The Parakhyatantra, A Scripture of the Saiva Siddhanta.

• Position: Book review

The Parakhyatantra, A Scripture of the Saiva Siddhanta: A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation. By DOMINIC GOODALL. Collection Indologie, vol. 98. Pondicherry: INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE PONDICHERY / ECOLE FRANCAISE D'EXTRBME-ORIENT, 2004. Pp. CXXV + 669.

This first edition and translation of the Parakhyatantra constitutes a significant contribution to understanding of the early (pre-tenth c.) Saiva Siddhanta literature. The text posed particular challenges, being available only in an incomplete and poorly transmitted form in a codex unicus held in Mysore (and an apograph in two codices), plus a number of testimonia, especially from Ksemaraja's Svacchandatantroddyota. The result, representing several years' work, became Goodall's Habilitations-schrift, and now appears in revised form from Pondicherry, where he directs the center of the Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient. Both there and in the Institut francais de Pondichery, the study of Saiva Siddhanta has been a specialty since the early 1960s when French scholars collaborating with Pandit N. R. Bhatt began to bring out editions and translations of Saiva works. Goodall's tenure has seen a revival of Saiva studies there, and the almost-daily group reading sessions at the EFEO, in which European and American scholars and traditionally trained Indian pandits discuss and debate together over the fine points of Sanskrit (and Tamil) texts, have become an institution rarely to be found elsewhere. Such is the environment in which this book was prepared.

For the non-specialist, Goodall's labors yield three important benefits: a meticulously clear and idiomatic translation attentive to the text-critical problems presented by the original, an authoritative assessment of the existing literature in the field, and a concise statement of the "state of the art" of Saiva studies.

In the preface Goodall reviews earlier scholarship, noting its insufficiencies in light of recent advances in the recovery of data on the early tradition. This review leads into a summary of what has been established in the last couple of decades about the pre-twelfth-century Saiva Siddhanta. He states the "three firm proofs that a given Siddhantatantra is early": the existence of (1) early Nepalese manuscripts, (2) early commentaries, and (3) "substantial attributed quotations" in early commentaries that can be traced to a surviving tantra of the same name. By these criteria, only the Paramesvara, Nisvasa, Svayambhuva, Raurava, Kirana, and Parakhya/Saurabheya tantras from the traditional list of twenty-eight principal...