Newar Microcosm, the Beautiful Lake Manifest

It is not age but pain that is killing me, destroying a memory that once was fairly good, enabling me to memorise over 400 cases, complete with various obiter dicta of presiding judges as well as the bare facts, names  and so on...  In any case, I know that some one once declared that Beauty and Terror are the stuff of which real gods are made.  Perhaps I can find the quote on the internet or perhaps it was something told me in a dream.  I do believe it is a good description of the Divine.

When I first saw photographs of this Sukunda lamp, I instantly felt it was an object of great power, reaching through the illusion of recorded image to seize me by the throat and inspire sheer terror in me as well as recognition of the beauty of the work itself.

It was this Sukunda lamp that showed me how one single object can be a book embracing an entire religion.  Symbols as potent and definitive as those carved on rocks by paleolithic humankind... they are Truth in code form and there often are different layers of significance.

Sadly, I think much of the meaning has been lost through the centuries.  Artists and craftsman place these symbols on spiritual and profane objects with only a small knowledge of the significance of each.  It is the same in the West where Christianity once was enshrined in the carvings on Cathedral walls and doors as in the written books few ever touched or understood.  Symbol is eternal and universal.  Words are so much less.  They are tools with which to conjure, to create little tales, inspire emotions and sway the masses or the enlightened variously but at the end of the day, they are chimerae.  Symbols are Eternal.

We start with the elemental Powers: Fire, Earth, Water and Air.  Some include Spirit in the list.  Others consider that something very different.  Magicians and witches create a circle of Power using these Elements...  the Sukunda Lamp, I believe, does much the same because it actually involves the Elements in its rituals whether in actual form or in symbol.

This particular Sukunda lamp was USED by the family that owned it, not occasionally as many are, but regularly.  The black residue left by the mustard oil burned in it is everywhere, not merely in the bowl where it was burned.

The bowl is the symbol of Water, the 'Beautiful Lake' from which these Lamps derived their name.  Within the bowl often, as here, is the symbol of the Lotus, believed to be in the very centre of the Lake.   Fill the bowl with oil or butter and light the flame and you have the sacred flame burning in the centre of the Sacred Lake.

The Naga serpents rise above the bowl, offering their protection.  I believe they originally represented a coelacanth or something of that nature, much like the Loch Ness monster who still is said to inhabit the depths of the loch in Scotland.  They were water snakes but not ordinary snakes.  They were considered magical... much like the dinosaurs who mutated in the minds of ancient humans to become the Unicorn and the Griffith of myth.   The Garuda, upon the wings of which the Gods travel and who is as well the sacred messenger of the gods, sits above the bowl.

The handle of this Sukunda is both serpent and dragon.  You can see the head of the dragon at the very base of the lamp.  The serpent skin rises to meet the seven serpents or seven-headed naga serpents that create their graceful parasol above.

This is no ordinary Sukunda though, containing only the basic symbols found in most lamps of its kind.  It has so much to offer.  Below the bowl is a pair of tantric lovers.  Surrounding the vessel is a necklace of grinning skulls, symbol of Kali and Shiva both.  Then there is the curious multi-headed figure dominating the entire lamp who appears to have two phalli.  In the original photographs I saw, I thought it might represent the family who had the lamp made but a closer view made it evident that it represented one of the gods.  This one has ten heads, making it possible that it is Rawan or Ravana, depicted with 10 heads, each one representing a branch of spiritual knowledge and moreover, said to have the nectar of immortality stored in his belly.  The god shown on this Sukunda has a prominent stomach and perhaps the two phalli represent spigots.  Hard to tell...  although I have many books on HIndu myth, it is difficult sometimes to find definitive details about the gods and their iconography.

Another beautiful aspect of this Sukunda is the bird perched on the top of the handle.  I do believe it must be a peacock rather than a vulture.  Instead of the two lions often shown on either side of the bowl, there are two creatures resembling goats or sheep carrying stupas it appears.  I have included photographs of all these details.  My hope is that some one will read this one day and respond.

