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 403 of: Svacchandatantra (history and structure)
403 (of 511)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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or north, according to his desire, since the faces of Tatpuruṣa�
and SadyojÄtaá¸�, [respectively] are the cause of powers and
liberation; 1 concentrated, i.e., intent on contemplating the
emergence of the formulæ; and for that very reason, recollected,
i.e., having obtained the potency of the formulæ; the matrix
(mÄtá¹›kÄ), i.e., the mother of the universe unknown to bonded
being, the genetrix of all formulæ and scriptures; [in sequence,]
from a to ká¹£a, i.e., flowing forth in the sequence
of powers
beginning with the energy (kala) whose essence is the pervasion of
the transcendental energy (anuttara-akula�) [i.e., a], [and
continuing with the energies of beatitude (Änandaá¸�) [i.e., Ä,], and
impulse (icchÄ), [i.e.,i,] etc., [and] having as [its] essence the
pervasion up to the limit, [which is] revealed in the ball (pinda�)
formula, which consists of the sound ká¹£a, which has the entire
universe appropriated in itself by a condensation (pratyÄhÄraá¸�) [of
all the phonemes] from ka to sa; he should sketch out (prastaret),
i.e., preceded [ pūrvam from pra-] by the contemplation
(anusamdhi�) of the pervasion of the written letters (lipih),
[which] consist of the set of four powers stated in the Sarvavira�
and BhargaÅ›ikhÄ, [which is] the nasalization (anusvÄraá¸�), [which
is] the concentrated awareness (samcetanam), of the outflow in
reflective awareness (ÄmarÅ›aá¸�), of the fifty rudrÄá¸� and their
powers, [which are] essentially (svÄbhÄvika-) inherent in the
powers of his own cognition; [27] [the reading] he should sketch
out (prastaret), is a scriptural (arśa�) reading for [the standard]
he should sketch out (prastṛṇiyÄt); and also elsewhere, the speech
of the supreme lord is only correct (sadhu), [and should not be
1 Normally, in Saiva texts, however, the northern face is not
SadyojÄtaá¸�, but VÄmadevaá¸�; the text might then be corrected in
regard to the direction, i.e., facing not north but west to
SadyojÄtaá¸�, or in regard to the face, i.e., facing north not to
SadyojÄtaá¸� but to VÄmadevaá¸�.
