Ornament of Reality: Language Ideology in a Tantric Śākta Text
Abstract
:1. The Tantric Body
2. Tantric Pilgrimage
3. The Krama and the Śaiva Canon
4. The Mahānayaprakāśa of Śitikaṇṭha
pīṭhāgatu peṭhīśarivadanā, gītikathākamukta esa jhalakku |anubhaveti nirupamacissadanā, saṅkamādiku rāu avikampu ||17“This brilliant flame rising from the pīṭha is freed by the songs spoken from the mouths of the Pīṭheśvarīs, who kindle the experience of the still sound18 of transmission, etc, from the abode of unsurpassed consciousness.”
5. The Pīṭhacakra
5.1. Verse 4.1: The Nature of Uḍḍiyāna
so oḍḍiyānu śaccī ullasane pīṭhu maśāna kṣetra melāpu |yāgu uḍḍa anubhava parikalane tatha āvaṭha pañcana ku apalāpu || 4.1 ||22When Śakti shines forth,23 that is Oḍḍiyāna, consisting of the pīṭha, śmaśāna, kṣetra, melāpa, and yāga. When [these] are directly felt through [one’s] soaring experience, how is their fivefold possession denied?
5.2. Verse 4.2: The Pīṭha
so pīṭhu e sakalavastu laṅkarano asvara pavanarūpa svaparāna |The pīṭha itself is the ornament [consisting] of [all] material substance, its form the soundless OM within self and other. Recognize the nature of the pīṭha within living beings, whose consciousness is their devotee’s mark on the forehead.
5.3. Verse 4.3: The Cremation Ground
bhāva piśo tina samu cijjalane gāsaka kāliśarīru piśandu |vitticakku todaśami galane e pīṭhi tina miśāna yasandu || 4.3 ||32Touched by the fire of consciousness, existence is like a piece of straw. The devourer touches the body of Kālī when the wheel of activity melts into the thirteenth [Kālī],33 whose cremation ground is the third within the pīṭha.
5.4. Verse 4.4: The Guardian
kṣetra śarīru eśu tasa pālaku āpā tie vācyu upalakṣu |nāhatanādanadi jaga cālaku so cuhaṣṭana vannāna vivakṣu || 4.4 ||38This body is the kṣetra, and its guardian is the Self, marked by the three levels of speech. When the Unstruck39 sounds, the world is set in motion, wishing to speak the sixty-four syllables
5.5. Verse 4.5: Encounter
aka aka vāhadeva akaleśe pāveya nijaviṣaye melāpu |kṣanakṣana ādideva ādeśe bahupīṭhagato melāpakalāpu || 4.5 ||43One by one, the Goddesses of the Five Flows44 naturally induce union (melāpa) in one’s own sense objects. Within moments these unions bundle together inside the many pīṭhas, by the will of the Chief Goddess.
5.6. Verse 4.6: The Great Sacrifice
devi kālasakarṣana pekṣeta51 yāgimaha bhairava upacāru |mana mata mamata carū ākarṣata pāna vaḍeta āpa e upahāru || 4.6 ||52The Goddess Kālasaṃkarṣinī, seeing the veneration of Bhairava at the Great Sacrifice, attracted by the offerings of mind, thought, and individuality, enveloping living beings, the Self alone [becomes] the offering.
5.7. Verse 4.7: The Pīṭha Is Everything
pīṭhu mahāthu i mahāvīro pañcavāhu kamu vā mahitāthu |The pīṭha is the Mahārtha itself, the Great Hero, the Five Flows, the Krama, and the Great Reality.56 Experiencing existence and liberation, the Supreme Truth is not realized by all Living Beings.
