The Kulacmai Tantra and The Vmakevara Tantra with the Jayaratha Commentary by

Louise M. Finn
Review by: Teun Goudriaan
Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 108, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1988), pp. 640-642
Published by: American Oriental Society
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640

Journal of the American Oriental Society 108.4 (1988)

Dreyer's painstaking effort to make her edition as comprehensive as possible demonstrates her erudition and command
of the proper philological methodology. The usefulness of the
work lies not so much in offering scholars an accurate edition
of a text to be studied and translated, but in the information
provided for further research into the problem of textual
transmission in ancient India.
Caren Dreyer's careful and critical work is a refreshing
break from the overwhelming number of superficial, repetitive
studies often encountered in the field. It is frustrating,
however, to be presented with such a detailed piece of
scholarship which only incorporates a small part of the entire
treatise. Fault may be found with earlier editions for many
reasons; but the work of the older pioneers of Indology in
general produced editions of complete texts, which give an
overview of the entire framework of the author's or the
tradition's thought.
Students who undertake new editions as dissertations for
graduate degrees are often forced to circumscribe their work
to fit limited time-frames of financial support. These promising scholars who have the inclination for such tedious
endeavors should be strongly encouraged with the necessary
funds to complete the editions of the entire texts. In so doing,
lasting contributions to scholarship will surely be the product.
KENNETH G. ZYSK
EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

The Kulacfiddmani Tantra and The Vdmakesvara Tantra

with the Jayaratha Commentary. Introduced, translated
and annotated by LOUISEM. FINN. Wiesbaden: OTTO
HARRASSOWITZ, 1986. Pp. 417.
Despite the efforts of individual scholars in the past, the
study of Hindu Tantric literature still leaves much to be
desired. Any new attempt at translation of relevant texts
should therefore be welcomed in principle. The present book
contains the first English translation of two 9akta Tantras,
the Kulaciiddmani (KCT) and the Vdmakesvara (VT; also
known as Nitydso1daSikarnavaor VdmakeSvarfmata), preceded by a "Historical Perspective" (pp. 11-45) and an "Introduction to the Philosophy of the Texts" (pp. 46-67). The
translations are provided with hundreds of annotations. Both
Tantras still offer a great number of textual problems. The
VdmakeSvara,by far the better in literary respect, and one of
the most important sources of the Srividya tradition, has
already been edited several times with different Sanskrit
commentaries (by K. S. Agase in the Anandagrama Skt.
Series, with the commentary of Bhaskararaya [Poona, 1908];
by P. M. K. Shastri in the Kashmir Ser. of Texts and

Studies, no. 66 [Srinagar, 1945], with Jayaratha; and by V. V.

