Essay name: Svacchandatantra (history and structure)
Author: William James Arraj
The essay represents a study and partial English translation of the Svacchandatantra and its commentary, “Uddyota�, by Kshemaraja. The text, attributed to the deity Svacchanda-bhairava, has various names and demonstrates a complex history of transmission through diverse manuscript traditions in North India, Nepal, and beyond.
Page 246 of: Svacchandatantra (history and structure)
246 (of 511)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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of the cosmology, a final verse asserts that the master can pierce
this resistant shell with the hum phat formula.
II.10.4 The SÄmkhya Worlds
Beyond lie the worlds of the hundred rudrÄá¸� (pp. 259-273)
who envelop and support the egg of BrahmÄ. Previously, the text
had discussed these rudrÄá¸� at the base of the egg, and
Ká¹£emarÄjaá¸�, refuting other commentators, had explained that
they reside outside of the egg of BrahmÄ. 1 The same coordinating
explanations apply here, as well, since the text occasionally uses
ambiguous language in locating the rudrÄá¸�. 2 Evidently confusion
caused by the proliferation of rudrÄá¸� both inside and outside of the
egg had also induced later redactors to add parenthetical
adjustments. For example, a verse explains that the KÄlÄgnirudraá¸�
located below is another, second rudra�, different from the
KÄlÄgnirudraá¸� previously discussed. 3 In his commentary at the end
of this section, Ká¹£emarÄjaá¸�, similarly harmonizes the text's
varying numbers and sequences of rudrÄá¸� by interpreting them as
presentations of a longer and shorter ritual procedure. 4
1 V. his commentary on pp. 3-5, beginning with the gloss
summarizing his position: "tasya kaá¹Ähasyordhve prsthe
karparabÄhye ityarthaá¸�. "
2 For example, “vyÄpya (pervaded)" (vs.645a, p.267) is glossed
by Ká¹£emarÄjaá¸� as “parivá¹›tya (enveloped)." The language closing the
section is less ambiguous, for example, vs. 658b (p.271), where
Virabhadraá¸� is said to be above the egg ( uparyaná¸asya
samsthitaḥâ€�), and vs. 666 (p.273), where the rudrÄá¸� are said to
surround the egg ("ävá¹›tyäṇá¸am").
3 V. p.270, vs.657: “adhaá¸� kÄlÄgnirudro ‘nyaá¸� sthitastvatra
»å±¹¾±³Ù¾±²â²¹°ì²¹á¸�.
"
4 V. his commentary, p.272: “evamasyÄm vitatÄyÄm
bhuvanadiká¹£ÄyÄm sarva evaite parthivÄṇá¸agatÄ yathokta-
bhuvanesvarÄá¸� Å›odhyÄá¸� natu prÄk samksiptadiksoktamastottaram-
eva satamiti
"
