Sanderson 2005bSaiva Officiants-libre

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ALEXIS SANDERSON

RELIGION AND THE STATE: S ÁIVA OFFICIANTS

IN THE TERRITORY OF THE KING’S

BRAHMANICAL CHAPLAIN

1. INTRODUCTION

The literature of the S áiva Mantram arga is dominated by the pre-

scription of the rituals through which the S ´ aivas initiated candi-

dates into their religious discipline (d ıks_

a), consecrated successors

to office (abhis_

ekah_

), installed images and other substrates of wor-ship ( pratis

_ t

_ h a), and performed the repeated services of worship

( y agah_

) and propitiation (mantras adhanam) required of all or cer-

tain classes among them.1 By studying this literature, which extends

1 I adopt Mantram arga (‘the Path of Mantras’) as the S ´ aivas’ term for what

Indologists have commonly called Tantric or Agamic S ´ aivism. It serves to differen-

tiate this S ´ aivism from that of the Atim arga, ‘‘the Path Beyond [the brahmanical

socio-religious order]’’, the earlier and contemporaneous S ´ aivism of the P asú-

pata divisions, principally the P a~ nc arthikas, L akulas/K alamukhas and Soma-

siddh antins/K ap alikas. The Mantram arga comprises a number of related systems.

The principal among them and their principal surviving scriptures are (1) the Sid-

dh anta taught in the Nis´v asa, the Paus_

kara, the Sv ayambhuvas utrasam_

graha, the

Rauravas utrasam_

graha, the K alottaras, the Mata _ nga, the Kiran_

a, the Mr_

gendra, the

Par akhya, the Br_

hatk alottara, etc., (2) the V amasáiva cult of Tumburu and his four

sisters taught in the V ın_

asíkha, (3) the Daks_

in_

asaiva cult of Svacchandabhairava

taught in the Svacchanda, (4) the Y amala cult of Kap al ısá and Can_

d_ a K ap alin ı

taught in the Picumata ð=Brahmay amala), (5) the Trika cult of the goddesses Par a,

etc. taught in the Siddhayoges´var ımata, the Tantrasadbh ava, the M alin ıvijayottara,

etc., (6) the K al ıkula cult of K alasam_

kars_

an_ ı/K al ı taught in the Jayadrathay amala

and the scriptures of the Krama (K al ıkulapa~ ncasátaka, K al ıkulakramasadbh ava,

etc.), (7) the cult of Kubjik a taught in the Kubjik amata, etc., (8) the cult of Tripura-

sundar ı taught in the Nity as_

o_ dasik arn

_ ava, etc., and (9) the cult of Amr

_ tes´vara and/

or Amr_

talaks_

m ı taught in the Netra.

Indo-Iranian Journal 47: 229–300, 2004.

DOI: 10.1007/s10783-005-2927-y

* Springer 2005



from scriptural texts claiming the authority of divine revelation

through commentaries and treatises on these texts to manuals

( paddhatih_

) of both transregional and local reach, we can make out

a detailed picture of the procedures they advocated and through

comparative analysis arrive at some understanding of how these

model rituals changed over time, were adapted in different regions,

and were related to those of the similar systems of ritual seen in

the literatures of the P ancar atrika Vais_

n_

avas and the Mah ay ana-Bud-dhist Way of Mantras (mantranayah

_ , mantray anam).

But these sources are much less revealing about agency, social

milieu, and historical context. They do provide us with some gen-

eral rules of restriction and permission concerning which categoriesof person may or may not be initiated or officiate and concerning

the extent to which their mundane social status influences their sta-

tus in the community of co-initiates, and these rules are different in

the different S áiva systems, which reveals something of their charac-

ter and interrelation within the larger social world. But they provide

no data, and we are not likely to discover any from other sources,

that would enable us to judge, for example, what percentage of the

population in a given region and time was involved in the practice

or support of the religion, or how its followers and supporters were

distributed between castes, economic classes, age-groups, genders

and levels or type of involvement. In other words the texts tell uswhat was possible for various groups but not the extent to whichthese possibilities were put into practice. There is nothing here like

the evidence provided by the records of the government departments

that supervised the conduct of religion in China and Japan. The

kingdoms of South and Southeast Asia engaged in some such super-

vision and must have maintained the sort of records that would have

enabled us to address these questions. But they have not been pre-

served. All we have from that quarter are what happens to have sur-

vived and come to light of inscriptions on stone or copper plates

recording major grants or pious works. This is crucial information

for the historian of S áivism, as it is for students of all Indian reli-

gious traditions, and in some areas, such as that of the Khmers, itand archaeology provide the only evidence that we have. But at best

it instantiates or challenges the model of possibilities conveyed by

the prescriptive literature. It does not enable us to go beyond its

range into detailed social history. Nonetheless it is possible, I would

say necessary, to read the literature and inscriptions with the sort of questions in mind that a social historian would wish to ask.

230 ALEXIS SANDERSON



In this perspective it seems to me that active initiates are likely to

have been few in number and to have been concentrated among,

though by no means confined to, brahmin men. Yet S áivism exerted

an influence on the religious life of the Indian world that far exceeds

what might be expected of such a minority, especially from one out-

side the mainstream of brahmanical observance. For there can be

no doubt that for several centuries after the sixth it was the princi-

pal faith of the e´lites in large parts of the Indian subcontinent and

in both mainland and insular Southeast Asia. Only Mah ay ana Bud-dhism was able to rival it during this period; and when it achieved

success in this rivalry, either equalling or excelling S áivism as the

beneficiary of patronage, it was in a form led by the Way of Man-tras, a system of ritual, meditation and observance in which Bud-

dhism had redesigned itself, if not in essence, then at least in style

and range of functions, on the model of its rival.

I attribute this success to three factors. The first is that though

the practice of the religion proper was restricted to the initiated,

they cultivated the support of a wider community of uninitiated,

lay devotees. An unpublished corpus of texts comprising principally

the S ´ ivadharma and the S ´ ivadharmottara, contains the observances

recommended to this laity, revealing that following the example of

the Buddhists the S áivas had propagated a lesser religion of merit-

gathering that centred on the support and veneration of the personsand institutions of the religion proper, promising that those whofollowed it would be rewarded in death by a period in the paradise

of S ´ iva (sívalokah_

, rudralokah_

) before returning to the world in the

most desirable of rebirths.2

The second is that the S áivism of the Mantram arga developed

in practice a thorough accommodation of the brahmanical religion

that it claimed to transcend, thus minimizing, even eliminating, the

offence it gave as a tradition whose scriptures, like those of the Bud-

dhists, were seen to be, and claimed to be, outside the corpus of the

Vedas. These S áivas were to accept that the brahmanical tradition

alone was valid in the domain it claimed for itself and that they

2 For further information on this corpus of texts and for evidence in it of inter-

action with the king and his court see Sanderson, forthcoming.

231S ´ AIVA OFFICIANTS – THE KING’S BRAHMANICAL CHAPLAIN



were bound to follow its prescriptions and incorporate its rituals

beside their own wherever practicable.3

Similarly, where they established themselves at the many S áiva

temple sites that pre-existed them they did not attempt to reform

worship by restricting it to the narrow pantheon that they propiti-

ated as initiates. This they imposed on the worship of S ´ iva in the

Lin_ ga at the heart of these foundations; but they also took over,

preserved, and regulated in accordance with the expectations of the

uninitiated laity a much wider range of ancillary deities, deities thathave no place in the scriptures and ritual manuals of the Man-

tram arga other than in treatments of their installation and iconog-

raphy in this special context.4

The third and most vital factor is that the religion succeeded in

forging close links with the institution of kingship and thereby

with the principal source of patronage. I see four main elements

3 Transgressing the rules of the brahmanical socio-religious system, known to

the S ´ aivas as the mundane religion (laukiko dharmah_

), is forbidden in a much-

cited passage from the lost Saiddh antika Bh argavottara: iti varn_

as´ram ac ar an

manas api na la _ nghayet= yo yasminn asrame tis_

t_

han d ıks_

itah_

sivas asane/sa tasminn

eva sam_

tis_

t_

hec chivadharmam_

ca p alayet ‘So he should not transgress the practices

of his caste-class and order of life even in thought. He should remain in the order

in which he was when he was initiated into the S ´ aiva religion and [at the same

time] maintain the ordinances of S ´ iva’. It is cited at, e.g., Nares´varapar ıks_ aprak asáad 3.76. See also Sarvaj ~ n anottara cited in Tantr alokaviveka ad 4.251ab, and

Mata _ ngap arames´vara, Cary ap ada 2.2–7b. That the S ´ aivas, at least those following

the Saiddh antika forms of observance, came to be widely accepted as co-religion-

ists in traditional brahmanical circles is evident from the report of the Kashmirian

philosopher Jayantabhat_

t_

a, a contemporary of king S ´ a_ nkaravarman (r. 883–902),

in Ny ayama~ njar ı vol. 1, p. 636, l.15–p. 637, l.4; p. 637, ll. 16–19; p. 638, ll. 12–13.

He defends the validity of the S ´ aiva scriptures and claims that his position is that

of the society of respectable Aryas (mah ajanah_

), which he defines as comprising all

who live within the system of the four caste-classes and orders of life in accor-

dance with the ordinances of the Veda. See also Sanderson, 1995, pp. 27–38.4 The principal of these ancillaries were Durg a Mahis

_ asuramardin ı , Um a,

Gan_

esa, Skanda, Vis_

n_

u, Brahm a, S urya, Laks_

m ı, Sarasvat ı, the Lokap alas, the

Grahas, the Mother goddesses (M at_

rs), and a number of non-Mantram argic S ´ iva

forms: (1) a simple single-faced S ´ iva with two or more arms, (2) Harihara or S ´ a_ nka-

ran ar ayan_

a, in which the left half of S ´ iva’s body is Vis_

n_

u, (3) Ardhan ar ıs´vara or

Gaur ısvara, inwhichthis half is his consort Um a, (4) the dancing Rudra, called vari-

ously Nr_

tyarudra, Nr_

ttes´vara, Nr_

tyes´vara, Nat_

es´vara, N at_

akesvara and N at_

yes´vara,

and (5) Um amahes´vara, also called Umesá and Um arudra, in which Um a sits on

S ´ iva’s left thigh with his arm around her. Early sources that cover their iconography

are the Pratis_

t_

h atantras Devy amata, Mayasam_

graha, Pi _ ngal amata, and Mohac uro-

ttara, and the general scripture Kiran_

a (Pat_

ala 52). See Sanderson, 2005, pp. 435–440.




here: (1) the occupying by S áiva officiants of the office of Royal

Preceptor (r ajaguruh_

) and in this position their giving S áiva initia-

tion (d ıks_

a) to the monarch followed by a specially modified version

of the S áiva consecration ritual (abhis_

ekah_

) as an empowerment to

rule beyond that conferred by the conventional brahmanical royal

consecration (r ajy abhis_

ekah_

); (2) the promoting by S áiva officiants

of the practice of displaying and legitimating a dynasty’s power by

their officiating in the founding of S áiva temples in which the new

S ívas that they enshrined bore as the individuating first half of theirnames that of the royal founder or, where complexes of royal S ´ iva

temples were established, those of the founder and any kin that he

might designate for this purpose; (3) the provision of a repertoire of protective, therapeutic and aggressive rites for the benefit of the

monarch and his kingdom; and (4) the development of S áiva rituals

and their applications to enable a specialized class of S áiva officiants

to encroach on the territory of the R ajapurohita, the brahmanical

expert in the rites of the Atharvaveda who served as the personal

priest of the king, warding off all manner of ills from him through

apotropaic rites, using sorcery to attack his enemies, fulfilling the

manifold duties of regular and occasional worship on his behalf,

and performing the funerary and other postmortuary rites when he

or other members of the royal family died.5

In a forthcoming monograph I have provided detailed evidenceof the first of these four factors.6 Here I consider the fourth, and,

by way of introduction, the third. For the two overlap. As we shall

see, a S áiva Guru acting in the role of a king’s personal chaplain

was expected, like his brahmanical counterpart, to perform rites to

protect the king and kingdom. But the two factors must be distin-

guished, since the performance of such rites was also commissioned

from independent S áiva Gurus acting outside this role.

2. STATE PROTECTION BY INDEPENDENT

S ÁIVA OFFICIANTS

An inscription of the fifth year of the reign of the Cola emperorR aj adhir aja II (r. 1163–79 or 1166–82) tells us that when an army

from Sri Lanka had invaded the mainland, removed the door of the

R ames´varam temple, obstructed the worship, and carried away all

5 See Sanderson, forthcoming, for textual sources requiring the royal chaplain to be an

Atharvavedin or expert in the apotropaic and other rites of the Atharvavedic tradition.6 Sanderson, forthcoming.




the temple’s treasures, a certain Jn anasíva, whose name shows him to

have been a Saiddh antika S áiva officiant, was engaged by the em-

peror to perform a ritual that would bring destruction on those

responsible for this desecration. According to the inscription the cere-

mony was continued for twenty-eight days and at its end the invad-

ing army was indeed defeated.7

Another example of a ritual performed by a S áiva officiant for

the good of the state is seen in a Sanskrit and Old Khmer inscrip-

tion of AD 1052 from Sdok Kak Thom. This reports that a certainHiran

_ yad ama was commissioned by Jayavarman II (r. 802– c. 835)

at the time of his founding of the unified kingdom of the Khmers

to perform a ritual of the V amasáiva system that would guaranteethat unity and the kingdom’s independence from Jav a:8

man vr ahman_

a jmah_

hiran_

yad ama pr aj ~ na siddhi vidy a mok amvi jana-

pada pi vrah_

p ada parames´vara a~ njen thve vidhi leha le _ n kam pi kamvu-

jadesa neh_

ayatta ta jav a ley le _ n ac ti kamrate _ n phdai karom_

mv ay guh_ ta j a cakravartti vr ahman

_ a noh

_ thve vidhi toy vrah

_ vin asíkha pratis

_ t_

ha

kamrate _ n jagat ta r aja vr ahman_

a noh_

paryyan vrah_

vin asíkha nayottara

sam_

moha sirascheda sva _ n man svat ta mukha cu_ n pi sarsir pi paryann

ste _ n a~ n sívakaivalya nu gi

K. 235, Old Khmer text, ll. 71–74

Then a brahmin called Hiran

_

yad ama, who was learned in the Mantras

that bestow Siddhi, came from Janapada. The Venerable Parames´vara[Jayavarman II] requested him to perform a ritual so that this land of

7 ARE 20 of 1899 at Arpp akkam, a village eight miles SSE of K anc ı puram;

SII 4, no. 456; summary in Sastri (1984, p. 368). For a translation of the relevant

part see ARE 1899, paragraph 34.8 Cœdes thought (1968, p. 100) that this Jav a was the island of Java. But the iden-

tification is uncertain. Vickery proposes that it was Champa (Skt. camp a), the land of

the Chams to the east in Southern Vietnam, claiming that ‘‘ jav a/chvea/ has been used

in Khmer until modern times to designate the Cham’’ (1998, p. 29; see also pp. 387

and 405). Champa and the Chams are frequently mentioned in the inscriptions but

never under this name, and in modern Khmer, according to the Cham scholar Phoen

(1987, p. 78), the term cited refers not to the Chams but to Malays descended from

Muslim immigrants from the Indonesian archipelago and the Malay peninsula in the

fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Khmer expression ‘‘cam jva’’ [i.e. cham chveá]

refers, he reports, to the Muslim community in Cambodia in general as compris-

ing both Chams and these Malays. Guesdon (1930, s.v.) gives chveá in the mean-

ing Java and by extension the Malay peninsula (‘‘malaisie’’). It is therefore more

probable that the independence to which the inscription refers was from a king-

dom in maritime Southeast Asia, probably that of the S ´ ailendras of S ´ r ıvijaya cen-

tred in southeastern Sumatra.




the Kambujas would no longer be subject to Jav a and only one king

would rule over it with sovereign power. That brahmin performed the

ritual [for those ends] following the venerable Vin asíkha9 and es-

tablished the [image of the] Kamrate_ n Jagat ta R aja. The brahmin

[then] taught the Vin asíkha, the Nayottara, the Sam_

moha and the

S ´ irasćheda. He recited them from beginning to end so that they could

be written down, and taught them to Ste _ n an S ´ ivakaivalya.

In none of these cases is it clear that the officiants engaged were

placing themselves beyond the domain of occasional rites for the

benefit of others by becoming priests tied to the service of the king

or the state.

Much material in the S áivas’ prescriptive literature is similarlyambiguous. For example, the Uttarabh aga of the Li _ ngapur an

_ a, which

in spite of its claim to be a Pur an_

a, is in large part a thinly-disguised

Paddhati text of the S ´ aiva Mantram arga, teaches in addition to the

rituals of Saiddh antika Li_ nga worship and installation (1) fire-sacri-

fices in which offerings are made to the Aghora aspect of S ´ iva

(in fact to the principal Daks_

in_

asaiva deity Svacchandabhairava,

though this is not made explicit in the text) for the benefit of the

king, to ward off danger from him and to restore his health,10 and

9 This is evidently the published V ın_

asíkha, the only complete V amasáiva

scripture to have reached us. The form Vin asíkha in the Old Khmer text is con-

firmed by the Sanskrit (v. 28, cited below), where the metre requires the first syl-lable to be short. The error may be attributed to the passage of two and a half

centuries between the introduction of these texts and the inscription. There is no

reason to assume that the Sanskrit original continued to be studied alongside the

Paddhati based on it throughout this period.10 See especially Li _ ngapur an

_ a, Uttarabh aga, chapters 19–27 and 46–54. As a text

seeking acceptance as a Pur an_

a and thereby as a work within the corpus of Veda-

derived revelation, it disguises its properly S ´ aiva character by jettisoning such

distinctively S ´ aiva doctrines as that of the thirty-six reality-levels (tattv ani ). It is, I

surmise, in the same spirit that it has avoided identifying its Aghora as Svaccha-

ndabhairava, the deity of the Svacchandatantra. That this is the true identity of the

deity is apparent in chapter 26, which is devoted to the worship of Aghora in the Li _ nga

or, less desirably, on a Sthan_

d_

ila, as an alternative to the regular Saiddh antika S ´ iva

worship in the Li_ nga taught, with the necessary d ıks_

a and ritual of Li_ nga installa-

tion, in chapters 19–25 and 46–47. A royal fire-sacrifice to this deity is taught in 49

and a ritual for destroying the king’s enemies in which the worshipper visualizes

himself as the same is taught in 50. The true name of the deity is not used, no doubt

because of its strongly non-Vedic associations, but his visualization (dhy anam) in

26.15–21b reveals his identity since it is of the five-faced and eighteen-armed Sva-

cchandabhairava taught in Svacchanda 2.81c–97. All the hand-attributes are identi-

cal if, as I propose, we emend to mun_

d _

am_

the inappropriate dan_

d _

am_

seen in 26.19c of

the published text.




(2) an elaborate S ´ akta S áiva procedure to guarantee that the king

will be victorious when he goes into battle.11 All this is very much

within the purview of the purposes of the rituals of the brahmanical

royal chaplain, but nothing in the text tells us whether the officiant

envisaged is a person acting in that role or an independent Guru

condescending to act for the benefit of the king in special circum-

stances, like Jn anasíva in the reign of R aj adhir aja II or Hiran_

yad ama

in that of Jayavarman II.

3. THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF STATE PROTECTION

In the last of these cases we have a record of a single ritual per-formed for state-protection by a Guru who was not in the king’s

service. But this instance also shows how such rituals could becomeregularized by transference to priests who were in such service. For

the S ´ ivakaivalya to whom Hiran_

yadama taught these four texts, the

principal scriptures of the V ama division of the S áiva canon, was

Jayavarman II’s R ajapurohita.12 The king had him appointed to

perform the regular worship of the image, the Kamrate_ n Jagat ta

R aja (Skt. Devar aja), that Hiran_

yad ama had established after this

ritual as the focus of a cult to protect the state; and it was agreed

that the duty and right to worship before this image should be

passed down through ascetics in S ´ ivakaivalya’s matriline:25 jayavarmmamah ıbhr

_ to mahendr a-

vanibhr_

nm urdhakr_

t aspadasya s´ ast a

kavir aryavar a _ ngavandit a _ nghrih_ sivakaivalya iti prat ıtir as ıt

26 hiran_

yad amadvijapu _ ngavo ’gryadh ır

iv abjayonih_

karun_

ardra agatah_ ananyalabdh am

_ khalu siddhim adar at

prak asay am asa mah ıbhr_

tam_

prati

11 The large number of S ´ akta goddesses worshipped in the one thousand vases

for the ‘consecration for victory’ ( jay abhis_

ekah_

) taught in chapter 27 are drawn

from various parts of the Kaula Kubjik amata (14.77–79, 81–85, 87, 91; 15.6–7, 20,

22, 27, 30, 48; 9.3c–4, 5, 6; 10.120c–123, 124c–127; 21.16–20b; 22.16A, 1–9, 10–25–

end; 2.59; 14.75, 77–79, 81, 84–85, 87, 91, etc.). But the procedure also includes

Saiddh antika, Daks_

in_

a and Vaidika elements.12 The Sanskrit part of the inscription refers to S ´ ivakaivalya as the Guru and

Hotar of Jayavarman II (v. 25: jayavarmmamah ıbhr_

to . . . s ast a=kavir . . .

sívakaivalya iti ; v. 27bc: asmai/hotre). The Khmer refers to him as the Guru and

Purohita of the king (C ll. 61–62: ste _ n a~ n sivakaivalya ta a ji pr aj ~ na j a guru j a

purohita ta vrah_

p ada paramesvara).




27 sa bh udharen_

anumato ’grajanm a

sas adhan am_

siddhim adiks_

ad asmai

hotre hitaik antamanah_

prasattim_ sam

_ bibhrate dh amavibr

_ m_

han aya

28 s´ astram_

sírasćhedavin asíkh akhyam_ sam

_ mohan am api nayottar akhyam

tat tumvuror vaktracatus_

kam asya

siddhyeva vipras samadarsáyat sah_

29 dvijas samuddhr_

tya sa s´ astras aram_ rahasyakausályadhiy a sayatnah

_ siddh ır vvahant ıh_

kila devar aj a-

bhikhy am_

vidadhre bhuvanarddhivr_

ddhyai

30 sa bh udharendras sahavipravaryyastasmin vidhau dh amanidh anahetau

v ıt antar ayam_

bhuvanoday aya

niyojay am asa mun ısvaran tam

31 tanm atr_

vam_

sé yatayas striyo v a

j at a + + + tra niyuktabh av ah_ tady ajak as syur na katha~ ncid anya

iti ks_

it ındradvijakalpan as ıt

. . .

61 samadhikadhis_

an_

as te s urivaryy as tad a tair

dharan_

ipatibhir abhyarn_

n_

arhan_

abhyarhan_

ıy ah_ nagaranihitasam

_ sth a devar ajasya n anye

sayamaniyamayatn ah_

pratyaha~ n cakrur arcc am

K. 235, 25–31, 61King Jayavarman, who had made his residence on the summit of Mount

Mahendra,13 had as his Guru a poet called S ´ ivakaivalya, whose feet had

been honoured by [contact with] the heads of [prostrating] Aryas. Hir-

an_

yad ama, an excellent brahmin, like Brahm a himself in his great wis-

dom, being moved by compassion came and with due respect revealed

to the king a Siddhi which no other had attained. To increase [the

king’s] splendour this brahmin, with the king’s permission, taught the

Siddhi and the means of achieving it to that offerer of the [king’s] sacri-

fices, [knowing that he was one] whose tranquil mind was devoted

entirely to [his monarch’s] welfare. The Brahman revealed to him as

though by means of [this] Siddhi the four faces of Tumburu that are the

[V ama scriptures] S ´ irasćheda, Vin asíkha, Sam_

moha and Nayottara, and

in order to increase the prosperity of the realm he carefully extracted the

essence of [those] texts through his mastery of the esoteric [teachings]

and [with it] established the Siddhis that bear the name Devar aja. Then

the king with [the support of ] this excellent Brahman appointed [S ´ iva-

kaivalya,] this lord among sages, to officiate in this ritual that is the

cause of the treasure of power, in order that the realm should prosper

without impediments. The king and the foremost of brahmins provided

13 Phnom Kulen.




that ascetics or women born in the latter’s maternal lineage, and no oth-

ers under any circumstances, should be appointed to this . . . and per-

form its worship.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Excellent scholars of the highest intelligence, settled by these kings in

the capital because they wished to have them nearby to venerate them

as they deserved, they and they alone, performed the daily service of

the Devar aja, zealously maintaining the major and minor restraints

[of the ascetic’s discipline].

