Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Some Reflections on the Meaning of Dīkṣā in Kerala According to Mātṛsadbhāvatantra

  • Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Hindu Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

One of the most important Hindu Tantric rites is known as dīkṣā, an initiation that grants access to mystical knowledge. This initiation enables the individual to perform rites on their own and learn secret spiritual practices from an enlightened master of the tradition. A person who undergoes dīkṣā is never a mere spectator of ritual ceremonies; rather they play an important role in the rituals: they are cognizant of the esoteric techniques and powerful incantations involved. The aim of this article is to reflect on the meaning of dīkṣā according to a Tantric text of Kerala entitled Mātṛsadbhāva. It highlights important aspects of the initiation that are mentioned in the text, namely, Tantric visualizations, purification of an adept, the transmission of mantras, and the interpretation of dreams. These are subsequently compared with initiatory practices in modern Tantric groups of Kerala.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ajithan, P. I. 2011. “The Role of Initiation in Pre-Tantrasamuccaya Kerala Tantric Literature.” Saṃskṛtakairalī: An Annual Journal for Indological Studies 1: 113–29.

  • Albanese, Catherine L. 1977. “The Multi-Dimensional Mandala: A Study in the Interiorization of Sacred Space.” Numen 24, 1: 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bossard, James H. S. and Eleanor S. Boll. 1948. “Rite of Passage—A Contemporary Study.” Social Forces 26, 3: 247–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks, Douglas Renfrew. 1990. The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Śākta Tantrism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks, Douglas Renfrew. 1992. Auspicious Wisdom: The Texts and Traditions of Śrīvidyā Śākta Tantrism in South India. Albany: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunner, Hélène. 1975. “Le sādhaka: personage oublié du Śivaïsme du sud.” Journal Asiatique 263: 411–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunner, Hélène. 1994. “The Place of Yoga in Śaivāgamas.” In P. S. Filliozat, S. P. Narang, and C. P. Bhatta, eds., Pandit N. R. Bhatt Felicitation Volume, 425–61. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

  • Davis, Richard H. 1991. Ritual in an Oscillating Universe: Worshipping Śiva in Medieval India. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Galewicz, Cezary. 2009. “Kings, Ascetics and Sidelong Glances.” In Paola M. Rossi and Cinzia Pieruccini, eds., Kings and Ascetics in Indian Classical Literature, 231–53. Milano: Cisalpino, Istituto Editoriale Universitario.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gentes, M. J. 1992. “Scandalizing the Goddess at Kodungallur.” Asian Folklore Studies 51, 2: 295–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonda, Jan. 1956. “Ancient Indian Kingship from the Religious Point of View.” Numen 3, 1: 36–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonda, Jan. 1977. Medieval Religious Literature in Sanskrit. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray, David B. 2005. “Disclosing the Empty Secret: Textuality and Embodiment in the Cakrasamvara Tantra.” Numen 52, 4: 417–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Induchudan, V. T. 1969. The Secret Chamber: A Historical, Anthropological & Philosophical Study of the Kodungallur Temple. Cochin: Cochin Devaswom Board.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isayeva, Natalia. 1995. From Early Vedanta to Kashmir Shaivism: Gaudapada, Bhartrhari, and Abhinavagupta. Albany: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kāmakalāvilāsa. 2004. Kāmakalāvilāsa of Śrīmanmāheśvara Puṇyānanda Nātha: Along with “Cidvallī” Sanskrit Commentary of Śrī Naṭanānanda Nātha and English Translation (eds. and trans. Ramayana Prasad Dwivedi and Sudhakar Malaviya). The Vrajajivan Indological Studies, 7. Varanasi: Chaukhamba Sanskrit Pratishthan.

  • Karasinski, Maciej. 2013. “Śākta Tantric Traditions of Kerala: Its Peculiarities and Development Under the Impact of Śrīvidyā.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Calicut, Malappuram.

  • Kinsley, David. 1978. “The Portrait of the Goddess in the Devī-māhātmya.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 46, 4: 489–506.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kulārṇavatantra. 1965. Kulārṇava Tantra (introduction: Arthur Avalon; readings: M. P. Pandit; Sanskrit text: Tārānātha Vidyāratna). New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

  • Lewis, Todd T. 2010. “Ritual (Re-)Constructions of Personal Identity: Newar Buddhist Life-Cycle Rites and Identity Among the Urāy of Kathmandu.” In Astrid Zotter and Christof Zotter, eds., Hindu and Buddhist Initiations in India and Nepal, 183–95. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lidke, Jeffrey S. 2005. “Interpreting Across Mystical Boundaries: An Analysis of Samādhi in the Trika-Kaula Tradition.” In Knut A. Jacobsen, ed., Theory and Practice of Yoga: Essays in Honour of Gerald James Larson, 143–79. Leiden: Brill.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mātṛsadbhāva. MSS No. 1017a, 13377, The Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library, University of Kerala, Trivandrum.

  • Muller-Ortega, Paul E. 2005. “ ‘Tarko Yogāṅgam Uttamam’: On Subtle Knowledge and the Refinement of Thought in Abhinavagupta’s Liberative Tantric Method.” In Knut A. Jacobsen, ed., Theory and Practice of Yoga: Essays in Honour of Gerald James Larson, 181–213. Leiden: Brill.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Namboodiri, V. Govindan. 2006 [2002]. Śrauta Sacrifices in Kerala. Calicut: Calicut University Press.

