Hello everybody! I am struggling to translate some passages of the लघुकालचक्रतन्त्रम्. In 1, 153 (on page 338 of the edition by Vira, Raghu, & Chandra, Lokesh, 1966: Kālacakra Tantra and Other Texts. Part I, New Delhi, International Academy of Indian Culture), I read अद्रो ऽमोघोरनादी, where, if my guess is correct, अद्रो stays for अद्रस् before short "a" at the beginning of the next word, and the sequence ऽमोघोरनादी could be interpreted as अमोघोस् अनादी. The only word for which I can find some sense so far is अनादी, nominative-accusative dual of अनादि, meaning "having no beginning, existing from eternity." Can anybody help me with the analysis and meaning of the other words? Thank you very much in advance!
Dib
Senior Member
Bengali (India)
Hi, could you, please, post a photo/screen-shot of the page so that we know the wider context and judge the accuracy of your and our reading. Many of us (including me) may not have access to the book.
Hello, thank you very much for your answer. Yes, please find in the attachment a screen-shot of the passage. My problem is in the first line after १५२, at the bottom of the page, to the right of the reader. Just in case, I am attaching as well a screen-shot of another part of the same page, where a textual variant can be seen in the footnote १२, and still a couple of screen-shots of the whole page ३३८. I hope this can help us. Thank you very much in advance!
Attachments
Dib
Senior Member
Bengali (India)
Thanks a lot for sharing the screenshots. Actually, I could locate the text in archive.com (p. 338); and even a commentary on it (p. 153). Unfortunately, the commentary is silent about this section.
I am also at a loss in interpreting this line exactly. But here are some ideas. It seems, that the line (the first pāda of verse 153) is enumerating pañca/five types of tāmasa/vile creatures, like it did for the sāttvika and rājasa ones in the previous verse (152). The reference here is obviously to the three guṇa's: sattva, rajas and tamas. Of these five vile creatures, the danu and bhujaga kula/lineages (i.e. dānava/demons and nāga/snakes - possibly some real people peripheral to the "Indic world" or just the mythical nāga's) seem to be two. That would perforce imply that the "अद्रोऽमोघोरनादी" contains the remaining three. The next pāda adds another three tāmasa beings - the mleccha, the white-clothed one (seems to be referring to Arabs) and Andhaka (who seems to be a puranic demon). This brings the total to eight - on balance with those on the rājasa list. A brief description of the saptama/seventh tāmasa one (i.e. Arabs) follows.
I think, this structure is reasonably clear, but the exact grammar is rather inscrutable. Given the context, it's possible that "अद्रोऽमोघोरनादी" also refers to three real or mythical human(-like) groups/individuals, who were viewed unfavorably by the Buddhists (and probably the wider Indic society). Unfortunately, I cannot recover what they could actually be. The last part of the pāda also seems to contain a non-standard sandhi: if "तामसान्येऽपि पञ्च" stands for "तामसाः अन्ये अपि पञ्च" - probably a Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit phenomenon, but I am really not familiar with BHS to be sure.
I am also at a loss in interpreting this line exactly. But here are some ideas. It seems, that the line (the first pāda of verse 153) is enumerating pañca/five types of tāmasa/vile creatures, like it did for the sāttvika and rājasa ones in the previous verse (152). The reference here is obviously to the three guṇa's: sattva, rajas and tamas. Of these five vile creatures, the danu and bhujaga kula/lineages (i.e. dānava/demons and nāga/snakes - possibly some real people peripheral to the "Indic world" or just the mythical nāga's) seem to be two. That would perforce imply that the "अद्रोऽमोघोरनादी" contains the remaining three. The next pāda adds another three tāmasa beings - the mleccha, the white-clothed one (seems to be referring to Arabs) and Andhaka (who seems to be a puranic demon). This brings the total to eight - on balance with those on the rājasa list. A brief description of the saptama/seventh tāmasa one (i.e. Arabs) follows.
I think, this structure is reasonably clear, but the exact grammar is rather inscrutable. Given the context, it's possible that "अद्रोऽमोघोरनादी" also refers to three real or mythical human(-like) groups/individuals, who were viewed unfavorably by the Buddhists (and probably the wider Indic society). Unfortunately, I cannot recover what they could actually be. The last part of the pāda also seems to contain a non-standard sandhi: if "तामसान्येऽपि पञ्च" stands for "तामसाः अन्ये अपि पञ्च" - probably a Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit phenomenon, but I am really not familiar with BHS to be sure.
Dib
Senior Member
Bengali (India)
Okay, there seems to be another suggestion. Apparantly, it has been suggested (see wikipedia for the reference):
So, apparently:
आद्रो = Adam,
नोघो = Noah,
वराही = Abraham
are in the demonic serpent/nāga family. There are other five tāmasa beings:
म्लेच्छो = Moses
असौ = Jesus
श्वेतवस्त्री = ?
मधुमति = Muhammad (Note that Madhumati looks like a Sanskritisation of pseudo-Prakritic महुमदि)
मथनि = ?.
If this proposal is correct, the authors of the Kalachakra seem to have had a good knowledge of the Abrahic prophetic succession. What lends more credence to this proposal is that the rājasa list enumerates the Avatara's of Vishnu in order, putting them at a place in between the exhalted sāttvika (Buddhist) muni's and the vile foreigners. It would also explain why the first three tāmasa beings are difficult to interprete, and they occur in various versions - because they are foreign names, not easily adapted to an Indic mould.
" Urban Hammar notes that a passage from the tantra mentions a series of figures who are said to be in the service of demonic snakes. These figures are "Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, "The white-clad one", Muhammed and Mathani." "
I believe, the verse in question is the one we are dealing with. However, this aligns better with the following reading, quoted in the Vimalaprabhā commentary:आद्रोऽनोघो वराही दनुभुजगकुले तामसान्येऽपि पञ्च
म्लेच्छोऽसौ श्वेतवस्त्री मधुमतिमथनी योऽष्टमः सोऽन्धकः स्यात्।
So, apparently:
आद्रो = Adam,
नोघो = Noah,
वराही = Abraham
are in the demonic serpent/nāga family. There are other five tāmasa beings:
म्लेच्छो = Moses
असौ = Jesus
श्वेतवस्त्री = ?
मधुमति = Muhammad (Note that Madhumati looks like a Sanskritisation of pseudo-Prakritic महुमदि)
मथनि = ?.
If this proposal is correct, the authors of the Kalachakra seem to have had a good knowledge of the Abrahic prophetic succession. What lends more credence to this proposal is that the rājasa list enumerates the Avatara's of Vishnu in order, putting them at a place in between the exhalted sāttvika (Buddhist) muni's and the vile foreigners. It would also explain why the first three tāmasa beings are difficult to interprete, and they occur in various versions - because they are foreign names, not easily adapted to an Indic mould.
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Thank you very much for your hypotheses! They make sense. Do you know whether there is any translation of the लघुकालचक्रतन्त्रम् into some European language? I am also planning to look for scholars that have dealt with this work. On the other hand, neither am I familiar with Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. Anyway, I highly appreciate your help, and I wish you a Happy New Year!