Navigation – Plan du site

AccueilIssues55ArticlesAbodes of the vajra‑yoginīs: Moun...

Articles

Abodes of the vajra‑yoginīs: Mount Maṇicūḍa and Paśupatikṣetra as envisaged in the Tridalakamala and Maṇiśailamahāvadāna

Amber Moore
p. 38-78

Résumé

This study examines how the logic of localisation functions in Buddhist tantric literature and ritual as a powerful tool to convey knowledge and authoritative lineage via the immediacy of the manifest world. Literature composed in Newar (Nepāl Bhāṣā) and Sanskrit continues to link the pantheon of Buddhist tantric deities to religious figures and multivalent sites in the Kathmandu Valley. Narratives of exploits (avadānas) and songs describe how heroes (vīras), heroines (vīreśvarīs) and magical female beings (yoginīs) reside and are encountered as site‑specific maṇḍalas of Buddhist tantric systems. This article examines two such sites in light of their related corpus of local literature: a unique solitary form of Vajrayoginī – Śrī Ugratārā Vajrayoginī – who is worshipped at Mount Maṇicūḍa near Sankhu, and Nairātmyā – the semi-wrathful consort of Hevajra – who is worshipped in Paśupatikṣetra, Deopatan. In this article, I look at local accounts, excerpts from the Maṇiśailamahāvadāna composed in Nepāl Bhāṣā, and offer an edition of the Sanskrit Tridalakamala practice song (caryāgīti). I utilise these sources to investigate how the sacred landscapes of the Buddhist vajra‑yoginīs in Nepal remain integral to the hermeneutics of reception of tantric Buddhism.

Haut de page

Texte intégral

Introduction

1‘Earthy, immanent and wise, all dualities end here, all binaries perish in you, o’ terrible beauty…’ (Gupto 2016: 1). In his Prayer to the Goddess, Shreedhar Lohani aptly conveys the sense of how the sacred can be perceived as connected with the manifest world – the earth in particular – rather than as transcending it. The ambiguous goddess of whom he speaks facilitates a means to a soteriological end: a reality of awakening to non-duality which is at once terrible, beautiful and indissolubly associated with the land. According to Vajrayāna Buddhist traditions, tantric divinities can be conceived of in a multitude of ways. Tantric divinities may be considered to be present within the vajra body of the aspirant (sādhaka) as called for in the body maṇḍala, a practice often highlighted by the tantric commentaries. They may also be present as the life force (prāṇa) of a deity, which can be established (pratiṣṭha) through processes of consecration, as residing within suitable vessels: variously crafted images (mūrti) in a temple, paubha paintings, maṇḍalas, caityas, and even sūtras (O’Neill 2020: 54). Yet, Newar, Nepalese and Tibetan Vajrayānists are also the caretakers and lineage holders of tantric Buddhist traditions that recognise and worship tantric divinities as emerging spontaneously and residing at specific geographical sites and rock formations in the land. These outer dwelling places of tantric deities are sometimes referred to as seats (Skt. pīṭha, Tib. gnas). This terminology may normatively refer to physical sites located in concentrically arranged body (kāya), speech (vāk) and mind (citta) circles such as the twenty-four seats (pīṭhas) of the Cakrasaṃvara (Tib. gnas chan nyer nyer lna) or Maheśvara systems. Yet there are also other cases of external and physical abodes of the deities that may be circumstantially and locally referred to as various kinds of dwelling places (Skt. pīṭha, Tib. gnas) of the pantheon of tantric deities.

  • 1 The author’s dissertation on the Nepāl Bhāṣā version of this text is forthcoming.
  • 2 The pracalit script, one of the three Newar scripts used to write Sanskrit, resembles Tibetan scri (...)

2Ritual officiants of Newar Vajrayāna Buddhism, Vajrācārya temple priests (pūjārīs) and lineage holders (mūlācaryas) venerate and care for a plethora of Buddhist yoginīs – magical female beings who dwell in marginal and liminal locales (Sugiki 2009: 517) among other divinities, as the inhabitants of this earthly domain. This article focuses on two of the local sites in the Kathmandu Valley where the Buddhist yoginīs Ugratārā Vajrayoginī and Nairātmyā are considered to be present. These two figures are considered to have emerged locally and in connection with features of the land: from the flowing water (jala) of natural springs and from divine flames (jyoti) that arise spontaneously. First, I discuss Ugratārā Vajrayoginī of Sankhu (New. Sakva) as envisaged in one version of the Maṇiśailamahāvadāna (MŚM), a text local narrative extant in Nepāl Bhāṣā and in Sanskrit.1 Second, I turn to local literature related to Nairātmyā, the semi‑wrathful consort of Hevajra, worshipped by Newar Buddhists within the Guhyeśvarī temple complex near Paśupatināth temple within the ‘field of Lord Śiva as Paśupati’, Paśupatikṣetra – a popular Hindu pilgrimage site. I explicate how Ugratārā Vajrayoginī and Nairātmyā are both worshipped in the local Vajrayāna Buddhist traditions of Nepal and I provide an edition of the practice song (caryāgīti) Tridalakamala (TDK) that has been prepared on the basis of an undated Nepalese manuscript in pracalit script2 from Bhaktapur and compared with three other witnesses.

3The two yoginīs dwell in clearly distinct places: Ugratārā Vajrayoginī resides (New. birājamāna) in a functional Newar bāhāḥ or monastic institution (vihāra), while Nairātmya yoginī is located in a multivalent pilgrimage site, the temple of Guhyeśvarī, which does not share the same characteristics as a Newar monastic institution such as the required presence of a caitya in the central courtyard. In this article, however, it is my aim to describe how these two figures of the yoganiruttaratantra category both function as tantric deities and lineage deities (New. digu dyaḥ) in unique local ritual and literary traditions of tantric Buddhism where it is considered that a person can encounter (melāka) them directly in the manifest world, each at their respective hillside shrines.

4This article navigates between two theoretical worlds that are often made distinct from a methodological perspective: classical textual analysis and the study of the contemporary praxis of Vajrayana Buddhists. In this interstitial space, I present my study of two Buddhist manuscripts and share varied perspectives on these texts and their related sites in Buddhist ritual worlds. This article aims to highlight how caretakers of tantric traditions – storytellers, philosophers, artists and yogins alike – still rely on the tangible world to convey the path of tantric Buddhism in a manner that is visceral and therefore compelling. In this respect, the visualisation of the deity, the yoginī in this context, becomes more than an intellectual exercise. It also involves recollection (smaraṇa) based on the memory of engagement and encounter (darśana), and devotion (bhakti) towards divinities present in the past, which persists today in the continuity of lineage and literature. It is this close relationship between the memory of the yogin and the perceived power of the tangible world – as not ontologically independant from the yoginī – that remains an important medium for the process of tantric transmission. I argue that emplaced tantric traditions and their rituals constitute a pedagogy of locale that is supported by a related corpus of literature, a method of practice and teaching that has been crucial in the spread, preservation of both esoteric and exoteric Buddhism in Nepal.

Emplaced Buddhism in Nepal

5The power of place, a form of power that becomes mobile and reproducible in the hands of its agents, has long reflected how Buddhist systems have been introduced, conveyed and localised, or emplaced, across Buddhist Asia. Expansion often involved dynamic processes of narrative transmission in local vernaculars with a good deal of wandering, as shown by Neelis (2011) and Lenz (2010). But, as Huber points out in his study of Tsari, Tibet, places are not necessarily perceived as ontologically different from the beings who reside there and the socially normative assumption is one of a, ‘complex ontological continuity between persons, places, substances and non-human beings’ (Huber 1999: 14). The observation of how emplaced local narratives have contributed to this oral and material transmission of Mahāyāna Buddhism in Nepal and beyond is not new (Lewis 2000, Emmrich 1999, Neelis 2014). There is wide recognition of the ways in which relics, stūpas, book worship and narratives of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, both preceding and following the lifespan of Śākyamuni Buddha, all facilitated ‘shifts which increased the Buddha’s ability to be present in new ways’ (Wedemeyer 2014: 71–72). But what agents, methods and local practices in this process facilitated this increased ability of the Buddha? In the Kathmandu Valley, Newar Buddhists composed narratives in the form of prose, metred poems, songs and scroll paintings (New. paubhā) that portray the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding foothills as the dwelling places and shrines of a vast pantheon of Buddhist divinities including buddhas, bodhisattvas, bhairavas, kśetrapālas, clan deities (New. digu dyaḥ), aṣṭamātṛkās – and yoginīs who are sometimes synonymous with them.

  • 3 Bal Gopal Shrestha, personal communication, January 2020.

6In the exoteric Buddhism of Nepal, exploits of buddhas, bodhisattvas and Buddhist goddesses are communicated by Vajrācārya storytellers at public events that range from commonplace recitations to dramatic representations that transport the listeners in time and space. Transregional narratives emplaced in Nepal, localised avadānas and the jātakas act to forge associations between sites and events and figures in textual traditions (Neelis 2014: 252), while also facilitating the adaptation of Buddhism to local socio-economic and cultural milieus (Lewis 2000: 4). Emmrich further notes how localised stories in Nepal function within an inverse framework that also connects (or adapts) the local to elements of a broader global literary tradition (Emmrich 2012: 541). In and around the major Newar cities of Kathmandu (New. Yeṁ, Skt. Kāntipur), Bhaktapur (New. Kvapa) and Patan (New. Yala, Skt. Lalitpur) and many Newar towns, storytelling accompanies ritual events and observances (vratas) (Lewis 2000: 116), events that are often organised during auspicious occasions, such as the lunar month of Guṁlā when merit (puṇya) accumulation is maximised. In the predigital age before television was prevalent in the region, such events would have acted as the primary resource for pleasurable entertainment and communal gathering.3 Vernacular readings of the Vyāghrī Jātaka (aka Mahāsattvarājākumāra Avadāna), Siṃhalasārthabāhu Avadāna, Bisvaṃtara Jātaka and other narratives composed in Newar or Nepāl Bhāṣā (New. nevāḥ bhāy), all meant to be orally narrated, describe the lives and teachings of buddhas and bodhisattvas residing in Nepal.

7Previous buddhas like Dīpaṃkara, Vipassī (Vipasvī), Sikhī and Kāssapa are all described in the Svayaṃbhūpurāṇa as having resided in Nepal (Bajracharya 2014: xii). Storytelling thus functions as a highly effective pedagogical tool of transmission that renders the experience of the devotee much more visceral especially when a connection between site and narrative is conceptualised and acted upon. In terms of Vajrayāna Buddhism – a system of tantric traditions that aspire soteriologically to liberation from saṃsāra in this lifetime –, the sense of urgency and immediacy imparted by living, emplaced traditions becomes a pedagogical tool par excellence.

Nepal as a Residence of Tantric Deities

8Early tantric developments in Nepal were centred around the configuration of the Five Buddhas (pañcatathāgata), with later developments evolving to include their consorts in about the ninth century (Gellner 1992: 252). Solitary mother deities, local protectors and lineage deities (New. digu dyaḥ) were also assimilated into the fold of the Buddhist tantric pantheon and nomenclature from an early period. As noted by Davidson, a primary method of reception of the Buddhist tantras was a tendency to identify specific locales, ‘wherein was located a divinity with specific properties (such as his family) and specific mantras’ (Davidson 2002: 211). Yet, as Snellgrove pointed out long ago, even though ‘in the [tantric] commentaries, one is dealing always with the internal process as the end envisaged,’ and for those commentators, there are in fact, ‘no places of pilgrimage like those within one’s own body,’ the purview of the tantras (and of Vajrayāna Buddhists) has always been coupled with rites in the manifest world (Snellgrove 1959: 8–9). In this respect, an understanding of places, specifically meeting places (melaka), is indispensable. The locales I look at in this article act in unique ways as ‘places of meeting’ (melāpaka) where mantras and maṇḍalas of the tantric pantheon are greeted and received by the tantric acolyte within the ritualised context of Vajrayāna Buddhism. These locales facilitate the introduction of the aspirant to the yoginī, her corresponding worship (pūjā) and practice (sādhāna) with the lofty goal of transcending the suffering world (samsāra) and reaching mundane and supramundane achievements (siddhi) by which one becomes liberated (mukta) or awakened (bodhi) in this life.

  • 4 According to Naresh Man Bajracharya, a Buddhist form of Maheśvara.

9In Nepal, esoteric practices of Vajrayāna Buddhism include the systematised and targeted practice of pilgrimage and worship (pūjā) at the seats (pīṭhas) of the maṇḍalas of the tantric Buddhas: for example, the maṇḍalas of Cakrasaṃvara, Hevajra and Maheśvara4 and their corresponding heroes and heroines, to name a few. This practice is known as purvasevā because it is a preliminary yet post-initiation tantric ritual, or pīṭhasevā and pīṭhapūjā since it takes places at various abodes or seats (pīṭhas) of tantric divinities. While some of the narratives and songs about these pairs of heroes (vīras) and heroines (vīreśvarīs) and the yoginīs are popular among the Newar Buddhist community and are reproduced at community gatherings during the month of Guṁlā, according to orthodox Newar Vajrayanists, others are reserved for tantric rituals during the post-initiation period, if one is to adhere to the prescribed stages of the path in Newar Buddhism.