As I clean items such as these painstakingly and slowly, the act of cleaning becomes a meditation.  As I wrote at the start, this Sukunda lamp terrified me from the outset.  I had vivid dreams after seeing photographs.  They were not entirely positive but were filled with power.  I did believe it was important at this point in my life to conquer my childhood fears of the Hindu and Buddhist icons that I encountered in Nepal.  This Sukunda lamp is by far the most powerful object I have encountered. 

THe grinning skulls that encircle it caught my attention at once.  I am not a person who dotes upon skulls.  I know many people love the Day of the Dead and the skulls made from pastries and sweets that are popular in Mexico.  Some people love skulls because of their association with the 'skull and crossbones' of pirates.  I do have a very small crystal skull somewhere.  I gave one to Freya as well when she was involved with 'Pirates of the Caribbean' as a child.  She wore it as a pendant for awhile but I kept mine locked away in a box.

Now the Sukunda with at least three dozen grinning death'sheads is before me, visible from my bed.  When I light it, the skulls glimmer, their eye sockets black with the residue from earlier offerings of mustard oil.  Many of the aspects of this lamp deal with mortality and death.  THe other side of this coin of course is immortality and rebirth.

The Sukunda and the Karuwa in Newari Sacred Traditions

Where does the sacred end and the profane begin?  It was difficult to tell often in Nepal, where ancient traditions were so much a part of daily life and rituals often were intermingled with practical actions.

When I visited my friends, the family home always contained a Karuwa water pot.  These vessels have a shape that I never saw anywhere else in the world but are very practical in terms of preventing silt and mud from any water source from being poured when the vessel is used.  The spout is in a position that keeps any impurities at the very bottom of the pot.  When my friends and I drank from it, we never allowed the spout to touch our lips.  In fact, it was a sort of accomplishment when I learned how to pour the water from a position that was about twelve inches from my mouth without spilling or causing an embarrassing mess!

The Sukunda lamp is a ritual item that is used in many processions and festivals as well as performance of puja but again, I saw these beautiful lamps lit on a regular basis in some homes.  Traditionally, mustard oil was used in the Sukunda by Newar families, but butter or ghee or indeed any sort of oil can be used instead.  I myself like butter or ghee because it does not leave the same heavy dark tar that mustard oil tends to leave behind.  It is easy to wipe the residue of ghee or butter from the dish, but it is very difficult to clean the remnants of burnt mustard oil.

People speak of the Sukunda and Karuwa as Buddhist but Buddhism and Hinduism to me are intertwined in Nepal and when Ganesh has place of honour on almost every Sukunda lamp, is that not recognition of a popular Hindu God?

Most old Sukunda lamps show at least some traces of red powder from puja rites.  The red powder is called kum kum powder and is used to bless not only sacred objects but people as well.  When I went with my girlfrineds to the local temple in the morning, we would be anointed with a 'tika' of the red powder.  Married women I believe often have the powder placed in the part in their hair rather than the centre of the forehead.

How I wish I could return to that time in my life to study everything more thoroughly!  I was a child and although rapacious always for knowledge, my opportunities were limited and any participation in local festivals and practices deeply frowned upon my my aunt and uncle.  Everything I did was done clandestinely and if caught, I paid a rather distressing price in being forced to listen to stern lectures late at night and predictions that I would be consumed by hellfire should I persist in these actions.    The whole business has given me a deep distaste for the 'private club' aspect of many religions....  I have an abiding faith and belief in the Divine but in the same way that the Romans believed that all roads led to Rome, I believe that all paths lead to God except for those actively harmful and steeped in negative actions and emotions such as hatred or envy.   It is people who corrupt religion, not God and I cannot believe that any true God, infinite and all-powerful, would have any use for petty rules and regulations or would 'play favourites', tribe against tribe, religion against religion.

Below are some more photographs of Nepalese ritual items, including Sukunda lamps both lit and unlit.  Where lit, butter is being burned.  The juxtaposition of the Nepalese items with some Ukrainian hand-carved wooden eggs and Trinity Candleabra is entirely coincidental.  No link is intended.

