Love me for the Sake of the World: “Goddess Songs” in Tantric Buddhist Maṇḍala Rituals

Abstract

The presence of Apabhraṃśa in tantric Buddhist texts has long been noted by scholars, overwhelmingly explained away as an example of “Twilight language” (saṃdhā-bhāṣā). However, when one looks closer at the vast number of Apabhraṃśa verses in this canon, one finds recurring patterns, themes, and even tropes. This begs for deeper study, as well as establishing a taxonomy of these verses based on their place and use. This paper focuses on a specific subset of Apabhraṃśa verses: “goddess songs” in maṇḍala visualization rituals. These verses are sung by yoginīs at specific moments in esoteric Buddhist ritual syntax; while the sādhaka is absorbed in enstatic emptiness, four yoginīs call out to him with sexually charged appeals, begging him to return to the world and honor their commitments to all sentient beings. When juxtaposed with other Apabhraṃśa verses in tantric Buddhist texts, these songs express an immediacy and intimacy that stands out in both form and content from the surrounding text. This essay argues that Apabhraṃśa is a conscious stylistic choice for signaling intimate and esoteric passages in tantric literature, and so the vast number of Apabhraṃśa verses in this corpus should be reexamined in this light.

1. Introduction

Songs and other “inspired utterances” (gītis and udānas) occur in Buddhist literature dating back to the Pāli Canon, and also appear in the tantric texts composed near the end of Buddhism in India around the thirteenth century CE. These later texts attest to numerous verses composed in Apabhraṃśa,1 including dohās quoted from collections attributed to mahāsiddhas,2 verses sung in offering rituals,3 “password” verses,4 verses sung in initiations,5 and verses sung in worship.6 Scholars have long noted this presence of Apabhraṃśa material in the tantric Buddhist canon, usually explaining it away as another example of saṃdhā-bhāṣā, “Twilight language.”7 Davidson addresses the topic at length in his 2002 monograph Indian Esoteric Buddhism. In addition to observing Apabhraṃśa’s links to coded language (saṃdhā-bhāṣā), he makes the crucial point that these tantric Buddhist communities were clearly diglossic.8 Further, he argues that this shows a “clear statement of linguistic distance from the prior centers of power and civilization” (Davidson 2002, p. 273). On this point, Wedemeyer disagrees entirely, insisting that Buddhist tantras originated entirely within mainstream Buddhist institutions, with Apabhraṃśa being merely another instance of “contrived marginality.”9 Wedemeyer also notes that at this point in time, Apabhraṃśa was a “pan-Indic koine” and citing Sheldon Pollock, he proposes that this language was employed to “suggest rural simplicity and joyful vulgarity.”10 While Wedemeyer is correct in noting the semi-artificial and literary character of Apabhraṃśa during this time period, Davidson’s remarks on diglossia11 are far more acute and provide a more nuanced model for approaching the intentionality behind the use of this language. Indeed, rather than a “rural simplicity and joyful vulgarity,” the Apabhraṃśa verses in tantric Buddhist texts instead seem to be reserved for particularly intimate junctures and esoteric contexts, where the speaker speaks in a different language/register and level of discourse entirely. These dohās, “password” verses, and offering and initiation verses, speak directly to their subjects, an intimacy that contrasts markedly with the surrounding text. Indeed, in their use they resemble mantras and dhāraṇīs. This link between language register and esoteric content deserves a deeper analysis,12 and this paper will consider a particular subset of these Apabhraṃśa verses: “Goddess songs” in creation-stage mandala rituals. In these rituals, a group of four yoginīs call out to the sādhaka with Apabhraṃśa verses, appealing to him sexually and pleading for him to honor his commitments and finish his ritual practice. This trope occurs in the Hevajra Tantra, the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa Tantra, the Abhayapaddhati, the Buddhakapāla sādhanā in the Sādhanāmālā, the Kṛṣṇayamāri Tantra, and the Khasama Tantra. The pervasiveness of these verses alongside the other striking examples of Apabhraṃśa in this material (as well as tantric Śaiva works), highlight the need for a new theoretical conceptualization of the use value of Apabhraṃśa in tantric Buddhist texts.

