PREFACE

Mahavidyas are modes of worship by means of

mantras, otherwise called vidya. Each Mahavidya has a

different set of mantras giving different siddhis on the

successful sadhana, Mahavidyas are ten in number, viz.,

Mahakall, Tara, Soda£i, Bhuvanefevari, Bhairavl, Chinnamasta,

• « '

Dhumavatl, Matahgi and Kamalatmika. We have sporadic

references to these Mahavidyas in different tantras as

noted below:

Vagalamukhl stotram Rudrayamala

kavacam Visvasaroddhara tantra
hrdayam Siddhe^vara tantra
•

(U t tarakhanda- B adjal a- pat al a)

• • •

Satanama Visnuyamala
sahasranama Prayanatantra
•

Matangi stotram Rudrayamala

kavacam Nandyavarta tantra
(Uttarakhanda)
hrdayam Daksinimurti Samhita
satanama Rudrayamala
sahasranama Nandyavarta tantra
Kamalatmika kavacam ViSvasaratantra
hrdaya stotram Atharvana rahasya
•

sahasranama Brahma Purina

Kali upanisad Atharvaveda

•

(s aubhaqyakanda)
stotram, etc. Kalitantra

Tara stotram Nilatantra

kavacam Nilatantra
hrdayam Bhairavltantra
satanama Svarnamalatantra
sahasranama Brahmayamala

SodaSi kavacam Siddhayamala

hrdayam TripurasundarItantra
satanama Brahmayamala
sahasranama Vamake&varatantra

Bhuvanesvarl kavacam Rudrayimala

hrdayam Nilasarasvatl tantra
•

(Bhuvanesvara patala)
Satanama Rudrayimala
sahasranama Mahitantramava
•

Chinnamasta kavacam BhairaVatantra

hrdayam Nandyivarta tantra
sahasranama ViSvasaratantra

Tripurabhairavi stotram Rudrayimala

kavacam Rudrayimala
hrdayam Bhairavlkulasarvasva
sahasranama ViSvasaratantra
 iii

Dhumavatl stotram U rddhvamnaya

kavacam Dhumavatl tattva

Recently there is a compilation named 6akta Pramoda

by Rajadevanandana Singh Bahadur and published by Khemaraja

Srikrsnadas in Sri Venkatesvara Steam Press, Bombay in the

year 1982. This compilation also includes Siva, Visnu, Durga,

• •

Kumarl, Surya and Gane&a tantras. Besides Kali Karpuradistotram

with Vimalananda Swami's Commentary, Anandalaharl and

Saundaryalahari of Samkaracarya, Tara rahasya, Syama rahasya,

Tarabhaktisudhamava, Pranatosini, Tantrasara, etc., refer to

" ■ - -r - - *" T J • • 1 '

these Mahavidyas in detail with stotra, mantra, kavaca, hrdaya,

Jatahama, etc. But there has not been any critical compilation

or analysis of the - Mahavidya tantras much less on its

philosophy. Sir John 'Woodroffe has very extensively and

intelligently dealt on tantra worship in general including

Tantric Philosophy. His Sakti and Sakta, The Garland of Letters,

trc*.
The Serpent Power, The World as Power are such philosophical

treatises establishing tantra philosophy on the advaitic line

advocated by Samkara, though he has still not solved some riddles

regarding Samkara's treatment of this world as flux whereas the

tantras, particularly the Mahavidyas do not treat it as such

as the goal of all life is not only mukti of Samkara but bhukti

and mukti.
 In this volume I have tried to establish that

the Mahavidya philosophy is neither dvaita nor advaita, but

rather, dvaitadvaita vivarjita. The Reality is neither Siva

(like Purusa concept of Samkhya) nor Sakti (like prakrti)

but Sivah.saktyayuktah where fcakti as Power is not different

from Siva# the Powerholder. Even the icons of Kali# Tara and

Chinnainasta show the 'sakti standing on the prostrated Siva

symbolising the Supreme Consciousness aroused by Its iccha#

kriya and jnana feakti responsible for creation. Creation is

not here prapanca of Saiukara as a flux but the reality in

another form because sakti is ViSvarupinI. So according to

the Mahavidya tantra universe is not devoid or reality. It is

also Reality as the form of the Supreme who is not only

formless but beyond form and formlessness. Reality is not only

formless but also of form as otherwise Its all-pervasiveness

vibhutva would be falsified. Supreme is not only vidya# but

also includes avidya and is therefore Mahavidya. Maya of

Samkara though not a reality is treated as anirvacanlya,

unspeakable but eternally existing or in otherworas# a

dimunitive form of reality and this has not satisfactorily

been explained by ^amkara's advaita. But according to Mahavidya

tantra maya is not a separate entity# it is the veiling power

of supreme Consciousness and is adopted at will and therefore

 V

sakti is Mahamaya. She is ever Existent sat. Consciousness

cit and Bliss ananda in otherwords, Saccldanandarupinx.

Even her universe form is not destroyed but only withdrawn

to issue afresh at the end of dissolution and She is therefore

Srstisthitisamharini, Mahakalasvarupini. She creates, maintains

• • • • •

and destroys. She is beyond all time, and eternal, all

pervasive. Her ten forms cover all the ten quarters. When

formless She is only consciousness-power (cit sakti) and as

nama-rupa She is Maya £akti. Her nama arises out of Her aksara

tattva. As all aksara is eternal feabda She is &abdabrahmasvarupinl.