Dviveda with the commentaries by givananda and Vidyananda [Varanasi, 1968]), but a good comparative textual
study is still outstanding. Mrs. Finn translates P. M. K.
Shastri's version of the text. The situation of the KCT is
worse: its only edition by G. Ch. Vedantatirtha, which
appeared in 1915 in Avalon's series "Tantrik Texts" as vol. 4,
is philologically substandard. Especially in the case of the
latter text, the preparation of a reliable translation in the
absence of any critical treatment of the textual transmission
is difficult, and the result cannot be more than preliminary.
The author has been aware of these problems, because of
which she has "sought the help of a Tantric scholar in India"
(p. 9) in the person of Pandit H. N. Chakravarti, one of
Gopinath Kaviraj's disciples, and a few others. This procedure seems entirely warranted in the case of an obscure
ritualistic text like the KCT, provided the critical mind is still
present and the principle of falsifiability applied. The KCT
belongs to a group of Tantras professing extreme devotion
to Kulism. They are of strongly ritualistic orientation, tedious to read for the non-initiated and of uncertain age. Some
of these (e.g., the Kuldrnava and the KdlTvildsa)were also
edited under Avalon's direction. The KCT is perhaps the
most unclear and confused specimen of this group. Mrs.
Finn may be right in her relatively early dating of the text
(9th or 10th cent.; p. 21). The internal evidence adduced is
largely hypothetical but should be taken seriously. For instance, she stresses the fact that the KCT deals with several
goddesses on an almost equal footing. Among these are the
group of the Mothers and the independent MahisasuramardinT. In an argumentation which largely involves iconography and epigraphy, she tries to show that both cults are
characteristic of an early period of Saktism and went into
decline after the first millennium A.D. (p. 25). Another argument concerns some reminiscences of Buddhism in the text.
The questions raised in these pages are of no mean importance for Indian religious history and should be studied in
more detail. Mrs. Finn's points of view might serve as
preliminary working hypotheses which should, however, by
no means be dogmatically adhered to. The "archaic qualities" of the KCT (p. 32) are open to doubt as long as no
serious investigation of its linguistic and metric characteristics has been made. To this reviewer's mind, the text
also displays a deliberate, somewhat naive obscurity rooting
in an imperfect mastery of grammar and style; in other
places, a frankness bordering on crudity.
The VT is a totally different text: much more sophisticated
and balanced, its Sanskrit entirely correct and at times even
satisfying to the literary mind. Besides, there is the learned
commentary by Jayaratha, an epigone of the Kashmir Saiva
tradition (about 1200 A.D.). Although both texts (KCT and
VT) are devoted to the worship of gakti, they are indeed so
different that even their combination in one volume seems

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Reviews of Books
questionable. Instead, a separate treatment with somewhat
more attention to textual problems might have been preferable. Actually, philological accuracy is the weak side of
the book.
In the case of the KCT, a positive note is the inclusion of
mostly casual remarks which prove that the author has been
in touch with the living tradition, such as in n. 53 on 2.3
(p. 83): "the vessel should be made of copper." The reader is,
however, left in the dark about their source (H. N. Chakravarti, or another authority?). Besides, there is no discussion
of the problem as to how far these modern opinions or
traditions agree with the situation at the time of composition
of the text. In Tantric oral exegesis, the source and circumstance of the instruction should because of this uncertainty
be noted as carefully as possible. Such information is, e.g.,
much desired on KCT 4.56-58 (p. 110; location of plthas on
the worshipper's body), where we find correct and useful
explanations such as: "the top surface of the feet" for
devrkuta. One concludes that the reference is to oral information; the system is, however, also found in Kdlika Pur.
18.42f. Moreover, on KCT 6.2f. (p. 126) where the same
system is alluded to, the author seems to have forgotten her
own explanations given on 4.56-58. Other instances of startling inconsistency could be given, which can partly be explained as due to excessive dependence on other authorities.
No mention has been made of important parallels to
fragments from the KCT in such texts as the Syamdrahasya
and the KauldvalTnirnayawhich on occasions give a definitely better text, as in 2.9c -grhlta, Sydmdr.: -grht~rms;or
3.48 varam prdpya, Sy.: varam prdrthya. As to the VT little
reference is made to Dviveda's edition, even where it contains a better text as in 2.77 siddhikravya, Dviv.: siddhadravya (with Vidyananda's explanation as rasdyana!). Finn's
note on p. 306 ignores this easily available information.
But the most serious objection which must be made is that
frequently the translation is based upon insufficient insight
into the Sanskrit of the texts. In KCT 3.50, vayasd jdtito
vdpi hind should be translated "one who is inferior by age or
by caste," not by "an old caste woman, or even one without
caste" p. 98). KCT 6.20 sahasram hunet, not "he should offer
an extra thousand (repetitions of the mantra)," but "he
should offer a thousand libations (into the fire)." KCT 6.43,
describing the guptisiddhi, is misunderstood (p. 132). In
KCT 7.29 (part of a MahisamardinTstava),the word mahas
(not infrequently used in kdvyastotras) refers not to the
Goddess' feet but to her whole person. For KCT 2.24 "he
should offer the remainder of the wine to the women and to
himself" (p. 87), I suggest: "He should administer to himself
the remainder of (what was offered to) the woman" (Skt.
yositas tv avaSesan tu svdtmany eva niyojayet).
VT 2.12 sa bhaved ddsavad vaSi: the translation (p. 290)
"that person (i.e., the sddhaka) becomes a master as though
of slaves" is simply not allowed by Skt. syntax and results in