We see similar cases of regularization of rites of royal protection in

our evidence for the Buddhist Way of Mantras. The Rgya gar chos

’byu _ n, the Tibetan history of Indian Buddhism completed by T aran athain AD 1608, reports that in order to protect his dynasty, expand its rule,

and spread the Buddhist religion the P ala king Dharmap ala (r. c. 775–

812) had a fire-sacrifice performed regularly for many years by Tan-

tric officiants under the direction of his Guru Buddhaj~ n anap ada at

an overall cost of 902,000 tolas of silver.14

An inscription of the reign of Jayavarman V (r. c. 968– c. 1000/1)

reveals a similar arrangement in the Khmer court of Angkor. It tells

us that one K ırtipan_

d_

ita, a Mah ay anist scholar and adept of the

Buddhist Yogatantras, who had been adopted by the royal family as

their Guru, was frequently engaged by the king to perform apotro-

paic, restorative and aggressive Mantra rituals within the royal pal-

ace for the protection of his kingdom.15

4. S ÁIVA OFFICIANTS IN THE ROLE OF THE

R AJAPUROHITA

Even in the case of the hereditary Khmer priests of the Kamrate_ n

Jagat ta R aja there is no reason to think that they were R ajapuro-

hitas in the narrow sense of the term, that is to say, personal chap-

lains performing the whole repertoire of ritual duties, namely

14 For these reports see Chimpa and Chattopadhyaya (1970, pp. 274, 278–279).

At present one tola (Skt. tul a ) is approx. 11.7 grammes. By that standard the

expense said to have been incurred would have been that of 10,553.4 kg. of silver.15 K. 111, 36: r as

_ t_

raman_

d _

alaraks_

artham_

satkr_

ty ayu _ nkta yan nr_ pah

_ /*mandir abhyan-

tare (corr.: man_

d _

ir abhyantare Ep.) bh ıks_

n_

am_

s antipus_

t_ y adikarmmasu ‘In order to pro-

tect his realm the king bestowed honours on him and frequently engaged him within

the palace to perform rituals for the quelling of dangers, the restoration of health

and the rest’. The ‘rest’ I presume to be abhic arah_

, that is to say rituals for the harming

of enemies. For evidence that K ırtipan_

d_

ita was an adept of the Yogatantras see

Sanderson, 2005, p. 427, n. 284.




(1) rituals to ward off dangers and ills of every kind from the king

and his kingdom (s antikam_

karma), some of them simple rites to

protect the king’s person to be performed at various times every

day, others much more elaborate ceremonies to be performed peri-

odically, (2) rituals to restore his health and vigour ( paus_

t_

ikam_ karma), (3) rituals to harm his enemies ( abhic arikam

_ karma), (4) the

regular and occasional rituals (nityam_

karma and naimittikam_

karma)

required of the king,16 (5) reparatory rites ( pr ayascitt ıyam_

karma),

and (6) postmortuary rites (aurdhvadehikam_

karma) when the king or

any other member of the royal family dies.17

4.1 The Netratantra

For unambiguous evidence of S áiva Gurus tied to the service of

kings in that sense we are forced to turn from inscriptions recording

events to a scriptural text regulating practice. This is the S áiva

Netratantra, a work of approximately 1,300 stanzas that sets out rit-

ual observances based on the propitiation of the deity Amr_

tes´vara

(/Amr_

tesa), also known as Amr_

tesabhairava, and/or his consort

Amr_

talaks_

m ı.18

It has come down to us in Kashmirian manuscripts with a learned

commentary written from the non-dualistic S áiva point of view bythe Kashmirian Ks

_

emar aja in the early part of the eleventh century

and it was published therewith on the basis of two of these manu-scripts in the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies in 1926 and 1939.19

16 The daily, periodic and occasional religious duties of the king and his per-

sonal chaplain are set out in the Atharvavedaparis_

t_

a. See also Vis_

n_

udharmottara 2,

Adhy ayas 5, 18–23, 132–144, 151–162, 176–177 (see n. 68 below for a listing of

the rituals covered); N ılamata 810–848; Adipur an_

a-Tithikr_

tya ll. 2618–3010;

Br_

hatsam_

hit a, Adhy ayas 42 (Indra festival) and 43 (N ır ajanas´ anti).17 For this classification see Atharvavedaparisís

_ t_

a 3.1.10: yasy anyakulopayuktah_ purodh ah

_ s antikapaus

_ t_

ikapr ayasćitt ıy abhic arikanaimittikaurdhvadehik any atharvavi -

hit anikarm an_

i kury at.18 Amr

_ tes´vara is also known as Mr

_ tyun jaya/Mr

_ tyujit and as Netran atha. The Aisá

form Amr_

t ısá (Amr_

t’ ısá) is also attested. The name Amr_

talaks_

m ı is found not in the

Netra itself, where she is simply S ´ r ı/Laks_

m ı, but in the ritual manuals based on that

text. Amr_

tesvara and Amr_

talaks_

m ı may be worshipped independently or as a pair.19 Hitherto the only substantial scholarly attention paid to this work as a whole

has been an account of its contents published by Brunner (1974). While generally

accurate that is a summary rather than an analysis and it is one that does not rec-

ognize what I identify as the distinctive and pervasive character of this text,

namely that it envisages atypical S ´ aiva officiants operating outside their traditional

territory in that of the king’s chaplain.




Its high standing in Kashmir is indicated by the composition and

preservation of this commentary, by the fact that the cult of its dei-

ties, taught only in the Netratantra, is one of the two principal bases

of the S áivism of the Kashmirian ritual manuals in use until recent

times,20 by the survival of three previously unidentified images of

Amr_

tesvara and his consort Amr_

talaks_

m ı in the small corpus of

known non-Buddhist Kashmirian bronzes,21 and by the fact that a

20 The other is that of Svacchandabhairava taught in the Svacchandatantra. In the

Kashmirian S ´ aiva manuals of ritual the principal deities (mantracakram) are gener-

ally Svacchandabhairava (Sakalabhat_

t_ araka [=Aghora] and Nis

_ kalabhat

_ t_ araka)

with Aghoresvar ı and Amr_

tesvarabhairava with Amr_

talaks_

m ı at the centre of

the Y aga surrounded by the Bhairavas of the Svacchandatantra. See, e.g.,

Kal ad ıks_

avidhi ff. 25v8–30v8; Agnik aryapaddhati A f. 16r; and S ´ ivanirv an_

avidhi pp.

257, l.12–263, l. 11. The Kashmirian digest Nity adisam_

grahapaddhati , compiled by

R aj anaka Taks_

akavarta at an unknown time after the completion of the Somasám-

bhupaddhati in AD 1095/6, that being the latest of the datable works cited by him,

distinguishes among the S ´ aiva initiates he is addressing between followers of the

Siddh anta, followers of the Netratantra, and followers of the Svacchandatantra.21 Two have been reproduced in Pal, 1975, plates 6 and 7. He assigns the first

to‘‘Kashmir or Afghanistan’’ and the tenth to eleventh century and the second to

‘‘Kashmir or Himachal Pradesh (?)’’ and the tenth century. The first has also been

published by Reedy, who assigns it to Kashmir and the same period (1997, K85).

A third found its way to a Buddhist temple in Ladakh and has been reproduced

in Snellgrove and Skorupski, 1977, vol. 2, p. 77, Fig. 66. These scholars were notaware of the identity of the image. Nonetheless, Pal, followed by Reedy, asserts

that it is ‘‘Um a-Mahes´vara’’, and Snellgrove and Skorupski that it is Vis_

n_

u with

Laks_

m ı.

According to the visualization-texts (dhy anam) of these deities (Netra 3.17-23b;

18.63–69), to which these three bronzes conform precisely, Amr_

tes´vara is crowned,

white, one-faced, three-eyed, and four-armed, sitting on a white lotus at the centre

of a lunar disc. In the proper right of his two inner hands he holds a vase of nec-

tar at his heart and a full moon held at head height in the left, the upper arm hor-

izontal and the forearm vertical. The outer right and left hands show the gestures

of generosity and protection. The latter is invisible behind Amr_

talaks_

m ı’s back in

the bronzes. Amr_

talaks_

m ı has the same appearance except that she carries the dis-

cus and the conch rather than the vase and moon in her inner right and left hands.

Her gesture of protection is visible in the bronzes. She sits in Amr_

tes´vara’s lap, on

his left thigh, and, in the bronzes is considerably smaller than her consort.

Among the other known non-Buddhist bronzes from Kashmir I am aware of

only two others that belong to the domain of the S ´ aiva Mantram arga. Both are

images of the K al ıkula’s goddess Siddhalaks_

m ı, identified in Sanderson (1990). No

bronze of the Siddh anta’s Sad asiva or the Daks_

in_

a’s Svacchanda has come to

light, though there are some modern paintings of the latter. The remaining non-

Buddhist bronzes are P ancar atrika images of Vis_

n_

u and images of S ´ iva and other

gods proper to the domain of regular brahmanical observance.




visualization verse for these deities recited in the S áiva rituals22 was

given pride of place in the non-S ´ aiva fire-sacrifice of the Kashmirian

brahmins, being recited before pouring the oblations that accompany

the recitation of the S ´ atarudriya of the K at_

haka Yajurveda, the first in

a series of five Vedic hymns to Rudra (the rudrapa~ ncakam).23

The Netratantra was not limited in its distribution and influence

to Kashmir. We have a Nepalese manuscript of the text from the

beginning of the thirteenth century;24 we have manuscripts in the

same region of two texts, one of the early thirteenth century and

the other probably so, that set out the procedures of its initiation cer-

emony and of the regular postinitiatory worship of its deities; and

the inclusion of their worship in larger ritual contexts in the anony-mous manuals in Newari and Sanskrit used by the Tantric officiants

of the Kathmandu valley shows that the cult became and remained

an integral part of Newar S ´ aivism. Thus in the autumnal Navar atra

ceremonies Amr_

tesabhairava and his retinue are the deities of the

vase-worship (kalasáp uj a) at the beginning of the installation of the

royal sword (khad _

gasth apanavidhih_

) on the eighth day (mah as_

t_

am ı ).25

The Nepalese texts that set out the procedures for initiation andsubsequent regular worship reveal that the cult was practised in the

royal family. The text on initiation, the Amr_

tesvarad ıks_

avidhi , envis-

ages no initiand but the king, since when it turns to the duties of

the initiand on the day after the ceremony it requires him to returnto the Guru in a full military parade accompanied by his minis-

22 See, e.g., S ´ ivanirvan_

avidhi p. 261: devam_

sudh akalasásomakaram_

trinetram_

pa-

dm asanam_

ca varad abhayadam_

susúbhram/sa _ nkh abhay abjavarabh us_

itay a ca devy a v a-

me ’ _ nkitam_

sámanabha _ ngaharam_

nam ami ‘I prostrate myself to the god who frees

us from the torture of death, three-eyed, perfectly white, holding a vase of nectar

and the moon, [showing the gestures of] bestowing boons and protection, seated

on a lotus, marked on his left by the goddess adorned with a conch, [the gesture

of ] protection, a lotus and [the gesture of ] bestowing boons’.23 See Vedakalpadruma pp. 15–16.24 NAK MS 1-285: ‘Amr

_ tesátantram’. In the colophons of this manuscript the

work is referred to as the Mr_

tyujidamr_

t ısávidh ana. In Kashmirian sources it is also

known as the Mr_

tyu~ njaya or Mr_

tyujit, often with the honorific -bhat_

t_

araka; see,

e.g., Ks_

emar aja, S ´ ivas utravimarsín ı ad 1.1, 1.13, 1.19, 3.16, etc. In citations of the

Netra below this manuscript will be referred to as N and the Kashmirian edition

as Ed. For the date of the manuscript see n. 28 below.25 Navar atrap uj a f. 2r4–v8.




ters.26 Its author, Vis´ves´vara,27 may well be the person of that name

reported by the scribe of our Nepalese manuscript of the Netratantra

as having commissioned the copying, which was completed in Febru-

ary/March of AD 1220.28 If so, then Vis´ves´vara may have produced his

treatise in the context of initiation given to the Nepalese kings Arimalla

(b. 1153, r. 1200/01–1216) and/or his son Abhayamalla (b. 1183, r.

1216–1255).29 Be that as it may, it is certain that the latter received this

initiation, since it was he who, at some time before his accession, com-

posed our Nepalese ritual manual on the regular postiniatory worship.30

The fact that evidence of the text and its traditions is known from

Kashmir and Nepal does not, of course, reveal its provenance; and

in general one would not expect to be able to determine that fromthe text itself, since such works tend to lack the references to locat-

able realities that allow us to draw conclusions of this kind. TheNetratantra, however, is exceptional in this respect. I propose that it

contains evidence sufficient to justify the conclusion that it was

26 For this reference to the newly initiated king’s procession in full military

parade see Sanderson, forthcoming.27 Amr

_ tes´varad ıks

_ avidhi f. 19r1: bhairavasy amr

_ t ısásya d ıks

_ at_

ippan_

akam_

sphut_

am/

vis´ves´varen_

a racitam_

sajjan as´ carcayantv idam.28 Amr

_ tesátantra f. 89v4–5: sam aptam idam

_ mr

_ tyujidamr

_ t ısávidh anam

_ sam

_ p urn

_ am

iti súbham: sam

_

vat 320 caitra sudi 9 sanidine ++ vis´ves´varalikh apitam idam

_

pusta-

kam_ : pam_ d _ itak ırttidharalikhitam_ may a. That this text is Nepalese is not certain, butit is probable. The account of initiation is supplemented by a passage on the S ´ akta

vedhad ıks_

a incorporated from the Kubjik amata, a text of central importance in the

S ´ akta-S ´ aiva tradition of the Newars (f. 16r11–v1110.83–92b, 94, 96–98 and 100–107).29 For these dates see Petech (1958, pp. 76 and 82).30 See Amr

_ tes´varap uj a f. 7v2–3: sr ıdev abhayamallena sad ac aryopadesín a=sr ımr

_ tyu-

~ njayadevasya nityap uj avidhih_

kr_

tah._

ity amr_

tes´varap ujanam_

sam aptam (see also Petech,

1958, p. 89, citing its palm-leaf exemplar NAK MS 1–1365.5); Amr_

tes´varap uj a f. 1v5–6

(v. 2): p ıy us_

asindhulahar ısátasiktapadmamadhye sphurattuhinaras´mimar ıcisúbhram=natv a mahesam amalam

_ kamal asah ayam abhyarcanam

_ vitanute ’bhayamalladevah

_ .

NAK MS 1–1365.5 was copied on June 8, 1216 just before the end of the reign of Abha-

yamalla’s father Arimalla (Petech, 1958, p. 84). Other relevant Nepalese manu-

scripts are Amr_

tes´varap uj agnik aryavidh ana, Amr_

tas uryap uj avidhi with drawings of the

deities, ‘P uj ak an_

d _

a’, which contains inter alia an Amr_

tabhairav arcanavidhi penned in

AD 1277/8, an Amr_

t ısábhairavabhat_

t_

arak ahnikavidhi , and an Amr_

tas ury arcanavidhi .

Amr_

tas urya is Amr_

tes´vara in the form of the Sun God, the worship of this ectype

being prescribed before that of the deity proper, as was standard procedure in the

Siddh anta, whose Paddhatis prescribe a cult of S ´ ivas urya before that of S ´ iva. There

is no such preliminary in the Netra itself. The icon of Amr_

tas urya created for this pur-

pose was the three-faced, eight-armed variant of the Sun God holding the weapons of

the eight Lokap alas taught (13.21c–25b) in the section of that text devoted to the ico-

nography of various non-S ´ aiva deities, one of three forms of that God taught there.




indeed produced in one of the two places in which we see evidence

of its presence, namely Kashmir, and that it was composed there be-

tween c. 700 and c. 850, probably towards the end of that period.31

With the exception of an insertion of 95 verses seen in the Nepalese

manuscript32 the only major difference between the transmissions of theNetratantra in that and the Kashmirian manuscripts is that the deviations

from strictly grammatical Sanskrit that abound in the early S ´ aiva scrip-

tures are much fewer in the latter, most of whose divergent readings are

best explained as the result of rephrasing to remove such anomalies. In thecitations that follow I have therefore privileged the readings of the Nepa-

lese manuscript (N) as evidence of an earlier state of the Kashmirian text.33

31 My reasons for proposing this provenance and date are set out in the Appendix.32 This insertion (ff. 47r1–53r2) is placed after 18.3 of the published edition. The

Nepalese manuscript treats this as the remainder of the 18th chapter (18.4–99). It

then gives the whole of the edition’s chapter 18, so repeating 18.1–3, as its chapter

19, and so on to the end, so that it has 23 chapters rather than the edition’s 22. The

subject-matter of the additional verses is hostile visualization rituals and fire-sacrifices

in which the deity takes the form of Mah abhairava. It has drawn on the Svacchanda:

18.62c–68b9.62–67; 18.69–71a9.71–73a; 18.72ab9.76ab; 18.73–786.72c–78b;

18.79–85a6.85c–91c; 18.85b–876.92–94; and 19.92–95a6.68c–71c.33 Particularly notable among the Aisá usages accepted in my edition of the pas-

sages cited below is the use of genitives, instrumentals, locatives and ablatives/datives

plural side by side in a single construction without difference of meaning: e.g. pis acais

c apy anekasah_ =brahmaraks

_ agrah adibhyah

_ kot

_ isó yadi mudrit ah

_ 2.14bcd; nr

_ p an

_ am

_ nr_ papatn ın am

_ tatsut an am

_ dvij adis

_ u 15.20cd; nr

_ patau tatsut an am

_ 18.112ab; duh

_ sva-

pnair m atar ıs_

u ca 19.98d; gos_

u br ahman_

araks_

artham atmanah_

svajanes_

u ca 19.104ab;

s aly adis_

u ca sasyes_

u phalam ulodakena ca=durbhiks_

avy adhik aryes_

u utp atais´ c apy

anuttamaih_

19.108. This licence surely reflects the development of the case endings in

Middle Indo-Aryan as witnessed in the Apabhram_

sá stage, in which the locative and

instrumental plural have merged, as have the dative, genitive and ablative plural (Ta-

gare 1987, pp. 141–150). Other typical features of the MIA-influenced register of San-

skrit seen here are the extended stems of m atr ıbhir 2.13c, m atar ıs_

u 19.98d, d _

avy a 2.13d,

bh ubhr_

t an am_

12.7d, aris_

t_

acihnit atm ano (nom. sg.; conj.; cf. Picumata f. 238v [52.15a]:

s adhakas tu mah atm ano) 19.107a, and pasáves_

u (conj.; cf. Picumata f. 224r [46.34b]:

pasav an am_

) 19.120c; the contracted stems of s´reyam in 19.105a and digv asam in

13.10c; -eta for -ayeta in the optative in abhimantreta 19.90c, 19.117d, and 19.119a;

the dispensability of final t=d revealed in ks_

ipe ’nale (18.118b) for ks_

iped anale; the loss

of declension in the numerals (catuh_

for catv arah_

in 18.121a); the neuter plural siddh ıni

in 18.79c and 19.115c; so for sa in 16.113c; the non-causative base in the pseudo-causa-

tive abhis_

i ~ ncayet in 19.109d; and ’yeta for -ayeta in p ujyeta in 19.104c. Untypical is the

use of pratis_

t_

h apyah_

in an active sense governing an object in the accusative in the

phrase pratis_

t_

h apyah_

. . . guruh_

. . . bh ıs_

an_

am_

r upam ‘the Guru should install the fright-

ening [Bhairava] form’ in 18.119–120. For the term Aisa (‘uttered by God’) in this con-

text see the references in Sanderson, 2002, n. 27. For the reader’s convenience I have

retained the chapter and verse numbers of the published edition (Ed.).




4.2 The Netratantra’s S ´ aiva Officiant

Now the S áiva officiant in our Netratantra has very much the charac-

ter of a personal chaplain to the king. He is presented as the per-

former of rites for the protection and prosperity of all members of

society, but this wider constituency is generally mentioned only after

the text has specified the king, his wives and their children, who arethe principal intended beneficiaries and in many cases the only ones.

After various preliminaries the text introduces its subject as follows:

2.13 bh utayaks_

agrahonm adas akin ıyogin ıgan_

aih_ bhagin ırudram atr ıbhir d

_

avy ad

_

amarik adibhih

_ 14 r upik abhir apasm araih_

pis acais´ c apy anekasah_ brahmaraks

_ agrah adibhyah

_ kot

_ isó yadi mudrit ah

_ 15 apamr_

tyubhir akr ant ah_

k alap asáir jigh am_

sit ah_ r aj ano r ajatanay a r ajapatnyo hy anekasáh

_ 16 vipr adipr an_

in_

ah_

sarve sarvados_

abhay ardit ah_ yena vai smr

_ tam atren

_ a mucyante tad brav ımi te

13c m atr ıbhir corr. : m atr ıbhi N : m atr adi Ed. : 13d d _

avy ad _

amarik adibhih_ N : d

_ av ıd

_ amarik adibhih

_ Ed. 14b anekasáh

_ Ed. : anekasáih

_ N 14c

raks_

agrah adibhyah_

N : raks_

ograh adyais´ ca Ed. 15b jigh am_

sit ah_

Ed. :

jigh am_

sat a N

I shall tell you that [Mantra] by whose mere remembrance [the Guru]

can free kings, their wives and children, and [indeed] all creatures begin-

ning with learned brahmins, if they have been dominated by any of thecountless hordes of [possessing spirits:] Bh utas, Yaks

_ as, Unm adas, S ´ a-

kin ıs, Yogin ıs, Bhagin ıs, Rudram atars, D_

av ıs, D_

amar ıs, R upik as, Ap-

asm aras, Pis´ acas, Brahmaraks_

as, Grahas and the like, if they have been

attacked by Apamr_

tyus, if they are in danger of falling victim to the

snares of Death, or are suffering from the danger of any ill.

From this point until the end of the sixth of the work’s twenty-two

chapters we are told the Mantra, its worship, the ceremony of initia-

tion to that worship and then a number of procedures for its applica-

tion. The benefits specified are the restoring of physical vitality

( pus_

t_

ih_

) (3.77), longevity ( p urn_

am ayuh_

) (3.78), wealth (sr ıh_

) (3.78),

rule (r ajyam) (3.79), good health (3.79), rescuing the dying fromdeath (mr_

ty utt aran_

am) (6.9–11b), the warding off of all ills

(mah as antih_

) (6.11c–13b) and the banishing of fevers ( jvaran asáh_

)(6.15cd). The last half of the sixth chapter sets out a procedure for

the protection of the king (r ajaraks_

avidh anam). A Yantra, that is to

say a diagram on birch bark inscribed with the Mantra and the name

of the beneficiary, is worshipped; a fire-sacrifice is performed; and




the king is consecrated from a vase into which the Mantra has been

infused. The ceremony is to destroy the pride of his enemies when he

goes into battle, to free him from all illnesses, and to bestow on him

the highest sovereignty.34

Chapters 7 and 8 outline subtler, meditational practices, but the

context is unchanged, as it is in chapters 9 to 14, which teach that

the Mantra is absolutely universal in its range and can therefore be

used in conjunction with any deity and its retinue, not merely with

Amr_

tesvara as visualized in the cult proper. So we are given the

appropriate substitute deity-visualizations for the four main divi-

sions of the S ´ aiva Mantram arga, namely the Siddh anta, the V ama,

the Daks_

in_

a and the Kaula, and then, beyond S áivism, for the cultsof Vis

_ n_

u, the Sun, S ´ iva in the lay context, Brahm a, the Buddha,

Skanda, K ama, the Moon, Gan_

esá, the Lokap alas, ‘‘and all other

deities’’. The context, though mostly only implicit in this long sec-

tion, surfaces in the chapter on the Kaula modification. There we

are told that the eight Mothers (who form the circuit of Amr_

tes´vara

in this case) must be worshipped with abundant offerings to bring

about the warding off of ills (s antih_

), but with exceptional lavish-

ness when the beneficiary is the king, because it is by their favour

that he will enjoy untroubled rule:

12.6 pa _ nktisth a v a yajed dev ıh

_

sarv abh ıs

_

t

_

aphalaprad ah

_ sarves_

am_

caiva s´ antyartham_

pr an_

in am_

bh utim icchat a7 bh uriy agena yas

_ t_

avy a yath ak am anur upatah_ vi ses

_ en_

a tu yas_

t_

avy a bh ubhr_

t an am_

tu daisíkaih_ 8 as am eva pras adena r ajyam

_ nihatakan

_ t_

akam

bhu~ njate sarvar aj anah_

subhag a hy avan ıtale

6c sarves_

am_

caiva N : sarves_

am eva Ed. 7b yath ak am anur upatah_

Ed. :

yath akarm anur upatah_

N 7c visés_

en_

a tu N : visés_

ad devi Ed. 7d bh u-

bhr_

t an am_

tu N : bh ubhr_

t am api Ed.

