Map
Rudrayāmala Uttara Tantra
A Yāmala of the Vidyāpīṭha, a Śākta compendium of the eastern schools, and a title cited far more often than it can be found — the text the Vijñāna Bhairava names as its source.
Few titles are quoted more often in tantric Sanskrit than the Rudrayāmala, and few are harder to hold. Abhinavagupta cites it; Jayaratha cites it; the Bengali Śākta digests cite it constantly; the Vijñāna Bhairava names it as its own parent. The book that now circulates under the name will not account for most of what is credited to it — and that discrepancy is itself one of the more instructive facts about how this literature travelled.
What a yāmala isयामल
Yāmala means a pair, a couple, a union; the ordinary Sanskrit word for twins stands beside it. A Yāmala tantra is revelation arising from the union of Rudra and his Śakti rather than from Śiva alone, and the consequence is formal as well as doctrinal. Texts of this class are dialogues throughout — Bhairava and the Goddess in alternating question and answer, neither of them merely the audience. The teaching that Śakti and the possessor of Śakti are never separate is, in a Yāmala, a statement about the shape of the book as much as about the nature of things.
Within the Bhairava stream the Yāmalas belong to the Vidyāpīṭha, the goddess-centred half of the revelation, and the canonical lists count eight of them — a yāmalāṣṭaka. Which eight varies from source to source. Brahmayāmala, Viṣṇuyāmala, Rudrayāmala, Skandayāmala, Ruruyāmala, Vetālayāmala, Svacchandayāmala, Ātharvaṇayāmala are among the names that recur, in shifting combinations and sometimes with others in their place. As with the twenty-eight Āgamas and the sixty-four Bhairava tantras, the number describes how the tradition conceived its canon rather than what can be counted on a shelf.
One Yāmala survives in something close to its early form, and it shows what the class was. The Brahmayāmala, also called the Picumata, is preserved in a Nepalese palm-leaf manuscript copied in the eleventh century, and it is uncompromising: its deity is Kapālīśabhairava with the goddess Caṇḍā Kāpālinī, its practitioner carries the skull-staff and the skull-bowl, and its rites belong squarely to the cremation ground and the cult of the yoginīs. That is the world the Yāmalas came out of — older, fiercer and far more concretely ritual than the philosophical Trika that grew from the same soil.
Two Rudrayāmalas
The Rudrayāmala that the Kashmirian authors knew is not extant. Abhinavagupta and Jayaratha quote a text of that name; later digests quote it at length; and no manuscript answering to those quotations has been identified. What does survive, printed repeatedly in Calcutta and Varanasi since the later nineteenth century, is the Rudrayāmala Uttara Tantra — the "latter" Rudrayāmala, a long Śākta work whose language, cast of goddesses and ritual assumptions place it in eastern India and centuries after the Kashmirian citations. Estimates of its date differ and none is secure; few would put its present shape earlier than the fifteenth or sixteenth century, and portions of it are probably later still.
What the Uttara Tantra contains
None of that makes the surviving text uninteresting. It is a substantial and wide-ranging Śākta compendium, and it is one of the places where a reader can watch several currents run together.
- Mantroddhāraमन्त्रोद्धार · extraction
- The drawing-out of mantras from a lettered diagram. The syllables are not simply given; they are extracted from a grid by a stated procedure, so that a mantra arrives as an operation rather than as a word. A great deal of the text is taken up with this, and it is the most technical thing in it.
- The Goddess
- Tārā above all, but also Kālī, Bhairavī and material belonging to the Śrīvidyā, together with the hymns, protective kavacas and thousand-name litanies that attend them. The theology is that of the Mahāvidyās, the eastern Śākta cult of the ten great goddesses — one of the clearest indications that the text as we have it is not an early Kashmirian Vidyāpīṭha work.
- Cīnācāraचीनाचार · the way of Mahācīna
- The text carries the well-known story of Vasiṣṭha, who fails to propitiate Tārā by orthodox austerity, is directed to Mahācīna, and finds there a teaching conducted in wine and flesh and the company of women, which he is made to accept before he can succeed. It is one of the tradition's own accounts of why a transgressive rite exists at all, and it is largely through this text that the story is known.
- The subtle body
- The channels, the centres, the ascent of kuṇḍalinī, the retention and movement of breath. This is the material that made the book useful far outside its own school, and it is the physiology that the breath teachings assume throughout.
- Yoga and observance
- Long stretches on posture, prāṇāyāma and mudrā, on the discipline and the grades of the practitioner, and on initiation, the qualifications of the guru, and the calendrical and domestic ritual of a Śākta household.
A conduit
The Uttara Tantra's real historical importance is as a channel. Material passed through it into compilations that had a far wider circulation than any Vidyāpīṭha scripture ever enjoyed — the Bengali Śākta digests, the ritual handbooks that depend on them, and from there into the printed devotional literature of the nineteenth century and after. A very large number of hymns, armours and mantra-prescriptions in ordinary use carry a colophon assigning them to the Rudrayāmala. Some of them are in the printed Uttara Tantra. Many are not, and were attached to the name for the authority it conferred.
That is worth stating plainly rather than treating as a scandal. Attribution in this literature is a claim about lineage and legitimacy, not a bibliographical statement, and a tradition which holds that its scriptures are fragments of an unbounded revelation has no difficulty at all with the idea that a teaching may be from the Rudrayāmala without being in any particular copy of it. The historian's problem and the tradition's self-understanding are simply not the same problem, and the honest course is to keep them apart.
The Vijñāna Bhairava's claim
The most consequential of these attributions is the Vijñāna Bhairava's. Its colophons place it within the Rudrayāmala and the tradition has always cited it so: one hundred and twelve dhāraṇās, a dialogue between Bhairava and the Goddess, presented as an extract drawn from the greater Yāmala.
What the claim is worth needs care in both directions. It cannot be verified, because the Rudrayāmala it refers to is lost; and it cannot be refuted from the surviving Uttara Tantra, which does not contain the Vijñāna Bhairava and is in any case too late to be the text meant. But the Vijñāna Bhairava's own antiquity does not rest on the attribution. It was known and quoted in Kashmir in the tenth and eleventh centuries; Kṣemarāja began a commentary on it, the Uddyota, which breaks off after the opening verses; and Śivopādhyāya completed the exegesis long afterwards with his Vivṛti. The text stands on that evidence whatever its parentage.