6. Apabhraṃśa and Linguistic Exchange
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
1 | For a broad overview of the body within Tantric traditions see Flood (2006, pp. 74–96). |
2 | Skora (2007, p. 446); Skora (2016, p. 10). See also his article in which he argues that “[the sense of] touch brings the practitioner closest to the Infinite” (Skora 2009, p. 95). |
3 | For this reason, Sanderson argues that this term is “doubly misleading,” for its common usage by default excludes the Siddhānta tradition while also creating a false impression that non-Saiddhāntika traditions were a unified and cohesive whole (Sanderson 2007, pp. 431–33, 432 fn672). |
4 | See e.g., Hevajra Tantra I.7.12-8 (Snellgrove 1959, pp. 66–70; Snellgrove 1964, pp. 22–24), Cakrasamvara Tantra (Gray 2007, pp. 329–37), and Samvarodaya Tantra IX:14. (Tsuda 1974, p. 104). Uḍḍiyāna is listed among these places. As Sanderson shows this list within the Cakrasamvara Tantra and Samvarodaya Tantra was redacted from the Śaiva Tantrasadbhāva (Sanderson 1994, p. 95). |
5 | |
6 | Indeed, to this day many Indic words for “witch,” (e.g., ḍāiṇī, ḍākaṇ, ḍāyan) can be traced to this word (Turner 1966, p. 311) |
7 | As White shows, cognate parī traditions remain in Swat to the current day (White 2013, p. 23). |
8 | “Rather, the outer metaphor of the locality Swat alludes to an inner experiential locality of the human body as a site for yoga and non-dualistic knowledge in view of Vajrāvatī Brāhmaṇī’s interiorization of the twenty-four pilgrimage destinations for Tantric practice. Hence, the embedded trope of place operates simultaneously on outer and inner levels, merging the literal (Skt. svabhāvokti) with the figurative (Skt. vakrokti)” (Kragh 2018, p. 21). |
9 | Dyczkowski outlines four phases of the Krama’s development, the first as the Kālīkula tradition embedded within a Bhairava Tantra, the Jayadrathayāmala. Within the Kaula reformation of Matsyendra, these yoginī traditions became prized as especially powerful teachings deserving of their own independent texts and lineages. In the third phase, the Krama takes shape as a distinct tradition revealed in the Uttarapīṭha of Oḍḍiyāna, called the Mahārtha. In its fourth phase, we have the scriptures called the Mahānayaprakāśā in which the focus is on the Five Flows (or currents) of the process of perception, called the Mahānaya (Dyczkowski 2010–2011, pp. 25–27; Dyczkowski 2018, pp. 69–71). |
10 | For the Mahānayaprakāśa of Arṇasiṃha, see Sanderson (2007, p. 296). For the anonymous text published in Trivandrum see Sanderson (2007, pp. 308–17). |
11 | Grierson (1929) is a linguistic appraisal of the text, presenting its grammar in depth but not its content. (Rastogi 1968, 1979) are the only monograph-length works on the Krama tradition, and treat the Mahānayaprakāśa of Śitikaṇṭha alongside other texts (Rastogi 1968, 1979). Sanderson treats the Mahānayaprakāśa within an extensive overview of Krama literature (Sanderson 2007, pp. 299–307). |
12 | Grierson (1929, pp. 77–78). This is also significant because Grierson classifies Kashmiri as a “Dardic” language descending from a distinct branch of Indo-Iranian, related to but divergent from Indo-Āryan. Therefore, according to Grierson’s own model this text’s overwhelmingly Indo-Āryan lexicon (and grammar) places it within a different language family than Kashmiri. |
13 | For instance Verbeke briefly examines the text in comparison to the later Bāṇāsurakathā, and yet many if not most of the “Kashmiri” characteristics he notes in the Mahānayaprakāśa are commonplace in Prakrit and Apabhraṃśa (e.g., a preference for word ending -u, and the sound changes -ty- -> -cc-, -ṛ- -> -i-, -rn- -> -nn-). (Verbeke 2018, pp. 355–57); cf. Pischel §280, §50, §287 (Pischel [1900] 1957, pp. 53–54, 197–98, 201–2). There are some exceptions, including the presence of the Kashmiri second person plural imperative (Mahānayaprakāśa 12.6), as well as the frequent appearance of the Kashmiri genitive (MP 1.3, 2.5, 3.2, 3.7, 5.3, 5.4, 11.5, 12.1) (Verbeke 2018, p. 356). |
14 | athocitarucitāṃ nutiṃ sarvagocarayā deśabhāṣayā viracayitum āha (Śāstri 1918, p. 6). “Now the fitting and pleasant praise is said to be composed with a local language accessible to all.” |