641

exactly the opposite of what is meant, viz., "that person (i.e.,

the sddhya) will be in his (the sadhaka's) power like a slave."
A similar expression in 2.56 is also treated wrongly. In VT
2.49, kanthe vd bhujamiilatah is translated (p. 299) by "(on)
the neck from the shoulder." But -tah can have the function
of the locative in stylistical variations, a point easily proved
by a reference to good old J. S. Speyer, Sanskrit Syntax
(Leiden, 1886; repr. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1973), par.
103. We should therefore translate: "on the neck or on the
upper end of the arm" (second vd omitted metri causa). A
minor point: on p. 288 (VT 2.1), the dvTpdmndyaof the text
refers to enumerations of continents mystically located in the
sddhaka's body as can, e.g., be found in the Kubjikdmata
(Kulduikdmndya),ch. 21.
Unfortunately, Jayaratha's commentary has also often been
misunderstood. At VT 1.4 (p. 176), Jay. in one enormous
syntactical unit repeats, readjusts, analyzes and carefully
explains all morphemes of the stanza: a brilliant example of
commentatorial style. A translator should take care to repeat
the exact terms of the stanza's direct translation in the
commentary, like beacons in its argumentative waterway.
This principle is only partly kept by the translator, who
repeats "splendour"as "glory,""great"(stem mahd-, analyzed
by Jay. as mahatyd, viz., sriyd) as "because of (her) greatness"
(connection with srT does not appear), and "alphabet"
(mdtrkd) as "mother." Some words are treated correctly, e.g.,
"Goddess," but in the latter case the reader is left unaware of
the "etymological" connection of devTwith the root dTv-"to
play," subtly shown by Jay. with his addition krTdanaSTldm.
Reference could have been made to Sivananda's commentary,
RjuvimarSinT,on VT 1.1 (ed. Dviveda, p. 9) where the
connection of the Goddess with "play"is explicitly made clear
(and cf. my article, "On the Goddess' 'Phases of Life' in
Some Hinduistic Texts," in Effigies Dei, Essays on the
History of Religions, ed. Dirk van der Plas [Supplements to
Numen, vol. LI; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1987], 69-82). On p. 319,
Jay.'s expression akhydtvdtmd mohah "delusion which consists of absence of clarity" has not been understood. As often,
Andre Padoux's Recherches sur la symbolique et l'Nnergiede
la parole dans certains textes tantriques (2nd ed., Paris, 1975),
would have been the right guide (pp. 160, 379). In Jay.'s
comments on 1.11, the function of iti has not been correctly
grasped.
Naturally, there are several fine translations in this book,
but the mistakes are so frequent that one can never be sure.
The designs included here and there are attractive; but the
small design on p. 294 connected with Jay.'s comment on VT
2.23 sasanthdsanthasvarapaniktidvaya- is a misnomer. One
should correct santha- into sanda-, and understand: "two
rows of vowels, one with and one without the neuters (i.e., the
four vocalic r's and I's)". Of the Appendices, Appendix 4
could have been made up with more precision. There is a
Bibliography, but no Index.

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Journal of the American Oriental Society 108.4 (1988)

642

"The translation has been through various revisions," says

the author on p. 10. Nevertheless, the book-despite certain
merits and much diligence-gives evidence of having been
published too soon.
TEUN GOUDRIAAN
UNIVERSITY OF UTRECHT

Kashmir Shaivaism. By J. C.

Albany: STATE
1986. Pp. xxiv + 175.

CHATTERJI.

UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS,

$29.50 (cloth), $9.95 (paper).