What the attribution does tell us is what its transmitters took its pedigree to be, and the choice is exact. A Yāmala is revelation issuing from the union of the two; and the Vijñāna Bhairava's opening argument, before it reaches a single practice, is that Śakti and the holder of Śakti are never in fact two, so that to enter Śakti is to enter Bhairava. A text that begins there names as its source the one class of scripture defined by precisely that union. Whether or not the descent is historical, the claim is doctrinally well judged — and that, in a tradition where lineage is a statement of what a teaching is, is not a trivial thing to have got right.
7,694 verses · page 57 of 129
कमनीयभावरता कमनीयसुभक्तिदा | करकाजनरूपा च कक्शावादकरा. करा
kamanīyabhāvaratā kamanīyasubhaktidā | karakājanarūpā ca kakśāvādakarā. karā
कञ्चुवर्णा काकवर्णा क्रोष्टुरूपा कषामला | क्रोष्ट्र्नादरता कीता कातरा कातरप्रिया
kañcuvarṇā kākavarṇā kroṣṭurūpā kaṣāmalā | kroṣṭrnādaratā kītā kātarā kātarapriyā
कातरस्था कातराज्ञा कातरानन्दकारिणी | काशमर्द्दतरूद्भूता काशमर्द्दविभक्शिणी
kātarasthā kātarājñā kātarānandakāriṇī | kāśamarddatarūdbhūtā kāśamarddavibhakśiṇī
कष्टहानिः कष्टदात्री कष्टलोकविरक्तिदा | कायागता कायसिद्धिः कायानन्दप्रकाशिनी
kaṣṭahāniḥ kaṣṭadātrī kaṣṭalokaviraktidā | kāyāgatā kāyasiddhiḥ kāyānandaprakāśinī
कायगन्धहरा कुम्भा कायकुम्भा कठोरिणी | कठोरतरुसंस्था च कठोरलोकनाशिनी
kāyagandhaharā kumbhā kāyakumbhā kaṭhoriṇī | kaṭhoratarusaṃsthā ca kaṭhoralokanāśinī
कुमार्गस्थापिता कुप्रा कार्पासतरुसम्भवा | कार्पासवृक्शसूत्रस्था कुवर्गस्था करोत्तरा
kumārgasthāpitā kuprā kārpāsatarusambhavā | kārpāsavṛkśasūtrasthā kuvargasthā karottarā
कर्णाटकर्णसम्भूता कार्णाटी कर्णपूजिता | कर्णास्त्ररक्शिका कर्णा कर्णहा कर्णकुण्डला
karṇāṭakarṇasambhūtā kārṇāṭī karṇapūjitā | karṇāstrarakśikā karṇā karṇahā karṇakuṇḍalā
कुन्तलादेशनमिता कुटुम्बा कुम्भकारिका | कर्णासरासना कृष्टा कृष्णहस्ताम्बुजाजीता
kuntalādeśanamitā kuṭumbā kumbhakārikā | karṇāsarāsanā kṛṣṭā kṛṣṇahastāmbujājītā
कृष्णाङ्गी कृष्णदेहस्था कुदेशस्था कुमङ्गला | क्रूरकर्मस्थिता कोरा किरात कुलकामिनी
kṛṣṇāṅgī kṛṣṇadehasthā kudeśasthā kumaṅgalā | krūrakarmasthitā korā kirāta kulakāminī
कालवारिप्रिया कामा काव्यवाक्यप्रिया क्रुधा | कञ्जलता कौमुदी च कुज्योत्स्ना कलनप्रिया
kālavāripriyā kāmā kāvyavākyapriyā krudhā | kañjalatā kaumudī ca kujyotsnā kalanapriyā
कलना सर्वभूतानां कपित्थवनवासिनी | कटुनिम्बस्थिता काख्या कवर्गाख्या कवगीका
kalanā sarvabhūtānāṃ kapitthavanavāsinī | kaṭunimbasthitā kākhyā kavargākhyā kavagīkā
किरातच्छेदिनी कार्या कार्याकार्यविवजीता | कात्यायनादिकल्पस्था कात्यायनसुखोदया
