Is treasure actually a thing in India? That entirely depends on who you ask. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If one were to rely exclusively on Western academic publications, one might easily conclude that treasure is not really a thing in India, and never has been. A search of the website academia.edu<\/a> will throw up zero academic titles containing the Indian word for treasure, nidhi<\/em>, and barely one or two papers containing the term anywhere in the body of their text. In similar vein, there is only one full academic article devoted to the Indian Lord of Treasures, Kubera, and none at all to his famous Nine Treasures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Indians however, nidhi<\/em> is a very big thing indeed within their culture, and always has been. Various Google searches for the ubiquitous \u2018Nine Nidhis\u2019 of Indian thought throw up 1,020,000 results for \u2018nava nidhis\u2019, 587,000 results for the more Sikh-friendly \u2018nau nidh\u2019, and even 196,000 results for the English search term \u2018nine treasures of Kubera\u2019, almost all of the latter from English-language Indian websites. Kubera himself throws up 18,300,000 search results, although many of these are for his namesakes, be they financial advisers, crypto currency dealers, fintech programs, or even video games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Numerous popular religious blogs and websites expound the topic of the nine nidhi<\/em>s, be they Sikh or ISKCON, modern New Age or conservative Vedic, be they Vai\u1e63\u1e47ava or \u015aaiva, focused on Hanuman or Ga\u1e47e\u015ba, North Indian or South Indian. I have no idea how many hits might turn up if one searched in Hindi or Tamil rather than in English. But I doubt there are very many people alive in India today who are not in some way or another familiar with Kubera, the King of the Yak\u1e63as, and his Nine Treasures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anecdotal evidence reinforces the paradox. In the course of my own conversations and correspondences, I have found surprisingly few contemporary Western academic Indologists with much inkling of what the ancient and extraordinarily convoluted and multivalent term nidhi<\/em> refers to. Things might have been different in the past, since Vogel (1926) did devote some thought to nidhi<\/em> in the course of his classic study of n\u0101ga<\/em>s, and K. R. Norman (1992) and Nalini Balbir (1993) subsequently wrote articles on important aspects of the subject. Yet even these worthy efforts of the last century hardly reflect the ubiquity of the topic within Indian religious and non religious writing alike. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib<\/em>, has more than a hundred references to the Nine Nidhi<\/em>s, many attributed to the first of their ten gurus, N\u0101nak (1469 -1539). Little wonder that the topic is so ubiquitous in modern Sikhism. K. R. Norman (1992: 185, note 12) has observed that the nine-fold nidhi<\/em> was so well known and pervasive a category in India that the word nidhi<\/em> is even found in inscriptions simply to indicate the numeral ‘9’. Important Pur\u0101\u1e47as such as the Garu\u1e0da<\/em> (Chapter 53), and the M\u0101rka\u1e47\u1e0deya<\/em> (Chapter 68), have entire chapters expounding a slightly different enumeration of eight nidhi<\/em>s: no wonder the topic is widely discussed in Hindu circles. There is even a famous myth underpinning the fabulous wealth of the richest and most visited temple in the world, the Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala, describing Venkateswara Balaji\u2019s eternal indebtedness to Kubera after he took a loan to pay for his wedding. This extremely well known myth invokes the idea of Kubera as lord of nidhi<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the course of her description of the Indian art of treasure finding (nidhiv\u0101da<\/em>), and its intimate interelation and overlap with mineralogy (khanyav\u0101da<\/em>) and alchemy (rasav\u0101da<\/em>), Nalini Balbir has remarked how Indian literary narratives are full of references