Le Tantra de Svayambhu, vidyapada, avec le commentaire de Sadyojyoti: Edition et traduction.

• Author: Goudriaan, Teun

The Svayambhuvasutrasamgraha (SvSS) is an alternative title for a text elsewhere known as Svayambhuvagama. It is listed as one of the 28 "classical" agamas of Saivism, but so far it has been little noticed by scholars, despite the increased effort of recent years to study and interpret the authoritative literature of Saivism. The present book is, to my knowledge, the first modern scholarly study on (part of) this text. The SvSS, at least the part edited here, is a text of good quality written in correct Sanskrit and good style. It has exerted some influence, as appears from the commentary devoted to it by Sadyojyoti, who is one of the earliest Saiva theoreticians known by name.

The book contains an introduction, a critical edition of chapters i-iii and iv. 1-7 of the vidyapada (the only part commented upon by Sadyojyoti) and the commentary, and a French translation of both text and commentary. In the introduction, Filliozat (henceforth: "the author") emphasizes that the SvSS is a piece of tantric literature. Tantric is here taken in a broad sense as opposed to vedic; like some other agamas, the text indeed calls itself a tantra. In the author's view, tantra analyzes the spontaneous process of ritual worship, just as grammar analyzes human speech. Religion, especially its ritual expression, and language are both held to be eternal, not man-made, only reproduced by human beings in repetitive succession. Both tantra and grammar reflect on these eternal processes and thus lead the adept to higher wisdom; tantra does so by insight into the "deep structure" of religious activity. This emphasis upon the "analytic" nature of tantra is, in my view, not in conformity with tantric literature as a whole, and I even doubt whether such a characterization is fitting for the vidyapadas which treat of the ideology behind Saiva ritual. Their analysis, if one may call it thus, does not so much concern the ritual itself, as rather its raison d'etre; it is presented dogmatically and vindicates theological preconceptions. Thus, the relation of vidya "wisdom; theory" and kriya "practice" is not as intimate as that between grammar and linguistic facts. As has recently been pointed out by Helene Brunner, there are many inconsistencies between Saiva ritual and the theoretical expositions by agamic authorities ("Jnana and Kriya: Relation between Theory and Practice in the Saivagamas," In Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism: Studies in Honor of Andre Padoux, ed. T. Goudriaan, pp. 1-59 [Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 1992!). The author's interest in Sanskrit grammar (of which he is a recognized authority) appears in several notes to the translation which are sensible and thought-provoking but not always directly clear to the non-initiate.

Sadyojyoti's commentary occupies the bulk of the edited text. At iv. 7, the commentator notes that the rest of the vidyapada is easy to grasp even for simple minds with the help of the guru's explanations, and therefore needs no further comment by himself. Yet modern readers who might wish to test their intelligence by studying also this further part, are disappointed because it is not contained in the present book. Nor do we get an idea from the introduction of the bulk and the composition of the whole agama or tantra; background information which is difficult to obtain elsewhere.

The edited part forms a coherent exposition. It mainly deals with the soul's unreleased state and the way which leads to its emancipation to unobscured Sivahood. Chapter one describes the three kinds of unreleased souls; the next chapter characterizes the three factors which determine the soul's infirmity, viz., mala "stain," maya "matter," and ka paratvabuddhya ca "among these (products or experiences of maya) the soul is dwelling, in the idea that (they are) exquisitely beautiful and (of) supreme (value)." The French translation, differently and to my mind wrongly: " ... avec l'idde qu' elle [the soul or maya?] est plus [?] belle et avec l'idde de sa superiorite." Also the next passage is of importance, but the discussion of this locus has already overstepped its limits. Let us note only that, while atman is masculine, the French language associates femininity with the soul ("ame").

There are also inconsistencies between the translation of certain terms in different loci. Thus, avabodha is translated "pensee" (thought) on pp. 6, 7 and 13, but "comprehension" on p. 11, and again "connaissance" (knowledge, wisdom) on p. 66. "Connaissance" is also the author's usual translation of Skt. jnana; and on p. 7, avabodha (also called bodha in the commentary) is one of the two aspects of jnana which is equated to Sakti. While dealing with such theological intricacies, methodical consequence is a translator's first concern. Another case, which also concerns the core of doctrine, is sivasayujyam in 1.18. The commentator paraphrases: sivena saha yugbhavam tulyatvam "with Siva, a connectedness, (i.e.,) equality." The French translation gives: h savoir yugbhava, l'egalite avec Siva"; but also the sayujyam in the stanza 1.18 itself is translated by 'egalite." In this way, the world of difference which exists between sayujya "intimacy," a term reminding us of bhakti, and the scholastic tulyatva "equality" is lost.

