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 400 of: Svacchandatantra (history and structure)
400 (of 511)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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concerning money [to be paid out] for worship, etc.%; [by the
statement, devoid of] devotion to Śiva�, etc., is stated [his being]
tainted by the [lord's own] power of obscuration (vilayaśakti�); by
the statement, he does] not partake of liberation is stated his being
a bestower of danger to his very own self; and this [statement]
has as its scope [all the ranks of disciples] adepts, spiritual sons,
and covenantors, since all are disciples.
Next how a master is a bestower of danger to disciples, he so
describes:
He should find suffering in the angry, unstable fortune in the
unstable; the vile master should remove the perfection
[obtained by] formulæ, O Beautiful Lady;/22/
misfortune [will be brought] by one devoid of compassion; in
the unskillful [he should find] the torment of slaves; there
should be disease from the cross-eyed; the buck-toothed
caused disputes;/23/
the one-eyed is a producer of emnity; a bald one destroys
wealth; [23] in one devoid [of knowledge of] the scriptures,
there should be no success in the initiation [ritual], etc., 0
One Lauded by Heroes;/24/
in a giant there should be known to be danger to a king; a
midget is a destroyer of sons; a thin one should be known to
be a cause of decline [in health]; a fat one causes
accidents;/25/
from one afflicted with consumption there should be death;
in a logician, murder and imprisonment; a deceitful one
should be known to be a cause of sin, O Beautiful Lady;/26/
for one who is devoid of truthfulness, the formulæ are not
efficacious; all these are not auspicious, O Goddess, both here
and in the world to come. /27/
He should find (vindyāt), [in the optative, has the sense of the
indicative] he obtains (labhate); [the formulæ] are not efficacious
(siddhyanti), i.e., they do not produce the [desired] effect of
grace, etc.; and this [list] is stated with reference to the master
