Khecari, Khecarī: 9 definitions
Introduction:
Khecari 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.
Alternative spellings of this word include Khechari.
In Hinduism
Yoga (school of philosophy)
Source: Wisdom Library: YogaFrom the Haṭha Yogha Pradīpikā (chapter III): “The Khechari Mudrā is accomplished by thrusting the tongue into the gullet, by turning it over itself, and keeping the eyesight in the middle of the eyebrows.” (śl. 32) and “To accomplish this, the tongue is lengthened by cutting the frænum linguæ, moving, and pulling it. When it can touch the space between the eyebrows, then Khechari can be accomplished.” (śl. 33)
Yoga is originally considered a branch of Hindu philosophy (astika), but both ancient and modern Yoga combine the physical, mental and spiritual. Yoga teaches various physical techniques also known as āsanas (postures), used for various purposes (eg., meditation, contemplation, relaxation).
Shaivism (Shaiva philosophy)
Source: Wisdom Library: Kubjikāmata-tantra1) Khecarī (खेचरी):—The Sanskrit name for the goddess representing the fourth secondary gross element “wind”, according to the Ṣaṭsāhasra-saṃhitā.
2) Khecarī (खेचरी):—First of the eight Mahāmātṛs existing within the Mātṛcakra, according to the Kubjikāmatatantra. Khecarī stands for “ether” and her name literally means “she who moves through the sky”. The eight Mahāmātṛs are also called mudrās because all the directions are ‘sealed’ by them.
Khecarī (as do each of the eight Mahāmātṛs) divides herself into eight (secondary) mātṛs, presided over by a Bhairava (fearsome manifestations of Śiva) and his Mātṛkā as consorts. The Mātṛs of this first and north-eastern group are born from Khecarī’s body and represent the eight directions of the compass from east to north-east.
The eight deities originating from Khecarī are called:
- Aindrāṇī,
- Agnimātarā,
- Yāmyamātrī,
- Rākṣasī,
- Vāruṇī,
- Vāyavī,
- Kuberā
- and Īśānī.
Sometimes, this first group of eight Mātṛs are represented by the eight Mahāmātṛs themselves (see Ṣaṭsāhasra-saṃhitā 23.19cd-21).
Shaiva (शैव, śaiva) or Shaivism (śaivism) represents a tradition of Hinduism worshiping Shiva as the supreme being. Closely related to Shaktism, Shaiva literature includes a range of scriptures, including Tantras, while the root of this tradition may be traced back to the ancient Vedas.
Rasashastra (chemistry and alchemy)
Source: Google Books: The Alchemical BodyKhecari (खेचरि):—The concept of khecara (etheric state of meditation) becomes concretized on an alchemical level as well. Mercury (rasa), when bound, is said to become khecari, possessed of the power of flight, a power it transmits to the alchemist who holds a capsule of said mercury in his mouth. If, however, it is heated before it has been properly prepared, or too rapidly, it can be lost to evaporation. Here, it is said that until its wings have been clipped (pakṣa-ccheda) through various stabilizing techniques, unrefined mercury becomes subject to flight, i.e., evaporation (pātana), and may be “gone like a goose” (haṃsaga). Here, mercury behaves like the haṃsa of the vital breaths: unless these are tethered by yogic discipline, the breath will eventually fly up out of the body to be lost forever, and the person will die.
Rasashastra (रसशास्त्र, rasaśāstra) is an important branch of Ayurveda, specialising in chemical interactions with herbs, metals and minerals. Some texts combine yogic and tantric practices with various alchemical operations. The ultimate goal of Rasashastra is not only to preserve and prolong life, but also to bestow wealth upon humankind.
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: The Purana IndexKhecarī (खेचरी).—A varṇa śakti; a mudrā devī.*
- * Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa IV. 37. 10; 42. 14; 44. 59 and 86. 114.
The Purana (पुराण, purāṇas) refers to Sanskrit literature preserving ancient India’s vast cultural history, including historical legends, religious ceremonies, various arts and sciences. The eighteen mahapuranas total over 400,000 shlokas (metrical couplets) and date to at least several centuries BCE.
Shaktism (Shakta philosophy)
Source: Google Books: Manthanabhairavatantram1) Khecarī (खेचरी) is associated with the second of the five phases of the Pīṭhakrama, according to the Mahānayaprakāśa verse 2.1-35, while explaining the cycles of the goddesses of consciousness.—Accordingly, “The energy of consciousness (citi) that pulsates (spandamānā) in the Void (vyoman) (of consciousness) undifferentiated by time which, by the combustion of time, is one, is said to be Khecarī who is the Cremation Ground. [...]”.
2) Khecarī (खेचरी) (or Khecarīmudrā, Ghaṭamudrā) is the name of the gesture (mudrā) associated with Oḍḍiyāna, one of the sacred seats (pīṭha), according to the Manthānabhairavatantra, a vast sprawling work that belongs to a corpus of Tantric texts concerned with the worship of the goddess Kubjikā.
3) Khecarī (खेचरी) or Khecarīmudrā is also mentioned as the Gesture (mudrā) associated with Oḍiyāna, one of the sacred seats (pīṭha), according to the Ṣaṭsāhasrasaṃhitā, an expansion of the Kubjikāmatatantra: the earliest popular and most authoritative Tantra of the Kubjikā cult.
