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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 390 of: Svacchandatantra (history and structure)

Page:

390 (of 511)


External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)


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383
The blessed goddess said: [9] [that] Svacchanda-[tantram]
which was told to me by you, O Supreme Lord, /4/
extended for a hundred crores [of verses], spread out in an
infinity of divisions, the four seat, the great text, bestowing
the set of four fruition, /5/
men, who have little potency and energy, little life-spans,
little wealth, and little spirituality, O Śamkara, are not able
to [use]; /6/
for their sake, tell, O Self, by favor, of that a compendium,
a little extension of the meaning of the scripture, bestowing
enjoyment and liberation. 17/
O Śamkara, i.e., O happiness [i.e., śam-as śreya�, ] maker
[ -kara, ] through being intent solely on grace; O Self (sva), i.e.,
O Supreme Lord having the form of the self (ātmarūpa); what
was told to me by you, [called] the Svacchanda-[tantram], i.e.,
on account of being the expression of the unrestrained form of that
Bhairava�, of whom the inclination ( -chanda�, ], i.e., the
impulse (icchā), is only his own [ sva-]; [10] extended for a
hundred crores, etc., i.e., according to what will be described in
the book on the descent of the text; spread out in an infinity of
divisions, i.e., Koṭarākṣa�, Vyādhibhakṣa�, Aghoreśvara�,
Svacchanda�, etc.3B [the four seat, i.e.,] of the four, i.e., of
female formulæ (vidyā�), [male-] formulæ (mantrā�), diagrams
(maṇḍalāni), [and] gestures (mudrā�), the seat (pitham), i.e.,
support (āśrayam); i.e., [either actually, or] by mere potential,
according to what has been set down in the blessed Sarvavira�:
"Gesture, the seat of diagrams, the seat of formulæ, the seat of
female formulæ; so, here, a compendium (samhitā) has four
seats." [Or potentially] as [also stated there:] "The four other
works, O Beautiful One, the Svacchandabhairava�, the Canda�,
the Krodha�, and the Unmattabhairava�, are formula seats.
Therein, the female formula is the matrix of the supreme reality,
the vibrating having the form of Svacchandaśiva�; the formulæ
are the four sections [of the om] etc.; the diagram is the nine-

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