History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.319

v7.c92.319

Yantras are described in such Tāntrik and other works as Tripurātāpanī Upaniṣad (II 3), Prapañcasāratantra (paṭalas 21 and 34), Śāradātilaka (VII. 53-63, XXIV), Kāmakalāvilāsa (verses 22, 26, 29, 30, 33), Nityāṣoḍaśikārṇava (I. 31-43) Nityotsava (pp. 6, 64-65), Tantra-rājatantra (II 44-51, VIII 30 ff. XXXIII), Ahirbudhnyasaṃhitā (chap. 23-26), Mantramahodadhi (20th Taraṅga), Kaulajñānanirṇaya (X, which speaks of them as cakras), Kaulāvalīnirṇaya (III. 105-135), Merutantra (33rd prakāśa, 562 verses), Mantramahārṇava-tantra (Uttara-khaṇḍa, 11th taraṅga). It is not possible to deal with all this large material here. The Padma (Pātālakhaṇḍa, 79. 1) provides that the worship of Hari (Viṣṇu) may be performed on the Śālagrāma stone or on a jewel or a yantra, a maṇḍala, or images, and not merely in a temple The Ahirbudhnya-saṃhitā (chap. 36, verses 5-66) describes the procedure of the worship of a Sudarśana-yantra by a king or other personage desiring wealth or prosperity. One yantra or cakra may be explained and illustrated here. The most noted is Śrīcakra described in two verses quoted¹⁸⁵³ below and explained in some detail in the Setubandha commentary on Nityāṣoḍaśikārṇava (I. 31-46). The latter verses explain how the Cakra is to be drawn with the bindu in a small triangle. The bindu represents Śakti or Mūlaprakṛti solidified In published works on Tantra the Śrīcakra is represented in colours (as in Saundaryalaharī published by Ganesh & Co. Madras, 1957, facing the title page), while others represent it only by means of plain uncoloured lines (as on the outer cover of the above edition of Saundaryalaharī or on the cover of the Kāmakalāvilāsa ed by A. Avalon and published by Ganesh and Co. 1953). In some works the figure of Śrīcakra shows no gates as on the cover in 'Principles of Tantra' by A. Avalon or on the cover of Kāmakalāvilāsa, while gates are shown in other works (as in the above edition of Saundaryalaharī before the Sanskrit text). There are nine triangles, five of which have their apex pointing downwards and these represent Śakti and four (representing Śiva) have an apex pointing upwards. The bindu is situated in the smallest triangle pointing downwards. Then there are two pairs of ten triangles (shown in some books as blue and red respectively), then fourteen triangles (coloured blue in some works), then eight-petalled lotus (sometimes coloured red), 16 petalled lotus (coloured blue), then three circles, then three boundary lines with four gates, these two latter being the outer sections of the yantra and the lotuses of 8 and 16 petals being the inner section of the yantra. There are in all 43 angles (some works make 44). The part of the Cakra within the boundary lines is called *bhūpura*. The worship of yantra is *bahiryāga* (outer or external worship of Śakti). The internal worship (*antaryāga*) consists in taking the awakened Kuṇḍalinī through the cakras from Mūlādhāra to Ājñācakra and then uniting it with the Lord Śiva in the Sahasrāra-cakra, the six cakras from Mūlādhāra being identified with the five elements and mind. This is described in Saundaryalaharī (verse 9). To what lengths ‘Śakti’ worshippers had gone in the worship of Devī by the *bahiryāga* method would be clear from a passage quoted from the commentary of Lakṣmīdhara, almost the latest among the numerous commentators of the Saundaryalaharī, who was horrified by the methods of Kaulikas.¹⁸⁶⁴