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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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कामरूपधरा कम्रा कमनीया कविप्रिया | कञ्जानना कञ्जहस्ता कञ्जपत्रायतेक्शणा
kāmarūpadharā kamrā kamanīyā kavipriyā | kañjānanā kañjahastā kañjapatrāyatekśaṇā
काकिनी कामरूपस्था कामरूपप्रकाशिनी | कोलाविध्वंसिनी कङ्का कलङ्कार्ककलङ्किनी
kākinī kāmarūpasthā kāmarūpaprakāśinī | kolāvidhvaṃsinī kaṅkā kalaṅkārkakalaṅkinī
महाकुलनदी कर्णा कर्णकाण्डविमोहिनी | काण्डस्था काण्डकरुणा कर्मकस्था कुटुम्बिनी
mahākulanadī karṇā karṇakāṇḍavimohinī | kāṇḍasthā kāṇḍakaruṇā karmakasthā kuṭumbinī
कमलाभा भवा कल्ला करुणा करुणामयी | करुणेशी कराकर्त्री कर्तृहस्ता कलोदया
kamalābhā bhavā kallā karuṇā karuṇāmayī | karuṇeśī karākartrī kartṛhastā kalodayā
कारुण्यसागरोद्भूता कारुण्यसिन्धुवासिनी | कात्तीकेशी कात्तीकस्था कात्तीकप्राणपालनी
kāruṇyasāgarodbhūtā kāruṇyasindhuvāsinī | kāttīkeśī kāttīkasthā kāttīkaprāṇapālanī
करुणानिधिपूज्या च करणीया क्रिया कला | कल्पस्था कल्पनिलया कल्पातीता च कल्पिता
karuṇānidhipūjyā ca karaṇīyā kriyā kalā | kalpasthā kalpanilayā kalpātītā ca kalpitā
कुलया कुलविज्ञाना कषीणी कालरात्रिका | कैवल्यदा कोकरस्था कलमञ्जीररञ्जनी
kulayā kulavijñānā kaṣīṇī kālarātrikā | kaivalyadā kokarasthā kalamañjīrarañjanī
कलयन्ती कालजिह्वा किङ्करासनकारिणी | कुमुदा कुशलानन्दा कौशल्याकाशवासिनी
kalayantī kālajihvā kiṅkarāsanakāriṇī | kumudā kuśalānandā kauśalyākāśavāsinī
कसापहासहन्त्री च कैवल्यगुणसम्भवा | एकाकिनी अर्करूपा कुवला कर्कटस्थिता
kasāpahāsahantrī ca kaivalyaguṇasambhavā | ekākinī arkarūpā kuvalā karkaṭasthitā
कर्कोटका कोष्ठरूपा कूटवह्निकरस्थिता | कूजन्ती मधुरध्वानं कामयन्ती सुलक्शणम्
karkoṭakā koṣṭharūpā kūṭavahnikarasthitā | kūjantī madhuradhvānaṃ kāmayantī sulakśaṇam
केतकी कुसुमानन्दा केतकीपुण्यमण्डिता | कर्पूरपूररुचिरा कर्पूरभक्शणप्रिया
ketakī kusumānandā ketakīpuṇyamaṇḍitā | karpūrapūrarucirā karpūrabhakśaṇapriyā
कपालपात्रहस्ता च कपालचन्द्रधारिणी | कामधेनुस्वरूपा च कामधेनुः क्रियान्विता
kapālapātrahastā ca kapālacandradhāriṇī | kāmadhenusvarūpā ca kāmadhenuḥ kriyānvitā
कश्यपी काश्यपा कुन्ती केशान्ता केशमोहिनी | कालकर्त्री कूपकर्त्री कुलपा कामचारिणी
kaśyapī kāśyapā kuntī keśāntā keśamohinī | kālakartrī kūpakartrī kulapā kāmacāriṇī
कुङ्कुमाभा कज्जलस्था कमिता कोपघातिनी | केलिस्था केलिकलिता कोपना कर्पटस्थिता
kuṅkumābhā kajjalasthā kamitā kopaghātinī | kelisthā kelikalitā kopanā karpaṭasthitā
