Anandakanda 1.2

Āk, 1, 2 / Glorious Bhairavī said: / I ask about the instructor of mercury, his disciple, the kākinī woman, / and the worship of mercury: declare it to me properly.

Glorious Bhairava said: / <Characteristics of the Instructor of Mercury> / Listen, O Bhairavī, to all that: I shall tell you something unprecedented. / The master should be knowledgeable, skilled, virtuous, meritorious, pure,

knowing righteousness, true to his word, expert in the science of mercury, / knowing the reality of the Vedas and Vedānta, stainless, devoted to Śiva,

a devotee of the Goddess, always tranquil, skilled in the alchemical pavilion, / accomplished in mantras, a great hero, intent on the worship of the deities,

knowing the procedure of alchemical initiation, [knowledgeable of] mantras, medicinal herbs, and the great minerals, / the sequence of colorations, the preparation of the seed, the pairing and fusion [of metals], and the biḍa flux,

coloring, transmutative oil, leaves, penetrations, / enhancement of color, softness, and the digestion in immature and mature [mercury]—

he who knows both the aerial locomotion and the terrestrial locomotion becomes the guru. / <Characteristics of the Disciple> / Devoted to the guru, of good conduct, free from greed and deceit,

desireless, free from egoism, speaking the truth, established in observances, / free from indolence, knowing his own duty, dedicated to the six rituals, wise,

freed from ostentation, violence, and the like, initiated into the Śaiva practices, / an ardent practitioner, peaceful, intent on the performance of mantras,

self-restrained, capable, and free from malice: such a disciple should be known. / <Characteristics of the Kākinī> / Having curly, glossy hair; eyes as long as lotus petals;

long and high nostrils; adorned with lips resembling coral; / teeth like pomegranate seeds; a conch-shell neck and elevated breasts;

graced with arms as soft as garlands of śirīṣa flowers; / a compact chest, a deep navel, slender and of supple limbs;

with a flat belly, adorned with a row of fine hairs and three folds [of the waist]; / endowed with broad hips, thighs like plantain stems, fortunate and dear;

with shanks resembling plantain trunks, and lotus-like feet that are pink; / possessing bright red nails, walking with the auspicious gait of a royal swan;

charming with a sweet voice like the song of a soft cuckoo; / adorned with a pubic mound resembling a peepal leaf;

youthful, of dark complexion, glossy, beautiful, endowed with auspicious marks, / and expert in the arts of kissing, touching, embracing, and sexual union;

she who menstruates during the dark fortnight is known as a kākinī. / She may be taken from one's own caste or born of another caste,

in alchemical operations, in initiation, and in the practice of rejuvenation therapy. / <Inducing the State of a Kākinī> / In the absence of a kākinī, let there be another youthful and beautiful woman.

One should give her a niṣka of sulphur with cow's ghee in the morning / for thrice seven days; then that woman becomes equal to a kākinī.

[The patron should be] righteous, fearing sin, strong, most learned in knowledge, / foremost in justice, impartial to all, proficient in the alchemical treatises;

a king and his minister, expert in all sciences, / dedicated to all duties, excellent, and promoting the path of justice.

<Construction of the Alchemical Laboratory> / I shall describe the alchemical laboratory of the lord of mercury, O fair-faced woman: / one should determine it in a land free from distress and free from calamities,

delightful with devout people, filled with wealth and grain, / in a well-ruled realm, endowed with full prosperity, free from danger, and unblemished;

in a city rich in all castes and surrounded by great devotees of Śiva; / even there, in a victorious, pure, and well-protected place,

free from the disturbance of wild beasts, livestock, birds, and the like; / on level ground, adorned with an outer wall, moat, and crossbars;

planted with orange, pomegranate, ḍaha, citron, and wild lime; / with palmyra, wild date, vakula, coconut, tamarind, and pāṭalā;

