History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.299

v7.c92.299

Another item in the Tāntrik worship is that of Maṇḍala which has been also a prominent feature of orthodox Hindu practices in medieval and modern times. But it cannot be said that the concept of maṇḍalas was borrowed by Sanskrit writers from the Tāntrikas. The word was used in the sense of orb or circle. In the Tai S. V. 3. 9. 2 reference is made to circular bricks (maṇḍalestakā); vide also Śat. Br. IV. 1. 1. 25. The orb of the Sun is also called the wheel (cakra) in Ṛg. IV. 28. 2 and V. 29. 10. The Bṛ. Up. says 'this Āditya is what is (called) truth¹⁸⁵¹ (satya)' and refers to the Person in the orb (maṇḍala) of the sun. Then it came to mean any figure or diagram (generally circular) drawn on an altar and the like. In the Śulbasūtras of Āpastamba and Kātyāyana reference is made to the squaring of a circle (maṇḍala).¹⁸⁵² The Matsyapurāṇa refers in several passages to maṇḍalas drawn with powders of five colours (as in 58. 22). It also refers to the figure of a lotus of twelve or eight petals drawn with saffron or red sandalwood paste or with various colours (72. 30; 62. 15; 64. 12-13; 74. 6-9 a lotus figure with eight petals and pericarp for sun worship). Varāhamihira in Br. S. (chap. 47) describes¹⁸⁵³ a very auspicious ceremony called Puṣyasnāna in which a maṇḍala was to be drawn on holy ground with powders of different colours in which positions were to be assigned to gods, planets, stars etc. The Brahmapurāṇa (28. 28) mentions the invocation of the Sun on the figure of a lotus and Brahmapurāṇa (61. 1-3) about the worship of Nārāyaṇa on a maṇḍala in the form of a lotus is quoted by Raghunandana in Puruṣottama-tattva (p 569). The Harṣacarita¹⁸⁵⁴ (first half of 7th century A. D.) refers to a large maṇḍala being drawn in several colours. The Varāhapurāṇa refers to the images or paintings of Lakṣmī and Nārāyaṇa in a maṇḍala for worship (chap. 99. 9-11). The Agnipurāṇa (chapter 320) refers to eight maṇḍalas, Sarvatobhadra and others. Several maṇḍalas are described in Śāradātilaka III. 113-118, 131-134, 135-139 (navanābha-maṇḍala), in Jñānārṇava 26. 15-17 and other works. According to the Amarakośa¹⁸⁵⁵ Sarvatobhadra is a variety of residence for kings or rich people. The Śāradātilaka (III. 106-130) deals at length with the construction of a Sarvatobhadra-mandala and remarks that it is common to all worship¹⁸⁵⁶ and provides (III. 122-124) that the mandala should be drawn with five coloured powders viz yellow with turmeric powder, white produced from husked grains of rice, red with Kusumbha powder, black with the fine powder of half burnt inferior cereals sprinkled with milk and greenish with powder of the leaves of bilva. The Prapañcasāra (V. 64-65) and Agni (30. 19-20) provide for similar coloured powders. The Vāstuyāgatattva of Raghunandana (p. 416) quotes the Śāradātilaka (III. 123-124) about the five powders. The Jñānārṇavatantra (24. 8-10 and 26. 15-17) appears to hold that mandala and cakra are synonyms and states that a mandala with nine angles may be drawn on an altar in a pavilion (mandapa) with saffron or vermilion powder ¹⁸⁵⁷ The Mahānirvāṇatantra also refers to mandalas drawn with coloured powders (X. 137-138). Four characteristics of mandala ceremonies are mandala, mantra, pūjā and mudrā.