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Rudrayāmala Uttara Tantra
A Yāmala of the Vidyāpīṭha, a Śākta compendium of the eastern schools, and a title cited far more often than it can be found — the text the Vijñāna Bhairava names as its source.
Few titles are quoted more often in tantric Sanskrit than the Rudrayāmala, and few are harder to hold. Abhinavagupta cites it; Jayaratha cites it; the Bengali Śākta digests cite it constantly; the Vijñāna Bhairava names it as its own parent. The book that now circulates under the name will not account for most of what is credited to it — and that discrepancy is itself one of the more instructive facts about how this literature travelled.
What a yāmala isयामल
Yāmala means a pair, a couple, a union; the ordinary Sanskrit word for twins stands beside it. A Yāmala tantra is revelation arising from the union of Rudra and his Śakti rather than from Śiva alone, and the consequence is formal as well as doctrinal. Texts of this class are dialogues throughout — Bhairava and the Goddess in alternating question and answer, neither of them merely the audience. The teaching that Śakti and the possessor of Śakti are never separate is, in a Yāmala, a statement about the shape of the book as much as about the nature of things.
Within the Bhairava stream the Yāmalas belong to the Vidyāpīṭha, the goddess-centred half of the revelation, and the canonical lists count eight of them — a yāmalāṣṭaka. Which eight varies from source to source. Brahmayāmala, Viṣṇuyāmala, Rudrayāmala, Skandayāmala, Ruruyāmala, Vetālayāmala, Svacchandayāmala, Ātharvaṇayāmala are among the names that recur, in shifting combinations and sometimes with others in their place. As with the twenty-eight Āgamas and the sixty-four Bhairava tantras, the number describes how the tradition conceived its canon rather than what can be counted on a shelf.
One Yāmala survives in something close to its early form, and it shows what the class was. The Brahmayāmala, also called the Picumata, is preserved in a Nepalese palm-leaf manuscript copied in the eleventh century, and it is uncompromising: its deity is Kapālīśabhairava with the goddess Caṇḍā Kāpālinī, its practitioner carries the skull-staff and the skull-bowl, and its rites belong squarely to the cremation ground and the cult of the yoginīs. That is the world the Yāmalas came out of — older, fiercer and far more concretely ritual than the philosophical Trika that grew from the same soil.
Two Rudrayāmalas
The Rudrayāmala that the Kashmirian authors knew is not extant. Abhinavagupta and Jayaratha quote a text of that name; later digests quote it at length; and no manuscript answering to those quotations has been identified. What does survive, printed repeatedly in Calcutta and Varanasi since the later nineteenth century, is the Rudrayāmala Uttara Tantra — the "latter" Rudrayāmala, a long Śākta work whose language, cast of goddesses and ritual assumptions place it in eastern India and centuries after the Kashmirian citations. Estimates of its date differ and none is secure; few would put its present shape earlier than the fifteenth or sixteenth century, and portions of it are probably later still.
What the Uttara Tantra contains
None of that makes the surviving text uninteresting. It is a substantial and wide-ranging Śākta compendium, and it is one of the places where a reader can watch several currents run together.
- Mantroddhāraमन्त्रोद्धार · extraction
- The drawing-out of mantras from a lettered diagram. The syllables are not simply given; they are extracted from a grid by a stated procedure, so that a mantra arrives as an operation rather than as a word. A great deal of the text is taken up with this, and it is the most technical thing in it.
- The Goddess
- Tārā above all, but also Kālī, Bhairavī and material belonging to the Śrīvidyā, together with the hymns, protective kavacas and thousand-name litanies that attend them. The theology is that of the Mahāvidyās, the eastern Śākta cult of the ten great goddesses — one of the clearest indications that the text as we have it is not an early Kashmirian Vidyāpīṭha work.
- Cīnācāraचीनाचार · the way of Mahācīna
- The text carries the well-known story of Vasiṣṭha, who fails to propitiate Tārā by orthodox austerity, is directed to Mahācīna, and finds there a teaching conducted in wine and flesh and the company of women, which he is made to accept before he can succeed. It is one of the tradition's own accounts of why a transgressive rite exists at all, and it is largely through this text that the story is known.