adorned with aśoka, rose-apple, jackfruit, sāl, and puṃnāga; / with wood-apple, areca nut, pine, Himalayan cedar, and auspicious bilva;

adorned with āmlakī, banyan, varaṇa, madhūka, and hog-plum; / endowed with ketakī, jasmine, Spanish jasmine, yūthikā, and mālatī;

with māgadhī, kunda, kurava, tilaka, and lotus; / with white water-lilies, blue lotuses, kalhāra, puṇḍarīka, and red lotuses;

surrounded all around with cool-water lakes / adorned with swans, cranes, kāraṇḍava ducks, and cakravāka birds;

and graced with lovely blossoms stirred by a cool breeze: / in such a very pleasant, wondrous garden, one should construct the alchemical laboratory,

charming with sixteen pillars, four-sided, symmetrical and spacious, / delightful, O ruler of the gods, provided with an outer terrace,

furnished with windows, secured with doors and crossbars, / provided with pavilions and banners, and illuminated with every implement.

with the guardians of the directions painted upon it, Vināyaka properly worshipped,
Umā and Maheśa installed, and guarded by door-keepers;

resounding with celestial instruments such as kettledrums, large horns, and bells,
endowed with architectural characteristics—such a mercury laboratory one should construct.

In the laboratory, an altar should be made, very firm and like a mirror,
inlaid with bricks, delightful, with steps, and endowed with auspicious marks;

smeared with the dung of a brown cow, surrounded by golden jars.
<Procedure for the Worship of the Lord of Mercury>
Upon the altar, one should prepare an auspicious seat for the lord of mercury.

Upon the auspicious seat, one should properly draw with vermilion a two-cubit [diagram]:
a six-pointed figure, an eight-petaled lotus, and outside it another eight-petaled lotus,

a lotus, and a square adorned with four gateways.
One should place the mercury liṅga upon the apparatus and worship it with flowers and the rest.

<The Twilight Rite for Mercury>
Now I shall proclaim the twilight rite that yields the fruits of alchemical operations:
Bathed, purified, and anointed, one should enter the mercury laboratory;

wearing white garlands and garments, self-controlled, with senses subdued,
speech restrained, devoted to the guru, speaking truth, and firm in vows;

seated on a soft, variegated blanket, one should sip water
charged with the syllables of speech, māyā, and fortune, embodying the principles of ātman, vidyā, and Śiva;

with the words 'I purify the reality,' he should drink it according to rule three times;
he should meditate upon the boon-granting Gāyatrī and repeat it three times, O beloved.

Hear in truth, O Bhairavī, the Rasabhairava-gāyatrī:
'Aiṃ. We know the Lord of Mercury; we meditate on the Goad of Mercury.
May quicksilver inspire us.'
Resplendent like ten million suns, resembling a hundred million moons,

white, five-faced deity, three-eyed, bearing the crescent moon upon his crest,
eighteen-armed, tranquil, dedicated to the five cosmic acts;

wearing white garlands and garments, having a snake as his sacred thread,
resembling crystal, mounted on a corpse, the Lord of Mercury;

blue-throated, omniscient, adorned with all ornaments,
granting boons, holding the alchemical scripture, mercury, a serpent, nectar,

a conch, medicine, a bow, a trident, a khaṭvāṅga, an arrow,
a ḍamaru drum, a sword, a mace, fire, O Īśvarī,

health, a divine garland, and the gesture of fearlessness in his eighteen hands;
bearing Rasāṅkuśī on his lap, having the bull as his mount;

beautiful with the mass of his matted locks, smiling-faced, Śiva—
having meditated upon Rasabhairava, [and] on his lap Rasāṅkuśī:

holding a goad and a rosary in her right hands,
and bearing a noose and the gesture of fearlessness in her left hands;

four-armed, red in complexion, three-eyed, bearing the crescent moon upon her crest,
wearing red garments, the goddess with a conch-like neck, full of compassion;

beautiful with jewel ornaments, radiant with a gentle smile—
one should meditate upon the goddess Rasāṅkuśī, auspicious and facing the god.

