Event (10/7): Notes From The Field - Virūpa is Virūpākṣa: A Tale of Two Siddhas or Two Siddha Tales?

The earliest, mostly Tibetan, hagiographical accounts present the enigmatic medieval Buddhist adept (siddha) called Virūpa, or Virūpākṣa, as a fallen monk expelled from the monastery for his tantric transgressions. However, several South Asian Virūpa narratives instead depict the siddha as a fallen brahmin guilty of the most heinous misdeeds, particularly maternal incest. For centuries, traditional and academic scholars have tended to read these two literary representations as evidence of two distinct historical Virūpas. However, in this presentation I will workshop some of my doctoral research in under-studied Virūpa life-writings from India, Nepal, and Tibet, to argue against this “two Virūpas” theory. Instead, I read Virūpa’s literary transformation from fallen monk to fallen brahmin as a narratological and rhetorical response to shifting socio-religious concerns in late medieval and early modern South Asia, following the decline of Buddhist monastic institutions on the subcontinent. In doing so, I aim to raise larger theoretical and methodological questions around hagiography, historiography, and the inherently dialogic nature of religion in general.