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[Full title: Svacchandatantra, chapter 4 (Summary) part 3: Concluding Rites and Consecration]

This appended material continues (pp. 259-264) with an aside characterizing the authentic Saiva master. This characterization leads into the next section (pp. 265-280), which describes the ritual executed by such a master. This section, Kshemaraja notes, marks a return to this book's main topic, the liturgy of the liberation initiation. 2 During the development of the Saiva liturgy, ritualists integrated numerous and once independent practices into this grand liberation liturgy. And thus here, following the same pattern, they have apparently absorbed a separate ritual of initiation, and appended it as a rite of joining concluding the initiation via energies. 3 This initiation requires only a single oblation, transformed by the master into a meditative realization. In this procedure, the parts of the oblation correspond (pp. 265-270). to the microcosmic course leading to liberation. The master then performs (pp. 271- 273) the casting off of the regents through the formula ascent, and then leads the initiate's purified self to the pervasion of Shiva. These acts clearly reduplicate segments of the previous rite of joining. 4 Returning to the process of oblating, the text then

2 V. p.264, vs. 418, and Ksemaraja's introduction: prakrtam aha." 3 On this rite, v supra section 1.2.4. 4 This material repeats, for example, the earlier (pp. 243-248) polemic against the worshippers of self, and the exaltation of the

164 (pp. 274-277) describes the procedure for imparting this pervasion of Shiva to the initiate. A series of additional oblations (pp. 277- 280) then impart the qualites of Shiva. 1 At this point, the long digression elaborating the appended rites of joining appears to end, when the text begins to describe (pp. 280-281) the sprinking or annointing (abhisekah), intended to reinvigorate the body of the initiate desiccated by the intense formula applied during the initiation. In form and content, this rite appears to restart the description of the miscellaneous concluding rites that the excursus on the joining had interrupted. Accordingly, after indicating the exchange of a flower, final circumambulations, prosternations, and a contemplation of the initiate's new condition, the text proclaims the end of the liberation initiation. Z An initiate who has undergone the with-seed initiation defined in the beginning of book four, the text continues (p. 285), can subsequently become a master (acaryah) by undergoing (pp. 286- 298) a special annointing or consecration (abhisekah). The officiating master first (pp. 286-289) prepares five jugs with select substances such as jewels and unguents. Into these prepared jugs, he then imposes the planes, energies, and worlds, followed by bhairava and his retinue, and finally, the guardians of the directions. After he has installed the initiate on a special seat in a superiority of the pervasion of Shiva. Thus the text asserts (p.272, vs. 434): "atmavyaptirbhavedesa sivavyaptistato 'nyatha. 1 V. pp. 278-279. These include such qualities as omniscience and autonomy. They render the initiate, Kshemaraja explains (p. 279), different from any other conscious subject, who might possess one of these qualities but not others, and thus similar to Shiva alone: ekasyapi sivanathasyetthyam vyavrttibhedena sarvajnatvadayah sat guna vyakhyeyah. 2 As noted previously, this flower exchange (p. 284), as interpreted by Kshemaraja, represents the disinterest of the ritual officiant in financial compensation and the honesty of the initiate in giving it.

165 diagram surrounded by the jugs, the master (pp. 288-291), using the prepared water, consecrates him. The officiating master (pp. 292-295) gives the initiate regal emblems such as a turban and a parasol, symbolizing his entitlement (adhikarah) to the new rank of master, and briefly explains this entitlement. The standard rites (pp. 295-298), such as the oblations into the fire, the flower bestowal, prosternations, and the like, then conclude the ritual for consecrating a master. There follows a similar ritual for consecrating an adept (sadhakah). The text begins (pp. 298-301) by categorizing this consecration, specified as a joining to the stage of Sadasivah. An initiate who desires this consecration, or initiation into the use of formula (vidyadiksa), must first undergo the liberation initiation. Since the initiate desires superhuman powers, however, the text directs that his initiation ritual should not purify all of his karma. Otherwise, he could not act after his consecration as an adept who wields formula to attain and enjoy these powers. 1 The actual procedure for consecrating an adept (pp. 302-306) matches that for consecrating a master. Instead of bhairava, however, the master imparts the formula of the deity who will be the focus of the adept's practice. And instead of the regal symbols given to the newly consecrated master, the adept receives (p. 307) symbols of his entitlement such as the rosary to be used in his formula service. The standard rites then conclude (pp. 307-310) the consecration ritual. The text next (pp. 311-317) describes a ritual for the self (atmayagah), explained by Kshemaraja as a rite removing any 1 V. vss. 486-487 a, p.301: "yojanyavasare bhedo vimarsah sadhakasya tu/prarabdham karma pascatyam nacaikastham tu bhavayet // sadhakasya tu bhutyartham prak karmaikarn tu sodhayet. "Cf. supra the summary of pp. 41-47.

166 impurities incurred during the initiation ritual. 1 After the intervening consecrations, therefore, the concluding rites of the initiation have apparently resumed. Actually, this self ritual constitutes a seemingly complete initiation procedure that harmonizing ritualists have, once again, nominally incorporated as a subordinate rite in the larger, surrounding initiation via energies. The words, which end this section, "the subtle initiation has been proclaimed" (suksmadiksa prakirtita) clearly evince this adaptation. 2 This self ritual has two optional forms, either a material (prakrti) or a noetic (vaijnaniki). In the material (pp. 312-316), the master performs, with minor variation, the familiar series of initiation rites, beginning with imposing the goddess of speech and the path of energies, and ending with uniting the self to Shiva and final expiating. The noetic (p. 317-318), in contrast, requires only a single utterance of the Bhairava formula. 3 At this point (pp. 318-323), the text appears to resume describing specific acts that conclude the initiation via energies. After worshipping with oblations, songs of praise, and circumambulations, the ritual officiant entreats the lord to forgive any defects in the performance of the ritual and to guarantee its efficacy. He then formally dismisses the lord. This dismissal ends when the master has retracted all the imposed formula and relodged them in his heart. The master proceeds (pp. 324-328) to clear out the sacrificial area. He tends the fire to be kept for the daily worship, removes the leftovers, and renders offerings to the minor deities. The disciple, in turn, worships the master, and 1 V. Ksemaraja's explanation of this rite on p.311: "atmano yagah paratattvayojanatma samucchedyapasasamsparsavidhinyunatadisambhavanasankasantaye kartavyah. 2 V. p.317, vs.596. " 3 Cf. supra section 1.2.4 for a discussion of this rite.

167 gives him an appropriate fee for the ritual. The text illustrates some of these fees, adjusted to the status of the initiate. 1 After prescribing (p. 328) the consummation of the ritual food by the master and adepts in order of their Saiva rank, the text declares (pp. 328-332) the obligations of the new initiates. 2 Henceforth, forgetting their previous caste, all new initiates must follow the same Saivite law (dharmah). Only rank in the Saiva community retains any significance. The text stresses that any lapse, even mentioning previous caste, will require expiation and even obstruct the efficacy of the initiation ritual. 1 V. p.326, vss.534-536. These fees range from a hundred villages for a king to a twentieth part of a field for a small landowner. Kshemaraja justifies the obligation of the initiate to feed the other gathered Saiva ascetics ("linginastarpayet") by a verse equating service to them with service to Shiva: "sivasya paripurnasya kim nama kriyate naraih / yatkrtam sivabhaktesu tatkrtam tu sive bhavet. R 2 It seems appropriate that the text discusses its own rules about caste here at the time of the commensal post initiation feast, since food relations best reflect and crystallize out relations and attitudes about caste.