Alternatively [the officiant] should worship these goddesses that

bestow all the benefits one desires in a row [rather than a circle], in

order to bring about the warding off of ills from all, desiring the pros-

perity of [all] creatures. O Goddess, officiants should make lavish

34 Netra 6.35c–50, beginning r ajaraks_

avidh anam_

tu *bh ubhr_

t an am_

(conj. [cf. 12.7d

below]: bh ubhr_

t ama N: bh ubhr_

t am_

tu Ed.) prak asayet=sam_

gr amak ale varadam_

ri -

pudarp apaham_

bhavet; 6.40: sarvama _ ngalaghos_

e_ na sírasi hy abhis

_ ecayet=sa mucyeta

na *sam_

deho (N [Aisa sandhi] : sam_

dehah_

Ed.) sarvavy adhiprap ıd _

itah_

; 6.46d:*bh ubhr

_ to (N : bh ubhr

_ t am

_ Ed.) r ajyam uttamam.




offerings to them in accordance with the benefit desired, but especially

on behalf of kings. [For] if a kingdom is free of enemies and fortunate

kings enjoy [their sovereignty] on earth, it is by their favour. 35

In the 15th chapter the text returns to the detail of protecting the royal

household (r ajaraks_

a), and this theme continues in the chapters that

follow. The Yantra taught in the 17th will bestow victory on kings

who are under attack from beyond their borders and should be used at

all times to protect the king’s wives, his sons, brahmins and others.36

Chapter 18 teaches the procedures for the worship of S ´ r ı

(Amr_

talaks_

m ı) without her consort. We are told:

sam_

gr amak ale dhy atavy a khad _

gapatralat asthit a

18.86 jayam_

prayacchate’vasyam_

ripudarp apah a bhavet

sam_

gr am agre sad a y ajy a parar as_

t_

rajig ıs_

un_

a

87 avasyam_

jayam apnoti devadevy ah_

pras adatah_

86a prayacchate ’vasyam_

N : prayacchate tasya Ed. 86d parar as_

t_

raji -

g ıs_

un_

a Ed. : ripudarp apah a bhavet N (dittography of 86b)

The Supreme Goddess should be visualized on the blade of the [king’s]

sword at the time of battle. She bestows certain victory, crushing the

pride of his enemies. A king who desires to conquer another kingdom

should always sponsor her worship before the battle. By her favour he

is bound to win.37

The long 19th chapter details procedures for countering possession

by various classes of being. Here the Guru’s role is portrayed almost

exclusively as that of priest to the royal family. He is told that he

may use his knowledge to help his own family and pupils but other-

wise he is to do these rites only for the king, his queens and their

children. And there is a further restriction that emphasizes his tie to

35 According to Kalhan_

a Circles of the Mothers (m atr_

cakr an_

i ) were set-up at the

passes leading into the kingdom of Kashmir, no doubt as the guardians of the realm.

R ajataran_ gin_

ı 1.122: dv ar adis_

u pradeses_

u prabh avogr an_ y udagray a= ıs anadevy a

tatpatny a m atr_

cakr a _ ni cakrire ‘ Is anadev ı, the wife of this [Jalauka, son of Asóka],

set-up Circles of the Mothers, terrible in their power, at the passes and other places’.36 17.5c–7: sarvas´ antipradam

_ cakram

_ pus

_ t_

isaubh agyad ayakam= ayurv ıryapradam_

* pun_

yam_

(N : caiva Ed.) jvararogavin asánam= parar as_

t_

ravibh ıt an am_

nr_

p an_

am_

vija-

y avaham=r ajastr ın_

am_

*sut an am_

ca (N : tatsut an am_

Ed.) vipr ad ın am_

ca sarvasah_ =

raks_

a hy es_

a prakartavy a sarvopadrava*n asán ı (N : n asín ı Ed.)37 A ritual for the empowering of the sword with the Mantra of K al ı before the

king goes into battle is part of the repertoire of the Paippal ada Atharvavedin

R ajapurohitas of Orissa seen in the Paippal adavas adis_

at_

karmapaddhati , pp. 71–72

( A _ ngirase K alik amantravidh anam).




them: he may exorcise his own family and pupils only if they are

devout, whereas he is obliged to exorcise the royal family regardless

of their personal qualities, for the king, we are told, is the head of

all the religious orders of life (sarv asramagurutv at).38

The chapter continues with services of protection that the offici-

ant is to render to the king during the course of each day:

mukhe praks_

alite nityam_

tilakam_

s´vetacandanam

19.89 sapt abhimantritam_

k aryam_

dos_

anivr_

ttaye tad a

sn anak ale tath a k aryam_

tilakam_

svetabhasman a

sam alabhanapus_

pam_

v a t amb ulam_

v abhimantritam

90 d ıyate yasya tasyaiva na him_

sant ıha him_

sak ah_

88d tilakam_

s´vetacandanam_

N : tilakah_

s´vetabhasman a Ed. 89a sapt a-

bhimantritam_

k aryam_

N : sapt abhimantritah_

k aryo Ed. 89b dos_

anivr_

-

ttaye tad a N : m atr_

dos_

anivr_

ttaye Ed. 89cd This line is in N only.39

89e sam alabhana N : sam alambhana Ed. 89f t amb ulam_

v abhimantritam

N : t amb ulen abhimantritam Ed. 90a tasyaiva Ed. : tasyeha N

Whenever the [king’s] face has been washed [the officiant] should give

[him] a forehead mark of white sandal paste that has been empowered

by reciting [the Mantra of Amr_

tes´vara] over it seven times, in order to

prevent assaults [by the Mothers40] at that time. He should also give

[him] a forehead mark of white ash at the time of bathing. Harmful

[spirits] will not attack [that king] to whom he gives betel or a flower

with fragrant powder.

38 19.86 bhakt an am_

svasut an am_

ca svad ar an_

am_

*tu (N : ca Ed.) k arayet=svasi -

s_ y a _ n am

_ *tu (N : ca Ed.) bhakt an am

_ n anyath a tu prayojayet/87 sarv a sramagurutv ac

ca bhupat ın am_

ca sarvad a=tatsut an am_

ca patn ın am_

*kartavyam_

tu hit arthin a (N : ka-

rtavyo hitam icchat a Ed.) ‘He may do it for his sons, wife and his pupils only if they

are devoted [to S ´ iva]. Otherwise he must not employ [this procedure]. [But] if he

desires the welfare [of all] he must always do it for kings, for the king is the head

of all the orders, and likewise for the king’s sons and wives’. For this reference to

the king as the patron (- guruh_

) of the orders ( as´rama-), of the caste-classes (varn_

a-)

and of both (varn_

as´rama-) cf. Kath asarits agara 12.6.85 (varn_

as´ramaguruh_

) and the

sources cited in Sanderson, forthcoming, especially Brahmasambhu’s Paddhati

Naimittikakarm anusam_

dh ana, in which it is said that the purpose of the S ´ aiva modi-

fication of the royal consecration following the S ´ aiva initiation of the king is to quali-

fy him to hold office as the patron of the caste-classes and orders (f. 74v1 [4.118]:

varn_

n_

an am asram an_

a~ n ca gurubh av aya bh upateh_ = yo bhis

_ ekavidhih

_ sopi procyate

d ıks_

it atmanah_

).39 N shows that the text seen in the edition has been corrupted by an eyeskip

from the s´veta of s´vetacandanam in 88b to the sveta of svetabhasman a in 89d. That

19.89 has three lines here is simply because I have kept the numeration of the edi-

tion for the reader’s convenience.40 That the assaults prevented are those of the Mothers is conveyed by the read-

ing m atr_

dos_

anivr_

ttaye of the Kashmirian edition.




He must infuse the Mantra of Amr_

tes´vara into the king’s food be-

fore he eats and protect him with a visualization:

bhojanam_

c abhimantreta mantren_

anena mantravit

19.91 ubhayoh_

candrayor madhye bhu~ nj ano ’mr_

tam asńute

sarvavy adhivinirmuktas tis_

t_

hate nr_

patih_

ks_

itau

90c c abhimantreta Ed. : c abhimantryaiva N 91a candrayoh_

N : p ars´va-

yoh_

Ed.41

The Master of Mantras should empower [the king’s] food by reciting

this Mantra upon it. If the king eats between two [visualized] moon

discs he consumes the nectar of immortality42 and lives [long] on

earth, free of all disease.

He is also to use his art to protect the king’s person before he

begins his daily training in the arts of war:43

19.92 atha kr ıd _

anak ales_

u gaj as´vasahites_

u ca

astrakr ıd _

asu sarv asu raks_

artham_

kalasám_

yajet

93 kr ıd _

artham_

vijay artham_

ca raks_

artham_

him_

sak adis_

u

yasm ad dus_

t_

as´ ca bahavo jigh am_

santi nr_

pes_

u ca

92b gaj as´vasahites_

u em. : gaj as´vamahis_

es_

u N : gaj as´vasahitasya Ed.

93a ca Ed. : tu N 93d nr_

pes_

u ca N : nr_

p adikam Ed.

41 N’s reading candrayoh_

has more attack. It is also supported by Ks_

emar aja ad

loc.: anena mantren_

a proktadr_

s a sam_

put_ ık arayukty a dhy ato ’bhimantritas candrad -

vayamadhyasthitam_

bhojanam_

bhu~ nj ano ’mr_

tam asńute ’mr_

tatvam eti nr_

patih_

‘If the

king is empowered with this Mantra while visualized enclosed by it on either side in

the manner already taught and eats [his] food between two moons [likewise visual-

ized on either side of it] he obtains ambrosia, i.e. becomes immortal’.42 Literally ‘‘he obtains ambrosia’’. The point of the visualization is that the

moon is the embodiment of nectar (amr_

tam), as is Amr_

tesvara, who is visualized

at the centre of a lunar disc, holding in two of his hands a vase of nectar and a

lunar disc. See n. 21 above.43 Such activities are prescribed as part of a king’s daily routine, after he has at-

tended to affairs of state, heard petitions and the like, in Vis_

n_

udharmottara 2.151.31–

32b: mantram_

kr_

tv a tatah_

kury ad vy ay amam_

pr_

thiv ıpatih_ =rathe n age tathaiv as´ve

khad _

ge dhanus_

i c apy atha=anyes_

u caiva sastres_

u niyuddhes_

u tatah_

param ‘When the

king has dealt with affairs of state he should exercise, by riding a chariot, an elephant

and a horse, then in training bouts with sword, bow and other weapons’. Cf. 2.65.3d–

4b concerning the training of the crown prince: dhanurvedam_

ca siks_

ayet=rathe ’sve;ku~ njare caiva vy ay amam

_ k arayetsad a ‘[The king] should teach him the art of archery

and make him regularly exert himself in riding his chariot, his horse and his elephant’.




Moreover, whenever [the king] engages in sport with elephants and

horses44 or takes part in contests with weapons [his officiant] should

perform the vase-worship [of Amr_

tesvara] in order to protect [him.

Indeed he should do so whether the king is riding and fighting] for

recreation or for victory [in battle], in order to guard him against the

harmful ones. For many are the evil [spirits] that seek to harm kings.

And he is to perform a ritual for protection in the king’s sleeping

quarters when he retires for the night:

tatah_

suptasya nr_

pater nidr akalasam arcayet

19.95 raupyam aus_

adhisam_

yuktam_

candan agurucarcitam

ks_ ıren

_ odakap urn

_ am

_ v a yajen mr

_ tyujitam

_ param

96 sarvas´vetopac aren_ a pus_ padh up arghap ayasaih_ agre sthit a mah anidr a jagatsam_

mohak arin_

ı

97 sukh artham_

nr_

pate r atrau j ırn_

artham_

bhojan adike

arabdh a devadevena aj ~ n a datteti bh avayet

98 tato r atrim_

samagr am_

tu tis_

t_

hate nidray a saha

yaks_

araks_

ah_ pis ac adyair duh

_ svapnair m atar ıs

_ u ca

99 bhayaih_

sam_

tr asaduh_

khais tu muktas tis_

t_

hed yath asukham

lokap ales_

u s astres_

u raks_

artham_

nr_

pasam_

nidhau

100 p ujanam_

c arghapus_ p adyaih

_ kalasé p ujite sati

yasyaivam_

satatam_

kury aj j ~ n anav an daisikottamah_ 101 p urvoktam

_ sarvam apnoti pr aheti bhagav a~ n sívah

_ 94cd nr

_ pater nidr akalasam arcayet N : nr

_ pate raks

_ artham

_ kalasám

_ yajet

Ed. 95a raupyam aus_

adhi N : raupyam_

caus_

adhi Ed. 95b carcitam N :

lepitam Ed. 95c ks_ ıren_ odakap urn_ am_ v a conj. : ks_ ıras codakap urn_ n_ am_ v aN : ks

_ ıren

_ a c ambhas a p urn

_ am

_ Ed. 96c agre Ed. : gram

_ the N 97d

aj ~ n a datteti N : aj ~ n am_

dattveti Ed. 98b tis_

t_

hate N : tis_

t_

hed vai Ed. 98d

duh_

svapnair Ed. : dusvapne N m atar ıs_

u ca N : m atr_

sambhavaih_

Ed.

99a bhayaih_

sam_

tr asa N : bhayais tattr asa Ed.

Then he should worship a sleep-vase [to be set-up] for the king when

he sleeps. It should be silver, contain the [various protective] herbs, be

smeared with sandal-paste and aloe-powder, and be filled with milk or

water. [In it] he should worship the supreme Mr_

tyujit [Amr_

tes´vara]

with all his offerings white, with flowers, incense, guest-water and rice

boiled with milk and sugar. [If the Lord has been worshipped in this

way45] [the Goddess] Mah anidr a (‘Great Sleep’) who deludes all the

world will be present [before the king]. [The officiant] should imagine

44 Literally ‘‘on occasions of sport that are accompanied by elephants and

horses’’. The reading of N adds buffaloes (mahis_

es_

u) after the horses where I con-

jecture sahitesu ‘‘accompanied’’. But this is surely a corruption since buffaloes are

inappropriate to the context. Ed.’s reading sahitasya supports the emendation. It

was no doubt substituted for sahites_

u to improve the sense, since it is more natural

to describe the king than the occasions as accompanied by these animals.45 Ks

_ emar aja introducing 96c–97: ittham

_ bhagavaty arcite.






king and his kingdom. This part of the text begins with the rule that

he must undertake the worship of Amr_

tes´vara on all such occasions:

nimittes_

u ca sarves_

u amr_

tesám_

yajet sad a

19.102 k amar up ı bhaved yasm at sarvak am an av apnuy at

101d yajet sad a N : yajeta ca Ed. 102a k amar up ı N : k amar upam_

Ed.

bhaved conj. : yajed B : sad a Ed.

Since [Amr_

tes´vara] can take on any form at will [the officiant] should

always worship him on any festal day.48 [In this way] he will secure all

that he desires.

After this general rule the text sets out how he is to proceed in a

particular case. This is the royal festival of Indra’s pole (indro-tsavah_

, indradhvajotsavah_

) to be celebrated on the twelfth day of

the bright fortnight of the month Bh adrapada (July/August).

The procedures of the brahmanical prototype are described in

the Kashmirian Vis_

n_

udharmottara, Khan_

d_

a 2, chapter 155.49 Ac-

cording to that account the rites start on the first day of the light

fortnight of Bh adrapada. First the king worships Indra and his

consort S ´ ac ı on Pat_

as.50 Then the pole is prepared by felling an

appropriate tree and fetched from the forest on a cart drawn by

48 I understand nimittam, literally ‘an occasion requiring’ [special worship], to

refer here to all days that occasion a naimittikam_

karma in the sense of a calendrical-

ly fixed recurrent non-daily act of special worship (vi ses_

ap uj a). Cf. Y aj ~ navalkyasmr_

ti

1.203ab: d atavyam pratyaham p atre nimittes_

u vi ses_

atah_

. That this is the sense is

apparent from the specific occasions that exemplify this rule in the verses 19.102c ff.49 For evidence that the Vis

_ n_

udharmottara originated in Kashmir or its neigh-

bourhood see the Appendix.50 A Pat

_ a (Skt. pat

_ ah

_ ) is a tanka (Tibetan tha _ n ka), a painting of a deity or deities

on burnished cotton cloth to which several layers of a gesso have been applied;

Pi _ ngal amata (f. 27v4–6 [5.2–5]): bhogamoks_

aprasiddhyartham_

pat_

am_

k arp asikam_ varam=*kesaj ady anyath a (conj. : kosaj ady anyath a Cod.) devi vipar ıt adis adhane= pre-

tavastr adikam_

slaks_

n_

am_

*sadasam_

(corr.: sadasam_

Cod.) dvistriks_

alitam=khalitam_ pin

_ d _

itam_

mr_

dyam_

sa _ nkh adyena susobhane=tintad _

ıb ıja sam_

gr_

hya susvinnam_

p ıs_

ayed

budhah_

=tasyordhvam_

kharparam_

pis_

t_

v a *caik ıkr_

tv a (corr. : cek ıkr_

tv a Cod.) tu marda-

yet=svacchodakena c alod _

ya tena vastram_

pralepayet=vajralepah_

smr_

to hy es_

a punah_ punah

_ sam acaret. When a Pat

_ a is not in worship its painted surface should be con-

cealed by a layer of cloth; see op. cit. f. 29r3 (5.45c–46b): vastrair acch adayen nityam_ sarvacitres

_ u yatnatah

_ = p uj adhy anajapak ale udgh at

_ ya vidhim acaret. Tibetan practice

indicates that it was stitched on to the upper edge of the Pat_

a’s cloth border and

rolled up and secured with ties at the time of worship.




cows or by men. On the eighth the king enters the city followed by

the citizens carrying fruits and wearing their best clothes. The capi-

tal must be decorated with banners and flags, the royal highway

sprinkled, and the children adorned. It must be full of actors and

dancers, and its deities, both public and domestic, must be wor-

shipped to the accompaniment of loud music. The pole is placed on

the ground prepared for it facing east, covered with fine cloths, and

worshipped until the twelfth. On the eleventh the king has fasted

and held a vigil with his chaplain, his astrologer, and all the citi-

zens. Dramatic spectacles must be staged all over the city during

the night and the king must worship Indra with dance and song.

On the twelfth he bathes his head and has the pole raised. He wor-ships the pole and the Pat

_ as of Indra and S ác ı with various Balis

and by means of the honouring of brahmins. The chaplain per-

forms a fire-sacrifice with the Mantras of Indra and Vis_

n_

u and wor-

ships Indra with dance and song. The king honours brahmins with

gifts of money, particularly his chaplain and astrologer. On the fifth

day of the festival the pole is dismissed. After offering reverence to

it in the presence of his army he has it born away by elephants and

disposed of with the two Pat_

as into a river. The citizens celebrate

by playing in the water.51

Now the Netratantra tells us that on this occasion the S ´ aiva offi-

ciant is to worship not Indra but Amr_ tes´vara as Indra: praj an am

_ raks

_ an

_ arth aya s al ın am

_ sasyasampade

19.103 sutapatn ıs_

u raks_

artham atmano r as_

t_

ravr_

ddhaye

indrar upam_

yajet tatra vijay artham_

nr_

pasya ca

102d sasyasampade N : c api sam_

pade Ed. 103c indrar upam_

Ed. :

indrar up ı N

For the protection of the [king’s] subjects, for abundant crops of rice

[and other] grains, for the protection of his [king’s] sons and wives,

for the prosperity of the kingdom and the king’s victory [in war] he

should worship [Amr_

tesvara] on that [day]52 in the likeness of Indra

(indrar upam).

51 For detailed accounts of this festival see also (1) Br_

hatsam_

hit a, Adhy aya 42,

following Garga, and (2) Atharvavedapari sis_

t_

a 19a (indramahotsavah_

). In the sec-

ond Khan_

d_

a of the Vis_

n_

udharmottara Adhy ayas 154–157 are devoted to it.

Adhy aya 154 is introductory. 155 covers the procedures. 156 deals with overcom-

ing the dire consequences for the king and citizens if the pole falls or is damaged

in some way. Adhy aya 157 gives the text of the Mantra of Praise ( stavamantrah_

)

that the king must recite when the Indra pole is being raised.52 Ks

_ emar aja ad 103c: tatreti naimittike indradine.




Since the text has just stated that Amr_

tes´vara can take on any form I

infer a rule that on all calendrical occasions on which the worship of a

certain deity was required, the S áiva officiant was to worship Amr_

tes´-

vara (and/or Amr_

talaks_

m ı) as that deity. This is certainly how Ks_

e-

mar aja understands the matter. He explains that when the text says in

19.102a that Amr_

tes´vara is able to take on any form at will (k ama-

r upam in his version) it means that he ‘‘assumes the form of whichever

is the deity of the special occasion in question (tattannaimitti -

kadevat ak aram)’’. In other words the officiant’s cult is always that of Amr

_ tesvara (and/or Amr

_ talaks

_ m ı), unchanging in its essence, since

that resides in the Mantras, but it can be inflected to take on the form

of any other cult as required, by substituting the form and other exter-nals of the appropriate deity with or without his or her consort.53

I propose that this inference provides the key to understanding why

the text did not restrict itself to the icons of Amr_

tes´vara and Amr_

ta-

laks_

m ı but after setting out the cult of Amr_

tes´vara in chapters 2 to 8

devoted chapters 9 to 13 to his visualization first as the deities of the

four specific S áiva divisions (Siddh anta, V ama, Daks_

in_ a and Kaula)

and then, in chapter 13, as the principal deities beyond the boundaries

of the Mantram arga, including the non- Agamic, lay forms of S ´ iva him-

self.54 For these deities outside the five S ´ aiva systems of the text (the

four and the uninflected cult of Amr_

tesvara) are evidently those of

brahmanical calendrical worship, among whom S ´

iva himself is num-bered. I therefore interpret the absolute universality of Amr_

tes´vara,

53 I propose that if the deity were male then Amr_

tesvara alone would be in-

voked; if female, then Amr_

talaks_

m ı; and if accompanied by a female consort, as

in the case of Indra and S ´ ac ı in the Indra festival of the Vis_

n_

udharmottara, then

Amr_

tes´vara and Amr_

talaks_

m ı. Evidence that Amr_

talaks_

m ı was invoked when the

worship of a goddess was required will be presented in due course in the case of

the worship of the royal sword.54 These are the four-armed form of S ´ iva (13.29–30) cited in the Appendix as

relevant to the date of the text, the multi-armed dancing form (=Nr_

tyarudra,

Nr_

tyesvara, etc.) (n at_ yastham

_ 19.31ab), Ardhan ar ıs´vara/Gaur ısvara (um ardha-

dh arin_

am_

19.31c), Harihara (vis_

n_

u-r-ev ardhadh arin_

am_

19.31d), S ´ iva and P arvat ı at

their wedding (viv ahastham_

) 19.32a) (19.32a), and S ´ iva and P arvat ı side by side (?)

(sam ıpastham_

18.32b, = Um amahesvara?). Cf. n. 4 above.




much vaunted in the text,55 not as an expression of ontological tran-

scendence, though the liberationist S áiva learning of the non-dualists

could overcode it in that sense,56 but as a device to enable the officiant

to penetrate the territory of brahmanical observance, shadowing the

rites of the brahmanical royal chaplain at every step or subsuming them

within his office. For the Kashmirian Adipur an_

a-Tithikr_

tya requires the

king to offer worship, that is to say, to have worship performed by his

chaplain, for the whole range of brahmanical deities on the days in the

lunar month that are sacred to them.57

It might be urged against this interpretation that the Netratantra

includes the Buddha among the forms that may be assumed by

Amr_

tes´vara. For the Buddha is evidently not a brahmanical deity.That objection might hold for other areas of the Indian world but

not for Kashmir. For in its account of the local religious calendar

the Kashmirian N ılamatapur an_

a requires the worship of the Bud-

dha in celebration of the days of his birth and Nirv an_

a during the

3 days of the moon’s passing from Pus_

ya to Magh a in the bright

half of Vais´ akha.58 Moreover, the Netratantra refers to the Buddha

at the end of its description of his iconic form as ‘‘bestowing the

reward of liberation upon women’’.59 This suggests that the wor-

ship of [Amr_

tes´vara as] the Buddha was a duty that the S áiva offi-

ciant was required to perform for the special benefit of the women

of the palace. Patronage of Buddhism in Kashmir was not providedby royal women alone, but in the political history of the kingdomcompleted by the poet-historian Kalhan

_ a in AD 1148/9 they do

figure conspicuously in this role in his account of events immedi-

ately before and during the K arkot_

a dynasty (c. 626–855/6), the

55 Netra 9.17 b: *sarvas adh aran_

o hy es_

a (N : sarv as t a + + + + hy es_

a Ed.);

13.44: sarvas adh aran_

o devah_

sarvasiddhiphalapradah_

/sarves am eva *varn an am_

(N :

mantr an am_

Ed.) j ıvabh uto yatah smrtah; 13.46ab: vikalpo naiva kartavyah sarva-

s adh arano yatah; 14.8ab: s adh arano mantran athah sarves am eva v acakah; 16.23c–24:

dvait advaitavimisre v ap ısto vai siddhido bhavet= yasm at sarvagato devah visvar upo

manir yath a=s adhakasyecchay a cestah siddhido bhavati dhruvam; and 19.82cd: sarva-

tantre

su s am anyo m

rtyujit praka

t ık

rta

h.

56 See, e.g., Ksemar aja ad 6.8cd ( param_

sarv atmakam_

caiva moksadam_

mrtyu-

jid bhavet): mah as am anyamantrav ıryar upatv an mrtyujinn athasyettham_

nirdesáh. sa-

rv atmakam_

param advayam:57 Adipur an

_ a-Tithikr

_ tya ll. 2828–2843.