2. Sanskrit Precedents: The Guhyasamāja Tantra and Kālacakra Tantra

As Harunaga Isaacson notes, the prototype for these Goddess songs is in the Guhyasamāja Tantra.13 The Guhyasamāja Tantra is unquestionably preeminent within the “Mahāyoga” stratum of tantric Buddhist texts, and can be dated to the 8th century CE at the earliest.14 The Guhyasamāja Tantra’s popularity is attested by the sheer number of commentaries composed in India and Tibet, and particularly in the Ārya school of exegesis the Guhyasamāja Tantra and its commentaries can be used to interpret the tantras as a whole.15 Furthermore, the Guhysamāja Tantra in particular is important for introducing transgressive sexual and alimentary practices into tantric Buddhist traditions.

The relevant verses in the Guhyasamāja Tantra are located in the seventeenth chapter, which, as Matsunaga notes, was probably appended after the composition of the first twelve chapters.16 These verses (17.72–5) model similar passages in later texts in terms of content as well as the broader ritual syntax and context. They occur after an extended passage of dialogue between the assembled Bodhisattvas and Buddhas concerning the secret mantra syllables, after which all of the assembled Bodhisattvas fall silent while the Buddhas “dwell in the vajra wombs of the consorts of Body, Speech, and Mind of all Buddhas.”17 While the Buddhas are dwelling in emptiness in this way, a group of four goddesses call out to the Buddha Vajradhara with verse:

tvaṃ vajracitta bhuvaneśvara sattvadhāto trāyāhi māṃ ratimanojña mahārthakāmaiḥ |

kāmāhi māṃ janaka sattvamahāgrabandho yadīcchase jīvitum adya nātha ||

(Māmakī)

O Vajra Mind, Lord of the World, Abode of Beings, Knower of the Mind of Passion, Save me with desires for the Great Goal!

Love me now, O Father, Friend to the Great Multitude of Beings, if you want [me] to live, O Lord.

tvaṃ vajrakāya bahusattvapriyāṅkacakra buddhārthabodhiparamārthahitānudarśi |

rāgeṇa rāgasamayaṃ mama kāmayasva yadīcchase jīvitum adya nātha ||

(Buddhalocanā)

O Vajra Body, Host of Dear Ones to all Beings, Beholding the Welfare that is the Supreme Goal, Awakening, the Goal of Buddhas.

Passionately desire my pledge of passion now, if you want [me] to live, O Lord.

tvaṃ vajravāca sakalasya hitānukampī lokārthakāryakaraṇe sadā sampravṛttaḥ |

kāmāhi māṃ suratacarya samantabhadra yadīcchase jīvitum adya nātha ||

(Vajranetrī)

O Vajra Speech, Compassionate for the Benefit of the World, always doing one’s duty for the Sake of the World.

O Samantabhadra, amorous in conduct, love me, if you want [me] to live, O Lord.

tvaṃ vajrakāya samayāgra mahāhitārtha sambuddhavaṃśatilakaḥ samatānukampī |

kāmāhi māṃ guṇanidhiṃ bahuratnabhūtaṃ yadīcchase jīvitum adya nātha || (17.72-5)18

(Vajradayitā)

O Vajra Body, Foremost in Pledges, Whose Goal is Great Welfare, Ornament of the Assembly of Perfect Buddhas, Equitably Compassionate.

Love me, the Reservoir of Virtues, Containing Endless Jewels, if you want [me] to live, O Lord.

