Śrīvidyā
Śrīvidyā is a relatively recent name for a tradi-
tion centered on the worship of the goddess
Tripurasundarī (see Padoux, 1994, 5, on the mod-
ern use of the term Śrīvidyā). Tripurasundarī, or
Tripurā, also referred to as Rājarājeśvarī and Lalitā,
is conceptualized as the supreme deity, a beautiful
and auspicious manifestation of the Great God-
dess (→ Mahādevī). Meditation (dhyāna) verses
used for the visualization of Tripurasundarī
describe her holding a goad, noose, bow of sug-
arcane, and arrows of flowers. Her reddish com-
plexion or red garments are also mentioned,
and the descriptions of Tripurasundarī abound
Fig. 1: Statue of Rājarājeśvarī at the Śrī Rājarājeśvarī Pīt ̣ham in Rush, NY, USA
(photo by Anna Golovkova).
in imagery connected with red. “Śrīvidyā” is a
Sanskrit compound designating the name of the
principal → mantra (mūlamantra) of this tradi-
tion, śrī being an honorific, and vidyā “a feminine
mantra – the mantra of a female deity” (Padoux,
1994, 5). As is common in Sanskrit, there are a
number of other interpretations of the term,
based, for example, on taking śrī in the mean-
ing of saubhāgya, that is, “good fortune, success,
happiness, as well as beauty or charm; all these
terms evoke an important aspect of the tradi-
tion” (Padoux, 1994, 5). In addition, the second
part of the compound, vidyā, can be taken in its
816 Śrīvidyā
nontechnical meaning of “knowledge, wisdom”
(see Brooks, 1992, 81–82). While Śrīvidyā’s ear-
liest extant Sanskrit text, the Vāmakeśvarīmata,
probably written in the early 11th century ce or
earlier, is a tantric text (see → Tantras) focusing
on external ritual, over time extensive internal
meditative practices have also been developed.
By at least the 13th century ce, when Jayaratha,
Śivānanda, and Vidyānanda composed their
commentaries on the Vāmakeśvarīmata, Śrīvidyā
emerged as a sophisticated pan-Indian tradition
with a well-developed exegesis drawing on the
“Krama-influenced, Pratyabhijñā-based exege-
sis of scripture in the Trika,” which had become
a dominant textual resource of “exegetical and
spiritual inspiration” (Sanderson, 2007, 427–
434; for dates of these commentators, as well as
Amṛtānanda, who composed a commentary on
the Yoginīhṛdaya [c. 14th century CE], see Sand-
erson, 2007, 412–419; for Krama, Pratyabhijñā,
Trika, see also → Kashmir Śaivism). In time, in
South India an expurgated form of Śrīvidyā
became subsumed by the śaṅkarācāryas, the spir-
itual authority of the broader community of the
orthodox Śaiva Brahmans known as → Smārtas
(Sanderson, 1988, 689, 704). Later commentators,
such as the 18th-century Bhāskararāya and the
19th-century Śivarāmasvamin (author of the
Gayatrīmantravivṛtti and the Śrīvidyāmantravivṛtti),
attempted to reconcile the vedic and the tan-
tric domains, and contemporary branches of
Śrīvidyā include the Advaita → Vedānta theo-
logian → Śaṅkara, author of the commentary
on the Brahmasūtra, as one of the preceptors
of their lineage. While Śrīvidyā ritual has been
traditionally practiced in the homes of the initi-
ated in relative secrecy, some of its features have
been incorporated into the mainstream Hindu
temple worship, and the most treasured hymns
of the tradition, the Lalitāsahasranāma and the
Saundaryalaharī, have remained the focus of pop-
ular devotion. Initiation into Śrīvidyā has been
traditionally open to women and men, regardless
of caste (see e.g. Brooks, 1992, xiii) – however,
in practice, many contemporary gurus deny ini-
tiation to those who are not male Brahmans (see
Dempsey, 2006, for a study of Śrī Rājarājeśvarī
Pīṭham in Rush, NY, for a notable exception to
this practice; in particular see Dempsey, 2006,
92–93).