Then, taking ash, he should hold it in his left hand;
the wise man, having collected cow dung that has not fallen to the ground in a vessel,

and having dried it, should burn it in a fire-pit, and collect it in sequence, O beloved.
Its retrieval should be performed with the mantras beginning with Sadyojāta;

so also gazing upon it, sprinkling, striking, and consecrating it;
and having consecrated it again with the mantras beginning with Sadyojāta,

on the head, face, heart, genitals, and feet, in order,
he should apply it to those respective places with the five mantras beginning with Īśāna.

He should smear his entire body with the ash by means of those five [mantras].
The mercury master, [becoming] Maheśvara, should make the formal resolve according to rule.

Having performed breath control three times with the root mantra, O Pārvatī,
he should sprinkle the consecrated water held in his left hand onto his head.

Then, having sipped water again consecrated with the root mantra,
he should drink three times the sipping-water resting in his right hand.

Having offered water oblations thrice with the root mantra, and having sipped water again, O Pārvatī,
the magnanimous one, having repeated the root mantra one hundred and eight times,

should dedicate it to quicksilver; this is the twilight rite of mercury, O Īśvarī.
In this manner he should perform at the three junctures of the day the twilight rite, which destroys all sins.

<Extraction of the Root Mantras of Rasāṅkuśa and Rasāṅkuśī>
I shall declare the procedure for extracting the root mantra; listen, O beloved:
the syllables of speech, māyā, and Lakṣmī, and then the word Raseśvara in the dative,

then the word Mahākāla, then the word Mahābala,
then the word Aghorabhairava, then the word Vajravīra,

and the word Krodhakāla, all of these in the vocative case;
[the letter] ka joined with the last letter of the sixth series (sa), along with the lower end of the teeth (the vowel ṛ), with the nasal dot (bindu):

this is the five-syllable cluster; then [the letter] with the drawing furrow (ra),
together with a visarga—this syllable cluster consists of four phonemes, O beloved.

This is the thirty-two-syllable mantra of Rasendrabhairava,
concealed in all the tantras, secret, and extremely difficult to obtain.

I shall declare the mantra of Rasāṅkuśā; listen, O Bhairavī:
the syllables of speech, māyā, Bhuvaneśī, Lakṣmī, and Kāmadeva;

the word Rasāṅkuśā in the dative, ending with namaḥ—this twelve-syllable
mantra of Rasāṅkuśā, of you the goddess, has been proclaimed.

The metre of Rasabhairava is proclaimed as Anuṣṭubh;
the seer is declared to be Nandikeśa; the deity is venerable Rasabhairava;

raṃ is the seed syllable, laṃ is the pin, and the final syllable is said to be the power.
For Rasāṅkuśā, the moist seed syllable of Skanda is the seed, rasa is the pin,

and namaḥ is proclaimed as the power—this is the excellent, secret mantra.
<Worship of the Mercury Liṅga>
I shall declare the worship of the mercury liṅga; hear it in truth, O Bhairavī.

Placing the left foot forward, one should enter the sacrificial pavilion;
sitting upon a soft seat, pure and with controlled mind,

having regulated the breaths and made the resolve, [visualizing] the venerable guru situated on one's head,
resembling pure crystal, completely tranquil, granting boons and fearlessness,

one should recall his name first, and having obtained his permission:
'Whatever obstacle-making spirits dwell in the sky and dwell on the earth,

and whatever great spirits dwell in the netherworld, may they perish by Śiva's command!'
With this very mantra, one should scatter unbroken grains of rice in the cardinal and intermediate directions.

Saying 'To the weapon, phaṭ,' one should cast a flower into the intermediate space.
Saying 'O crusher of all enemies,' with the right heel

he should strike the ground three times; there should again be breath control.
To the south of the auspicious seat of the lord of mercury,

one should make a very beautiful, square diagram of one and a half cubits;
it should consist successively of a triangle, a circle, a hexagon, and a square.