to nidhi<\/em>. Her paper is only a first introduction this very broad topic, and was largely derived from those literary and Jain narrative texts that comprise her special areas of academic focus, but even without paying much attention beyond these confines, she cited references to nidhi<\/em> from at least thirty different and mainly non-religious narrative works, most of which I list below (see Appendix 2<\/strong>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n K. R. Norman inter alia introduces the nidhi<\/em>s in Indian lexicographical texts, such as Amarasi\u1e43ha’s famous N\u0101mali\u1e45g\u0101nu\u015b\u0101sana<\/em> lexicon, usually known as the Amarako\u1e63a<\/em> or Amarako\u015ba<\/em>, and Hemacandra\u2019s Tri\u1e63a\u1e63\u1e6di\u015bal\u0101k\u0101puru\u1e63acaritra<\/em>. Following Vogel, Norman also discussed the occurrences of the term nidhi<\/em> in Indian Buddhist literature, where it displays a distinctive four-fold enumeration, including in such varied texts as the Divy\u0101vad\u0101na<\/em> (which parallels the M\u016blasarvastiv\u0101din vinaya), the Mah\u0101vastu<\/em>, the Khotanese Book of Zambasta<\/em>, the Vimalak\u012brtinirde\u015ba<\/em>, the Maitreyavy\u0101kara\u1e47a<\/em>, and the Karma\u015bataka<\/em>. The P\u0101li commentaries (Nid\u0101nakath\u0101<\/em>) in particular make much of these four nidhi<\/em>, identifying them as one of the seven co-natals (saha-j\u0101ta<\/em>) that appear spontaneously whenever a Buddha is born. In the context of numerous narratives of n\u0101ga<\/em>s controlling treasures both sacred and mundane, notably in early Buddhism, and their control over local agricultural economies, Vogel (1926: 210-11) also discusses the Four Great Nidhi<\/em>s (chatur-mah\u0101nidhi-sth\u0101\u1e25<\/em>) of early Indian Buddhist literature, and their connection with famous n\u0101ga<\/em> kings dwelling at specific geographical locations. Vogel mentions the eye-witness reports of the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, whose observations he believes are consistent with the cult of these four great nidhi<\/em>-owning Buddhist n\u0101ga<\/em>s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is with these observations that we finally arrive at my real point, which is a Tibetological one. Even if we, as western academics, are content to remain largely unaware of what the multivalent Indian term nidhi<\/em> refers to, Tibetan translators and scholars of the early translation period were not like us. They were more like Indians. They understood the term nidhi<\/em> was important in Indian culture, and they necessarily sought to understand it in the same way that Indians understood it. True, in the course of time Tibetan civilisation came to rather magnificently stretch the range of the word, but nevertheless, the starting point was without doubt a close reading of the Indian meanings of the term nidhi<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The term that Tibetans consistently and invariably used to translate the Indian term nidhi<\/em>, was the Tibetan root gter<\/em>. We find this rendering demonstrated not only in the Mah\u0101vyutpatti<\/em>, but also in translations of many Sanskrit tantras such as the Amoghap\u0101\u015bakalpar\u0101ja<\/em> (listed in the lHan dkar ma<\/em>, number 316), in translations of Mah\u0101y\u0101na s\u016btras such as the Vimalak\u012brtinirde\u015ba<\/em>, and in translations of seminal Sanskrit lexicons such as the Amarako\u015ba<\/em>. Wherever the Sanskrit versions of these texts, and many others like them, have nidhi<\/em>, the Tibetan translations have gter<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike us modern academics however, the translators of the early period of translation (snga dar<\/em>) could not so easily enjoy the luxury of turning a blind eye to the complex meanings of this conceptually difficult term. For example, a single Kriy\u0101tantra that is cited in the lHan dkar ma<\/em> (number 317) the Vidyottamamah\u0101tantra<\/em>, has at least 60 occurences, some of them embedded within lengthy passages focused specifically on the topic of nidhi<\/em>. Unlike us, the translators could have had no escape. They simply had to get to grips with the meanings of nidhi<\/em>, however complex. Based on the surviving textual and linguistic evidence from all known sources, Joanna Bialek has tentatively proposed a hypothesis, that the Tibetan word gter<\/em> might have been a translational neologism, purposely coined to render the Indian word nidhi<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nalini Balbir has already pointed to the sensitivity of the compilers of the Mah\u0101vyutpatti<\/em> in including the mineralogical nuances of this complex term, thus showing how they seemed to understand the intimate interrelation in India between the arts of nidhiv\u0101da<\/em> (treasure finding) and khanyav\u0101da<\/em> (mineralogy) (Balbir 1993: 20). <\/p>\n\n\n\n But to my current knowledge, it is surely Guru Chos dbang in his gTer \u2018byung chen mo<\/em> who demonstrates the most virtuosic and complete philosophical understanding of the complex Indian concept. He must really have considered the issues with great thorougness, with all the instincts of a natural anthropologist. I am not sure what Chos dbang\u2019s sources were. Certainly he follows time-honoured Indian Buddhist conventions in presenting a basically four-fold outer structure. But much more than that, he undoubtedly understands the full complexity of nidhi<\/em> as an Indian term that operates simultaneously on so many quite different yet deeply interelated dimensions. My present supposition is that his task was made easier, by the prior existence of an indigenous Tibetan theory of environment, economy, wealth, and value, that already ran closely parallel to the Indian one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be that as it may, Chos dbang quite impressively understood all of the following about Indian nidhi<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Janet Gyatso (1994) was the first Western academic scholar to look at Guru Chos dbang\u2019s\u00a0gTer\u00a0\u2018byung chen mo<\/em>,\u00a0closely followed by Ronald Davidson, who went on to examine Ratna Gling pa\u2019s work on the same topic. Gyatso\u2019s article is an exceptional peice of scholarship, to which I constantly return for inspiration, and which deservedly remains a classic of Tibetological writing. Yet for her, for Davidson, and for almost all other Western academic scholars of their generation,\u00a0nidhi<\/em>\u00a0was simply not a thing. Even if the term\u00a0nidhi<\/em>\u00a0might have been encountered here or there, it did not exist as a significant category within Indian culture. Like Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s cat,\u00a0nidhi<\/em>\u00a0simultaneously existed in India, while not existing in the West. Hence neither Gyatso nor Davidson could recognise that Guru Chos dbang was so thoughtfully producing his own account of\u00a0nidhi<\/em>\u00a0in his\u00a0gTer\u00a0\u2018byung chen mo<\/em>. Instead of recognising that he was grappling with the idea of\u00a0nidhi<\/em>, Gyatso simply wrote:\u00a0\u201cWe almost begin to suspect that Guru Chos-dbang is going to argue that everything is a kind of Treasure\u201d\u00a0(Gyatso 1994:276). What Chos dbang was actually doing was something rather more particular and more nuanced: following Indian lexicographical definitions, he was arguing that anything of intrinsic value, be it spiritual or mundane, which was once hidden and later revealed, could count as\u00a0gter<\/em>. And\u00a0gter<\/em>\u00a0is the Tibetan translation of\u00a0nidhi<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a more extensive discussion of these issues, see Mayer 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Appendix 1 Some samples of Indian classifications of nidhi<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hemacandra\u2019s (1088-1173) list of the Nine Nidhi<\/em>s below is taken from his Tri\u1e63a\u1e63\u1e6di\u015bal\u0101k\u0101puru\u1e63acaritra<\/em> and is based on a canonical Jain text, the \u1e6ch\u0101\u1e47a\u1e43ga-sutta<\/em>. Note that his famous lexicon or dictionary of synonyms, the