- The subtle body
- The channels, the centres, the ascent of kuṇḍalinī, the retention and movement of breath. This is the material that made the book useful far outside its own school, and it is the physiology that the breath teachings assume throughout.
- Yoga and observance
- Long stretches on posture, prāṇāyāma and mudrā, on the discipline and the grades of the practitioner, and on initiation, the qualifications of the guru, and the calendrical and domestic ritual of a Śākta household.
A conduit
The Uttara Tantra's real historical importance is as a channel. Material passed through it into compilations that had a far wider circulation than any Vidyāpīṭha scripture ever enjoyed — the Bengali Śākta digests, the ritual handbooks that depend on them, and from there into the printed devotional literature of the nineteenth century and after. A very large number of hymns, armours and mantra-prescriptions in ordinary use carry a colophon assigning them to the Rudrayāmala. Some of them are in the printed Uttara Tantra. Many are not, and were attached to the name for the authority it conferred.
That is worth stating plainly rather than treating as a scandal. Attribution in this literature is a claim about lineage and legitimacy, not a bibliographical statement, and a tradition which holds that its scriptures are fragments of an unbounded revelation has no difficulty at all with the idea that a teaching may be from the Rudrayāmala without being in any particular copy of it. The historian's problem and the tradition's self-understanding are simply not the same problem, and the honest course is to keep them apart.
The Vijñāna Bhairava's claim
The most consequential of these attributions is the Vijñāna Bhairava's. Its colophons place it within the Rudrayāmala and the tradition has always cited it so: one hundred and twelve dhāraṇās, a dialogue between Bhairava and the Goddess, presented as an extract drawn from the greater Yāmala.
What the claim is worth needs care in both directions. It cannot be verified, because the Rudrayāmala it refers to is lost; and it cannot be refuted from the surviving Uttara Tantra, which does not contain the Vijñāna Bhairava and is in any case too late to be the text meant. But the Vijñāna Bhairava's own antiquity does not rest on the attribution. It was known and quoted in Kashmir in the tenth and eleventh centuries; Kṣemarāja began a commentary on it, the Uddyota, which breaks off after the opening verses; and Śivopādhyāya completed the exegesis long afterwards with his Vivṛti. The text stands on that evidence whatever its parentage.
