Essay name: Svacchandatantra (history and structure)
Author: William James Arraj
The essay represents a study and partial English translation of the Svacchandatantra and its commentary, “Uddyota�, by Kshemaraja. The text, attributed to the deity Svacchanda-bhairava, has various names and demonstrates a complex history of transmission through diverse manuscript traditions in North India, Nepal, and beyond.
Page 443 of: Svacchandatantra (history and structure)
443 (of 511)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
436
Therein,
hear how earth, in a hard form, is established in the body.
How, i.e., under what form, viz., flesh, etc..
He states that:
In flesh, in bone, in connective tissue, hair, and nails, /3/
[3] in marrow and intestines, earth, abounding with the
five properties (guṇa�), should be known to be.
And this he will clarify further on.
In phlegm, blood, undisgested food, urine, and in chyle,
sweat, and muscle fat, /4/
and in semen, and, in fact, in the collection, water, having
four properties, is established.
In fact (eva), i.e., in the body; chyle (rasah), i.e., the first
element (dhÄtuá¸�), supportive of the body, produced from the
digestion of food and drink; collection (samgraha�), i.e., the
conglomerate (samśleṣa�), of earth, etc., digested under the form
of flesh, etc.
In cooking, in burning, and, in fire, in heat, established;/5/
[The meaning is:] the [element] fire (teja�), is established: [in
cooking (pacanam), i.e.,] [as] the cause of the digesting (pÄkaá¸�)
of food, etc.; [and is established in burning (dahanam), i.e.,] for
the burning which consists of the generating of bile (mahÄká¹£Äraá¸�);
[in fire (tejah), i.e.,] for valor and brilliance; [in heat (Å«smÄ),
i.e.,] for [making the body] something perceptible (upalabhya-)
[i.e., a visible color-form], [for] sweat (Å«smÄ), and
prosperity; (ca), i.e., in the body.
Thus, O Goddess, fire, [which has] a triple characteristic, is
established in illumination.
In illumination (prakÄÅ›aá¸�), i.e., for displaying objects by means of
the rays of the eye; [4] [triple characteristic (trilakṣaṇam), i.e.,]
whose three qualities are [visible] color-form (rūpam), touch, and
sound; and by means of the invisible fruition (adrstam), [fire,
having] limited color-form and touch is manifest in the body,
The wind, having the qualities of exhaling, inhaling,
