The Goddess Chinnamastā in the Haṭhayoga Tradition
Chinnamuṇḍā is known as Trikāyavajrayoginī “triple-bodied Vajrayoginī”. Thecult of Chinnamuṇḍā appears to be quite old and probably already spread in theVIIth century CE which would conrm the Buddhist origins of the goddess. Inmy opinion however, a deeper analysis of the preserved written sources, mostlySanskrit manuscripts, and a systematic studied of the goddess’s iconographyand origins could change this hypothesis.
Chinnamastā and the Amṛtasiddhi
The Amṛtasiddhi dates to the XIth century CE and is one of the oldest textsin the Haṭhayoga tradition.[3]It is in this text that we nd the only mention of the goddess Chinnamastā,featured in a sragdharā maṅgala verse in Manuscript C. This might be theearliest reference to Chinnamastā as an independent goddess (and not as amember of the Mahāvidyās group).nābhau śubhrāravindaṃ tadupari vimalaṃ maṇḍalaṃ caṇḍaraśmeḥsaṃsārasyaikasārā tribhuvanajananī dharmavartmodayā yā |tasmin madhye trimārge tritayatanudharā chinnamastā praśastātāṃ vande jñānarūpāṃ maraṇabhayaharāṃ yoginīṃ yogamudrām ||“At the navel is a white lotus. On the top of that is the spotless orb of thesun. In the middle of that, at the triple pathway, is she who is the sole essence of samsara [and] the creator of the three worlds, who arises on the path of dharma,who has three bodies [and] who is lauded as Chinnamastā, ‘she whose head iscut’. I worship her, she who has the form of knowledge, who removes the dangerof death, theyoginī the seal of yoga
” (Mallinson 2020: 417).[4]This verse is also present in the Grantha manuscript M2 in a corrupt form,with the name Cittahastā instead of Chinnamastā.[5] The epithets
dharmavart-modayā
and
tritayatanudharā
are preserved. According to Mallinson (
ibid
.:418), this excludes the possibility of a later addition to the text.The same
sragdharā maṅgala
verse is featured in the
Chinnamastātantra
(
stotram
, v 1),[6] with small dierences.nābhau śubhrāravindaṃ tadupari vilasanmaṇḍalaṃ caṇḍaraśmeḥsaṃsārasyekasārāṃ tribhuvanajananīṃ dharmakāmārthadātrīṃ |tasmin madhye tribhāge tritayatanudharāṃ chinnamastāṃ praśastāṃtām vande chinnamastāṃ śamanabhayaharāṃ yoginīṃ yogamudrāṃ || 1 ||[The practitioner shall visualize] on the navel a white lotus ower, [sur-
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mounted] by a brilliant solar disc. [[[Chinnamastā]]] is the only nectar of theexistence, she is the mother of the three worlds and gives
dharma
,
karma
and
ārtha
. There, at the center [of the lotus] in [her] triple form she contains threebodies (Chinnamastā, Ḍākinī and Varṇinī) and she is praised as ‘Chinnamastā(the goddess whose head is severed). I praise her [who is] Chinnamastā, whoremoves the fear of death and is Yoginī and Yoginimudrā. 1 (my translation)Chinnamastā also features in the
Virūpākṣakṛtāmṛtaskddhisārottare pujāhomakalpaḥ
,a mid-XIIIth century CE manuscript on ve palm leaves, attributed to Virūpa.The same verse
namaskāra
verse to Chinnamastā that we nd in the
Amṛ-tasiddhi
is featured here as well. This text, in mostly 40
anuṣṭubh
verses inirregular Sanskrit, though, describes in detail the worship of the goddess and
homa
rituals, which include oering of beef, alcohol, saliva, menstrual blood,crow feathers, etc. and whose aim was to full royal aspiration. It ends witha prose
dhyāna
of Chinnamastā. The manual also gives us a list of
mantra
s touse for worship, recitation, visualization, oering
bali
, and for protection.[7]It is worth notice that both these haṭhayoga texts use the name Chinnamastāand not Chinnamuṇḍā. However, none of the Buddhist Sanskrit texts refer toTrikāyavajrayoginī as ‘chinnamastā’. According to English (2002, 422–423 n.206) the name
