འཕགས་མ་ར་ཁྲད་ལ་མ་གྱན་མ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་གཟངས intro.2

intro.2

The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī is a short dhāraṇī dedicated to the piśācī Parṇaśavarī, who is renowned in Buddhist lore for her power to cure disease, avert epidemics, pacify conflicts, and otherwise protect those who recite her dhāraṇī from hardships beyond their control. Her name can be translated as the “Leaf-Clad Mountain Woman” and points to her status as a piśācī, a class of wild and often dangerous supernatural beings that haunt the untamed forests and mountains of the South Asian and Himalayan landscape. The dhāraṇī translated here is among the oldest extant works dedicated to her and represents one of the earliest known rites used to invoke her assistance. The later Indian and Tibetan traditions recognize Parṇaśavarī as a manifestation of the goddess Tārā, and popularized recitation of her dhāraṇīs and mantras as a specifically effective means for countering epidemics. Parṇaśavarī appears in rites or maṇḍalas associated with the Mañjuśrī­mūla­kalpa, Hevajra Tantra , Sampuṭa Tantra , and Caṇḍa­mahā­roṣaṇa Tantra and remains popular in Nepalese Buddhism, where her dhāraṇī has been incorporated into the “Seven Days” (Saptavāra) practice of reciting one dhāraṇī per day of the week.¹ She is also widely practiced in the Tibetan tradition, as is clear from the large body of indigenous Tibetan literature dedicated to her rituals and practices.