Tantric forms of Gaṇeśa according to the Vidyārṇavatantra

159 Pages·1989·20.85 MB·English

by  Gudrun Bühnemann

Tantric Forms of Ganesa
According to the Vidyamavatantra
by
Gudrun Buhnemann
L
D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd.
New Delhi
Cataloging in Publication Data — DK
[Courtesy: D.JC Agencies (P) Ltd. <doanfo®dlug«ici es.com>)
Btihnemann, Gudrun, 1955-
Tantric forms of Gane$a : according to the
VidySmavatantra / by Gudrun Bilhnemann.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical rpfarpncps (p, )
Includes indexes.
ISBN 13: 9788124604533
ISBN 10: 8124604533
1. Gane£a (Hindu deity) — Cult. 2. Tantras.
VidySmavatantra. — Criticism, interpretation, etc.
3. Tantrism — Rituals. 4. Worship (Hinduism).
I. Title.
DDC 294.521 13 22
ISBN 13: 978-81-2464)453-3
ISBN 10: 81-246-0453-3
First published in 1989
Reissued in India in 2008
G Gudrun Biihnemann
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted,
except brief quotations, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval
system, without prior written permission of the copyright holder, indicated
above, and the publishers.
Published and printed by:
D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd.
Regd. Office: 'Srikunj', F-52, Bali Nagar
Ramesh Nagar Metro Station
New Delhi - 110 015
Phones: (Oil) 2545 3975; 2546 6019; Far. [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
IrVWwifa-

Contents
Preface vii
Foreword to the Reissue of this Book ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1. Ekdksara-Ganapati 35
2. Viri-Ganapati 40
3. Laksml-Ganapati 44
4. Sakti-Ganapati I 47
5. Ksiprapras3dana-Ganapati 51
6. Heramba 54
7. Subrahmanya-Ganapati 58
8. Maha-Ganapati 62
9. Trailokyamohana-Ganapati 74
10. $akti-Ganapati II 75
11. Bhogalola-Ganapati 77
12. HaridrS-Ganapati 79
13. Vakratunda-Ganapati 86
14. Ucchista-Ganapati 92
List of Illustrations 102
Plates 103
Bibliography 114
A. Texts and Translations 114
B. Secondary Literature 117
Indices
A. Names of Deities and Seers 120
B. Sanskrit Terms and bljas 129
C. Attributes and Colours 133
D. Materials, Rites, and Results 136
E. General Index
Preface
The following study describes the forms of GaneSa/Ganapati occurring
in the Vidyarnavatantra {= VT), a large compilation on mantraiOstra
attributed to VidySranya Yati. This text gives the iconographic peculiarities,
mantras, and yantras of the special forms of GaneSa as well as instructions
for the ritual application of the mantras. The information gathered from
this text has been compared with descriptions found in other Tantras and
works on iconography. I have also tried to include references to visual
representations of such forms as far as they agree with the description in
the VT. In 1986 I undertook two trips to South India, where 1 examined
photographs of Gane£a sculptures kept in the archives of the Institut
franqais d'indologie, Pondicherry, and visited many important temples
to photograph the sculptures. In the same year I consulted the photo
archives of the American Institute of Indian Studies, Ramnagar-Varanasi,
and visited museums in North India, such as Mathura, Gwalior, and
Khajuraho, to obtain further material. However, identification of the
sculptures presents many problems as the attributes are not always clear
and the sculptures are often mutilated. Very few specimens agree with
the descriptions provided in the VT.
Although the number of publications dealing with Gane£a is not
insignificant, the Tantric aspect of this deity has not been investigated
and a study from this point of view is necessary. GaneSa is also worshipped
in South-East Asia, Nepal, Tibet, and Japan, but only material from India
has been included here for comparison.1
For valuable suggestions I am indebted to Prof. K.S. Arjunwadkar
and Dr. R.P. Goswami, Pune. I wish to thank Charles Pain, Berkeley, for
improving my English; the staff members of the Bhandarkar Oriental
1. For Gane£a in Japan, Tibet, and Thailand, cf. Getty 1936, Chandra 1969, 1972,
Research Institute, Pune, and the Institut fran<;ais d'indologie, Pondicherry,
and particularly Dr. N.R. Bhatt, for their cooperation; Dr. S.S. Janaki,
Madras (Chennai), for providing some information in connection with
Muthusvami Dikshitar's compositions; the staff members of the
Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras (Chennai), for
providing a transcript of a chapter of the Prayogastira; and the University
Manuscripts Library, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), for allowing
me to consult a manuscript of the YantrasSra. Finally, I wish to thank the
Indian Council of Historical Research, Delhi, for supporting my research
with a grant.
G.B.
Foreword to the Reissue of this Book
This edition is in large part a reissue of my book Forms of Gane§a: A Study
Based on the VidySmavatantra (published in 1989 by the Institut fur Indologie,
Wichtrach, Switzerland) with minor corrections and updated information
worked into the text. The original edition, which is out of print now,
received positive book reviews in academic journals but had only a limited
circulation. It has not been available in South Asia due to the absence of a
distributor and the high cost of the book.
Although a number of books and articles on GaneSa have appeared in
recent years, adding to an already large body of literature on the deity,
only a few take original Sanskrit texts on Gane&a into consideration. The
Tantric aspects of the deity have certainly been studied too little. I hope
that this book will contribute to our knowledge of this less familiar side
of him. Since the publication of Forms of Ganeia, I brought out the two-
volume work The Iconography of Hindu Tantric Deities (Groningen,
2000-2001) in which descriptions of deities have been extracted from the
Prapaflcasilra, SsradHttiaka and Mantramahodadhi — among them, several
Tantric forms of GaneSa. Volume I of the work (pp. 4 and 14) includes
some new research on the date of the VidySrnavatantra (which I chose to
call SrTvidytirnavatantra in that volume), suggesting that the Tantra was
compiled after 1588 and before 1726.
May 10, 2007 Gudrun Biihnemann