  • Neelakandhan, C. M., ed. 2008. Sanskrit Tradition of Tripunithura. Ernakulam: Centre for Heritage Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nemec, John. 2011. The Ubiquitous Śiva: Somānanda’s Śivadṛṣṭi and His Tantric Interlocutors. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Padoux, André. 1990. Vāc: The Concept of the Word in Selected Hindu Tantras (trans. Jacques Gontier). Albany: SUNY Press.

  • Padoux, André. 2003. “Mantra.” In Gavin Flood, ed., The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, 478–92. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Padoux, André, trans., with Roger-Orphé Jeanty. 2013. The Heart of the Yogini: The Yoginīhṛdaya, a Sanskrit Tantric Treatise. New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Patel, K. C. 1994. “Women, Earth, and the Goddess: A Shākta-Hindu Interpretation of Embodied Religion.” Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy 9, 4: 69–87.

  • Prapañcasāra. 2002 [1935]. Prapañcasāra Tantra of Śaṃkarācārya, with the Commentary Vivaraṇa by Padmapādācārya and Prayogakramadīpikā—a Vṛtti on the Vivaraṇa (intro. Arthur Avalon; ed. Aṭalānanda Sarasvatī). New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass,

  • Prayogamañjarī. 1953–54. Prayogamañjarīof Ravi (ed. Si. Ke. Rāman Nampiyār, with Ke. Acyutappotuvāṭ). Tripunithura: Sanskrit College.

  • Rastogi, Navjivan. 2002. Kāśmīrśivādvayavād kīmūl avadhāraṇāyeṃ. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rastogi, Navjivan. 2008. “The Theme of Indian Aesthetics Through Various Stages of the Development of Indian Philosophy.” Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research 25, 4: 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanderson, Alexis. 2003–2004. “The Śaiva Religion Among the Khemers. Part I.” Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 90–91: 349–462.

  • Sanderson, Alexis. 2004. “Religion and the State: Śaiva Officiants in the Territory of the King’s Brahmanical Chaplain.” Indo-Iranian Journal 47, 3–4: 229–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanderson, Alexis. 2005. “A Commentary on the Opening Verses of the Tantrasāra of Abhinavagupta.” In Sadananda Das and Ernst Fürlinger, eds., Sāmarasya: Studies in Indian Arts, Philosophy, and Interreligious Dialogue in Honour of Bettina Bäumer, 89–148. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanderson, Alexis. 2010. “Ritual for Oneself and Ritual for Others.” In Axel Michaels, ed., Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual, 9–20. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanderson, Alexis. 2014. “The Śaiva Literature.” Journal of Indological Studies 24 and 25 (2012–2013): 1–113.

  • Sarma, S. A. S. 2009. “The Eclectic Paddhatis of Kerala.” Indologica Taurinensia 35: 319–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarma, S. A. S. 2010. “Why the Later Ritual Manuals of Kerala Forgotten ‘Initiation’?” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 63, 4: 443–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarma, S. A. S. 2015. “The Yāmala-Tantras with Special Reference to the Worship of Rurujit.” Paper Presented at the Sree Vidya-Tanthrika-Upasaka Sangamam, organized by Sree Vidya Prathishtanam, Kodungallur, Kerala, India, December 13, 2015.

  • Silburn, Lilian. 1988 [1983]. Kuṇḍalinī: Energy of the Depths. A Comprehensive Study Based on the Scriptures of Nondualistic Kaśmir Śaivism (trans. Jacques Gontier). New York: SUNY Press.

  • Skora, Kerry Martin. 2007. “The Pulsating Heart and Its Divine Sense Energies: Body and Touch in Abhinavagupta’s Trika Śaivism.” Numen 54, 4: 420–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Brian K. 1986. “Ritual, Knowledge, and Being: Initiation and Veda Study in Ancient India.” Numen 33, 1: 65–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Törzsök, Judit. 2007. “The Search in Śaiva Scriptures for Meaning in Tantric Ritual.” In Dominic Goodall and André Padoux, eds., Mélanges tantriques à la mémoire d’Hélène Brunner / Tantric Studies in Memory of Hélène Brunner, 485–516. Pondicherry: Institut Français d’Indologie / École Française d’Extrême-Orient.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veluthat, Kesavan. 2009. The Early Medieval in South India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vijñānabhairava. 2007 [2002]. Vijñāna Bhairava: The Practice of Centering Awareness (trans. Bettina Bäumer; comm. Swami Lakshman Joo). Varanasi: Indica Books

  • Walli, Koshalya. 1998. A Peep into the Tantrāloka and Our Cultural Heritage. New Delhi: Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallis, Christopher. 2008. “The Descent of Power: Possession, Mysticism and Initiation in the Śaiva Theology of Abhinavagupta.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 36, 2: 247–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yokochi, Yuko. 2013. “The Development of Śaivism in Koṭīvarṣa, North Bengal, with Special Reference to the Koṭīvarṣa-Māhātmya in the Skandapurāṇa.” Indo-Iranian Journal 56, 3–4: 295–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Foreign Languages, Hainan University, No. 58, Renmin Avenue, Haikou, 570228, Hainan, China

    Maciej Karasinski

Authors
  1. Maciej Karasinski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maciej Karasinski.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Karasinski, M. Some Reflections on the Meaning of Dīkṣā in Kerala According to Mātṛsadbhāvatantra. Hindu Studies 24, 107–124 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-020-09273-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-020-09273-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation