A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c52.196

v3.c52.196

KHECARĪVIDYĀ, ascribed to Ādinātha.³⁰⁶ This small treatise in four chapters and 285 verses begins with praising itself (1.1–28), followed by an account of the khecarīmantra (1.29–40); the remaining part of chapter one is devoted to the preparations for and practice of the khecarīmudrā (1.41–74).³⁰⁷ Chapter two, the longest, describes the siddhis, the subtle body, the cakras, etc.; a portion of this chapter (2.81–97) deals with the effects of Haṭhayoga processes on the doṣas. Chapter three discusses the raising of the Kuṇḍalinī, her union with Śiva, and the realization by the practitioner of bodily liberation. Chapter four is about divine herbs (divyauṣadhi), necessary for the attainment of siddhis, and on the consumption of mercury, sulphur, realgar and orpiment. The Khecarīvidyā calls itself in its colophons a portion of a treatise called Mahākālayogaśāstra.³⁰⁸ A work of this title is referred to by two mediaeval commentators³⁰⁹ as concerned with Haṭhayoga. The Khecarīvidyā itself is cited by works called Mahākāla and Mārtaṇḍaviveka. The latter is the Yogamārtaṇḍa or Vivekamārtaṇḍa of Gorakṣanātha; the former, if not the Mahākālayogaśāstra itself, may be the Mahākālasamhitā, attributed to Ādinātha.³¹⁰