10Before I turn to the sites specific to Ugratārā Vajrayoginī and Nairātmyā, it is important to address the issue of ambiguity surrounding the definition of an authentic pīṭha site, a topic of concern which, for many commentators on Buddhist tantras, has been seen as being of utmost import. In Nepal, this definition is further complicated by the manifestation of various seats as assimilated within a system of worship of aniconic and autochthonous divinities associated with land and family lineages (kula). Yet, even in the eyes of compilers of Saṃvara, Hevajra and related tantric cycles, there also seems to be a certain degree of ambiguity that is worth noting. Generally, the essence of a pīṭha in Saṃvara and Hevajra cycles is defined as a place where the yoginīs congregate and communicate in a coded language (Davidson 2002: 267). And regarding places of congregation, the Hevajratantra states:

  • 5 tatra melāyāṃ divyagocaram āśritya|| yad vadanti yoginyas tat sarvam kartavyaṃ|| (transliteration (...)

there at that meeting place [melāpaka, melaka], abiding within that sacred domain, do whatever the yoginīs say. [And when] Vajragarbha asks, ‘What, O’ Lord, are these places of meeting?’, the Lord replies [listing the 10 site categories (pīṭhādī)], ‘They are pīṭha, and the upapīṭha, the kṣetra […]5

  • 6 Abhayākaragupta and Śākyarakṣita were proponents of the theory whereby female beings constitute th (...)
  • 7 Tsunehiko Sugiki (2009: 516–517) notes that this text is in the bsTan ‘Gyur P.T. No. 4628 as writt (...)

11Sugiki, however, mentions a Saṃvara text that defines the essence of a pīṭha site rather as consisting of naturally occurring geological rock formations of various [aniconic] shapes, including rock liṅgas and dharmodayas manifested in the landscape.6 This text is the Śrīcakrasaṃvaravikurvaṇa ascribed to Nāropāda and translated by Marpa, which is included in the Tibetan bsTan ‘Gyur7 and which, I argue, may reflect particular views specific to the Himalayan concept of the Buddhist yoginī and pīṭha as emplaced in the land.

Ugratārā Vajrayoginī at Mount Maṇicūḍa, Sankhu

  • 8 Also identified as Svayaṃbhū Hill.

12The Maṇiśailavadāna (MŚA) is an undated narrative work extant in a single incomplete Sanskrit manuscript hand-scribed into a notebook kept at the home of a Vajrācārya resident of Sankhu. In the past, the story contained in the sixteen chapter MŚĀ and its analogous thirteen chapter relative composed in Nepāl Bhāṣā, the Maṇiśailamahāvadāna (MŚM), was read aloud in all the quarters of the town of Sankhu during the month of Guṁlā, a tradition that has since fallen into decline. The last extant Sanskrit tyasaphū‑style manuscript of the MŚĀ is thought to have been damaged and washed away by heavy rains after it was buried in the massive earthquake of 2015 that devastated Sankhu and caused the loss of many lives. The MŚM is extant in several Nēpal Bhāṣā renditions, the most recent and popular version being the one produced by Barnavajra Bajracharya who published it in two editions: first in 1962 and 1963, and then as a single volume in 1999. This local narrative preserves the story of the emergence of Ugratārā Vajrayoginī self-described as a ‘glorification of place’ (mahātmyā) even though the designation of mahāvadāna, a ‘great tale of acts’, is the title provided by its editors and compilers. MŚM records: the origin and a detailed description of Ugratārā Vajrayoginī as well as her exploits around Mount Maṇicūḍa; a description of the divine properties of the area and how she created the town of Sanku; and the origin story of a noble lineage of married vajrācārya pūjārīs priests whose families are entrusted with safeguarding the well-known Sankhu Bajrayoginī shrine (mandir). Furthermore, MŚM includes an account of the initial encounter between Ugratārā Vajrayoginī Devī and two tantric yogins, a husband and wife, at the site of Padmamāla Dharmadhātu Mahāvihara. This Buddhist monastery is located in the wooded wilderness of Mount Maṇicūḍa, also known as Mount Padmagiri (MŚM 13: 4,7),8 where the popular Sankhu Bajrayoginī shrine and temple complex now stands.

  • 9 A low-lying mountain, more of a foothill, to the north of the town of Śankharapūra (New. Sakva).
  • 10 This narrative was once told in stages throughout each of the eight quarters of Sankhu (and perhap (...)
  • 11 A social and political area equated with the Kathmandu Valley and its vicinity.

13The first chapter of MŚM conveys the tale of the appearance of Śrī Ugratārā Vajrayoginī from within Mount Maṇicūḍa9 in the form of a divine flame (jyoti svarūpā). Her subsequent deeds and the deeds of her vajrācārya pujāri lineage unfolds in the telling of the nine subsequent chapters of MŚM before the story turns to a local version of the Maṇicūḍāvadāna that bridges the two tales and their protagonists in an interesting twist of plot where Vajrayoginī blesses the birth of the generous bodhisattva prince Maṇicūḍa.10 All the events in MŚM occur in the area between the town of Sankhu, in the valley, up to the Tamang and Lama areas of Gumarichowk closer to the flat peak of low‑lying Mount Maṇicūḍa. According to MŚM, Ugratārā Vajrayoginī is considered to have ‘self‑originated’ (svayaṃbhū) – having manifested from within the mountain in the form of a jewel‑stone (maṇiśilā) as a divine flame (jyoti). In MŚM, no one less than Śākyamuni Buddha himself tells the story of the moment of Ugratārā Vajrayoginī’s emergence from within her jewelled abode in Nepāla11 at the request of Maitrī Bodhisattva.

  • 12 nhāpāṃ satyayugayā samaye nepāla dhayāgu sthāne maṇicūḍa parvate maṇiśaila dhayāgu maṇiratna jaka (...)

In the Satyayuga age, in the place called ‘Nepāla’, up on Mount Maṇicūḍa, there was a maṇi‑stone that sparkled and shone ever so brightly, like an inlaid solitaire maṇi‑jewel. [In this place] Śrī Ugratārā Vajrayoginī Devī is said to have manifested spontaneously – of her own accord – as the essential nature of a divine flame, from a hole in the middle of this wide and massive stone. (MŚM Barṇabajra 3, 11–15)12

  • 13 Naresh Man Bajracharya suggests that the Ugratārā operating in this function may have been moved t (...)
  • 14 The exchange between Sankhu residents and myself at this site took place in 2016.
  • 15 In the Gumbahā manuscript entitled Maṇiśailamahavadāna in Shrestha, Vajracharya and Vajracharya (2 (...)

14As one ascends from the base of the mountain to her hillside shrine located about halfway to the top, one can see that the road cuts through the original path of stone steps that leads up to the peak. The entire mountain sparkles with silica deposits, which brings to mind her story and the reference to ‘jewel‑stones’ (maṇiśaila). Although Ugratārā Vajrayoginī is worshipped as a site‑specific deity who has emerged from the mountain and taken the form of an image (mūrti) in the central shrine which may sit just above the site of her origin, Gellner notes that the goddess Ugratārā Vajrayoginī also functions, for some Kathmandu Śākyas and Vajrācāryas, as a family lineage (kula) or clan deity (New. digu dyaḥ) (Gellner 1992: 240): a local lineage protector that manifests as an aniconic stone.13 There are, moreover, several divinities in residence next to her hillside shrine: the local protector (kṣetrapāla), Mahākāla, the king of nāgas, Vāsuki, and Akṣobhya Buddha, each of whom manifests as an aniconic rock in the vicinity. This array of divinities has been described in detail by Shrestha, Vajracharya and Vajracharya (2016: 83) and Bal Gopal Shrestha, in his in-depth monograph (2002). According to MŚM, Ugratārā Vajrayoginī once caused a small spring (kuṇḍa) called the Maṇikunda to burst forth at the summit of Mount Maṇicūḍa, which resulted in the creation of a small pond in the midst of a clearing that is utilised for Vajrāchārya ritual and picnics alike. This pond empties into a tributary of the Manahara (or Maṇirohinī) River and is considered to possess sacred life-giving properties. The residents around Sankhu Bajrayoginī, who were familiar with the stretch of land where the Manahara River flows down towards the Bajrayoginī mandir, told me that a pathway (about halfway between the the mandir and summit ) used to be marked by a statue of the Buddha but that the latter had recently been removed.14 This statue once indicated the trail previously used by Vajrācāryas who came there on occasion to take a dip in the place where the water pours down over a circular depression in the vertical rock face. This panhole in the rock was considered to function as a portal of sorts and was thought to be the place where Vajrācāryas who had attained yogic accomplishment (siddhi) could pass through the mountain’s solid rock face. The entire wooded area around Mount Maṇicūḍa is supplied by this river and other tributaries that descend from the summit. These streams, in addition to nine small ponds mentioned in one version of MŚM,15 are all described as possessing magical and healing properties and a variety of plants and flowers found in the surrounding area are also considered to be useful, potent medicinal herbs, some of which even possess ‘the power to wake up a corpse’ (Shrestha, Bajracharya and Bajracharya 2016: 50–51).

15Chapter one of MŚM describes Ugratārā Vajrayoginī, also referred to as the forest goddess (bāndevī), as being accommodated in this jungle brimming with fragrant blossoms, flora and fauna that are described as embodying the dharmic principles of non-violence (ahiṃsā). Bumblebees buzz like the primordial sound of mantra:

  • 16 tavasī, jhamasī, khāīsī, cākusī, kavsī, phaṃsī, baysī, ādi nānāprakārayā phalasayā cvaṃguliṃ bhram (...)

when the many varieties of fruit trees such as: lime, lemon, Chinaberry, citrus, camphor, jackfruit, bayar and so forth flower, swarms of bees (New. bhramarāgaṇapiṃ) come to imbibe their fruity nectars. Buzzing everywhere – moving to and fro – they produce the sound of the syllable huṁ thereby increasing the glory of the mountain. […] And there are water lilies, white and blue lotuses and many other varieties of flowers in blossom; one’s eyes never tire of such a splendid sight […]. The flowers emit a fragrance that permeates the entire mountain. […] The wild animals of the forest, such as tigers, antelopes, bears, fish, foxes, wild cats, deer and others, live in harmony, with love and affection for each other. For this reason, they never engage in hostility towards each other and greatly increase the glory of the mountain […]. (MŚM Barṇabajra 2, 8–21)16

  • 17 Udayācala parbataṃ aṣṭācala parbata paryantaṃ dhyāna-driṣṭi svayā vicārayānā lacchitaka rātrīsanhi (...)

16An episode in the third chapter of MŚM describes a yogin couple’s dissolution into this elemental vajra‑yoginī after practising extensive meditation in ‘Siddha Cave’ (New. siddhaguhā): a process during which the two yogins ‘gazed with meditative vision’ (dhyānadriṣṭi) towards the mountains where the sun was rising (udayācala) and likewise towards the mountains where the sun was setting (aṣṭācala), contemplating day and night (rātrīsanhithaṃ). They also completed all the necessary rituals (kriyākarma)17 and composed a Sanskrit stotra that they sung melodiously to the yoginī goddess, and in which they begged to merge as one with her divine form. Vācāsidddhi Ācārya and his wife, Jñānavatī, beseeched Ugratārā Vajrayoginī in unison, invoking a mood of fervent devotion:

  • 18 hemātā, chalapolaṃ jimita dayā kripātayā yākanaṃ he chalapolayāgu śarīre grahaṇayānā ‘līnayānā’ du (...)

O Mother! Show mercy and compassion for us, right now! Please! Take [us] into your body and having merged with [us] welcome [us] in! (MŚM Barṇavajra, 11, 4–5).18

17Their liberation in this life is subsequently facilitated through the astonishing power of Śrī Ugratārā Vajrayoginī Devī in the form of a divine flame. This process is described in detail in a longer passage that I have rendered briefly as follows:

  • 19 vācāsiddhi ācāryayā nimha stripuruṣanaṃ thathedhakā stotrayānā bijyāseṃli śrīugratārā bajrayoginīd (...)