58 N ılamata 689–695.59 Netra 13.36cd: * dhy atv a hy evam

_ prap ujyeta (N : evam

_ dhy atah

_ p ujitas´ ca Ed.)

str ın_

am_

moks_

aphalapradah_

‘He who bestows the reward of liberation on women

should be visualized in this way and then worshipped’.




period towards whose end I hold the Netratantra to have been

composed.60

Immediately after instructing the officiant to worship Amr_

tes´vara as

Indra on the occasion of the pole festival the Netratantra goes on to rule

that on the Great Ninth (Mah anavam ı), the ninth day of the bright

half of the next month, Asvayuja (August/September), he should

make lavish offerings to the deity and worship the king’s weapons:

19:104 gos_

u br ahman_

araks_

artham atmanah_

svajanes_

u ca

mah anavamy am_

p ujyeta bh uriy agena vesmani

105 p urvoktas´reyam apnoti ayur arogyasam_

padah_ astray agam

_ prayatnena kartavyam

_ siddhihetutah

_ 106 astrasiddhim av apnoti prayokt a phalam asńute104a gos

_ u br ahman

_ a conj. : gobh ubr ahman

_ a N : gobr ahman

_ es_

u Ed.61

105a p urvoktas´reyam apnoti N : p urvoktam_

samav apnoti Ed. 105b

sam_

padah_

N : sam_

padam Ed. 105cd astray agam_

prayatnena kartavyam_ siddhihetutah

_ N : astray agah

_ prakartavyah

_ prayatn at siddhihetave Ed.

106b prayokt a Ed. : prayukt a N

On the Great Ninth he should worship [Amr_

tes´vara] with lavish offer-

ings in his home for the protection of cows, the land, brahmins, himself

and his household. He will attain the above-mentioned benefits, long

60 Amr_

taprabh a, queen of Meghav ahana, probably early in the sixth century,

constructed the monastery Amr_

tabhavana for foreign Buddhist monks (R ajatara _ ngin_

ı

3.9); his wife Y uk adev ı competed with her fellow-wives by founding a splendid Bud-

dhist monastery at Nad_ avana (3.11); Indradev ı, another wife of this king, foundedthe monastery Indradev ıbhavana and a St upa (3.13); many other monasteries were

built in their names by Kh adan a, Samm a and other wives of his (3.14). Amr_

ta-

prabh a, wife of Ran_

aditya-Tunj ına III (probably in the late sixth century), installed a

Buddha statue in a monastery built by Bhinn a, another of Meghav ahana’s wives

(3.464). Ana_ ngalekh a, wife of Durlabhavardhana (r. c. 626–662), founded the monas-

tery Ana_ ngabhavana (4.3) and Prak asádev ı, wife of Candr ap ıd_

a (r. c. 712–720/1),

the monastery Prak asík avih ara (4.79). Support for Buddhism within Kashmirian

royalty appears from the R ajatara _ ngin_

ı to have reached its highest point during

the reign of Lalit aditya (c. 725–761/2). The king himself, though personally a

Bh agavata, founded several Buddhist monasteries and St upas and installed Bud-

dha images (4.188, 4.200, 4.203–04, 4.210), as did his Central-Asian chief minister

Ca_ nkun_

a (Chin. jiangjun ‘General’) (4.211, 4.215, 4.262). There is no evidence of

royal support for Buddhism after this reign in the R ajatara _ ngin_

ı. It records no

Buddhist foundations or installations for the period of the Utpala dynasty (855/

6–980/1) and thereafter only one, the construction of a monastery by Bhadre-

svara, the chief minister of Sam_

gr amar aja (r. 1003–1028) (7.121).61 The conjecture gives an irregular syntax; but it is one seen repeatedly in the

Nepalese manuscript of this text, and it agrees with the sense of Ed.’s reading.

That is readily explained as an attempt to remove this anomaly and N’s gobh u as

a scribal error prompted by common usage in contexts of donation, as here in

gobh uhiran_

yavastr adyaih_

(16.112c).




life, good health and wealth. He should perform the ceremony of wor-

shipping the weapons [on that day62] with special care in order to bring

about Siddhi. He will indeed accomplish their Siddhi, and he who com-

missions [the ceremony] will achieve [victory in battle as his] reward.

Ks_

emar aja interprets the attaining of the Siddhi of the weapons to

be their transformation into weapons with celestial power (divy ani )

and the person who commissions the ceremony to be ‘‘the king or

the like’’ (r aj adih_

). ‘‘The like’’, I propose, are others with troops

under their command, such as provincial governors (man_

d _

alesah_

).63

Since the purpose of the ritual is that they should be victorious in

battle, the weapons can only be theirs.

The deity of this autumnal festival, which marked the beginning of the season of military campaigns and did indeed include a ceremony in

which the royal weapons and insignia were worshipped, is the martial

goddess Bhadrak al ı. According to the Vis_

n_

udharmottara’s account of

this festival64 the king should have a pavilion for the worship of Bha-

drak al ı (bhadrak al ıgr_

ham) constructed on the northeast side of his cap-

ital. He should worship her there on a painted Pat_

a on the ninth day

of the bright half of the month after worshipping the weapons, armour,

parasol, banner and all the other royal insignia (r ajali _ ng ani ) on the

previous day.65 The N ılamatapur an_

a tells us that the weapons are to

be worshipped in a shrine of Durg a during the preceding night.66

No doubt when Amr_ tes´vara was made to take on this form, orindeed that of any other goddess in the calendar, he did so in his

62 Ks_

emar aja ad 105cd: mah anavamy am eva.63 Ks

_ emar aja ad 106ab: divy any astr an

_ i mantraprabh av at sam

_ p adayati : r aj adis ca

vijayam apnot ıty aha: prayokt a p urvoktay ajayit a ‘Through the power of the Mantra [of

Amr_

tes´vara] he makes the weapons celestial. He now states that the king or other [com-

mander] achieves victory in the words ‘‘He who commissions will achieve [his] reward’’.

‘‘He who commissions’’ is the person who has the aforesaid sacrifice performed’.64 Vis

_ n_

udharmottara 2.158.1–8.65 Vis

_ n_

udharmottara 2.158.4: tatraiv ayudhavarm adyam_

chattram_

ketum_

ca p ujayet=r ajali _ ng ani sarv an

_ i tath astr an

_ i ca p ujayet. The same is seen in Agnipur an

_ a 268.13–14:

bhadrak al ı m_

pat_

e likhya p ujayed asvine jaye=súklapaks_

e tath as_

t_

amy am ayudham_

k ar-

mukam_

dhvajam=chatram_

ca r ajali _ ng ani sástr adyam_

kusum adibhih_

.66 N ılamata 780–782. This practice of worshipping the royal weapons and other

insignia during the Navar atra festival was not restricted to Kashmir. See, e.g.,

Sivapriyananda (1995), plates 55–58, 91–92, and 96 for photographs of the royal

swords, the royal crown and fly-whisk installed for worship beside the image of

C amun_

d_

es´var ı, the lineage goddess of the Mah ar ajas of Mysore, in their royal pal-

ace during the Navar atra festival that culminates on this ninth; and Tod (1920,

p. 683) for the worship of the royal sword, shield and spear on Mah anavam ı in

the royal palace in Udaipur.




female aspect, through his consort Amr_

talaks_

m ı. This would have

prevented an awkward clash of genders. But it is suggested indepen-

dently by the ruling seen above that it is Amr_

talaks_

m ı that is to be

worshipped in the king’s sword. For the underlying identity of the

deity of that weapon is indeed Bhadrak al ı. The worship of Bhad-

rak al ı on the king’s sword before he goes to war is treated at some

length in a text attributed to the A _ ngirasakalpa of the Atharvavedins’

ancillary literature and included in the Orissan Paippal adavas´ adi -

s_

at_

karmapaddhati , a work that sets out a large number of rites that

should or may be performed by chaplains for their royal patrons.67

That the Netratantra should mention only these two calendrical

ceremonies, the Indra festival and the worship of the royal weapons[and Bhadrak al ı] on the Great Ninth (Mah anavam ı), is in keeping

with the proposition that the officiant in this text is one who is

working in the territory of the king’s personal chaplain, since these

two are the principal festivals that engage the king. That can be seen

from the fact that in the detailed account of the king’s ritual obliga-

tions in the Vis_

n_

udharmottara they are the only calendrically fixed

annual ceremonies with a marked civic dimension apart from the

Vais_

n_

ava festivals that mark the four months of Vis_

n_

u’s sleep.68

After prescribing the worship of Bhadrak al ı and the royal weapons

and insignia on the Great Ninth the Vis_

n_

udharmottara goes on to

67 See Paippal adavas adis_ at_ karmapaddhati pp. 105–113. I am very grateful to Dr.Arlo Griffiths of the University of Groningen for sending me first a copy of this

publication, of which, according to its Sanskrit title page, he was the promoter

( prots ahakah_

), and then an electronic text of the same.68 The Vis

_ n_

udharmottara briefly lists the king’s periodic ritual duties ( nityakarma)

in 2.152.1–7. They are (1) a monthly ritual bath when the moon is in the asterism

under which he was born ( janmanaks_

atrasn anam) and (2) another when it is in the

asterism Pus_

ya ( pus_

yasn anam), (3) worship of S urya (the Sun) and Candra (the Moon)

on the days on which the sun moves from one zodiacal sign into the next, (4) the wor-

ship of a planet (Graha) when it has been eclipsed by the Sun, (5) worship to be offered

on the day of the heliacal rising of the star Agastya (Canopus) (agastyap uj a), (6) the

worship of Vis_

n_

u during the 4 months mentioned, (7) an annual Ghr_

takambala-

Kot_

ihoma, a fire-sacrifice requiring a number of priests working simultaneously over

many days to make 10 million oblations timed to end at the end of the 4 months of

Vis_

n_

u’s sleep followed by a ritual in which the king is covered with a blanket (kamba-

lam) and then first has melted butter ( ghr_

tam) poured over him from eight, twenty-

eight or one hundred and eight vases, and then, after the blanket has been removed, is

bathed with consecrated water, (8) a ritual for Rudra (rudrap uj a) at the end of each

regnal year, and (9–10) the celebration of these two public festivals. Chapters 153–158

then cover the major topics in detail. Chapter 153 deals with the worship of Vis_

n_

u

during the 4 months, chapters 154–157 with Indra’s pole festival and chapter 158 with

the worship of Bhadrak al ı and the royal weapons on Mah anavam ı.




another ceremony to be performed at this time. This is the lustration

(n ır ajanas antih_

) of the king’s soldiers, horses and elephants, which, we

are told, should be done for their welfare, but also for the greater pros-

perity of the kingdom and the destruction of its enemies.69 A section col-

ophon after N ılamata 780–82 confirms the association of this ceremony

with the Great Ninth by identifying that day as n ır ajananavam ı ‘the lus-

tration ninth’. The section requires that the weapons be worshipped in

the temple of Durg a during the night of the eighth and that the lustra-

tion take place on the next day according to the procedure of the Atha-

rvaveda, that is to say, the Veda of the king’s personal chaplain. The

lustration of the king’s horses and elephants is indeed scheduled for this

day in the section on the annual royal ceremonies to be performed bythe king’s domestic chaplain in the Atharvavedaparisis

_ t

_ a.70

In the Netratantra too a lustration ceremony is taken up immedi-

ately after its treatment of the rites of the Great Ninth, though here

it is a lustration of the king himself. Moreover there is no statement

that it is to be performed during the autumnal festival. The only ex-

plicit instruction is that it is to be adopted when there is some ill to

ward off such as a life-threatening illness of the king or other mem-

ber of the royal family:71

yad a mr_

tyuvas aghr atah_

k alena kalito nr_

pah_ 19:107 aris

_ t

_ acihnit atm ano desám

_ v a tatsut adayah

_ br ahman_

adis_

u sarves_

u paurajanapades_

u ca

69 This is taught in Vis_

n_

udharmottara 2.159.1–47 and the ascribed benefits are

declared there in 46–47: s antir n ır ajan akhyeyam_

kartavy a vasudh adhipaih_ =ks

_ emy a

vr_

ddhikar ı r ama naraku~ njarav ajin am = 47 dhany a yasasy a ripun asan ı ca sukh avah a

s antir anuttam a ca=k ary a nr_ pai r as

_ t

_ ravivr

_ ddhihetoh

_ sarvaprayatnena bhr

_ guprav ıra.

70 Atharvavedaparisís_

t_

a 17.1.1–8, 18.1.1–18.3.12, and 18b.2.1–9 (18b.2.1: mah ana-

vamy am_

hastyas´vad ıks_

a ‘the lustration of the [king’s] elephants and horses is on

the Great Ninth’). The 6th-century Br_

hatsam_

hit a of Var ahamihira says in the

chapter devoted to this ceremony (n ır ajanas antih_

) that it should take place on

the twelth, eighth or fifteenth day of the bright half of K artika or, as here, during

[the bright half of] As´vayuja (43.2). K at_

hakagr_

hyas utra 57.1 rules that one should

honour horses and all transports on the full moon day of As´vayuja: as´vayujy am

asv an mahayanti sarv an_

i ca v ahan ani ; and Adityadarsána ad loc. explains ‘all trans-

ports’ as as elephants, mules, buffaloes, camels and the like’: sarv an_

i ca v ahan ani :hastyas´vataramahis

_ akharos

_ t

_ r ad ıni ca.

71 We see a lustration prescribed both on the ninth of As´vayuja and as a special

rite to be performed when the need arises in Arthas astra 2.30.51: n ı r ajan am as´vayuje

k arayen navame ’hani = y atr ad av avas ane v a vy adhau v a s antike ratah_

‘Devoted to

rites for the warding off of ills [the superintendent of the king’s horses] should have a

lustration ceremony performed [by the Purohita not only] on the 9th day of As´va-

yuja, [but also] at the beginning or end of a military expedition or in time of sickness’.






undertake the ceremonies of lustration (n ır ajanam) so that kings and their

kingdoms may prosper. After worshipping as before he should do an

Abhis_

eka [by sprinkling with water] from the [consecrated] vase. When the

asterism and degree are auspicious he should give this Abhis_

eka to the king

in an isolated place to the accompaniment of cries of ‘‘Victory!’’, ‘‘Meritori-

ous Day!’’,73 auspicious [chanting of ] the Vedas, and [the eulogies of ]

bards.74 He should [then] offer into the fire a large quantity of mustard

seeds.75 Beloved, he should offer them into the sacrificial fire with the pro-

cedure of lustration, indicating the beneficiary’s name,76 with angry mind.

The officiant, determined to accomplish this protection, should [then] asper-

ge [and sacrifice] numerous goats to gratify the hostile spirits and the horde

[of Mothers, Yogin ıs and the rest77]. If when he has determined the auspi-

cious moment following the instruction of the [royal] astrologer or by cal-

culating the degree [of the zodiac] the officiant goes out [of the capital

accompanied by the king78] to the north, the northeast, or the west, he

will bestow all supernatural benefits [on him]. Then, O Goddess, fol-

lowing the procedure taught above he should perform the Siddhi-

73 The text refers here to the brahmanical practice of pun_ y ahav acanam, the

uttering of the word pun_ y aham ‘meritorious day’ thrice at the beginning of any rite

to promote its success (ma _ ngalam).74 For these auspicious, apotropaic accompaniments at the time of Abhis

_ eka cf.,

e.g., Br_

hatsam_

hit a 47.49 concerning the king’s Pus_

yasn ana: vandijanapauravipra-

praghus_

t_

apun_ y ahavedanirghos

_ aih

_ =samr

_ da _ ngasánkhat uryair ma_ ngalasabdair hat anis

_ -

t_

ah_

; and N ılamata 824 concerning the brahmanical consecration of the king: sn anak ale

ca kartavyam

_

mahat kalakalam

_

tath a=v aditrasá _ nkhapu

_

ny ahas utavandijanaih

_

saha. The

same applies in the Abhis_ eka of an initiate; see, e.g., Bhojadeva, Siddh antas arapaddhati f. 34r4–v2: bhadr asanam

_ vinyasya tasmin sis

_ yam

_ vinyasya sa_ nkhat uryav ın

_ aven

_ usvasti -

pun_ y ahavedadhvanibhih

_ kr

_ tama _ ngalam

_ . . . abhis

_ ecayet.

75 Mustard seeds, also called sars_

apah_

and raks_

oghnah_

, are believed to have the

power to fend off evil. See Netra 15.7–11.76 Ks

_ emaraja ad loc.: amukasya n ır ajanam astu sv ah a ity atra prayogah

_ ‘The for-

mulation here is ‘‘May there be lustration of ‘[name]’, SV AH A’’ ’. For ‘[name]’ (amu-

ka-) the officiant is to substitute the name of the king and, of course, to precede

this formulation with the Base-Mantra (m ulamantrah_

) of Amr_

tes´vara. The expletive

SV AH A is the closure ( j atih_

) required when making a regular oblation into the fire,

taking the place of the NAMAH_

at the end of other offerings. Thus for King S ´ a_ nka-

ravarman, for example, the Mantra to be uttered with each oblation would be:

OM_

JUM_

SAH_

S ´R IS ÁN_ KARAVARMAN_

O N IR AJANAM ASTU SV AH A.77 The most natural understanding of the expression bh utasa _ nghah

_

is as a Tatpu-

rus_

a meaning ‘the horde of hostile spirits’. Ks_

emar aja, however, no doubt with rit-

ual procedure in mind, takes it as a singular Dvanda meaning ‘hostile spirits and

the horde’ specifying the latter as that of the Mothers, Yogin ıs and others

(bh ut ani ca sam_

ghas ceti sam asah_ : sa m

_ gho m atr

_ yoginy adigan

_ ah

_ ).

78 That the officiant goes out with the king is a detail added by Ks_

emar aja ad

loc.: vijay abhimukhena r aj ~ n a saha niry atah_

‘gone forth with the king intent on vic-

tory’. The sense is that the king and his chaplain enact the king’s matching forth

to war after lustration.




bestowing ritual of [Amr_

tesvara’s] worship in the [S ´ anti] temple79

for seven days, together with lavish offerings into the sacrificial fire.

He [for whom this sacrifice is performed80] will achieve permanent

great wealth, sovereignty or whatever else he may desire. The king

will be contented and attain the Siddhis of both earth and sky.81

Then, O Goddess, it is said that he has received the highest lustra-

tion, that which bestows all benefits. The aforesaid evils cease to exist.

Of this, O Goddess, there is no doubt.

There is no reference here to the lustration of the king’s soldiers,

horses and elephants, as there is in the Vis_

n_

udharmottara, but the

Netratantra follows its lustration of the king with instruction in the

means by which the S áiva officiant should protect the king’s cattle,horses, elephants, goats and other livestock:

19:117 gos_

u madhye yajed yasm at sad a vardhati gokulam

sind uram_

gairikam_

v api abhimantreta mantravit

118 yoktavyam_

gos_

u raks_

artham_

sr_

_ ngordhve sarvados_

ajit

as´v an am_

raks_

an_

arth aya p urvoktavidhin a yajet

79 The Netra says only that the ritual should take place gr_

he ‘in the house’ or

‘in the temple’. Ks_

emar aja understands this to mean r aj ~ no gr_

he, i.e., ‘in the royal

palace’. I conjecture that the unspecified gr_

ham is the temple known as the

s antigr

_

ham, the temple for the performance of S ´ anti rituals to protect the king

and the kingdom. This does not necessarily contradict Ks_ emar aja’s opinion,which might be expected to be well-informed on such a point. For according to

the S áiva Pratis_

t_

h atantras this temple could be built in the northeast quarter of

the royal palace or of the residence of [his] S ´ aiva Guru. See Mayasam_

graha f.

33v (5.188abc): atha bh ubhr_

nniv aso ’tra kury ad vedhasi tad gr_

ham ais anye

s antigr_

ham_

; Pi _ ngal amata f. 74v4 (10.151ab) (concerning the cumbakagr_

ham ‘the

residence of the Guru’): b ahye ny asam_

punar devi tatrese s antikam_

gr_

ham.80 This is Ks

_ emar aja’s interpretation ad loc.: yadartham

_ caivam ijyate ‘‘asy acal a

mah alaks_

m ı . . .’’.81 The same language is used in 18.79 to describe the benefits that accrue to

someone who has received Abhis_

eka from a vase of water in which [Am_

r_

ta]

laks_

m ı has been installed and worshipped, except that to Siddhis of earth and

sky that passage adds those of heaven: tasy acal a mah alaks_

m ı r ajyam_

v a yad

abh ıpsitam=bhaum antariks_

a *siddh ıni (N : siddhim_

ca Ed.) divy am_

*caivai svar ım_ (Ed. : caives´var ı N) subh am

_ . I have not encounted the notion of the Siddhis of

these realms elsewhere in the literature and Ks_

emar aja offers no explanation on

either of its two occurrences in this text. Elsewhere the adjectives bhaumah_

,

antariks_

ah_ =antariks

_ agah

_ and divyah

_ occur together with reference to phenomena

that portend calamities (utp at ah_

) (e.g. Atharvavedapari sis_

t_

a 2.2.3: divy antariks_

a-

bhaum an am utp at an am; Br_

hatsam_

hit a 47.53ab) or to hostile spirits (e.g. Svacchanda

3.20). The sense is probably that the king gains power over these phenomena in the

sense that he is immunized against their influence.




119 abhimantreta kalasám_

síras tes_

am_

prad apayet

siddh arthakam_

japitv a tu kan_

t_

he k aryam_

tu m urdhani

120 sarvados_

avinirmukt an gaj am_

s´ caiva tu raks_

ati

ajes_

u pasáves_

v evam_

raks_

am_

sarvatra k arayet

121 sarvapr an_

is_

u raks_

artham_

yoktavyam_

nr_

pateh_

sad a

mah as antir bhavet tes_

am_

durbhiks_

am_

nasýate sad a

117b vardhati N : vardheta Ed. 117c gairikam_

Ed. : gaurikam_

N 117d

abhimantreta N : abhimantryaiva Ed. 118a yoktavyam_

N : yojayed Ed.

118c asv an am_

raks_

an_

arth aya N : as´v an am api raks_

artham_

Ed. 119a abhi-

mantreta N : abhimantryaiva Ed. 119b síras tes_

am_

prad apayet N :

m urdhni tes_

am_

prap ataye Ed. 119c siddh arthakam_

japitv a tu N : si -

ddh artho mantrajaptas tu Ed. 119d k aryam_

tu N : k aryo ’tha Ed. 120b

caiva tu N : caiva ca Ed. 120c ajes_

u pasáves_

v evam_

conj. (Aisa): ajes_

u

pasavo hy evam_

N : aj adis_

u pasús_

v evam_

Ed. 120d sarvatra N : sarves_

u

Ed. 121b yoktavyam_

N : yoktavyo Ed. 121d nasýate sad a N : na-

sýati ks_

an_

at Ed.

The officiant should worship [Amr_

tesvara] in the midst of the [king’s]

cows, since [by this means] his herd will constantly increase. He

should empower vermilion powder or red chalk with the Mantra and

apply it to the tips of their horns to protect them, for it will overcome

all evils. To protect the [king’s] horses he should offer the cult in the

manner stated above, empower with the Mantra a vase [filled with

water] and pour it[s contents] on their heads. He should empower

mustard seeds by repeating the Mantra over them and then place

them on their necks and heads. [Mantra-empowered mustard seeds82]

also protect the [king’s] elephants, [so that they become] free of all

evils. He should do the same rite of protection for the [king’s] goatsand [all his other] domestic animals.83 He should employ his Mantra

at all times for the protection of all the king’s living creatures. They

will benefit from a general warding off of ills (mah as antih_

). Famine

will cease forever.

The Netratantra also requires its S ´ aiva officiant to perform the wor-

ship of Amr_

tesvara as a S ´ anti ritual whenever the realm

(man_

d _

alam) is affected by an earthquake, the falling of a meteor

(ulk ap atah_

), a drought, excessive rains, a swarm of mice or other

pests, phenomena such as the untimely appearance of flowers, the

destruction or splitting of an image of a god, fevers, [illnesses

82 I follow Ks_

emar aja in taking these mustard seeds (siddh artho mantritah_

) to

be the subject here.83 I take the causative k arayet here in the non-causative sense, a licence com-

monly seen in such scriptural texts. See, e.g., Svacchanda 423c–4: tato ghr_

tena

sam_

pl avya abhim anam_

tu k arayet=aham eva param_

tattvam_

par aparavibh agatah_ =

tattvam ekam_

hi sarvatra n anyam_

bh avam_

tu k arayet.






Finally, as is the case with the brahmanical royal chaplain, the

functions of the S ´ aiva officiant prescribed by the Netratantra do

not end with the king’s life. If he or any of the princes dies the offi-

ciant should perform a special form of postmortuary initiation

known as the Rescue of the Dead (mr_

toddh arad ıks_

a). He may offer

worship to Amr_

tes´vara at the time of the cremation itself, installing

an image of [Amr_

tesvara as] Bhairava in the cremation ground

where the body has been burned; and he should perform the subse-

quent S ´r addha rites:

18:112 . . . nr_

patau tatsut an am_

. . .