The Nityā Cult and the Emergence
of Śrīvidyā
Although the early history of Śrīvidyā is obscure,
several extant texts suggest the existence of an
antecedent Tantric cult that propitiated the nityā
goddesses, serving as the subordinate deities to
Tripurā. In this earlier tradition, “rites for success
in love predominated,” and the Tripurasundarī’s
consort was Kāmadeva (the god of love), not
Śiva, as in the mature Śrīvidyā tradition (Sand-
erson, 2009, 47; for textual evidence of the nityā
cult, see Sanderson, 2009, 47–49). Among the
earliest sources for the worship of Tripurasundarī
is the text of the Sanskrit Nityākaula surviv-
ing in a single incomplete palm-leaf manu-
script from Nepal. In this text, Tripurasundarī
is accompanied by Kāmadeva and a retinue of
11 nityā goddesses. The Siddhakhaṇḍa of the
Manthānabhairavatantra preserves a variant
of the nityā cult, providing instructions for the
worship of Tripurasundarī with her consort and
a retinue of nine nityās. The third text identified
in connection with the nityā cult is a syncretistic
text belonging to the cult of the goddess Kubjikā,
the Ciñciṇ īmatasārasamuccaya. This text “con-
tains a section drawn from the Nityākaula, or
from some lost text closely related to it” and shows
an early classification of the Kaula doctrines,
in which the nityā cult is classified as the tradi-
tion of the southern order (dakṣiṇ agharāmnāya;
Sanderson, 2009, 48–49).
At this time, not much can be said about the
dating of this antecedent cult with certainty,
except that it flourished prior to the 11th century
and perhaps significantly earlier than that, based
on the references to the worship of nityās in the
Kubjikāmata and the later Jayadrathayāmala (see
Sanderson, 2010, 47–48; see also below). Further-
more, the cult of the nityās was known to → Abhi-
navagupta (TĀ. 28.123–124 [nityātantravidaḥ];
PaTrV. [śrīnityātantreṣu; see Gnoli, 1985, 238]).
The rites of love magic, predominant in the ritual
of the nityā cult, formed the backdrop against
which the mature cult of Tripurasundarī devel-
oped. Although this connection has been deem-
phasized in the later Śrīvidyā scriptures and
exegesis, references to love magic have been
preserved in the names of the subordinate god-
desses (e.g. the 16 deities of attraction [ākarṣa],
worshipped in the outer petals of the śrīcakra
[VāMa. 1.138–141]), the descriptions of the
 Śrīvidyā
physical beauty of Tripurasundarī (who is por-
trayed as red, the color most vested with amo-
rous connotations), and the expected results of
worship, which encompass the amorous attrac-
tion of women to the ritualist (e.g. VāMa. 4.38–
41). Furthermore, the bow, five flower-arrows,
noose, and goad, which Tripurasundarī holds
in her hands, are the standard attributes of the
four-armed Kāmadeva (for his visualization see,
e.g., the Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati, Kriyāpāda,
22.32–35). Although the benefits of amorous
attractiveness have ceased to be the focal point
of the worship of Tripurasundarī over time, per-
haps it is this very capacity of this tradition to
embrace all aspects of human existence – from
the mundane to the sublime – that contributed to
its popularity.