Having offered the stotra praise, Śrī Ugratārā Bajrayoginī Devī became kindly disposed and began to emit splendorous rays of light from her body. [She] then transformed into a blazing conflagration that shone for half a day. As if encircled by a ring of fire, her body was no longer visible, becoming completely absorbed into the blaze. How was this splendorous light described? It blazed like a ‘fire’ that was neither hot nor cold […]. The mere touch of the splendorous light of Śrī Ugratārā Vajrayoginī Devī caused rays to fly out from the husband and wife simultaneously […]. Merging, the three flames became one and blazed even more intensely. Then, in an instant, there was no light at all, and Śrī Ugratārā Vajrayoginī Devī manifested her form once again. O Maitri Bodhisattva, this is how, by the glorious power of Śrī Ugratārā Vajrayoginī, Vācasiddhi and his wife attained liberation in this life (jībanamuktijuyā), having both been assimilated into [the body of] Śrī Ugratārā Vajrayoginī Devī. (MŚM Barṇavajra, 8–20).19

18The liberation of this couple in one life (New. jībanamuktijuyā) is thereby envisaged in the Maṇiśailamahāvadāna as an external physical process by which the body of the goddess appeared to both devotees directly and then, having taken great delight, she dissolved into her original elemental form: the fire that once emerged from Mount Maṇicūḍa. The husband and wife then merge with Ugratārā Vajrayoginī as their bodies are amalgamated into the blazing conflagration. Then a re-materialisation of Ugratārā Vajrayoginī alone occurs, presumably in the form of her incarnate image (mūrti) which stands in the main shrine named after the epithet attributed to her, ‘the red faced mother’ (New. hyauṁkhvāḥmāju) and ‘the yogini who wields the sword’ (khaḍgayoginī). This passage provides a unique account of union and liberation occurring via a site-specific Buddhist yoginī that manifests from the landscape and comes into direct contact with her disciples. The passage above also indicates an intense mood of devotion (bhakti) and the expression of a sense of self‑surrender surrounding ‘this life’ attainment that is brought about in a way that modern Buddhists would consider either highly unorthodox or highly symbolic of internal yogic processes. Even though these images described in MŚM are not our own, they are configured as relatable through the familiarity gained through listening to the tale. A kinaesthetic memory of sorts is thus prefigured and suggested to the devotee by listening to this story as a first-person narrative directed to one’s self, an idea forwarded by Lewis (Lewis 2000: 5). After all, in Maṇiśailamahāvadāna it is Ugratārā Vajrayoginī herself who urges her disciples to: ‘remember me with devotion’ (New. bhaktibhāvayānā jitalumaṃkā). As a final warning, Ugratārā Vajrayoginī declares what may be either her last ultimatum or just an unfortunate eventuality. Even though she emerges spontaneously from the land, her presence at Maṇicūḍa is not permanent and should not be taken for granted. Rather, it depends on the presence and continuity of the ritual actions of her noble Vajrācārya lineage. Srī Ugratārā Vajrayoginī spoke:

  • 20 guthāyetaka chaṃ saṃtāna sthīrajuyācvani| uthāyetaka jithana dudhakā sīkī guble chaṃ saṃtāna hmāse (...)

For as long as your lineage remains steadfast, know that, until then (New. uthāyetaka), I will remain here at this place (jithana du). But, when your lineage fades into decline (mhāse), at that time, know that I will no longer dwell in this place.20

Encountering Hevajra Nairātmyā in Paśupatikṣetra

  • 21 MacDonald (1975) includes the Tibetan text of Choskyi Nyima (1730), who described the classificati (...)
  • 22 The Newar term Nepāl Maṇḍala can be understood as a political and religious designation that refer (...)
  • 23 Von Rospatt argues that, according to the Svayaṃbhūpurāṇa, the sites may have centred specifically (...)

19The region of Nepāla is identified as an Upacchandoha, the abode referred to as Himālaya where the seat (pīṭha) of the goddess Khagānanā (or Khagamukhadevī) and her consort Virūpākṣa are situated within the larger Pan‑Indic system of Cakrasaṃvara. This is a region identified as being suitable for yogic ascetic practices (von Rospatt 2009: 65), a sentiment also echoed in Tibetan accounts.21 It is well known that the Kathmandu Valley, or Nepāl Maṇḍala,22 is also configured by Newar Buddhists as a complete localised Cakrasaṃvara maṇḍala, replete with all twenty-four pīṭhādis, along with their Pan-Indic place names (von Rospatt 2009: 72; Bajracharya 1998: 4), which, according to various Newar Vajrayāna lineages, are located around disparate centres.23 Naresh Man Bajracharya has also written about the configuration of Nepāl Maṇḍala as a localised maṇḍala of Hevajra and Nairātmyā, an alternate identification reflected in Guru Badri Ratna Bajracharya’s version of Svayaṃbhūpurāṇa (SvP), which provides an account of the emergence of Nairātmyā from the spring at the lotus root stalk that bloomed above Svayaṃbhū Hill (Bajracharya 1998: 7).

20‘Nairātmā’, as she is called in local vernacular, is known to reside at several sites around the valley but, for the present purposes, I focus on her site located in the wooded environs of Deopatan, the city of the gods where she is one of the many gods located on Śleṣmāntaka Hill. This larger area is crucial for Hindu pilgrims because it is the abode of Lord Śiva as the Lord of the Animals (paśupatinatha), but the temple of the goddess Guhyeśvarī on Śleṣmāntaka Hill within this domain remains a significant site for Newar Buddhists in terms of the encounter (darśana), worship (pūjā), accomplishment (sādhana) and lineage (kula) worship (digu pūjā) of the tantric cycle of Hevajra Nairātmyā.

21Within the larger Indic framework of the Mahāyoga and Yoginītantras, the Hevajra cycle is thought to have existed in its present form since around 900 CE in East India (Davidson 2004: 41), although Heruka‑type material has been in existence from the eighth century (English 2002: 4). One might therefore surmise that practices related to the Hevajratantra were handed down within tantric circles at around the same time in Nepal, since it was part of the Pan‑Indic circuit well before SvP came into circulation. The translation of the root Hevajra‑tantra into Tibetan in the eleventh century by tantric pandits like Go Lotsawa and others, who came across it in India and Nepal (Snellgrove 1987: 506), also supports this time frame. Thus, the transmission of Cakrasaṃvara and Hevajra cycles in Nepal may predate SvP literature by at least four centuries, even based on Tibetan Hevajra lineages. The late Guru Badrīratna Bajrācārya was not the only personage to identify the Guhyeśvarī temple site and the goddess Guhyeśvarī with Nairātmyā. Brian Hodgson, in one of his translations, also mentions this association and Rospatt alerts us to the idea that the Newar Buddhist localisation of Nairātmyā on Śleṣmāntaka Hill may have developed independently of SvP (von Rospatt 2009: 72–78). As we shall see here, local practices and sources further support the emplacement the Hevajra Maṇḍala in Nepal with the Guhyeśvari site as a central focus for Newar Buddhists.

  • 24 Michaels outlines her multiple identities as: a vaidic‑paurāṇic Pārvatī, a tantric alcohol‑accepti (...)
  • 25 Raju Śākya, personal communication, 23 May 2020.
  • 26 Axel Michaels has elucidated in detail the connection between these two sites in local legend and (...)

22There is no doubt about the significance of the Guhyeśvarī temple site and its blessed waters (jala) within the jurisdiction of the area currently administered by the Paśupatinath Development Trust (PADT) for Hindu and Buddhist Newars.24 There is, however, another popular site in Balaju, Kathmandu, called Puraṇo Guhyeśvarī (Michaels 2008: 129–130), which may or may not predate the Guhyeśvarī site in Deopatan. Raju Sakya of Patan states that he personally believes Puraṇo Guhyeśvarī to be the older of the two25 and he holds the view that goddess Guhyeśvarī (again associated with Nairātmyā) underwent a relocation to Śleṣmāntaka Hill at a later point since the temple structure was established by Pratāpa Malla in the seventeenth century.26 I do not attempt to address the archæology or antiquity of the site on Śleṣmāntaka Hill, but rather focus on its significance for a select community of local Newar Buddhists – a significance pointed out succinctly by Gellner (1992: 80) and Michaels (2008: 141), and further supported by the literature addressed in this article.

  • 27 Naresh Man Bajracharya, personal communication, 10 April 2020.
  • 28 Naresh Man Bajracharya, personal communication, 10 April 2020.

23Two Newar Vajrayāna Buddhist monasteries (New. bāhā) – one in Kathmandu and one in Bhaktapur – dually worship Nairātmyā Devī as their family lineage deity (digu dyaḥ) and their tantric tutelary deity (agaṃ dyaḥ), as is sometimes the case among Vajrācārya and Śākya families. Ugratārā Vajrayoginī is another example of this dynamic. In accordance with the ritual duties required of a noble descendant who venerates Nairātmyā as their personal lineage deity, this pūjā (which is performed once a year) takes place at Guhyeśvarī temple on Śleṣmāntaka Hill.27 The individuals who regularly maintain these digu dyaḥ pūjās are associated with two vihāras: Surataśri Mahāvihāra (New. Taḥ Cheṃ Baha) at Asān Tol and Chaturbrahṃa Mahāvihār of Bhaktapūr, a vihāra whose transmission for the praxis of Hevajra Nairātmyā was derived from a Vajrācārya descendant of Surataśrī vihāra.28

  • 29 Naresh Man Bajracharya, personal communication, 10 April 2020.
  • 30 Naresh Man Bajracharya, personal communication, 18 April 2020.
  • 31 Naresh Man Bajracharya, personal communication, 18 April 2020.
  • 32 Von Rospatt (2009) writes that Manabajra Bajracharya identifies Guhyeśvarī temple near Deopatan as (...)

24If one is permitted to visit Guhyeśvarī temple on Śleṣmāntaka Hill, one may notice Newar devotees and a Newar Hindu Karmācārya priest (New. ācāju) who performs daily worship (nityapūjā) and other priestly duties.29 While wedding ceremonies, visits to celebrate anniversaries and pilgrimages are popular events on the site, Newar Vajracāryā priests gather there to perform rituals on the 10th day of the lunar month.30 The tantric rituals of Newar Buddhism performed at the Guhyeśvarī site are, of course, carried out in strict confidence and the entire site is generally closed off to tourists and non-Hindus. Naresh Man Bajracharya mentions the possible significance, in his local lineage of practice, of a journey to the forest (bānjātra), specifically to the forest around Guhyeśvarī temple, which is required and undertaken after undergoing Cakrasaṃvara initiation (abhiṣeka). As part of this initiation, upon the devotees’ arrival at the Guhyeśvarī site, the Vajrācārya guru may grant authorisation for recitation of the mantra of Hevajra‑Nairātmyā31 (notably, not Cakrasaṃvara) according to normative ritual procedures for the transmission of site‑specific esoteric mantras. This practice may indicate the importance of this site for the maṇḍala of Hevajra, yet also indicates a relationship between the two systems. Interestingly, in terms of the configuration of the Cakrasaṃvara maṇḍala in Nepal and its overlap with that of Hevajra, Naresh Man Bajracharya has asserted that the centre of the twenty‑four pīṭha of Cakrasaṃvara is in the centre of Kathmandu at Indrachowk (Bajracharya 1998: 2). Von Rospatt has, however, pointed out: that for the Manabajra Bajracharya lineage of Kathmandu, the Guhyeśvarī temple on Śleṣmāntaka Hill is identified as the centre of the Cakrasaṃvara maṇdala based on the premise that ‘it is visited after the year‑long pilgrimage to the twenty-four local sites (pīṭhapūjā)’ of the Cakrasaṃvara maṇḍala (von Rospatt 2009: 74). Given these local dynamics, we may begin to see the overlap of these two local systems of Yoginītantra sites,32 an overlap that is manifest in the literary sources introduced in this study as described below and furthered with the comparison of the Newar and Tibetan accounts addressed later in this article.

The Tridalakamala Caryāgīti

  • 33 However, in the final verse in the 1996 version of Cacāḥ Munā compiled by Ratna Kaji Bajracharya ( (...)
  • 34 rāga:-kahū tāla: phaṭakaṁkāla nīla hum̆̇kāra prajvalita kiraṇe 2 ūrddhva piṅgalakeśa śeī hevajrarā (...)
  • 35 rāga:- karṇādi tāla:-japa cvami: nirābajra (lilā) hevajra nairātmādevī tribhuvan nātha paṁcajina b (...)
  • 36 Choskyi Nyima, the fourth Khamtrul Rinpoche (1730), and Brough (1947) have drawn attention to sign (...)
  • 37 Naresh Man Bajracharya, personal communication, 18 April 2020.

25Several ‘practice songs’ (caryāgītis, New. cacā) pertaining to yoginī Nairātmyā are preserved in a local canon of manuals, published and unpublished handbooks and collections. Three popular cacās concerning Nairātmā Devī, predominantly utilised by Newar Buddhist Vajracāryās and Sākyas, are: the anonymous and undated Three‑petalled Lotus or Tridalakamala (TDK), Guhyeśvarī (Nairātmā) Nīla Huṁkāra and Hevajra Nairātmā, a caryā song that may have been composed by the Newar Vajracāryā pandit Līlāvajra (8th c).33 Hevajra Nairātmā34 and Guhyeśvarī (Nairātmā) Nīla Huṁkāra35 were both published in Ratnakaji Vajracharya’s treasury of caryāgītis, the Cacāḥ Munā (1996: 30, 119). Hevajra Nairātma mentions the glorious Gopuccāgra Caitya, ‘The Ox‑tail End’ caitya – indicating the Svayaṃbhū caitya36 – and refers to ‘five jīnas of five colours’ along with Śrī Heruka, Guhyeśvarī and Vajrayoginī. Guhyeśvarī (Nairātmā) Nīla Huṁkāra focuses on iconography and doctrine exclusively related to the practice of Nairātmyā, without mentioning place names. The cacā that I focus on for the present purposes is the Tridalakamala in various renderings from Bhaktapur, Kāntipur and Lalitpur. The Tridalakamala (gīti) clearly recalls many features of the Guhyeśvarī site in Deopatan but does not mention the name of the goddess Guhyeśvarī. Regardless of the location mentioned in the song, it is performed during tantric rituals at various sites connected with Nairātmyā throughout the Valley. When necessary, it may also be incorporated into tantric pūjās held within the realm of the tantric god‑sanctum (āgãchẽ) of private homes or Newar Buddhist monasteries.37

  • 38 The other witnesses of Tridalakamala that I refer to here and in my edition included in appendix A (...)
  • 39 My edition of Tridalakamala caryāgīti based on the complete documentation, on a close comparison a (...)
  • 40 The Caryāsaṁgraha also contains similar uncommon terms and grammar, for example heruva and saṁge.
  • 41 The tāla for Tridalakamala across texts is tala mātha, a fourteen‑measure metre. It should, howeve (...)