• "T™ 'n" _'J #

Since £abda is in essence dhvani, She is the primal dhvani

known as nada. This is causal stress, self-produced and

therefore not created and considered to be matrka, or body of

the Mother Almighty. Dhvani in its essence or para form is in

the stage of susupti and is therefore having no form but before

it is produced as effect it assumes a qhanlbhuta bindu form of

pasyantl and then the madhyama form, having assumed £abda

and artha in a subtle form and is otherwise called anahata,

which is always present in the heart of all beings which a yogi

alone can recognise. The last stage of this paranada is the

uttered speech of all beings which is also stored in the

vast electromagnetic disc known as vyoma to be caught by

scientific apparatus of a receiving station specifically

 vi

designed tor it.. I have discussed here, how Reality is form

and formless like §abda which in sphota stage formless but

while depicting a nama is having a form. The world is reality

as nama-rupa of the ultimate consciousness. How the All-knower

l
magnamator assumes the dimunitive form of Litter-knower due to

veiling process of maya-oakti has been very clearly elucidated.

Thus Mahavidyas depict different ways of sadhana

or worship including the much debated abhicara sadhana by

means of pancamakara or offering of meat, fish, cerials, wine

and coition. Of course, there are arguments to prove that these

are not ordinary offerings of mamsa, etc., but admitting a

different yogic interpretation like madya to be considered as

the juice that oozes from the sahasrara cakra at the time of

kundalinl yoga the latter issuing forth from muladhara, the

• •

first plexus at the bottom of the spinal cord and reaching the

sahasrara at the samadhi stage and realised in khecari mudra

as described in detail in the Satcakranirupana edited by

• • •

Sir John Vioodroffe as The Serpent Power. But after all, this

is not philosophy but philosophisation and hence I have

wilfully omitted it from this discussion. Similarly, the

methods of Mahavidya worship and their psychological significance

are beyond the scope of this discussion. I have therefore

confined myself to delineating the philosophical essence of

 vii

the Mahavidyas in the background of Indian Philosophy-

including their iconographical peculiarities, throwing

particular lights on the thirty-six categories of tantra

against twenty-five categories of Samkhya. The important

categories are known as £iva, Sakti, Siva-£akti, Ifevara and

Sada£iva otherwise known as the panca-pretas forming seat of

Mahavidya Tripurasundari or Sodasi, the Reality in form.
• •

The Reality as £iva-&akti, its characteristic as Consciousness-

Power has been critically examined vis-a-vis the world. Basis

of creation is a stir or iccha, kriya, and jnana-feakti in the

Supreme Consciousness and the involution as the reverse process

of realising it forms the logic behind Mahavidya worship.

As regards methodology, I may be allowed to mention

here that the methodology of Sanskrit thesis has not yet been

crystalised as a result of which different methods of

transliteration of Sanskrit words, footnoting, etc., have

been adopted by various authorities. I have tried to adhere to

the present day methodology adopted in Indian Universities in

this regard. Coming to general methodology,! have not’adopted

page-wise numbering of references in the footnotes but

Chapterwise for the sake of convenience of typing. As regards

giving details of references in footnotes and Bibliography

it may be mentioned that most of the Tantric Texts are still

 viii

lying in manuscript stage in Nepal Durbar Library, where

at least, thanks to Dr. H.p. Sastri Catalogues have been

prepared for such manuscripts. I have referred to these

Catalogues which helped me to trace dilferent Tantra Texts

in published materials. But still a large number of such texts

are now not extant except in sporadic references in printed

books, which have also became rare. This accounts for scanty

and subsidiary references in the footnotes and the Bibliography.

Besides, in some cases of published material the editor's name

and the year of printing have not been given in the book itself.

I may be excused for these commissions and omissions.

I am indebted to my Guru Dr. K. C. Acharya,

Professor and Head of the Department of Sanskrit,Utkal University,

Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar for his able guidance to have this

philosophical discussion on the Mahaviayas. I am equally

thankful to Dr. Satyavadi Mishra of Puri, an emeritus Professor

of Philosophy for his constant advice on chapterising and

discussing the matter critically and clearing my doubts on

the subtle points of £amkara's advaita. My thanks are due to

Pandit Somanath Das, Professor of Veda, Purana and Tantra of

Sadasiva Kendriya Vidyapitha, Puri for explaining to me the

Sastric interpretation of tantra Mahavidyas. I owe my gratitude

to Pandit Banamali Mishra of Vyakarana discipline of

 ±x

Sri Jagannatha Sanskrit University, Puri for finding me the

niceties of philosophy of Sabda and Varna in the oriental

style, I am equally indebted to the authorities of Sri

Jagannath Sanskrit University, Puri where I served as

Registrar for some years in the recent past for their

ungrudging help to me in using their library. My daughters

Samvit and Sarit of Philosophy and Sanskrit disciplines

respectively helped me by taking longhand dictation from me

the entire text of this thesis but for whose help I could not

have completed this work.

My thanks are due to Mr. Bidyadhar Pani for his

untiring efforts to complete the typing work in record time.

I wish Mahavidya Tara bless them for their astute

devotion to complete this work.

■<R^v
Bhubaneswar (SARBESWAR SAT PATH!:)