Śrīvidyā, Brahmanism, and the
Cults of the Local Goddesses
There is no evidence that the ritual practice of the
nityā cult has survived the reshaping of the land-
scape of the Hindu Tantra following the tremen-
dous creative development of Śaivism during the
10th to 12th centuries. However, the Śrīvidyā tra-
dition, which likely developed out of this earlier
cult toward the end of the early medieval period,
flourishes to this day in pan-Indian ritual prac-
tice. Many Śrīvidyā texts and commentaries are
extant. The mature Śrīvidyā developed a sophis-
ticated commentarial tradition, which upgraded
a modest cult of love magic with the exegesis
within the Kashmirian nondualistic Śākta-Śaiva
discourse. The worship of Tripurasundarī flour-
ished in → Kashmir, in the Kathmandu Valley,
in Tamil Nadu, in Andhra Pradesh, and among
the Nambūtiri Brahmans of → Kerala, as well
as in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. In east India
(see → Assam), Tripurasundarī (also known as
Ṣoḍaśī) was incorporated into the tradition of
the ten mahāvidyās (on geographical distribu-
tion of Śrīvidyā, see Sanderson, 2010, 80–83; for
mahāvidyās see → Kālī).
In a later development, “Śrīvidyā appears to
have undergone something of a reformation in
the south” (Brooks, 1992, 48). Tripurasundarī
came to be seen as the esoteric essence of the
local goddesses in the major temples of Shringeri,
Kanchipuram, Srisailam, and Madurai, and in less
well-known temples such as the Akhilāṇḍeśvarī
817
(Tam. Akilāṇt ̣ēcuvari) temple in Tiruchirappalli,
Tamil Nadu, and the Mūkāmbikā temple in Kol-
lur, Karnataka. In Kashmir, as in South India, the
cult of Tripurasundarī provided the “framework
for the conceptualization of the cults of the local
goddesses” (Sanderson, 2007, 433). With the
adoption of an expurgated form of Śrīvidyā by
Smārta Brahmans, whose tendency was to “dis-
tance themselves from Kashmiri Kaulism in order
to distinguish Śrīvidyā from . . . Tantrism,” a num-
ber of texts on the worship of Tripurasundarī,
“which were acceptable to even the most conser-
vative Hindus,” came to be attributed to Śaṅkara
and his paramaguru ( guru’s guru) Gauḍapāda,
who were “viewed as pillars of conservative ortho-
doxy” (Brooks, 1992, 49–50).
Classification
The classical Śrīvidyā is among the latest tradi-
tions of the non-Saiddhāntika Mantramārga and
postdates the goddess-oriented Vidyāpīṭha doc-
trines, including the broader Kālīkula tradition
of the worship of goddess Kālī/Kālasaṃ karṣaṇī
and its Kashmirian branch, known as Krama (for
Mantramārga, Vidyāpīṭha, Kālīkula, and Krama,
see → Kashmir).
However, the antecedent nityā cult is older
than the Kubjikā tradition and at least some of
the texts of the Kālīkula (for a classification and
features of the Śaiva and Śakta-Śaiva doctrines,
see Sanderson, 1988; 2006). The Ciñciṇīmatasāra-
samuccaya, a syncretic text of the Kubjikā cult,
includes the nityā cult in its classification. The
Kubjikāmata and the later Ṣaṭkas (sextets) of the
Kālīkula’s Jayadrathayāmala refer to its deities,
and the former also to one of its mantras (Sander-
son, 2010, 47–48).
What particularly sets Śrīvidyā apart from the
earlier traditions of the Vidyāpīṭha is the preva-
lence of the imagery of love magic, inherited from
the antecedent nityā cult, which is in striking con-
trast to the Vidyāpīṭha’s Kāpālika imagery of the
cremation grounds from the earlier Atimārga tra-
ditions (Sanderson, 2009, 49; for Kāpālika imag-
ery in Mantramārga, see Sanderson 1988, 669–75;
for Kāpālika, Atimārga, see → Kashmir).
According to the Ciñciṇīmatasārasamuccaya,
the nityā cult was associated with the southern
transmission, or the southern order. This system
of classification of the Kaula traditions included
818 Śrīvidyā
Kālīkula as the teaching of the northern order,
a system related to Trika as that of the eastern
order, and the Kubjikā cult as the tradition of the
western order (Sanderson, 2009, 48–49).