kirātacchedinī kāryā kāryākāryavivajītā | kātyāyanādikalpasthā kātyāyanasukhodayā
कुक्षेत्रस्था कुलाविघ्ना करणादिप्रवेशिनी | काङ्काली किङ्कला काला किलिता सर्वकामिनी
kukṣetrasthā kulāvighnā karaṇādipraveśinī | kāṅkālī kiṅkalā kālā kilitā sarvakāminī
कीलितापेक्शिता कूटा कूटकुङ्कुमचचीता | कुङ्कुमागन्धनिलया कुटुम्बभवनस्थिता
kīlitāpekśitā kūṭā kūṭakuṅkumacacītā | kuṅkumāgandhanilayā kuṭumbabhavanasthitā
कुकृपा करणानन्दा कवितारसमोहिनी | काव्यशास्त्रानन्दरता काव्यपूज्या कवीश्वरी
kukṛpā karaṇānandā kavitārasamohinī | kāvyaśāstrānandaratā kāvyapūjyā kavīśvarī
कटकादिहस्तिरथहयदुन्दुभिशब्दिनी | कितवा क्रूरधूर्तस्था केकाशब्दनिवासिनी
kaṭakādihastirathahayadundubhiśabdinī | kitavā krūradhūrtasthā kekāśabdanivāsinī
कें केवलाम्बिता केता केतकीपुष्पमोहिनी | कैं कैवल्यगुणोद्वास्या कैवल्यधनदायिनी
keṃ kevalāmbitā ketā ketakīpuṣpamohinī | kaiṃ kaivalyaguṇodvāsyā kaivalyadhanadāyinī
करी धनीन्द्रजननी काक्शताक्शकलङ्किनी | कुडुवान्ता कान्तिशान्ता कांक्शा पारमहंस्यगा
karī dhanīndrajananī kākśatākśakalaṅkinī | kuḍuvāntā kāntiśāntā kāṃkśā pāramahaṃsyagā
कर्त्री चित्ता कान्तवित्ता कृषणा कृषिभोजिनी | कुङ्कुमाशक्तहृदया केयूरहारमालिनी
kartrī cittā kāntavittā kṛṣaṇā kṛṣibhojinī | kuṅkumāśaktahṛdayā keyūrahāramālinī
कीश्वरी केशवा कुम्भा कैशोरजनपूजिता | कलिकामध्यनिरता कोकिलस्वरगामिनी
kīśvarī keśavā kumbhā kaiśorajanapūjitā | kalikāmadhyaniratā kokilasvaragāminī
कुरदेहहरा कुम्बा कुडुम्बा कुरभेदिनी | कुण्डलीश्वरसंवादा कुण्डलीश्वरमध्यगा
kuradehaharā kumbā kuḍumbā kurabhedinī | kuṇḍalīśvarasaṃvādā kuṇḍalīśvaramadhyagā
कालसूक्ष्मा कालयज्ञा कालहारकरी कहा | कहलस्था कलहस्था कलहा कलहाङ्करी
kālasūkṣmā kālayajñā kālahārakarī kahā | kahalasthā kalahasthā kalahā kalahāṅkarī
कुरङ्गी श्रीकुरङ्गस्था कोरङ्गी कुण्डलापहा | कुकलङ्की कृष्णबुद्धिः कृष्णा ध्याननिवासिनी
kuraṅgī śrīkuraṅgasthā koraṅgī kuṇḍalāpahā | kukalaṅkī kṛṣṇabuddhiḥ kṛṣṇā dhyānanivāsinī
कुतवा काष्ठवलता कृतार्थकरणी कुसी | कलनकस्था कस्वरस्था कलिका दोषभङ्गजा
kutavā kāṣṭhavalatā kṛtārthakaraṇī kusī | kalanakasthā kasvarasthā kalikā doṣabhaṅgajā
कुसुमाकारकमला कुसुमस्रग्विभूषणा | किञ्जल्का कैतवार्कशा कमनीयजलोदया
kusumākārakamalā kusumasragvibhūṣaṇā | kiñjalkā kaitavārkaśā kamanīyajalodayā
ककारकूटसर्वाङ्गी ककाराम्बरमालिनी | कालभेदकरा काटा कर्पवासा ककुत्स्थला
kakārakūṭasarvāṅgī kakārāmbaramālinī | kālabhedakarā kāṭā karpavāsā kakutsthalā
कुवासा कबरी कर्वा कूसवी कुरुपालनी | कुरुपृष्ठा कुरुश्रेष्ठा कुरूणां ज्ञाननाशिनी
kuvāsā kabarī karvā kūsavī kurupālanī | kurupṛṣṭhā kuruśreṣṭhā kurūṇāṃ jñānanāśinī
कुतूहलरता कान्ता कुव्याप्ता कष्टबन्धना | कषायणतरुस्था च कषायणरसोद्भवा
kutūhalaratā kāntā kuvyāptā kaṣṭabandhanā | kaṣāyaṇatarusthā ca kaṣāyaṇarasodbhavā