And the world-guardians beginning with Indra, preceded by their respective names,
beginning with the praṇava and ending in 'namaḥ', one should worship with flowers and unbroken rice grains.

With the seed-syllables of speech, Māyā, and Kamalā, one should worship the heart and other limbs,
in the east, south, west, and north in order, O Śivā.

In the north-east, south-east, south-west, and north-west corners, one should worship the eyes;
[and one should worship] the weapon in all directions, ending in the dative case and concluding with 'phaṭ'.

One should display eight snaps of the fingers; afterwards, one should bring the base.
Right there one should invoke the fire mandala whose root is the seed-syllable.

The ten rays of fire there, […] in order with scented paste and unbroken rice grains;
then, taking the vessel, one should contemplate the sun mandala.

The twelve rays of the sun are to be worshiped there with sandalwood paste and unbroken rice grains;
one should fill the arghya vessel with water provided with superior perfume.

One should contemplate the lunar orb, [and] worship those [rays] there;
having drawn a triangle in the middle, one should write out the Śakti seed-syllable.

There one should cast scented flowers [and] recite the root mantra three times;
in the four directions beginning with the east, one should place four vessels.

One should fill them as before [and] worship them with scented flowers and unbroken rice grains;
one should sprinkle with the root mantra and with the water from the central vessel

the vessels, one's own limbs, and the worship substances on all sides;
approaching, one should configure a square mandala.

As before, one should fill the five vessels with pure water;
one should cast quicksilver into the central one, and one should cast a jewel into the southern one.

And gold into its left-hand vessel, and beside that one should place kuśa grass;
in the vessel standing beside the jewel vessel should be eight-ingredient perfume.

In each vessel one should draw a triangle accompanied by Māyā [hrīṃ];
one should deposit scented unbroken rice grains and a flower, [and] consecrate [it] three times with the root [mantra].

And seven times one should consecrate the vessel of mercury with the root mantra;
with the water of the vessel of mercury itself, [one should sprinkle] the worship substances and one's own

body and head, and one should sprinkle the altar lamp.
The seer of the seat is Meru; Sutala is declared the meter.

The Blessed One who has the form of a tortoise is proclaimed the deity:
'O Earth, the worlds are held by you; O goddess, you are held by Viṣṇu;
and do you hold me, O goddess, and make my seat pure.'
With this very mantra one should cast a flower onto the seat.

<Purification of the Elements>
I shall declare the purification of the elements: the earth [mandala] is yellow, with a vajra,
hard, accompanied by the seed-syllable 'laṃ', from the base of the big toes up to the knees.

It is to be visualized from the knees up to the hips; above this is [water,] crescent-shaped,
white, accompanied by the seed-syllable 'vaṃ', conceived in fluid form.

From the hips up to the heart, situated in a triangle, fire is to be visualized outside,
[having] the seed-syllable 'raṃ', red-colored, and adorned with a svastika.

From the heart up to the throat, wind is to be recalled, possessing the luster of collyrium,
accompanied by the seed-syllable 'yaṃ', O goddess, adorned with six drops,

hexagonal; and from the region of the ears up to the brahmarandhra, O sovereign goddess,
one should recall ether: circular, accompanied by the seed-syllable 'haṃ', intensely black.

Earth into water, and that into fire, and that into wind, and that into the sky:
having merged [them], one should establish [them] at the dvādaśānta, O supreme goddess.

With the seed-syllable 'yaṃ', one should desiccate one's own body from the mūlādhāra,
piercing the six bodily centers as far as the cavity of Brahman, O beloved.

With the seed-syllable 'raṃ', one should incinerate the body; then one should flood everything;
liquefied with the seed-syllable 'vaṃ', from the lunar mandala in the brahmarandhra,

with flowing nectar alone one should flood the body, O Śivā.
From ether one should take wind; from that one should withdraw fire;

from fire water is to be taken; from that one should withdraw earth.
In this way one should reinstall the five elements in their respective places.