In the later schemas, Śrīvidyā saw itself as tran-
scending the four Kaula teachings associated with
the cardinal directions (VāMa. 1.12). Parātantra,
a syncretic scripture probably produced in the
Kathmandu Valley and a synoptic text of the
Vāḍavānalīya, quoted in the Puraścaryārṇ ava,
included this new configuration (Sanderson,
2003, 367–368). Both Parātantra and Vāḍavāna-
līya provided an artificial schema of six trans-
missions, which preserved the goddesses asso-
ciated with Krama in the north and the cult of
Kubjikā in the west. The goddesses of the now
obsolete Trika were replaced with Pūrṇeśvarī in
the east. Instead of the nityā cult, which had been
supplanted by the mature cult of Tripurasundarī,
Niśeśvarī was established in the south. The god-
desses Pūrṇeśvarī and Niśeśvarī have probably
been artificially constructed to fill in the gaps in
this classification, since they are not attested out-
side of this context. The Buddhist Vajrayoginī,
along with Nairṛteśvarī and other minor god-
desses, was added as the tradition of the nadir.
The cult of Tripurasundarī (i.e. Śrīvidyā) was
added as the transcendent, upper tradition
of the zenith (Sanderson, 2003, 366–368).
Śrīvidyā Literature
The Early Tantras
Śrīvidyā practice has always required “ritual lit-
eracy in Sanskrit” (Brooks, 1992, xiii), and the
tradition has produced a great variety of scrip-
tures, commentaries, devotional hymns, and
ritual manuals. According to T. Goudriaan,
Śrīvidyā is “conspicuous by the literary standard
of at least part of its texts, and by the mere coher-
ence and elaboration of its doctrine” (Goudri-
aan, 1981, 58). While the majority of these texts
have been composed in Sanskrit, some literature
relevant to the tradition, which is yet to be fully
examined, is in vernacular languages. The fore-
most among these is the Tamil Tirumantiram.
Although the text is traditionally dated quite early,
and some have dated it as early as “the fifth, sixth,
or seventh century,” it “may have been dated six
or seven centuries too early” as it “contains a com-
plex of concepts with Sanskrit labels the devel-
opment of which one can trace in Sanskrit (not
Tamil) literature that must certainly post-date the
fifth century” (Goodall, 2004, xxix).
The first extant Sanskrit Śrīvidyā text, the
Vāmakeśvarīmata, also referred to as Nityāṣoḍa-
śikārṇ ava or Catuḥśatī, was probably composed
in the early 11th century. It is often grouped
together with the later Yoginīhṛdaya. However,
significant differences in terminology and the
types of practices in the Vāmakeśvarīmata and
the Yoginīhṛdaya suggest that the two texts rep-
resent “distinct intellectual and historical tradi-
tions” (Brooks, 1992, 38).
In the Vāmakeśvarīmata, the magical means
for attracting the desired partner were given the
most prominence, compared to practices focus-
ing on speech and eloquence, and rituals for over-
coming the negative effects of poisons, gaining
the power to cure snake bites, and the control
over bhūtas (ghosts), pretas (ghouls), and piśācas
(goblins). The Vāmakeśvarīmata incorporated
the subordinate nityā deities of the antecedent
cult as part of a much larger ritual system com-
prising 78 deities, arranged on the nine levels
of the śrīcakra (see → maṇ ḍalas and → yantras).
The text included a detailed exposition on the
vidyās (mantras of feminine deities), that is, the
mūlavidyā, given in the coded form, the supple-
mentary vidyās, and the bījas (the so-called seed
syllables; see → mantras). Detailed instructions for
the drawing of the śrīcakra, its worship, the prac-
tice of nyāsa (installing the divinity in the body of
the ritualist), and additional practices for attrac-
tion, subjugation, protection, and the attainment
of various siddhis (supernatural powers) were
also provided. A variety of mudrās (particular
hand gestures common in Tantra that are seen
as the physical analogue to the deities and their
mantras/vidyās) are also discussed. A list corre-
sponding to nine out of ten daśamahāmudrās (lit.
