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BRILL’S INDOLOGICAL LIBRARY EDITED BY JOHANNES RRONKHORST IN CO-OPERATION WITI-i RICHARD GOMBRIGIi • OSKAR VON HINUBER KATSUMI MIMAKI • ARVIND SMARM A VOLUME 18 MANDALAS AND YANTRAS IN THE HINDU TRADITIONS BY GUDRUN BUHNEMANN with contributions by H. Brunner, M.W. Mcister, A. Padoux, M. Rastelli and J. Torzsok BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2003 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-m-Publication Data Biihnemann, Gudrun. Mandalas and Yanlras in the Hindu traditions / Gudrun Bithnemann. p. cm. — (Brill’s Indological library ; v 18) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 90-04-12902-2 1. Mandala. 2. Yantras. 3. Hindu symbolism. I. Title. II. Series. BL2015.M3B85 2002 294.5’37~dc21 2002043732 ISSN 0925-2916 ISBN 90 04 12902 2 © Copyright 2003 by Koninklijke Brill NV, I Aden, The .Netherlands All rights reserved. Jsro part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted m any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or othemrise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to 7 he Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 9! 0 Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Pees are subject to change. PRINTED IN TilK NETHERLANDS CONTENTS Notes on Contributors ................................................................... v[\ List of Illustrations..................................................... jx Introduction....................................................................... j Gudrun Biilmemann Mandala, Yantra and Cakra: Some Observations.......................... 13 Gudrun Buhnemann Mandalas and Yantras in Smarta Ritual........................................... 57 Gudrun Biilmemann Part I. Selected Mandala-like Structures, Mandalas and Yantras Part 11, Bhadramandalas The Use of Mandalas and Yantras in the Pancaratra Tradition ... 119 Marion Rastelli Mandala and Yantra in the Siddhanta School of Saivism: Definitions, Description and Ritual Use...................................... j 53 Helene Brunner Icons of Inclusivism: Mandalas in Some Early Saiva Tantras.... 179 Judit Torzsok Mandalas in Abhinavagupta’s Tantraloka ........................... 225 Andre Padoux The Sricakra according to the First Chapter of the Yogimhrdaya.................................................... 239 Andre Padoux Vastupurusamandalas: Planning in the Image of Man ................ 251 Michael W. Me is ter Bibliography and Abbreviations......................................................... 27 1 Index.......................................................................................................... 291 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS HELENE BRUNNER [-LACHAUX] was a member of the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (Section of Oriental Studies), Pans, from 1963 to 1985, She retired in 1985, but continues working in hei field, that is Agamic (Saiddhantika) Saivism, as represented in mediaeval texts, Agamas or paddhatis. Her major publications in clude an edition and French translation of the Somasanibhupaddhati (four volumes, Pondichery: Institut Frangais d’lndologie 1963-1998) and a French translation of the kriyapada and caryapada of the Mr- gendragama (Pondichery: Institut Frangais d’lndologie, 1985). GUDRUN BUHNEMANN is a Professor at the Department of Lan guages and Cultures of Asia of the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Her major publications include Budha-Kausika’s Ranra- iaksastotia: A Contribution to the Sludy of Sanskrit Devotional Poetry (Vienna: Institut fur Indologie, Universitat Wien, 1983); Puja: A Study m Smarta Ritual (Vienna: Institut fur Indologie, Universitat Wien, 1988); The Worship of Mahaganapati according to the Nityot- sava (Wichtrach: Institut fur Indologie, 1988); Forms of Ganesa: A Study based on the Vidyarnavalantra (Wichtrach: Institut fur Indo logie, 1989); and The Iconography of Hindu Tantric Deities. Volume I: The Pantheon of the Mantramahodadhi. Volume II: The Pantheons of the Piapahcasara and the Saradatilaka (Groningen- Egbert Forsten 2000-2001). ‘ ’ MICHAEL W. MEISTER holds the W. Norman Brown Chair of South Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He has edited the Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture, Discourses on Siva, Making Things in South Asia, Coomaraswamy’s Essays in Early Indian Architecture and Essays in Architectural Theory, Cooking for the Gods and Ethnography and Personhood. ANDRE PADOUX is Dirccteur de recherche honoraire at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris. His publications include Vac. The Concept of the Word in Selected Hindu Tantras (Albany, viii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS New York: State University of New York Press, 1990); Le coeur de la YoginJ. Yoginlhrdaya, avec le commentaire DIpika d’Amrtananda (Paris: De Boccard, 1994); and (with Lilian Silburn) Abhinavagupta. La lumiere sur les tantras, chapitres 1 a 5 du Tantraloka, traduits el commentes (Paris: De Boccard, 1998). MARION RASTELLI received her Ph.D. in Classical Indian Studies (Indology) in 1998 from the University of Vienna. She is presently a research fellow at the Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna. Her research focuses on the teachings and ritual of Pancaratra. Her most important publications are: Philosophisch-theologische Grundan- schauungen der Jayakhyasaniliita. Mil einer Darstellung des tagli- chen Rituals (Wien: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1999) and The Religious Practice of the Sadhaka According to the Jayakhyasamhita (Indo-lranian Journal 43, 2000: 319-395). JUDITTORZSOK is Lecturer (‘Martre de conferences’) in Sanskrit at the Universite Charles-de-Gaulle-Lille 3 (France). She completed her D.Phil. thesis in Oxford in 1999 on a Tantra entitled the Siddha- yogesvarlmata, belonging to the tradition of the Trika. Her research focuses on the early Saiva Tantric traditions. Since 2001 she has been contributing to the Hindu Tantric Dictionary (Tantrikabhi- dhanakosa) and participates in the Skanda-Purana project (Groningen, the Netherlands). LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Illustrations to “Mandala, Yantra and Cakra: Some Observations” by Gudrun Biilmemann: 1. A yantra for attraction (akarsanayantra), described in Mantra- mahodadhi 20.84cd-85; reproduced from the Mantramahodadhi (edited by R. Prasada, Lucknow: Smarahimsakadatta Press, 1872, appendix). The name Devadatta (to be replaced with the intended person’s name) appears in the centre of the pericarp of the lotus, and the krodhabija (that is, the syllable hum) in the four lotus petals. The yantra should be drawn on a leaf of birch-bark using a mixture of red sandalwood paste and one s own blood. After the puja the yantra is normally soaked in ghee. 2. A supporting mandala for the vardliani vessel in Tantric puja; reproduced from Buhnemann 1988b, Illustration 36. 3. A ca. 17th-century yantra with the Ramaraksastotra inscribed on textile (33 x 34 cm); photograph by G. Buhnemann. In 1979 this yantra was part of the collection of Sarabhai Nawab (Ahmedabad). 4. A yantra assigned to stanza 55 of the Saundaryalahari; repro duced from Saundaryalahari 1957: 87. The syllable yam (which is usually the seed [blja] syllable of the element wind) is inscribed thrice in the yantra. According to the instructions (jjrayoga), the yantra should be drawn on a golden plate or on fish-bone. One should repeat the stanza 20,000 times a day for 45 days to secure freedom from bondage. 5. A yantra for subjugating one’s master, described in Damodara’s Yantracintamani 3.20-26 (Turstig 1988: 21); reproduced from Turstig 1988, appendix, yantra no. 3. The name Devadatta (to be re placed with the intended person’s name) appears in the centre of the pericarp of the lotus prefixed by the syllables om srlm and suffixed by srlm om. On the lotus petals the syllables srim and ksah alternate. The yantra should be drawn on a leaf of birch-bark using yellow pigment. It should then be placed into a vessel and burnt, and its ashes consumed. X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 6. A pujayantra of Mahaganapati, reproduced and adapted from Buhnemann 1988b, Illustration 40. The yantra features a downward- pointing triangle inside a hexagram, surrounded by an eight-petalled lotus and a square with four gates. Illustrations to “Mandalas and Yantras in Smarta Ritual” by Gudrun Buhnemann: Part I. Selected Mandala-like Structures, Mandalas and Yantras Following a common South Asian tradition of depicting mandala- like structures, the east (and not the north) is shown on top of the diagrams. 1. A diagram showing the deities of the baliharanacakra, or bali- haranamandala, reproduced from Kane 1968-1977, volume 2: 747. With minor variations, this diagram is found in a number of con temporary texts, such as the Rgvedlyabrahmakarmasamuccaya. 2. A table showing the arrangement of the five deities in (dome stic) pancayatana shrines as prescribed by Bopadeva. 3. A mandala of the heavenly bodies (grahadevatanvandala or navagrahamandala); a contemporary print reproduced from the ritual manual Rgvedlyabrahmakarmasamuccaya. 4. The (durga)saptasatlmahayantra; a contemporary print reprodu ced from the manual Rgvedlyabrahmakarmasamuccaya. 5. The rudraplthamahayantra; a contemporary print reproduced from the manual Rgvedlyabrahmakarmasamuccaya. Part II, Bhadramandalas Table: Constituent Parts of the Bhadramandalas. Black and White Prints of Mandalas The black and white prints of mandalas which are listed below are reproduced from the Bhadramartanda (BM) edition. The edition does not illustrate all mandalas described in the BM. In addition, some mandala drawings are incomplete and have not been reproduced