15 | |
16 | Sanderson (2007, pp. 333–44). See Verbeke in particular, who identifies the language as “Old Kashmiri” on the basis of phonological changes including the palatalization of dentals, as well as the “typical Kashmiri preference for the ‘u’ sound and consonant clusters which become simplified but retain the aspiration (sth > tth > th)” (Verbeke 2018, p. 354). He admits in a footnote that the preference for the -u- sound is also typical in Apabhraṃśa (Verbeke 2018, p. 354 fn1), however the same is also true for his other two examples as well (Pischel [1900] 1957, pp. 53–54 §280, pp. 215 §307; Tagare [1948] 1987, p. 73 §48). |
17 | Skt: pīṭhāgataḥ pīṭheśvari-vadanāt, gītikathāka-muktaḥ eṣaḥ jvalakaḥ | anubhavayanti(?) nirupama-cit-sadanāt, saṅkramādikaḥ rāvaḥ avikampaḥ || mss 27:1–2. Sanderson tentatively translates this verse, but much of it is provisional and incomplete (Sanderson 2007, p. 343 fn365). |
18 | Cf. with Kramasadbhāva 2.52: tatrasthā paramā raudrā mantrabhūmistu sā viduḥ | rāvajñā rāvagārāvā rāvasthā rāvadā sadā ||2/52 || “Dwelling there is the Supreme (power of) Rudra, the adept stage of mantra that knows the sound, reveres the sound, dwells within the sound, and bestows the sound forever.” |
19 | On the limitations of this term, see Sanderson (2007, p. 432 fn.672). |
20 | For a translation and analysis, see Sanderson (2007, p. 368 fn.446). |
21 | For the uses of code-switching and indexing, see Woolard (2004, pp. 79, 86–90). |
22 | (Śāstri 1918, p. 49). My Skt. gloss (relying heavily on Grierson): sa oḍḍiyānaḥ śakteḥ ullasanena pītha-śmaśāna-kṣetra-melāpa-yāgaḥ | uḍḍānubhava-parikalanena tasya āvaṣṭa (?) pañcānāṃ kaḥ apalāpaḥ ||. |
23 | Grierson identifies this as an instrumental case, but also notes that since the locative singular shares the same ending at times there is confusion between the two (Grierson 1929, p. 97). This use of the instrumental for the locative is common within Prakrit (and non-standard Sanskrit as well (Oberlies 1997, pp. 2–9)). Here I am interpreting the instrumental as locative. |
24 | Turner lists this term under derivatives from *āviṣṭi, defining it as “demoniacal possession” (Turner 1966, p. 65). |
25 | uḍḍiyānaṃ—pīṭhe śakter ullasanena, śaktir atra uḍḍīnā iti yasminn āvaṭhapīṭhe prācuryeṇa anavarataṃ pīṭha-vāsināṃ śaktiḥ uḍḍīnā—ullasantī dṛśyate iti āvaṭha-samānaṃ pīṭham oḍḍiyānaṃ nirucyate | bahiś ca tatpraṇava-pīṭhaṃ devata-saṃketa-sthānam, tasminn āvaṭha-svarūpe pīṭha-śmaśāna-kṣetra-melāpa-yāgāḥ anubhūyamāna-bhūmikā-prāmāṇyād vakṣyamāṇa-gatyā vibhajya nirdiśyante, teṣāṃ ko nāma atra apalāpaḥ || 1 || (Dyczkowski’s edition) “Uḍḍiyāna: due to the overflow of śakti at the pīṭha, here śakti flies. When the pīṭha is possessed (Ap. āvaṭha), the śakti of those dwelling in the pīṭha flies constantly and fully; [She] is seen appearing. The pīṭha that is equal to possession is declared to be Uḍḍiyāna. And in the outer world the pītha [filled with] that sound is the place for meeting with deities. There within the true nature of possession (Ap. āvaṭha) the pīṭha, cremation ground, guardian, encounter, and sacrifice [are] revealed from evidence at the level of personal experience, after having shared in it by arriving at the teaching. How indeed are these [five] denied?” |
26 | Sāstri, Grierson, and Dyczkowski all take dyu and liṅgu as separate words (Śāstri 1918, p. 50; Grierson 1929, p. 94; Dyczkowski 50); however it makes far more sense as a compound dyuliṅgu (Skt. devaliṇgaḥ). |
27 | (Śāstri 1918, p. 50). Skt. gloss: sa pīṭhaṃ eva sakalavastur asvara-praṇava-rūpaṃ svapāreṣām | jaṅgamānām jānīhi pīthatvaṃ cinmayaḥ yeṣāṃ devaliṅgaḥ śirasām || |
28 | Mahānayaprakāśa of Arṇasiṃha v.8–9: śivaśaktyubhayonmeṣasāmarasyodbhavaṃ mahat | vīryaṃ tasmāddeha eva mahāpīṭhe samudgatam || ādyasaṃvitsamullāsaḥ pīṭhe pīṭhe kṛtāspadaḥ | anantaśākticakraughasvāminī tatra mokṣadā || “Because the power that arises from the oneness of the appearance of both Śiva and Śakti is vitality, it arises only within the body, the Great Pīṭha. In whichever pīṭha the outflowing of primordial consciousness resides, there the mistress of the flow of the wheel of endless power grants liberation.” Mahānayaprakāśa (Trivandrum) v.2.2: yathāsthitaṃ samāśritya bhūtabhāvātmakaṃ jagat | pīṭhakramasya saṃsthānaṃ kathyate hṛdayaṅgamam || “Embracing the world as it is, composed of existing reality, the abode of the process of the pīṭha is said to come from the heart.” |
