Kalpa Cintamanih of Damodara Bhatta (An Ancient Treatise on Tantra, Yantra and Mantra)

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The present book, edited from a rare manuscript, pertains to ancient tantric rites which usually come under the head of satkarman (sixfold activities) such as (1) Subjugation of persons, (2) Attraction, (3) Immobilization of enemy, (5) Eradication of enemy from home, (6) Pacification of an evil, or release from captivity. To these is added one more dissension (vidvesana) creating division among the ranks t the enemy.

The book describes the procedure of these activities. Various alternatives are offered and the aspirant can select any Yantras and mantra are quick in effect. The text and translation are self-explanatory. The aspirant need not approach an adept for guidance.

To understand technique, the editor has appended a glossarial Index. He has prefixed an introduction for general guidance. Beside an appendix of 72 Cakras (practical devices) followed by details, the book contains the akadama cakra which foretells whether the experiment undertaken will come out successful.

My sole aim of presenting this book to the reader is to create his interest in Tantrum, by initiating him in the cult of occult science what in the tantric treatises is known as satkarman (sixfold activity). As all these activities are performed by the urge of desire or out of motivation, to promote human good, a right direction based on some reliable tradition and followed by a clear exposition made by a competent preceptor becomes, as a matter of course, quite indispensable. According to Hatha -Yoga•pradipika all supreme attainments, spiritual or material are hard to reach without the grace of a guru. But the reader need not despair if he finds no guru at hand. The treatise itself serves the purpose of a guru. It expounds the material so explicitly, in unambiguous terms, that one ne 0 go in search of a teacher.

Practice is better than precept. The aspirant should not doubt the validity of statements made in the treatise. It is an agama sastra that has come down to us from hoary antiquity. So far as practice is concerned, I take the reader into confidence that in certain cases as those of pacification (Santikarman) I myself have made experiments and discovered the truth.

I started my studies on this manuscript just after I had finished my work on the Asvalayana Grhyasutra, though as I planned I intended to introduce the work much earlier. During the time I was engaged in editing and translating the Asvlayana Grhyasutra, a number of valuable books on tantrism had appeared both in the East and the West. A wide reading in this subject during the intervening period when the Asvalayana Grhyasutra was in press, undoubtedly turned the delay to the better, for now I can present the work in mature and appropriate form. Moreover, fortunately, at present, there is a greater receptivity and evaluating standard for such a work than when I first interprized it.

The trend of the tantra sastra is materialistic throughout, but the results are immediate. As Kularnava- has pointed out, whatever yields an immediate result is the best of all activities.

The text of the manuscript was obtained for me from Pandit B.P. Shastri's Collection at Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh. The present edition is prepared on the basis of that manuscript, which is still in m~ possession, though it is reduced to decrepit condition by the constant use. The text and the yantras are quite intact though marginal notes have become indistinct. The text is often corrupt and' at places beyond recovery. Though I have made certain emendations here and there they are all tentative. Until another manuscript is discovered, the corrupt portions of the text cannot be restored to their original form with such precision and certainty as is required for the tantric text.

Despite the great care taken in reading the proofs, there' are a few misprints left in the text, in addition to the usual casualities due to the breaking of types in printing. The keeneyed reader can detect them at a glance. They are too obvious to need a formal corrigenda.

I express my sincere gratitude to my venerable teacher Professor SN. Pant, M.P. Education Service, Reewa, for his kind encouragement that inspired me with confidence in making this task as much complete and contributive as it became possible for me to accomplish.

I am also grateful to my niece Madhu Bala Sharma for her valuable help in the preparation of manuscript copy for press, for reading final proofs and checking Index. But for her cooperation, the book would still have been limping through.

I cherish sincere feeling of affection and love for my printers, Sham Printing Agency, Delhi, and my publishers, the Eastern Book Linkers, the reputed enterprizers in the field of Indology, both for the expeditious publication of this work and all other assistance rendered to me in this matter.

The manuscript The manuscript of the present treatise measures 7 inches in length and 31/2- in breadth, consists of 39 leaves (78 pages), 9 lines on each page and 30 letters of alphabet in each line. It is written on country-made paper, in Nagart script, in versified simple Sanskrit. As usual with the tantragamas it employs verse in the anustubh metre, though at places it is interspersed with Mandakranta, Upajati and Sardulavikridita. It is dated Vikrama samvat 1944, Saka samvat 1809. The figures refer to the date when the manuscript was copied by the scribe and not to the date of its composition.

Source The colophons of the manuscript reveal the existence of a larger work, now lost to us, bearing the same title and dealing with the same subject. The present treatise seems to be a compilation from that larger work which was divided into four Pithikas. The colophons refer to the second and fourths Pithika, The introductory text is taken from the second Pithika while the chapters on the sixfold activity are taken from the fourth. As it includes all the topics of satkaman in their various aspects, it is a complete book in itself.

The Author As stated above, the present treatise is an abridged version of a bigger work-Mahakalpacintamani which remains so far untraced and is not catalogued either. As a part of agama literature it comprises the material that has descended to us from time immemorial. Hence its authorship, as of any other agama, cannot be ascribed to any particular person.

The entire tantric literature runs in the form of a dialogue between God Siva and his consort Uma (Uma-Mahesvara- . sadlvadab). The versified presentation of the dialogue that comprises the agama-sastra is traditional and cannot be authored so far as the matter is concerned.

But the problem remains unsolved. Who was the original versifier of the proto-kalpa ? When did he versify the extant oral tradition, and at what place? How did he collect the material and from what source? In the absence of an authoritative evidence, it is not possible to solve these baffting puzzles. The compiler of the present treatise is as ignorant of the solution as any historian of tantric literature. While he admits that his Kalpa is a compilation from a bigger work he is silent over the authorship of the proto-kalpa, perhaps in recognition of the fact that tantragama literature, as any other agama literature, is the outcome of ancient tradition, descended from generation to generation by way of oral transmission.

The compiler of Kalpacintamani is Damodara, the son of Gangadhara. He calls himself 'the best of brahmins He was born in a Vaisnava family, as his very name indicates. But he was Saivite himself. He compiled this Kalpa out of devotion for Lord Siva' and in obedience to his instructions. No further information is available about Damodara.