. . .

mr_

tasyoddharan_

arth aya d ıks_

artham_

paramesvarah_ 116 yas

_ t

_ avyah

_ p urvavad devo visés

_ at tatra c akr

_ tih

_ kartavy a r ajat avasýam_

sadr_

s ı dv adas a _ ngul a

117 k ary a v a gomayair devi kusair v a sn anasódhit a

d ıks_

aiva tatra sam_

sk arah_

vy apty a yatrastham anayet

118 an_

um_

ca yojayet tasmin p urn_

ahuty a ks_

ipe ’nale

yojany a sívatattve tu tatah_

s ayojyat am_

labhet

119 sr addhe sam_

p ujayed devam antyes_

t_

av athav a yajet

pratis_

t_

h apyas tath a devi dagdhapin_

d _

e s´mas anake

120 p urvoktadravyasambh arair p urvoktavidhin a guruh_ p urvoktam

_ bh ıs

_ an

_ am

_ r upam

_ sáktidvayasamanvitam

121 catus´ c as_

t_

au thav a devi p urvadhy an avalokit ah_ p urvoktam

_

phalam apnoti ity aj ~ n a p arames´var ı

112d tatsut an am_

N : tatsutes_

u Ed. 115c mr_

tasyoddhara_ n arth aya N :

mr_

tes_

uddhara_ n arth aya Ed. 115d parames´varah

_ Ed. : parames´varam N

116a yas_

t_

avyah_

p urvavad devo Ed. : yas_

t_

avyam_

p urva devesám_

N 116b

vi ses_

at Ed. : visés_

as N 116c r ajat avasýam_

em. (= reading rejected by

Ks_

emar aja ad loc.: r ajatetety apap at_

hah_

) : rajat avasýam_

N : rajas ava-

sýam_

Ed. 117a gomayair (conj.) : gopaye N : gomay ad Ed. 117d

yatrastham anayet conj. : yavastham anayet Ed. : yatra samam_

nayet N

118a a_ num

_ ca yojayet tasmim

_ N : a _ n um

_ s´ ca yojayet tasy am

_ Ed. 118b

ks_

ipe’nale N (Aisá for ks_

iped anale) : saha ks_

ipet Ed. 118d s ayojyat am_ labhet N : s ayujyabh ag bhavet Ed. 119ab devam antyes

_ t

_ av athav a Ed. :

devam_

mam_

tes_

t_

itveti v a N 119c pratis_

t_

h apyas N : pratis_

t_

h apyam_

Ed. 120a

p urvokta N : p urvoktair Ed. 120b p urvoktavidhin a guruh_

N : gurun_

a

pr agvidh anatah

_

Ed. 121a catus´ c as

_

t

_

au thav a N : catasro ’s

_

t

_

av atho Ed.

121b dhy an avalokit ah_

Ed. : dhy an avalokitam_ N 121c p urvoktam_ N : p urvokta Ed.

To accomplish the initiation to rescue the dead for . . . the king or [any

of] the princes . . .86 he should worship the Supreme Lord as above but

86 The passages omitted list other classes of dead who should receive this form

of initiation.




with the difference that he must fashion a silver simulacrum [of the

deceased] twelve A _ ngulas [approx. 21 cm] in length. Alternatively it

may be made with cowdung or blades of Kusá grass. 87 He should purify

it with a bath. He should then perform the ceremony of initiation upon

it.88 By [meditating on himself as S ´ iva] pervading [the universe]

(vy apty a) he should bring back the soul [of the deceased from] wherever

87 The option that the simulacrum should be made of silver is that of a reading

r ajat a rejected by Ks_

emar aja. I have retained it because it is supported by N

(rajat a). Ks_

emar aja explains his preferred reading rajas a ‘with powder’ as meaning

‘with rice-flour’ (s alic urn_

ena), but that is not supported by other accounts of this

ritual. In his treatment Abhinavagupta gives an open list of materials that may be

used to make these simulacra, mentioning cow-dung, blades of Kusá/Darbha grass

(Poa cynosuroides), fruit (Tantr aloka 21.22d–23a, 33, 35, 40, 43) and ‘such things

as the nutmeg (Myristica fragrans)’ (21.36ab: j at ıphal adi yad kim_

cit tena v a

dehakalpan a). The Kashmirian Br_

hatk alottara, borrowing from the P a~ ncar atrika

Jay akhyasam_

hit a, matches the Netra in saying that the simulacrum should be

twelve A _ ngulas in length, but differs in saying that it should be made with all its

limbs by shaping it out of white earth mixed with the five products of the cow and

water, or out of the wood of the trees Pal asá (Butea frondosa) or As´vattha (Ficus

religiosa), or with a spray of flowers ( pallavah

_

) (B f. 195v4–5): tatah

_

svetamr

_

d alod

_

ya

pa~ ncagavyena c ambhas a=dv adas a _ ngulam atram_ tu m urttim_ kury at *tad akr_ tim (em. :tad akr

_ ttim

_ Cod.)= ap ada*c ulik antam

_ (corr. : c ulik atam

_ Cod.) ca *sarv a _ ng avaya-

v anvit am (em. : sarv avayav anvitam_

Cod.)/ pal as asvatthajenaiva d aru_ n a * pallavena

(em. : canavena Cod.) v a. The Nepalese manuscript of the Jay akhyasam_

hit a adds a

third wood as an option, but the reading is evidently corrupt: * tatah_

(em. : tatada-

ta Cod.) s´vetamr_

d alod _ ya pa~ ncagavyena c ambhas a=dv adas a _ ngulam atr ım

_ tu m urttim

_ *kury at (corr. : kury a Cod.) tad akr_

tim= ap ad ac c ulik ant a~ n ca sarvv a _ ng avayav a-

nvit am=* pal as as´vatthayd arbhyotthad arun_

a (conj. : pal asos´vatthad arbhotth ad arun_

a

Cod.) * pallavena (em. : pavaluvena) v a (f. 81r3–4). The Jay akhyasam_

hit a published

on the basis of south-Indian manuscripts makes this third wood that of the birch

(Baetula bhojapatra) (24.86cd): pal as as´vathavalkotthad arun_

a). In the same tradition

is the simulacrum made of Ficus leaves and flowers known as a pus_ pali _ nga that is

animated with the soul of the deceased by the S ´ aiva officiant in the Balinese postcre-

mation ritual of the purification of the soul (mukur, nyekah, neles, etc.); see Hobart

et al. (1996, pp. 125–6); and Stuart-Fox (2002, pp. 92–3); also the yogic ensouling of

the ‘flower-body’ ( pus_ pasar ıra) in the S ´ aiva-Bauddha postcremation rites of the

Javanese queen of Majapahit described in the Old Javanese Desáwarn_

ana (64.5, 67.2

[Robson, 1995, pp. 71 and 74]).88 Literally ‘initiation alone’ (d ıks

_ aiva). Ks

_ emar aja takes the point of the restric-

tive particle eva to be that in this case there is no need for the preliminary rites

known as adhiv asah_

that normally take place during the day before the initiation

proper.




it may be and place it in that [simulacrum]. 89 As he makes the Full

Oblation [after completing the oblations that eliminate the possibility of

reincarnation on any level of the universe] he should cast [the simula-

crum] into the fire while [raising the soul through his own central

energy-channel and then] uniting it with the level of S ´ iva. By this means

89 Neither the reading of N ( yatra samam_

nayet) nor that of Ed. ( yavastham

anayet) makes good sense. N’s reading might be a corruption of yatra sámam_

na-

yet, confusion of the graphs sa and sa occurring so pervasively in manuscripts

copied by Newar scribes that it is arduous to record it. We could then take this

and the next quarter verse to mean ‘he should place ( yojayet) the soul [of the

deceased] (an_

um) into that (tatra) into which ( yatra) he should bring it to rest

(sámam_

nayet)’, understanding the site of the placing to be the reality-level to

which the soul is to be raised through initiation and bringing it to rest to mean

causing it to be one with that level. But at least two problems obtrude. The first is

that the phrase sámam_

nayet, though common, always denotes elimination (as of

diseases or poison in the medical literature) or dissolution, as when a Yogin medi-

tates on a lower reality-level being withdrawn into the one above it; see, e.g.,

Jay akhyasam_

hit a 16.263d (ks_

m akhyam_

tattvam_

sámam_

nayet) and Laks_

m ıtantra

35.8d and 53.7b (aham_

k are samam_

nayet), and 53.8b (m ul avyakte samam_

nayet).

This is not the natural idiom for the uniting of the soul with a reality-level. The

second problem is that the interpretation leads to pleonasm: the action of fusing

the soul will be mentioned again in 118c and as fusion with the reality-level of S ´ iva

( yojany a sívatattve tu). I turn therefore to the reading yavastham anayet in Ed. This I

propose is an error, probably of the compositor of the Devan agar ı edition rather thanthe Kashmirian scribes, for yatrastham anayet, tra and va being graphs that are

more readily confused in Devan agar ı than in S ´ arad a. That Ks_

emar aja had this in

his text of the Netra is not certain, since he does not gloss it directly, confirming

only anayet with an ıya in his introduction to the next quarter verse. But I propose

that he does so indirectly in the eleven-line citation from the Ham_

sap arames´vara

that he gives in his comment on vy apty a. For that describes the Great Net pro-

cedure (mah aj alaprayogah_

) by means of which the officiant is to catch the soul of

the deceased in whatever other state of incarnation it resides and place it in the

heart [of the simulacrum] uttering the seed-syllable [of M ay a (HR IM_

)] and the soul’s

name: yatra srot antare sthitam/ gr_

h ıtv a tat prayoge_ na mah aj alena yuktitah

_ = gr

_ h ıtam

_ *hr_

daye (em. : hr_

dayam_

Ed.) sth apyam_

b ıj abhikhy asamanvitam. I propose that for

Ks_

emar aja the point of this part of citation was that it clarified the meaning of

yatrastham in the Netra.

The yogic procedure for catching the soul through visualization and the recita-

tion of the seed-syllable HR IM_

(m ay ab ıjam) is described by Abhinavagupta in

Tantr aloka 21.25–26 and by the passage cited from the Ham_

sap arames´vara. The

officiant is to meditate on himself as S ´ iva pervading the universe, exhale, inhale,

hold his breath, raise the vital power through the central channel to the point

twelve finger-breadths above his head, and then visualize this power moving out

through all the worlds to find the soul. He should utter the syllable HR IM_

and take

hold of that soul, visualizing it as resembling a drop of water.




it will attain union [with S ´ iva].90 He should [also] worship S ´ iva [for the

deceased] in the S ´ r addha ceremonies. Optionally he may do this wor-

ship during the cremation ceremony itself. [In the latter case], O god-

dess, the Guru should install an image of the frightening [Bhairava]

form taught above91 attended by two S ´ aktis92 in the cremation

ground where the body was burned, employing the various offerings

already mentioned and the aforesaid rites. Alternatively, O goddess,

there may be four or eight [attendant S ´ aktis] contemplated with the

visualizations already taught.93

90 This kind of S ´ aiva initiation was a conspicuous feature of Kashmirian life if

we may judge from satirical references to its practice in the eleventh-century works

of Ks_

emendra (Desópadesá 8.50: mr_

takoddh are; Narmam al a 3.43: mr_

toddh ara-

d ıks_

a). Moreover, it may have been distinctive of that region. For the only prescrip-

tions of the practice known to me from S ´ aiva sources other than the Netra and

Tantr aloka are also Kashmirian: (1) S_

at_

ka 3 of the Jayadrathay amala (f. 156r1–v6

in the Catuscatv arim_

sátid ıks_

apat_

ala in the Ghoraghoratar acakra)—its second and

third lines have been cited in this context without attribution by Jayaratha ad

Tantr aloka 21.6–9b — and (2) the Antes_

t_

imr_

toddh arapat_

ala of the Br_

hatk alottara

(B ff. 195r3–197r1, a section of that eclectic text borrowed with superficial adjust-

ments from the P ancar atrika Jay akhyasam

_

hit a 24.76–105b.

Commenting on this passage of the Netra Ks_ emar aja refers to a non-Yogic alter-native method for catching the soul of the deceased. A circular diagram is drawn

with OM_

(n adah_

) at the centre and the syllables of the syllabary drawn in six cir-

cuits around it. The S ´ ivanirv an_

avidhi , which gives the text of the S ´ aiva cremation

ritual followed in Kashmir, illustrates this diagram and gives the full ritual proce-

dure, Mantras, and deities. The last are M ay adev ı, who is to be worshipped in a

dish full of offerings placed on a lamp that rests at the centre of the diagram on

top of OM_

HAM_

SAH_

followed by the name of the soul to be drawn in, and the

eight Ks_

etrap alas, who are to be worshipped around the periphery (pp. 242–246).91 The reference is to the five-faced, ten-armed black Bhairava taught in 10.1–6b

as the form assumed by Amr_

tes´vara in the Daks_

in_

a division. See also Tantr aloka

26.7–8, commenting on such public installations.92 According to Ks

_ emar aja ad loc. the two S ´ aktis of the Bhairava to be installed at

the place of cremation are ‘the full-bodied and the emaciated’ (sáktidvayam_ kr

_ sásth ulam). These, I propose, are the last two of the eight Mothers, C amun

_ d_

a

and Yoges´var ı, since they are so described in the Kashmirian Br_

hatk alottara A f.

251r2: atip urn_

n_

a tu c amun_

d _

a khad _ gak adyasamudyat a=sav ar ud

_ h a nr

_ tyam an a sávasrag-

d amaman_

d _

it a=sus_

k a yoges´var ı k ary a; and f. 251r3–4: evam_

vidh a tu yoges ı sir al a

vikr_

t anan a.93 The four are Siddh a, Rakt a, S ´ us

_ k a and Utpalahast a, and the eight are these

together with their four companions (D ut ıs): K al ı, Kar al ı, Mah ak al ı and Bha-

drak al ı. Their visualizations are given in Netra 10.17–37a.




The Netratantra, then, has shown us S áiva officiants active in almost

all the areas of observance assigned by the Atharvavedic tradition

to the brahmanical royal chaplain: rituals for the protection of the

king, from rites attending his bathing, eating, exercise and sleep to

daily and periodic sacrifices, rituals for his invigoration and victory,

rituals of regular worship on the king’s behalf, including the great

public ceremonies of the Indra and Bhadrak al ı festivals, and rituals

for the king’s benefit after his death. Only the incidental function of

performing reparatory rites ( pr ayasćitt ıyam_

karma) receives no atten-tion here.94

Nor is the text backward in urging that the officiant’s services

should be lavishly rewarded. In the fifteenth chapter we read:

nr_

p an_

am_

nr_

papatn ın am_

tatsut an am_

dvij adis_

u

15:21 ac aryah_

kurute yas tu sarv anugrahak arakah_ mantraj ~ nah

_ s adhako v atha sa p ujyah

_ sarvath a prabhuh

_ 22 sam_

m anair asamair nityam_

d anair vividhavistaraih_

22a asamair conj. : asanair N: vividhair Ed:95

Any Ac arya or S adhaka compassionate to all and possessing mastery

over this Mantra who does these rites of protection for kings, their

wives, their children, brahmins and the rest, should be constantly ven-

erated with unequalled marks of distinction and with gifts both vari-

ous and abundant.

and in the sixteenth: gobh uhiran

_ yavastr adyaih

_ key urakat

_ ak adibhih

_ 16:113 p ujyo ’sau paray a bhakty a s antipus_

t_ yor vises

_ atah

_ yasm an mantramayo so vai sivah_

s aks_

at tu dai sikah_ 114 tena p ujitam atre

_ na sarve siddhiphalaprad ah

_ bhavanty avitatham_

bhadre satyam etan na sam_

sayah_ 115 anyath a siddhih anih

_ sy at kr

_ tam

_ caiva nirarthakam

112c vastr adyaih_

Ed. : vastr an_

i N 113b s´ antipus_

t_ yor conj: : s´ antipus

_ t_ y a

Ed. : s antipus_

t_

ir N 113c so vai N : vai sa Ed: 114d satyam etan na sam_

-

sáyah_

N : satyam_

me n anr_

tam_

vacah_

Ed:

That [officiant] should be honoured with the greatest devotion with

gifts of cows, land, gold, cloth and the like, with armlets, bracelets

and other [ornaments], particularly when he performs rites to ward off

ills or restore to health. For the Guru embodies the Mantra[-deities]. He is

94 For the six areas of the royal chaplain’s Atharvanic rituals see n. 17 above.95 This emendation is supported by a parallel in 19.135ab: d anap ujanasam

_ -

m anair asamaih_

p ujyate yad a.




S ´ iva made manifest. My beloved, if one honours him, then for that alone

all [the Mantra-deities] will certainly bestow the success of the Siddhi [one

desires]. This is the truth. There is no doubt. Otherwise the Siddhi will be

lost and one’s effort will be in vain.

and in the 19th chapter, after the passage cited above (19.139–

134b) in which we are told that the permanent residence of such an

officiant in a kingdom will render it immune to all conceivable

calamities:

sa p ujyah_

sarvajant un am_

bh upat ın am_

ca sarvad a

19:135 d anap ujanasam_

m anair asamaih_

p ujyate yadi

tena p ujitam atren

_

a sarve mantr as´ ca p ujit ah

_ 136 bhavanti sukhad as tatra

All men should honour that [officiant], and kings should do so con-

stantly. When they have honoured him with unparallelled gifts, dem-

onstrations of respect, and marks of distinction, then by this alone

they will have honoured all the Mantra[-deities], who will reward them

with happiness in that [realm].

All this is very much in the style that had been adopted in the brah-

manical context to promote the interests of the king’s personal

chaplain, as can readily be seen from the following passage of Atharvavedapari sis

_ t

_ a 4:

4:6:1 yasya r aj ~ no janapade atharv a s antip aragah

_ nivasasty api tadr as_

t_

ram_

vardhate nirupadravam2 yasya r aj ~ no janapade sa n asti vividhair bhayaih

_ p ıd _ yate tasya tad r as

_ t_

ram_

pa _ nke gaur iva majjati

3 tasm ad r aj a vi ses_

en_

a atharv an_

am_

jitendriyam

d anasam_

m anasatk arair nityam_

samabhip ujayet

1c tadr as_

t_

ram_

corr: : tad r as_

t_

ram_

Ed:

The kingdom of that king in whose realm dwells an Atharvavedic

master of the rites for warding off ills will prosper, free of all calami-

ties. The kingdom of that king in whose realm he is not present is

oppressed by diverse dangers. It sinks like a cow in the mud. There-

fore to that Atharvan [chaplain] whose senses are controlled the king

should show exceptional honour at all times, by means of gifts, marks

of distinction, and demonstrations of respect.

I take the ‘marks of distinction’ (sam_

m anam) to which this passageand its S ´ aiva parallels refer to be those insignia that served to dis-

tinguish high dignitaries in the court culture of South and South-

east Asia, attributes such as palanquins, white parasols and

fly-whisks with golden handles, which would be displayed whenever

such persons appeared in public. The term is used in this sense in the




Khmer inscriptions, a corpus rich in records of such honours;96 and

we may compare Atharvavedaparisís_

t_

a 3.1.17:

hastyas´vam_

naray anam_

divyam abharan_

am_

atapatram_

hiran_

yam_ ks

_ itigodhanadh anyaratn adikam

_ ca gurave dady at

[The king] should give his chaplain an elephant and a horse, a palan-

quin, the finest ornaments for his person, a gold[-handled] parasol,

and [valuables] such as lands, cows, coin, grain and jewels.

Such insignia were calibrated as to status. The Vis_

n_

udharmottara

(2.13.7–9b) specifies that the pole of the king’s parasol should be

six cubits (ca. 2.6 metres) in length, those of the royal chaplain,

royal astrologer and head of the army (sen apatih_ ) five, and those of the chief queen (mahis

_ ı) and the crown prince ( yuvar ajah

_ ) four and

a half. It seems highly probable that the S ´ aiva officiant would have

expected no less than is promised to the royal chaplain in this pas-

sage, thereby aspiring to recognition as a dignitary second in rank

only to the monarch himself.

5. CONCLUSION

In depicting S ´ aiva officiants in the role of the traditional royal chap-

lain, the Netratantra indicates the existence of a new class of S ´ aiva

specialists envisaged nowhere else in the corpus of the surviving

96 See K. 762, 6: svasv aminaf pras ad at sa ca r ajasabh adhipatyakr_

tan am a sauvarn_

a-

kalasákara_ nkasit atapatr adisanm anah_

[ f = Upadhm an ıya] ‘who had received the title

R ajasabh adhipati by the king’s favour and been honoured with the golden vase, the

[golden] cup, the white parasol and other [insignia]’; K. 809, 43, concerning Indravar-

man’s S ´ aiva officiant S ´ ivasoma: þ i þþþþ yasya r ajena sr ındravarmman_

a*sita

(conj. : + + Ep.) chatraprad an adisanm ananam ak arayat ‘he caused him to be hon-

oured by King Indravarman with such marks of distinction as the white parasol’; K.

725, 20: * atapatr adisanm anair (conj.: þþþ tra d ıpanm anair Ed.) asakr_

t tena

satkr_

tah_

‘Honoured by him more than once with such marks of distinction as the par-

asol’. That the sanm anam=sanm ananam of the Khmer inscriptions is used in the same

meaning as sam_

m anam=sam_

m ananam here is evident from parallels in which it is

linked, as in the Netra and Atharvavedaparisís_

t_

a, with d anam, p ujanam (/satk arah_

)

and synonyms; see K. 436, 17: p uj aprad anasanm ana; and K. 81 A 22: visrambha-

d anasanm anaih_

yogyo yaf paryyatr_ pyata. For the golden-handled parasol see, e.g.,

Pi _ ngal amata f. 75r1 (10.159a): hemada_ nd

_ am

_ sitam

_ chattram

_ . The granting of such a

parasol by the king is frequently mentioned in the Khmer inscriptions; see, e.g., K.

273, 29 , K. 289 C, 54, and K. 323, 80, in the last of which those with this honour

(hemadan_

d _

atapatrin_

ah_

) are assessed as a distinct class for the purpose of fines.




S ´ aiva scriptures.97 But what was the nature of this encroach-

ment? Several scenarios are conceivable.

We might imagine that the officiant of this text had taken the

place of the brahmanical chaplain altogether or that he coexisted

with him, providing the monarch with parallel S ´ aiva observances to

double the chaplain’s. In the latter case the S ´ aiva officiant might

have matched all or only some of the chaplain’s activities. It is also

possible that the encroachment of the S ´ aiva officiant led to a

retrenchment of the brahmanical chaplain’s activites, leaving somedomains in the hands of the S ´ aiva officiant alone.

In the absence of independent historical evidence – as yet I know

of none – it is impossible to determine exactly the situation underly-ing the textual regulation. But I find the first scenario the least plausi-

ble, since the dominant tendency in Indian religion has been one of

accumulation rather than substitution. Furthermore, though theNetratantra shows us the officiant at work in nearly all the areas

assigned to the chaplain it does not match every one of his activities

in each. Thus in the area of daily activities we see a close match only

in the rituals of protecting the king while he sleeps. There is no men-

tion, for example, of the early-morning routine of giving the kinghis garments, ornaments, and perfume, annointing his eyes with col-

lyrium, and then ritually bestowing on him his horse, his elephant,

his palanquin, his sword and other royal insignia.98

Similarly, in thecase of the major periodic ceremonies, the Netratantra covers the In-

dra festival and the autumnal festival of the Goddess, but does not

mention the great biannual and annual fire-sacrifices of one hundred

97 It may be objected that the Netratantra is a prescriptive text and that it is there-

fore illegitimate to infer practice from it, since a prescription may be an exhortation

that neither reflects nor brings that about. This is true in principle, but the probabil-

ity that the Netratantra was the blueprint for an institution that never existed is

extremely remote. It is surely much more probable that its purpose, like that of the

S ´ aiva scriptures in general, was to authorize and regulate an already existent tradi-

tion of practice that hitherto lacked adequate scriptural sanction. The principal

defect of such materials is not fantasy but schematization. The greater the range of

practice that they seek to bring within their scope the greater their tendency to avoid

the level of detail that characterizes actual implementation, since in this way they

can avoid contradicting the specifics of current variants and instead provide a matrix

of prescription within which all these variants can comfortably be accommodated.98 These activities are set out in Atharvavedaparisís

_ t

_ a 4.1.1–24.




thousand and ten million oblations (laks_

ahomah_

and kot_

ihomah_

) that

are among the brahmanical chaplain’s principal periodic duties.99

One might dismiss these discrepancies by saying that the Netratantra

gives only some examples of the officiant’s obligations rather than a

full account. But that would be plausible only if we had some further

reason to suppose that this was so. The alternative would be to sup-

pose that the reason why rituals such as these fire-sacrifices were not

taken over by the S ´ aiva officiant is that they were no part of the

chaplain’s duties. But that is improbable, since they are included inthe accounts of the rituals to be performed for the king by his chap-

lain in the N ılamatapur an

_

a and Adipur an

_

a-Tithikr

_

tya, both texts con-

cerned with Kashmirian practice. The evidence tends therefore to theconclusion that the brahmanical chaplain retained areas in which he

alone operated.