कतिविद्या कुष्ठदात्री कुष्ठिशोकविसर्जनी | काष्ठासनगता कार्याश्रया का श्रयकौलिका
katividyā kuṣṭhadātrī kuṣṭhiśokavisarjanī | kāṣṭhāsanagatā kāryāśrayā kā śrayakaulikā
कालिका कालिसन्त्रस्ता कौलिकध्यानवासिनी | क्ळ्प्तस्था क्ळ्प्तजननी क्ळ्प्तच्छन्ना कलिध्वजा
kālikā kālisantrastā kaulikadhyānavāsinī | kḷptasthā kḷptajananī kḷptacchannā kalidhvajā
केशवा केशवानन्दा केश्यादिदानवापहा | केशवाङ्गजकन्या च केशवाङ्गजमोहिनी
keśavā keśavānandā keśyādidānavāpahā | keśavāṅgajakanyā ca keśavāṅgajamohinī
किशोरार्चनयोग्या च किशोरदेवदेवता | कान्तश्रीकरणी कुत्या कपटा प्रियघातिनी
kiśorārcanayogyā ca kiśoradevadevatā | kāntaśrīkaraṇī kutyā kapaṭā priyaghātinī
कुकामजनिता कौञ्चा कौञ्चस्था कौञ्चवासिनी | कूपस्था कूपबुद्धिस्था कूपमाला मनोरमा
kukāmajanitā kauñcā kauñcasthā kauñcavāsinī | kūpasthā kūpabuddhisthā kūpamālā manoramā
कूपपुष्पाश्रया कान्तिः क्रमदाक्रमदाक्रमा | कुविक्रमा कुक्रमस्था कुण्डलीकुण्डदेवता
kūpapuṣpāśrayā kāntiḥ kramadākramadākramā | kuvikramā kukramasthā kuṇḍalīkuṇḍadevatā
कौण्डिल्यनगरोद्भूता कौण्डिल्यगोत्रपूजिता | कपिराजस्थिता कापी कपिबुद्धिबलोदया
kauṇḍilyanagarodbhūtā kauṇḍilyagotrapūjitā | kapirājasthitā kāpī kapibuddhibalodayā
कपिध्यानपरा मुख्या कुव्यवस्था कुसाक्शिदा | कुमध्यस्था कुकल्पा च कुलपङ्क्तिप्रकाशिनी
kapidhyānaparā mukhyā kuvyavasthā kusākśidā | kumadhyasthā kukalpā ca kulapaṅktiprakāśinī
कुलभ्रमरदेहस्था कुलभ्रमरनादिनी | कुलासङ्गा कुलाक्शी च कुलमत्ता कुलानिला
kulabhramaradehasthā kulabhramaranādinī | kulāsaṅgā kulākśī ca kulamattā kulānilā
कलिचिन्हा कालचिन्हा कण्ठचिन्हा कवीन्द्रजा | करीन्द्रा कमलेशश्रीः कोटिकन्दर्पदर्पहा
kalicinhā kālacinhā kaṇṭhacinhā kavīndrajā | karīndrā kamaleśaśrīḥ koṭikandarpadarpahā
कोटितेजोमयी कोट्या कोटीरपद्ममालिनी | कोटीरमोहिनी कोटिः कोटिकोटिविधूद्भवा
koṭitejomayī koṭyā koṭīrapadmamālinī | koṭīramohinī koṭiḥ koṭikoṭividhūdbhavā
कोटिसूर्यसमानास्या कोटिकालानलोपमा | कोटीरहारललिता कोटिपर्वतधारिणी
koṭisūryasamānāsyā koṭikālānalopamā | koṭīrahāralalitā koṭiparvatadhāriṇī
कुचयुग्मधरा देवी कुचकामप्रकाशिनी | कुचानन्दा कुचाच्छन्ना कुचकाठिन्यकारिणी
kucayugmadharā devī kucakāmaprakāśinī | kucānandā kucācchannā kucakāṭhinyakāriṇī
कुचयुग्ममोहनस्था कुचमायातुरा कुचा | कुचयौवनसम्मोहा कुचमर्द्दनसौख्यदा
kucayugmamohanasthā kucamāyāturā kucā | kucayauvanasammohā kucamarddanasaukhyadā
काचस्था काचदेहा च काचपूरनिवासिनी | काचग्रस्था काचवर्णा कीचकप्राणनाशिनी
kācasthā kācadehā ca kācapūranivāsinī | kācagrasthā kācavarṇā kīcakaprāṇanāśinī
कमला लोचनप्रेमा कोमलाक्शी मनुप्रिया | कमलाक्शी कमलजा कमलास्या करालजा
kamalā locanapremā komalākśī manupriyā | kamalākśī kamalajā kamalāsyā karālajā
