Shyamadevi, Śyāmādevī: 6 definitions

Introduction:

Shyamadevi means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

The Sanskrit term Śyāmādevī can be transliterated into English as Syamadevi or Shyamadevi, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).

In Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)

Source: Wisdomlib Libary: Vajrayogini

Śyāmādevī (श्यामादेवी) is the goddess presiding over one of the six petals of the western lotus of the vārāhyabhyudaya-maṇḍala, according to the Vārāhyabhyudayatantra (largerly extracted from the 10th century Abhidhānottaratantra). She is also known as Śyāmā. These six petals are presided over by a kuleśvarī (presiding lady) named Tārā. The central deity of the vārāhyabhyudaya-maṇḍala is the twelve-armed Vajravarāhī.

Śyāmādevī is associated with the sacred site (pīṭha) named Kaliṅga. All the goddess of the western lotus petals are to be visualised as dancing naked and being half-male / half-female (ardhanarīśvarī) with their two sides being red and yellow. In their four arms they brandish a bowl and staff, with a ḍamaru and their familial attribute.

Source: academia.edu: A Critical Study of the Vajraḍākamahātantrarāja (II)

Śyāmādevī (श्यामादेवी) is the name of a Ḍākinī (‘sacred girl’) presiding over Kaliṅga: one of the four Chandoha (‘sacred spot’) present within the Vākcakra (‘circle of word’), according to the 9th-centruy Vajraḍākatantra. The Vākcakra is one of three Cakras within the Tricakra system which embodies twenty-four sacred spots or districts resided over by twenty-four Ḍākinīs (viz., Śyāmādevī) whose husbands abide in one’s body in the form of twenty-four ingredients (dhātu) of one’s body.

Śyāmādevī has for her husband the hero (vīra) named Subhadra. She is the presiding deity of Kaliṅga and the associated internal location is the ‘mouth’ and the bodily ingredients (dhātu) are the ‘ribs’.

Source: academia.edu: The Structure and Meanings of the Heruka Maṇḍala

Śyāmādevī (श्यामादेवी) is the name of a Ḍākinī who, together with the Vīra (hero) named Subhadra forms one of the 36 pairs situated in the Vajracakra, according to the 10th century Ḍākārṇava chapter 15. Accordingly, the vajracakra refers to one of the four divisions of the sahaja-puṭa (‘innate layer’), situated within the padma (lotus) in the middle of the Herukamaṇḍala. The 36 pairs of Ḍākinīs [viz., Śyāmādevī] and Vīras each have one face and four arms; they hold a skull bowl, a skull staff, a small drum and a knife; they are dark-bluish-black in color.

Source: OSU Press: Cakrasamvara Samadhi

Śyāmādevī (श्यामादेवी) is the name of a Ḍākinī (female consort) and one of the deities of the Cakrasaṃvara-maṇḍala or Saṃvaramaṇḍala of Abhayākaragupta’s Niṣpannayogāvalī, p. 45 and n. 145; (Cf. Cakrasaṃvaratantra, Gray, David B., 2007).—The Cakrasaṃvara mandala has a total of sixty-two deities. [...] Three concentric circles going outward, the body, speech and mind wheels (kāya-vāka-citta), in the order: mind (blue), speech (red), and body (white), with eight Ḍākinīs each in non-dual union with their Ḍākas, "male consorts".

Associated elements of Śyāmādevī and Subhadra:

Circle: vākacakra [=vākcakra?] (speech-wheel) (red);
Ḍākinī (female consort): Śyāmādevī;
Ḍāka (male consort): Subhadra;
Bīja: kaṃ;
Body-part: mouth;
Pīṭha: Kaliṅga;
Bodily constituent: guṇavarti (small intestine);
Bodhipakṣa (wings of enlightenment): samādhibala (power of concentration).

Tibetan Buddhism book cover
context information

Tibetan Buddhism includes schools such as Nyingma, Kadampa, Kagyu and Gelug. Their primary canon of literature is divided in two broad categories: The Kangyur, which consists of Buddha’s words, and the Tengyur, which includes commentaries from various sources. Esotericism and tantra techniques (vajrayāna) are collected indepently.

Discover the meaning of shyamadevi or syamadevi in the context of Tibetan Buddhism from relevant books on Exotic India

Languages of India and abroad

Sanskrit dictionary

[«previous next»] — Shyamadevi in Sanskrit glossary
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Edgerton Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary

Śyāmādevī (श्यामादेवी).—name of a yoginī: Sādhanamālā 427.6.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Śyāmādevī (श्यामादेवी):—[=śyāmā-devī] [from śyāmā > śyāma] f. Name of a princess, [Harṣacarita]

context information

Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

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