At the same time it is possible that there were areas of retrench-

ment. For while rituals such as those of the two great festivals of

Indra and Bhadrak al ı might have been carried out by both the brah-

manical chaplain and the S ´ aiva officiant working simultaneously, even

side by side, it is harder to imagine such co-ordination in the case of

the intimate domestic rituals to prepare the king’s bed-chamber for

his sleep. Here perhaps the S ´ aiva rite had ousted the brahmanical.

Whether this new institution was present beyond Kashmir I am

unable at present to determine. The existence of an early Nepalesemanuscript of the Netratantra, of a manual based on this text for the

daily cult of Amr_

tes´vara and Amr_

talaks_

m ı attributed to the Malla

99 The procedure for these two sacrifices is taught in Atharvavedaparisís_

t_

a 30,

30b, and 3. Vis_

n_

udharmottara 2.152.6 requires the Kot_

ihoma annually: sam_

vatsar at

kot_

ihomam_

kury ac ca ghr_

takambalam (2.161 is devoted to this procedure [ ghr_

ta-

kambalakot_

ihomah_

/ ghr_

takambalas´ antih_

’]). The Adipur an_

a-Tithikr_

tyav requires two

Laks_

ahomas each year and one Kot_

ihoma (ll. 2801–2803): dvau laks_

ahomau kur-

v ıta tath a sam_

vatsaram_

prati =ekam_

tu [ko]t_

ihomam_

tu yatn at sarv abhayapradam=atharvavedavidhin a *sammantrya (em : sammantryam

_ Ed.) ca [pu]rohitaih

_ . The

N ılamata probably required the same (813): sam_

vatsarasy atha * k aryau laks_

ahomau

(conj.: k aryo laks_

ahomo Ed.) mah ıks_

it a=kot_

ihomas tath a k arya eka eva dvijottama=tayor vidh anam

_ vij ~ neyam

_ kalpes

_ v atharvan

_ es_

u ca. Perhaps these references to the

Atharvanic procedures are to Atharvavedaparisís_

t_

a 30a, 30b, and 31. For references

to Laks_

ahomas and Kot_

ihomas performed for the Khmer and Nepalese monarchs

see Sanderson, forthcoming.




king Abhayamalla, of a manual for royal initiation into this cult,

and of other textual evidence of the integration of the worship of

Amr_

tes´vara and Amr_

talaks_

m ı into the larger framework of Newar

S ´ akta S ´ aivism only shows that this tradition took root there in the

manner of any other S ´ aiva system, that is to say, as a form of initia-

tion and regular worship. It is of course possible that S ´ aiva officiants

in the royal palaces of the Kathmandu valley were serving their kings

in the manner envisaged in the Netratantra, but the mere presence of

a manuscript of that text is not sufficient to prove this, since to befollowing a tradition of initiation and worship based on the

Netratantra would be enough to motivate its copying. If evidence

were to come to light that the cult of Amr_

tes´vara and Amr_

talaks_

m ıdid extend in Nepal beyond the shared essentials of initiation and

worship to include encroachment into the territory of the brahmani-

cal royal chaplain— and this possibility cannot be excluded since

many Nepalese liturgical texts in Newari and Sanskrit remain to be

studied—then it would be probable that it was established in yet

other regions of the subcontinent, at least in the North and East.

APPENDIX

THE PROVENANCE AND DATE OF THE NETRATANTRA

I have asserted above that the Netratantra was composed in Kashmir and at some time

between about AD 700 and 850, probably towards the end of that period. Here I set

forth the considerations that have led me to these conclusions. In the course of doing

so I shall bring forward evidence of the provenance of certain other scriptural texts,

notably the Jayadrathay amala, the Br_

hatk alottara, and the Vis_

n_

udharmottara.

THE ATTRIBUTES IN SAD AS ´ IVA’S HANDS

Evidence of the Netratantra’s provenance is found in its information on the iconic

forms under which S ´ iva and other deities should be visualized. In 9.17–25 it pre-

scribes the image of Sad asiva, the five-faced and ten-armed form under which

S ´

iva is worshipped in the Siddh anta and under which Amr_ tes´vara should be visu-alized when it is necessary to worship him in that context. Sad asiva is nearly

always five-faced and ten-armed in our sources. But there is variety in the prescrip-

tion of the objects and gestures to be exhibited by the ten hands. Now the Netra-

tantra shows a strongly distinct tradition in this regard:

tris ulam utpalam_

b an_

am aks_

as utram_

ca mudgaram

9.22 daks_

in_

es_

u kares_

v evam_

v ames_

v evam atah_

param

khet_

ak adarsác apam_

ca m atulu _ ngam_

kaman_

d _

alum




21d ca mudgaram_

N : samudgaram Ed. 22b v ames_

v evam atah_

param N :

v ames_

u s´r_

n_

v atah_

param Ed. 22c khet_

ak adarsác apam_

ca conj. : khet_

ak adars_

a-

c apogram_

N : sphet_

ak adarsác apam_

ca Ed.

In the right hands are a trident, a blue lotus, an arrow, a rosary and a cudgel.

Next [those] in the left hands, as follows: a shield, a mirror, a bow, a citron

and an ascetic’s water-vessel.

This tradition I have seen elsewhere only in the Vis_

n_

udharmottara:

3.44.18 dasáb ahus tath a k aryo devadevo mahes´varah_ aks

_ am al am

_ tris ulam

_ ca sáram

_ dan

_ d _

am athotpalam

19 tasya daks_

in_

ahastes_

u kartavy an_

i mah abhuja

v ames_

u m atulu _ ngam_

ca c ap adarsau kama_ nd

_ alum

20 tath a carma ca kartavyam_ devadevasya s´ ulinah_ 18d sáram

_ em. : sára Ed.

And Mahesvara, the God of the Gods, should be made ten-armed. O great-

armed [hero], one should place a rosary, a trident, an arrow, a cudgel and a

blue lotus in his right hands. In the left hands of the Trident-wielder, the God

of the Gods, one should place a citron, a bow, a mirror, an ascetic’s water-

vessel, and a shield.100

100 The same attributes are taught in 3.48.9–16 with the information that the

ten are five pairs, one held by each of the five deities said here to be fused in the

five-faced Sad asiva image (3.48.3–8): Mah adeva facing forward (the rosary and

ascetic’s water-vessel), Sad asíva above (the bow and the arrow), Bhairava looking

to the right (the cudgel and citron), Nandin at the rear (the shield and trident),and the goddess Um a looking left (the mirror and blue lotus). Addorsed images of

S ´ iva with the lateral faces of Um a, Bhairava/Mah ak ala and Nandin behind are a

feature of local Kashmirian tradition as seen in material evidence of the sixth to

seventh centuries. We have examples in stone from the S ´ iva temple at Fattegarh

(Siudmak 1994, pl. 39a,b) and the S ´ ailaputr ı temple in Wushku r village (Hus_

ka-

pura) (Siudmak 1994, pl. 40a,b), and a related bronze (Pal 1975, pl. 4a,b). The tra-

dition is also represented in Kashmirian praise of the holy site of Bh utes´vara, also

called Nandiks_

etra, located below Mount Harmokh. See Nandiks_

etram ah atmya

f. 14r1–4 (vv.165–168): sárvanandimah ak aladev ıvadanaman_

d _

itam=bh utes´varam_

bh u-

tapatim_

dr_

s_

t_

v a martyo vimucyate= pascime vadane v ıra mama vatsyasi yat sahe=bh utes´varah

_ sarvabh utah

_ sut ırth antargato vibhuh

_ =sr ıkan

_ t

_ hah

_ p urvavadane mah ak alo-

’tha daks_

in_

e= pascime nandirudras tu dev ı saumye pratis_

t_

hit a=bh utesvarasya devasya

nandiks_

etramah aphalam=dr_

sýante vadanes_

v ete dev ınandimah asiv ah_

‘Mortals are lib-

erated by seeing Bh utesvara, the Lord of Creatures, adorned with the faces of

S ´ arva [=S ´ iva], Nandin, Mah ak ala and the Goddess. I allow, O hero, that you

should reside in my face at the rear. Bh utesvara, [though he] is all things, the

all-pervading Lord, resides within [this holy place] Sut ırtha. S ´ r ıkan_

t_

ha [=S ´ iva]

is established in his east-facing face, Mah ak ala in the south-facing, Nandirudra

in the west-facing [at the rear] and the Goddess in the north-facing. In the faces

of the god Bh utes´vara one beholds as the great reward of the Nandiks_

etra these

[four]: the Goddess, Nandin, Mah a[k ala] and S ´ iva’; cf. N ılamata 1119c–1120.




and the S ´ arv avat ara (f. 8v14–15):

s ulotpales_

udan_

d _

aks_

as utrakodan_

d _

adh arin_

e

kaman_

d _

alukarasph araphaladarpan_

ap a_ naye

[Obeisance] to [him] who carries a trident, a blue lotus, an arrow, a cudgel, a

rosary and a bow, whose hands hold an ascetic’s water-vessel, a shield, a fruit,

and a mirror.

The S ´ arv avat ara can only have been written in Kashmir, since its subject matter is

restricted to the glorification of S ´ aiva sacred sites in that region, most of which

have no place on the pan-Indian pilgrimage map.101

That the Vis_

n_

udharmottara was written in Kashmir or a neighbouring region

follows from a number of factors. (1) There is a strong correlation between the

T ırthas invoked in the Vis_

n_

udharmottara’s Mantra for the Royal Consecration

(r ajy abhis_

ekamantrah_

) taught in chapter 22 of its second Khan_

d_

a and those sacred

sites, mostly Kashmirian, mentioned in the local N ılamata. (2) There is close agree-

ment between chapter 35 of the second Khan_

d_

a (str ıdevat ap ujananir upan_

am) and

the religious calendar of Kashmir taught in the N ılamata. (3) Where the Vis_

n_

u-

dharmottara prescribes domestic Vaidika rites it adheres to the distinctive proce-

dures of the K at_

hakagr_

hyas utra, also called Laug aks_

igr_

hyas utra, the authority

followed for these rituals by the brahmins of Kashmir. Thus its Vais´vadeva deities

(2.92.3–15) are those of the Kashmirian brahmins as prescribed in K at_

hakagr_

hya-

s utra 4.14.1–20.102 The same applies to the S ´ r addha rituals, as can be seen by com-

paring Vis_

n_

udharmottara 1.140.8–43 with Laug aks_

igr_

hyas utramantrabh as_ ya, vol. 2,

pp. 332–363. (4) It fuses the old Kashmirian iconography of the S ´ iva image, with its

secondary faces of Um a, Bhairava and Nandin,103 with the pan-Indic tradition of

the S ´ aiva Mantram arga, which equates the five faces of Sad asíva with the five Vedic

Brahmamantras (3.48.1–6). And (5) The principal Vis_ n_ u form in its prescription of the images of deities is the four-faced Vaikun

_ t_ ha, in which the forward-facing

101 Among the sacred places of Kashmir praised in this text are Mah adevagiri

and S ´ r ıdv aragiri, the mountain-ridge along the east side of the D_

al lake, with its

various T ırthas, notably Jyes_

t_

hesvara and Tripuresvara at Tripar and Suresvar ı

near Isha_ ba

_ r.

102 For the Kashmirian Vaisvadeva ritual see K as´m ırikakarmak an_

d _

apaddhati f.

192v and the S ´ aivavais´vadevavidhi .103 See n. 100 above.




anthropomorphic face is flanked by the faces of Var aha and Narasim_

ha, with the

face of the sage Kapila at the rear (3.44.9c–13, 3.85.42c–45). This is the principal

Kashmirian Vis_

n_

u image and it is seldom seen elsewhere.

The inference that the Netratantra’s prescription of the hand-attributes of Sad a-

siva is that of a Kashmirian tradition outside the Saiddh antika mainstream is

strengthened by two further items of evidence. The first is that this type of Sad as

iva has left a trace in no Saiddh antika scripture other than the Br_

hatk alottara. That

teaches a close variant of the hand-attributes seen in the Netratantra — it differs

only in that a sword (khad _

gah_

) takes the place of the cudgel (dan_

d _

ah_

) in one of the

hands104 —and it contains other indications that it was redacted in Kashmir or

under Kashmirian influence, notably the imprint of the non-dualistic S ´ akta S ´ aiva

doctrine and terminology seen in the Spandak arik a, a seminal work of that tradi-

tion composed in Kashmir towards the end of the ninth century.105

The second is that we have another variant of the Netratantra’s Sad asíva inthe Kashmirian liturgical tradition. This is the image of Bahur upabhairava, who is

worshipped with his consort M ay adev ı in the Kashmirian S ´ aiva cremation ritual

(sívanirv an_

avidhih_

). In the hands of this variant a sword takes the place of the blue

lotus (n ılotpalam) and the gesture of bestowing boons (varadamudr a) that of the

mace ( gad a).106

104 Br_

hatk alottara B f. 17r5–6: n ılan ırajan ar acakhad _

g aks_

avalay abhayam=satris u-

lam_

harasyoktam_

*daks_

in_

e (em. : daks_

in_

a Cod.) pa~ nca b ahavah_ =b ıjap uram

_ dhanus

carma varada~ n ca kaman_

d _

alum_ =v ame tu devadevasya b ahavah

_ pa~ nca k ırtit ah

_ .

105 For this imprint see Sanderson 2001, pp. 17–18, n. 19. As further evidence

of the Br_

hatk alottara’s Kashmirian origin one may cite its knowledge of the pair-

ing (to be discussed below) of the two sets of four goddesses associated in Kashmi-

rian tradition with the V ama and Daks_

in_

a divisions of the S ´ aiva scriptures. Also

consistent with this origin is its use of the term kh arkhodah_

, to be discussed below,

and its dependence on the P ancar atrika scripture Jay akhyasam_

hit a demonstrated in

Sanderson, 2001, pp. 38–41. That that scripture was produced in Kashmir is highly

probable, though not certain.106 See S ´ ivanirv an

_ avidhi p. 235, l.8–p. 246, l.8 (mun

_ d _

ay agah_

and m ay aj alap uj a). For

the visualization see p. 237, ll. 1–4: sitam_

tryaks_

am_

pa~ ncavaktram_

dasáb ahum_ sasáktikam=s ul aks

_ as utres

_ ukhad

_ gavarair daks

_ akarair vr

_ tam=m atulu _ ngadhanusćarma-

kumbhadarpan_

av amakaih_

. The names of the two deities are revealed in their Mantras:

9-M_ ½¼H-S-KS

_ -M-L-V-R-Y UM

_ BAHUR UPABHAIRAV AYA SVADH A NAMA

_ H (p. 237,

l. 4) and HR IM_

M AY ADEVYAI SVADH A NAMAH_

(p. 237, l. 9). They are worshipped

surrounded by the eight Mothers and the eight Bhairavas (p. 237, l. 9 – p. 238, l. 7).




THE GODDESSES SIDDH A, RAKT A, S ´ US_

K A

AND UTPAL A

In chapters 10 and 11 the Netratantra teaches substitutes for the standard icon of

Amr_

tesvara to be adopted when the officiant has reason to adapt this Mantra-

deity to the context of the V ama and Daks_

in_

a S ´ aiva systems. In these cases

Amr_

tesvara should be visualized as Tumburu and Bhairava respectively, those

being the presiding deities of those systems, and he should be worshipped sur-

rounded by the retinues of S ´ aktis proper to those two. These, to mention only

the primary circuit of goddesses, are four in each case: Jay a, Vijay a, Ajit a and

Apar ajit a in the V ama (11.12–18) and Siddh a, Rakt a, S ´ us_

k a and Utpalahast a

(10.17c–34) in the Daks_

in_

a. The first set of goddesses is given as the inner reti-

nue of the V ama’s Tumburu in all accounts of this cult, and these come fromwidely separated areas of the Indic world: Kashmir, Gilgit, Nepal, Kerala, Ta-

milnadu, Cambodia and Bali. But the second set’s association with the Daks_

in_

a’s

Bhairava, indeed the second set itself, is far less well attested, in spite of the far

greater abundance of the textual materials that have survived from this division.

Now the only other texts known to me in which these four goddesses, or variants of

them, are mentioned are Kashmirian: Jayaratha’s commentary on Abhinavagupta’s

Tantr aloka, the Anandes´varap uj a, the Br_

hatk alottara, the Moks_

op aya, and the

Jayadrathay amala.

Where the Kashmirian Abhinavagupta (fl. c. 975–1025) says that in the Kaula

worship of the Trika the deities that surround the central triad of the Goddesses

may be twelve, sixteen, four, or indeed whatever set one prefers, 107 his compatriot

Jayaratha (fl. c. 1250) comments: ‘‘The four here are either those beginning with

Siddh a or those beginning with Jay a’’;108 and where Abhinavagupta describes

wine as ‘‘Mah abhairava fully radiant with the four S ´ aktis’’,109 Jayaratha com-

ments that the four to which he refers are ‘‘the set of four beginning with Siddh a’’,

‘‘for’’, he adds, ‘‘these are white, red, yellow and black in colour’’.110 The Anandes´ -

107 Tantr aloka 29:51 : antar dv adasákam_

p ujyam_

tato ’s_

t_

as_

t_

akam eva ca=catus_

kam_ v a yatheccham

_ v a k a sam

_ khy a kila rasmis

_ u. The sequel reveals that the expression

as_

t_

as_

t_

akam is to be taken as a Dvandva compound meaning ‘eight-and-eight’,

referring to the eight Kaula Mothers with their eight Bhairavas.108 Tantr alokaviveka ad 29.51c: catus

_ kam iti siddh adi jay adi v a.

109 Tantr aloka 37.42d: sákticatus_

t_

ayojjvalam alam_

madyam_

mah abhairavam.110 Tantr alokaviveka ad 37.42d: sákt ıti siddh adicatus

_ kam (em.: siddh acatus

_ kam

Ed.). tad dhi sitaraktap ıtakr_

s_

n_

avarn_

am. The colours were no doubt thought to be

significant as those of four varieties of wine.




varap uj a has this same set of four worshipped as the retinue of Anandes´varabhair-

ava and his consort Sur adev ı, the deities of wine.111

The Br_

hatk alottara covers the four goddesses beginning with Jay a and the four

beginning with Siddh a, without associating them with Tumburu and Bhairava or

the V ama and Daks_

in_

a divisions, in a chapter devoted to the iconography of

images of the Mothers.112

The Moks_

op aya identifies the four beginning with Siddh a as those that sur-

round Bhairava in the Daks_

in_

a division (daks_

in_

asrotah_

), pairs them with the four

surrounding Tumburu in the V ama division (v amasrotah_

), and asserts that these

eight are the foremost of all the Mother goddesses. 113

In the Jayadrathay amala the two sets of four form the sixty-first and sixty-

second cycles of the eighty-one cycles of the goddess R avin_ ı that occupy ever

higher centres along the axis of the worshipper’s body in the fourth of the four

divisions of six thousand stanzas (S_

at_ kas) that comprise that text. The first set, in

the order S ´ us_

k a, Siddh a, Utpal a and Rakt a, is said there to comprise the S ´ aktis of

111 Anandes´varap uj a f. 59[2]r4–6: bh an_ d _ atale: ha-sa-ra-ks_ a-ma-la-va- ya- um_ ana-ndes´varabhairav aya vaus

_ at

_ : sa-ha-ra-ks

_ a-ma-la-va- ya- um

_ sur adevyai vaus

_ at

_ : om

_ * si -

ddh ayai (conj.: siddh arth ayai Cod.) vaus_

at_ : evam

_ sus

_ k ayai vau. rakt ayai : utpal ayai .

Cf. in a prescription for the worship of Anandes´vara after the completion of the

fire-sacrifice Agnik aryapaddhati B f. 130r10: bh an_

d _

e devyas catasro.112 The chapter, called m atr

_ bhairavavartan a in its colophon, unnumbered in the

manuscripts, is the seventy-seventh by my count. The section on the two sets of

four is as follows (Br_

hatk alottara A f. 252r2–4; B f. 219r4–219v2):27 caturbhuj a

caturvaktr a jay a kundendusannibh a=is_

ukodan_

d _

asam_

yukt a pretasth a nr_

tyatatpar a=28 evam

_ tu vijay a k ary a rakt abh asvoparisthit a/evam

_ jayant ı b ıbhats a s urya*bh ımo-

paristhit a (conj.: bh ımaparisthit a AB)/29 * megha (conj.: moha AB) sth a * cotpal ak ar a

(A: cotpat ak ar a B) nr_

tyant ı kr_

s_

n_

avarcas a (A: kr_

s_

n_

avarcas ı B)=apar ajit a pra-

kartavy a n an atody anuvartin ı=30 pretasth a (A: pratasth a B) caiva nirm am_

s a siddh a

kundendusannibh a=khad _ gacarma * dhar ı (A: dhur a B) dev ı ks

_ urik amun

_ d _

abh us_

it a=31

evam_

rakt a kim_

tu *rakt a (A: bhukt am_

B) sús_

k am_

*k al ım_

(conj.: k antim_

) tu

k arayet=*utpalaprabhavadan a (conj: utpalaprabh avadan a A: utpalaprabhav ad at a B)

utpal a _ ngotpalasthit a.113 The relevant passage of this unpublished part of the Moks

_ op aya has been

edited in Hanneder, 1998a, p. 69: jay a ca vijay a caiva jayant ı c apar ajit a=v amasro-

togat a et as tumburum_

rudram as´rit ah_ =siddh a sús

_ k a ca rakt a ca utpal a ceti devat ah

_ /

sroto daks_

in_

am asritya bhairavam_

rudram as´rit ah_ =sarv as am eva m at r

_ n_

am as_

t_

av e-

t as tu n ayik ah_

.




the Lord of the Daks_

in_

a (daks_

in_

es´varah_

), and the second set, in the order Jay a, Vi-

jay a, Apar ajit a and Jayant ı, that of the Lord of the V ama (v amav ıres´vares anah_

).114

The four beginning with Siddh a appear again in that S ´ at_ ka as the first of a series of

32 S ´ aktis comprising the sequence called ‘With-Support’ (s alambakramah_

) in a vari-

ant of the Krama system of the K al ıkula.115

In the second S át_ ka they (but with Rakt a under the name C amun

_ d a) are the

first four of the twelve Mothers that form the retinue of K al ı Catuscakresvar ı

‘Ruler of the [Three] Cycles of Four’. The other eight are the four beginning with

Jay a, followed by V am a, Jyes_

t_ h a, Raudr ı and Bhadrak al ı.116

That Jayaratha’s commentary on the Tantr aloka is Kashmirian requires no

demonstration. The Anandes ´varap uj a is part of the corpus of Kashmirian ritual

texts, and the form of worship it teaches is a regular ancillary element in the Kash-

mirian S ´ aiva ritual of initiation.117 The Kashmirian origin of the Br

_

hatk alottara has

114 Jayadrathay amala, S_

at_

ka 4, f. 91v7–92r: v amadaks_

in_

ac ar abhy am_

kalitau cakra-

*n ayakau ðconj: : n ayike Cod.)/ yau pam_

cadh a sures ani tatra s a sphurit a yad a=tad a

vyakt avyaktatar a sr_

s_

t_

isam_

h ara*k arik a (corr.: k arak a Cod.)/karam_

kin_

ı mah araudr a

daks_

in_

es´vara *sam_

yut a (conj.: s am_

pratam Cod.)/sús_

k asiddhotpal arakt aras´min atham_ param

_ mahat=tatrodgatam

_ k alan aya jagaty asmin car acare=v amav ıres´vares anam

_ jay a

ca vijay a tath a=apar ajita jayam_

t ı s a cety evam_

pam_

cakam_

smr_

tam_

=atra *sr_

s_

t_

ivat ı

(em.: siddhivat ı Cod.) dev ı prodit a paramesvar ı=sam_

h ara*dh amni (em.: dh astri Cod.)

y a k al ı s a vyakt a p urvvacakratah_

=evam_

c aradvaye k al ı sr_

s_

t_

isam_

h arak arin_

ı.115 Jayadrathay amala, S

_

at

_

ka 4, f. 202r2–6: s alambam evam ay ati * vyaktim

_

(em.:

vyaktih_ Cod.) suravar arcite=atra rasmisam uhasya vibh agam_ sr_ n_ u s am_ pratam=si -ddh a rakt a susus

_ k any a utpal a parik ırttit a=k al ı ca k alar atr ı ca k ala*dh ar a(em.: dh are

Cod.) kales´var ı=sim_

havaktr a ca m arj ar ı us_

t_

r a k ap alin ı tath a=khara*r up avir up a ðem: :

rup a ca virup a Cod.) ca mes_

ar up a mahorag a=rakt aks_

ı raktav as a ca lam_

bakarn_

n_

ı tat

haiva ca= pr_

thodar ı tv ekanetr a lokan ath a bhayam_

kar ı=ul ukavadan a c any a *kolavaktr a

(conj.: k alavaktr a Cod.) ca khim_

khin ı= karam_

k a bhadrak al ı ca tathaiv any a mah a-

bal a=bharud _

a hy at_

t_

ah as a ca r aks_

as ı hy asur ı tath a=et a eva smr_

t a rasmyo *dvidh a-

s_

t_

as_

t_

akabhedatah_

(conj.: dr_

s_

t_

v aj ~ n as_

t_

akabhedatah_

Cod.)=kulavidy ap urvvayukt a svan a-

makr_

ta*madhyak ah_

(conj.: madhyag ah_

Cod.)/* p ad ant ah_

(conj.: pad arth a Cod.)

p ujan ıy as t ah_

samyak*s alambasiddhid ah_

(em.: pr alam_

basiddhid ah_

Cod.) sphuracca-

krakram anta*sth ah_

(corr.: sth a Cod.) svasth ane * pravijr_

mbhit ah_

(corr.: prajijr_

m_

bhitah_ Cod.)= praks

_ ın

_ abh ava*vr

_ ndaugh ah

_ (corr.: vr

_ m_

daugh a Cod.) sarvv ah ar ah_

sulampat_

ah_

/

iti jayadrathay amale s alam_

bacakrakramavidhibhedah_

.116 Jayadrathay amala, S

_ at

_ ka 2, f. 12r8–9 (3.45–47b): tatrasth am

_ p ujayen mantr ı

antak antakar ım_

par am=dv adas are tatas cakre sam_

p ujy a m atarottam ah_

=c amun_

d _

a ca

tath a sus_

k a siddh a caivotpal a tath a= jay a ca vijay a caiva jayant ı c apar ajit a=v am a

jyes_

t_

h a tath a raudr ı bhadrak al ı gan_

ambik a.117 See Kal ad ıks

_ avidhi f. 58r9–10, in the context of the concluding of the rites of

the first day (adhiv asadinam): kr_

tv a ca vais´vadev anandes´varabhairavap uj adi br ahma-

n_

ap ujanam_

ca kr_

tv a; f. 235r16–v3, in the context of the closing rites of the last day

of the initiation: tatah_

pr_

thaksthale anandes´varabhairavap uj am_

taduktavidhin a kr_

tv a

ks_

etrap al am_

s c agrelikhitaks_

etrap alapaddhatikramen_

a sam_

p ujya.




been argued above. That the Moks_

op aya was composed in Kashmir has been estab-

lished by Jurgen Hanneder, who has also tied the time of its composition to a

few years immediately after the reign of the Kashmirian king Yasaskara (r. AD 939–

948).118

As for the provenance of the Jayadrathay amala, we must distinguish between

the first S:at_ ka of six thousand verses and the eighteen thousand verses of the

remaining three. The first was originally an independent whole. It presents itself as

such, predicts no sequel, and is distinct from the other S: at_

kas, which are closely

related to each other in style, terminology and concepts.119 In the first I see noth-

ing that enables us to fix the region of its composition. But the rest of the later

text shows clear signs of Kashmirian origin. In the second S:at_

ka the only sign I

see is the collocation of these two sets of four S ´ aktis. But in both S:at_ kas 3 and 4

there is further evidence.

When the fourth S:at_ ka sets out the procedures and rituals that must accom-

pany the copying of a manuscript of the Jayadrathay amala it assumes that the

copying will be done on sheets of birch bark (bh urjapatr an_

i ).120 This was the stan-

dard writing material only in Kashmir and adjacent areas of the northwest.

The third S:at_ ka contains a chapter devoted to the use of the Mantra of the

goddess Ghoraghoratar a in order to gain access to the subterranean paradises of

P at ala ( p at alasiddhih_

). It lists seventeen sites where there are S ´ r ımukhas, special

apertures in the earth (bilam) through which this feat can be achieved. The first

seven are at sites of pan-Indian fame: Pray aga, Gay a, S ´ r ısaila, Man_

d_

ales´vara,

Hariscandra, the Narmad a river, and the K alin jara mountain. The last ten are

118 Hanneder, 2003, pp. 40–52.119 Sanderson, 2002, p. 2 and n. 13.120 Jayadrathay amala; S:at

_ ka 4, f. 208v4: bh urjapatr an

_ i c amam

_ trya kr

_ takautu-

kamam_

galah_ =likhed varn

_ ani ‘Having empowered the leaves of birch-bark with the

Mantra and tied a protective thread about his wrist he should trace the letters’.




said to be at S ´ ulabheda, Vijaya, Var aha, Jyes_

t_ ha, the Uttaram anasa [lake], near

Tu_ ngasv amin, on Mah adevagiri, at P atram ula, Padmasaras, and Mah am a-

y uraka.121 Two of these ten, Mah am ay uraka and Tu_ ngasv amin, are unknown to

me, but the remaining eight can be identified as sacred sites within Kashmir. S ´ u-

labheda, also known as S ´ ulagh ata, is the spring of the N aga N ıla (n ılakun_

d _

am),

the source of the river Vitast a/Vyath/Jhelum, so named because S ´ iva is believed

to have split open the earth (-bheda) here by striking it (-gh ata) with his trident

(S ´ ula-) so that the river could emerge from the underworld;122 Vijaya is Vija-

yaks_

etra on the right bank of the Vitast a, the site of the temple of S ´ iva Vijayes´-

121 Jayadrathay amala, S:at_

ka 3, f. 162r4–7 (in Ghoratar as adhana; P at alasi -

ddhipat_

ala): evam_

bilavibh agam_

sy ad deses_

v adhun a mucyate= pray age ca gay ay am_

ca

sr ısaile man_

d _

ales´vare=*harisćandre (em. : harisćam_

dra Cod.) narmad ay am_

tath a

k ali ~ njare girau=kas´m ır ay am_

s ulabhedam_

*toyap urn_

am_

(conj. : rotap urn_

n_

a Cod.) bilo-

ttamam_

=vijaye ca var ahe ca jyes_

t_

he cottaram anase=tu _ ngasv amisam ıpe tu mah adevagi -

rau tath a= p atram ule padmasare mah am ay urake tath a=evam adis_

u deses_

u sr ımukh as te

prak ırtit ah_

. The term s´r ımukham, here masculine, denotes the superior among such

apertures. Ibid. f. 162r4–5: uttamam_

sr ımukham_

j ~ neyam_

bahugarbhapur acitam=ma-

dhyamam

_

bilasam

_

j ~ nam

_

sy ad antah

_

purasatair yutam=s am anyam

_

vivaram

_

proktam

_ siddhadravyasát avr_

tam.122 N ılamata 1302, 1389; Haracaritacint aman

_ i 12.16c–17, referring to it as ‘‘the

supreme aperture’’ (bilam uttamam): *n ılakun_

d _

am_

(em. : n ılakan_

t_

ham_

Ed.) vitast a-

khyam_

s ulagh atam iti tribhih_ =*abhidh anaih

_ (em. : abhidh anam

_ Ed.) prasiddham

_ tad

ady api bilam uttamam; Vijayes´varam ah atmya f. 11v4–6: s´ ulena bhittv a p at alam_

tasm at

sth anavar ac chubh at=uddhr_

t a s anad ı pun_ y a paramabrahmac arin

_ ı=var ahatanay a devi

muktid a sarvajantus_

u=s ulabheda iti khy atam_

tat t ırtham_

parvat agrimam; Stein, 1961,

vol. 2, p. 411. It is located near V ern ag.




vara, recognized beyond the Kashmir valley as the principal S ´ iva of the region;123

Var aha (Var ahaks_

etra/Var ahat ırtha) is the site of the shrine of Vis_

n_

u Adivar aha

just above the gorge through which the Vitast a leaves the valley;124 Jyes_

t_ ha is the

site of S ´ iva Jyes_

t_ hesvara adjoining that of Siva Bh utesvara (Butish er), a major

Kashmirian pilgrimage site below the Harmo kh glaciers;125 Uttaram anasa is the

Gan_ gabal lake at the foot of those glaciers;126 Mah adevagiri is the mountain

peak of that name located in the ridge that separates the valleys of the Sindhu

123 See R ajatara _ ngin_ ı 1.38; Skandapur an

_ a, N agarakhan

_ d _

a (6), Adhy aya 109 (list-

ing the names of the S ´ ivas at each of 68 S ´ ivat ırthas throughout the subcontinent),

13a: vijayam_

caiva k as´m ıre; N ılamata 1056, 1303; Haracaritacint aman_

i , chapter 10;

Tantr aloka 37.39cd; Kath asarits agara 39.36; 51.48; 66.5; Desópadesá 4.28; Stein,

1961, vol. 2, pp. 463–464. This is the eponymous S ´ iva of the modern town of

V ejabr oru (Vijayabhat_ t_ araka). The view that this is the pre-eminent Li _ nga of S ´ iva

in Kashmir is also expressed in the Vijayes´varam ah atmya (f. 2r3: kas´m ıraman_

d _

ale

pun_ ye vijaye li _ ngam uttamam), which also claims pan-Indian pre-eminence for the

site by saying that of all the S ´ ivaks_

etras of the subcontinent (Kum ar ıdv ıpa), the five

sets of eight and the sixty-eight—for these see Sanderson, 2005, nn. 199–203 and207–209—four are supreme: Avimukta (in Benares), Mah ak ala (in Ujjain), Varis

_ t_

ha

(in Is_

t_ ak apatha/Is

_ t_

ik apatha?), and Vijayes´vara (f. 2r15–v8): ye ca pa~ nc as_

t_

ak a guhy a

ye v as_

t_

as_

as_

t_

isa _ nkhay a=sth an as susobhan a hr_

dy ah_

sarvak amaphalaprad ah_ = jant un am

_ bh avayukt an am_

bhogad a muktid as sad a=tes_

am_

madhy an mah adevi proktam_

ks_

etraca-

tus_

t_

ayam=avimuktam_

mah ak alam_

varis_

t_

ham_

vijayes´varam= agneyaman_

d _

al antasstham_ kum ar ıdv ıpam as´ritam=bharatasya tu madhye sya catv aro vasthit a iha=mah as´mas a-

nasam_

j ~ n as ca sth an a ete prakalpit ah_ =tes

_ am

_ vibh agam

_ vaks

_ y ami yath akramam anu-

ttamam=avimuktah_

sthitah_

p urve mah ak alo tha daks_

in_

e=*varis_

t_

hah_

(corr. : varis_

t_

ah_ Cod.) pasćime bh age tasy ante vijayesvarah

_ .

124 See R ajatara _ ngin_

ı 6.206; 7.1310; N ılamata 1158–59; Haracaritacint aman_

i

12.43; Kath asarits agara 39.37 (v ar aham_

ks_

etram_

); Stein, 1961, I, p. 251, n. on

6.186. This is the source of the name of the surrounding town of Warahmul/

B ar am ula (Var aham ula).125 R ajatara _ ngin

_ ı 1.113; Nandiks

_ etram ah atmya of the S ´ arv avat ara, ff. 12r7–15r1

(vv. 142–175); N ılamata 1032, 1111–1136 (Bh utes´varam ah atmya); Kath asarits agara

39.36 (Nandiks_

etra); 51.48 (Nandiks_

etra); Stein, 1961, II, pp. 407–408.126 See N ılamata 899, 960, 1124–30; Haracaritacint aman

_ i 4.87ff.; Kath asarits agara

39.38; Jayantabhat_

t_

a, Ny ayama~ njar ı, vol. 2, p. 376, l.14; Moks_

op aya, Vair agya-

prakaran_

a 1.2.36b; the Northern recension after Mah abh arata 13.26.56 (on K alo-

daka, Nandikun_

d_

a, Uttaram anasa and the image of Nand ısvara [at Bh utes´vara/

Jyes_

t_

hes´vara]); K urmap ur an_

a 2.36.41c–42b; Stein, 1961, vol. 1, p. 111, n. on 3.448.




and the Arrah;127 Padmasaras is the great lake at the northern end of the valley

now known as the W olur;128 and P atram ula can only be the T ırtha of the N aga

P atra that the N ılamata places on the course of the Vitast a between its conflu-

ence with the Sindhu and its entry into the W olur Lake.129 The site appears

under the name P atram ula in the Kashmirian pilgrimage text Vitast am ah atmya,

which tells us that it is here that the Greater Gan_ g a (Mah agan_ g a) emerged into

the world from the subterranean paradise and that it is here that the demon

Gay asura disappeared into that underworld when pursued and struck by Vis_

n_

u

with his mace.130

Two of these sites, Vijaya and Uttaram anasa, were famous outside Kashmir,131

but others, such as P atram ula, are registered only in local tradition. It is therefore

very unlikely that this is the work of any but a Kashmirian addressing a Kashmirian

readership.

Since, therefore, the only sources other than the Netratantra that know the setof the four goddesses Siddh a, Rakt a, S ´ us

_ k a and Utpal a are Kashmirian, and since

there is an abundance of non-Kashmirian sources in which their absence is signifi-

cant, it is highly probable that the Netratantra too is a work of this region.

THE ICONOGRAPHY OF VIS_

N_

U

Further support for this conclusion is provided by the text’s iconography of Vis_

n_

u

and Brahm a. Of its forms of the former the first is one-faced and four-armed,

holding the conch, discus, mace and lotus (13.2–4). The second (13.5–9) is a three-

faced version of the four-faced Vaikun_

t_ ha, with a central anthropomorphic head

flanked by those of the Boar (Var aha) and the Man-Lion (Narasim

_

ha), sur-

rounded by the goddesses Laks_

m ı, K ırti, Jay a, and M ay a, and accompanied by

his consort Laks_

m ı (13.5–9). The third (13.10–13b) is a naked, ithyphallic, eight-

127 See N ılamata 1337; Haracaritacint aman_

i 10.258; S ´ arv avat ara ff. 3–5 (Adhy aya

3); Kath asarits agara 51.48; S ´ ivas utravimarsín ı, p. 1; Stein, 1961, vol. 2, p. 422.128 N ılamata 985–997, 1351, 1353; R ajatara_ ngi _ n ı 4.592–617; Stein, 1961, vol. 2,

pp. 423–24. It is more usually called Mah apadmasaras (‘the lake of the [N aga]

Mah apadma’), but we see Padmasaras in R ajatara _ ngin

_

ı 8.2421.129 N ılamata 1349–50.130 Vitast am ah atmya (assigned to the Bhr

_ _ ng ısásam

_ hit a, a traditional locus of attri-

bution for Kashmirian Puranic materials), A f. 25r9–11: anvadh avac ca tad raks_

o

devadevo jan ardanah_ = gaday a c api tam

_ jaghne raks

_ asam

_ bhagav an harih

_ =anvadravat

punas tam_

ca * y avad (conj. : t avad Cod.) vai p atram ulakam=tatraiva raks_

ah_

p at alam_ pradadr ava mahes´vari =tatrodbh ut a mah aga _ ng a p at al aj jagad ısvari =tatra sn atv a *nare

(conj. : naro Cod.) devi muktibhukt ı na sam_

sáyah_

.131 See nn. 123 and 126 above.




armed child riding a ram, playing with women, and attended by four naked god-

desses, Karp ur ı, Candan ı, Kast ur ı, and Ku_ nkum ı.132

Judging from surviving stone and bronze sculptures we see that the first and the

second were the standard forms of Vis_

n_

u in Kashmir133 and that the second is

found almost only there, becoming four-faced from about the middle of the ninth

century through the addition of an addorsed head of the sage Kapila.134 Ks_

emar aja

identifies this form and its four attendant goddesses as following the prescription of

the P a~ ncar atrika Jay akhyasam_

hit a, and he is right to have done so, except that this

text teaches the four-faced form with those goddesses. The Netratantra’s image re-

flects Kashmirian practice prior to the addition of the Kapila face.135

132 Netra 13.10–13b: athav as_

t_

abhujam_

devam_

p ıtavarn_

am_

susóbhanam=mes_

opa-

risthitam_

*devi (Ed. : devam_

N) *digv asam urdhvali _ nginam (corr. : digv asam_

m urdhva-

lim_

ginam_

N: digvastram_

cordhvali _ nginam Ed.)/11 sr_

_ ngam_

vas_

t_

abhya caikena *vy a

khy anodyatap an_

ikam (conj. : coy anodyatap an_

ikam N: cey arodyatap an_

ikam Ed.)=b alar upam

_ yajen nityam

_ *kr ıd

_ am anam

_ hi yos

_ it am

_ (N: kr ıd

_ antam

_ yos

_ it am

_ gan

_ aih

_ Ed.)/12 caturdiks_

u sthit a devyo*digv as as tu ðN: digambara Ed.) manoram ah_ =ka-

rp ur ı candan ı caiva kast ur ı ku_ nkum ı tath a= 13 *tadr upadh arin_

ır dev ır (conj. : tadr u-

padhar ari _ n ım

_

dev ım

_

N : tadr upadh arik a devyo Ed.) icch asiddhiphala * prad ah

_

(Ed. :

prad a N).133 For instances of the first see Pal, 1975, pl. 10 (9th century) and Siudmak

1994, pl. 31 (c. 500–550), pl. 34 (c. 550–600), pl. 38 (c. 525–550), pl. 50 (c. 600–

625), pl. 52 (c. 575–600), pl. 55 (early 7th century), pl. 58 (c. 525–550), pl. 60 (c.

600–625), pl. 72 (c. 675–700), pl. 123 (c. 825–850) For instances of the second see

Pal, 1975, pl. 9 (three-faced, c. 800), pl. 12a,b (four-faced, 11th century), pl. 84a,b,c

(from neighbouring Chamba, four-faced, 9th century), and Siudmak, 1994, pl. 118

(three-faced, c. 700–725), pl. 120 (three-faced, c. 775–800), pl. 121 (three-faced, c.

775–800), pl. 122 (three-faced, c. 825–850), pl. 124 (four-faced, c. 850), pls. 140–143

(all four-faced, c. 850–55, Avantisv amin temple), pls. 155–56 (both c. 875–900), pl.

170 (c. 1000–1025), Huntington, 1985, fig. 17.19 (c. 12th century).134 Siudmak, 1994.135 Netroddyota after 13.8c–9: evam

_ sr ıjay asam

_ hit adr

_ s

_ t_

yoktv a. Ks_

emar aja’s Jay a-

sam_

hit a is evidently the Jay akhyasam_

hit a. The Kashmirian Bh agavatotpala refers

to the work as Jay a in his Spandaprad ıpik a, p. 91 ( proktam_

hi s´r ıjay ay am. The

citation that this introduces is Jay akhyasam_

hit a 10.69). The visualization of the

four-faced Vaikun_

t_

ha, the central deity of that scripture, is prescribed in 6.73–76.

It is highly improbable that Ks_

emar aja knew this text in an earlier redaction in

which the image had only three faces as in the Netra. For the text does not merely

teach a four-faced image. It teaches a system of rites in which the distinction

between the three subsidiary faces of Narasim_

ha, Var aha and Kapila, each with

its own Mantra, is central.






emerges in her terrible, universal aspect [as K alasam_

kars_

an_ ı137]. Evidently this is

the true nature that S ´ iva had forgotten. The Yogin ıs restore P arvat ı; a second

S ´ akti of Vis_

n_

u (in addition to S ´ iv ad ut ı) comes forth to serve her; her two defenders,

the first, Vis_

n_

u, now identified more specifically as Sam_

kars_

an_

a, sing a hymn of

praise to the terrible Goddess; and she rewards them by granting them the honour

of residing on her person as ear-pendants.138

Two features beyond the mere fact of the inclusion of this myth in the Haraca-

ritacint aman_

i point to its Kashmirian character. The first is the reference to the

Goddess’s having rewarded Sam_

kars_

an_

a and Narasim_

ha by adopting them as her

ear-pendants, evidently an aetiological explanation of a detail of her iconography.

This detail I have encountered only in manifestations of K alasam_

kars_

an_ ı taught

in the Kashmirian part of the Jayadrathay amala.139

137 She is not so named directly in this text. But in v. 59 we learn that at the

close of these events S ´ iva worshipped her in the midst of the Mothers, offering up

Time (k alah_ Þ as the sacrificial victim

_ : p ujit a m atr

_ madhye s a kruddh a dev ı kap alin a=

upah ar ıkr_

tastatra pasuh_

k alas ca duh_

sahah_

. This element of the myth is surely

intended as a semantic analysis of the name K alasam_

kars_

an_ ı ‘Withdrawer of Time’.

138

Haracaritacint aman_ i 31.48–58: tatas t ah_ ks_ obhit as t abhy am_ yoginyo bhayak a-tar ah

_ =asmaran sv am

_ sa ev antah

_ sáran

_ am

_ bh avan abal at=49 tadbh avan abal at * svasva

(conj : svam_

svam_

Ed.) prakat_

ıkr_

ta*vigrah ah_

(em. : vigrahamÞ=ath avir asan yuga-

pad brahm an_ y ady as´ ca devat ah

_ =50 par as t ah

_ s_

od _

asó devyah_

pran_

amya paramesva-

ram=astuvann a~ njal ır baddhv a vicitraih_

p avanaih_

stavaih_ =51 stut ır vidh ayavidhin a

bh uyo ’py et a ath avadan=*stutav ıryo (conj.: stutiv ıryam_

Ed.) nijam_

v ıryam_

smara

deva nir akulah_ =52 iti stute yogin ıbhir mah adeve samudyayau=d arit asy a siv ad ut ı yogi -

n ıbhaks_

an_

odyat a=53 athodabh ut par a v an_

ı smara rudra nij am_

tanum=katham_

sívo-

citam_

r upam_

vismr_

tam_

te vimr_

sýat am=54 tay a gir a mah adevo nijam_

sasm ara

vigraham=udyayau ca par a sáktir adbhut ak arar upin_

ı=55 ghor a sahasracaran_

a bhak-

s_

ayant ı car acaram=brahm an_

d _

akot_

ır nirmathya pibant ı bh uri son_

itam=56 tat ks_

an_

e

yogin ıvargo n ıtap urv am_

him adrij am= punar utp aday am asa *svayogena bhay anvit ah_ (em.: svayogen abhay anvit ah

_ Ed.)/57 udyayau vais

_ n_

av ı saktir apar a sevitum_

ca

t am=sim

_

hasam

_

kars

_

an

_

abhy am

_

ca par a saktis tad a stut a=58 bhakty a viracitastotr a

dev ı varayati sma tau=svadh ama dehe karn_

abhy am_

bh us_

an_

artham adhatta ca.139 See Jayadrathay amala, S

_ at_

ka 2, f. 82r7 (visualization of J ıvak al ı): nr_

sim_

hasam-_ kars

_ an

_ akarn

_ alambin ı; S

_ at

_ ka 2, f. 85v8 (visualization of Ardhamun

_ d_

a/Mahes´ anak a-

l ı): v amakarn_

e pralam_

bantam_

sam_

kars_

an_

am avasthitam=daks_

in_

e narasim_

ham_

sy ad ;

S_

at_

ka 2, f. 99v5 (visualization of V ıryak al ı): sphurannr_

sim_

ha*sam_

kars_ ’n_

apr a-

lambas´rutisóbhit am (conj.: sam_

karn_

apr alam_

bhasóbhin am Cod.); S_

at_

ka 3, f. 92r4

(visualization of Matacakresvar ı): sa _ nkars_

an_

amah asim_

ha*sáva(em. : sarva Cod.)

karn_

avalam_

bin ım.




The second is that I see no trace outside Kashmir of this novel myth

of extraction, sacrifice and restoration, while in Kashmir itself it appears in

a number sources concerned with local traditions. The Adipur an_

a-Tithikr_

tya

gives it in the context of Um acaturth ı, the festival of the goddess Um a

on the fourth day of the light half of M agha (December/January).140 The

scripture D utid _

amara,141 the Sures´var ım ah atmya of the S ´ arv avat ara,142 the

140 Adipur an_

a-Tithikr_

tya, ll. 2145, 2147: um acaturthy am_

m aghe tu sukl ay am_

yogi -

n ıgan_

aih_ = pr ag bhaks

_ ayitv a *sr

_ s_

t a (Cod.: sr_

s_

t_

v a conj. Ed.) ca bh uyah_

sv a _ ng am_

-

sajair gan

_

aih

_

(I have dropped l. 2146 as a misplaced double of l. 2152) ‘On the bright

fourth sacred to Um a in the month of M agha the hordes of Yogin ıs first devouredher and then re-created her with Gan

_ as that were partial incarnations of their own

bodies’.141 D utid

_ amara f. 71v11–12 (vv. 15–17 of this section): mayi nr

_ tyati dev ıti

tatra cchidram_

prakalpitam=m atr_

bhih_

tv apahr_

tya tv am_

dev ıcakre nivedit a/ 16 bha-

ks_

it a yogin ıbhis ca tato hr_

s_

t_

as tu devat ah_ =nr

_ tyanti ca may a s ardham

_ y avad eva

dinadvayam=tatas samast a visr ant a hr_

di tvam_

cintit a may a=na pasy ami ca devi

tv am_

vismayam_

paramam_

gatah_

‘O Goddess, by dancing there [in the cremation

ground] I made myself vulnerable to [their] entry. [So] the Mothers extracted you

[from your hiding place within me] and offered you up to the Cakra of the Goddess.