26According to popular belief, the Tridalakamala is associated with the first time Mañjuśrī worships Nairātmyā after having a direct vision of her at the site of the lotus‑bed spring of Svayaṃbhū at Guhyeśvarī. This occasion is actually credited with being the very first enactment of caryā or cacā singing in Nepal (Thapa 2015: 106) and the site of this lotus bed is most commonly identified as the Guhyeśvarī site on Śleṣmāntaka. I utilised four witnesses38 of the Tridalakamala for my edition provided in this study.39 Each of the witnesses is composed according to the unorthodox Sanskrit grammar common to caryagītis,40 a ritual vernacular that prioritises metre (tāla),41 melody (rāga), rhyme and versification over grammatical structure or literal comprehension. All four witnesses of the Tridalakamala refer to features around Guhyeśvarī temple: the Bagmatī river, Virupakṣa, Vatsalā, nearby tīrthas and the Mṛgasthalī forest, with the bound, folding manuscript (New. tyāsaphū) from Bhaktapur, in Pushpa Shakya’s (B-PS) possession, perhaps exhibiting the most consistent mention of locale.

  • 42 This is a version that Raju Sakya reports as being in poplar use in Patan (Lalitpur).
  • 43 The first half of this gīti was translated by Ned Branchi in 2016.

27The B-PS manuscript is hand‑scribed on two folios in Newar pracalit script: folios 63 and 64. It appears to be the oldest of the four witnesses – perhaps around a century old. The second witness of the Tridalakamala is a bound codex notebook utilised horizontally and hand‑scribed in devanāgarī script. It is in the possession of Suban Vajracharya of Kathmandu (SV). The third manuscript is an unbound tyasaphū‑style manuscript on loose leaves of yellow paper, hand‑scribed in pracalit script. This version is included in a compendium of cacās compiled by Yagyaman Pati Vajracharya of Kathmandu (YPV).42 The fourth is a well‑known witness of the Tridalakamala, the one published in Ratna Kaji Bajracharya’s Cacāḥ Munā (1996: 123) which I refer to as RKV.43 The three subsequent versions show close parallels to the old Bhaktapur manuscript and all four gītis refer to the three‑petalled lotus (tridalakamala) and an unspecified heruka (heruva), Virūpākṣa, Khagamukha Devī, Nairātmyā (New. nairātmā) and Vatsalā or Vatsaleśvarī (or Pīgãmāī), yet another pīṭha goddess of Paśupatikṣetrā (Michaels 2008: 42). Notably, all four versions of the Tridalakamala address the goddess directly as a manifestation of a ‘divine flame’ (jyoti) despite her appearance and description in the landscape as a continually flowing spring (kuṇḍa). In terms of landmarks, B-PS, SV and YPV refer to the site as being in ‘central Nepal’ (madhyanepāla). All four witnesses mention the nearby ‘deer park’ (mṛgasthalī) on Śleṣmāntaka Hill. Three witnesses, with the exception of SV, mention the locale as, ‘the bank of the Bāgamatī river’ (bāgamatī tīre). My edition has documented all possible textual variations of each of the four witnesses. Variations of this caryāgīti have likely occurred in the process of revision or transcription from oral sources or alternate textual sources for reasons that only the compilers and transmitters of the tradition can comprehend.

  • 44 The verse, tridala padma guhye maṇḍala mahāsukhakṣare, is found in relation to the vajra-yoginī Va (...)

28Even though the Nairātmyā site on Śleṣmāntaka Hill, which is referred to in the Tridalakamala, is dually worshipped as Guhyeśvarī and Śri Mahāmāyā Satī, the goddess Guhyeśvarī is not mentioned in any of the Tridalakamala witnesses, with the exception of the one reference to the goddess given the title Guhyeśvarī (Nairātmā) (Tridalakamala), in Ratnakaji Vajrācārya’s Cacāḥ Munā. As for the narrative of the goddess Guhyeśvari as the lotus bed origin of the Svayaṃbhūcaitya as promoted in select versions of SvP, the story is neither implicitly nor explicitly referred to in the Tridalakamala, which centres around invoking and praising the presence of Heruka and Tridalakamala in relation to Khagamukha Devī and Virūpākṣa of the Cakrasaṃvara maṇḍala along with Nairatmyā, Vatsalā and the eight bhairavas and eight yoginīs – who share the same sites as the exoteric ‘eight mothers’ (mātṛkās). Reference to a divinity called the ‘three-petalled lotus’ (tridalakamala) is thus rather ambiguous. Tridalakamala could well refer to any goddess related to a heruka‑type figure, such as that of the Saṃvara cycle and it is only through performative aspects of dance (nṛtya), the title offered by Ratnakaji and the lineage of local interpretations that one can explicitly identify the song with the goddess Nairātmyā in the Newar Buddhist tradition. Notably, the epithet ‘tridalapadma’ is also found in the Caryāsaṁgrahaḥ with reference to the secret (guhye) maṇḍala of Vajravilāsinī that represents great bliss and does not mention Nairatmyā.44

  • 45 In classical Nepali music rāga is equivalent to melody and tāla is roughly equivalent to musical m (...)
  • 46 Mainly performed by a Vajrācārya priest but in some circumstances by other families such as Śākyas (...)
  • 47 Although the various gestures that accompany the Tridalakamala would no doubt contribute another v (...)
  • 48 See Appendix for the documentation of normative variation in the measures of the mātha metre.

29The verses of the Tridalakamala are enacted through melodious song in vibhāsa rāga and mātha tāla45 with a traditional instrumental accompaniment and, if the ritual requires, ‘practice dance’ (cāryanṛtya) in which a vajrācārya46 expresses the verbal meaning of each word of the gīti – offering praise to the entire retinue of divinities described in the song through symbolic hand gestures (mūdras) and rhythmic ritual movements.47 The translation of my edition of the Tridalakamala (which is in keeping with the variable fourteen‑measure mātha metre48) reads as follows:

  • 49 I have not translated the Tridlalakamala literally since it is essentially word fragments strung t (...)

rāga: vibhāsa tāla: mātha49

  • 50 tridalakamala literally means three-petalled lotus, but it is also an epithet of Nairātmyā.
  • 51 One syllable (flow’r).
  • 52 Heruva is the term used in all four witnesses and is synonymous with Heruka.

1 Three-petalled Lotus,50 blooming flower51 of the forest,
   Where the honeybee –O Heruva52– comes to merge.

  • 53 It might seem unusual that the verb vyāpita is repeated in verse 3B and the verse immediately foll (...)

2 Śrī Virūpākṣa with Devī Khagamukha –
   Filling up well the heart of Nepāla.53

  • 54 Nairātmā is the common vernacular term for Nairātmyā in Newar Buddhism. Since this is a very local (...)
  • 55 Emendation suggested by Naresh Man Vajracharya.
  • 56 Vachalā is the local term for the goddess Vatsalā.

3 Praise to Nairātmā,54 who pervades the triple world,
   [as]55 Vachalā Devī56 of glorious Mṛgasthalī.

  • 57 ‘All’ (sakala, sayala) could also be read as sayara which, according to Raju Sakya, means ‘surroun (...)

4 All57 the gods and demi-gods worship at your feet –
   Powers and accomplishments are granted by you.

  • 58 The night-flowering Coral Jasmine tree with red blooms.

5 In the blissful forest of Sandalwood trees,
   Many blooms amidst the Coral Jasmine’s perfume.58

6 On the banks of the Bāg’matī – like eternal Ganga –
   There are many subtle and pure tīrthas,

7 The eight bhairavas with eight yoginī‑devīs,
   Gods and demi-gods – the protectors of this place.

8 Eight great fears and all evil, extinguished – removed,
   Every obstacle overcome completely.

  • 59 Tāriṇī could also be taruṇī, youthful.

9 Liberating59 goddess, you pervade the world.
   Spotless flame – unblemished and indestructible.

10 You are the one who yields the desired fruit of bliss.
   Lifetime after lifetime, at your feet I seek refuge.

30This poetic composition demonstrates the ontology of the yoginī – the Three-petalled Lotus – with aesthetically pleasing imagery, as indivisible from her elemental form of a flame. Furthermore, the imagery of B-PS invokes a mood of devotion (bhakti) to a saviouress (tārīṇī). In terms of her absolute manifestation, the goddess represents the inverse of individuated experience. Nairātmā, the ‘selfless one’, is described as pervading the world (viśvavyāpita) as the essence that appears as a pristine flame (jyoti nirmalā) and bestows the blissful result. The result, which according to the Hevajratantra is ‘the state of unity achieved in the process of realization[,] is deemed as Excellent Bliss, as Great Bliss’, further described as ‘the single self-existent […] perfect and eternal […]’ (Snellgrove 1959: 92, 94). And since this is the state that she bestows, the Tridalakamala acts as a literary trope that subverts even the Buddhas to the power of this goddess in the all-pervasive form of a flawless flame. Shaw (2006: 388) writes that the realisation of selflessness or ‘no-self’ (nirātman/nairātmya) can be effected through identification with a [female] Buddha such as Nairātmyā in a process in which the meditator is envisaged [visualised] as having the appearance, qualities and enlightened awareness of the divinity. But this kind of practice, if visualisation, is neither the mood nor the intent expressed in this cacā, which is rather one of devotional praise to a liberating goddess that has the power to bestow the final result. The mention of Khagamukhadevī, the bird-faced goddess who is equated with Khagānanā and who is the vīreśvarī of Virūpākṣa of the Cakrasaṃvara maṇḍala, waxes poetically as, the entrance (mukha) to coursing (ga) in the sky (kha). The goddess, assuming the form of a divine flame (jyoti) and by whose grace the blissful desired result is attained, as we have seen earlier, is also a theme prevalent in Maṇiśailamahavadāna.

31References to Mṛgasthalī and Virūpākṣa, whose self‑arisen ‘statue’ (mūrti) is also located near the ārya cremation ghāt behind the main Paśupati shrine, frames the entire wooded hill as being within the realm of the deity Tridalakamala and heruka (heruva), if even just for a literary moment. In the context of this cacā, Virūpākṣa may be understood as being the male vīrā connected to the Cakrasaṃvara system, although the figure has multifarious manifestations in Nepal in both tribal and Brahmanical forms. The presence of Virūpākṣa and Khagānanā in this song further indicates parallel Saṃvara and Hevajra traditions at the site and demonstrates an intertextuality between sacralised emplaced Hevajra and Cakrasaṃvara systems in Nepal. The mention of Nairātmyā here is associated with and perhaps also manifests as the local blood‑ and alcohol‑consuming deity Vatsalā, whose shrine is located on the Bagamatī behind the main Paśupati Temple. As pointed out by Michaels, Vatsalā is a female deity that challenges the authority of Śiva in the form of Lord Paśupatinātha in a ritual drama of jātrā and mūlamphu which occurs annually in Paśupatikṣetra (Michaels 2008: 230). In this version of the local drama, all gods and demi‑gods are subjugated, if only temporarily, and in the Tridalalakamala too, they are portrayed as bowing at her feet.

Tibetan‑ and Nepali‑speaking Perspectives

  • 60 I visited the periphery of the site with Lapchi Dordzin Dondrup Palden on several occasions.
  • 61 This site is largely regarded as part of a set of four crucial emplaced yoginī sites around the va (...)

32It is also important to recognise the perspectives of Tibetan Vajrayānā pilgrims and tantrikas,60 and of other Nepalese Buddhist communities, like Lamas and Gurungs, as they overlap with the Newar Vajrayāna world. Tibetan‑speaking communities consider a visit to Guyeśvarī to be a sacred encounter with the blessed womb‑fluid of the yoginī Vajravārāhī.61 The divinity residing at her pīṭha is understood as a Tibetan abode (Tib. gnas). One might therefore surmise that the small spring (kuṇḍa) which comprises the shrine at the centre of Guhyeśvarī temple courtyard has played a salient role in multiple Buddhist tantric traditions in Nepal from an earlier time. Tibetan‑speaking Buddhists in Nepal call the site ‘The Womb Fluid of Vārāhī’ (Tib. phag mo’i mngal chu), a name that draws attention to the natural salt‑water spring enshrined there, a feature not overtly mentioned in Newar texts: namely the Tridalakamala discussed above. In practice, however, the benefits of the blessed water (jala) of Guhyeśvarī/Nairātmā are widely recognised by the Newar community. Phuntsok Gurung Lama, in his Guidebook to the Buddhist Sites of Nepal, further describes the site in Nepali as a bathing place (tīrtha) with the water of deathlessness and a rock from within which the yoginī’s blessings flow forth – emerging as a small water fountain:

  • 62 The site of the secret organ of Sati is also considered to have fallen at the famous śakti pīṭha, (...)
  • 63 Himālībhoṭa bhāṣāmā yaslai ‘phākmongālkṣu’ bhanincha. bauddhaharule yo tīrtha bajrayoginīko bhāgab (...)

