six hours in length. Editing the film in the
Netherlands is the next step. Recited texts in Sanskrit and Newar are being translated
into English and the footage will be brought back to 90 minutes. A budget necessary
for editing the film has to be arranged. If all goes well, the film will be finished by
2006.

The 2004 recordings complement the earlier footage from 1992. The latter
material will result in three films: parts one and two will deal with two versions of the
full moon and new moon (darßapËrˆamåsa) rituals; part three is to cover the morning
ritual (nitya pËjå homa), the evening ritual (årati homa) and the anniversary rituals
(buså daμ) at the Agnima†ha. The fourth film, shot in 2004, deals with the installation
of the new fire, the new priest and his wife at the Agnima†ha. Together these films
will give a comprehensive view on a set of rituals with a Vedic background that have
been transmitted for centuries and have underwent several changes, adaptations and
additions in the course of time. Especially in the most recent filming it has been
possible to capture the adoption of creative changes that should ensure the
continuation of the ritual tradition in a society in profound transition.

References
Heesterman, J.C. 1983. ‘Other Folk’s Fire.’ In J. Staal (ed.) 1983. Agni, the Vedic
Ritual of the Fire. 2vols Berkeley, 76-94.
Hoek, A. W. van den 1992. ‘Fire Sacrifice in Nepal.’ In: Hoek, A.W. van den D.H.A.
Kolff & M.S. Oort (eds.) 1992. Ritual, State and History in South Asia. Essays in
Honour of J.C. Heesterman. Leiden/New York/Köln: E.J. Brill (Memoirs of the
Kern Institute 5), pp. 532-555 + 7 ill.
Hoek, Bert van den and Bal Gopal Shrestha 1992. 'The Sacrifice of Serpents:
Exchange and Non-Exchange in the Sarpabali of Indråyaˆ¥, Kathmandu.'
Bulletin de l´École Fran©aise d'Extrême Orient 79 (1): 57- 75.
Witzel, M. 1986. ‘Agnihotra-Rituale in Nepal.’ In: B. Kölver u. S. Lienhard (eds.)
Formen kulturellen Wandels und andere Beitraege zur Erforschung des
Himalaya. St. Augustin: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag, pp. 157-187.