Immediately after these verses, the tathāgata Vajrapāṇi enters a samādhi, and then enters into union with the consort of all Buddhas. The entire universe becomes permeated with the seed of the Vajra pledges (samaya); the body, speech, and mind of all Buddhas. Ultimately, all beings are consecrated as Samantabhadra (Samantabhadra being the primordial Buddha in this esoteric tradition).19 It is significant that this passage resembles a visionary sādhanā, particularly when compared to a similar passage in the Kālacakra Tantra and its commentary, the Vimalaprabhā. The Kālacakra Tantra is particularly significant for being the last Buddhist tantra of its class composed in India (early 11th century).20 Furthermore, the Vimalaprabhā was so influential that it “served as the basis for all subsequent commentarial literature of that literary corpus.”21 The relevant verses appear in the fourth chapter, on sādhanā. The Vimalaprabhā divides this chapter into five “subchapters” (Skt: uddeśa, “explanation”), and we will focus on the third uddeśa, “The Origination of the Deities of Prāṇa.”22 The section begins with a quotation from the Kālacakra Tantra:

hoḥkārādyantagarbhe samasukhaphalade kāyavākcittavajraṃ

prajñārāgādrutaṃ tacchaśinam iva vibhuṃ vajriṇaṃ cekṣayitvā |

gītaṃ kurvanti devyas tvam api hi bhagavan sarvasattvopakārī

asmān rakṣā hi vajrin tridaśanaraguro kāmakāmārthinīś ca || 50 ||23

“The vajras of the body, speech, and mind are in the beginning, end, and middle of the syllable hoḥ, which brings forth immutable bliss as a result. Having considered the lord vajrī as the moon, melted by passion for the wisdom [being], the goddesses sing, “Bhagavan, you are the benefactor of all sentient beings. O vajrin, the spiritual mentor of gods, protect us, desirous of pleasure.”24

This verse has many of the motifs we will see in the following texts, particularly where the goddesses sing out to the vajrin after seeing him “melted.” In response, these lustful goddesses attempt to draw him out of his enstatic dissolution, by appealing to his Buddhist “ego.” Furthermore, the Vimalaprabhā contextualizes this verse by citing other explicit verses from the “mūla tantra”, which illustrate the themes from the Guhyasamāja verses, as well as the other texts, discussed below:

locanā ‘haṃ jaganmātā niṣyande yogināṃ sthitā |

me maṇḍalasvabhāvena kālacakrottha kāma mām ||

I am Locanā, the mother of the world, present in the yogīs’ emission.

Kālacakra, arise with the nature of my maṇḍala and desire me.

māmakī bhaginī cāhaṃ vipāke yogināṃ sthitā |

me maṇḍalasvabhāvena kālacakrottha kāma mām ||

I am Māmakī, a sister, present in the yogīs’ maturation.

Kālacakra, arise with the nature of my maṇḍala and desire me.

pāṇḍarā duhitā cāhaṃ puruṣe yogināṃ sthitā |

me maṇḍalasvabhāvena kālacakrottha kāma mām ||

I am Pāṇḍarā, a daughter, present in the spirit of yogīs.

Kālacakra, arise with the nature of my maṇḍala and desire me.

tāriṇī bhāgineyāhaṃ vaimalye yogināṃ sthitā |

me maṇḍalasvabhāvena kālacakrottha kāma mām ||

I am Tāriṇī, a wife, present in the yogīs’ purity.

Kālacakra, arise with the nature of my maṇḍala and desire me.

śūnyamaṇḍalam ādāya kāyavākcittamaṇḍalam |

spharayasva jagannātha jagad uddharaṇāśaya ||25

O Protector of the world, whose intention is to deliver the world, perceiving an empty maṇḍala,