कमलाङ्घिरद्वया काम्या कराख्या करमालिनी | करपद्मधरा कन्दा कन्दबुद्धिप्रदायिनी
kamalāṅghiradvayā kāmyā karākhyā karamālinī | karapadmadharā kandā kandabuddhipradāyinī
कमलोद्भवपुत्री च कमला पुत्रकामिनी | किरन्ती किरणाच्छन्ना किरणप्राणवासिनी
kamalodbhavaputrī ca kamalā putrakāminī | kirantī kiraṇācchannā kiraṇaprāṇavāsinī
काव्यप्रदा काव्यचित्ता काव्यसारप्रकाशिनी | कलाम्बा कल्पजननी कल्पभेदासनस्थिता
kāvyapradā kāvyacittā kāvyasāraprakāśinī | kalāmbā kalpajananī kalpabhedāsanasthitā
कालेच्छा कालसारस्था कालमारणघातिनी | किरणक्रमदीपस्था कर्मस्था क्रमदीपिका
kālecchā kālasārasthā kālamāraṇaghātinī | kiraṇakramadīpasthā karmasthā kramadīpikā
काललक्ष्मीः कालचण्डा कुलचण्डेश्वरप्रिया | काकिनीशक्तिदेहस्था कितवा किन्तकारिणी
kālalakṣmīḥ kālacaṇḍā kulacaṇḍeśvarapriyā | kākinīśaktidehasthā kitavā kintakāriṇī
करञ्चा कञ्चुका क्रौञ्चा काकचञ्चुपुटस्थिता | काकाख्या काकशब्दस्था कालाग्निदहनाथीका
karañcā kañcukā krauñcā kākacañcupuṭasthitā | kākākhyā kākaśabdasthā kālāgnidahanāthīkā
कुचक्शनिलया कुत्रा कुपुत्रा क्रतुरक्शिका | कनकप्रतिभाकारा करबन्धाकृतिस्थिता
kucakśanilayā kutrā kuputrā kraturakśikā | kanakapratibhākārā karabandhākṛtisthitā
कृतिरूपा कृतिप्राणा कृतिक्रोधनिवारिणी | कुक्शिरक्शाकरा कुक्शा कुक्शिब्रह्माण्डधारिणी
kṛtirūpā kṛtiprāṇā kṛtikrodhanivāriṇī | kukśirakśākarā kukśā kukśibrahmāṇḍadhāriṇī
कुक्शिदेवस्थिता कुक्शिः क्रियादक्शा क्रियातुरा | क्रियानिष्ठा क्रियानन्दा क्रतुकर्मा क्रियाप्रिया
kukśidevasthitā kukśiḥ kriyādakśā kriyāturā | kriyāniṣṭhā kriyānandā kratukarmā kriyāpriyā
कुशलासवसंशक्ता कुशारिप्राणवल्लभा | कुशारिवृक्शमदिरा काशीराजवशोद्यमा
kuśalāsavasaṃśaktā kuśāriprāṇavallabhā | kuśārivṛkśamadirā kāśīrājavaśodyamā
काशीराजगृहस्था च कर्णभ्रातृगृहस्थिता | कर्णाभरणभूषाढ्या कण्ठभूषा च कण्ठिका
kāśīrājagṛhasthā ca karṇabhrātṛgṛhasthitā | karṇābharaṇabhūṣāḍhyā kaṇṭhabhūṣā ca kaṇṭhikā
कण्ठस्थानगता कण्ठा कण्ठपद्मनिवासिनी | कण्ठप्रकाशकरिणी कण्ठमाणिक्यमालिनी
kaṇṭhasthānagatā kaṇṭhā kaṇṭhapadmanivāsinī | kaṇṭhaprakāśakariṇī kaṇṭhamāṇikyamālinī
कण्ठपद्मसिद्धिकरी कण्ठाकाशनिवासिनी कण्ठपद्मसाकिनीस्था कण्ठषोडशपत्रिका
kaṇṭhapadmasiddhikarī kaṇṭhākāśanivāsinī kaṇṭhapadmasākinīsthā kaṇṭhaṣoḍaśapatrikā
कृष्णाजिनधरा विद्या कृष्णाजिनसुवाससी | कुतकस्था कुखेलस्था कुण्डवालङ्कृताकृता
kṛṣṇājinadharā vidyā kṛṣṇājinasuvāsasī | kutakasthā kukhelasthā kuṇḍavālaṅkṛtākṛtā
कलगीता कालघजा कलभङ्गपरायणा | कालीचन्द्रा कला काव्या कुचस्था कुचलप्रदा
kalagītā kālaghajā kalabhaṅgaparāyaṇā | kālīcandrā kalā kāvyā kucasthā kucalapradā
कुचौरघातिनी कच्छा कच्छादस्था कजातना | कञ्जाछदमुखी कञ्जा कञ्जतुण्डा कजीवली
kucauraghātinī kacchā kacchādasthā kajātanā | kañjāchadamukhī kañjā kañjatuṇḍā kajīvalī