Pragmatic Ritual in the Magic Tantras A dissertation submitted in partial

785 Pages·2017·3.83 MB·English

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Santa Barbara

Grim Grimoires: Pragmatic Ritual in the Magic Tantras

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy
in Religious Studies

by

Aaron Michael Ullrey

Committee in charge:
Professor David Gordon White, Chair
Professor Vesna A. Wallace
Professor José Ignacio Cabezón

December 2016
The dissertation of Aaron Michael Ullrey is approved.

_____________________________________________
José Ignacio Cabezón

_____________________________________________
Vesna A. Wallace

_____________________________________________
David Gordon White, Committee Chair

December 2016
Grim Grimoires: Pragmatic Ritual in the Magic Tantras

Copyright © 2016
by
Aaron Michael Ullrey
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Acknowledgments
A project as long as this one may have a single named author, but the research and
end results are influenced by myriad people and organizations. I would like to
acknowledge the institutions and individuals who supported me along the way. I
apologize for omissions.
Grants for my study and research were provided by Vanderbilt University via a
service-free dissertation writing grant that enabled me begin translating the sources at
hand; Fulbright-Hayes, whose Dissertation Research Abroad supported me collecting
manuscripts and performing fieldwork in Nepal and India; and the American Institute of
Indian Studies provided me a second year to collect manuscripts in India and networked
me a number of wonderful scholars. The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) at
University of Wisconsin provided language training for Introduction to Hindi and
Advanced Tibetan. And the University of California Santa Barbara provided a number of
fee-remission fellowships throughout my career.
While studying and writing, I had the privilege of teaching at the University of
California and Duke University. In particular I thank the UCSB Writing Program for
taking me on as an instructor during my first two years of Graduate School. The UCSB
Religious Studies program offered me the chance to teach upper and lower division
courses. The Talent Identification Program at Duke employed me to teach summer
intensive programs in Religious Studies and Writing.
A number of organizations facilitated my field work and collecting of manuscripts
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in South Asia. The Fulbright Staff in Kathmandu and the American Institute of Indian
Studies staff in New Delhi, Pune, and Calcutta aided my acclimation to a number of
worlds in South Asia. The Bhandarkar Research Institute and Deccan College granted
me use of their archives and helped me acquire a number of manuscripts; I thank the staff
for letting me walk in the footsteps of giants. Also in Pune, Bharatiya Samshodak
Mandal opened their archives to me readily; their staff is a model of kindness and
efficiency. The Oriental Research Institute at the University of Mysore gave me full
access to their library and helped me photograph a number of manuscripts I thought
unavailable. The Catalogus Catalagorum project and its helpful staff aided me tracking
down the locations of a wide number of magic tantras. The National Archives in
Kathmandu and the German Nepal Manuscript Preservation Project helped me acquire
the first manuscripts I used to formulated my project, and when I was in Kathmandu their
staff was indispensable for my research.
I thank the libraries and inter-library loan staff at University of California Santa
Barbara, Duke, and Vanderbilt for their detailed processing and careful location of
obscure sources often in languages unknown to staff members. During my time writing
in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I was supported by the Kent District Library, especially the
Cascade branch. That the public library staff enthusiastically supports such an arcane
scholar as me is commendable and inspires my perpetual support for public library
systems in the United States.
I owe my greatest debt to my teachers. John A. Grimes first inspired me to leave
my planned life and wander India: this led me to dedicate my life to the study of religion
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in South Asia. Our debates about Indian philosophy have continued over the decades; I
treasure our time in Chennai in 2009 when we argued, smoked cigarettes, and took a
short pilgrimage to Tiruvannamalai and its environs. I thank his wife Meera for her
hospitality, her splendid demonstrations of Harikatha, and her tremendous idlis. Also at
Michigan State, I would like to thank and John Green, Rabbi Philip Cohen, and Robert
McKinely for providing inspiring models for scholarship, collegiality, and rigor in the
academic life.
At UCSB I thank David Gordon White, first and foremost. He is the model of
scholarly rigor and creativity and also my friend. Between office chats-interrogations and
the many dinners to which he treated me, I was always challenged, supported, and
inspired. Sthaneshvar Timalsina first taught me Sanskrit via his rigorous morning
classes; I drink at his lotus feet. Greg Hillis guided me into Sanskrit competency and
taught me colloquial Tibetan. He also provided a needed sounding board and support
during my early scholarship; I count him among my most valued academic friends.
Vesna A. Wallace has constantly supported and encouraged my study of Sanskrit, and she
first taught me to decipher tantra manuscripts; I aspire to live up to her designating me “a
Sanskrit bumble-bee”. José Cabezón guided me through the history and philosophy of
Tibet and the Tibetan language. Though he is a philosophy-minded scholar he
continually reminds me that my work is “inherently interesting”; his valuable advice on
this study came too late to be fully realized, but it will guide my work for years to come.
Barbara Holdrege encouraged me to dig deep into Vedic culture, which led to my
obsession with magic; her contagious passion always leaves me intellectually
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invigorated. Paul Muller-Ortega visited Santa Barbara during my first year of graduate
school, and, while I had never met him when he taught at Michigan State, he provided
much needed support in my transition from undergraduate to graduate school, from the
Midwest to the Coast; he allowed a first-year Sanskrit student to enroll in his advanced
reading course on Abhinavagupta (I am still reeling from the experience!). Catherine
Weinberger-Thomas's seminar in anthropological theory was the most challenging
intellectual experience I will ever have; she guided me to think about theory in ways I did