What the attribution does tell us is what its transmitters took its pedigree to be, and the choice is exact. A Yāmala is revelation issuing from the union of the two; and the Vijñāna Bhairava's opening argument, before it reaches a single practice, is that Śakti and the holder of Śakti are never in fact two, so that to enter Śakti is to enter Bhairava. A text that begins there names as its source the one class of scripture defined by precisely that union. Whether or not the descent is historical, the claim is doctrinally well judged — and that, in a tradition where lineage is a statement of what a teaching is, is not a trivial thing to have got right.
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जयिनी जामलस्था च जामलोद्भवनायिका | जामलप्रियकन्या च जामलेशी जवाप्रिया
jayinī jāmalasthā ca jāmalodbhavanāyikā | jāmalapriyakanyā ca jāmaleśī javāpriyā
जवाकोटिसमप्रख्या जवापुष्पप्रिया जना | जलस्था जगविषया जरातीता जलस्थिता
javākoṭisamaprakhyā javāpuṣpapriyā janā | jalasthā jagaviṣayā jarātītā jalasthitā
जीवहा जीवकन्या च जनार्द्दनकुमारिका | जतुका जलपूज्या च जगन्नाथादिकामिनी
jīvahā jīvakanyā ca janārddanakumārikā | jatukā jalapūjyā ca jagannāthādikāminī
जीर्णाङ्गी जीर्णहीना च जीमूतात्त्यन्तशोभिता | जामदा जमदा जृम्भा जृम्भणास्त्रादिधारिणी
jīrṇāṅgī jīrṇahīnā ca jīmūtāttyantaśobhitā | jāmadā jamadā jṛmbhā jṛmbhaṇāstrādidhāriṇī
जघन्या जारजा प्रीता जगदानन्दवद्धीनी | जमलार्जुनदर्पघ्नी जमलार्जुनभञ्जिनी
jaghanyā jārajā prītā jagadānandavaddhīnī | jamalārjunadarpaghnī jamalārjunabhañjinī
जयित्रीजगदानन्दा जामलोल्लाससिद्धिदा | जपमाला जाप्यसिद्धिर्जपयज्ञप्रकाशिनी
jayitrījagadānandā jāmalollāsasiddhidā | japamālā jāpyasiddhirjapayajñaprakāśinī
जाम्बुवती जाम्बवतः कन्यकाजनवाजपा | जवाहन्त्री जगद्बुद्धिर्ज्जगत्कर्तृ जगद्गतिः
jāmbuvatī jāmbavataḥ kanyakājanavājapā | javāhantrī jagadbuddhirjjagatkartṛ jagadgatiḥ
जननी जीवनी जाया जगन्माता जनेश्वरी | झङ्कला झङ्कमध्यस्था झणत्कारस्वरूपिणी
jananī jīvanī jāyā jaganmātā janeśvarī | jhaṅkalā jhaṅkamadhyasthā jhaṇatkārasvarūpiṇī
झणत्झणद्वह्निरूपा झननाझन्दरीश्वरी | झटिताक्षा झरा झञ्झा झर्झरा झरकन्यका
jhaṇatjhaṇadvahnirūpā jhananājhandarīśvarī | jhaṭitākṣā jharā jhañjhā jharjharā jharakanyakā
झणत्कारी झना झन्ना झकारमालयावृता | झङ्करी झर्झरी झल्ली झल्वेश्वरनिवासिनी
jhaṇatkārī jhanā jhannā jhakāramālayāvṛtā | jhaṅkarī jharjharī jhallī jhalveśvaranivāsinī
ञकारी ञकिराती च ञकारबीजमालिनी | ञनयोऽन्ता ञकारान्ता ञकारपरमेश्वरी
ñakārī ñakirātī ca ñakārabījamālinī | ñanayo'ntā ñakārāntā ñakāraparameśvarī
ञान्तबीजपुटाकारा ञेकले ञैकगामिनी | ञैकनेला ञस्वरूपा ञहारा ञहरीतकी
ñāntabījapuṭākārā ñekale ñaikagāminī | ñaikanelā ñasvarūpā ñahārā ñaharītakī