In the [Tibetan] language of the Himālaya Bhoṭa, this site is called Phākmongālkṣu (sic). Buddhists maintain that this bathing place (tīrtha) is a manifestation of the blessed waters of deathlessness which flow forth from the vulva (bhaga) of the vajra‑yoginī. However, according to Hindus this is the site where blessed water flows from the female organ of the goddess Śrī Mahāmāyā Sati.62 In this temple that has been renovated and restored from time to time by Nepalese kings, is a spring located in the central courtyard where water continuously flows from the shape of a bhaga [in the stone] which is believed to be self‑arisen. This water of deathless nectar flows over the bhaga‑shaped border of the fountain and the small pool is covered by a lid of gold‑plated copper. This plate is for the purposes of the preservation of the rock. 63

33An earlier description composed by Phuntsok Gurung Lama gives a similar account of Guhyeśvarī but from a Tibetan language perspective. Tibetan speakers’ preferred term for the site is ‘birth site’ (Tib. skye gnas), a term that encompasses notions of a physical geographical site (Tib. gnas) and female anatomy, and conveys the notion of a place from where Buddhas are born. This passage also pertains to invoking the Rudra subjugation myth in terms of establishing the pīṭha identity as a Saṃvara site. The text reminds the devotee that outlook is of prime importance in order to avoid the fault of transgressing one’s Buddhist refuge commitments:

  • 64 gu lang dang shin tu nye bai byang phyogs waka mati’i ‘gram nag gu hye ṣha ri ste gsang ba’i dbang (...)

Very close to ‘Pashupatinath (Tib. gu lang)’, on the north bank of the Bagmati River is Guhyeṣhārī (sic) there is a ‘site’ (Tib. gnas) of the esoteric Mahādevi (dbang phyug ma)’ or the goddess Uma, known to Tibetans as The Water of Vārāhī’s Womb. At this site, several generations of the Kings of Nepal have established a temple made from gilded copper, silver and gold. Inside [this temple] which is exceedingly marvellous, shiny, clear and joyful to behold, there is a support which takes the shape of a birthing place (skyes gnas) which is self-arisen. At the centre of her secret place salty water streams forth continually, gradually filling up and forming a small pool. In recent times, a small eight‑petalled lotus lid fashioned from copper and gold has been installed as a covering and a vase is placed on top of that. This ‘birthing place’ has arisen naturally on its own, but its significance can be [dually] interpreted as the place of the one to be tamed (ie subjugated), the sign of the Goddess Umadevī, or that of the one who has done the taming – the secret sky of the Mother of the Victor, the Adamantine Sow Vajravārāhī. Tibetans recognise this place as ‘The Fluid of Vārāhī’s Womb’ and, when they pay respect and offer to this site, they view [the site] in the manner of a disciple who has been tamed by a teacher. Otherwise, if the site is apprehended as an ultimate support of the goddess Umadevī while [one is] performing prostrations and making offerings, it would be considered a violation of the [Buddhist] refuge precepts.64

  • 65 A similarity reflected in the Drikung Kakgyu Tibetan lineage.

34Lama includes no mention of how the site is venerated by Newar Buddhists. The reason for this omission is unclear. It is perhaps notable that Vajravārāhī and Nairātmyā display parallel iconographical programmes: they both adopt the dancing posture (ardhaparyaṅkhya), their right leg raised and their left pressing down on a corpse; and, crowned by Akṣobhya, both are encircled by a halo of blazing flames, a feature that relates to the manifestation of both divinities in the form of or as immersed in a divine flame (jyoti, joti). However, Vajravārāhī is referred to as Vajradevī by Newar Buddhists and in Newar Buddhist traditions she possesses some unique requisite features: namely, her crimson hue and free-flowing hair (mukta keśa),65 whereas Nairātmyā is described as blue‑like and possesses crimson ‘upwards flying hair also blazing like a swirl of fire’ (urdhva piṇgala keśa).

The Cathartic Qualities of Water

35It should be noted that Newars do not commonly refer to Guhyeśvarī temple as an abode (pīṭha), a natural spring (kuṇḍa), or conflate it with the nearby bathing place (tīrthā), but refer to it as ‘Guhyeśvarī jala’: the water of Guhyeśvarī. As the last part of SvP famously asserts, the founder of Nepal, Mañjudevacāryā – a bodily emanation (nirmāṇakāya) of Mañjuśrī – had a direct encounter with Guhyeśvarī, ‘first in the form of water, then in the form of all things (viśvarūpa)’ (Michaels 2008: 141). Bajracharya mentions that Mañjudevācaryā performed the ritual for the yoga of stopping water (jalastaṃbhanayoga) at the site but still the flow of water did not cease, and it was then that Mañjudevācarya had a vision of Śrī Nairātmyā Devī along with all the deities of the complete Hevajra maṇḍala in that very water (Bajracharya 1998: 7). Thus, healing and life‑giving imagery is associated with the emergence, confluence and immersion in currents of moving water recognised as both the origin and outflow of the ‘central channel’ (avadhūti). The awakened yoginī in her watery form is an epistemology of sacred space which plays a fundamental role in the hermeneutics of tantric reception and liberation. This process is made all the more tangible through the process of localisation, and we can see this dynamic play out in both contexts of the pond and stream on Mount Maṇicūḍa and the spring shrine at Guhyeśvarī temple. Interestingly, even though both Nairatmya and Ugratārā Vajrayoginī are also associated with spontaneously emerging flames, their sacred environs are closely related to aquatic realms that bestow health, long life and even deathlessness. In addition to the generation of these physical benefits, the act of imbibing water at Guhyeśvarī or immersing oneself in the spring (kuṇda) at Maṇicūḑa are also considered to bestow a range of spiritual boons: conventional and ultimate ‘attainments’ (siddhi) and ‘psychic powers’ (ṛddhi).

  • 66 Translated by Elizabeth English 2002: 279.

36Multiple enigmatic meanings of water that arises spontaneously from the landscape and assumes the form or essence of the deity (utpattikrama) are further incorporated into a paradigm of internal tantric ‘completion stage yogic praxis’ (saṃpannakrama), passed on through literary accounts of the site. An example of this kind of analogical description of water is found in the Vajravārāhi sādhana. Umāpatideva writes: ‘Just as there is nourishment in the sites [and other places] with the water of the river, so in the body, the flowing channels (nāḍīs) nourish [aspects of the body, beginning with] the nails […]’.66 Therefore, conceptualised alternatively as a correlate to the inner workings of human anatomy, the spring at Guhyeśvarī is, in her more immanent form as water, the yoginīs Nairātmyā for Newars and Vajravārahī for Tibetans, being interpreted as this feature of the landscape by each respective community. A primary feature of the enigmatic yoginī Tridalakamala present at Guhyeśvarī temple complex is the characteristic of being the flow of powerful regenerative and cathartic fluids: menses, reproductive fluids and substances that issue forth from the womb of the vajra-yoginīs. The desired liberating result: the resultant knowledge of awakening can thus be conveyed through the visceral and tangible experience of encountering her as her healing waters (jala); an embodied and participative religious experience that remains integral in the contemporary practice and transmission of tantric Buddhism across Vajrayāna Buddhist communities in Nepal.

Conclusion

37In Nepal, emplaced narratives facilitate the view of a space and time where, in the awareness of the practitioner, their doctrine and divinities are made tangible and immediate through localisation in the physical environs. Localisation in textual traditions tends to lend prescriptive authority to the practices of ‘travelling to (these) sites’ or ‘abodes’ (purvaseva, pīṭhaseva, pīṭhapūjā), an activity that seems to have remained integral to the transmission of Vajrayāna in Nepal now as it perhaps was in tantric observances in the past. Regardless of the emphasis on and concern with the internalisation of the pīṭhas within the body of the yogin, as called for in body maṇḍala (kāyamaṇdala) practices of the Yoginītantras and their associated commentaries, Ugratārā Vajrayoginī and Nairatmyā are two Buddhist yoginīs localised within the domains of their earthly realms, who emerge and can be directly encountered at meeting places (melaka) in various forms including a divine light or flame (jyoti) and sacred water (jala). Buddhist vajrācāryas and storytellers teach about these immanent Buddhist deities Nairātmyā and Ugratārā Vajrayoginī as the localised and emplaced tantric traditions of the Kathmandu Valley. Although the tradition of storytelling may be on the decline, populations speaking various Tibetan dialects, such as Nepali, Gurung and Newari (to mention just a few), form part of a larger Vajrayāna Buddhist community in Nepal in which tantric teachings continue to be conferred through narrative and embodied approaches that effect and create a meeting with and a memory of these yoginīs as crucial figures in a long‑gone past, but who are still present in the land and in collective memory. Through this comprehensive pedagogy of locale and landscape intertwined with local narratives, tantric traditions have continued to be transmitted and will persist into the future in Nepal given the continuity of a community of lineage holders that remembers both the narratives and songs of the vajra-yoginīs at their sites and their access to such sites. This close relationship between the memory of the yogin and the perceived power of the tangible world – as the yoginī – is thus a medium for the process of authorising tantric transmission. In light of this, deity visualisation becomes more than an intellectual exercise as it involves a recollection (smaraṇa) based on a memory of encounter and devotion (bhakti), experiences that are prefigured by first‑person narratives in which deities are the main protagonists. After all, in the Maṇiśailamahāvadāna it was Ugratārā Vajrayoginī herself who urged her devotees to ‘remember me with devotion’ (New. bhaktibhāvayānā jitalumaṃkā).

38This paper therefore draws attention to an engagement with the manifest world that can be demonstrated through inter‑textual traditions of local narratives on yoginīs and multi‑vocalities that relate to how landscapes – as both fluid and fiery centres that facilitate awakening – are utilised to connect people with authentic modes of Buddhist tantric transmission. In the context of the Yoginītantras as transmitted in Nepal, axial abodes (pīthā) are places (Tib. gnas) where the body of the yoginī – appearing as inseparable from the environment – can be encountered (melāka) and partaken of in material and elemental forms.

39The methodology utilised here has been chosen in an effort to practise classical philology and Buddhology that includes an in‑depth study of Sanskrit and Newar manuscripts and witnesses, which avoids an overly scientistic approach divorced from local perspectives and ritual requirements. This is most certainly not a new idea, but it is an approach that requires a continuous engagement. In terms of this paper’s overarching argument, I have foregrounded the idea that emplaced narratives and their enactment in tantric rituals have been and continue to be a crucial pedagogical strategy in which authentic lineages may be received in relation to and in reliance on site-specific abodes of vajra‑yoginīs. This reflects a process which is a particularly effective and affective semiotic pedagogical approach to localisation and geological emplacement that has persisted throughout the transmission of exoteric and esoteric Buddhism in Nepal and the Himālaya. In terms of a broader comparative project outside the fold of the Newar context, a comparative engagement with local Buddhist texts across the Himalaya, in Tibetan and Buddhist Asia – in all their unique vernaculars – may shed further light on this particular pedagogy of locale in tantric Buddhism and further our understanding of the hermeneutics of the reception of Buddhism across Buddhist Asia and beyond.

I owe an immense debt of gratitude to several individuals who have been generous with their time, knowledgeable feedback and resources at various stages in the writing of this paper. First and foremost, I wish to thank Pushpa Sakya and Suban Bajracharya for sharing their manuscript collections with me, and Dr Elizabeth Mills for her feedback on my edition of Tridalakamala. I have also greatly benefited from ongoing and stimulating exchanges with Prof. Raju Sakya, Dr Christoph Emmrich, Dr Naresh Man Vajracharya and the ever‑patient editors of EBHR. This paper would have never have come to fruition without the encouragement of Dr Frances Garrett who invited me to present this paper at her conference on Himalayan Hidden Lands, without Prof. Ned Branchi, who translated with great enthusiasm the initial section of the Tridalakamala found in Cacāḥ Munā, and without Nima Dorje Lama who kindly walked and rode with me all over Mount Manicūḍa, come rain or shine.

Haut de page

Bibliographie

Sanskrit Sources

Maṇiśailāvadāna (MŚĀ) in the possession of an anonymous resident of Sankhu (manuscript hand copied into a codex notebook).

Tridala Kamala in the possession of Suban Bajracharya, Kathmandu (manuscript).

Tridala Kamala in the possession of Yagyaman Pati Bajracharya, Kathmandu (manuscript).

Tridala Kamala in the possession of Pushpa Sakya, Bhaktapur (manuscript).

Ratnakaji Vajracharya. 1996. Cacāḥ Munā, Nanda Printing Press.

Newar (Nepāl Bhāṣā) Sources

Vajracharya, Barnavajra. Kathmandu: Aitaman and Nati Vajra. 1999 (1962).

Nepali Sources

Gurung Lama, P. 2011 (2059 BS). Nepal Boudha Tīrtha Darpāna. Kathmandu: Nepala Kendriya Gumba.

Shrestha, P M, S P Vajracharya and Y P Vajracharya. 2016. Namaste Śaṅkharapura. Tripureshwar, Kathmandu: Print Point Publishing.

Tibetan Sources

Gurung Lama, P. 1998. Bal Yul Gnas Yig (A guide to sites in Nepal). Kathmandu: Nepala Kendriya Gumba.

English Sources

Bajracharya, N M. 1998. ‘Buddhism in Nepal and Nepal Mandala’ (Summary of the paper presented in Newari at the Conference on the Buddhist Heritage of Nepal Mandal). https://www.academia.edu/19620698/Nepal_Mandala_in_Nepalese_Buddhism_and_tradition (accessed 28 December 2020)

Bajracharya, N M. 2014. Buddhism in Nepal (465 B.C. to 1199 A.D). Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers.

Brinkhaus, H. 1993. ‘The textual history of the different versions of the “Svayaṃbhūpurāṇa”’. In Nepal, Past and Present. Proceedings of the Franco–German Conference, Arc-et-Senans, June 1990, edited by Gérard Toffin, pp. 63–71. Paris: CNRS Éditions.