29 | tat-pīṭham eva sarva-prakāraṃ samasta-mahānayālaṅkāra-bhūtam—āśraya-bhūtatvāt, itthaṃ tasyāsvara-praṇavāpara-paryāyasya svapareṣāṃ jaṅgamānāṃ sadṛśaṃ pīṭhatvaṃ mantavyam, yeṣu pīṭheṣu cinmayo liṅgarūpī devaḥ śiraḥ, evaṃ karmendriyāśraya-tvena kāyasya pīṭhatvam, jñāna-śakti-rūpatvāt śirasaś ca liṅga-tvam, ataś ca yad-yat-pāñca-bhautikaṃ tat-tat-pañcānāṃ pīṭha-śmaśānādīnāṃ pratiṣṭhāsthānam devānām āyatanam iti | yathā nija-śarīre pratipattir bhaktiś ca tathā sarva-prāṇi-gata-śarīreṣu, yathā nija-śarīrasya adhiṣṭhātā cinmaya ātmā tathā sarva-śarīrāntaś cinmaya evaika ātmā, sa caika eva udapātreṣv iva arka-pratibimbaḥ sarva-prāṇi-gato mantavyaḥ | itthaṃ viśeṣeṇa sarvatra liṅga-pīṭha-pratipattir bhāvanīyā—iti pīṭhasvarūpam || 2 || (Dyczkowski’s edition) “The pītha itself is all things, consisting of the ornament of the entire Great Way, due to being [its] basis. Thus, the essence of the pīṭha, itself the unsurpassed repetition of the Soundless Om, is regarded to be within self and other and living beings. Within these pīṭhas is the foremost God, composed of consciousness, whose form is a liṅga. Thus because it is the basis of the organs of action, the essence of the pīṭha is [within] the body, and because it is the form of the power of Knowledge, the essence of the liṅga belongs to the head. For this reason, anything composed of the five elements is the abiding ground of the fivefold pīṭha, cremation ground, etc, and [also] the abode of the gods. Just as [one has] devotion and reverence to one’s own body, in the same way [it should be towards] the bodies of all living beings. Just as the Self, composed of consciousness, is the overlord of one’s own body; in the same way the one Self, composed of consciousness, exists within all bodies. And it alone is one, regarded to be within all living beings, like the reflection of the sun in multiple pots of water. In this way reverence for the liṅga and the pīṭha should be intensely cultivated at all times. This is the true nature of the pīṭha.” |
30 | I.e. the commentary to verse 1.3: pīṭhe’sminn uḍḍiyāne param apara-malaṃ jñānam. “Here in the pīṭha Uḍḍiyāna is the supreme knowledge devoid of the impurity of the other” (Śāstri 1918, p. 2). |
31 | evaṃ mahārtha-svarūpaṃ pāramparyeṇa pīṭha-vare guptam asti iti samāsād iha sūcitam (Śāstri 1918, p. 48). “Thus the true nature of the Mahārtha is progressively concealed in stages within the eminent pīṭha, here it is revealed succinctly.” |
32 | (Śāstrī 1918, p. 51). Skt gloss: bhāvaḥ spṛśaḥ tṛṇaḥ samaḥ cijjvalanena grāsakaḥ kālīśarīram spṛśantaḥ | vṛtticakraḥ trayodaśe galanena asmin pīṭhe tṛtīyam śmaśānam yasya ||. |
33 | As with verse 4.1, I am interpreting this instrumental in the locative. |
34 | The metaphor of existence being destroyed like a piece of straw also appears in the Kramasadbhāva 1.42: tena yaṣṭena vai samyak sarvaṃ jagad idaṃ tu yat | naśyate paramārthena yathā vahnigataṃ tṛṇam || “By that method this whole entire world is destroyed by the Supreme Truth, just as straw is consumed by fire.” |
35 | On the 13th Kālī, see Sanderson (1988, p. 677). |
36 | Cf. Sanderson’s description of Kālī within the Jayadrathayāmala: “Here the triumphant Goddess reveals herself to her devotees as a hideous, emaciated destroyer who embodies the Absolute (anuttaram) as the ultimate Self which the ‘I’ cannot enter and survive, an insatiable void in the heart of consciousness” (Sanderson 1988, p. 675). |