The present book is a reprint of the pioneering exposition
first published in 1914 as the first volume of the Kashmir
Series of Texts and Studies. It was the first (and, for a long
time, the only) account of certain aspects of non-dualistic
Shaivism in Kashmir. Though quite dated, and surpassed by
the work of recent scholars (especially Sanderson and
Padoux), if used cautiously, this volume remains a very
useful, short introduction to certain aspects of the Pratyabhijnia,particularly the meaning and evolution of the thirtysix tattvas, as well as to the historical outlines of one branch
of Shaivism in Kashmir.
The book is divided into two sections, the first part
entitled "The Main Doctrines of the System" and the second
part "History and Literature."For some unexplained reason,
the order of these two sections has been inverted from the
original edition in which the historical account quite properly preceded the doctrinal. In the 1986 edition, the doctrinal
account plunges the reader directly into a complex religious
universe that is lacking in historical context.
A short preface by William Barnard supplies useful information for the general reader about the four upayas, only
one of the many key topics which Chatterji failed to deal
with. The foreword by Swami Shantananda, while useful
and interesting, continues the rather curious link that somehow seems to have been established between the medieval
tradition and certain of its modern, neo-Hindu appropriators.
It was with the publication of Chatterji's book that the
term Kashmir Shaivism (or "Shaivaism" as the cover of the
book proclaims) seems to have come into general usage.
Until very recently, scholars have uncritically followed suit in
using this designation as if there were accepted agreement as
to its meaning. Recently however, the inappropriateness and
distortive character of this appellation have been argued on
at least two grounds. First, the term seems to imply that
there was a single tradition of Shaivism in Kashmir, whereas
it is now well established that there were several varieties
which were deeply divided both doctrinally and ritually.
There were various forms of non-dualistic tantric Shaivism
represented by a series of related preceptorial lineages: the

Trika, Pratyabhijfia, Kaula, Krama and Mata, which were

by no means identical in practice or doctrine. In addition,
there were also powerful lineages of conservative, dualistic
Shaiva Siddhanta in Kashmir, as well as a centrist cult of the
worship of Svacchandabhairava. Of these, it is the first
group that seems to have generally and imprecisely been
referred to as Kashmir Shaivism. Secondly, it is by no means
clear that the teaching of Shaivism as propounded in any of
these groups originated wholly or exclusively in Kashmir.
Thus, the re-publication of this book without some kind of
explanatory historical footnote alluding to these problems
furthers misconceptions as to the current status of research
in this area.
One curious omission is that a number of appendices
referred to in the footnotes appear never to have been
published, and are as absent in the 1962 Indian reprint as
they are in the present edition. Thus, there are references to
non-existent appendices III-XII. This is not a minor omission because Chatterji claims to include in these appendices
the important textual references upon which his doctrinal
exposition is based. Thus the omission of these appendices
seriously vitiates the usefulness of Chatterji's account for the
specialist.
In addition, and not surprisingly, Chatterji's book completely obscures the tantric and transgressive character of the
traditions whose philosophy and history he attempts to
summarize. The modern reader must go elsewhere if he is to
realize that these traditions were not merely philosophical
schools of thought, but employed powerful ritualistic and
meditative tools in order to replicate experientially the conceptions they taught.
The book includes a short list of books in English on
"Kashmir Shaivism." However, some of the best books on
the subject up until now have been published in French and
Italian. It might have been useful to include some of these
titles as well. Nevertheless, if these provisos are kept in mind,
Chatterji's book represents a useful short introduction, and
its republication is certainly welcomed as contributing to the
wider dissemination of studies in this area.
PAUL E. MULLER-ORTEGA
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Karawitan: Source Readings in Javanese Gamelan and Vocal Music, vol. 2. JUDITH BECKER, editor; ALAN H. FEINSTEIN, assistant

editor.

Ann Arbor: CENTER FOR SOUTH

AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES, THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN,

1987. Pp. xx, 401, 1 color plate.

The present volume, Number 30 in the series Michigan

Papers on South and Southeast Asia, is the second of a

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