the ten great mudrās), which are still in current
practice, is given with only slight variations and in
the same order (VāMa. 1.164; detailed discussion
in VāMa. 3, a short chapter on mudrās). Among
the daśamahāmudrās, the trikhaṇ ḍamudrā is
not mentioned in the text, but Jayaratha in
his commentary, the Vāmakeśvarīmatavivaraṇ a,
creatively interprets ādi (first, etcetera) to refer
to this mudrā, completing the list of ten. Instruc-
tions for homa (fire ceremony), japa (mantra rep-
etition), and dhyāna (meditation, visualization)
are also given. Among the meditations mentioned
 Śrīvidyā
in the Vāmakeśvarīmata is the kāmakalādhyāna
(meditation on the symbolic representation of
the body of Tripurasundarī; VāMa. 1.165–168;
for a study of kāmakalā, see White, 1998) and a
detailed description of the physical form of the
goddess, which spans 30 verses, excerpted below.
tataḥ padmanibhāṃ devīṃ bālārkakiraṇāruṇām
japākusumasaṅkāśāṃ dāḍimīkusumopamām
(VāMa. 1.113)
sphuranmukuṭamāṇ ikyakiṅkiṇ ījālamaṇ ḍitām
(VāMa. 1.114cd)
kālālikulasaṅkāśakuṭilālakapallavām
(VāMa. 1.115ab)
kiṃ cidardhendukuṭilalalāṭamṛdupaṭtị kām
pinākidhanurākārasubhruvaṃ parameśvarīm
ānandamuditollolalīlāndolitalocanām
(VāMa. 1.116–117ab)
mahātripuramudrāṃ tu smṛtvāvāhanarūpayā
vidyayāvāhya subhage namaskāraniyuktayā
pūrvoktayā sādhakendro mahātripurasundarīm
cakramadhye tu saṃ cintya tataḥ pūjanam
ārabhet (VāMa. 1.132–133)
[Mahātripurasundarī] resembling a lotus, red-
dish as the rays of the young sun, like a China
Rose [or] a pomegranate flower . . . adorned with
glittering crown rubies and strings of bells, with
a mass of curls like a swarm of black bees [and]
a delicate fillet slightly curved like a half-moon
at the round forehead, the supreme goddess,
whose beautiful eyebrows are shaped like the
bow of Śiva, eyes playfully moving about like
waves delighted with bliss . . . Having meditated
on the mahātripuramudrā and having sum-
moned [Mahātripurasundarī] with the afore-
said vidyā of summoning, adding the namas [of
obeisance], O beautiful one, after visualizing
Mahātripurasundarī at the center of the cakra,
the excellent sādhaka should then begin the
worship. (trans. by author with comments by
A. Sanderson, personal communication, 2012)
While the 13th-century commentators, particu-
larly Jayaratha and Śivānanda, reevaluated the
Vāmakeśvarīmata in light of the Kashmirian
nondual philosophy, the text itself did not display
explicit awareness of these doctrines.
The Yoginīhṛdaya, introduced as an esoteric
elaboration on the points that have not been suf-
ficiently clarified in the Vāmakeśvarīmata, was
evidently composed after the time of Abhinav-
agupta and Kṣemarāja, probably in the mid-11th
819
century or soon after. The text incorporated ter-
minology and doctrinal concepts derived from
Trika and Krama Pratyabhijñā-based metaphys-
ics and cosmologies that updated the cult with
the Śākta-Śaiva nondualist paradigms, dominant
from the 11th century onward. While retaining
the configuration of the subordinate deities to
be worshipped in the śrīcakra discussed in the
Vāmakeśvarīmata, in addition to the external
ritual, the Yoginīhṛdaya introduced a number of
sophisticated meditative practices and ways of
mapping the śrīcakra onto the subtle body of the
practitioner, reflecting the trend toward the eso-
tericization and internalization in this tradition.