37 | bhāvas tṛṇasamaś cid agninā spṛṣṭaḥ—iti indriya-vṛtteḥ svaviṣayībhūta-bhāva-saṃhāraḥ śmaśānam, (p. 52) grāsakāḥ prāṇāś ca kāliśarīraṃ spṛśanti tatra viśrāmyanti iti kālagrāso dvitīyaṃ śmaśānam, samasta-vṛtticakraṃ trayodaśe galati iti mahāsaṃhāras tṛtīyaṃ śmaśānam, viṣayasya svamarīci-devyā yadgrasanaṃ tadekam, prāṇasya kulābhyantara evāprāṇabhūmau upaśamo dvitīyam, sarva-vṛttīnāṃ śrī-kālikā-vapuṣy-upaśamanam iti tṛyīyam, bahis tat karavīra-svarūpam || 3 || (Dyczkowski’s edition). “Touched by the fire of consciousness, existence is like a piece of straw. The cremation ground is the withdrawal of existence within one’s sense organs from the activity of the senses, Devourers and living beings touch the body of Kālī, and there find repose. The swallowing of time is the second cremation ground, which dissolves the entire wheel of activity into the Thirteenth [Kālī]. The Great Withdrawal is the third cremation ground. The swallowing of the sense object by the goddess of one’s own rays [of consciousness], this is [the first]. The second is the cessation within the plane of nonlife, itself being the interior of the Kula. [Lastly] the third is the repose within the body of Śrī Kālī within all activities. In the outer world, it is the true nature of Kāravīra.” |
38 | (Śāstrī 1918, p. 52) Skt gloss: kṣetra-śarīram eṣaḥ tasya pālakaḥ ātmā tisṛbhiḥ vāgbhiḥ upalakṣitaḥ | anāhata-nāda-nade jagac-cālakaḥ sa catuṣṣaṣṭīnāṃ varṇānāṃ vivakṣuḥ ||. |
39 | Skt. anāhata. |
40 | āsanna brahmaṇas tasya tapasām uttama tapa | prathamaṃ chandasāmaṅgamāhur vyākaraṇaṃ budhā || Vākyapadīya 1.11. “The wise say that grammar, nearest to that Brahman and the foremost spiritual training is the most important (of such) subsidiary texts of the Veda.” (Translation from Piḷḷai 1971, pp. 2–3). |
41 | vaikharyā madhyamāyāś ca paśyantyāś caitad adbhutam | anekatīrthabhedāyās trayyā vāca para padam || Vākyapadīya 1.143. (Piḷḷai 1971, p. 32) “And this is the wonder of vaikharī, madhyamā, and paśyantī, the supreme state of the threefold speech realized within multiple divisions and paths.” Translation mine. |
42 | kṣetraṃ śarīraṃ, tasya pālako’dhiṣṭhātā ātmā, yadgītam: idaṃ śarīraṃ kaunteya kṣetram ity abhidhīyate | etad yo veda taṃ prāhuḥ kṣetrajñam iti tadvidaḥ || iti | tasya ca catvāro bhūmikā-bhedāḥ yatra kṣetre sa eva parārūpas tisṛbhir vāgbhir ūpalakṣyate, tāś catasro bhūmikāḥ—anāhata-nāda-nadanāt paśyantī-rūpaḥ, vikalpa-kallolita-tvāt mānasavyāpāreṇa jagat kalayan cālayati iti jagac cālako madhyamārūpaḥ, catuṣṣaṣṭi-saṃkhyānāṃ varṇānāṃ vikharākṣarāṇāṃ prayoktā vaikharī-rūpaḥ, iti—tisṛṇāṃ vācām adhiṣṭhātṛ-bhūtaḥ turīya-parāvāg-rūpa ātmā vedya-varga-glapana-sthānam, iti—balavat-taro bahir api saṃketaka-sthāne svīya-parakīya-pratyūha-parirakṣāparaḥ kṣetrādhipaḥ pīṭhavartī pūjyaḥ || 4 ||(Dyczkowski’s edition). “The kṣetra is the body, and its presiding guardian is the Self. As it is said in the [Bhagavad-] Gītā: ‘O Kaunteya, this body is known as the field, one who knows this is proclaimed as the field-knower by those who know.’ And it has four layers, where within the field its Supreme form is marked by the three forms of Speech. These four levels [are as follows]. From the sound of the Unstruck is the form of paśyantī. Due to the surge of conceptuality, the incipient world is disturbed by the functions of the mind. The moving world has the form of madhyamā. The enunciator of the sixty-four scattered phonemes and syllables is the form of vaikharī. The presiding ruler of these three levels of speech is the Self, whose form is Supreme Speech, itself being turīya, and is the state where knowable distinctions fade away. Also, in the outer world, it is the more powerful; at the place of meeting the ruler of the field residing within the pīṭha, who is devoted to gatekeeping the obstacles of oneself and others, should be worshipped.” |
43 | (Śāstrī 1918, p. 52). Skt gloss: ekaikā vāhadevyaḥ akleśena prāpayati nijaviṣaye melāpam | kṣaṇakṣaṇe ādidevy-ādeśena bahupīṭhagataḥ melāpakalāpaḥ || |
44 | These Goddesses of the Five Flows respectively govern the emission of the universe (Vyomavāmeśvarī), creation of a limited subject (Khecarī), movement of the sense deities (Gocarī), the sensory and motor organs (Dikcarī), and the creation of material objects (Bhūcarī) (Rastogi 1968, pp. 653–55). As Rastogi explains: “The five flows as self-same with the universal mind, or the transcendental consciousness, individual subject, inner and outer psychic apparatus and external objectivity, demonstrate as well as construct the basic frame-work of any epistemic activity, whatever its nature be” (Rastogi 1968, p. 659). |
