Dutt, Nalinaksha

English

Apollo (Cambridge)

A NOTE ON MAHACINATARA The goddess Tara or Prajnadevi is worshipped both by the Hindus and the Budhists. In Buddhism, deification of Prajnaparamit& into the god-dess Tara is not at all unusual, but the inclusion of a non-Vedic goddess into the Hindu pantheon indicates apparently partial absorption of Buddhism into Hinduism in the early medieval period. The Hindu authors have tried to explain, how the worship of the non-Vedic godd6ss Tara came into vogue among the Hindu Tantrics. The explanation is found in the amtl;:ijl'll (Rajshahi, 1913): ~~<llI1~a~l1 (Ch. XVII). ~l>tijj' a~ (Ch. I-II ), and >t~1'Cf1~1'CfT"if>t. The tradition preserved in these texts is as follows : Ascetic-sage Vasistha took the necessary instructions from his spiritual preceptor Brahma for visualization of the goddess Tara, but he falied ~o visualize the goddess, inspite of his long and arduous attempts through severe austerities and deep meditations in the Himalayas. He made another attempt on a sea-coast, probably in Assam and he could not succeed this time also. In disgust he began to curse the goddess Tara. when the goddess condescended to appear before him and advised him to go to Mahacina. where he would find Buddha. an incarnation ot Visnu: it is from him, that he would obtain the necessary instruc-ons. Sage. Vaisistha I then proceeded to Mahacina and fGund there his right spiritual preceptor, Buddha. Evidently this Buddha. referred to in late texts of the medieval period cannot be the founder of Buddhism. but very probably a Buddhist saint like Bodhidharma, who became famous in China in the 6th Century A. D. as a past master in esoteric practices. The conversation that sage Vasistha had with the so-called Buddha is given in these words in the ~~<ll>tijj'-a;:ij!ot: ( Ch. XVII ~~(~~'ijFa): ~r~l'O: I <f.~~l Gl'111~ f~~if(!'q;l~ fif~l S/'1) , S~ '3lfl'Cf I ~r~l'O! ~~ Cfll'lrlfi1 !Ji~'!l11rfJ:Fl'ij>t~ I t.r~ (<:!~l~I:E:i'llJ ~~~ti) +tillq ~iJ!lq I t{q;1q;! f~;i~ 1f~;;;: q;li1~)mf(!,"ffla: II ~C:l <II TJll=<ll~"q) <I)llf~6fl~G§I'a: II [Vasistha asked Buddha how can a person attain perfection without recourse to Vedic rituals. In reply Buddha said, 0 Vasistha. listen, there is the excellent path of the Kaulas (a Tantric system), by knowing which a person becomes in a moment a god with a frightening look.] 33 [ A person should stay in a lonely place and get rid oJi desires and anger, and practise meditations without a break and remain always firm in accumulating experiences of meditations. ] The above tradition evidently has no historical basis but it has been invented to explain the importance of the Taratantram as also to offer an explanation for incorporating a non-Vedic goddess into the Hindu pantheon. This will be apparent from the stanzas Quoted below from the Taratantram, in which Siva explains to Parvati how the Taratantram was learnt by Buddha and sage Vasistha and what benefits they derived from the same. ~ ~ll' i3i!1'l'if I {f Q,ll' q~J:f1 F!ClT ~iI~q" \j\;:llc:;:r: I i3!I('[\xl J:f'.illil;:~'( qliloJ (r) qft\ilt:lI 'if I ~'e'~nr<:q;lfq;('[f 'if 3l\ilUJ:fx('[f 1I111 I ll'~1'i51 {gt:iRJ:fR,gll ;:rar'5lcn1q;J:fTI1(,[: II [He is the greatest god. Visnu (Janardana) in the form of Buddha. By meditation and repetition of Ugrataramahamantra, he became the Lord. the Creator of the Universe and attained immortality. Vasistha also by invoking her (through her mantra) was reborn in the sphere of stars ] In his Indian Buddhist Iconography ( pp, 189-190 ) Dr. B. Bhatta. charyya has referred to the Buddhist and Hindu conceptions of the image of Mahacinatara, that is. Ugra-Tara as given in the Sadhanamala and the T antrasara of Krishnananda Agamavagisa of the 16th CentU/y. He points out how the Buddhist conception was modified by the Hindu Tantrics. In a few hymns invoking Tara and particularly in the hymn of Tararahasya it is clearly indicated that Tara was identical with Prajnap8' ram ita and this was recognized by the Hindus and the Buddhists alike. The Hindu Tantras may have borrowed a few gods and goddesses from the Buddhists but their ways and methods of practices were different from those of the Buddhists. The propounder of the Hindu Tantras was invariably Siva. who is referred to in these texts as Bhairava. likewise the interlocutor was always Parvati or Sakti who is referred to as Bhairavi. Hence the Hindu Tantras owe their origin solely to Bhairava and Bhairavi. In later days there appeared a number of authors and saints. to whom also is attributed the authorship of many Hindu Tantric texts. NALINAKSHA DUTT 39 

A Note on Mahacinatara

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Apollo (Cambridge)