टुन्टुनी टङ्कहस्ता च टान्तवर्गा टलावती | टपला टापबालाख्या टङ्कारध्वनिरूपिणी
ṭunṭunī ṭaṅkahastā ca ṭāntavargā ṭalāvatī | ṭapalā ṭāpabālākhyā ṭaṅkāradhvanirūpiṇī
टलाती टाक्षरातीता टित्कारादिकुमारिका | टङ्कास्त्रधारिणी टाना टमोटार्णलभाषिणी
ṭalātī ṭākṣarātītā ṭitkārādikumārikā | ṭaṅkāstradhāriṇī ṭānā ṭamoṭārṇalabhāṣiṇī
टङ्कारी विधना टाका टकाटकविमोहिनी | टङ्कारधरनामाहा टिवीखेचरनादिनी
ṭaṅkārī vidhanā ṭākā ṭakāṭakavimohinī | ṭaṅkāradharanāmāhā ṭivīkhecaranādinī
ठठङ्कारी ठाठरूपा ठकारबीजकारणा | डमरूप्रियवाद्या च डामरस्था डबीजिका
ṭhaṭhaṅkārī ṭhāṭharūpā ṭhakārabījakāraṇā | ḍamarūpriyavādyā ca ḍāmarasthā ḍabījikā
डान्तवर्गा डमरुका डरस्था डोरडामरा | डगरार्द्धा डलातीता डदारुकेश्वरी डुता
ḍāntavargā ḍamarukā ḍarasthā ḍoraḍāmarā | ḍagarārddhā ḍalātītā ḍadārukeśvarī ḍutā
ढार्द्धनारीश्वरा ढामा ढक्कारी ढलना ढला | ढकेस्था ढेश्वरसुता ढेमनाभावढोनना
ḍhārddhanārīśvarā ḍhāmā ḍhakkārī ḍhalanā ḍhalā | ḍhakesthā ḍheśvarasutā ḍhemanābhāvaḍhonanā
णोमाकान्तेश्वरी णान्तवर्गस्था णतुनावती | णनो माणाङ्ककल्याणी णाक्षवीणाक्षबीजिका
ṇomākānteśvarī ṇāntavargasthā ṇatunāvatī | ṇano māṇāṅkakalyāṇī ṇākṣavīṇākṣabījikā
तुलसीतन्तुसूक्ष्माख्या तारल्या तैलगन्धिका | तपस्या तापससुता तारिणी तरुणी तला
tulasītantusūkṣmākhyā tāralyā tailagandhikā | tapasyā tāpasasutā tāriṇī taruṇī talā
तन्त्रस्था तारकब्रह्मस्वरूपा तन्तुमध्यगा | तालभक्षत्रिधामूत्तीस्तारका तैलभक्षिका
tantrasthā tārakabrahmasvarūpā tantumadhyagā | tālabhakṣatridhāmūttīstārakā tailabhakṣikā
तारोग्रा तालमाला च तकरा तिन्तिडीप्रिया | तपसः तालसन्दर्भा तर्जयन्ती कुमारिका
tārogrā tālamālā ca takarā tintiḍīpriyā | tapasaḥ tālasandarbhā tarjayantī kumārikā
तोकाचारा तलोद्वेगा तक्षका तक्षकप्रिया | तक्षकालङ्कृता तोषा तावद्रूपा तलप्रिया
tokācārā talodvegā takṣakā takṣakapriyā | takṣakālaṅkṛtā toṣā tāvadrūpā talapriyā
तलास्त्रधारिणी तापा तपसां फलदायिनी | तल्वल्वप्रहरालीता तलारिगणनाशिनी
talāstradhāriṇī tāpā tapasāṃ phaladāyinī | talvalvapraharālītā talārigaṇanāśinī
तूला तौली तोलका च तलस्था तलपालिका तरुणा तप्तबुद्धिस्थास्तप्ता प्रधारिणी तपा
tūlā taulī tolakā ca talasthā talapālikā taruṇā taptabuddhisthāstaptā pradhāriṇī tapā
तन्त्रप्रकाशकरणी तन्त्रार्थदायिनी तथा | तुषारकिरणाङ्गी च चतुर्धा वा समप्रभा
tantraprakāśakaraṇī tantrārthadāyinī tathā | tuṣārakiraṇāṅgī ca caturdhā vā samaprabhā
तैलमार्गाभिसूता च तन्त्रसिद्धिफलप्रदा | ताम्रपर्णा ताम्रकेशा ताम्रपात्रप्रियातमा
tailamārgābhisūtā ca tantrasiddhiphalapradā | tāmraparṇā tāmrakeśā tāmrapātrapriyātamā
तमोगुणप्रिया तोला तक्षकारिनिवारिणी | तोषयुक्ता तमायाची तमषोढेश्वरप्रिया
tamoguṇapriyā tolā takṣakārinivāriṇī | toṣayuktā tamāyācī tamaṣoḍheśvarapriyā