Visualizing the Man of Sin located in the left flank, black in form,
one should contemplate him, O goddess, as having gone forth, supreme, bearing a sword and shield.

Having performed the imposition of mantras with the goad of mercury on the fingers, heart, and so forth:

aiṃ hrīṃ śrīṃ kṣmauṃ kṣmaṃ hrāṃ hrīṃ hrūṃ hraiṃ hrauṃ hraḥ phaṭ to the lord of mercury, to Mahākālabhairava, to the crest vaṣaṭ! / To the one of fierce form, to the one with dark-reddish eyes: descend, descend! Cause to descend, cause to descend! Speak, speak! Cause to speak, cause to speak! Recount, recount the auspicious and inauspicious! Cause to recount, cause to recount! Work, work my great protection! Cause to work, cause to work! Grant, grant me perfection in mercury! 1888 / To Mahākālabhairava, to the heart, namaḥ! / As before, to Mahābalabhairava, to the head, svāhā! / As before, to Aghorabhairava, to the crest, vaṣaṭ! / As before, to Vajravīrabhairava, to the armor, huṃ! / As before, to Krodhabhairava, to the three eyes, vauṣaṭ! / As before, to Kālabhairava, to the weapon, phaṭ! / Thus is the imposition of mantras on the fingers.

Uttering with each seed-syllable the fourth [formula, one performs] the goad of mercury.

In the five locations beginning with the heart, one should deposit the five seed-syllables;
then with 'to the weapon, phaṭ', one should display finger-snaps in the directions.

One should perform the mātṛkā nyāsa, the imposition of the rays, the pājyo nyāsa, and the kolaka,
and then, O goddess, one should perform internal worship.

By means of breath-retention, one indeed causes the heart lotus to blossom;
and in the pericarp of the heart lotus, one should contemplate the form of mercury.

With mental offerings such as scented paste and flowers, one should worship [it];
one should adorn one's own body at will with scented paste, flowers, and the like.

Such is internal worship; one should [then] perform external worship.
Having sprinkled the liṅga with the weapon [mantra] and performed purification of the liṅga,

having placed the ritual vessel wrapped with cloth and filled with water on the right side, O beloved,
one should worship it according to the rule.

On the altar, one should make a square with vermilion powder;
upon it, one should draw a straight hexagon with a gold stylus.

An eight-petaled lotus with eight leaves and an earth precinct with four gates;
on the square outer part, one should worship the guardians of the directions, O beloved.

Nandin and Mahākāla, Bhṛṅgin, Riṭi, Mahābala,
Kumbhakarṇa and Sugrīva, Bhṛṅgaka and Dṛḍhāyudha—

placing them at the four gates, two by two, they are worshiped beginning in the east.
Gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, magnetic iron, brass, and iron—

having worshiped them at the gates beginning in the east, two by two in order, O great goddess,
inside the earth precinct, in the east one should worship Śukra; in the south-east, the planet [Sun];

in the south one should worship Rudra; in the south-west, Wind;
in the west, Śiva; Fire in the north-west; and in the north, Umā;

in the north-east one should worship Fire; and then on the tips of the eight petals,
beginning in the east: sulfur, orpiment, vitriol, and realgar.

kaṅkuṣṭha, mākṣika, nṛpāvarta, and red ochre;
Lepikā, Kṣepikā, Krāmikā, and likewise Rañjikā,

Lohaṭī, Bandhakārī, Bhūcarī, Mṛtyunāśinī,
Vibhūti, and Khecarī: these are the ten female messengers in sequence.

They are to be worshipped on the eight-petalled lotus, both on the upper and lower petals.
Ruby, pearl, cat's-eye, sapphire, emerald, coral,

hessonite, and topaz: these jewels bestow all alchemical perfections.
One should worship [them] on the petal-tips of the second eight-petalled [lotus].