Occasionally, an opportunity to connect the text with Saiva literary tradition is missed. On p. 74 (stanza 3.2), the compound adibhava- poses a difficulty. The author translates with "en tete du bhava," interpreting the word as a tatpurusa compound (genitive relation) with inverted order of the constituents. He does not refer to the mantra of Sadyojata (Taittiriya Aranyaka 10.44), which contains the term, nor does he do so on SvSS 2.26 bhavodbhava-, which is derived from the same source. The discussions of these terms in the commentary should perhaps be regarded as pieces of exegesis of this basic mantra (one of the "five faces of Siva"). As the commentator indicates, also the reading atibhava- occurs in 3.2. The term bhava, left untranslated on p. 74, has been interpreted on p. 68 as "naissances" ("births"). In both cases, bhava is connected with pada ("domaine", respectively "demeure"), which suggests identity of meaning in both places.

Only in a very few loci does the author forget to translate a text fragment. On pp. ii-iii of the introduction, in a quotation from Patanjali the grammarian, the words naisam nivrttau yatnam kurvanti "(people) do not pay effort for their (viz., the words') realization (in daily speech)" are not translated; nor are kutas ca on p. 27, and paraparaphalapradah on p. 75, line 5. The author's use of conjunctions sometimes surprised me, and on p. 83 (line 4 from below), I would suggest "ensuite" instead of "pour cette raison" (for tatas). But in general the translation is a good and solid piece of work.

The author gives very few references to parallel texts or discussions of problems. His aim has clearly been to let the text speak for itself; but all the same it is surprising that the reader is never referred to previous treatments of Saiva theology and ritual, by Helene Brunner (her name does not occur in the bibliography); nor to other works of Sadyojyoti which might have shed light upon a few problems. Some of these works are mentioned in the introduction (pp. xx-xxi), but they are not referred to again. Most of them have recently been edited by V. V. Dviveda (in Astaprakaranam , Yogatattvagranthamala 12 [Varanasi: Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, 1988]). On p. 40 (commentary on 2.2), Sadyojyoti's Paramoksanirasakarika might have been quoted with profit (vss. 48 and 49; Dviveda, p. 299) for the argumentation against the Advaitic ideal of merger into the Supra paratvabuddhya ca "among these (products or experiences of maya) the soul is dwelling, in the idea that (they are) exquisitely beautiful and (of) supreme (value)." The French translation, differently and to my mind wrongly: " ... avec l'idde qu' elle [the soul or maya?] est plus [?] belle et avec l'idde de sa superiorite." Also the next passage is of importance, but the discussion of this locus has already overstepped its limits. Let us note only that, while atman is masculine, the French language associates femininity with the soul ("ame").

There are also inconsistencies between the translation of certain terms in different loci. Thus, avabodha is translated "pensee" (thought) on pp. 6, 7 and 13, but "comprehension" on p. 11, and again "connaissance" (knowledge, wisdom) on p. 66. "Connaissance" is also the author's usual translation of Skt. jnana; and on p. 7, avabodha (also called bodha in the commentary) is one of the two aspects of jnana which is equated to Sakti. While dealing with such theological intricacies, methodical consequence is a translator's first concern. Another case, which also concerns the core of doctrine, is sivasayujyam in 1.18. The commentator paraphrases: sivena saha yugbhavam tulyatvam "with Siva, a connectedness, (i.e.,) equality." The French translation gives: h savoir yugbhava, l'egalite avec Siva"; but also the sayujyam in the stanza 1.18 itself is translated by 'egalite." In this way, the world of difference which exists between sayujya "intimacy," a term reminding us of bhakti, and the scholastic tulyatva "equality" is lost.

Occasionally, an opportunity to connect the text with Saiva literary tradition is missed. On p. 74 (stanza 3.2), the compound adibhava- poses a difficulty. The author translates with "en tete du bhava," interpreting the word as a tatpurusa compound (genitive relation) with inverted order of the constituents. He does not refer to the mantra of Sadyojata (Taittiriya Aranyaka 10.44), which contains the term, nor does he do so on SvSS 2.26 bhavodbhava-, which is derived from the same source. The discussions of these terms in the commentary should perhaps be regarded as pieces of exegesis of this basic mantra (one of the "five faces of Siva"). As the commentator indicates, also the...