expand the maṇḍalas of the body, speech, and mind.26

In these latter verses, there are numerous similarities with the verses from the Guhyasamāja Tantra. However, the sexual appeals of the yoginīs are supplemented with pleas for the Buddha Kālacakra, to emit the maṇḍalas and thus finish the sādhanā. In the following texts, these appeals also include an appeal for the sādhaka to remember his vows of compassion for all sentient beings. Both of these texts, the Guhyasamāja Tantra and Kālacakra Tantra, bracket in both dating and content late Indian anuttarayoga27 tantric Buddhist textual production. While the verses from the Guhyasamāja Tantra serve as the prototype for the Apabhraṃśa verses discussed in the remainder of this paper, the Kālacakra Tantra (and Vimalaprabhā) explicitly contextualizes them within the context of sādhanā. Specifically, these verses occur in the “creation stage” (Skt: utpattikrama) sadhana, where the practitioner recreates himself in the image of the text’s tutelary deity. After the practitioner dissolves into emptiness, the four goddesses call out to the sādhaka to arise out of this slumber, desire them, and complete the sādhanā. This ritual syntactic trope is underscored throughout the balance of this paper, with similar themes and vocabulary in the Apabhraṃśa verses. This begs the question: if this motif is commonplace in tantric Buddhist ritual syntax with Sanskrit exemplars, why are the verses in the following texts composed in Apabhraṃśa? This question will be revisited at the end of this paper.

3. The Hevajra Tantra

The Hevajra Tantra (dated to the 9^th–10^th century CE28), attests a great number of Apabhraṃśa verses, from verses used in offering rituals,29 rich descriptions of gaṇacakra rituals,30 encapsulations of tantric theory,31 “uplifting” encouragements,32 as well as a dohā attributed to the mahāsiddha Saraha.33 Within doxographies of tantric Buddhist texts the Hevajra Tantra is commonly classed within a different strata than the Guhyasamāja Tantra, i.e., Yoginī tantras as opposed to Mahāyoga tantras.34 As their name implies, the maṇḍalas of these tantras are overwhelmingly populated by goddesses and yoginīs, especially significant since they sing the Apabhraṃśa verses considered below. In the Hevajra Tantra the maṇḍala visualization instructions appear in the fifth chapter of the second half of the text, and model many of the key elements found in the following texts. After Buddha, Hevajra describes the structure of the maṇḍala (Figure 1) and how the sādhaka should visualize himself at its center surrounded by eight yoginīs, as Hevajra and his consort “dissolve out of great passion.” Thereupon, a subgrouping of four yoginīs urge35 him, with various songs, to return to the world out of his meditative state (samādhi):36

uṭṭha bharāḍo karuṇamaṇḍa Pukkasī mahu paritāhiṃ |

mahāsuajoe kāma mahuṃ chaḍḍahiṃ suṇṇasamāhi ||

Arise, O Bhagavān, whose nature is Compassion! Save me, Pukkasī.

I desire the union of Great Bliss, so abandon the Samādhi of Emptiness.

tohyā vihuṇṇe marami hahuṃ uṭṭehiṃ tuhuṃ Hevajja |

chaḍḍahi sunnasabhāvaḍā Śavaria sihyāu kajja ||37

Without you I die, arise O Hevajra!

Abandon the state of emptiness and fulfill Śavarī’s desires.

loa nimantia suraapahu suṇṇe acchasi kīsa |

hauṃ Caṇḍāli viṇṇanami tai viṇṇa ḍahami na dīsa ||

Summon forth the world, O Amorous Lord! Why do you dwell within emptiness?

I, Caṇḍālī, beg you, for without you I cannot perceive the world.

indīālī uṭṭha tuhuṃ hauṃ jānāmi ttuha cittaḥ |

ambhe Ḍombī cheamaṇḍa mā kara karuṇavicchittaḥ ||38

O Sorcerer, arise! I know your mind.

