The Brahmayāmalatantra or Picumata. Volume
II. The Religious Observances and Sexual Rituals of the
Tantric Practitioner: Chapters 3, 21, and 45.
A
Critical Edition and Annotated Translation by Csaba Kiss,
Collection Indologie n˚ 130; Early Tantra Series n˚ 3,
Institut Français de Pondichéry / Ecole française
d’Extrême-Orient / Asien-Afrika-Institut,
Universität Hamburg, 373 p.
Language:
Sanskrit, English. 750
Rs (32 €). ISBN: 978-81-8470-207-1
(IFP) / 978-2-85539-153-3 (EFEO).
The Brahmayāmalatantra
(aka Picumata) is
probably one of the earliest surviving Śaiva tantras, and
possibly the earliest one known to us of the Bhairavatantra
tradition. The present volume contains a critical edition
and annotated translation of three of its chapters: one on
the central maṇḍala
of the cult, one on preliminary religious observances (vrata) prescribed
for all practitioners (sādhaka),
and one on instructions for each individual category of sādhaka —
instructions on transgressive sexual rituals for the Tālaka,
on strict rules of conduct for the chaste Carubhojin, and on
a combination of these for the Mixed Practitioner. This
unique system of sādhakas
marks an early phase in the development of classification of
practitioners seeking liberation and magical powers, and
gives us an insight into the tantric world of extremes: of
rule-bound sexual encounters involving several female
partners and highly impure substances on the one hand, and
of asceticism, strict vegetarianism and chastity on the
other.
The introduction
deals with the main topics raised by the selected chapters,
as well as with problems of the sometimes extremely
non-standard (Aiśa) Sanskrit that the oldest manuscript
transmits. One of the appendices provides a summary of the
first twenty-five chapters (about one quarter of the Brahmayāmala) to
facilitate further study. The extensive index includes all
important keywords and all major Aiśa phenomena.
Keywords: Mantramārga, Śaivism, Bhairavatantras, Early
Tantra, Transgressive Sexual Rituals
About the Editor
After
studies in Budapest, Csaba Kiss obtained his
doctorate from Oxford University for his edition of selected
chapters of the Matsyendrasaṃhitā,
a thirteenth-century Śaiva tantric text on yoga. He joined
the Early Tantra Project in 2008 to produce this volume, and
is currently research assistant at ELTE University,
Budapest, working on texts of the tantric Kubjikā tradition
and of the jātiviveka
genre.
To order, contact:
Institut Français de Pondichéry
P. B. 33, 11, St. Louis Street,
Pondicherry-605001, INDIA
Ph: +91-413-2231660 / 661. Fax: +91 413-2231605
E-mail: library@ifpindia.org
Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient
P.O. Box 151,16 & 19, Dumas Street
Pondicherry - 605001,INDIA
Ph: +91-413-2334539. Fax +91-413-2330886
E-mail: shanti@efeo-pondicherry.org
-- Ms. Anurupa Naik Head, Library and Publication Division French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) UMIFRE 21 CNRS-MAEE P.B. 33 11, St. Louis Street Pondicherry-605 001, INDIA Tel: 91-413-2231660 Fax: 91-413-2231605 e-mail: anurupa.n@ifpindia.org website: www.ifpindia.org