45 | Indeed, within the Tantric texts there is an increasing emphasis on directly invoking yoginīs in possession rituals; in the Trika text, the Siddhayogeśvarīmata, possession by a yoginī was required in order for mantras to be effective (Törzsök 2013, pp. 185–88). Saraogi notes, however, that while there is overlap between possession (Skt: āveśa) and encounters (Skt: melāpa, melaka), they are distinct and the former term cannot be adequately translated with the term “possession” as it is embedded within Western cultural concepts (Saraogi 2013, pp. 203–7). See (Sanderson 1985, pp. 200–2). |
46 | ekaikā vāhadevī akleśena svārasyena ekaikasmin nija-nija-viṣaye ādidevyadhiṣṭhānena melāpam āpādayati, iti—indriya-devatānām āvaṭha-pīṭha-gatānāṃ melāpaḥ, sa ca pṛthakpṛthak—iti dvādaśībhāvena kalāpībhūtaḥ || 5 || (Dyczkowski’s edition). “One by one the Goddesses of the Five Flows swiftly and spontaneously bring about union within one’s own sense objects, one by one, by the force of the primordial Goddess. The union occurs within the sense deities when the pīṭha is possessed, and it [occurs] one by one. They become bundled together twelvefold.” |
47 | e.g., the Vātūlanātha Sūtras, #5: siddha-yoginī-saṃghaṭṭān mahāmelāpodayaḥ. Here Anantaśaktipāda’s commentary glosses Siddhas and Yoginīs as the sense objects and sense deities, and their great union (mahāmelāpa) is the fusion of the two (Śāstrī 1923, p. 7). |
48 | kathayāmi tava snehāt militaṃ ca padaṃ yathā | yoginyaḥ sarvabhāvās tu cid-bhāva-pada-madhyagāḥ || dvādaśa ca samāsena citsvarūpāḥ svarūpataḥ | srotrayor ubhayor madhye parā yā citsvarūpiṇī || melāpe militā sā vai śabdasya paramā citiḥ | (1) tvaggatā sarvabhūteṣu viśve’smin sacarācare || melāpe militā sā vai sparśasya paramā citiḥ | (2) cakṣurmadhye sthitā yā vai candrārka-dvaya-bhāsakī || melāpe militā sā vai rūpasya paramā citiḥ | (3) dvātriṃśad-vīra-saṃyuktā madhye yā svādinī kalā || melāpe militā sā vai rasasya paramā citiḥ | (4) kapāṭa-dvaya-bhedena pakṣāpakṣa-dvaya-ratā || melāpe militā sā vai gandhasya paramā citiḥ | (5) parā svarūpā paśyantī madhyamā vaikharī tathā || melāpe militā sā vai japyate paramā citiḥ | (6) phaṇirūpā pañca-mukhā sarva-grāsaika-tat-parā || melāpe militā yā vai ādāne paramā citiḥ | (7) sarvāntā ṣoḍaśāntā ca pāda-cakrasya vāhikā || melāpe militā sā vai viharet paramā citiḥ | (8) apāna-vāyum āśritya dvādaśānte nirākulā || melāpe militā sā vai utsarge paramā citiḥ | (9) upasthasya tu madhyagā retovāhe sadoditā || melāpe militā sā vai ānande paramā citiḥ | (10) saṃkalpasya vikalpasya madhye yā cetanī kalā || melāpe militā sā vai manane paramā citiḥ | (11) pītā svasya samastasya ādyā yā bodhakī daśā || melāpe militā sā vai jñānasya paramā citiḥ | (12) etās tu kathitā devyaḥ melāpe yāḥ khamārgagāḥ || Kramasadbhāva 2/83–96 || “Out of love, I will explain to you the Encounter and its abode among the yoginīs who are all things and exist within the center of the site of Consciousness. Briefly, they are twelve in total, and in their true form are the very nature of Consciousness. Within both ears is the Supreme form of consciousness, which is encountered within melāpa as the Supreme consciousness of sound. Within skin, all beings, this universe, and all moving and nonmoving things, is the Supreme consciousness of touch, encountered within melāpa. Within the eye resides the illuminator of the pair of the sun and the moon, the Supreme consciousness of form is encountered within melāpa. Within the thirty-two heroes (teeth) is the element of taste, the Supreme consciousness of taste is encountered within melāpa. Delighting in duality of opposites by the divisions of the two doors (nostrils), the Supreme consciousness of smell is encountered within melāpa. The Supreme essence [of speech] is paśyantī, madhyamā, and vaikharī; the Supreme consciousness is recited and encountered within melāpa. Devoted to consuming all things, with five faces, and with the form of a snake, the Supreme consciousness in taking (receiving for oneself) is encountered in melāpa. The vehicle of the wheel of the foot, who is the end of all things and the sixteenth [on Kālī as the “Soḍaśādhikā” (beyond the sixteenth kāla) see Rastogi (1968, pp. 521–22)], the Supreme consciousness who wanders, she is encountered within melāpa. Embracing the vital air at the end of the twelve, the Calm One is the Supreme consciousness in excretion encountered in melāpa. Perpetually rising in the flow of semen residing in the center of procreation, the Supreme consciousness in bliss is encountered within melāpa. The conscious power within ideas and thoughts, the Supreme consciousness in the mind is encountered within melāpa. The primordial condition of awakening which is the drinking of everything itself, the Supreme consciousness of knowledge is encountered within melāpa. These venerable goddesses so described reside within the path of the sky (of consciousness).” |