तुलना तुल्यरुचिरा तुल्यबुद्धिस्त्रिधा मतिः | तक्रभक्षा तालसिद्धिः तत्रस्थास्तत्र गामिनी
tulanā tulyarucirā tulyabuddhistridhā matiḥ | takrabhakṣā tālasiddhiḥ tatrasthāstatra gāminī
तलया तैलभा ताली तन्त्रगोपनतत्परा | तन्त्रमन्त्रप्रकाशा च त्रिशरेणुस्वरूपिणी
talayā tailabhā tālī tantragopanatatparā | tantramantraprakāśā ca triśareṇusvarūpiṇī
त्रिंशदर्थप्रिया तुष्टा तुष्टिस्तुष्टजनप्रिया | थकारकूटदण्डीशा थदण्डीशप्रियाऽथवा
triṃśadarthapriyā tuṣṭā tuṣṭistuṣṭajanapriyā | thakārakūṭadaṇḍīśā thadaṇḍīśapriyā'thavā
थकाराक्षररूढाङ्गी थान्तवर्गाथ कारिका | थान्ता थमीश्वरी थाका थकारबीजमालिनी
thakārākṣararūḍhāṅgī thāntavargātha kārikā | thāntā thamīśvarī thākā thakārabījamālinī
दक्षदामप्रिया दोषा दोषजालवनाश्रिता | दशा दशनघोरा च देवीदासप्रिया दया
dakṣadāmapriyā doṣā doṣajālavanāśritā | daśā daśanaghorā ca devīdāsapriyā dayā
दैत्यहन्त्रीपरा दैत्या दैत्यानां मद्दीनी दिशा | दान्ता दान्तप्रिया दासा दामना दीर्घकेशिका
daityahantrīparā daityā daityānāṃ maddīnī diśā | dāntā dāntapriyā dāsā dāmanā dīrghakeśikā
दशना रक्तवर्णा च दरीग्रहनिवासिनी देवमाता च दुर्लभा च दीर्घाङ्गा दासकन्यका
daśanā raktavarṇā ca darīgrahanivāsinī devamātā ca durlabhā ca dīrghāṅgā dāsakanyakā
दशनश्री दीर्घनेत्रा दीर्घनासा च दोषहा | दमयन्ती दलस्था च द्वेष्यहन्त्री दशस्थिता
daśanaśrī dīrghanetrā dīrghanāsā ca doṣahā | damayantī dalasthā ca dveṣyahantrī daśasthitā
दैशेषिका दिशिगता दशनास्त्रविनाशिनी दारिद्र्यहा दरिद्रस्था दरिद्रधनदायिनी
daiśeṣikā diśigatā daśanāstravināśinī dāridryahā daridrasthā daridradhanadāyinī
दन्तुरा देशभाषा च देशस्था देशनायिका | द्वेषरूपा द्वेषहन्त्री द्वेषारिगणमोहिनी
danturā deśabhāṣā ca deśasthā deśanāyikā | dveṣarūpā dveṣahantrī dveṣārigaṇamohinī
दामोदरस्थाननादा दलानां बलदायिनी | दिग्दर्शना दर्शनस्था दर्शनप्रियवादिनी
dāmodarasthānanādā dalānāṃ baladāyinī | digdarśanā darśanasthā darśanapriyavādinī
दामोदरप्रिया दान्ता दामोदरकलेवरा | द्राविणी द्रविणी दक्षा दक्षकन्या दलदृढा
dāmodarapriyā dāntā dāmodarakalevarā | drāviṇī draviṇī dakṣā dakṣakanyā daladṛḍhā
दृढासनादासशक्तिर्द्वन्द्वयुद्धप्रकाशिनी | दधिप्रिया दधिस्था च दधिमङ्गलकारिणी
dṛḍhāsanādāsaśaktirdvandvayuddhaprakāśinī | dadhipriyā dadhisthā ca dadhimaṅgalakāriṇī
दर्पहा दर्पदा दृप्ता दर्भपुण्यप्रिया दधिः | दर्भस्था द्रुपदसुता द्रौपदी द्रुपदप्रिया
darpahā darpadā dṛptā darbhapuṇyapriyā dadhiḥ | darbhasthā drupadasutā draupadī drupadapriyā
धर्मचिन्ता धनाध्यक्षा धश्वेश्वरवरप्रदा | धनहा धनदा धन्वी धनुर्हस्ता धनुःप्रिया
dharmacintā dhanādhyakṣā dhaśveśvaravarapradā | dhanahā dhanadā dhanvī dhanurhastā dhanuḥpriyā
धरणी धैर्यरूपा च धनस्था धनमोहिनी | धोरा धीरप्रियाधारा धराधारणतत्परा
dharaṇī dhairyarūpā ca dhanasthā dhanamohinī | dhorā dhīrapriyādhārā dharādhāraṇatatparā