The śrīcakra in the Yoginīhṛdaya is viewed not
only as an external ritual diagram, but also as a
map of cosmic emanation (YHṛ. 1.36–49; see also
Padoux, 2003, 240). The text describes the cosmic
consciousness, which has the nature of [pra]mātṛ
(cognizer), [pra]meya (object of cognition), and
[pra]māṇ a (cognition itself) coming into being in
the form of the universe (YHṛ. 1.9–12; 1.50–51).
This cosmic consciousness in the śrīcakra is four-
fold, manifesting as Vāmā, Jyeṣt ̣ā, Raudrī, and
the Great Goddess, Ambikā (YHṛ. 1.36–40). The
four goddesses are equated with the four levels of
speech, inherited from Pratyabhijñā – paśyantī,
madhyamā, vaikharī, and the transcendent fourth
level of parā vāc, the supreme word in its primeval,
undifferentiated state (YHṛ. 1.36–40; for a detailed
exposition on Kashmirian conceptions of the lev-
els of speech, see Padoux, 1990, 166–223; see also
→ mantras). Among the extant commentaries on
this text, the 14th-century Yoginīhṛdayadīpikā by
Amṛtānanda and the 18th-century Setubandha by
Bhāskararāya have been published.
The Later Tantras
The text usually referred to as the Tantrarājatantra
calls itself the Kādimatatantra, with Tantra-
rājatantra being merely an epithet of that title
(Goudriaan, 1981, 64). The text contains new
features in the doctrinal system, such as the
division into the two matas, or doctrinal lines
of interpretation (Goudriaan, 1981, 64). Tra-
ditionally, Śrīvidyā lineages and their texts dis-
tinguish themselves by the two mata divisions:
kādi and hādi (see Brooks, 1992, 87–90). The
hādimata is not preserved in the contempo-
rary tradition. Among the doctrinal differences
between the two matas, the primary divergence
is in the extraction of the mūlavidyā. In the
820 Śrīvidyā
Kāmarāja Sampradāya, the root vidyā is extracted
as kādividyā (i.e. the vidyā beginning with ka). In
the Lopāmudrā Sampradāya, hādividyā begins
with ha (Brooks, 1992, 89–90). The text of the
Tantrarājatantra, however, uncharacteristically
names the two matas as kādimata and kālīmata,
the latter likely referring to the Kālīkula (Brooks,
1992, 42; Goudriaan, 1981, 64). While the early
texts discussed above outlined the main features
of the Śrīvidyā external and internal ritual, the
Tantrarājatantra includes considerably more
detail. The text offers a thorough exposition of
the worship of the nityās, with Lalitā named as
the foremost of them, and introduces two dei-
ties, Vārāhī and Kurukullā, to whom sacrificial
offerings (bali) are given at the end of the pūjā.
The Tantrarājatantra covers a great number of
subjects, including mantraśāstra, vāstuśāstra,
homa, and yantras, among others, in a “learned,
sophisticated, non-repetitive style,” combining
“an impressive quantity of ślokas with a consid-
erable literary achievement” (Goudriaan, 1981,
66–67).
Among other later Tantras, one of the most
popular is the Jñānārṇ avatantra. The text follows
the kādimata and was probably composed prior
to the 16th century (Goudriaan, 1981, 67–68).
Although of lesser literary quality than the texts
that preceded it, the Jñānārṇ avatantra “contains
precious information on the worship of Tripurā
and other subjects which it often presents in a
clear and unpretentious language” (Goudriaan,
1981, 68). In addition to expounding on the tri-
adic nature of Tripurasundarī (see below) and
elucidating a number of technical details of her
worship, the text discusses the worship of Bālā,
a manifestation of the goddess as a young girl,
who is portrayed seated on a white lotus, holding
a rosary (akṣamālā) and the → Vedas (Goudriaan,
1981, 68). Tripurabhairavī, a fearsome emana-
tion of the goddess, is also described (Goudri-
aan, 1981, 68). The exoteric Jñānārṇavatantra
and the Kaula Paraśurāmakalpasūtra are among
the authoritative references for contemporary
Śrīvidyā practice (Brooks, 1992, 43, 52–53;
217n42; for a summary of Paddhatis and other
texts of ritual instruction, see Brooks, 1992,
51–53). The tradition has preserved a number of
other later Tantras, a number of which are yet to
be edited (see Goudriaan, 1981, 68–74, for a sum-
mary of the later Śrīvidyā Tantras).