What is curious here is that Roman Catholics in our neighbourhood mistook the Trinity Candleabra for a Jewish menorah.  The three branches of the candleabra represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and have nothing whatsoever to do with Judaic beliefs or traditions and yet, neighbours walking down the road and spying it in the window during the Easter holiday period, immediately leapt to the erroneous conclusion that the household was Jewish, despite the presence of other Christian artifacts.  The man who in fact described the 'menorah' to me and asked if that were where I lived was a professor of History.  Such ignorance dismays me and yet I suppose I should not be surprised by anything in this day and age.

I expect actually that the number three and this sort of candleabra probably originated with very ancient religious practices, one of the oldest of which is the Trident.  One of the symbols of Lord Shiva is the Trident.  Similarly, it is associated with the god Poseidon.  The number five is another ancient holy number and the presence of the five naga or serpents on Sukunda lamps is not that different from the khamsa or Hand of Fatima, a popular Islamic talisman.  Nepalese Cinquefoil or 'five-finger grass', officially Potentilla Nepalensis, long has been used as a talisman as well when dried as the herb resembles a hand.  The flower has five petals but that is not the magical association at least among practitioners of herbal magick.

As far as the legends associated with the Sukunda and Karuwa are concerned, it is difficult to find anything that is universally accepted.  Many different legends exist, and most of them are from an oral rather than written source.

Sukunda means 'Beautiful Lake' and the legend is associated with Lord Buddha and the Naga.  It is said that originally the Valley of Kathmandu was a large lake inhabited by serpents.   In the very centre of the lake was an undying flame within a lotus of a thousand petals.  Buddha Mahamanjushree heard of the lake and journeyed from China to see the marvel.  With his potent magical sword, he struck the hills that surrounded the lake at the very south, draining the waters and opening the Valley to all.

The famous Stupa of Swayambhunath is believed to have been created from this magical lotus of flame.

The reservoir of the Sukunda lamp where the oil or butter is kept represents the magical lake, its mouth the unfolded lotus.  The five or seven heads of the Naga that are raised above the lamp like a parasol are the serpents vanquished by the Buddha, but at the same time, are a protective power.  The shallow dish where the wick is burned represents the flame of divinity within the Self.  That is the Buddhist meaning of the lamp.

Although the story features the Lord Buddha, the Sukunda lamp is very much involved with Hindu myths as well.  Lord Ganesh is the god who can overcome all obstacles and is the lord of prosperity.  Fire is a cleansing agent as well as a creator and destroyer.  The Garuda is the bird upon which Lord Shiva rides and is associated with the Goddess Durga as well.    The Lion is associated with the Goddess Durga and very often you will see a pair of Lions guarding the sacred flame.

As far as flames are conerned, they are very much a part of traditional Nepalese iconography and there is a very interesting symbol known as the Jwala Nhyekan which is a mirror of reflection made usually of brass or bronze.  It consists of a plain circle surrounded by stylised flames that come to a peak at the very top.  It usually includes a little stand so that it can be placed without support on an alter or wherever needed.  It is a very ancient Nepalese ritual item and is protective in nature.  Mirrors in general are ancient protective talismans that deflect evil and evil intent as well as reflecting power and positive energy.

Fire worship is one of the MOST ancient religions in the world and as Nepal is the seat of one of the most ancient civilisations, it is no wonder that flames feature in ritual objects, even if these objects later are associated with different religions and tradiitons.  It is possible that the Jwala Nhyekan has some old associations with the Sukunda legend of the lotus of a thousand flames in the centre of the sacred lake.  The round centre of the mirror could represent the sacred lake and the flames the original Lotus.

As mentioned above, Fire is an agent of purification and transformation.   Water likewise is a powerful agent both of purification and potential destruction.  Most festivals have both a water and fire component to them.

The photograph directly below is of a Jwala Nhyekan.