धान्यदा धान्यबीजा च धर्माधर्मस्वरूपिणी | धाराधरस्था धन्या च धर्मपुञ्जनिवासिनी
dhānyadā dhānyabījā ca dharmādharmasvarūpiṇī | dhārādharasthā dhanyā ca dharmapuñjanivāsinī
धनाढ्यप्रियकन्या च धन्यलोकैश्च सेविता | धर्मार्थकाममोक्षाङ्गी धर्मार्थकाममोक्षदा
dhanāḍhyapriyakanyā ca dhanyalokaiśca sevitā | dharmārthakāmamokṣāṅgī dharmārthakāmamokṣadā
धराधरा धुरोणा च धवला धवलामुखी | धरा च धामरूपा च ध्रुवा ध्रौव्या ध्रुवप्रिया
dharādharā dhuroṇā ca dhavalā dhavalāmukhī | dharā ca dhāmarūpā ca dhruvā dhrauvyā dhruvapriyā
धनेशी धारणाख्या च धर्मनिन्दाविनाशिनी | धर्मतेजोमयी धर्म्म्या धैर्याग्रभर्गमोहिनी
dhaneśī dhāraṇākhyā ca dharmanindāvināśinī | dharmatejomayī dharmmyā dhairyāgrabhargamohinī
धारणा धौतवसना धत्तूरफलभोगिनी | नारायणी नरेन्द्रस्था नारायणकलेवरा
dhāraṇā dhautavasanā dhattūraphalabhoginī | nārāyaṇī narendrasthā nārāyaṇakalevarā
नरनारायणप्रीता धर्मनिन्दा नमोहिता | नित्या नापितकन्या च नयनस्था नरप्रिया
naranārāyaṇaprītā dharmanindā namohitā | nityā nāpitakanyā ca nayanasthā narapriyā
नाम्नी नामप्रिया नारा नारायणसुता नरा | नवीननायकप्रीता नव्या नवफलप्रिया
nāmnī nāmapriyā nārā nārāyaṇasutā narā | navīnanāyakaprītā navyā navaphalapriyā
नवीनकुसुमप्रीता नवीनानां ध्वजानुता | नारी निम्बस्थितानन्दानन्दिनी नन्दकारिका
navīnakusumaprītā navīnānāṃ dhvajānutā | nārī nimbasthitānandānandinī nandakārikā
नवपुष्पमहाप्रीता नवपुष्पसुगन्धिका | नन्दनस्था नन्दकन्या नन्दमोक्षप्रदायिनी
navapuṣpamahāprītā navapuṣpasugandhikā | nandanasthā nandakanyā nandamokṣapradāyinī
नमिता नामभेदा च नाम्नार्त्तवनमोहिनी | नवबुद्धिप्रियानेका नाकस्था नामकन्यका
namitā nāmabhedā ca nāmnārttavanamohinī | navabuddhipriyānekā nākasthā nāmakanyakā
निन्दाहीना नवोल्लासा नाकस्थानप्रदायिनी | निम्बवृक्षस्थिता निम्बा नानावृक्षनिवासिनी
nindāhīnā navollāsā nākasthānapradāyinī | nimbavṛkṣasthitā nimbā nānāvṛkṣanivāsinī
नाश्यातीता नीलवर्णा नीलवर्णा सरस्वती | नभःस्था नायकप्रीता नायकप्रियकामिनी
nāśyātītā nīlavarṇā nīlavarṇā sarasvatī | nabhaḥsthā nāyakaprītā nāyakapriyakāminī
नैववर्णा निराहारा निवीहाणां रजःप्रिया | निम्ननाभिप्रियाकारा नरेन्द्रहस्तपूजिता
naivavarṇā nirāhārā nivīhāṇāṃ rajaḥpriyā | nimnanābhipriyākārā narendrahastapūjitā
नलस्थिता नलप्रीता नलराजकुमारिका | परेश्वरी परानन्दा परापरविभेदिका
nalasthitā nalaprītā nalarājakumārikā | pareśvarī parānandā parāparavibhedikā
परमा परचक्रस्था पार्वती पर्वतप्रिया | पारमेशी पर्वनाना पुष्पमाल्यप्रिया परा
paramā paracakrasthā pārvatī parvatapriyā | pārameśī parvanānā puṣpamālyapriyā parā
परा प्रिया प्रीतिदात्री प्रीतिः प्रथमकामिनी | प्रथमा प्रथमा प्रीता पुष्पगन्धप्रिया परा
parā priyā prītidātrī prītiḥ prathamakāminī | prathamā prathamā prītā puṣpagandhapriyā parā