4) Khecarī (खेचरी) refers to one of the eight Kaula consorts (dūtī-aṣṭaka) associated with Tisrapīṭha (located in the ‘end of sound’—nādānta), according to the Manthānabhairavatantra.—[...] The eight Kaula consorts (dūtyaṣṭaka): Revatī, Bhagavatī, Rāmā, Rohiṇī, Kṛttikā, Khecarī, Khaṇḍinī, Kṣānti
5) Khecarī (खेचरी) refers to one of the nine attendants of Goddess Tvaritā, according to the Agnipurāṇa, the Tantrarāja verse 14.15-16 and the Kulakaulinīmata verse 3.82-88.—[...] These nine attendants (e.g., Khecarī) embody the syllables of Tvaritā’s Vidyā that are the initials of their names. The same nine are listed in the Tantrarāja as the attendants of Tvaritā. They are worshipped on the eight petals of a lotus as the energies of the letters of Tvaritā’s mantra (mantrārṇaśakti).
Source: Brill: Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions (shaktism)Khecarī (खेचरी) refers to one of the ten gestures (daśamudrā or mudrā-daśaka) of the Goddess Nityā Sundarī, according to the Kāmasiddhi-stuti (also Vāmakeśvarī-stuti) and the Vāmakeśvaratantra (also known as Nityāṣoḍaśikārṇava).—[...] Although the Vāmakeśvaratantra does not assign a place for the gestures (mudrā) in the maṇḍala, it does describe them and asks the worshipper to use them during the worship. As found in the third chapter of the Vāmakeśvaratantra, these ten gestures are [e.g., khecarī, ...]
Shakta (शाक्त, śākta) or Shaktism (śāktism) represents a tradition of Hinduism where the Goddess (Devi) is revered and worshipped. Shakta literature includes a range of scriptures, including various Agamas and Tantras, although its roots may be traced back to the Vedas.
In Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)
Source: academia.edu: A Critical Study of the Vajraḍākamahātantrarāja (II)Khecarī (खेचरी) refers to a “woman going in the sky” which is the name of a Ḍākinī associated with the Cittacakra (‘circle of mind’), according to the 9th-centruy Vajraḍākatantra.—Twenty-four districts or seats form three circles (tricakra) i.e.:—1) ‘the cicle of mind’ (cittacakra), 2) ‘the circle of word’ (vākcakra), 3) ‘the circle of body’ (kāyacakra). And the sacred girls (Ḍākinīs) residing on each of tricakra are called respectively:—1) ‘a woman going in the sky’ (khecarī), 2) ‘a woman going on the ground’ (bhūcarī), 3) ‘a woman living underground’ (pātālavāsinī).
These three Ḍākinīs (viz., khecarī) correspond to the three Cakras of the tricakra (three circles) which contain the twenty-four districts or seats (deśa, kṣetra or sthāna) resided over twenty-four “sacred girls” (ḍākinīs).
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.
Languages of India and abroad
Sanskrit dictionary
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary1) Khecarī (खेचरी):—[=khe-carī] [from khe-cara > khe > kha] f. with siddhi or gati, the magical power of flying, [Kathāsaritsāgara xx, 105; Sarvadarśana-saṃgraha] ix etc.
2) [v.s. ...] Durgā, [Mahābhārata iv, 186]
3) [v.s. ...] a Vidyā-dharī, [Rudrayāmala]
4) [v.s. ...] a particular Mudrā or position of the fingers
5) [v.s. ...] an earring or a cylinder of wood passed through the lobe of the ear, [Horace H. Wilson]
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.
Kannada-English dictionary
Source: Alar: Kannada-English corpusKhēcari (ಖೇಚರಿ):—[noun] a female of the khēcara class of deities.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Starts with: Khecaricakra, Khecarihridaya, Khecarikrama, Khecarikula, Khecarimudra, Khecarimudre, Khecaripatala, Khecarishvari, Khecarividya.
Full-text (+74): Khecarimudra, Mudra, Khecaricakra, Urdhvamnaya, Shambhukalpa, Hastinapura, Ishani, Devikota, Agnimatara, Yamyamatri, Aindrani, Kubera, Rakshasi, Purnagiri, Pancala, Suryamandala, Vahnirupa, Vayavi, Shaktyayudha, Rohini.
Relevant text
Search found 15 books and stories containing Khecari, Khecarī, Khe-cari, Khe-carī, Khēcari; (plurals include: Khecaris, Khecarīs, caris, carīs, Khēcaris). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Cidgaganacandrika (study) (by S. Mahalakshmi)
Verse 122 [Citrūpa-prakāśiṇi Khecarī] < [Chapter 3 - Third Vimarśa]
Verse 104 [Khecarī Śakti in Kramasṛṣṭi] < [Chapter 3 - Third Vimarśa]
Part 1d - Pentads of Krama system < [Krama system and Trika school]
Trishashti Shalaka Purusha Caritra (by Helen M. Johnson)
Part 8: Marriage with Gāndhāri < [Chapter VI - Marriage of Kṛṣṇa with Rukmiṇī and others]
Part 1: Incarnation as Śānti (introduction) < [Chapter V - Twelfth incarnation as Śānti]
Part 28: Killing of Triśikhara < [Chapter II - Marriages of Vasudeva with maidens]
Yoga Vasistha [English], Volume 1-4 (by Vihari-Lala Mitra)
Chapter IX - On the supreme cause of all (parama karana) < [Book III - Utpatti khanda (utpatti khanda)]
The Skanda Purana (by G. V. Tagare)
Chapter 8 - The Glory of Someśvara (Soma-īśvara) < [Section 1 - Prabhāsa-kṣetra-māhātmya]
Chapter 30 - Tāraka is Slain < [Section 1 - Kedāra-khaṇḍa]
Chapter 41 - The Path of Yoga < [Section 1 - Pūrvārdha]
Shat-cakra-nirupana (the six bodily centres) (by Arthur Avalon)
Verse 36 < [Section 6]
Lalitopakhyana (Lalita Mahatmya) (by G.V. Tagare)