Abhidh\u0101nacint\u0101ma\u1e47i<\/em>, also has a further entry for nidhi<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [1] the nidhi<\/em> Nai\u1e63arpa is the origin of the building of camps, cities, villages, mines, towns approached by land or sea, and isolated towns; [2] the nidhi<\/em> P\u0101\u1e47\u1e0duka is the origin of all bulk, weight, and height, and of all numbers, and of grains and seeds; [3] the nidhi<\/em> Pi\u1e45gala is the origin of the whole business of ornaments, for both humans and animals; [4] the nidhi<\/em> Sarvaratna is the origin of the Cakravartin’s jewels; [5] the nidhi<\/em> Mah\u0101padma is the origin of all clothing; [6] the nidhi<\/em> K\u0101la is the origin of knowledge of the past, present and future, also of labour such as agriculture, and the arts [7] the nidhi<\/em> Mah\u0101k\u0101la is the origin of coral, silver, gold, pearls, iron, etc. and their mines; [8] the nidhi<\/em> M\u0101\u1e47ava is the origin of soldiers, weapons, armour, the sciences of fighting, and the administration of justice; [9] the nidhi<\/em> \u015aa\u1e45kha is the origin of poetry, concerts, dramatic arts, and musical instruments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Amarasi\u1e43ha’s list of the Nine Nidhi<\/em>s from his Amarako\u015ba<\/em> are particularly famous, but here only their proper names are given: [1] Padma (Lotus), [2] Mah\u0101padma (Great Lotus), [3] \u015aa\u1e45kha (Conch), [4] Makara (Crocodile), [5] Kacchapa (Tortoise), [6] Mukunda (a gemstone?), [7] Kunda (Jasmine), [8] N\u012bla (Sapphire), and [9] Kharva (Dwarf). There are many different ways of interpreting these names. As one example among hundreds, a Sikh analysis of the famous Amarako\u015ba<\/em> list is that, from a worldly point of view, they signify in order (1) offspring, (2) jewels, (3) foods, (4) military prowess, (5) clothes and grains, (6) gold, (7) successful trade in gems, (8) arts, and (9) riches of all kinds; while their spiritual aspects are (1) faith, (2) devotion, (3) contentment, (4) detachment, (5) acceptance, (6) equipoise, (7) delight, (8) joy, and (9) awakening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The above lists give an indicative but not even remotely complete view of some of the multifarious Indian understandings of the Nine nidhi<\/em>. There are also Pur\u0101\u1e47ic lists of Eight Nidhi<\/em>s, and many more variations besides. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Appendix 2: some of the Indian narrative texts describing nidhi<\/em> cited in Nalini Balbir (1993) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Har\u1e63acarita <\/em>of B\u0101\u1e47a (mid-6th century) in several places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kath\u0101sagits\u0101gara<\/em> 7.1.37ff sqq. (Ocean III, p.157-158); 43.37sqq. (Ocean II, p.159-160);<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pa\u00f1catantra<\/em> 1.20 (Du\u1e63tabuddhi and P\u0101pabuddhi), V.3 (siddhi-varti),<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kath\u0101ratn\u0101kara<\/em> of Hemavijaya <\/p>\n\n\n\n Da\u015bakum\u0101racarita<\/em> of Da\u1e47\u1e0din<\/p>\n\n\n\n Samar\u0101iccakah\u0101<\/em>, a novel by Haribhadra (8th century)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pradyumnas\u016bri (13th century<\/p>\n\n\n\n Upade\u015bapada<\/em> in Haribhadra’s version<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u0100va\u015byaka<\/em> IX.58.5 (c\u016br\u1e47i 553.10-11; \u1e6d\u012bk\u0101<\/em> of Haribhadra [\u0100va\u015byaka-s\u016btr<\/em>a, a \u015avet\u0101mbara canonical scripture?