Brough, J. 1948. ‘Legends of Khotan and Nepal’. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 12 (2): 333–339.

Davidson, R M. 2002. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A social history of the tantric movement. New-York: Columbia University Press.

Emmrich, C. 2012. ‘How Bisvaṃtara got his dharma body: Story, ritual and the domestic in the composition of a Newar jātaka’. Journal of the American Oriental Society 132 (4): 539–566.

English, E. 2002. Vajrayoginī: Her rituals, visualizations and forms. Ithaca. Wisdom Publications.

Gellner, D N. 1992. Monk, Householder and Tantric Priest: Newar buddhism and its hierarchy of ritual. Delhi: Cambridge University Press.

Gupto, A. 2016. Goddesses of the Kathmandu Valley: Grace, rage, knowledge. Delhi. Routledge.

Huber, T. 1999. The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: Popular pilgrimage and visionary landscape in Southeast Asia. Oxford University Press.

Lenz, T. 2010. Gandhāran Avadānas: British Library Kharoṣṭhī fragments 1–3 and 21 and supplementary fragments A-C. Gandhāran Buddhist Texts 6. Seattle; London: University of Washington Press.

Lewis, T T. 2000. Popular Buddhist Texts from Nepal: Narratives and rituals of Newar buddhism. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Lewis, T T. and Bajracharya, N.M. 2016. ‘Vajrayāna traditions in Nepal’. In Tantric Traditions in Transmission and Translation, edited by David B. Gray and Ryan Richard.

MacDonald, A W. 1975. ‘A little-read guide to the holy places of Nepal’. Kailash: A Journal of Himalayan Studies 3(2): 89–389.

Michaels, A. 2008. Śiva in Trouble: Festivals and rituals at the Paśupatinātha temple of Deopatan (Nepal). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Neelis, J. 2011. Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and exchange within and beyond the northwestern norderlands of South Asia. Leiden: Brill.

Neelis, J. 2014. ‘Literary and visual narratives in Gandharan buddhist manuscripts and material cultures: Localization of jatakas, avadānas and previous birth stories’. In Material Cultures and Asian Religions, edited by Benjamin J. Flemming and Richard D. Mann, pp. 252–264. Routledge: New York.

O’Neill, J A. 2020. ‘Textual manifestations: The use and significance of Mahāyāna literature in Newar buddhism’. European Bulletin of Himalayan Research 54: 36–65.

Owens, B M. 2002. ‘Monumentality, identity and the state: Local practice, world heritage and heterotopia at Swayambhu Nepal’. Anthropological Quarterly 75(2): 269–316.

Shaw, M. 2006. Buddhist Goddesses of India. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Sharma, D R. and Shrestha, T.B. 2016. Sankhu: Historical and cultural heritage. Kathmandu: Center for Nepal and Asian Studies of Tribhuvan University (CNAS).

Shrestha, B G. 2002. The Ritual Composition of Sankhu: A socio-religious anthropology of a Newar town in Nepal. PhD thesis, Fakulteit der Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen die der Geneeskunde, Universiteit Leiden.

Snellgrove, D L. 1959. The Hevajra Tantra: A critical study, Part I and Part II. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Snellgrove, D L. 1987. Indo–Tibetan Buddhism: Indian buddhists and their Tibetan successors. 2 vols. Boston: Shambala.

Sugiki, T. 2009. ‘The structure and traditions of the systems of holy sites in buddhist saṃvara cycle and its related scriptural cycles in early medieval South Asia’. In Genesis and Development of Tantrism, edited by Shingo Einoo, pp. 515–562. Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo.

Thapa, S. 2015. ‘Caryā songs and Newar buddhists: Ritual singing in Vajrayāna buddhism of Nepal’. In Sahaja: The role of dohā and caryā gīti in the cultural Indo–Tibetan interface, edited by A. Loseries, pp. 99–117. Delhi: Buddhist World Press.

von Rospatt, A. 2009. ‘Sacred origins of the svayaṃbhūcaitya and the Nepal valley: Foreign speculation and local myth’. Journal of the Nepal Research Centre 13: 33–91.

Wedemeyer, C K. 2014. Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism: History, semiology, and transgression in the Indian traditions. New York: Columbia University Press.

Haut de page

Annexe

Tridalakamala Edition

Introductory Comments

Due to the problems presented by the language of this caryāgīti in its four variants, I was initially hesitant to attempt an edition of what is essentially a collection of word fragments poetically strung together. Because of this fragmentary style, it was difficult, for example, to know where to recognise compounds and where not to. Determining an authorial version was made more difficult by the vast differences between the versions received. As an example of this problem, the many additional visargas given in the old Bhaktapur text (B-PS), after the names of deities and at the end of lines and verses, suggest that perhaps the visarga is used in this text either as a marker for the end of the sung line or for the addition of an extra syllable when needed.

I do not think that we should allow the unorthodox structure of this text to diminish its ultimate value. In fact, the text’s obscure and unusual structure and its many variants are what makes it important and interesting. The unusual structure leads us to wonder how such a text was initially composed, how it changed as it was passed on between oral and literary musical and ritual worlds, and why it is best utilised as it is. The multivalence of meaning, the adaptation of words to metre and the structure across all four variations are quite fascinating.

I make no claim here to have figured out a final edition or to have comprehended the meaning of these verses. For the most part, I have tried to leave vernacular terms (especially if they were common across all four witnesses) and the syllable count as they are. When I first began working on the text, I made many emendations. However, as I continued the editing process, I found that I reverted back to the local vernacular so as not to change the essential character of the text, rendering it unrecognisable and unusable in ritual praxis. My aim here is to present, word by word, the emendations and interpretations that others who have written down this text have gone to great lengths to introduce in these four witnesses and only to suggest minor emendations. With this, I invite further investigation of this text which, while written and read on the page, is brought to a much more meaningful life through musical, rhythmic and ritual enactment in the context of Buddhist tantric worship (pūjā), sādhana and initiation (abhiṣeka).

Sigla and Marks in the Edition

The sigla have been named after the place and the compiler or owner of the text and are arranged in alphabetical order: B-PS, RKV, SV, YPV.

B-PS Tridalakamala from Bhaktapur (New. Kvapa) in the
   possession of Pushpa Sakya (pracalit script)

RKV Tridalakamala published in Ratna Kaji Vajracharya’s
   Cacāḥ Munā (1996: 123) in devanāgarī script

SV Tridalakamala from Kathmandu in the possession of
   Suban Vajracarya (devanāgarī script)

YPV Tridalakamala from Kathmandu in the possession of
   Yagyaman Pati Vajracharya (pracalit script)

†† obelus on both sides of a single word marks words that are
   problematic and which I cannot interpret.

em. marks my emendation.

Tridalakamala Edition

rāga vibhāsa || tāla mātha ||

1 tridalakamalaa vanab kusumac
   madhukarad he heruvae līnaf

2 śrīvirūpākṣag khagamukhadevīh
   madhyanepālasuvyāpitāi || dhrū ||

3 namāmi nairātmāj tribhuvanavyāpitāk
   vachalāldevī śrīmṛgasthalīm

4 sakalan surāsuravanditao caraṇep
   anegaq ṛddhir siddhivaras pradātāt||

5 nandanavanau candanav taruvaḥw
   anegax kusumay pārijātaz vaneaa

6 nityaab gaṅgāsamabāgamatīac tīread
   anegaae tīrthaaf sūkṣmaag nirmālāah || ||

7 aṣṭabhairavaai aṣṭayoginīaj devīak
   anegadevāsuraal kṣatrapālāam

8 aṣṭa mahābhayaḥan duritaao †nirāvale†ap
   anegavighanaaqvināsanaar || ||

9 viśvavyāpitras tāriṇīat devīau
   akṣayaav nirañjanaaw jyotiax nirmalāay

10 ābhimataaz sukhaphalaba dāyanībb
   janma janmabc tunjupāyoḥbd śaraṇaṃbe ||

Notes Verse by Verse in the Edition

Note on tāla and mātha: tāla mātha, which is a 14‑measure metre, does not seem to adhere, in any witness, to the strict rules regarding the number of akṣaras per line. The metre in caryā songs is rather flexible since the words can be adapted to the tāla by either elongating or shortening the number of beats given to each word or syllable. In my translation, I have attempted to follow to within two syllables the number of syllables in manuscript B-PS, RKV or YPV so that the English may also be easily utilised.

Verse 1A note: the word ‘together with’ (saṁge) is present in the Caryāsaṃgraha.

Verse 1B note: the word heruva for heruka is used in all four witnesses, so I have left it unchanged.

Verse 2B note: Vachalā is the local pronunciation of the goddess Vatsalā, so I have chosen not to emend it. Dhrū marks the refrain or verse to be repeated.

Verse 3A note: the reason why ‘pervading the triple world’ (trihuvanavyāpitā) is written using the masc. ā is unclear, but the long ā was preserved in all four versions, so I left it in.

Verse 5A note: the double ta syllable may be left in here for metre or rhythm.

Verse 6B note: ‘various’ or ‘not one’ (aneka) appears most commonly as anega and aṇega in all four witnesses and so I have left it as it is so as not to alter the sound of the verses.

Verse 7b note: Kṣatrapāla is used for kṣetrapāla, ‘local protector’, in all four witnesses so I have left it in with the understanding that it is local vernacular.

Verse 8A note: what appears as niravāluleḥ in B-PS and has been emended to nirāvale is very close to the māravighna niravārure, for example, that appears in the Caryāsaṁgrahaḥ.

Verse 9B note: Libbie Millsbf points out that akhaya for akṣaya, meaning ‘indestructible’, makes sense if akhaya is understood as a Middle Indo-Aryan sound adjustment. Naresh Man Vajracharya mentions that akhaya can also be understood as ‘clear’.

Verse 10B note: the phrases janma janmamaru tujupāya śaraṇā and vajravārāhī tujupāya saraṇā appear in the Caryāsaṁgraha and I am under the impression that the word tujupāya or tuṁjupaya means ‘your feet’, although I have unfortunately not had the opportunity to confirm this point.

Notes on Metre

Each witness documents the metre of the caryāgīti to be māthā tāla or tāla mātha, a 14‑measure metre. I have noted, however, that the metrical measure does not correspond to the number of syllables in each verse. Each witness demonstrates a minor disparity in syllables per line (usually just a one‑ or two‑syllable difference) from the lines of other witnesses. They all remain within a reasonable enough range so that a word might be extended to fit the measure. Notably, some lines across witnesses are of the same syllable count. Although this song is sung to a 14‑measure metre, the commonest syllable counts per line are 11 (15 occurrences), 12 (with 17 occurrences) and 13 (with 14 occurrences). I have also completed a verse‑by‑verse breakdown of the syllable count for the two lines of each verse according to my English translation and, in brackets, each of the four witnesses.bg

Tridalakamala Translation

raga: vibhāsa tāla: māthabh

1 Three-petalled Lotus,bi blooming flowerbj of the forest,
   Where the honeybee –O Heruvabk – comes to merge.

2 Śrī Virūpākṣa with Devī Khagamukha –
   Filling up well the heart of Nepāla.bl

3 Praise to Nairātmā,bm who pervades the triple world,
   [as]bn Vachalā Devībo of glorious Mṛgasthalī.

4 Allbp the gods and demi-gods worship at your feet –
   Powers and accomplishments are granted by you.

5 In the blissful forest of Sandalwood trees,
   Many blooms amidst the Coral Jasmine’s perfume.bq

6 On the banks of the Bāg’matī – like eternal Ganga –
   There are many subtle and pure tīrthas,

7 The eight bhairavas with eight yoginī-devīs,
   Gods and demi-gods – the protectors of this place.

8 Eight great fears and all evil, extinguished – removed,
   Every obstacle overcome completely.

9 Liberatingbr goddess, you pervade the world.
   Spotless flame— unblemished and indestructible.

10 You are the one who yields the desired fruit of bliss.
   Lifetime after lifetime, at your feet I seek refuge.

Figure 1: The first folio of the Sanskrit Tridalakamala caryāgīti in pracalit script included in the manuscript from Bhaktapur (B-PS).

Figure 1: The first folio of the Sanskrit Tridalakamala caryāgīti in pracalit script included in the manuscript from Bhaktapur (B-PS).

Figure 2: The second folio of the Sanskrit Tridalakamala caryāgīti in pracalit script included in the manuscript from Bhaktapur (B-PS).

Figure 2: The second folio of the Sanskrit Tridalakamala caryāgīti in pracalit script included in the manuscript from Bhaktapur (B-PS).
Haut de page

Notes

1 The author’s dissertation on the Nepāl Bhāṣā version of this text is forthcoming.

2 The pracalit script, one of the three Newar scripts used to write Sanskrit, resembles Tibetan script in a number of ways, one being that it stacks sub-scribed letters under the radical, unlike the devanagarī script from which Tibetan script is thought to have been derived.

3 Bal Gopal Shrestha, personal communication, January 2020.

4 According to Naresh Man Bajracharya, a Buddhist form of Maheśvara.

5 tatra melāyāṃ divyagocaram āśritya|| yad vadanti yoginyas tat sarvam kartavyaṃ|| (transliteration in Snellgrove 1959, Vol. II, p. 22).

