Edition of the Brahmayāmala
• A sub-project of the Early Tantra project
The Brahmayāmala is a voluminous and complex early Śaiva scripture surviving in Nepal.
The first detailed study of this text is presented in a doctoral dissertation by Shaman Hatley, ‘The Brahmayāmalatantra and the early Śaiva cult of Yoginīs’ (University of Pennsylvania, 2007), which edits and translates chapters 1, 2, 55, 73, and 99.
Scope of the Project
A volume with studies and editions of further selected chapters from the Brahmayāmala is planned, focusing on parts which offer particularly suitable material for comparison with the other early texts in the project. Introductory essays will discuss the Brahmayāmala‘s presentation of the sādhaka and vratas, its language, the dialogues between the sādhaka and the yoginīs, archaic elements in its tattva system, and so on.
The edition makes use of two manuscripts and will focus on the first part of the text. A tentative list of chapters which may be included is as follows:
- 3. Mahāyāgapaṭalaḥ, 230 ślokas
- 4. Pratimālakṣaṇa, about 1000 ślokas
- 5. Yantrakarma, 140 ślokas
- 6. Pratimālakṣaṇa, 22 ślokas
- 7. Dhyāna, 11 ślokas
- 8. 39 ślokas
- 9. Lakṣabheda, 13 ślokas
- 10. Mantroddhāra, 218 ślokas
- 11. Mantroddhāra, 231 ślokas
- 12. Tritattvayāga, 234 ślokas
- 13. Navayāgapaṭala, 33 ślokas
- 14. Khecarīcakra
- 15. Mahāyāga and Vetālasādhana, 64 ślokas
- 16. Puṣpādhikāra, 17 ślokas
- 17. Vidyācakra
- 18. Japavidhāna, 80 ślokas
- 19. Bhautikacakra
- 20. Agnikāryavidhi, 41 ślokas
- 21. Vratapaṭala, 146 ślokas
- 22. Guhyāmṛta
- 23. Mṛtyuñjaya
- 24. Guhyāmṛta 2, 189 ślokas
- 25. Yāganirṇaya, 344 ślokas
- 34. Mantrasaṃkalanāvidhiḥ: aśeṣayāgaśṛṃkhalanapaṭalaḥ
- 35. Nāḍīsaṃcāra
- 36. Tattvadīkṣā I, 62 ślokas
- 37. Tattvadīkṣā II, 39 ślokas
- 38. Srotranirṇaya, 85 ślokas
- 39. Asidhārāpaṭala, 34 ślokas
- 40. Bindu
- 41. Nyāsa
- 42. Mudrāpaṭalaḥ
- 43. Krīḍākarma, 8 ślokas
- 44. Sādhakādhikāraḥ, 674 ślokas
- 45. Mahāmanthāna, 131 ślokas
- 46. Siddhamaṇḍala, 49 ślokas
- 47. Gartāyāga, 36 ślokas
- 48. Yantrārṇava, 36 ślokas
- 49. Kroṣṭukakalpaḥ, 13 ślokas
Research Staff
Dr. Csaba Kiss