We Ḍombīs are cunning women, do not cut off your compassion.39

After these verses, the practitioner concludes the remainder of the ritual. These verses are clearly modelled on the verses sung by yoginīs in the Guhyasamāja Tantra; they both consist of four yoginīs or goddesses making sexual appeals to the tantric Buddha; however they also share with the Kālacakra Tantra the additional appeals to the Buddha to finish their practice. Furthermore, these verses all appear in various Hevajra sādhanās. In all five surviving sādhanās of Saroruha’s (Saraha’s) Hevajra lineage, these Goddess’ songs are all included or mentioned, along with other important Apabhraṃśa verses, in the Hevajra Tantra.40 These Goddess’ songs also appear in Ratnākaraśānti’s Bhramaharanāma Hevajrasādhana and in an ancillary sādhanā in the Kṛṣṇayamāri Tantra.41 In his commentary on Ratnākaraśānti’s text, Isaacson notes that the language choice for these Goddess’ songs is standard in the Yoginī tantra tradition, observing that “this should probably be seen as related to the concept in the Śaiva tradition of Apabhraṃśa as the language of direct, intense, mystical revelation by the yoginīs, and perhaps also simply to the fact that women (and particularly women supposed to be of lower social status) would have been not normally expected to speak Sanskrit.”42 Isaacson is certainly correct, and is probably referring to the Krama Mahānayaprakāśa of Śitikaṇṭha, and perhaps also the Mahārthamañjarī. It is also notable that Apabhraṃśa verses appear in Abhinavagupta’s Tantrasāra and Parātrīśika-vivaraṇa.43 There does seem to be a connection, underscored by the persistent choice of Apabhraṃśa for these Goddess songs in the following texts.

4. The Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa Tantra

A similar pattern occurs in the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa Tantra. The Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa Tantra is a comparatively late Yoginī tantra composed centuries after the Hevajra Tantra, probably in late 13th century Nepal.44 The relevant Apabhraṃśa passages in this text occur in the fourth chapter, the “deity” chapter. Here, the Buddha Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa describes the maṇḍala ritual, and how, after having visualized oneself as Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa (Figure 2), one should visualize eight yoginīs surrounding him. Then, after “[inviting] the coming forth of Wisdom,” four yoginīs call out to him in song:45

pahu maitrī tu vivarjia hohi mā śunnasahāva |

tojju viyoe phiṭumi sarve sarve hi tāva ca ||

(Mohavajrī)

O Pervader, do not abandon Love, and be not by nature Empty!

Without you I perish, and each and every thing as well.

ma karuṇācia iṭṭahi pahu mā hohi tu śunna |

mā mojju deha sudukkhia hoi hai jīva vihuna ||

(Piśunavajrī)

Do not abandon the mind of Compassion, O Pervader, and be not Empty!

If you do, my suffering body will be devoid of life!

kī santu harisa vihohia śunnahi karasi paveśa |

tojju nimantaṇa karia manua cchai lohāśeṣa ||

(Rāgavajrī)

Why, O Accomplished One, do you enter Emptiness to give pain to Joy?

The entire world rests in your heart, calling upon you.

yovanavuṇttim upekhia niṣphala śunnae ditti |

śunnasahāva vigoia karahi tu mea sama ghiṭṭi ||

(Īrṣyāvajrī)

Do not neglect youth with the fruitless view of Emptiness.

Despise the empty nature and embrace me.46

After hearing these verses,47 “as if in a dream” (svapneneva idaṃ śrutvā), the practitioner awakens and then runs to each yoginī in turn, and makes love to them while visualizing himself in different forms. Ultimately, the practitioner dissolves the entire maṇḍala and self-affirms his accomplishment in his practice.48 As in the maṇḍala ritual in the Hevajra Tantra, here the practitioner undertakes preparatory visualizations, and the yoginīs sing out to him to draw him out of his enstatic dream. After hearing these songs, the practitioner finishes the ritual, and by attaining the form of Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa he has finished creation-stage practice.

5. The Buddhakapāla Tantra

The following verses occur in texts associated with the Buddhakapāla Tantra.49 In the commentary, the Abhayapaddhati, these verses appear in the seventh chapter, called the “Generation of Heruka and his maṇḍala” (maṇḍala-herukotpatti-bhāvanā-ākhyā).50 Furthermore the same verses also occur in a similar maṇḍala ritual in the Sādhanāmālā. The seventh chapter of the Abhayapaddhati is a long description and explication of this maṇḍala ritual (Figure 3). After an extended passage, we reach the trope and motif of dissolving into emptiness, described as a liquid. Then out of this liquid, four trembling goddesses (sphuritāś catasro devyaḥ), observing the Lord (prabhum apaśyantyaḥ), with concern for His various previous vows (pūrva-praṇidhi-veśeṣa-āpekṣayā), full-throatedly (sotkaṇṭhya) arouse the Lord with songs:51

kicce ṇiccaa visāagaü loa ṇimantia kāī |

taha vattā ṇa jaï sambharasi uṭṭhahiṃ saala visāī ||

How can you summon forth the world while lost in despondence?

