Expiatory Rites in Keralite Tantra

by T. S. Syamkumar | 2017 | 59,416 words

This page relates ‘Expiatory Rites in Sardhatrishatikalottara-agama’ of the study on Expiatory Rites in Sanskrit literature and ancient Indian religion and society, with special reference to Keralite Tantra. Further references to texts include those found in Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism as well as Dharmashastra literature. This study also investigates temple records and inscriptions of Kerala in order to demonstrate the connection between social life and expiatory rites and its evolution.

1.3. Expiatory Rites in Sārdhatriśatikālottara-āgama

This Āgama is a momentous and earlier treatise of Śaivasiddhānta school of thought. It includes one of the many recensions of Kālottarāgama; a text containing 350 Ślokas.[1] Tradition considered that it is an Upāgama of Vātulāgama, which belongs to twenty eight Āgamas of Śaivasiddhānta. Sārdhatriśatikālottarāgama contains twenty seven Paṭalas and it is not divided in the traditional Siddhānta manner as Jñāna, Kriya, Yoga and Carya. The fourteenth chapter of this Kālottarāgama, expounds diminutive discussion about expiatory rites, but it does not deal with temple expiatory rituals.

It is known from the text that there were expiatory rites only for an initiated (Dīkṣita) person who have fallen down from the goal. It is interesting to mention that Sārdhatriśati recommends this expiatory ritual to be performed by a Guru. In his commentary on Sārdhatriśatikālottarāgama, Bhaṭṭarāmakaṇṭha says that, if the Guru does not perform expiatory rituals then the Guru is liable to go to hell.[2] In the case of a mistake when an initiator falls down from the goal, then the teacher shall perform fire rituals and recitation of Mantra as expiation.[3]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

N.R. Bahtt gives very rich details of the Kālottara recension, he wrote: “Though we do not find the name Kālottara, in the list of Upāgamas of Vātulāgama, we find instead the name Kālajñāna which is the synonym of Kālottara. This is established from the fact that in the colophons of the Kālottara manuscripts, we find sometimes Kālajñāna and sometimes Kālottara. The name Kālottara seems to indicate that this texts deal with the knowledge of the Supreme, the destroyer of bondage. There are many recensions of this Kālottarāgama which are known either by the availability of the manuscripts or from quotations. Those known so far are enumerated below: 1. Kālottara 2. Bṛhatkālottara 3. Ayutatrayasaṃhitā-kālottara 4. Devīkālottara 5. Dvādaśasahasrasaṃhitākālottara 6. Ṣaṭsahasra-saṃhitākālottara 7. Trayodaśaśatikakālottara 8. Saptaśatikakālottara 9. Catuśśatikakālottara 10. Sārddhatriśatikālottara 11. Triśatikālottara 12. Dviśati-kālottara and 13. Skandakālottara.”, Cf. Sārddhatriśatikālottara, ed. Bhatt, N.R., Institute Francise De Pondicherry, 1979, see English Introduction, pp. xcvii-xcix.

[2]:

atatvavidabhakteṣu dīkṣāṃ kuryādyadā guruḥ |
dīkṣitā na śivaṃ yānti gururnirayage bhavet || Sārdhatriśatikālottarāgama
, 14.4, Com. on Bhaṭṭa Rāmakaṇṭha.
samayollaṅghanātproktaṃ kravyādatvaṃ śataṃ samāḥ | Sārdhatriśatikālottarāgama, 25.2.
The 25th chapter of the same text also explains that if a Dīkṣitā suddenly have desire for worldly enjoyments, then the Guru should make an expiation, otherwise if he does not perform an expiation, a Guru will be reborn as a flesh eating animal or goblin.

[3]:

saṃhārasaṃpuṭaṃ kūṭamādāvante ṣaḍānana |
mātṛkāyāṃ śataṃ hutvā ekaikasya pṛthak pṛthak || Sārdhatriśatikālottarāgama
, 14.4.

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