49 | As Sanderson explains: “The Kāpālika … sought the convergence of the Yoginīs and his fusion with them (yoginīmelaka, -melāpa) through a process of visionary invocation in which he would attract them out of the sky, gratify them with an offering of blood drawn from his own body, and ascend with them into the sky as the leader of their band. The Kaulas translated this visionary fantasy into the aesthetic terms of mystical experience. The Yoginīs became the deities of his senses (karaṇeśvarīs), revelling in his sensations. In intense pleasure this revelling completely clouds his internal awareness: he becomes their plaything or victim (paśu). However, when in the same pleasure the desiring ego is suspended, then the outer sources of sensation lose their gross otherness. They shine within cognition as its aesthetic form. The Yoginīs of the senses relish this offering of “nectar” and gratified thereby they converge and fuse with the kaula’s inner transcendental identity as the Kuleśvara, the Bhairava in the radiant “sky” of enlightened consciousness (cidvyomabhairava)” (Sanderson 1988, p. 680). |
50 | Rastogi defines them as the “five flows of the self-emanative spiritual energy ranging from Vyoma-vāmeśvarī to Bhūcarī.” (Rastogi 1979, p. 78). In order, these goddesses are Vyomavāmeśvarī, Khecarī, Dikcarī, Gocarī, and Bhūcarī. Respectively, they govern the emission of the universe (Vyomavāmeśvarī), creation of a limited subject (Khecarī), movement of the sense deities (Gocarī), the sensory and motor organs (Dikcarī), and the creation of material objects (Bhūcarī) (Rastogi 1968, pp. 653–55). |
51 | For Grierson the absolutive ending in -eta and -ata within the Mahānayaprakāśa is also evidence of Kashmiri (Grierson 1929, p. 114), however one does find absolutive endings in -t and -ta in Eastern Apabhraṃśa (Tagare [1948] 1987, p. 328). |
52 | (Śāstrī 1918, p. 54) Skt gloss: devī kālasaṃkarṣinī prekṣya mahāyāge bhairavasya(?) upacāram | manaḥ matiṃ mamatāṃ carūnā ākṛṣya prāṇān veṣṭayitvā ātmānam eva upahāram || |
53 | parā devī kālasaṃkarṣiṇī samastavṛttipratyastamayāya mahāyāge bhairavasya manomatyahaṅkārān carunākṛṣya pradadāti, tataḥ prāṇānāṃ parito veṣṭayitrī nijāparaprāṇānāṃ [kha pu: nijaṃ paraṃ prāṇānāmiti pāṭhaḥ |] pariveṣṭanam avalambya svātma-sāmarasyāya na grāsagṛdhnutayā viśvavilāpikā—iti tānprāṇānapi vilāpayantī cinmātra-prakṛtiḥ satī patiṃ kuleśvaram atṛptam ākalayya (p. 55) ākulībhūtā taṃ cinmātram ātmānaṃ tasmai bhairavāya upahārīkaroti, iti—sthūla-sūkṣma-parastredhā madhyayāgaḥ, sāmarasya-bhūśceyam, tathā ca śrīrājikāyām: bhuktvā viśvam aśeṣaṃ tṛptiṃ na yadāgataḥ kuleśānaḥ | devyā tadā svadehaś carur atra niveditaḥ kulādhipateḥ ||iti, tāṃś caturo nivedya ākulībhūtā ātmānaṃ parāvāgrūpaṃ samarasībhāvayati iti upahārārthaḥ | evam ayaṃ bhagavatyā alaṃgrāsaparayā maty-ahaṃkṛn-manaḥ—prāṇānāṃ samarpaṇād ākulībhāvena ātmanaḥ sāmarasyena pañcacaruprāśano yāgo vihitaḥ || 6 || (Dyczkowski’s edition). “The Highest Goddess, Kālasaṃkarṣiṇī, attracted by offerings at the great sacrifice, bestows the mind, thoughts, and individuality of Bhairava in order to arrest the entirety of activity. Then the Goddess who envelops life everywhere, holding up the veil [separating] the lives of self and other, [She] dissolves the universe not out of a great desire to devour [but to bestow] the oneness of one’s own Self. Dissolving these very lives, the Lady, consisting of pure consciousness, regarding the insatiable Lord of the Klan, [She] becomes aroused and offers the Self composed of consciousness to Him, Bhairava. The intermediate offering is the threefold coarse, subtle, and causal bodies, and this becomes of one taste. As it is said in the Śrīrājikā: ‘[When], consuming the entire universe, the Lord of the Clan does not reach satisfaction, then one’s own body is the oblation, given now by the goddess to the Lord of the Clan.” Having given those four [offerings], the Aroused One transforms the Self whose form of Supreme Speech into one taste. This is the meaning of ‘offering.’ Thus this sacrifice composed of consuming the five offerings is arranged by means of the oneness of the Self which becomes aroused, by presenting life, imagination, mind, and individuality to the Goddess who is complete annihilation.” |
54 | Both Śāstrī and Dyczkowski’s editions read as “bhava nivvānadacyu.” However, as Grierson notes it is clearly the instrumental plural -daśyu (Grierson 1929, p. 101). |
55 | (Śāstrī 1918, pp. 55–56) Skt gloss: pītham mahārthaḥ eva mahāvīraḥ pañcavāhaḥ kramaḥ vā mahātattva (?) | bhava-nirvāṇa-daśāyāṃ vibhajya pranasarvagataḥ bhāvyate na paramārthaḥ || |
56 | The Apabhraṃśa term mahitāthu remains obscure, but I have tentatively glossed it as mahātattva. |
57 | itthaṃ pīṭhākhya eṣa mahārthaḥ, mahārtha-saṃpradāyatvāc chārīro’ntaraṅgaḥ pañca-vāho mahākrama-garbhitaś catuṣṭayārtha-rūpo vā mahākramo mahārtho jñeyaḥ, tato lokayātrāyāṃ pīṭha-tvena tathā nirvāṇa-daśāyāṃ viśramabhāvena nirupādhivāmeśīrūpeṇa athāpi mahākrameṇa vā iti, eṣa eva mahārtho vibhajya prakaṭena pracura-prakāreṇa sthitaḥ paramārthatvena saṃbhāvanīyaḥ, vastutas tu pīṭha-cakrād ārabhya samayavidyāntaṃ samena sāmrājyena mahārtha eva vakṣyamāṇavat bobhavīti iti bhāvyatāṃ, nātra phalgu-sāra-bhāvaḥ kaścit | iti pīṭha-cakra-svarūpam || 7 || (Dyczkowski’s edition). “Thus, this Mahārtha is called the pīṭha. According to the lineage of the Mahārtha it is known as the body, the inner body, the five flows, the seed of the Mahākrama, the four-fold aim, the Mahākrama, and the Mahārtha. Therefore, experiencing the Mahārtha [is accomplished] with the pīṭha within worldly existence, by resting within the state of nirvāṇa, by [focusing on] the form of the absolute Vāmesī, and also by means of the Mahākrama; it is manifestly present with a variety of methods. It is possible by means of the Supreme Essence, however, in reality, attaining it from the pīṭhacakra [one attains] the end of the root mantra of the goddess. The Mahārtha itself is described as being instilled by the same authority. [But] it is now not attainable by anyone with a limited aptitude.” |
58 | See also Mahānayaprakāśa (Anonymous) 2.4: prādhānyena sthito loke vyavahāraḥ kriyātmakaḥ | ataḥ pīṭha-krama-jñaptis tanmukhenaiva kathyate || 2/4 || “Worldly custom primarily resides in action within the world, therefore understanding the pīṭhakrama is said to begin with that.” |
59 | |
60 | “These vernacular compositions, with their artfully artless language, were appropriate to the subitist soteriology embodied in one tendency of the the Krama’s doctrine, suggesting a sudden, unbidden irruption of enlightened consciousness unmediated by the linguistic disciplines of Sanskrit.” (Cox 2017, p. 121). While Cox’s larger points are cogent, the identification of the language as “vernacular” is clearly problematic, since the Apabhraṃśa employed in these texts is just as artificial and literary as the Mahārāṣṭrī Prakrit of the Mahārthamañjarī. |
61 | See the commentary to verses 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 46, 68, 69. |
62 | On indexicality in Linguistics, see (Silverstein 1976, pp. 34–35, 41–43). |
63 | On the “linguistic marketplace,” see Bourdieu’s essay “Price Formation and the Anticipation of Profits” (Bourdieu 1991, pp. 66–89). |
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Stephenson, J.B. Ornament of Reality: Language Ideology in a Tantric Śākta Text. Religions 2023, 14, 456. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040456
Stephenson JB. Ornament of Reality: Language Ideology in a Tantric Śākta Text. Religions. 2023; 14(4):456. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040456
Chicago/Turabian StyleStephenson, Jackson Barkley. 2023. "Ornament of Reality: Language Ideology in a Tantric Śākta Text" Religions 14, no. 4: 456. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040456
APA StyleStephenson, J. B. (2023). Ornament of Reality: Language Ideology in a Tantric Śākta Text. Religions, 14(4), 456. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040456