At the seminar on Minor Deities, organised at the C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar Institute of Indological Research, Sudipa Ray Bandyopadhyay, spoke on Jvaradeva, the deity of fever. An early reference to Jvara, in the Shanti Parva of Mahabharata, says a three-legged, three-headed monster named Jvara, emerged from Siva’s sweat. Harivamsa says that when Krishna attacked Banasura, to rescue his (Krishna’s) grandson Aniruddha, Siva created a Maheshwara jvara to save Bana. Krishna created a Krishna jvara.
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The two jvaras fought with each other, with Krishna jvara emerging victorious. Medical texts like Charaka Samhita also mention Jvaradeva.
Descriptions of Maheshwara jvara given in Harivamsa match those given in Vishnu, Brahma and Skanda puranas. The Vishnu Dharmottara Purana gives details about Jvara in sculpture, painting and dance. However, there are variations in the icons available.
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The 13th century Thiruvidaimarudur Jvarahareshwara, for example, has four hands. He holds fire and an axe in the back arms. The front left shows gajahasta mudra and the front right shows abhaya mudra.
An exclusive temple for the fever deity is the Jvarahareshwara temple in Kanchi, which has a tank called Jvarateertham. The Jvarahareshwara icon here has many heads mounted one on top of the other, like a pyramid. In a 13th -14th century icon of Nepalese provenance, in the Chicago museum, Jvaradeva wears a tiger skin garment, the tail of the tiger being visible. He wears snakes as ornaments.
In the Kodavasal temple, Jvarahareshwara’s front left leg is raised in a dancing pose. In Thirutturaipoondi taluk, we find a Jvarahareshwara image holding trisula, gada (mace) and ankusa (elephant’s goad). In Taramangalam, Salem district, there is a three-headed, three-armed, three-legged image of Jvarahareshwara. His raised left leg is placed on a stylised lotus. The Jvarahareshwara icon in Bhavani has three heads, three hands, three legs and nine eyes. But it has no mount.
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Sitala Temple. Jaipur Village Uluberia II, Howrah District, West Bengal | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
In Eastern India, Jvaradeva was worshipped along with Sitala (goddess of small pox) and Ghentu (god of skin disease), a practice that continues in Hoogly, Howrah, Medinipur, 24 Parganas and Kolkata. Sometimes devotees offer small votive images of Jvaradeva called chhalans, but there is no independent temple for Jvara in Bengal. Jvaradeva is propitiated in Bengal with fruits, rice, sweets and sacrificial goats.
In one Buddhist depiction, we find the Buddhist goddess of fever — Parnasabari flanked by Hayagriva on the left and Sitala on the right. Hayagriva here is believed to be Jvaradeva. Contemporary unfired clay images of Jvaradeva in West Bengal, are seen sporting three complexions — blue, black and grey.
In one, he is shown wearing warrior shoes. From the iconographic viewpoint, images of Jvaradeva reflect both continuity and change.
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The god of death
Hayagriva Madhava temple in Hajo, Kamrup district, Assam.
Paromita Das, History professor, Gauhati University, spoke on dharma (Yama). Yama is the son of Viswavasu. Yami is his sister.
Yama is a judge for the dead, besides being the god of death. Iconography of Yama, as given in the Puranas, says that a Yama icon is dark like a rain-bearing cloud. Yama should have four hands and he should hold a pasa (rope) and a club. He was elevated to one of the dikpalas (guardian deities of the directions). Yama became the guardian of the Southern direction. Chitragupta is the one who maintains records.
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A Yama sculpture is seen in the Hayagriva Madhava temple in Hajo, Kamrup district, Assam. Here, he is seated on a buffalo, with legs folded on the back of the buffalo. His two hands hold a club. In the Aswaklanta temple sculpture, Yama is depicted seated astride a buffalo, resting one hand on his mount and the other holding a club.
The sculpture without the head in Hajo, Assam. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Yama is portrayed as a dikpala in the Vishnu Janardhana temple, in Sukreswar, Guwahati. Hajo has another sculpture, in which the head is missing.
Manasa Devi (the serpent goddess) and Yama are worshipped together in Assam. Manasa’s story is recorded in Manasa Mangala Kavya, which is a local purana, not one of the 18 mahapuranas. In the Assamese version of Manasakavya, there are frequent references to Dharma.
Vishnu Janardhana temple, in Sukreswar, Guwahati.
Sometimes symbolic representations of Yama are worshipped. On a mound in Assam, we find a kalasa, a symbolic representation of Yama. In a shrine in Bengal, we see a number of terracotta horses, flanking a vertical stone, which is worshipped as Dharmathakur.
As part of ritual worship, a shaman dances, holding a sword in his hand. At Sualkuchi in Assam, blood of a pigeon is consumed by the shaman during the worship of Manasa Devi. During worship of Dharma or Yama, people take temporary sanyas. When they are possessed by Yama, or Manasa, they perform the duties of a priest and are called sanyasis during that period. They then revert to the status of householders. From April 15 to May 15, or sometimes for an extended period up to June 15th, Dharma is worshipped.
A study of local songs of Western Assam and late medieval neo-Vaishnavite literature shows Yama being worshipped as a tortoise.