The Yogin ıs devoured you. Then the deities were delighted and danced with me for

the next two days. Then they all ceased and I thought of you [, believing that you

were still hidden] in my heart, and when I could not see you there I was greatly

astonished’. Bhairava in his rage smashes the Cakra of the sacrifice. The terrified

Yogin ıs propitiate him with offerings and finally restore the dismembered Goddess

to him whole (tatas samagradev ıbhis sam_

dhit a paramesvar ı 30ab). He is delighted

and founds the S ´ ivar atri festival to commemorate these events.142 S ´ arv avat ara f. 12: *dadur (em.: dadhur Cod.) dh up aya preyastv at karn

_ a-

mburuhakot_

ar at=t am akr_

s_

ya svasakty a vai prahars_

otphullalocan ah_

‘With eyes wide

with joy [the Yogin ıs] extracted her [P arvat ı ] from [her hiding-place in] the inte-

rior of his lotus-like ear and offered her up [to Bhairava] out of their love for him,

as the sacramental fumigant [prepared from her flesh]’.




Haran agavarn_

ana143 of the Vitast am ah atmya, and Jayaratha’s commentary on

the Tantr aloka144 give versions of it in the context of the S ´ ivar atri festival as

celebrated in Kashmir during the last five days of the dark half of Ph algu_ na

(January/February).

143 Vitast am ah atmya A f. 4r12 ff.: gav am_

kot_

isahasrasya d anapun_

yam_

labhen

narah_ = yah

_ sn ati ca vitast ay am

_ harat ırthasya sa _ ngame= yogin ın am

_ gan

_ air yatra y age

vai *sáivar atrike (em. : sívar atrike A : s avar atrike B)=v arun_

y a saha devesi dev ım

* alabhya (A : ar adhya B) vai pur a= p ujayitv a bhairav aya *balir datto (em. : balim_

datto

B : balim_

dattv a A) mah atmane=*tad (B : tam_

A) dr_

s_

t_

v a devadevesah_

param_

ks_

obham

*av apa sah_

(B: ag at punah_

A) =

dr_

s_

t_

v a ks_

obham_

*mahes ani (B: param_

devi A)

bhairavasya mah atmanah_ = yogin ın am

_ gan

_ ah

_ s ıghram

_ pal ayanaparo ’bhavat=s ulam

utth apya bhagav an yogin ın am_

gan_

am_

tad a= pal ayanaparam_

dr_

s_

t_

v a ’nvadh avat

svagan_

air vr_

tah_ =dr

_ s_

t_

v a tath anudh avantam_

bhairavam_

yogin ıgan_

ah_ =m ın ıbh uy apatad

devi vitast ay a jale tatah_ =bhagav an api tatraiv anvapatad balibhir vr

_ tah

_ (The next three

lines added in the margin of B:)= aj ~ n apayat tad a devo gan_

am_

s c urn_

ayateti ca=m ın ıbh ut a yogin ıs ca s ulena gan

_ asattam ah

_ =evam astv iti te sarve gan

_ as tam

_ yogin ı-

gan_

am=m ın ıbh utam_

tad a s ulais´ c urn_

ay am asur ayudhaih_ =kuntaih

_ prah arito * hy atra

(conj. : yatra AB) yogin ıgan_

a uttamah_ =tasm at kunt ıprah aro ’yam

_ gr amo para-

map avanah_ =s ulaprotas tad a devi yogin ın am

_ gan

_ o mah an= punar dev ım

_ samutth apya

darsáy am asa bhairavam=dr_

s_

t_

v a dev ım_

tad a devah_

punar utth apit am_

pur a= jag ama

paramam_

hars_

am_

samutphullavilocanah_

‘A man wins the merit of giving ten thou-

sand million cows who bathes at the confluence of the Harat ırtha and the Vitast a

where of old the bands of Yogin ıs during the worship on the occasion of S ´ ivar atri

sacrificed the Goddess together with wine and after worshipping great-souled Bhai-rava gave [her] to him as the Bali offering. But when the God of Gods saw that he

became extremely agitated. Seeing his agitation, O Great Goddess, the band of

Yogin ıs quickly tried to escape. When he saw this the Lord raised his trident and ran

after them surrounded by his Gan_

as. O Goddess, when the band of Yogin ıs saw this

they turned into fish and dived into the waters of the Vitast a. The Lord dived in after

them accompanied by his mighty [Gan_

as]. He then ordered the Gan_

as to use their

tridents to pierce them and they did so. This most sanctifying settlement of Kunt ı-

prah ara has its name because it was here that the supreme band of Yogin ıs was

attacked [!-prah ara] with pikes [!Kunt ı-]. Then, O goddess, once the great band

of Yogin ıs had been impaled on the tridents they restored the Goddess and showed

her to Bhairava. When he saw before him the Goddess restored he became extremely

happy, his eyes wide [with joy].’144 Tantr alokaviveka ad 28.7 (vipatprat ık ara

_ h pramodo ’dbhutadarsana

_ m yogi -

n ımelaka_ h ‘the countering of a disaster, rejoicing, seeing a marvel, mingling with

the Yogin ıs’) concerning S ´ ivar atri: vipada_ h svasáktyapah ar adir up ay a

_ h. pramodo h a-

ritasya punarl abh adin a: adbhutasya visvak_ sobh ade

_ h: anena ca vipatprat ık ar adin a ca-

tu_ s_ tayena sívar atrisa

_ mj ~ nakam api naimittika

_ m sa

_ mg

_ rh ıtam ‘ ‘‘. . . of a disaster’’, e.

g. the removal of one’s S ´ akti. ‘‘Rejoicing’’, e.g. as a result of getting back what

had been taken away. ‘‘A marvel’’, e.g. when the whole world shakes. By [men-

tioning] these four beginning with the countering of a disaster he means to include

the occasional ceremony known as S ´ ivar atri’.




THE ICONOGRAPHY OF BRAHM A

The significant features of the Netratantra’s image of Brahm a (13.33–34b) are that

it is four-faced and four-armed, with an ascetic’s staff, a rosary, an ascetic’s water-

vessel, and the gesture of protection as its hand-attributes, and that it is accompa-

nied by personifications of the four Vedas, two standing on either side of it.145

This combination of hand-attributes is found only in the Netratantra, other S ´ aiva

sources that teach four-armed Brahm as having only two or three of the four,146

and the distinctive presence of the personified Vedas is a detail found in no other

145 Netra 13:33–34b : lambak urca_ h sutej as ca ha

_ ms ar u

_ dhas´ caturbhuja

_ h=dan

_ _ d ak

_ sa-

s utrahastas ca *kaman_ _

dalvabhayaprada_ h (N: kaman

_ _ dalvabhaye dadhat Ed.)=vedais

caturbhir sa_ myukta

_ h sarvasiddhiphalaprada

_ h. Ks

_ emar aja explains ad loc. that the

four Vedas are embodied and standing beside Brahm a: vedair iti s ak arai _ h p ars´va-

sthai _ h.

146 The images as prescribed in early S ´ aiva Pratis_

t_

h atantras, scriptures concerned

only with the consecration of images and related matters, are four-armed but the

hand-attributes are different. The Devy amata (f. 69r4–v1) has the rosary and water-

vessel but the two sacrificial ladles (sruk and sruva

_

h) rather than the gesture and

ascetic’s staff. The Pi _ ngal amata (f. 23r4–6) and Mohac urottara (f. 8r6–8) have only

three of the Netra’s four hand-attributes: the rosary, the ascetic’s water-vessel, and

the staff. Instead of the fourth, the gesture of protection, the latter prescribes ‘‘ba-

rhis grass, butter, etc.’’ (barhir ajy adikam). The former mentions only the first three.

The general scripture Kira_ na mentions the rosary and water-vessel and perhaps the

staff but not the fourth attribute (Pat_

ala 52: brahmar upa_ m prakartavya

_ m catu-

rvaktra_ m caturbhujam=sak urca pi _ nganetra sy aj ja

_ t a *ytrya

_ msáy [for da

_ m

_ da?] kama-

_ n

_ dalum=s ak

_ sas utra vratastha

_ m tu ha

_ msaga

_ m v abjaga

_ m tu v a).




S ´ aiva authority known to me. Now this unusual iconography corresponds exactly

with that of the surviving Kashmirian images of this god. 147

LINGUISTIC EVIDENCE

Further evidence of the Netratantra’s origin in Kashmir is its use of the term

kh arkhodah_

(/kh arkhodakah_

),148 which according to the commentator Ks_

emar aja

denotes a supernatural device employed by an enemy for such effects as killing or

expulsion.149

147 I am aware of four such Kashmirian images: (1) a late seventh-century bronze

in the Museum fur Indische Kunst, Berlin (Pal, 1975, pl. 3.): four-armed with the

Netra’s hand-attributes, attended by four small figures rightly identified by Pal as the

four Vedas, but single-faced; (2) a black stone Brahm a in the Ganapathy ara temple in

Srinagar dedicated to Sultan Sikandar (r. 1389–1413) (I thank Dr. John Siudmak for

sending me a photograph of this image): four-faced and four-armed with the same hand-

attributes, attended by four small figures, two on each side, their heads lower than

Brahm a’s knees; (3) a Brahm a in a relief of Brahm a, S ´ iva and Vis_

n_

u a t N adih e l:

four-faced (three represented), four-armed (only the staff can be made out), with

four diminutive attendants (Siudmak 1993, p. 638, pl. 50.1 and p. 640, assigning it

to the classical K arkot

_

a style of the eighth and first half of the ninth century);

and (4) an image in a private collection assigned to the late seventh or earlyeighth century (Siudmak 1993, p. 640–42, pl. 50.3; 1994, pl. 125). This is very

similar to the Berlin bronze. The outer right holds a staff (dan_ _

da_ h) and the inner

left shows the abhayamudr a. The other two arms are lost. It has been broken off

across the thighs but we still have the heads and necks of two small figures on

the right. These are evidently two of the four Vedas (Siudmak 1993, p. 640).148 Netra 18.4ab: paraprayukt a nasýanti * k

_ rty akh arkhodak ani cað N : k

_ rty akh ark-

hodak adaya_ h Ed.) ‘Kr

_ ty as, Kh arkhodakas and the like employed [against a person]

are destroyed’; 18.88b: k_ rty akh arkhodap ı

_ dita

_ h ‘tormented by a Kr

_ ty a or a

Kh arkhoda’; 19.132bcd, 134a: kh arkhod as tasya v a grah a_ h=s akinyo vividh a yak

_ s a

_ h

pis ac a r ak_ sas as tath a= . . . sarvam

_ na prabhavet tatra ‘Kh arkhodas, Planets, S ´ akin ıs,

the various kinds of Yaks_

a, Pis´ aca and R aks_

asa, . . . none of these can have power

over him in that [country]’.149 Netroddyota ad 19.132b: kh arkhod a

_ h paraprayukt a yantr a

_ h; and ad 18.4b:

m_ rty ucc a

_ tan adik

_ rd yantram

_ kh arkhoda

_ h. A yantram/ yantra

_ h is a Mantra-inscribed

diagram written in various colours and with various inks on cloth, birchbark, the

hides of various animals and the like, wrapped up and then employed in various

ways (by being worn as an amulet, by being buried in a cremation ground, and so

on) for purposes such as warding off ills, harming an enemy, or forcing a person

to submit to the user’s will. Cf. Ks_

emar aja’s definition of a yantracakram as a ser-

ies of Mantras written in a particular spatial arrangement (ad 20.59c): yantra-

cakram_

visí _ s_ tasam

_ nivesálikhito mantrasam uha

_ h.




The word, which is of Iranian origin,150 appears in Sanskrit sources in a

number of variants; and these form two categories according to whether the r

precedes the second consonant, as in the Netratantra, or the third. The latter

position is the original, since it is that which we see in the Iranian source as evi-

denced by Avestan kaxvar a- (m.), kaxvar ei ı- (f.) denoting a kind of malevo-

lent spirit, probably associated with sorcery.151 This is the source of the forms

khakkhorda-, khahkhorda-, kh akkhorda- and khakhorda- seen in early northwest-

ern and Central-Asian Sanskrit sources152 and in the G andh ar ı (Kroraina Pra-

krit) of the Kharos_

t_ h ı documents of the third century AD from Niya in

Xinjiang,153 and of the k akhorda- that appears in Mah ay ana-Buddhist works.154

Over against these we have the form kh arkhoda- seen in the Netratantra and a

variant kh arkhot_

a, in which the r has migrated from the final to the second con-

sonant. It is only in this form that the word occurs in non-Buddhist sources;

and I have found it outside the Netratantra only in works that were composed

or redacted by Kashmirians. We see it in the R ajatara _ ngin_

ı of Kalhan_

a,155 in the

Kashmirian part of the Jayadrathay amala156 and the related Tridasad _

amara,157

150 Burrow (1935, p. 780).151 Bartholomae (1961), s.v., pointing to the fact that the Armenian loan-word

kaxard means ‘sorcerer, wizard’. These beings, male and female, are mentioned in

Yasna 61 of the Avesta among the creatures of the ‘‘hostile spirit’’ Angra Mainyu

(Pahl. Ahriman).152 See Hoernle (1892, pp. 356, 368–69); Hoernle (1893, p. 25).153 Burrow (1935, pp. 780–81) concerning the punishment khakhordastriyana ‘of

witches’ and khakhordi stri ‘a witch’, reading rda for rna in the light of the Iranian

source word.154 See, e.g., Amoghap asákalpar aja f. 3v: k akhordacchedan ı sastren

_ a; f. 48v:

k akhordacchedana . . . k akhord a vinasyanti ; Suvarn_

abh asottamas utra p.3, l.2: k akho-

rdad arun_

agrahe; p. 107, l. 8: sarvak akhordavet ad a_ h; Bhai

_ sajyagurus utra, pp. 13–14:

k akhordavet al anuprayogena j ıvit antar ayam_

sar ıravin asám_

v a kartuk am a_ h; Mah am a-

y ur ı p. 57: k_ rty akarman

_ ak akhordakiran

_ a-.

155 R ajatara_ ngin_

ı 4.94: khy ata_ h kh arkhodavidyay a=ni

_ hsam

_ bhrama

_ h stambhayitum

_ deva divyakriy am alam; 5.239: kh arkhodavedinam=r amadev ahvayam_

bandhum abhic a-

ram ak arayat.156 Jayadrathay amala, S:a

_ tka 3, f. 70v6 (9.41c–42b): evam

_ vidh am

_ yantran asé k

_ rty a-

kh arkhodamardane=cintayet parames´ an ım abhic arupramardane; f. 72r5 (10.2ab): para-

mantragr asakaram_

k_ rty akh arkhodagha

_ t_ tanam; S:a

_ tka 4, f. 3v5 (2.49ab): k

_ rty a*

kh arkhodadalan ı (em. : kh akhodalan ı Cod.); f. 7v6 (2.74ab): k_ rty akh arkhodav-

ighnaugham_

bandhan ad dhvam_

sayi _ syati ; f. 14v7 (2.235a): k

_ rty akh arkhodadaman ı;

f. 16v6 (2.297ab): bh utavet aladaman ı k_ rty akh arkhodamardan ı.

157 Tridas´ ad amara-Pratya _ ngir akalpa f. 11v5: mantrav adas tu *kh arkhodam_

(conj.:

kh arkhoda Cod.) *vi _ sam

_ (corr.: vi

_ sa Cod.) sth avara* ja _ ngamam (corr.: ja _ ngama

Cod.) = garajvar adayo devi anye ne_ s am anekasa

_ h= paraprayukt a nasyanti (cf. Netra

18.4ab: paraprayukt a nasyanti k_ rty akh arkhodak adaya

_ h). Since the subject-matter

and language of this text is closely allied to that of the Kashmirian part of the

Jayadrathay amala, it is not improbable that it too was Kashmirian in origin or

redacted from Kashmirian materials.




in the Br_

hatk alottara,158 in the exorcistic Ga_ nes am al amantra of the Kashmirian

manual of S ´ aiva initiation,159 in a Kashmirian Ga_ nesástotra attributed to the

Adipur a_ na.160 and, as kh arkhot

_ a-, in the Haracaritacint ama

_ ni of R aj anaka Jaya-

dratha.161 Moreover it is only in Kashmiri that the word has survived into the

New Indo-Aryan languages.162

158 B_ rhatk alottara B f. 118v4–5 (Pavitr arohan

_ apa

_ tala): sarvavighn ani nasyanti

grah a vai vy adhayas tath a=vin ayakopagh at as ca *k_ rty akh arkhodak adaya

_ h (em. :

k_ rtyakh akhodak adaya

_ h Cod.)

159 Kal ad ık_ s avidhi f. 3r6–9: OM HUM H UM NAMAH KSETR ADHIPATAYE SARV ARTHASID-

DHID AYA SARVADUH KHAPRAsAMAN AYA EHY EHI BHAGAVAN SARVAKH ARKHOD AN STA-

MBHAYA 2 HRIM H UM G AM NAMAH SV AH A iti ga_ nesám al amantra

_ h.

160 Ga_ nesástotra v. 51, 53a: etat stotra

_ m pavitra

_ m tu ma _ ngala

_ m p apan asa-

nam=sástra*kh arkhoda(em. : kharkhoda Ed.)vet alayak_ sarak

_ sobhay apaham=. . . tri -

sam_

dhyam_

ya_ h pa

_ thet ‘He who at the three junctures of the day recites this hymn,

purifying, auspicious, that destroys [all] sins, that removes the danger of weapons,

Kh arkhodas, Vet alas, Yak

_

sas and Rak

_

sases . . .’. That this hymn is Kashmirian is

made probable by its being assigned to the Adipur a_ na, since that is one of the mostcommon loci of attribution for Kashmirian compositions seeking scriptural status.

It is made certain by two facts: (1) it refers repeatedly to Bh ıma[sv amin], the prin-

cipal Ga_ nesá of Kashmir (v. 10: bh ımam

_ . . . kas´m ırav asam; v. 17: sat ısaraniv asinam;

v. 36: kas´m ıre bh ımar upin_

am) – Bh ımasv amin’s temple is in Srinagar near the foot

of H araparvat (S ´ arik aparvata, Pradyumnagiri) (see Stein 1961, vol. 2, p. 446) –

and (2) it mentions that Ga_ nesa is seated upon two [couchant] lions (v. 4:

hariyugalanivi _ s_ tam

_ ; v. 21: sim

_ hayug asana

_ h), which is a distinctive feature of Ka-

shmirian Ga_ nesá images (see Siudmak 1994, plates 73, 157 and 158; Reedy 1997,

K68, K86, K87, K89; Pal 2003, pl. 57 [‘‘Chamba, 10th century’’]).161 Haracaritacint ama

_ ni 2.125: k

_ rty akh arkho

_ tavet al a ye. There are also vari-

ants in Mah ay ana-Buddhist sources in which k a takes the place of the initial kh a:

k arkhoda- in a manuscript of the Aryat ar an am a_ s_ tottarasátaka, v. 49:

_ d akinyo-

st arak ah_

pret ah_

*skandonm ad a (conj.: skandom ad a Cod.) mah agrah a_ h= ch ay apa-

sm arak as´ caiva * yak_ sa(conj. : tak

_ sa Cod.)k arkhodak adayah

_ ; and k arkho

_ tain the

edition of the Ma~ njus´r ım ulakalpa, p. 539, l. 8: sarvak arkho_ t as´ chinn a bhavanti .

162 See Kashmiri khokhu, khakha-bo_ tu, kh okha-bo

_ tu and kh okha-mo

_ tu ‘bogey, bug-

bear, hobgoblin, ogre’ in Grierson 1915, p. 395b. The Kashmirian scholar who pre-

pared the slips for these words used by Grierson, either Pa_ n

_ dit Govinda Kaula or

Pa_ n

_ dit Mukunda R ama S ´ astr ı, gave Sanskrit kh arkhodah

_ as the meaning of these

terms. Turner (1966, p. 201, s .v. kharkh oda) records no derivatives in any other

NIA language.




I conclude from this iconographical and linguistic evidence that it is highly

improbable that the Netratantra was composed anywhere other than Kashmir.

THE DATE

As for the date of its composition, I have proposed above that the approximate

outer limits are AD 700 and 850. The posterior limit is established by the fact that

the text teaches the Vaikun_

t_

ha form of Vis_

n_

u without the face of Kapila at the rear.

It is therefore unlikely to have been composed later than the middle of the ninth cen-

tury, since it was from that time that the four-faced form replaced the three-faced in

Kashmirian images.163

The prior limit cannot be placed before the end of the formative period of

Kashmirian iconography, that is to say, the late seventh century. For it is onlyafter that time that the Brahm a icon taught in the Netratantra is seen in the stone

and bronze images of the region.

However, the iconography of the four-armed form of S ´ iva taught in 13.29–30

makes it probable that the work was composed towards the end of this period, c.

800–850. The hands’ attributes are the trident paired with the gesture of protec-

tion, and the citron paired with the rosary.164 The pairing of the citron and the

rosary is seen outside Kashmir from an early date.165 But in Kashmir we see the

163 See nn. 133–134 above.164 Netra 13.30: caturbhujam

_ mah atm anam

_ s ul abhayasamanvitam=m atulu _ ngadha-

ram_

devam ak_ sas utradharam

_ prabhum.

165 We see it in a fifth-century Li _ nga with a bust of a three-headed S ´ iva, which, Si-

udmak proposes, (1994, pl. 43) is from the cave known in Pashtu as Kashmir Smast

(‘the cave to Kashmir’), located 25 km north of Shahbazgarhi on a mountain top

between the Peshawar valley and Buner: the left hand holds the citron and the right

the rosary. The same two were probably in the front hands of the famous three-

faced ‘‘Mahesam urti’’ of the late sixth century in the S ´ iva cave at Elephanta. The cit-

ron is clear in the left hand and though the rosary is not visible in the damaged right

hand of the posture, which is raised with out-turned palm, suggests its presence.

They are also seen in the two front hands of the three-faced bust of Mahes´vara in

the inner sanctum ( garbhag_ rham) of the S ´ iva temple constructed in AD 637 at Ku-

suma in the S ´ irohi district of SW Rajasthan (Meister, 1988, pp. 208–214; pl. 437);

and a citron is held in the lower left hand of a six-armed, three-faced Mahes´vara

carved in the centre of the wooden door frame of the Uttares´vara temple at Ter in

the Osmanabad District of Maharashtra (early 7th century?). The lower and middle

right hands are lost, but a rosary may well have been in the former. The other three

surviving hands hold a cobra (upper right), a lotus (middle left), and a mace sur-

mounted by a Li_ nga (upper right) (cf. Collins, 1988, p. 117).




ascetic’s water-vessel rather than the fruit in the early centuries.166 The citron

appears in our Kashmirian images only from the ninth century.167

ABBREVIATIONS

166 This we see in Gandharan S ´ iva images of the fourth and fifth centuries (Si-

udmak, 1994, plates 41–43 and 59) and in a number of Kashmirian images whose

hand-attributes have survived: (1) the Fattegarh three-headed Mahesvara of the

fifth to sixth centuries (Siudmak, 1994, pl. 39a,b ); and (2–3) two three-headed

Mahes´varas from P andr~ et_ han of the latter half of the seventh century (Siudmak,

1994, plates 85–86). This iconography continued after the introduction of the

other, since we see it in a grey chlorite four-armed S ´ iva and P arvat ı group now in

the Metropolitan Museum of Art (no. 1989.362) that is probably of the first half

of the ninth century (Siudmak, 1994, pl. 117).167 We see this in (1) the S ´ iva with consort in the Kashmirian ‘brahmanical

triad’ (Pal, 1975, pl. 2: ‘9–10th century’): S ´ iva is seated on Vr_

s_ a (his bull) with

P arvat ı on his left thigh and holds the rosary and citron in his inner right and left

hands. In his outer right he holds a trident, and in outer left a snake; (2) the two-

armed single-faced S ´ iva of a Kashmirian ekamukhali _ ngam (Pal, 1975, pl. 5: ‘8–9th cen-

tury’) (= Reedy, K55); (3) a Kashmirian grey chlorite group of c. 850 (Siudmak,

1994, pl. 116; Pal, 2003, pl. 67 [but dated 750–800]); and (4) the ‘S ´ iva-P arvat ı’ image-

set in the Gaur ısá_ nkara temple in Chamba (Pal, 1975, pl. 85: ‘10th century’).

ARE Annual Report on ½South Indian Epigraphy. Archaeological Survey

of India, 1887

BL Bodleian Library, Oxford

BORI Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune

Cod. The reading of the manuscript

conj. My conjectural emendationcorr. My correction

Ed. The reading of the published edition

em. My emendation

Ep. The reported reading of an inscription

K Khmer inscription, numbered as in Cœdes, 1966

KSTS Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies

N The reading of the Nepalese Amr_

tesátantra manuscript

NAK National Archives of Nepal, Kathmandu

NGMPP Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project

SII South Indian Inscriptions. Archaeological Survey of India, 1980–




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D utid _

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168 Citations of Netra above give only the chapter and verse numbers of this

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