6 Abhayākaragupta and Śākyarakṣita were proponents of the theory whereby female beings constitute the ‘essence’ of pīṭhas (ibid), not the presence of sexed rock and spring formations. However, the presence of sexed rocks and massive sexed rock formations is attested to in the Tibetan tradition.

7 Tsunehiko Sugiki (2009: 516–517) notes that this text is in the bsTan ‘Gyur P.T. No. 4628 as written by Nāropa and translated by Marpa (1012–1097). No extant Sanskrit manuscript bears witness to this but it may be an apocryphal text attributed to Nāropa. Yet it is clear from Marpa’s biography that he studied the tantras with several Newar vajrācāryas in Nepal.

8 Also identified as Svayaṃbhū Hill.

9 A low-lying mountain, more of a foothill, to the north of the town of Śankharapūra (New. Sakva).

10 This narrative was once told in stages throughout each of the eight quarters of Sankhu (and perhaps elsewhere) during the summer month of Guṃlā until it gradually became less popular due to the introduction of technology. Bal Gopal Shrestha, personal communication, January 2020. I am not aware that MŚM continues to be recounted in the same manner.

11 A social and political area equated with the Kathmandu Valley and its vicinity.

12 nhāpāṃ satyayugayā samaye nepāla dhayāgu sthāne maṇicūḍa parvate maṇiśaila dhayāgu maṇiratna jaka thunātayāguthyeṃ jvālā-jvālāṃ thinācvaṃgu taḥgvagu lvaham̆̇pham̆̇tayā dathusa cvaṃgu pvālaṃ śrī ugratārābajrayoginīdebī āphaiāpha, thavathe thaḥhmana jyoti svarūpa juyā utpattijuyā bijyāna dhakā śrī bhagavāna naṃ saṃkṣiptamātra ājnāda-yekābijyātaṃ ||

13 Naresh Man Bajracharya suggests that the Ugratārā operating in this function may have been moved there from a location near Buddhanilkantha. However, this cannot be confirmed.

14 The exchange between Sankhu residents and myself at this site took place in 2016.

15 In the Gumbahā manuscript entitled Maṇiśailamahavadāna in Shrestha, Vajracharya and Vajracharya (2016).

16 tavasī, jhamasī, khāīsī, cākusī, kavsī, phaṃsī, baysī, ādi nānāprakārayā phalasayā cvaṃguliṃ bhramarāgaṇapiṃvayā phala-phulayāgu rasatvanā huṃkāra śabdanaṃ hālā ukheṃ thukheṃ cāḥcāḥ [j]ulā juyācvaṃguliṃ parvatayā śobhā vadhejuyā cvaṃgu du | […]palyesvāṃ, cavasvāṃ, uphosvāṃ ādi aneka svāna hvayā sva svāṃ svaye magāka […] ukīyā bāsanānaṃ parvata chaguliṃ nasvānā chvaṃgu | […] hākanaṃ banajantu dhāye, dhuṃ, caṃlā, bhālu, tyaru, guṁkhicā, guṁbhau, hariṇa, ādiṃ nānā prakārayā banajantupiṃ bāsayānā paraspara thithiṃ sneha-pratītayā mitrabhābayānā cvaṃguliṃ lvāpudhayāgu madayā atikaṃ śobhābadhejuyā cvaṃgu du |

17 Udayācala parbataṃ aṣṭācala parbata paryantaṃ dhyāna-driṣṭi svayā vicārayānā lacchitaka rātrīsanhithaṃ paṃcākṣara sahitayānā pūjāyānā cvanāvijyāta || || lacchivite juyā vaṃseṃli kriyākarmadakvaṃ siddhayānā

18 hemātā, chalapolaṃ jimita dayā kripātayā yākanaṃ he chalapolayāgu śarīre grahaṇayānā ‘līnayānā’ dukayā bijyāhuṃ |

19 vācāsiddhi ācāryayā nimha stripuruṣanaṃ thathedhakā stotrayānā bijyāseṃli śrīugratārā bajrayoginīdevī praśanajuyā thaḥgu śarīraṃ rasmi pikayā rasmiyāgu mayejuyā bānu michoyācvaṃgu jvālāthyeṃ jvālā mālājuyā barhe-jujuṃ śarīra chuṃkhanemadeka jvālāmaye juyā bijyāta ||| gathiṃgu teja dhālasā ‘mi’ samānaṃ thinā-cvaṃgu nākaṃ pugunaṃmakhu nākaṃ khvāuṁgunaṃ makhu atyanta manoharajuyā jvalāmāna thinā cvana || || thatheju gukhanā vācāsiddhiyā strīpuruṣanimhaṃ bismayecāyā rasmisa tījaka thiyāsvata || thugurasmisa thiyema gathenayekane śrīrya yāgu rasmikhaye mātraṃ mipyāhāṃvai vat-hatheṃ śrīugratārā bajrayoginīdevīyāgu rasmithiye mātraṃ thupiṃstrī purūṣa nimhasikenaṃ rasmipyāhāṃvayā tejarūpajuyā tacvataṃ choyābala || lipā śrīugratārā bajrayoginīdevīyāgu rasmi jhaṃ jhaṃ badhejuyā vācāsiddhikā strīpuruṣa nimhasyāgu rasmisa thaḥgu rasmiṃ cauyekā dhayepunākāla || thatheyāye mātraṃ rasmisvaguliṃ chajūjuyā tacvataṃ choyā kṣaṇamātraṃ antarasmigunā rasmi chuṃmadayā hnāpāyātheṃ śrīugratārā bajrayoginīdevīyāgu rūpa-juyā sthīraṃbijyānācana || || hemaitrībodhisatva śrīugratārā bajrayoginīdevīyāgu prabhāvaṃ bācāsiddhiyā strīpuruṣanimhaṃ jībanamuktijuyā śrīugratārā bajrayoginīdevīyāke līnajuyāvana || ||

20 guthāyetaka chaṃ saṃtāna sthīrajuyācvani| uthāyetaka jithana dudhakā sīkī guble chaṃ saṃtāna hmāse juyāvanī | uble ji thugusthāne maṃtadhakā sīkīdhakā śrīugratārā bajrayoginī devīṃ ājñādayekā bijyāta ||

21 MacDonald (1975) includes the Tibetan text of Choskyi Nyima (1730), who described the classification of Nepal as pīṭhadī and the paradisiacal land of Upacchandoha.

22 The Newar term Nepāl Maṇḍala can be understood as a political and religious designation that refers primarily to the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding areas, not to the current geopolitical borders of Nepal.

23 Von Rospatt argues that, according to the Svayaṃbhūpurāṇa, the sites may have centred specifically around the Svayaṃbhū caitya.

24 Michaels outlines her multiple identities as: a vaidic‑paurāṇic Pārvatī, a tantric alcohol‑accepting goddess, a Vajrayānist Buddhist goddess, the consort of Hevajra (Nairātmyā), Tārā, Prajñaparāmita and the Newar folk deity, pīgãmāī (Michaels 2008: 8, 139, 140, 142).

25 Raju Śākya, personal communication, 23 May 2020.

26 Axel Michaels has elucidated in detail the connection between these two sites in local legend and the historical chronicles on the foundation of Guhyeśvarī temple in Deopatan (Michaels 2008: 127–138).

27 Naresh Man Bajracharya, personal communication, 10 April 2020.

28 Naresh Man Bajracharya, personal communication, 10 April 2020.

29 Naresh Man Bajracharya, personal communication, 10 April 2020.

30 Naresh Man Bajracharya, personal communication, 18 April 2020.

31 Naresh Man Bajracharya, personal communication, 18 April 2020.

32 Von Rospatt (2009) writes that Manabajra Bajracharya identifies Guhyeśvarī temple near Deopatan as the centre of the Saṃvara maṇḍala that is to be visited and worshipped after pilgrimage, but Bajracharya maintains that the pilgrimage (pūrvasevā) to the twenty‑four pīṭha sites begins, for some unknown reason, at Deopatan Guhyeśvarī temple (Bajracharya, personal communication, 2018).

33 However, in the final verse in the 1996 version of Cacāḥ Munā compiled by Ratna Kaji Bajracharya (VS 2053, CE 1996) that reads pravanti nirābajra hum̆̇kara saṃjātā, it is possible that ‘nirābajra’ refers to Hevajra, a being, a blue vajra that originates from the hum̆̇ syllable, not the eighth‑century pandit Līlāvajra.

34 rāga:-kahū tāla: phaṭakaṁkāla nīla hum̆̇kāra prajvalita kiraṇe 2 ūrddhva piṅgalakeśa śeī hevajrarāyā|| dhu || jagata mokṣakārī śrīnairātmā devī || nīlavarṇa devī karati kapala dhārī 2 jagata vivācchita vara phala dātā || krodha virahita āligaṇa samādhi 2 ṣoḍaśa bhujā karoṭaka dharīyā || bhaṣma vibhūṣita ṣaṭmudra bharaṇa 2 vyādhacarma parahita naraśiramālā || bramhā maheśvara nārāyaṇa indra 2 cāpapi cau cāraṇa catumāri madanā || dhu ||

35 rāga:- karṇādi tāla:-japa cvami: nirābajra (lilā) hevajra nairātmādevī tribhuvan nātha paṁcajina byapitāpaṁcavarṇa dehā || namāmi 2 śrī gopucchāgra caitya 2 śrī heruka srīguhyeśvarī vajrayoginī śunyatā || dhu || pūrva diga thita bhairaba nilavarṇa 2 dahine patradhārī vāmay vindū || ghasarī, chaurī yoginī devī 2 pravanti nirābajra hum̆̇kāra saṁjātā ||

36 Choskyi Nyima, the fourth Khamtrul Rinpoche (1730), and Brough (1947) have drawn attention to significant mobility in origin myths in Svayaṃbhūcaitya with narratives associated with Liyul or Khotan. Both ascertain that it was the Tibetans who conflated the two sites and the Gomasala Ganda Stūpa of Ox Horn (Gośṛṅga) mountain with the site at Svayaṃbhū hillock. Choskyi Nyima asserts that the Newar Buddhist name for Svayaṃbhū: Seṃgu, interpreted by Tibetans as ‘shing kun’ was the likely cause of the confusion that potentially added additional layers to the local narrative and the Tibetan imaginary in particular. It is unclear whether Guhyeśvarī is mentioned or not in the Gośṛṅgavyākaraṇasūtra.

37 Naresh Man Bajracharya, personal communication, 18 April 2020.

38 The other witnesses of Tridalakamala that I refer to here and in my edition included in appendix A of this study are either in the possession of, or compiled and transmitted by, Suban Vajracharya (SV), Yagyaman Pati Vajracharya (YPV) and Ratna Kaji Bajracharya (RKV).

39 My edition of Tridalakamala caryāgīti based on the complete documentation, on a close comparison and on the four aforementioned witnesses along with notes is included in Appendix.

40 The Caryāsaṁgraha also contains similar uncommon terms and grammar, for example heruva and saṁge.

41 The tāla for Tridalakamala across texts is tala mātha, a fourteen‑measure metre. It should, however, be recognised that there is no strict adherence to metre with reference to the syllabic structure of the gīti, since syllables and words can be drawn out, as necessary, to fit the 14 measures. This attenuation is what allows for considerable variation between the texts. Fewer than half of the lines are actually 14 syllables long.

42 This is a version that Raju Sakya reports as being in poplar use in Patan (Lalitpur).

43 The first half of this gīti was translated by Ned Branchi in 2016.

44 The verse, tridala padma guhye maṇḍala mahāsukhakṣare, is found in relation to the vajra-yoginī Vajravilāsinī.

45 In classical Nepali music rāga is equivalent to melody and tāla is roughly equivalent to musical metre, which, in this case, is 14 counts.

46 Mainly performed by a Vajrācārya priest but in some circumstances by other families such as Śākyas.

47 Although the various gestures that accompany the Tridalakamala would no doubt contribute another valuable level of understanding to this study, I have not included them in the scope of this paper.

48 See Appendix for the documentation of normative variation in the measures of the mātha metre.

49 I have not translated the Tridlalakamala literally since it is essentially word fragments strung together poetically and much of the grammar is missing. Priority has been given to metre and rhyme so that it can be utilised as caryā song if required.

50 tridalakamala literally means three-petalled lotus, but it is also an epithet of Nairātmyā.

51 One syllable (flow’r).

52 Heruva is the term used in all four witnesses and is synonymous with Heruka.

53 It might seem unusual that the verb vyāpita is repeated in verse 3B and the verse immediately following it, verse 4A. Given the fact that the syllable count seems to fall short at nine syllables only in B-PS, RKV and SV, I might conjecture the possibility of vajrapīṭha since the verse also refers to Virūpākṣa and Khagamukha of the Cakrasaṃvara maṇḍala.

54 Nairātmā is the common vernacular term for Nairātmyā in Newar Buddhism. Since this is a very local text, I thought it was best to retain the local terminology.

55 Emendation suggested by Naresh Man Vajracharya.

56 Vachalā is the local term for the goddess Vatsalā.

57 ‘All’ (sakala, sayala) could also be read as sayara which, according to Raju Sakya, means ‘surrounding’ as written in YPV and RK.

58 The night-flowering Coral Jasmine tree with red blooms.

59 Tāriṇī could also be taruṇī, youthful.

60 I visited the periphery of the site with Lapchi Dordzin Dondrup Palden on several occasions.

61 This site is largely regarded as part of a set of four crucial emplaced yoginī sites around the valley: namely those of Vajravārāhī (Deopatan), Vajrayoginī (Pharping), Vidhyeśvarī (Svayaṃbhū) and Ugratārā Vajrayoginī (Sankhu), which are not subsumed within either of the Nepāl Maṇḍal schematics.