not think possible, and I continue to nurture the insights she inspired regarding religion
and magic. Christine Thomas pushed me to explore the Hellenistic world in order to
interpret magic and polytheism in South Asia; without our conversations and her book
recommendations on magic and demons I would never have been able to frame this
study. Fabio Rambelli has been a happy conversation partner about magic and tantra in
China, Japan, and beyond; I always look forward to seeing him. The Paganism and
Polystheism Study groups at UCSB was a welcome forum to share my work.
Scholars outside my official institutions have nurtured me greatly. I must first
thank my language teachers. Virendra Singh taught me Hindi in Madison, and then
helped me locate further teachers in Benares, steering me to the inestimable Pinku
Pandey of Asi Ghat. Virendra-ji is the greatest language teacher I have ever encountered.
Tsetan Chonjore and his lovely band of Tibetan teachers at Madison helped reawaken my
colloquial Tibetan and encouraged me to maintain my colloquial Hindi and Tibetan
despite daunting Sanskrit duties. Other scholars influence me in informal ways. John A.
Cort has been a insightful conversation partner on many occasions; every time I see him I
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learn more about my own work, and every time I read him I understand not only Jainism
but the study of religion more clearly. Mark Dyczkowski is every bit the luminary
scholar I imagined when I first read his works; Mark-ji encouraged me to keep extending
my archive and to incorporate more vernacular sources. Alexander von Rospatt and I
shared a breakfast in Kathmandu in which he encouraged my work, provided me with a
number of useful contacts, and admonished me to work faster, for my work was “virgin
territory”. I attended a sublime workshop on early Tantra at Pondicherry; there a short
conversation with Alexis Sanderson helped me refine a number of my arguments. Also at
the Pondicherry workshop Martin Delhey, Csaba Kiss, and Peter Daniel Dzanto shared
fine fellowship and demonstrated the ideal version of Sanskrit philology. The fine yogis
Jason Birch and Jacqueline Hargreaves have been treasured conversation and travel
companions; they keep yoga on my mind. The work of Gudrun Bühnemann has been a
constant companion, and she gave me the first manuscript I acquired of the
Bhūtaḍāmaratantra. Early in my work, Andre Padoux and I shared an inspiring email
exchange regarding the use of footprint dust in murder rituals; I am grateful for his time
and generosity.
My peers at University of California have provided fellowship and conversation,
they are listed in a vague chronological order according to our first meeting: Mark
Elmore, Ami Shah, Michael Cox, Jeff Roof, Taline Goorjian, Marcy Braverman,
Christina Cabeen, Holly Gethner, Autumn Jacobsen, Caleb Elfenbien, Chloe Martinez,
Michael Jerryson, Nathaniel Rich, Nathan McGovern, Randi Clary, Rohit Singh, Emily
Schmidt, Ori Porath, Jason Schwartz, Keith Cantu, Anya Pokazanyeva, Jamas Brousseau,
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Vicky Balmes, Shelby King, William Samuel Chavez, and Eric Villalobos. I would
especially like to thank Christina and Ted Cabeen who opened their homes and lives to
me; they are my second family, and they purchased the laptop on which I wrote this
dissertation. My peers outside of UCSB include but are not limited to Joel Bourdieux,
Ellen Gough, Michael Slouber, Chris Wallis, Elaine Fisher, Katy Hardy, Seth Roller Ligo,
and Jeremy Morse.
Many of my former students have remained in my orbit. I treasure them. I must
mention a few by name: Stephen Judge, David Levi-Cantu, Bart Farrell, Adam Paradise,
Martin Arno, and the late Akanskha Arora, whom I miss terribly. I have learned so much
from my students about religion and about my own research topics, but I have learned
most of all about life and friendship. To all my students in all my many classes, I would
like to thank you for sitting in class and being confused with me about religions. I am
especially grateful to my students in my 2008-9 seminars “History of Indian Polytheism”
and “Indian Religions”.
Treasured folk include Rob Horton, who always had a story to share; Sharon
Horton, to whom I can always trust to share a beer and insights into the nature of the
human experience and culture; Nichole and Tony Knoll, who have been constant friends
and supporters; Bethany Tap, who shares the pains and triumphs of a writer's life with
me; all the Helspers especially Kevin, Chuck, and Connie; Peter Richards, my Shaman. I
encountered Richard Hill over cigarettes, coffee, and endless pitchers of beer in East
Lansing, late night conversations about magic and the occult have been constant between
us for nearly 20 years now; I treasure him as my brother and favorite sorcerer. Ryan
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Cunningham has been my friend for over twenty years, and I can not imagine home
without him. Eric Bennett was my Vice President in our Junior year of High School, and
I am glad we have memories to share and future adventures to endure. Rishi Kundi
invited me to perform his wedding and started calling me doctor far to early; he is a fine
surgeon but a finer denim-clad, Canadian lesbian.
There is a core group of gentlemen whom I have known since college and have
drawn on for support and love for many years. The last five years we have had retreats at
my family lake cottage near Pierson, Michigan; these gatherings are a happy constant in
my life. It is not summer without you Chris Fankhauser, Michael Press, and Father
Stephen Gaertner. A lama, a high school teacher, and a priest make good company. We
became close during a Buddhist meditation group at Michigan State, and to all the
members of that erstwhile group group, I treasure our Buddhist Days / Tantra Nights.
Several individuals' emotional and material support require explicit mention.
Melissa Williams first pushed me toward India. Dana Montgomery convinced me that
graduate school was the right fit for me. Jaya Kasibhatla never let me forget that I was the
real thing, high praise from the smartest person I have ever known. Sherrie Hudson found
my musings on magic agreeable on many a porch-night in Nashville. Michelle P. Baca
guided me through mourning my brother's death using debate, smack-talk, and well timed
cackling. Connie Cunningham found a broken man and helped him reach toward his own
forgotten stars. I could never have reached this point without you.
In the valley of La Crescenta, California, my Star Sapphire Brethren helped me
realize the completion of my dissertation to be a magical act of its own sort. Performing
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