chinnamastā
is used only two times in a manuscript K of the
Guhyasamayasādhanamālā
dated to the XIIth–XIIIth c. In both case it is a lateraddition to the text: to the original colophon in GSS25 (it reads:
iti śrītrikāyava- jrayoginī
<
pītachinnamastā
>
sādhana
([Here] the
sādhana
of Śrītrikāyavajrayo-ginī <who is yellow and has a severed head>) and a second
sragdharā
verseis added at the beginning of GSS24:
tasmin madhye trimārgā tritayatanugatā chinnamastāpraśastā
(in the middle of it [
dharmodayā
] is praised Chinnamastā,who has walked the threefold path (or who has a threefold body).[8]The fact that Chinnamastā is featured in these texts, demonstrates thatthe independent cult of the goddess in her Hindu form was already popular inboth Buddhism and Śāktism by the Xth–XIIth century CE. The rst mentionof Chinnamuṇḍā in a Buddhist text dates to the XIIth century CE (specicallyin the
Sādhanamāla
) while the
Amṛtasiddhi
is considered to be from the XIthcentury CE, so a century older. I believe that Buddhism played an importantrole in the spread of the ritual practice of the cult of Chinnamastā, but ulteriorstudies on textual and material sources are needed to really trace the evolution
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path of the cult of this peculiar goddess.[1] The
Sādhanamālā
is a compendium of 312
sādhana
s that contain detailedinstructions for the ritual worship of dierent Buddhist deities. [2] A collectionof forty-six Sanskrit works that describe Vajrayoginī and her forms. It datedfrom the IXth to the XIIth century CE. For more information see English 1992:9–18. [3] The word
haṭha
(lit. force, violence) refers to a system of physicaltechniques featured in the yoga practice, but whose origin is very old. Theterm connected to the word yoga appeared for the rst time in texts dated fromthe XIth century CE (like
Amṛtasiddhi
, for example). [4] Manuscript C: ChinaNationalities Library of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities MS No. 005125(21). Paper. Nepali and Tibetan (handprint and cursive). Source Mallinson2020. [5] Manuscript M2: Mysore Government Oriental Manuscripts LibraryD-4342 (. 21vv-40v). Palm leaf. Grantha (date uncertain). Source Mallinson2020. [6] The
Chinnamastātantra
is the fth chapter of the
Śāktapramoda
, aXIXth century CE tantric manual, and it describes the ritual worship of thegoddess Chinnamastā. [7] The information about this text was given to me byprofessor Mallinson in our email correspondence. [8] Benard (1994: 18 n. 35;66), states that the epithet
chinnamuṇḍā
(she whose head is severed) is givenin all the
sādhana
s in the
bsTan ’gyur
canon and the Tibetan translation of the
Lakṣmīsādhana
is
Chinnamuṇḍa Vajravārāhī Sādhana.
References
Bhattacharya, B. (1928).
Sādhanamālā Vol. II
. Gaekwad’s Oriental Series No.41. Baroda: Oriental Institute.Benard, E. A. (1994).
Chinnamastā: The Aweful Buddhist and Hindu Tantric Goddess
. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.English, E. (2002).
Vajrayoginī: Her Visualization, Rituals, and Forms
.Boston: Wisdom Publications.Khanna, M. (2013).
Śākta Pramoda of Deva Nandan Singh
. New Delhi: D.K.Print World.
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Mallinson, J. (2016). “Śāktism and Haṭhayoga” in:
Goddess Traditions in Tantric Hinduism: History, Practice and Doctrine
, (ed.) B., Wernicke-Olesen. London: Routledge, 2016. pp. 109–140.- (2020). “The Amṛtasiddhi: Haṭhayoga’s Tantric Buddhist Source Texts,”in Sanderson, A., D. Goodall, S. Hatley, H. Isaacson and S. Raman (eds.),
Saivism and the Tantric Traditions: Essays in Honour of Alexis G.J.S.Sanderson
. Leiden; Boston: Brill, pp. 409-425
Source
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