62 The site of the secret organ of Sati is also considered to have fallen at the famous śakti pīṭha, Kāmarūpa in Assam.

63 Himālībhoṭa bhāṣāmā yaslai ‘phākmongālkṣu’ bhanincha. bauddhaharule yo tīrtha bajrayoginīko bhāgabāta niskeko āmṛtajalko rupamā viśvās gārincha bhane hinduharule śrī mahāmāyā satī devīko bhāgabāta niskeko āmṛtajalko rupamā viśvās garincha. yo mandir nepālka rājāharule samaya-samayama marmat ra sudhār gareka thiẽ. mandirko prānggnama raheka jal niskene ṭāũ bhāgakārako raheko ra so bhāgakāra svayaṃ utpatti bhaeko viśvās garincha. āmṛtajal niskane bhāgakārako kinārā ra ḍaknī samet sūnko jalap baeko dhatule banaieko cha. yasko saṃrakṣaṇako nimti yastai banaieko ho. (Gurung Lama 2011: 72).

64 gu lang dang shin tu nye bai byang phyogs waka mati’i ‘gram nag gu hye ṣha ri ste gsang ba’i dbang phyug ma’m lha mo uma’I gnas kyis phag mo mngal chu zhes pa de yod. gnas ‘dir ne pāl gyi rgyal po rim byon gyis bsgrubs pa’i dgnul dang. gser zangs kyi lha khang shin tu ngo mtshar che zhing khams dvangs la spro ba’i nang du rang byung gi rten skye gnas kyi dbyibs can de yi snying po nas tshva ba’i chug gyin du ‘phyur ba’i rim gyis khengs yong wa zhig yod. dus phyis su gser zangs kyi padma ‘dab ma brgyad pa zhig gis gyogs pa’i kha bkad chung ngu zhig dang. de yi steng du bum pa zhig bzhag ‘dug. rang byon du byung ba’i skye gnas kyi mtshan ma ‘di yang gdul bya’i dbang du byas na lha mo uma’i mtshan ma dang. ‘dul byed kyi dbang du byad na rgyal yum rdo rje phag mo’i mkh’ gsang ste gnas ‘dir bod mi rnams kyis phag mo mngal chu zer ba’i rgyu mtshan yang de ltar yin pas na mjal ba’i skab sua’ng gdul bya ‘dul byed kyis btul yin pa’i gnas tshul she pa’i sgo nas mchod pa las. lha mo u ma’i gnas dang mthar thug gi rten du sems nas phyag mchod byas na skyabs ‘gro’i bslab bya dang ‘gal ba yin. (Gurung Lama 1998: 60). Not venerating worldly gods is listed as one of the basic refuge precepts of Buddhism since, though they can grant boons, worldly gods cannot grant the state of awakening that can only be accomplished through one’s own efforts: the accumulation of merit through virtuous deeds and the accumulation of wisdom through learning, contemplation and meditation.

65 A similarity reflected in the Drikung Kakgyu Tibetan lineage.

66 Translated by Elizabeth English 2002: 279.

a tridalakamala] RKV, SV, YPV; tridalakamalaḥ B-PS.

b vana] B-PS, RKV, SV; varṇa YPV.

c kusuma] B-PS; kusumarasaṁge SV; kusumasayarā RKV; kusumasaṁge YPV.

d madhukara] B-PS; madhukare RKV; madhukare SV; madhukala YPV.

e heheruva] B-PS; heruva RKV; heruvaha SV; heruha YPV.

f līna em.] linā B-PS; virā RKV; rīnā SV; rīṇā YPV.

g śrīvirūpākṣa] B-PS, RKV, YPV; śrīvirūpākṣatra SV.

h devī] RKV devīḥ SV, devīḥ YPV; deviḥ B-PS.

i  madhyanepālasuvyāpitā] B-PS; martyamaṇḍalasunirmalā RKV; medanepālayavyāpitā SV; medanepālayāvyāpitā YPV.

j nairātmā] RKV; nairātmāḥ B-PS; nairātmādevī SV; śrīnairātmādevī YPV.

k tribhuvana vyāpitā] RKV; tribhuvana vyāpitāḥ B-PS; tribhuvana mātā SV; tribhuvana mātā YPV.

l vachalā] B-PS, RKV, SV; bacchala YPV.

m śrīmṛgasthalī em.] śrīmṛgathali B-PS; śrīmṛgathare RKV; śrīmṛgasthani SV; śrīmṛgastharī YPV.

n sakala em.] sayala B-PS; sayara RKV; sayela SV; sayara YPV.

o vandita] B-PS, RKV; vanditaṃ SV; vaṁdita YPV.

p caraṇe] RKV, YPV; caraṇeḥ B-PS; caraṇe RKV; caraṇoḥ SV.

q anega] RKV, SB, YPV; aṇega B-PS.

r ṛddhi] SV, YPV, RKV; riddhi B-PS.

s vara] SV, RKV, YPV; B-PS vala.

t pradātā] B-PS, RKV; prasādā SV; prasādā YPV.

u vana B-PS] vanamiva RKV; vanamiva SB; vadane YPV.

v candana] RKV, SB, YPV; candane B-PS.

w taruvaḥ em.] <ta>taruveheḥ B-PS; taruva RKV; taruva SB; taruve YPV.

x anega] SV, RKV, YPV; aṇega B-PS.

y kusuma] RKV, SB, YPV; kusumaḥ B-PS.

z parijāta] B-PS, YPB; pārājita RKV; pānijāta SV.

aa vane] B-PS, SB, RKV; vadane YPV.

ab nitya] RKV, YPV; naitya B-PS; nitye SB.

ac bāgamatī em.] vāgamati B-PS; vagamati RKV; samati SV; vāgamati YPV.

ad tīre RKV] tīreḥ B-PS; tīrtha SV; tīrṭhe YPV.

ae anega] B-PS, SB, YPV; aneka RKV.

af tīrtha] RKV, SV; tirathaḥ B-PS; missing YPV.

ag sūkṣma] sūkṣa B-PS; missing RKV; surakṣatravane SV; surakṣatravanaṁ YPV.

ah nirmalā] nirmmalā B-PS; sunirmalā RKV; missing SV; missing YPV.

ai bhairava] RKV, SV, YPV; bhairavaḥ B-PS.

aj aṣṭayoginī] RKV, SV; aṣṭajoginī B-PS; yoginī YPB.

ak devī] RKV, YPV, SB; deviḥ B-PS.

al devāsura] B-PS, RKV, SB; sura YPV.

am kṣatrapālā] kṣatrapāla B-PS, RKV, SV; kṣatrapār? YPV.

an mahābhaya] SV, YPV, RKV; mahābhayaḥ B-PS.

ao durita] B-PS, RKV, SV; śarita YPV.

ap nirāvale] nilavāluleḥ B-PS; nivāraṇī RK; niravākraṇī SV; niravāranī YPV.

aq vighna] YPV; vighana B-PS; vighnaṁ RKV; vignani SV.

ar vināsana] B-PS; nivāraṇī RKV; niravākraṇe SV; nivāraṇe YPV.

as viśvavyāpitr] B-PS, RKV; viśvaviyāpita SV, viśvaviyāpita YPV.

at tāriṇī] tāruṇī YPV, RKV, SV; tāruni B-PS.

au devī] RKV, SV, YPV; deviḥ B-PS.

av akṣaya] akhaya B-PS; akhaya RKV; akhaya SB; akhaya YPV.

aw nirañjana] B-PS, RKV; niraṁjana SB; niraṁjana YPV.

ax jyoti] joti B-PS; jyotirūpā RKV; jotimaya SV; jotimaya YPV.

ay nirmalā] nirmmalā B-PS; omitted RKV; omitted SV; omitted YPV.

az abhimata] RKV, YPV; abhīmatha B-PS; atiśānta.

ba sukhaphala] RKV, SV, YPV; sukhaphalaḥ B-PS.

bb dāyanī] B-PS; dāyanīdevī SV; dāyanīdevī RKV; dāyanīdevī YPV.

bc janma janma] SV, RKV, YPV; janama janama B-PS.

bd tunjupayoḥ] tunjupāyo B-PS; tuhma RKV; tumupāya SV; tuṁjupāya YPV.

be śaraṇaṁ] saranā B-PS; śaraṇāgatha RKV; śaraṇā SV; śaraṇa YPV.

bf Libbie Mills personal communication, October 2020.

bg Syllable count: 1A 14/12 (B-PS 12, RKV 14, SV 14, YPV 14); 1B 12 (B-PS 10, RKV 9, SV 10, YPV 9); 2A 12 (B-PS 12, RKV 11, SV 11, YPV 12); 2B 10 (B-PS 9, RKV 9, SV 9, YPV 9); 3A 12 (B-PS 15, RKV 13, SV 14, YPV 15); 3B 12(B-PS 10, RKV 10, SV 10, YPV 10); 4A 12 (B-PS 14, RKV 13, SV 14, YPV 13); 4B 12 (B-PS 12, RKV 12, SV 12, YPV 12); 5A 11 (B-PS 14 RKV 13, SV 13, YPV 13); 5B 12 (B-PS 13, RKV 12, SV 12, YPV 13); 6A 13 (B-PS 12 RKV 12, SV 9, YPV 10); 6B 10 (B-PS 12 RKV 9, SV 11, YPV 11); 7A 12 (B-PS 14, RKV 12, SV 12, YPV 10); 7B 12 (B-PS 11, RKV 11, SV 11, YPV 9); 8A 12 (B-PS 16 RKV 13, SV 14, YPV 13); 8B 12 (B-PS 10, RKV 10, SV 10, YPV 9); 9A 11 (B-PS 11 RKV 10, SV 11, YPV 11); 9B 11 (B-PS 12, RKV 11, SV 12, YPV 11); 10A 12 (B-PS 12, RKV 13, SV 11, YPV 13); 10 B 13 (B-PS 13, RKV 13, SV 11, YPV 11).

bh I have not translated the Tridlalakamala literally since much of the grammar is missing. I have given priority to metre and rhyme so that it could be utilised as caryā ‘practice’ song if required.

bi tridalakamala literally means, ‘three‑petalled lotus’, but it is also an epithet of Nairātmyā.

bj One syllable (flow’r).

bk Heruva is the term used in all four witnesses and is synonymous with Heruka.

bl It might be unusual for the verb vyāpita to be repeated in verse 3B and the verse immediately following it, verse 4A. Given the fact that the syllable count seems to fall short at only 9 syllables in B-PS, RKV and SV, I assume that it is possibly vajrapīṭha since the verse also refers to Virūpākṣa and Khagamukha of the Cakrasaṃvara maṇḍala.

bm Nairātmā is the common vernacular term for Nairātmyā in Newar Buddhism. Since this is a very local text, I thought it was best to retain the local terminology.

bn Emendation suggested by Naresh Man Vajracharya.

bo Vachalā is the local term for the goddess Vatsalā.

bp ‘All’ (sakala, sayala) could also be read as sayara which, according to Raju Sakya, means ‘surrounding’, as written in YPV and RK.

bq The night-flowering coral jasmine tree with red blooms.

br Tāriṇī could also be taruṇī, youthful.

Haut de page

Table des illustrations

Titre Figure 1: The first folio of the Sanskrit Tridalakamala caryāgīti in pracalit script included in the manuscript from Bhaktapur (B-PS).
URL http://journals.openedition.org/ebhr/docannexe/image/240/img-1.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 285k
Titre Figure 2: The second folio of the Sanskrit Tridalakamala caryāgīti in pracalit script included in the manuscript from Bhaktapur (B-PS).
URL http://journals.openedition.org/ebhr/docannexe/image/240/img-2.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 354k
Haut de page

Pour citer cet article

Référence papier

Amber Moore, « Abodes of the vajra‑yoginīs: Mount Maṇicūḍa and Paśupatikṣetra as envisaged in the Tridalakamala and Maṇiśailamahāvadāna »European Bulletin of Himalayan Research, 55 | 2020, 38-78.

Référence électronique

Amber Moore, « Abodes of the vajra‑yoginīs: Mount Maṇicūḍa and Paśupatikṣetra as envisaged in the Tridalakamala and Maṇiśailamahāvadāna »European Bulletin of Himalayan Research [En ligne], 55 | 2020, mis en ligne le 16 mars 2022, consulté le 28 mars 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/ebhr/240 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/ebhr.240

Haut de page

Auteur

Amber Moore

University of Toronto

Amber Moore is currently a lecturer in Tibetan language and a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. She holds an MA in religion and culture from Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada, and her area of specialisation derives from both a BA in Buddhist philosophy and Himalayan languages from the University of Kathmandu and her PhD research on emplaced Newar Buddhist narratives in Nepal. Amber has worked and lived in Kham, Tibet and then in Nepal with her family for a number of years. She is devoted to the preservation and translation of Tibetan and Newar Buddhist texts and regularly collaborates with the Canadian Newah Guthi to organise community events and teach caryā dance.

Haut de page

Droits d’auteur

CC-BY-4.0

Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence CC BY 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire.

Haut de page
Rechercher dans OpenEdition Search

Vous allez être redirigé vers OpenEdition Search