The Rudras, eighteen-armed, five-faced, three-eyed,
with diadems shining with the crescent moon, blue-throated, having the bull as their emblem,

each possessing his own proper color: these eight Lords of Wisdom,
O Maheśānī, are to be worshipped on the second eight-petalled lotus.

Calamine, vimala, copper pyrites, capala, blue vitriol, and antimony
on the petal-tips of the hexagon are the female companions who bestow all alchemical perfections.

Diamond, tourmaline, biotite mica, lodestone, and borax,
[and] earthworm: one should worship these Śaktis in the six angles [of the hexagon].

Cinnabar, copper sulfate, asphaltum, and agnijāra:
on its pericarp, beginning from the east, is the tetrad of supreme Śaktis.

Cinnabar is the Mālinī Śakti, and copper sulfate is the Parā Śakti;
asphaltum is the Aparā Śakti, and agnijāra is the Parāparā [Śakti].

Beginning with Oṃ and ending with 'namaḥ', prefixed by the respective name
and in the dative case, one should worship these [deities] stationed in the enclosures of mercury.

In the middle of the divine Śaktis, one should worship Rasabhairava.
When twenty-seven niṣkas of purified gold have been melted,

with focused mind, one should deposit nine niṣkas of king quicksilver
into a well-proportioned apparatus in the shape of a liṅga made of beeswax.

When the gold is intensely heated, O Śivā, one should cast the quicksilver into the heated [metal].
After one muhūrta, when it has cooled naturally, [one should place] that mercury-liṅga in milk.

One should set it down, take it up again, and remove the impurity on its surface;
having scrubbed it and made it smooth, one should then sprinkle the liṅga [with consecrated water].

In this way, or with metals such as silver, either individually or collectively,
or with the extracted essences of mica and the like, one should make a liṅga according to one's capacity.

The mercury-liṅga is said to be of two kinds, O dear one: composite and uncompounded.
The previously described is the composite liṅga; the uncompounded is mercury alone.

The composite is for those desiring enjoyment, while the uncompounded is for those desiring liberation.
Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Īśa, and Agni [worshipped] the mercury-liṅga bound with gold;

Gaṇeśa, Skanda, and Nandin worshipped that bound with silver.
By you was worshipped the mercury-liṅga bound with the essence of mica;

Ramā, Vāṇī, Kubera, Indra, and the Lord of Waters [worshipped that] bound with copper.
Yama, the Wind, and Nirṛti worshipped that bound with lodestone;

the Siddhas, Sādhyas, Vidyādharas, and great ṛṣis [worshipped that] bound with tin.
The serpent-spirits, Vasus, Gandharvas, reptiles, and Kinnaras [worshipped that] bound with lead;

Bhadrakālī, Yakṣas, Bhūtas, and Piśācas [worshipped that] bound with steel.
Mother Durgā, Apsarases, Guhyakas, and Asuras [worshipped that] bound with cast iron;

while the uncompounded mercury-liṅga was worshipped by yogins such as Bhṛṅgin.
Humans desiring the fruits [of their deeds] should worship the stated mercury-liṅgas

with effort daily for the attainment of all aims.
Hear the installation of the life-breath into the stated mercury-liṅgas.

Having restrained the breath according to rule, O Śivā, one should meditate upon the supreme Prāṇaśakti,
who is seated on a red lotus located in the midst of the ocean of blood;

wearing red garments, red-complexioned, adorned with a crown of varied jewels,
with the crescent of the stainless moon in her matted locks, having the sun, fire, and moon as eyes;

her cheeks reddened by the rays of the ornaments on her ears,
adorned with a nose like the blossom of the śrīparṇī tree;

resplendent with a bimba-like lower lip resembling coral and ruby,
gleaming with smooth teeth shaped like petals of kuruvinda ruby;

graced by a pearl necklace resting on a neck charming as a conch shell,
adorned with rings, armlets, bracelets, and other ornaments;

holding the noose, goad, sugarcane bow, flower-arrows, and granting fearlessness,
her lotus hand resplendent with a vessel filled with blood;

adorned with saffron and a necklace radiant across the slope of her swelling breasts,
and adorned with a girdle, anklets, bangles, and [rings on her] toes.