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Upade\u015bapada<\/em> [a Jain narrative collection] which gravitates in the orbit of the \u0101va\u015byakean literature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n B\u1e5bhatsa\u1e43hit\u0101<\/em> by Var\u0101hamihira<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gargasa\u1e43hit\u0101<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Udayasund\u0101rikath\u0101<\/em> 21.23<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ya\u015bastilakacamp\u016b<\/em> of Somadevas\u016bri (11th century)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Camp\u016br\u0101m\u0101ya\u1e47a<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Prabandhako\u015ba<\/em> 28.7 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prabh\u0101vakacarita<\/em> 82.5<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vividhat\u012brthakalpa<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Si\u1e43has\u016bri\u2019s (6th century?), commentary on the Dv\u0101da\u015b\u0101ra-nayacakra<\/em>, an important philosophical work by the Ja\u00efna Malav\u0101din (4th century?):<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kuvalayam\u0101l\u0101<\/em> of Uddyotanas\u016br\u012b (completed in 779; 104.21sqq)<\/p>\n\n\n\n abridged Sanskrit by Ratnaprabhas\u016bri (13th century; *46.1sqq)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Upamitibhavaprapa\u00f1ca Kath\u0101<\/em> of Siddhar\u1e63i (completed in 805; 865.7sqq)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Puhaicandacariya<\/em> of \u015a\u0101ntis\u016bri (completed in 1105; 119.23sqq)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u0100khy\u0101nakama\u1e47iko\u015bav\u1e5btti<\/em> of \u0100mradeva (12th century; 137.6 sqq)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ma\u1e47oram\u0101kah\u0101<\/em> of Vardham\u0101nas\u016bri (12th century; 114.13sqq)<\/p>\n\n\n\n L\u012bl\u0101vat\u012bs\u0101ra<\/em> of Jinaratna (13th century) 6.182sqq and 391sqq) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nidhiprad\u012bpik\u0101<\/em> which brings together chapters 20 and 21 of the Kak\u1e63apu\u1e6da<\/em> or Siddhan\u0101g\u0101rjunatantra<\/em>, attributed to N\u0101g\u0101rjuna the alchemist <\/p>\n\n\n\n A further Nidhiprad\u012bpik\u0101<\/em> in twenty-eight chapters, taken from the Siddha\u015b\u0101baratantra<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nidhiprad\u012bpa<\/em> by \u015ar\u012bka\u1e47\u1e6dhas\u00e1mbhu <\/p>\n\n\n\n Kak\u1e63aputa<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rasendrac\u016b\u1e0d\u0101ma\u1e47i<\/em> (12th century; 3.29cd) <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bibliography:<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Balbir, Nalini, 1993. \u201c\u00c0 la recherche des tr\u00e9sors souterrains\u201c, in Studies in honour of Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld: Journal of the European \u0100yurvedic Society <\/em>vol. 3, 1993, pp. 15\u2013 55. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Guru Chos dbang, n.d. gTer \u2018byung chen mo<\/em>, pages 75-193, within Gu ru chos dbang gi rnam dang zhal gdams<\/em>, Rin chen gter mdzod chen po\u2019i rgyab chos<\/em> Vols 8-9, Ugyen Tempa\u2019i Gyaltsen, Paro, 1979. TBRC Work Number 23802. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Gyatso, Janet, 1994. \u201cGuru Chos dbang’s gTer ‘byung chen mo: an early survey of the treasure tradition and its strategies in discussing Bon treasure\u201d, PIATS 6<\/em>, vol. 1, Oslo, Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture, 1994, pp. 275-287. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mayer, Rob, 2022. \u201cIndian nidhi<\/em>, Tibetan gter ma<\/em>, Guru Chos dbang, and a Kriy\u0101tantra on Treasure Doors: Rethinking Treasure (part two)\u201d, in Revue d\u2019Etudes Tib\u00e9taines<\/em>, no. 64, Juiller 2022, pp. 368-446.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Norman, K. Roy, 1992 \u201cThe Nine Treasures of a Cakravartin\u201d, in Collected Papers, vol. 3<\/em>, Oxford, The Pali Text Society, 1992, pp. 183-193. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Vogel, Jean Ph. , 1926 Indian Serpent Lore or the N\u0101gas in Hindu Legend and Art<\/em>, London, Arthur Probsthain, 1926. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is treasure actually a thing in India? That entirely depends on who you ask. If one were to rely exclusively on Western academic publications, one might easily conclude that treasure is not really a thing in India, and never has … Continue reading
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