འཕགས་པ་ད་བཞན་གཤགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱ་གཙག་ཏར་ནས་བྱང་བའ་གདགས་དཀར་པ་ཅན་ཞས་བྱ་བ་གཞན་གྱས་མ་ཐབ་མ་ཕྱར་ཟླག་པའ་རག་སྔགས་ཀྱ་རྒྱལ་མ་ཆན་མའ intro.6

intro.6

As a magical formula, Sitātapatrā born from the uṣṇīṣa of all tathagatas is alternatively referred to as a vidyā (“spell”), a mahāvidyārajñī (“great queen of spells”), a dhāraṇī, and a mantra. These terms are used interchangeably to refer to the magical formulas that are used to avert the threats of disease, misfortune, aggression, and the influence of supernatural beings. Because the spell is held to be specifically effective for averting these threats before they strike, the spell is designated a pratyaṅgirā, an “averting” or “counter” spell. And, because it is regarded as highly potent for this purpose, it is further referred to as aparājitā (“invincible”).⁴