The Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā. The Earliest Surviving Śaiva TantraTantra. Volume 1. A Critical Edition & Annotated Translation of the Mūlasūtra, Uttarasūtra & Nayasūtra
Publication details
- Author: Dominic Goodall
- Title: The Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā. The Earliest Surviving Śaiva TantraTantra. Volume 1. A Critical Edition & Annotated Translation of the Mūlasūtra, Uttarasūtra & Nayasūtra
- Year: 2015
- Title (source): Collection Indologie
- Issue/Volume: 128
- Publisher: IFP / EFEO / Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg
- Place: Pondicherry
- Pages: 662
- Links: http://www.efeo.fr/fiche_publication.php?code=659&fid=843
Transmitted to us in a well-preserved ninth-century Nepalese manuscript, the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā has come in recent years to be recognised as probably the oldest surviving complete scripture of the Mantramārga. Although its historical importance has been hinted at by a range of scholars across the twentieth century, this is the first time its text appears in print.
This volume presents a critical edition and annotated translation of the three earliest layers of the text: the Mūlasūtra, Uttarasūtra and Nayasūtra. The topics dealt with include cosmology, rituals of worship and initiation, and forms of yoga. A lengthy introduction sets these sūtras in context, in particular by examining the evidence for dating them. There follow a summary of their contents, an account of the early manuscript and its three twentieth-century apographs, and a treatment of the various ways in which the language of the Niśvāsa deviates from Pāṇinian norms.