कलातीता कालविद्या कालात्मपुरुषोद्भवा | कष्टस्था कष्टकुष्ठस्था कुष्ठहा कष्टहा कुशा
kalātītā kālavidyā kālātmapuruṣodbhavā | kaṣṭasthā kaṣṭakuṣṭhasthā kuṣṭhahā kaṣṭahā kuśā
कालिका स्फुटकर्त्री च काम्बोजा कामला कुला | कुशलाख्या काककुष्ठा कर्मस्था कूर्ममध्यगा
kālikā sphuṭakartrī ca kāmbojā kāmalā kulā | kuśalākhyā kākakuṣṭhā karmasthā kūrmamadhyagā
कुण्डलाकारचक्रस्था कुण्डगोलोद्भवा कफा | कपित्थाग्रवसाकाशा कपित्थरोधकारिणी
kuṇḍalākāracakrasthā kuṇḍagolodbhavā kaphā | kapitthāgravasākāśā kapittharodhakāriṇī
काहोड. काहड. काड. कङ्कला भाषकारिणी | कनका कनकाभा च कनकाद्रिनिवासिनी
kāhoḍa. kāhaḍa. kāḍa. kaṅkalā bhāṣakāriṇī | kanakā kanakābhā ca kanakādrinivāsinī
कार्पासयज्ञसूत्रस्था कूटब्रह्मार्थसाधिनी | कलञ्जभक्शिणी क्रूरा क्रोधपुञ्जा कपिस्थिता
kārpāsayajñasūtrasthā kūṭabrahmārthasādhinī | kalañjabhakśiṇī krūrā krodhapuñjā kapisthitā
कपाली साधनरता कनिष्ठाकाशवासिनी | कुञ्जरेशी कुञ्जरस्था कुञ्जरा कुञ्जरागतिः
kapālī sādhanaratā kaniṣṭhākāśavāsinī | kuñjareśī kuñjarasthā kuñjarā kuñjarāgatiḥ
कुञ्जस्था कुञ्जरमणी कुञ्जमन्दिरवासिनी | कुपिता कोपशून्या च कोपाकोपविवजीता
kuñjasthā kuñjaramaṇī kuñjamandiravāsinī | kupitā kopaśūnyā ca kopākopavivajītā
कपिञ्जलस्था कापिञ्जा कपिञ्जलतरूद्भवा कुन्तीप्रेमकथाविष्टा कुन्तीमानसपूजिता
kapiñjalasthā kāpiñjā kapiñjalatarūdbhavā kuntīpremakathāviṣṭā kuntīmānasapūjitā
कुन्तला कुन्तहस्ता च कुलकुन्तललोहिनी | कान्ताङ्घ्रसेविका कान्तकुशला कोशलावती
kuntalā kuntahastā ca kulakuntalalohinī | kāntāṅghrasevikā kāntakuśalā kośalāvatī
केशिहन्त्री ककुत्स्था च ककुत्स्थवनवासिनी | कैलासशिखरानन्दा कैलासगिरिपूजिता
keśihantrī kakutsthā ca kakutsthavanavāsinī | kailāsaśikharānandā kailāsagiripūjitā
क्रौङ्कारी क्रौङ्करी काशी कुहुशब्दस्था किरातिनी | कूजन्ती सर्ववचनं कारयन्ती कृताकृतम्
krauṅkārī krauṅkarī kāśī kuhuśabdasthā kirātinī | kūjantī sarvavacanaṃ kārayantī kṛtākṛtam
कृपानिधिस्वरूपा च कृपासागरवासिनी | केवलानन्दनिरता केवलानन्दकारिणी
kṛpānidhisvarūpā ca kṛpāsāgaravāsinī | kevalānandaniratā kevalānandakāriṇī
कृमिला कृमिदोषघ्नी कृपा कपटकुट्टिता | कृशाङ्गी क्रमभङ्गस्था किङ्करस्था कटस्थिता
kṛmilā kṛmidoṣaghnī kṛpā kapaṭakuṭṭitā | kṛśāṅgī kramabhaṅgasthā kiṅkarasthā kaṭasthitā
कामरूपा कान्तरता कामरूपस्य सिद्धिदा | कामरूपपीठदेवी कामरूपाङ्कुजा कुजा
kāmarūpā kāntaratā kāmarūpasya siddhidā | kāmarūpapīṭhadevī kāmarūpāṅkujā kujā
कामरूपा कामविद्या कामरूपादिकालिका | कामरूपकला काम्या कामरूपकुलेश्वरी
kāmarūpā kāmavidyā kāmarūpādikālikā | kāmarūpakalā kāmyā kāmarūpakuleśvarī
कामरूपजनानन्दा कामरूपकुशाग्रधीः | कामरूपकराकाशा कामरूपतरुस्थिता
kāmarūpajanānandā kāmarūpakuśāgradhīḥ | kāmarūpakarākāśā kāmarūpatarusthitā
कामात्मजा कामकला कामरूपविहारिणी | कामशास्त्रार्थमध्यस्था कामरूपक्रियाकला
kāmātmajā kāmakalā kāmarūpavihāriṇī | kāmaśāstrārthamadhyasthā kāmarūpakriyākalā
कामरूपमहाकाली कामरूपयशोमयी | कामरूपपरमानन्दा कामरूपादिकामिनी
kāmarūpamahākālī kāmarūpayaśomayī | kāmarūpaparamānandā kāmarūpādikāminī
कूलमूला कामरूपपद्ममध्यनिवासिनी | कृताञ्जलिप्रिया कृत्या कृत्यादेवीस्थिता कटा
kūlamūlā kāmarūpapadmamadhyanivāsinī | kṛtāñjalipriyā kṛtyā kṛtyādevīsthitā kaṭā
कटका काटका कोटिकटिघण्टविनोदिनी | कटिस्थूलतरा काष्ठा कात्यायनसुसिद्धिदा
kaṭakā kāṭakā koṭikaṭighaṇṭavinodinī | kaṭisthūlatarā kāṣṭhā kātyāyanasusiddhidā
कात्यायनी काचलस्था कामचन्द्रानना कथा | काश्मीरदेशनिरता काश्मीरी कृषिकर्मजा
kātyāyanī kācalasthā kāmacandrānanā kathā | kāśmīradeśaniratā kāśmīrī kṛṣikarmajā
कृषिकर्मस्थिता कौर्मा कूर्मपृष्ठनिवासिनी | कालघण्टा नादरता कलमञ्जीरमोहिनी
kṛṣikarmasthitā kaurmā kūrmapṛṣṭhanivāsinī | kālaghaṇṭā nādaratā kalamañjīramohinī
कलयन्ती शत्रुवर्गान् क्रोधयन्ती गुणागुणम् कामयन्ती सर्वकामं काशयन्ती जगत्त्रयम्
kalayantī śatruvargān krodhayantī guṇāguṇam kāmayantī sarvakāmaṃ kāśayantī jagattrayam
कौलकन्या कालकन्या कौलकालकुलेश्वरी कौलमन्दिरसंस्था च कुलधर्मविडम्बिनी
kaulakanyā kālakanyā kaulakālakuleśvarī kaulamandirasaṃsthā ca kuladharmaviḍambinī
कुलधर्मरताकारा कुलधर्मविनाशिनी | कुलधर्मपण्डिता च कुलधर्मसमृद्धिदा
kuladharmaratākārā kuladharmavināśinī | kuladharmapaṇḍitā ca kuladharmasamṛddhidā
कौलभोगमोक्शदा च कौलभोगेन्द्रयोगिनी | कौलकर्मा नवकुला श्वेतचम्पकमालिनी
kaulabhogamokśadā ca kaulabhogendrayoginī | kaulakarmā navakulā śvetacampakamālinī
कुलपुष्पमाल्याकान्ता कुलपुष्पभवोद्भवा | कौलकोलाहलकरा कौलकर्मप्रिया परा
kulapuṣpamālyākāntā kulapuṣpabhavodbhavā | kaulakolāhalakarā kaulakarmapriyā parā
काशीस्थिता काशकन्या काशी चक्शुःप्रिया कुथा काष्ठासनप्रिया काका काकपक्शकपालिका
kāśīsthitā kāśakanyā kāśī cakśuḥpriyā kuthā kāṣṭhāsanapriyā kākā kākapakśakapālikā
कपालरसभोज्या च कपालनवमालिनी | कपालस्था च कापाली कपालसिद्धिदायिनी
kapālarasabhojyā ca kapālanavamālinī | kapālasthā ca kāpālī kapālasiddhidāyinī
कपाला कुलकर्त्री च कपालशिखरस्थिता | कथना कृपणश्रीदा कृपी कृपणसेविता
kapālā kulakartrī ca kapālaśikharasthitā | kathanā kṛpaṇaśrīdā kṛpī kṛpaṇasevitā
कर्महन्त्री कर्मगता कर्माकर्मविवजीता | कर्मसिद्धिरता कामी कर्मज्ञाननिवासिनी
karmahantrī karmagatā karmākarmavivajītā | karmasiddhiratā kāmī karmajñānanivāsinī
कर्मधर्मसुशीला च कर्मधर्मवशङ्करी | कनकाब्जसुनिर्माणमहासिंहासनस्थिता
karmadharmasuśīlā ca karmadharmavaśaṅkarī | kanakābjasunirmāṇamahāsiṃhāsanasthitā
कनकग्रन्थिमाल्याढ्या कनकग्रन्थिभेदिनी | कनकोद्भवकन्या च कनकाम्भोजवासिनी
kanakagranthimālyāḍhyā kanakagranthibhedinī | kanakodbhavakanyā ca kanakāmbhojavāsinī
कालकूटादिकूटस्था किटिशब्दान्तरस्थिता | कङ्कपक्शिनादमुखा कामधेनूद्भवा कला
kālakūṭādikūṭasthā kiṭiśabdāntarasthitā | kaṅkapakśinādamukhā kāmadhenūdbhavā kalā
कङ्कणाभा धरा कर्द्दा कर्द्दमा कर्द्दमस्थिता | कर्द्दमस्थजलाच्छन्ना कर्द्दमस्थजनप्रिया
kaṅkaṇābhā dharā karddā karddamā karddamasthitā | karddamasthajalācchannā karddamasthajanapriyā
कमठस्था कार्मुकस्था कम्रस्था कंसनाशिनी | कंसप्रिया कंसहन्त्री कंसाज्ञानकरालिनी
kamaṭhasthā kārmukasthā kamrasthā kaṃsanāśinī | kaṃsapriyā kaṃsahantrī kaṃsājñānakarālinī
काञ्चनाभा काञ्चनदा कामदा क्रमदा कदा | कान्तभिन्ना कान्तचिन्ता कमलासनवासिनी
kāñcanābhā kāñcanadā kāmadā kramadā kadā | kāntabhinnā kāntacintā kamalāsanavāsinī
कमलासनसिद्धिस्था कमलासनदेवता | कुत्सिता कुत्सितरता कुत्सा शापविवजीता
kamalāsanasiddhisthā kamalāsanadevatā | kutsitā kutsitaratā kutsā śāpavivajītā
कुपुत्ररक्शिका कुल्ला कुपुत्रमानसापहा | कुजरक्शकरी कौजी कुब्जाख्या कुब्जविग्रहा
kuputrarakśikā kullā kuputramānasāpahā | kujarakśakarī kaujī kubjākhyā kubjavigrahā
कुनखी कूपदीक्शुस्था कुकरी कुधनी कुदा | कुप्रिया कोकिलानन्दा कोकिला कामदायिनी
kunakhī kūpadīkśusthā kukarī kudhanī kudā | kupriyā kokilānandā kokilā kāmadāyinī
कुकामिना कुबुद्धिस्था कूर्पवाहन मोहिनी | कुलका कुललोकस्था कुशासनसुसिद्धिदा
kukāminā kubuddhisthā kūrpavāhana mohinī | kulakā kulalokasthā kuśāsanasusiddhidā
कौशिकी देवता कस्या कन्नादनादसुप्रिया | कुसौष्ठवा कुमित्रस्था कुमित्रशत्रुघातिनी
kauśikī devatā kasyā kannādanādasupriyā | kusauṣṭhavā kumitrasthā kumitraśatrughātinī
कुज्ञाननिकरा कुस्था कुजिस्था कर्जदायिनी | ककर्जा कर्ज्जकरिणी कर्जवद्धविमोहिनी
kujñānanikarā kusthā kujisthā karjadāyinī | kakarjā karjjakariṇī karjavaddhavimohinī
कर्जशोधनकर्त्री च कालास्त्रधारिणी सदा | कुगतिः कालसुगतिः कलिबुद्धिविनाशिनी
karjaśodhanakartrī ca kālāstradhāriṇī sadā | kugatiḥ kālasugatiḥ kalibuddhivināśinī
कलिकालफलोत्पन्ना कलिपावनकारिणी | कलिपापहरा काली कलिसिद्धिसुसूक्ष्मदा
kalikālaphalotpannā kalipāvanakāriṇī | kalipāpaharā kālī kalisiddhisusūkṣmadā
कालिदासवाक्यगता कालिदाससुसिद्धिदा | कलिशिक्शा कालशिक्शा कन्दशिक्शापरायणा
kālidāsavākyagatā kālidāsasusiddhidā | kaliśikśā kālaśikśā kandaśikśāparāyaṇā