The Svacchandatantra With Uddyota of Ksemaraja

The Svacchandatantra is one of the leading Tantras of the Daksinacara as it panegyrises and initiates into the esoteric worship of Aghora, the right face of the Svacchahanda-Bhairava. This Tantra adheres to the monistic (Advaita) system of the Saiva philosophy according to the Kashmirian tradition and is considered as one of the authorities in Saivite initiation (Siva-diksa), its chief theme being meditation (upasana) and ritual (Kriya). In its fascinating treatment of the Saivite initiation, its description of charms and mantrasakti and its dealing with esoteric and wondrous powers of Yoga, the Svacchandatantra ranks high among the Tantras its chiff aim is the realization of the higest spiritual bliss, viz. the Monistic truth (Advaita Tattva). Just like other Tantras, the Svacchandatantra is an Agama Sastra, anmd hence its authorship cannot be attributed to any human being. It is written in the form of a dialogue between Devi and Bhairava. It is also believed that the present text is an abstract of the original revealed work which ran into several million verses. The Uddyota of Ksemaraja (10th/11th cent A/D.) is the only extant commentary on the text and explains the moot points in the Tantra in the light of pure monism. The commentary, which follows the style of Abhinavagupta, is philological, vigorous, generally pithy, but to the point. The text and commentary contained in these volumes had been vertically edited, from there Sarada Manuscripts by Pandit Madhusudan Kaul Sastri, an authority on the Saivite system of Kashmir, and published, for the first time, in the Kashmir Series of texts and studies. The present reprint is a photo-offset reproduction, retaining all the beauty and accuracy of the original edition as published in the Kashmir Series.