THE MANCHU IMPERIAL CULT OF THE EARLY CH'ING DYNASTY: TEXTS AND STUDIES ON THE TANTRIC SANCTUARY OF MAHAKALA AT MUKDEN

The aim of the dissertation is to determine the official cult of the Manchu emperors of the early Ch'ing dynasty and to identify its historical antecedents as a model of rulership and as a pattern of traditional authority. The material evidence from the Mukden sanctuary in conjunction with the written sources indicate Manchu acceptance of traditions first derived from the Mongol imperial experience of the Yuan dynasty.; Chapter One deals with a survey of prominent views held about early Manchu culture. It is shown that early Mongol-Manchu relations took place against a background of Mongol dynasty and tributary claims on the Manchu-Tungus tribes of central and northwestern Manchuria. Mongol exactions in the region first began in the early thirteenth century and continued into the late sixteenth century enforced by military means and not by virtue of political doctrine. The evolution of Mongol political thought, particularly under Tantric influences, seems not to have affected any ideological principle of Mongol-Manchu relations.; Chapter Two presents a formal analysis of the cycle of imperial mythology as it survives in the Mongolian literary sources of the early and middle Ch'ing periods. The reconstructed cycle shows the existence of a popular belief in the union of the imperial persona with the omnipotence of the Tantric Buddhist divinity Mahakala. This synthesis of imperial and divine images emblemizes the autocratic principle and its corollary of moral and legal rules first formulated during the Yuan dynasty, although its roots are traceable to notions of medieval Indian statecraft.; In Chapter Three, it is demonstrated that an affinity had developed between generations of Mongol sovereigns and their Sa-skya-pa preceptors. Supervised by the Tibetan Buddhist community, the cult performed public homage to Mahakala as a ritual expression of the sovereign's authority over his subjects. Faced with intensive social and political disintegration, the last Mongol emperor, Legs-ldan Qayan, embraced Mahakala worship and Sa-skya-pa tutelage as one measure to become first among his rivals. Despite the enactment of policies reminiscent of the age of Qubilai, Legs-ldan's patronage of the Sa-skya-pa and their doctrine lacked the general support of the most important social groups in Mongol society.; Chapter Four treats the Sino-Manchu sources that record the transfer of the Mahakala cult to Manchu auspices and discusses the hitherto neglected problem of the ensemble of Tantric temples and reliquaries which encircled Mukden. Official observances in which the Manchu emperor led his Manchu and Mongol supporters in paying homage to Mahakala continued through the latter half of the eighteenth century. The emperor thereby covered himself with the authority of former Mongol sovereigns to appear as a legitimate ruler before his Mongol subjects. The investigation of the epigraphical and documentary sources connected with the imperial shrine shows that the sanctuary, temples and adjunct structures were a unified architectural monument meant to be an iconographic expression of Mahakala devotion.; Appendix One consists of a discussion of the literary position of the texts which preserve the myths and legends about the divine-imperial persona and the translations thereof.; Appendix Two contains the transcriptions of the Manchu and Mongolian inscriptions of 1645 of the Mahakala Complex. These two texts, here edited for the first time, constitute primary materials for iconographic and prosopographic questions associated with the Mahakala Complex.