R I V ISTA DEGLI STUDI ORIENTALI

NUOVA SERIE
 RIVISTA DEGLI S TUDI ORIENTALI
NUOVA SERIE

SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA

ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI STUDI ORIENTALI

*
Direttore responsabile
Raffaele Torella

*
Direttore scientifico
Raffaele Torella

Comitato scientifico
Prof. Pia Brancaccio (Drexel University)
Prof. Cristina Scherrer-Schaub
(Université de Lausanne, École pratique des hautes études, Paris)
Prof. Phyllis Granoff (Yale University)
Prof. Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi (École pratique des hautes études, Paris)
Prof. Ghanshyam Sharma (inalco, Paris)
Prof. Lawrence Wang-chi Wong (Hong Kong University)
Prof. Cécile Michel (cnrs, Paris)
Prof. Barbara Pizziconi (soas, University of London)
Prof. Carter Eckert (Harvard University)
Prof. Florian Schwarz (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien)

Comitato editoriale
Alessandra Brezzi, Antonetta Bruno, Vanna Calasso,
Leonardo Capezzone, Federica Casalin, Mario Casari,
Franco D’Agostino, Ciro Lo Muzio, Matilde Mastrangelo,
Giorgio Milanetti, Luca Milasi, Lorenzo Verderame

Segretaria di redazione
Carmela Mastrangelo

*
Pubblicato con il contributo
di Sapienza Università di Roma
anvur: a
 S A P I E N Z A U N I V E R S I TÀ DI ROMA
I S T I T U TO I TA L I A N O D I S TU DI O RIEN TALI

PROCEEDINGS OF TH E M E E T I N G
OF T HE ITALIAN AS S O C I AT I O N
OF SANSKRIT S T U D I E S
(BOLOGNA 27-28 M A RC H 2015)
EDITED BY
RAFFAELE TORELLA, MARCO FRANCESCHINI,
TIZIANA PONTILLO, CINZIA PIERUCCINI,
ANTONIO RIGOPOULOS, FRANCESCO SFERRA

SUPPLEMENTO Nº 2
ALLA RIVISTA DEGLI STUDI ORIENTALI
NUOVA SERIE
VOLUME LXXXIX

PISA · ROMA
FABRIZIO SERRA EDITORE
2016
 RIVISTA DEGLI S TUDI ORIENTALI
NUOVA SERIE
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 SOMMARIO

Editorial 9
Omar Abu Dbei, The poet’s meal: nourishment purveyor of inspiration
and skills 11
Alessandro Battistini, “Latet anguis in herba”: nāgabandhas in
Sanskrit literature 25
Marco Ferrante, On ṛṣis and yogins: immediate and mediate
extraordinary cognitions in early Brahmanical thought 41
Alberto Pelissero, Marginal not to Ātmollāsa 63
Gianni Pellegrini, Di erentiating jāti and upādhi: towards a further
exeges of the six jātibādhakas according to Navya Nyāya 73
David Pierdominici Leão, Mattavilāsa-prahasana: new perspectiv of study 93
Cinzia Pieruccini, The aśoka grov of the Rāmāyaṇa: imagery and
meanings 107
Chiara Policardi, Therianthropic yoginīs in early Śaiva tradition 119
Rosa Ronzitti, Are the Sanskrit words of the jüngere Sprache Indo-
European? 155
Margherita Serena Saccone, Con icting theori regarding
externalism: Śāntarak ita and Kamala ī
la against the Nyāya in the
Dravyapadārthaparīkṣā 165
119 yoginīs
therianthropicon ṚṢis and
in yogins
early śaiva tradition

THERIANTHROPIC S
IN EARLY ŚAIVA TRADITION*

Chiara Policardi

T he depiction of s in therianthropic form, with animal faces, or, more

rarely, with complete animal appearances, in texts and images, is one of the
most striking characteristics of this class of deities. Several questions arise. Why
are the s often represented with animal traits? What is the origin of this
form and what meanings and implications lie behind these portrayals? How does
this form relate to their functions?
The discussion presented below highlights the main issues raised by this crucial
and multifaceted subject, which has previously been given little scholarly atten-
tion in its own right. Adducing illustrative rather than exhaustive evidence, the
present essay is an initial attempt to unravel the various threads related to theri-
anthropic s. Every line of inquiry outlined here is a fitting topic for more
detailed analysis, which I hope to present in future contributions.
After first introducing the themes of therianthropism and theriomorphism, I
shall briefly present the main s’ antecedents – s, s and s. In
the subsequent section therianthropic – and in one case theriomorphic – s
in the early Śaiva tradition are the protagonists: after a few observations on the
iconographic sources, exemplary textual passages will be discussed. In the con-
cluding section, some working hypotheses, and further questions, are posited.

1. A word on therianthropism and theriomorphism

A basic survey shows that in Hindu religion a considerable number of deities are
depicted in hybrid form, partly theriomorphic, partly anthropomorphic. Theri-
anthropic s thus partake in a broader phenomenon, where animal forms
appear both as components of some deities’ anatomy and as s, vehicles, of
most of the deities.1

* I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Raffaele Torella, whose precious suggestions

and criticism have considerably improved the draft. I am grateful to Shaman Hatley for providing me
with the electronic transcriptions of several chapters of and , and
for the time he dedicated to answering my questions. I would also like to thank the two anonymous
readers for their helpful comments and suggestions.
1
An exhaustive discourse is not possible in a brief essay such as the present one, whose focus is on
a particular case of the therianthropic phenomenon. Remarkably, no scientific, systematic study on
the full extent of therianthropism in Hindu religion has been made. The wide and complex usage of
animal features in the depiction of Hindu deities certainly deserves a more thorough examination.
As is well known, while figures such as Gaṇeśa, Narasiṃha, and Hanuman emerge as prominent in
Hinduism, others such as Naigameṣa and Hayagrīva maintain a minor or sectarian relevance, some
such as s have a different cultic status, and numerous others are local peculiarities. With the

https://doi.org/10.19272/201603824009 · supplemento n. 2 «rso · n.s.», lxxxix, 2016