"This is a sincere, scholarly approach toward exploring a highly significant aspect of Indian thought and culture. Its most striking feature is the exploitation of extensive manuscript material which has remained inaccessible and, therefore, unavailable hitherto. It will be useful to all those interested in Tantra, Kashmir Shaivism, and the Hindu religious practice known as Sadhana." - Nayjivan Rastogi Abhinavagupta Institute of Aesthetics and Saiva Philosophy The University of Lucknow, India "There are several interesting insights and thought-provoking statements which may prove to be new starting points for further research. The literature is studied with vigor and almost 'pioneering'courage." - Teuh Goudriaan Instituut voor Oosterse Talen Rijksuniversiteit, Utrecht, Netherlands MOTILAL BANARSIDASS This book serves as an introductory study of Tantric Saivism in its original scriptural sources. It traces the features and content of the canon of the Saiva Tantras, making use of many unpublished manuscripts from Kashmiri Saiva authors. The book is also an introduction to the literature of the Kubjikamata. As Kundalini, Kubjika is worshipped as the Goddess who is culred up and sleeping, waiting to be awakened. The author explores her place in the Tantric literature. M.I.R.D ISBN: 81-208-0595-x Rs.200.00- MARK DYCZKOWSKI was born in London in 1951. After completing his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Indian Philosophy and Religion at Banaras Hindu University, he returned to England in 1975 for his doctoral work which he carried out in the University of Oxford. He returned to Banaras, India in 1979 as a Commonwealth Scholar. At present he is a research associate at Sampurnananda Sanskrit University for a project to edit the Manthanabhairavatantra. He is the author of the Doctrine of Vibration as well as several articles in learned journals. Forthcoming are his extensively annotated translations of the Aphorisms of Siva, with Bhaskara's commentary, and the Stanzas on Vibration (Spandakarikd), with three hitherto untranslated commentaries. The SUNY Series in the Shaiva Traditions of Kashmir Harvey P. Alper, Editor Editorial Board Edward Dimock, Wilhelm Halbfass, Gerald J. Larson, Wendy D. O'Flaherty, Andre Padoux, Navjivan Rastogi, Ludo Rocher, Alexis Sanderson. The Canon of the Saivagama and the Kubjika Tantras of the Western Kaula Tradition MARK S. G. DYCZKOWSKI MOTILAL BANARSIDASS Delhi Varanasi Patna Bangalore Madras First Indian Edition: Delhi, 1989 MOTILAL BANARSIDASS Bungalow Road, lawahar Nagar, Delhi 110 007 Branches Chowk, Varanasi 221 001 Ashok Rajpath, Patna 800 004 24 Race Course Road, Bangalore 560 001 120 Royapettah High Road, Mylapore, Madras 600 004 This edition is for sale in India only. © 1988 State University of New York. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Dyczkowski, Mark S. G. The canon of the Saivagama and the Kubjika Tantras of the western Kaula tradition. (SUNY Series in Kashmir Saivism) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Agamas - Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Tantras. Kubjikatantra - Criticism, interpretation, etc. 3. Sivaism - Sacred books. I. Title. II. Series: SUNY series in Kashmir Saivism. BL 1141.26.D93 1987 294.5'95 86-25116 ISBN 81-208-0595-x PRINTED IN INDIA BY JA1NENDRA PRAKASH JAIN AT SHRI JA1NENDRA PRESS, A-45 NARAINA INDUSTRIAL AREA, PHASE 1, NEW DELHI 110 028 AND PUBLISHED BY NARENDRA PRAKASH JAIN FOR MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, DELHI 110007. CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii PART ONE The Saiva Agamas 1 Preliminary Remarks The Saivagamas Saivagama - Its Major and Secondary Divisions The Pasupatas and Lakulisa The Kapalikas Other Tantras of the Vamasrotas The Garuda and Bhuta Tantras The Daksmatantras The Pitha System of Classification The Tantras of the Four Pithas The Mantrapitha The Vidyapitha PART TWO The Kaula Tantras 57 The Kulagama The Mouth of the Yogini vi CONTENTS The Amnaya Classification The Amnayas of the Kaulatantras The Amnaya Classification and the Four Amnayas According to the Cincinimatasarasamuccaya Analysis The Kaulatantras and Saivagama The Pascimamnaya - The Cult of Kubjika Kubjika, the 'Crooked One' The Origins of the Kubjika Cult PART THREE Appendices APPENDIX A 95 A History of the Study of the Kubjika Cult APPENDIX B 97 The Manthanabhairavatantra APPENDIX C 101 The Canon of the Jayadrathayamala The Pitha Division The Mantrapitha The Vidyapitha The Mudrapitha The Mandalapitha The 'Eight Times Eight' Bhairavatantras The Srotas Division Conclusion APPENDIX D 127 Manuscripts of the Kubjikatantras Abbreviations 135 Notes 137 Bibliography 203 Index 209 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My greatest handicap in writing this monograph has been the paucity of manuscript material to which circumstance has allowed me access. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to see more than a tiny number of the hundreds of manuscripts that most probably contain material to contribute to our knowledge of the Saiva canon and, indeed, the Kubjika cult. I can only hope that fate will be kinder to me in the future than it has been in the past and allow me access to the manuscripts in Nepal which for many years now I have dearly hoped to study. I wish to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to a number of people who have helped and inspired me during more than fifteen years of study in India and in Oxford, where I had the privilege of working for my doctorate. One of the first who comes to mind is Mr. G. S. Sanderson, whom 1 consider not only a fine scholar but also a friend. I would also like to express my gratitude to Professor R. Gombrich, who was my supervisor during my years at Oxford and is one of the most sincere people 1 know. I cannot be grateful enough to Professor Vrajavallabha Dvivedi, former head of the Yogatantra Department of Sampumananda Sanskrit University. In our many conversations in Hindi and Sanskrit, he has been an inspiring guide to several areas of Tantrasastra. Dr. B. P. Tripathi, head of the Research Department of the same university, has also helped me a great deal, not so much in the field of Tantric studies, but in Sanskrit grammar. His profound knowledge of Panini and the Sanskrit language has inspired me to take delight in the Sanskrit itself, not just as a tool to read texts but as a language to speak and write for its own sake. 1 should acknowledge the many suggestions made by Dr. Goudriaan, who is at present at the University of Utrecht, and Dr. N. Rastogi at Lucknow University. They were kind enough to read this monograph carefully and to bring to my attention a number of important points that have contributed concretely to the final form of this work. I should also thank Dr. Harvey Alper, the editor of the SUNY series of studies in Kashmiri Saivism, for having chosen to include my work in the series and for his sustained encouragement throughout the long process of editing and publication. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Finally - and above all - I acknowledge my parents' contribution: their support in every way has been constant and unremitting; they, like my wife, have always had faith even when it failed me. PART ONE The Saiva Agamas Preliminary Remarks The past two decades have witnessed an unprecedented growth of interest in the Hindu Tantras both on the part of the layman and scholar alike. This vast area of study, so badly neglected in the past, is now slowly beginning to come into its own. The new interest, accompanied by a greater (although still very limited) knowledge of the Tantras, has led to a more critical and scholarly approach to the study of these sacred texts. Although scholars in the past were aware that important internal distinctions exist in the 'Tantric tradition',1 they were largely glossed over in an attempt to penetrate the 'philosophy of the Tantras',2 or the 'principles of Tantra'.3 Important exceptions on the Saiva side (we are not concerned here with Vai$nava Tantra) have been the studies and critical editions made in recent years of the Siddhantagamas. This important work must be largely credited to the French Institute of Indology at Pondicherry and in particular to Pt. N. R. Bhatt and Dr. Helene Brunner- Lachaux, who has contributed to it immensely by her extensive work on Siddhanta ritual.4 Another area of research has been the Srividya tradition. Many of the major Tantras and allied works of this school have been edited and independent studies published. However, apart from these two major fields, hardly any other work has been done on individual Tantric traditions. The aim of this monograph is to pursue this line of approach further by presenting a preliminary study of another Hindu Tantric tradition, namely, the cult of Kubjika, the details of which are recorded in the Tantras of the Western School: the Pascimamnaya. The Pascimamnaya belongs to a category of Saivagama variously called ' Kulagama', 'Kulasastra''or 'Kulamnaya', which we shall attempt to delineate in the second part of this monograph. Although not as extensive as the Siddhanta or as well known and diffused as the Srividya, the Pascimamnaya is an important and substantial Tantric tradition. Up to now very little work has been done on the Pascimamnaya (see appendix A). Hardly any texts of this school have been edited, although about a 4 THE SAIVA AGAMAS hundred independent works., some of considerable length, are preserved in manuscripts, almost all of which are in Nepal (see appendix D). At this preliminary stage of research we would do well, first of all, to locate this sacred literature in the vast corpus of the Saivagama. Such is the aim of this monograph. Thus, although we shall deal with the Tantras and cult of Kubjika, we are here primarily concerned only with the contents of these Tantras that can help us to locate them in the Saiva canon and construct their history.