The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c15.t1: 1. Caṇḍaroṣaṇa

The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Tāntric Texts of Rituals c15.t1

Language: English

1. Caṇḍaroṣaṇa

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Colour—Yellow Arms—Two Symbols—Sword and Tarjanīpāśa

Caṇḍaroṣaṇa is also called Mahācaṇḍaroṣaṇa, Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa and Acala. Four Sādhanas are devoted to his worship and he is always represented in yab-yum. Prabhākarakīrti is said to be the author of one of the Sādhanas the major portion of which is in verse. Another Dhyāna describing the god runs as follows :

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“Śrī-Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇaṃ Bhagavantaṃ atasīpuṣpasaṅkāśaṃ Acalāparanāmānaṃ dvibhujaṃ kekarākṣaṃ daṃṣṭrāvikarālamahāghoravadanaṃ ratnamaulinaṃ daṃṣṭrānipīḍitādharam muṇḍamālāśiraskaṃ

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āraktacakṣurdvayaṃ dakṣiṇe khaḍgadharaṃ tarjanīpāśahṛdayasthavāmakaraṃ sitasarpayajñopavītaṃ vyāghracarmanivasanaṃ nānāratnaviracitābharaṇaṃ bhūmilagnavācaraṇaṃ iṣadunatadakṣiṇacaraṇaṃ sūryyaprabhāmālinaṃ ātmānaṃ vicintya.. Akṣobhyamukuṭinaṃ dhyāyāt.” Sādhanamālā, p. 172.

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“The worshipper should think himself as Śrī-Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa, whose colour is like that of the Atasī flower and whose second name is Acala. He is one-faced, two-armed and is squint-eyed. His face appears terrible with bare fangs. He wears a jewelled head-dress, bites his lips and wears on his crown a garland of severed heads. His eyes are slightly red, and he carries the sword in his right hand and the noose round the raised index finger against the chest in the left. His sacred thread consists of a white snake; he is clad in tiger-skin and he wears jewels. His left leg touches the ground while the right is slightly raised. He is radiant as the sun and.. bears on his crown the effigy of Akṣobhya. Thus the god should be meditated upon”.

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It should be noticed that the Dhyāna is silent about the Śakti in whose embrace the god should remain in yab-yum, but if the Buddhist priests are to be believed and if the testimony of the Nepalese Citrakāras has any value, it must be assumed that Caṇḍaroṣaṇa is always represented in yab-yum and should not be represented singly. Caṇḍaroṣaṇa is the most important figure in the celebrated Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa Tantra dedicated to his worship. His worship is always performed in secret and the god is kept secluded from public gaze. Even if there be a bronze image it is practically inaccessible to any one except the initiated.

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Fig. 124 illustrates a Nepalese drawing of the deity. As Acala and Acala-Vajrapāṇi he is popular in Tibet ¹.

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¹ Getty: GNB, pp. 52 and 170.

Cites (1)

Sādhanamālā — Sanskrit