With a one-pointed mind, one should perform the installation of the life-breath into the liṅga:
‘Sṛṇiṃ mañca pāśaśca haṃsaḥ so'ham’—O beloved—‘Let the life-breath of this liṅga be the life-breath here.
Let the life of this liṅga be established here.
May all the senses of this liṅga—speech, mind, sight, hearing, taste, and smell—come here and abide happily and long. So'haṃ haṃsaḥ svāhā.
Ya ra la va śa ṣa sa ha oṃ.
Kroṃ hrīṃ āṃ.’
Having uttered this mantra, O beloved, one should invoke the life-breaths.
For this venerable mantra of life-breath installation, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Maheśvara are the seers;
the Ṛg, Yajur, and Sāma Vedas are the meters;
Śrī Parāśakti is the deity;
‘Āṃ’ is the seed;
‘Hrīṃ’ is the power; ‘kroṃ’ is the peg;
and the application is in the installation of the life-breath of this liṅga.
One should first worship the seat with fragrant paste, flowers, unbroken rice grains, and the like:

‘Hāṃ, homage to the Support Śakti.
Hrīṃ, homage to the Tortoise.
Hrūṃ, homage to Ananta.
Hraiṃ, homage to the Earth.
Hrauṃ, homage to the Root.
Homage to the Sprout, to the Stalk, to the Pericarps, to the Petals, to the Filaments, to the Pericarp; and in its center, homage to Dharma, to Knowledge, to Detachment, to Sovereignty, to Non-dharma, to Ignorance, to Non-detachment, and to Absence of Sovereignty.’
O Maheśvarī, one should invoke the God residing in the heart-lotus together with the Goddess,
accompanied by their surrounding retinue and endowed with the Śaktis of his own limbs.

One should install the liṅga upon the pedestal, and offer water for respectful reception with kuśa-grass water using the root-mantra,
water for the feet with scented water, and the sipping water should be [offered] from a golden vessel.

The bath should be performed with gem-infused waters, all with the root-mantra, O Śāmbhavī,
[reciting] the eleven Rudra-hymns and the Pavamāna-hymn, O Pārvatī,

with the Camaka hymns, the Puruṣasūkta, fruits, and also the five nectars,
with coconut and sugarcane waters, and with water of scented liquid.

Having bathed [it], he should then place the liṅga on the pedestal, O Śivā. / Around the liṅga, worshipping with flowers in the eight directions with: “Oṃ obeisance to Vāmadeva, to Jyeṣṭha, to Rudra, to Kāla, to Kalavikaraṇa, to Bala, to Balavikaraṇa, to Balapramathana, to Sarvabhūtadamana,” and in the presence of Śiva with “to Manonmana,” / “Oṃ hrāṃ obeisance to the heart,” / “Oṃ hrīṃ svāhā to the head,” / “Oṃ hrūṃ vaṣaṭ to the crest,” / “Oṃ hraiṃ huṃ to the armour,” / “Oṃ hrauṃ vauṣaṭ to the three eyes,” / “Oṃ hraḥ phaṭ to the weapon,” / “Hrāṃ obeisance to Īśāna,” / “Hrīṃ obeisance to Tatpuruṣa,” / “Hrūṃ obeisance to Aghora,” / “Hraiṃ obeisance to Vāmadeva,” / “Hrauṃ obeisance to Sadyojāta,” / with the root mantra he should offer a handful of flowers to the god, O dear one.