Stotras
→ Stotras (hymns) and other devotional literature
of the tradition not only describe the popular
image of the goddess, but often encode technical
meanings pertaining to the cult’s doctrine and
ritual. In the short text of the Khaḍgamālāstotra,
the arrangement of names of the subordinate dei-
ties mirrors the ritual in which these goddesses
are worshipped in the śrīcakra or internally in the
order of evolution (sṛsṭ ị krama). The text lists the
subordinate goddesses worshipped in the nine
levels of the śrīcakra ritual and the emanations
of Tripurasundarī controlling each level. Among
the groups included in the Khaḍgamālāstotra are
15 nityās, the Lopāmudrā Sampradāya (Khanna,
1986, 49), 11 siddhis beginning with aṇimā, and
the 8 matṛkā goddesses. The daily chanting of
the Khaḍgamālāstotra is understood to have the
same efficacy as the complete pūjā of the śrīcakra
(Khanna, 1986, 11).
The Lalitāsahasranāma is a popular Stotra
containing one thousand names of the goddess
Lalitā. It is widely used in contemporary devo-
tional practice. Many people chant it daily and
know the hymn by heart, while others use it for
a simple pūjā, in which an offering, usually a pinch
of red kuṃ kum powder or flower petals, is offered
to the śrīcakra with each name of the goddess.
The Stotra is included in the Lalitopākhyāna
section of the Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa. Enclosed within
a framing story, it is presented in the form of
instruction imparted by Hayagrīva to Agastya.
The text of the hymn reflects several puranic
myths, such as the arising of Tripurasundarī from
the fire pit of the sacrificial fire of consciousness
and the slaying of the demon Bhaṇḍāsura,
described in the Lalitopākhyāna, as well as the
slaying of Mahiṣāsura, and Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa
from the Devīmāhātmya. The kuṇḍalinī system of
cakras/ādhāras (subtle energy centers) grouped
into the three kūṭas (sections), with the corre-
sponding granthis (knots) is also introduced (see
→ Yoga).
Another popular Stotra widely used devotion-
ally is the Saundaryalaharī (The Wave of Beauty).
While containing devotional expositions on the
oneness of Śiva and Śakti and descriptive passages
on the physical beauty of the goddess, the text also
encodes technical information on śrīcakra ritual
and internal worship. The first part of the text is
known as the Ānandalaharī (The Wave of Bliss)
and is considered to be the essence of the hymn
(Brown, 1958, 1). In highly poetic and evocative
 Śrīvidyā
language, the many facets of → śakti, the femi-
nine divine energy, are carefully laid out, and the
goddess’s mystic union with Śiva, who cannot
accomplish anything without her, is described:
śivaḥ śaktyā yukto yadi bhavati śaktaḥ pra-
bhavitum
na ced evam devo na khalu kuśalaḥ spanditum
api
atas tvām ārādhyāṃ hariharaviriñcādibhir api
praṇantuṃ stotuṃ vā katham akṛtapuṇ yaḥ
prabhavati (SauLa. 1)
If Śiva is joined with Śakti, only then there can
be lordship,
but if not – the Lord himself can hardly stir.
When you are worshipped even by Hari, Hara,
Brahmā, and others,
how can one without merit bow to you or praise
you? (trans. by author)
Ānandalaharī contains many “technicalities of
this originally Kaula system,” with which “many
late South and East Indian commentators, such
as Kaivalyāśrama, Ānandagiri, Gaurīkāntanta
Sārvabhauma, Narasiṃ ha and Lakṣmīdhara,
are fully conversant” (Sanderson, 2002, 23n24).