If you do not honor your commitments, the world leaps into despair.

kajja appāṇa vi karia pia mā karasu viṇavi citta |

bhavabhaa paḍiā saala jaṇu uṭṭhahi joinimitta ||52

Doing one’s own duties, O Dearest, do not think conceptually!

Worldly beings are falling into existential angst; Arise O Friend of Yoginīs!53

pūvvapaï jjaha sambharasi mā kara kājja visāu |

taï athaminne saala jaṇu pariavajja gaüsāu ||

If you remember your prior pledges, do not neglect your commitments!

While you’re absent, worldly beings on the Buddhist path lose their resolve.

miche̐ māṇa vi mā karahi pia uṭṭhaï suṇasahāva |

kāmahi joiṇi vinda tuhu phiṭṭaü ahavā bhāva ||54

Do not think deludedly, O Dear One. Arise O Nature of Emptiness!55

Embrace the horde of yoginīs, otherwise you maim the world.56

Awakened by these songs, the practitioner then visualizes a hūṃ̐ syllable transforming into Śrī Heruka, and the following lines describe his appearance in great detail.57 Immediately following this visualization of Heruka, both sādhanās then describe a great maṇḍala populated with yoginīs, for the practitioner to visualize, along with other mainstays of creation-stage practice.58 At the end of the sādhanā in the Sādhanāmālā, the practitioner recites the Buddhakapāla mantra, and the text states that after six months of consistent Buddhakapāla practice, yogins attain success, “here there is no doubt.”59 The similarities with the verses from the Hevajra and Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa Tantras are clear, underscoring that this is a ritual syntactic trope in tantric Buddhist practice.

6. The Kṛṣṇayamāri Tantra: Anuyoga and Mahāyoga

The final sādhanās appear in a text that does not easily fit into our received classification standards for tantric Buddhist texts. The Kṛṣṇayamāri Tantra seems to straddle both canons of the Mahāyoga tantras and Yoginī tantras.60 This ambiguity is made clear in its name; Kṛṣṇayamāri is closely related to the wrathful Buddha Yamāntaka/Vajrabhairava. As such, the Kṛṣṇayamāri Tantra would seem to be more accurately classified as a Mahāyoga tantra, a fact corroborated by its maṇḍala, comprising a majority of male Yamāris with four yoginīs (Figure 4).61 This is a clear contrast with the maṇḍalas of the previous texts in which yoginīs predominate; however, here as well, yoginīs call out to the practitioner in Apabhraṃśa verses. In addition, while the first sādhanā discussed here (anuyoga) exhibits the same ritual trope seen in the previous texts, the second sādhanā (mahāyoga) significantly subverts it. These Apabhraṃśa verses appear in the root verses of the Kṛṣṇayamāri Tantra, the anuyoga verses in the seventeenth chapter and the mahāyoga verses in the twelfth chapter.62 Chapter seventeen begins with the Buddha visualizing different Buddha-forms (buddhabimbaṃ), and then the text declares that the practitioner becomes the cakra-bearer by the practice of the four [Vajra] songs (associated with the four yoginīs).63 On the other hand, chapter twelve begins with the Buddha entering into different meditative concentrations (samādhi), each associated with one of the text’s four yoginīs (Vajracarcikā, Vajravārāhī, Vajrasarasvatī, and Vajragaurī), and thereupon recites each yoginī’s specific verse.64 However, the actual contextualization of these verses within detailed sādhanā instructions does not appear in the root verses. Instead, they are provided in the commentary composed by Kumāracandra.

