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.87); you are alive! (11.90).To allay her feelings of shame regarding her dark skin, he presents a litanyof examples of dark-skinned gods, extolling the beauty of blackness.So, he tellsthe goddess, the great god Siva s throat was made blue by the poison halahala;Indra, the king of the gods is blue; and the clouds that give rain to the earth areblue. I, myself, [Viqpu] who is the abode of purity (sattva) am dark (11.88),and the goddess Savitr%2ł, the soft kind one who is the light of the world is dark.Indeed a dark color makes the world thrive (11.86 88).The chapter concludes with instructions regarding the mantra of BlueSarasvat%2ł, along with the results it gives.Chapter 12This chapter, with ninety-eight verses, also employs stories to convey specificattitudes toward the feminine.It begins with the declaration that the goddessKal%2ł is, on the one hand, transcendent, without form, existing as pure light, andthat she is the form of the absolute impersonal transcendent Brahman, and, onthe other hand, that she is capable of overriding the split between the worldand the transcendent.She is also immanent ( jaganmay%2ł) (12.1f.).Following this is a description of her celestial residence, situated aboveGoloka, the abode of the god Viqpu, by implication suggesting her superioritywith respect to this great god (12.2ff.).After this the chapter tells a story thatparallels an episode in the Yogin%2ł Tantra, where the goddess Kal%2ł gives the godBrahma the power to create the world, along with the power of will to Viqpu,and the power of knowledge to Siva, by entering into these gods (YogT10.19ff.).With this power that is the goddess Kal%2ł s, the god Brahma is thenable to create the world (YogT 10.33ff.).The YogT presents the goddess Kal%2łwith a vaster imperial power and majesty absent in the BT (YogT 10.49ff.).In the BT s more abbreviated version, the gods discover the goddess Kal%2łmoving on the path (pathaga) and sing a hymn of praise to her (12.12ff.).Thehymn the gods sing to her, as with others in the BT, stylistically echoes thewell-known Dev%2ł Suktam from the sixth-century Dev%2ł Mahatmya, and with adirect reference to that text praises the goddess as the destroyer of the demonsMadhu and Kaitabha, and destroyer of the demon Nisumbha [sic].23She offers them a boon and then gives them the power to create the world(12.20).The god Brahma appears confused and asks for guidance regardingthe form creation should take.At this point, in a philosophical twist on the appendix 2 217more usual presentation of material creation, the goddess replies, Follow thedust (rajas) emanating from my feet (12.21).With this the text at once suggeststhat the goddess is transcendent, as well as that the material substance ofcreation comes from her, from that which is the lowest part of her, her feet.Rather than simply reversing the roles assigned to the genders in the classicaltradition, where the male god wills the creation and the female nature (prakrti)composes its material essence, this episode plays upon the notion of thefeminine as the source of material creation.The gods take the dust from herfeet and with this begin the cycle of creating, maintaining, and withdrawingthe world (12.23ff.).Following this the gods need protection from the demons; so they go to thegoddess and praise her.This hymn presents the goddess as composing thetotality of the world, containing within herself the polar oppositions thatstructure the world.She is the subject and the object, the enjoyer and thatwhich is to be enjoyed (12.32 34).After a modicum of bureaucratic runaround that serves the purpose ofestablishing that the highest gods, Siva and Viqpu, are not capable of helpingthe gods, the goddess appears to the gods and agrees to help them.After a waitof five years the goddess appears again to the gods when they pray to her.Atthis point, out of her body she manifests the vidya-s, feminine mantras, who arealso goddesses, and who then win the war against the demons for the gods(12.79 85).The chapter concludes with a description of ritual procedures for the lasteleven verses.Chapter 13This short chapter (thirty-six verses) again discusses the special Kal%2ł Practice, which has no rules for time or place (13.5ff.).Interestingly, here this lack ofritual regulation is extended even to the guru. And here in this practice(sadhana) of the Great Kal%2ł, there isn t any thinking or contemplation on theguru (13.7).The text gives the mantra for Kal%2ł and then gives a visualization ofthe goddess.The visualization itself suggests a late medieval date for the text.Kal%2ł here is not the fierce, ugly goddess of the earlier tradition.Rather, she isbeautiful, fierce still, with limbs dark like rain clouds, naked with four armsand three eyes and a garland of skulls, wearing a pair of boys as her earrings,standing astride the corpse that is the god Siva, bearing a club, holding adecapitated male head, and displaying with gestures no fear and the act ofboon-giving (13.13ff.).This image is popular on lithographs today in Bengal, 218 appendix 2without, however, displaying the earrings.This is also the image that has beenimported into the West.Following this, the chapter reiterates the procedure discussed earlierfor the rite of worshiping the woman (6.34ff., 73ff.; 7.104ff.; 8.93f.).The chap-ter concludes with praise of the pilgrimage site of Kamarupa in northeastIndia.Chapter 14The fourteenth chapter, containing sixty-one and one-half verses, opens withthe revelation of the mantra of Kamakhya.The mantra is given, along withpraise of it (14.3ff.), and then this chapter focuses on ritual procedures.A list ofgoddesses to be worshiped is given (14.39ff.) along with a reference to theKalika Tantra (14.50).24 The text follows this with a discussion of the sym-bolism of the number three as it connects with the goddess Tripura ( the triple-city Goddess 14.53ff.).The chapter concludes with additional ritual detail.Chapter 15This chapter entitled The Description of Other Places for Practice contains134 and one-half verses.This chapter functions primarily as a sthana ma-hatmya, describing and extolling various places for worship.The region de-scribed is a hilly, or mountainous region, that is, the place called Darpapa is amountain (15.2); however, the region is not located in the Himalayas (15.4, himalayena sadrsah), rather, there is reference throughout to Kamakhya.Most of the sites praised and described are associated with a mountain or asacred pool of water (kupda), and a few are associated with rivers.Also givenare instructions for worship of the various gods associated with a particularplace.Included is a visualization of the goddess Ugra Tara, who in this formplays, that is, is located at a Bhumip%2łtha in the center of the principality ofKamakhya (Kamakhyanabhimapdalam).In this visualization the goddess hasskinny limbs (not voluptuous ones as usual with Tara); she has red teeth, fourarms, and a belly that hangs down.She has a garland of snakes on her mattedhair and stands upon a corpse.She is laughing with a loud and boisterouslaugh.After this visualization the text continues with a description of places andshort ritual prescriptions for the various places described. appendix 2 219Chapter 16This chapter, with seventy-three and one-half verses, focuses on the ritualspertaining to the annual ritual calendar [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]