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CHAPTER II SUMMARIES The following summaries present a topical outline of the contents of each of the books of Svacchandatantram. They also note the most important and representative sections of commentary by Kshemaraja. Attention is focused on analyzing the topics in order to illustrate the compositional process that produced the complete and final text of Svacchandatantram. The summaries, therefore, should serve as complements to the presentation, given in the introduction, of the strata, sources, and redactors of Svacchandatantram. The overview of topics presented in the summaries, also can serve as a convenient basis for thematic studies utilizing material in Svacchandatantram, and for specific comparisions with related texts. 1 1 The basic forms of agamic Saiva ritual have been examined in detail by Brunner-Lachaux, in her study and translation of the Somasambhupaddhati and many secondary articles. In the third volume of the Somasambhupaddhati, which examines the central ritual of initiation, she has included extensive comparative material drawn from Svacchandatantram and the commentary of Kshemaraja. Therefore, in the following summaries, the first five books of Svacchandatantram have not been studied for their content as extensively as the later books. Instead, attention has been directed only to analyzing their compositional structure and history, and elucidating selective passages of problematic or particularly significant content. 124

125 HI.1 BOOK 1 The first book opens (p.2) with a stereotyped introductory setting for the text, that describes bhairava seated on Mount Kailasah surrounded by his customary retinue. 1 Kshemaraja first supplies introductory verses paying homage to Shiva and his master Abhinavagupta and sketching his non-dual philosophy. Then, in his commentary on the verses, which represents a masterpiece of commentatorial ingenuity and over-interpretation, he endeavors to demonstrate how they have encapsulated the entire essential teaching of the rest of Svacchandatantram.? His commentary decoding these verses offers: an excellent example of the most important interpretative procedures that he applied throughout his commentary; a useful summary of his understanding of the nature of this text as revelation and its place in tradition; and an outline of the tenets of his belief. Kshemaraja, notably, considers these introductory verses the enunciation of a specific intermediate figure, the scriptural presenter. Thus, compelled by logic, he concedes, at least minimally, the existence in the text of distinct compositional layers. 3 After this hermeneutic tour de force, the text resumes (pp. 8-9) with a request by the goddess that bhairava reveal a 1 All page references given in ( ) refer to the edition of Svacchandatantram in The Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies. 2 V. infra section III.2 for the translation of this commentary. 3 Kshemaraja, accordingly, considers passages, such as the opening verses, which speak of bhairava in the third person, to be the work of secondary figures in the chain of scriptural transmission. (V. bk.1, p.7, where he explicitly designates the first three and a half verses of the text as such: "sardhaslokatrayatmakam tantravatarakavakyametadboddhavyam.")

126 scripture, appropriately condensed from the ideal scripture for the sake of men. Kshemaraja enlarges upon the goddess' summary characterization of this ideal scripture, describes Svacchandatantram in relation to these characteristics, and develops the theology of grace behind the revelation of this particular text. Next the goddess presents (pp. 11-12) the list of requested topics for revelation, forming a type of abbreviated table of contents or anukramanika for the work. This anukramanika does not encompass the entire contents of Svacchandatantram. Evidently, as the work of the early compilers, it contains in sequence the topics of the text produced by the compilation of the early Saiva and the Bhairava sources. Later redactors did not update this anukramanika, but rather normally inserted material at the appropriate place in the text, sometimes introduced by another question added to the dialogue frame. 1 Kshemaraja also notes this lack of agreement between topics requested in the anukramanika and the material presented, and occasionally in his commentary compensates for and rationalizes the discrepancy. 2 Kshemaraja next extracts from the brief assent by bhairava that he will proclaim the scripture (pp. 13-14), all the essential components of a proper introduction to an expository text. The discussion of the topics then begins straightaway with the first one requested (p.15): the master (guruh). First comes the enumeration of the characteristics of the good master (pp. 16-17), followed (p.19) by that of the bad master. In the same fashion follows the discussion of the next topic: the disciple (sisyah), covering first the good disciple (p.20), and then the bad disciple 1 V. the summary of bk.4, pp. 142 ff, for the inserting of a secondary anukramanika. 2 V. the opening commentary of bk.2, p.1, where Kshemaraja rationalizes the omission of the nityapujah from the opening anukramanika, which mentions only the occasional ritual. (Cf. infra section II.2.)

127 (p. 21). Next (p. 22), the text describes the dangers of the bad master. Logically, this should follow immediately after the characterization of the bad master; this displacement warrants assuming, therefore, either confusion in the transmission of the text, or supplementation with material on the bad master from another source, added, as Kshemaraja notes, after the description of the bad disciple. Both Svacchanda tantram itself and Kshemaraja in his commentary on these initial topics stress the same theme; the ritual does not work automatically, ex opere operato, but requires for its efficacy the fufillment of stipulated preconditions on the part of both master and initiate. 1 The next topic, the ritual ground (bhumih) follows (p. 24) in accordance with the sequence of requested topics. Then the text describes the ritually prepared master (pp. 26-27), who constructs on this selected ground, a diagram of a matrix (matrka) from which he subsequently extracts the formula (mantrah). The description of the matrix construction (pp. 26-31) intervenes, therefore, between the explicitly requested topics of the ritual ground and the formula. Later redactors, therefore, might have interpolated this description of the matrix from other scriptures containing developed theories of emanation modeled on the Sanskrit alphabet. Svacchandatantram does not elsewhere refer to these speculations. If, instead, the early compilers considered the construction of the matrix to be an ancillary but required preliminary for any use of formula, then perhaps they did not feel any need to enumerate it separately in the table of contents. Or later redactors could have revised an original ritual of formula extraction to conform to alternative practices using such a matrix. 1 In keeping with his overall noetic perspective, Kshemaraja (p.24) quotes a traditional adage, stressing that the essential characteristic of the master is knowledge: "sarvalaksanahino 'pi jnanavangururuttamah. "

128 Additional internal evidence also points to at least partial interpolation. To the account of the construction and worship of the matrix, the text appends a description of the correlation of the phoneme classes (vargah) and the seven mothers (p. 29). At the end (p. 31) come a panegryic coda, and the statement, "thus bhairava said (evam bhairavo bravit)." This coda and the selfreference to bhairava, of a type not normally found in the dialogue frame of Svacchandatantram, suggest that redactors incorporated from another source a ceremony directed toward the popular seven mothers. 1 Kshemaraja corroborates this supposition by attempting to harmonize, as a mere ceremonial difference, the discrepancy between this enumeration of the seven mothers and the description found elsewhere in Svacchandatantram of the mothers. 2 The rest of the first book (pp. 31-69) describes the next requested topic, the formula, whose extraction or production comes after the worship of the matrix. Correct knowledge of the formula, naturally, forms the prerequisite for the performance of the rituals and meditations presented by the rest of the books of Svacchandatantram. The formula mediate interactions with the gods, with whom they share a virtual identity. 3 During a ritual performance, the officiant must provide a seat for the invited deity. Thus, here, the text first describes the formula seat, Anantah, represented by h + aum (pp. 32-33). Then 1 Cf., for example, the description and analysis of the emanation of phonemes from the matrix in Abhinavagupta's commentary (Paratrimsikatattvavivaranam) on the Paratrimsika vss.5-9 a, in Raniero Gnoli, Il commento di Abhinavagupta alla Paratrimsika, Serie Orientale Roma 58 (Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1985), pp.57 ff, and pp.219 ff. 2 V. pp. 30-31, where Kshemaraja rationalizes a conflict with the statements about the mothers in bk.10, pp. 418 ff. 3 V. supra section 1.2.3.

129 follows the formula for the main deity (pp. 34-39) who resides on top of the seat, designated here (p.34) as the with parts (sakala-) form of Svacchanda-bhairava (pp. 34-39). The early Bhairava stratum had evidently appropriated for its cult this well known "Om Aghorebhyo ..." formula, incorporated here in the text of Svacchandatantram, as the main formula for Svacchandabhairavah 1 The panegryic coda at the end of the formula (p. 39) gives evidence of this incorporation. The early Saiva tradition had also evidently used the simple Pranavah, (h + aum) as the formula of Shiva. The later redactors of the early Saiva and Bhairava traditions attempted to resolve this discrepancy through the use of the sakala- and niskala- (without parts) distinction, retaining the "Om Aghorebhyo ..." formula for the sakalaSvacchandah, which also designates Svacchandah as the Pranavah with his formula retinue, and the Pranavah alone for the niskalaSvacchandah (p. 55). Elsewhere in the text, however, rituals still employ their original "Om Aghorebhyo formula or Pranavah without these qualifications; as expected, Kshemaraja recognizes and attempts to harmonize these inconsistencies. 2 As part of the identification of Svacchanda-bhairava and sakala- Shiva, the text next (pp. 40-49) presents the formula for the five faces of Shiva. This description includes the patterns of their imposition on the body (p.41), the mode of their clarification with energies (kalah) (pp. 42-44), another pattern of their imposition with these energies (pp. 45-46), and the enumeration of 1 V. supra section 1.1.3. " 2 V. for the redactorial attempts to harmonize these formula, bk.6, pp.120, vs.17: "sagunah sakalo jneyo nirguno niskalah sivah, and vs.19, "rupam sakalam tasy dvidhavastham prakasitam. "V. also Ksemaraja's commentary here (p.58) that declares their ultimate equivalence: "atha ca akarokaramakarabindvadikalayogaccatuskalasabdavacyo 'pi vastuto niskalanahatadhvaniparamarthatvat niskalah. 鈽�

