[INDOLOGY] Tantra and Music

Fri May 15 18:57:13 UTC 2020

Dear Harry,

Thank you for information on how Sangita Ratnakara engages with tantra/yoga.

Regards,

Palaniappan 

From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of Indology List <indology at list.indology.info>
Reply-To: Harry Spier <vasishtha.spier at gmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at 11:38 PM
Cc: Indology List <indology at list.indology.info>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Tantra and Music

Dear Palaniappan,

I just came across this reference in James Mallinson's The Roots of Yoga.

Not a 13th century tantric text theorizing on music but a 13th century musicological text theorizing about a tantric/yogic concept (the cakras).

 a passage from a thirteenth-century musicological text, the Saṃgītaratnākara, on the various emotional states which result from situating the self in the petals of the cakras (2.120–45, (5.3.7)).

Mallinson, James. Roots of Yoga (Penguin Classics) (p. 177). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition. 

Saṃgītaratnākara 2.120–39. The emotional states resulting from situating the self in the petals of the cakras:51 (120–21) Between the anus and penis is the cakra called the Base (ādhāra), which has four petals. The result [of situating the self] on those petals, Aiśāna and the others, [Āgneya, Nairṛta and Vāyavya], is supreme bliss (paramānanda), natural bliss (sahajānanda), heroic bliss (vīrānanda) and yoga bliss (yogānanda). In the Base lotus is Kuṇḍalinī, the śakti of Brahman. (122) When she straightens as far as the aperture of Brahman she bestows the nectar of immortality. At the base of the penis is the Svādhiṣṭhāna cakra, which has six petals. (123) In its petals, in sequence from the east, are said to be these results: modesty, cruelty, loss of pride, swooning, (124) scorn and mistrust. It is the home of the power of love (kāmaśakti). At the navel is the cakra with ten petals called Maṇipūraka. (125–7) In its petals, in sequence from the east, are deep sleep, desire, envy, slander, shame, fear, compassion, stupor, impurity [and] anxiety, and it is the abode of the [prāṇa called] sun. At the heart is the Anāhata cakra. It is designated as the site of the worship of Śiva in the form of the syllable oṃ. It has twelve petals. The removal of unsteadiness, clear reasoning, remorse, (128–9) hope, openness, worry, longing, equanimity, insincere religiosity, fickleness, discernment and hubris: these, in sequence, are said to be the results for the self when situated in its petals, starting with the east. In the throat is the place of Bhāratī [the goddess of speech], the Viśuddhi [cakra], which has sixteen petals. (130–31) The following sixteen results arise in the self when it is situated in its petals, starting with the east: the syllable oṃ, the Udgītha (i.e. the second part of a Vedic Sāman chant), [the offering words] huṃphaṭ, vaṣaṭ, svadhā, svāhā [and] namaḥ, the nectar of immortality, the seven musical notes beginning with Ṣaḍja [i.e. Ṣaḍja, Ṛṣabha, Gāndhāra, Madhyama, Pañcama, Dhaivata and Niṣāda, and] poison. At the uvula is the cakra called Lalanā, which has twelve petals. (132) Intoxication, pride, affection, sorrow [i.e. suffering whose cause is known], melancholy [i.e. suffering whose cause is not known], excessive greed, discontent, panic, the ‘wave’ (ūrmi) [i.e. hunger and thirst, sorrow and delusion, old age and death], belief, faith [and] courtesy: (133) these are the results [of situating the self] in the petals beginning with the east in the Lalanā cakra. Between the eyebrows is the three-petalled cakra called Ājñā. [Its] results are (134) taught to be manifestations of [the guṇas] sattva, rajas and tamas in sequence. Next is the Manas cakra, which has six petals. Its results are, (135) in the petals starting with the east: sleep, enjoyment of taste, smell, perception of form, touch and cognition of sound. (136) Next is the sixteen-petalled cakra called Soma. In its sixteen petals are found sixteen parts (kalās). (137) Compassion, patience, rectitude, steadfastness, dispassion, resolve, joy, laughter, horripilation, tears produced by meditation, steadiness, (138) profundity, effort, clarity, generosity and focus: [these] results arise in sequence in a self moving through [its] petals, starting with the east. (139) In the aperture of Brahman is the nectarean cakra with a thousand petals. It nourishes the body with streams of nectar.

Mallinson, James. Roots of Yoga (Penguin Classics) (pp. 206-208). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.  

Harry Spier

On Mon, May 11, 2020 at 2:10 PM Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

Dear Scholars,

I am looking for any information on Tantric texts theorizing about music around 13th century CE or earlier. 

Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Palaniappan

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