The second part of the Stotra, often called the
Saundaryalaharī, extols the beauty of the god-
dess, each metaphor carefully crafted to fol-
low her detailed physical description from
head to toe. The text concludes with “the poet’s
prayer that he may receive Devī’s grace, have
the vision of her supernal form, achieve self-
realization, and savor the sweetness of supreme
brahman . . . which she is” (Brown, 1958, 1). The
Saundaryalaharī is attributed by tradition to
Śaṅkara, who is usually dated to the 8th century –
however, the text must have been composed sig-
nificantly later (for a summary of the scholarship
on the authorship and dating, see Brown, 58,
25–30).
Practices
In the literature overview above, we have already
outlined some of the Śrīvidyā practices, which
are similar to other tantric traditions, as well as
the content of the practices unique to Śrīvidyā. A
detailed exposition of Śrīvidyā ritual and theology
is of course outside the scope of this article (for a
discussion of tantric ritual, see Sanderson 1995;
for a discussion of the worship of Tripurasundarī
821
according to hādimata in the works of the
13th-century Śivānanda, see Khanna, 1986; and
for the analysis of Śrīvidyā ritual, see Brooks,
1992). Standard tantric practices, as they are pre-
served in the contemporary tradition, include
dhyāna (meditation, visualization), pūjā (ritual
worship), tarpaṇ a (offering of libations), nyāsa
(installing the divinity in the body of the ritual-
ist), homa (offering oblations into the fire), japa
(mantra repetition), and mudrā (ritual gestures).
From the earliest texts, the worship of
Tripurasundarī has been described as tripartite,
that is, centered on pūjā, mantra, and cakra (e.g.
YHṛ. 1.6). These three types of worship corre-
spond to the three forms of the goddess, which
are her physical form (sthūlarūpa; represented in
anthropomorphic images), her subtle (sūkṣma)
or mantra form, and her transcendent, supreme
(parā) form, worshipped in the śrīyantra, or the
śrīcakra, a two- or three-dimensional aniconic
representation of Tripurasundarī (Brooks, 1992,
xviii; see also Dempsey, 2006, 53). The geometri-
cal design of the śrīcakra is formed by the bindu
(dot) in the middle of the nine intersecting trian-
gles, surrounded by two concentric rows of lotus
petals and a threefold circle within an enclosure
with four gates (see → maṇ ḍ alas and yantras).
The principal mantra of the tradition is the
pañcadaśākṣarī (a 15-syllabled mantra) or
ṣoḍaśākṣarī (a mantra of 16 syllables, formed
from the pañcadaśākṣarī; see Brooks, 1992, 90, for
the details of the extraction of the mūlamantra).
A variant of the 15-syllabled mantra is already
articulated in a coded form in Śrīvidyā’s earli-
est extant Sanskrit text, the Vāmakeśvarīmata
(1.93–101), and kādividyā, just as it has been
preserved in the contemporary tradition – in the
Tamil Tirumantiram (see Brooks, 1992, 31). The
ṣoḍaśākṣarī appears to have been a later addition.
The contemporary tradition refers to the 16-
syllabledmantraasthelaghuṣoḍaśīanditsexpanded
form as the mahāṣoḍaśī (see Brooks, 1992, 108,
for a variant of the latter). The bālāmantra, a nine-
syllabled mantra of the goddess as a nine-year-
old girl, is also used. From its earliest attestation,
the mūlavidyā has been presented as threefold;
its 15 syllables divided into three groups. These
groups are identified in the Vāmakēśvarīmata
as vāgbhava, kāmarāja, and śakti (VāMā.
1.94–101). Each of the three stages has a corre-
sponding syllable (VāMā. 1.82–85). Together
these three syllables are considered to be the
822 Śrīvidyā
contracted form of the mūlavidyā. It is these
syllables that form the bālāmantra and are the
most basic form of initiation into Śrīvidyā at pres-
ent day.
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Anna Golovkova