And he should perform the installation of the six limbs of the root mantra upon Śiva; / and on the southern side of the liṅga, the Vedas beginning with the Ṛgveda,

Brahmā, the earth, water, Viṣṇu, Rudra, fire, / Īśvara, wind, and likewise space and Sadāśiva,

Śrīkaṇṭha, the moon, Bhairava, and likewise the sun, / the supreme Śiva, the supreme Self: the wise man should worship in sequence.

On the left flank of the liṅga, however, the seven mothers beginning with Brāhmī, / Mahālakṣmī, Mahākālī, Durgā, Skanda, and Vināyaka,

the yoginīs, the field-guardians, the powers, and the primary seats, / the Oḍyāṇa power, Jālaṃdharī, and likewise Pūrṇagiri, O dear one,

Kāmeśvarī, and the power of Rudra is to be worshipped, O you who are worshipped by gods; / Lopāmudrā, Kubjikā, and likewise Kālasaṃkarṣaṇī,

the tastes beginning with sweet, perfumes, all grains, O Pārvatī, / divine medicinal plants, nectar, wine, poison, the bodily constituents beginning with the skin,

the sense organs, mind, intellect, egoity, consciousness, / the objects of sense beginning with sound, and the limbs of the body are to be worshipped, O Śāmbhavī.

On the western side of the liṅga, the oceans, rivers, and streams, / the mountains chief of which is Meru, and the nine planets beginning with the sun,

the wheel of luminaries, the pole star, the dolphin constellation, the lord of creatures, / kalās, kāṣṭhās, ghaṭikās, muhūrtas, praharas, the day,

the night, the fortnight, the month, the seasons, the year's halves, / the years, the yugas, the kalpas, the directions, the stars, the lunar day, O Śivā,

the subterranean realms, the serpent kings, and the Kālāgnirudras, / the yakṣas, piśācas, bhūtas, rākṣasas, and the danujas,

the guhyakas, wicked vetālas, diseases beginning with consumption, / mantras, hand weapons, and missile weapons: having worshipped [these] in sequence, O dear one,

then on the eastern side of the liṅga, the lineages of gurus are to be worshipped: / the siddhas, sādhyas, sages, yogins, exponents of the Veda,

vidyādharas, kinnaras, gandharvas, and the two Aśvins, / the Vasus, the chief apsarases, the nine aesthetic flavours beginning with the erotic,

song, dances, their varieties, the ten [sages] beginning with Kaśyapa, / the Rudras together with the Manus are to be worshipped, the suns, the three fires,

the Viśvedevas, the ancestral spirits, the mothers, the ancestral deities, / the masters of the kula, the masters of mercury, the past masters, the worshippers of Śiva,

the ten incarnations beginning with the fish, the Jina, and likewise the materialist, / all the worlds beginning with the hells, the Garuḍas, the eggs of Garuḍa,

the cosmic eggs, all the sky-dwellers, earth-dwellers, and water-dwellers. / Having worshipped all the deities with [mantras] beginning with the praṇava and ending in “namaḥ”,

with their respective names in the dative case, with flowers, perfumes, and unbroken rice grains, O dear one, / [one should present] to the god a pair of garments and two sacred threads,

a honey-mixture, divine fragrance, unbroken rice grains, and flowers, / always excluding ketaka flowers, and divine leaves,

and its flowers: white water-lily, lotus, blue lotus, and night-flowering water-lily, / with jasmine, campaka, punnāga, betel nut, and orange,

māgadhī, mādhavī, jasmine, yūthikā, and the like, / damanī, and maruva: one should offer [these] to the lord of mercury.

Incense of ten ingredients, a lamp, cake-bread, rice cooked in ghee and milk, / vegetables accompanied by the six tastes, endowed with pure and excellent wine,

food to be licked, sucked, and so forth: one should present the food offering to the lord of mercury, / and one should offer water for washing the hands with fragrant water, O goddess.

Well-scented betel nuts combined with camphor, / and clean, intact leaves of the betel vine,