Anuyoga is the second phase of the four-fold yoga, defined in the root verses as the “arising of the stream of Vajrasattva” (after the generation of Vajrasattva in the first phase, “yoga”).65 Anuyoga begins with summoning and worshipping the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and afterwards one visualizes the maṇḍala and numerous Sanskrit syllables stationed throughout. After dissolving the maṇḍala, one sees Vajrasattva, after which the four yoginīs appear. An important note here is that each of these yoginīs (Vajracarcikā, Vajravārāhī, Vajrasarasvatī, and Vajragaurī) are associated with long-standing Buddhist meditative states: loving kindness (maitrī), compassion (karuṇā), empathetic joy (muditā), and equanimity (upekṣā). These yoginīs then sing the verses sung by the Buddha at the beginning of chapter seventeen.66

uṭṭha bharāḍaü karuṇākoha |

tihuaṇa saalaha pheḍahi moha ||

(Vajracarcikā)

Arise, O Bhagavan, whose feigned wrath is compassion.

Cut the delusion of the material world!

e caumāra parājia rāula |

uṭṭha bharāḍā citteṃ vaüla ||

(Vajravārāhī)

You’ve overcome the four Māras, O Royal One.

Arise O Bhagavān, [my] mind is stricken.

loaṇimanti acchasi suṇṇe |

uṭṭha bharāḍā loaha puṇṇe ||

(Vajrasarasvatī)

Summon forth the world, you who dwells in emptiness.

Arise O Bhagavan, by the merit of the world!

kaï tu acchasi sunaho viṃtti |

bodhisahāva loaṇimaṃti ||67

(Vajragaurī)

Why do you dwell in emptiness?

O Nature of Enlightenment, summon forth the world!68

Immediately following these verses, the practitioner visualizes more syllables and the sādhanā culminates in one becoming the Buddha Dveṣayamāri.69 The next phase of the four-fold yoga is “atiyoga,” after which the practitioner enters the final phase of the four-fold yoga, “mahāyoga.” While the verses in anuyoga display the same conventions observed in the previous texts, the sādhanā of mahāyoga significantly subverts them. Mahāyoga is defined as the “entrance to the gnosis-cakra (jñāna-cakra), tasting its nectar, as well as the Great Worship and Praise.”70 In this sādhanā the practitioner beseeches the Buddhas for consecration, visualizes the assembly of Yamāris and yoginīs with their tutelary Buddhas, and engages in more subtle yoga within the visualized maṇḍala. Thereupon, the practitioner takes on the face or form (Skt. mukhena)71 of the maṇḍala’s four yoginīs in turn, and worships the maṇḍala with the songs uttered by the Buddha in chapter twelve of the root text:72

aḍeḍe kiṭṭayamāri guru raktalūva sahāva |

haḍe tua pekhia bhīmi guru chaḍḍahi koha sahāva ||

(Vajracarcikā)

A ḍe ḍe73 Black Yamāri Guru, you are wrathful in form and nature.

Seeing you I grow frightened, O Guru, abandon this wrathful nature.74

païṇaccaṃte kaṃvi aï saggamaccapāālu |

kiṭṭa bhinnāñjaṇa kohamaṇu ṇaccahi tuhu ve ālu ||75

(Vajravārāhī)

You dance and upend everything in heaven, on earth, and in the underworld.

Dark like black eyeliner, you dance like a Vetāla, O Fierce One.

kālākhavva pamāṇahā bahuviha ṇimmasi rua |

vajjasarāssaï viṇṇamami ṇaccahi tuha mahāsuharua ||

(Vajrasarasvatī)

You are black, short in stature, and take on various forms,

You dance and you are of the nature of great bliss, I, Vajrasarasvatī supplicate you.

hrīḥ ṣṭrīḥ manteṇa pheḍahi kehu tihuaṇa bhānti |

karuṇākoha bharāḍaü taha kuru jagu pekkhanti ||76

(Vajragaurī)

With the mantra hrīḥ ṣṭrī, cut the delusion of the three realms!

Therefore, O Great Lord, Whose Wrath is Compassion, do [your duties!], [for] the world looks on

In the root verses of chapter twelve, the Buddha recites these verses after entering the respective samādhis of the four yoginīs (i.e., the four brahmāvihāras), and in this sadhana, the practitioner does as well. Thus, the long-standing Buddhist brahmavihāras are imagined as yoginīs in a tantric context. Afterwards, the practitioner prostrates before each of the maṇḍala’s Yamāris and the ritual is complete.

7. Conclusions

“The Sanskrit in which the Tantras are written, is, as a rule, just as barbarous as their contents.”

—Maurice Winternitz (1933, p. 401)

Scholars have long observed that tantric literature has an affinity for nonstandard language. John Newman has observed that the Sanskrit in the Kālacakra Tantra “is not Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (Buddhist Ārṣa), nor is it simply substandard Sanskrit. It is Sanskrit into which various types of nonstandard forms have been intentionally introduced.”77 Furthermore, he accepts Puṇḍarīka’s explanation for this, specifically that these linguistic variations and “mistakes” are not due to ignorance or incompetence, but rather intentionally included to counter excessive attachment to “correct language,” and teach disciples to rely on inner meaning rather than the strict grammatical form.78 However, these variations and “mistakes” also became standard and expected in tantric literature; Szántó observes that the author(s) of the Catuṣpīṭha Tantra went out of their way to use ungrammatical forms to such an extent that the text itself is almost indecipherable, even to contemporary commentators.79 This use of nonstandard Sanskrit also reflects the general Buddhist resistance to Brahmanical religion and its concomitant linguistic ideology. An affinity for nonstandard Sanskrit is also a feature of Śaiva tantric texts. Remarking on the tantric Śaiva Siddhayogeśvarīmata, Törczök notes that “the more the language of the text differs from the classical Sanskrit of the orthodox, the more esoteric its teaching is.”80 Furthermore, in the Buddhakapāla Tantra, many of the chapters conclude with a capstone dohā in Apabhraṃśa. These are very direct, colloquial, and didactic verses that encapsulate (or challenge) the chapter’s content.81 On the other hand, in the Abhidhānottara Tantra, a band of assembled ḍākinīs delightedly sing to the practitioner in ecstatic Apabhraṃśa verse upon their successful initiation.82 As such, there is a clear intentionality behind the language register in tantric texts, allusive yet direct, used for emphasis, directness, and intimacy.

Within the context of these maṇḍala visualization rituals, these “Goddess songs” take on an extremely intimate register, expressing mingled sexual and altruistic passion on the part of the yoginīs. Within the liminal space of the maṇḍala, these yoginīs call out to the practitioner to embrace them and work for the benefit of all sentient beings, both sine qua non in tantric Buddhism (wisdom and compassion). This intentional language choice may reflect their social position, as Isaacson notes, however it also recalls the sociolinguistics of Sanskrit drama. In Sanskrit drama, one’s social positionality is indexed by their language register, with high class men speaking Sanskrit and women and social inferiors speaking varieties of Prakrit.83 The link between Prakrit and women in Sanskrit drama is clear, yet when juxtaposed with the other Apabhraṃśa verses in tantric Buddhist texts, this link is problematized. For example, in the Hevajra Tantra, the male Buddha Hevajra speaks directly to the assembled yoginīs in an Apabhraṃśa verse, to soothe and revive them after they are dumbstruck by his profound teachings.84 This diglossic85 shift between different languages and registers illustrates this intentionality acutely, yet while Wedemeyer is correct in noting the semi-artificial nature of Apabhraṃśa, it can hardly be dismissed as “contrived marginality” as he would insist.86 Instead it communicates an intimacy and directness, similar to the didactic (if allusive) dohās of Saraha and other mahāsiddhas. However, these verses are far more diverse and numerous throughout tantric Buddhist literature than these dohās, and they possess their own linguistic currency, similar to, but distinct from, mantras or dhāraṇīs.87 These verses and the use of Apabhraṃśa in tantric texts deserves a deeper dedicated study,88 but for the moment we can observe that in this literature Apabhraṃśa is reserved for particularly esoteric or direct intimate contexts.89