130 the names of these energies (48-49). Lack of any transition and brief, unclear ritual directions mark this description by Svacchandatantram of the clarification with energies, and indicate reliance on another more complete source and tradition. Kshemaraja, therefore, has to supply this missing context with extensive commentary, and harmonize conflicts between the statements of Svacchandatantram and what he considers the normative procedure. 1 After the enumeration of these energies, the text adds (p. 50) a ninefold and a threefold category (tattvam) imposition. Redactors evidently added this pair of impositions, used in abbreviated initiation procedures, at this point, because of their similarity to the proceeding energies, also ritually imposed upon the body. 2 Kshemaraja notes an alternative interpretation, which offers greater integration of the Saiva and Bhairava material, glossing the ninefold category as Svacchandah and the eight subsidiary bhairava After the intervening description of the faces and their concomitant energies, the text picks up the description of sakalaSvacchandah with a presentation announced in the dialogue frame (pp. 51-52) of the formula identified with his limbs (angani), relating them to the parts of the "Om Aghorebhyo ..." formula, and giving their proper names. Though these limbs, like the faces described previously, were borrowed from Saiva tradition in order to form the retinue of Svacchanda-bhairava, here and elsewhere in the text, they appear better integrated with Svacchandah than the faces. The precise interweaving of these limbs with the syllables of the "Om Aghorebhyo " reflects this superior 1 V., for example, p.43, where to restore the proper order of the faces he invokes the rule that the sense takes precedence over the textual reading ("pathakramadarthah baliyan iti sthitya). 2 For their use in the initiation via planes, v. bk.5, pp. 6 ff.

131 assimilation, and their specific names suggest an original tradition subsequently amalgamated with the standard Saiva limbs. Continuing this process of integration, Kshemaraja proceeds to summarize the entire retinue of sakala-Svacchandah, before introducing the next formula (pp. 53-55): those of the three highest powers (saktih). Representing in developed Saiva metaphysics the first emanation from niskala- Svacchandah, these powers come, properly placed, before the presentation (pp. 55-58) of his formula, the Pranavah. This linkage of niskala- Svacchanda and the Pranavah occasions extensive commentary from Kshemaraja, in order to preserve unbroken, he asserts, the esoteric doctrine implied in the formula. Undoubtedly, a long line of interpretation of this formula both preceded and continued after its annexation by the bhairava tradition. Accordingly, the formula's panegryic coda (p.58) also suggests incorporation from outside sources. Next comes (p. 59) an enumeration of the standard Saiva limbs and their ritual endings (jatih). Then, once again, the panegryic coda of the Pranavah (p. 60) restarts. Apparently, therefore, later redactors interpolated the section on the limbs cutting the panegryic coda in two. This interpolation also reduplicates the previous enumeration of the limbs; thus, Kshemaraja, as expected, must rationalize the surface discrepancy. Similar to the presentation of the faces, this material describing the limbs interpolated in the midst of the discussion of the Pranava formula, seems to be cut from a ritual manual, and contrasts with the more straightforward description of the properly Bhairava formula. It still carries the signature of having been originally embedded in instructions for a ritual performance; the Bhairava source, by contrast, apparently organized material by first presenting formula, and then describing rites. 1 1 V., for example bk.9, vss.600 ff, pp.53 ff, where the text describes the rites that use the formula of the eight bhairava described in the first book. Though the sequence of these bhairava

132 After presenting the limbs of the niskala- Svacchandah, the text describes (pp. 61-62) the formula of the consort of Svacchandah, Aghoresvari, united to him as his main power and surrounded by her own retinue of limbs and faces. Notably, Svacchandatantram does not specify whether she is connected with sakala- or niskala- Svacchandah. Though Kshemaraja partially resolves the ambiguity in favor of the niskala form, probably, she and her subsequent retinue is connected simply with Svacchandah. No rituals found elsewhere in Svacchandatantram explicitly use the formula of this goddess, either alone or in conjunction with that of Svacchanda-bhairava. External iconographic evidence, however, confirms the depiction of the Svacchanda-bhairava in union with the goddess; perhaps, then, devotees employed the formula recorded here, in rituals of worship not covered by the text of Svacchandatantram. 1 Similarly, devotees might have employed, in rites additional to those included here, the following (pp. 63-67) formula of the eight subsidiary bhairava, who form the most important traditional retinue of bhairava.2 After these formula of the subsidiary bhairava, the first book concludes with the formula of the world guardians, who form the final outside retinue of Svacchandah. The presentation of their formula, accompanied by embedded ritual instructions, once again, suggests a source different from that of the preceding eight bhairava. In his own fashion, Kshemaraja recognizes a possible discrepancy in the inclusion of the world guardians because elsewhere he acknowledges that the eight bhairava constitute the normal final limit of the retinue of bhairava. He explains this by noting that the master does not extract or activate the formula of matches their presentation in book 1, the text in book 9 does not restate their formula again and thus assumes the presentation of these formula in book 1. 1 V. supra section 1.1.1 about the probable origin of the text. 2 V. supra section 1.1.3 about the Kapalika stratum.

133 the eight bhairava at the same time as those of the world guardians. 1 1 Kshemaraja states that the extraction of the formula of the eight bhairava occurs in the second book. In this way, Kshemaraja (p.68) recognizes that for the Bhairava tradition the eight bhairava have been modelled after and usually supplant the eight guardians of the directions; therefore elsewhere (Bk. 2, p.146) the need for the separate worship of the guardians of the directions is obviated: "bhairavastakarupena dhyatavya' iti vaksyamanatvadiha lokapalastakameva na tvanyatreva taddasakam.