CLASES DE METADATOS

"Srotas" is the term generally used to refer to the major groupings of the scriptures of the Saivagamas when fitted into a pattern of directional

contrasts. Similarly, the term "amnaya" is used to denote distinct groups of scriptures within the Kulagama, each consisting of Tantras that share a common affiliation to a single tradition and said to have originated from a fixed direction. Our best example is the Pascimamnaya itself - the 'Western Tradition'. The amnaya system of classification did not include all the Kaulatantras. We are told in the texts of the existence of many Kula

'amnayas 'in the sense of 'traditions' or 'schools' without this implying that

they belong to any systematic classification. It is in this broad, generic sense that we occasionally come across this term in the Siddhantagama.74

Indeed "Kulamnaya"'is a common way of referring to the Kulatantrasas a whole; it is synonymous, in other words, with "Kulasastra"or "Kula-

sasana"in general.75

The amnaya system of classification is nowhere discussed by Abhinavagupta. This fact seems, at first sight, to indicate that the classification of Kulatantras (or at least of a part of them) as groups belonging to fixed directions (on the analogy of the Siddhanta classifi­ cation) was a late development. Thus Tantras such as the Bhairavakula or

Nisisamcara which thought of themselves as being Trika,76 divided the Saivagama into three main groups: Siddhanta, Varna and Daksina while distinguishing these from Kula and Kaula of which Trika was considered to be the culmination. They do not refer to the amnaya classification and so, presumably following their lead, neither does Abhinavagupta. Perhaps, therefore, we should not immediately assume that the amnaya classification postdates Abhinavagupta. Indeed, there is positive evidence which leads one to suppose that it did not. The KMT, which is generally considered to be the oldest recovered work of the Pascimamnaya77,

postdates the Siddhayogesvarimata to which it refers specifically as the Tantra where the goddess Siddhayogesvari is exalted.78 Even so, as one of the sixty-four Tantras listed in the NSA, it can certainly be claimed to be prior to the ninth century (see above p. 48). Moreover, as noted above, Abhinavagupta himself refers to the KMT79 while it specifically considers itself to be "the Path of the Pascimamnaya"80 and also knows of the

Uttara- and Daksina-amnayas which it respects as teaching valid

doctrines.81 It seems also, in one place at least, to refer to the

Purvamnaya82 Nor is it justifiable to suppose that this classification is

peculiar to the Tantras of the Kubjika school as we shall see in the following exposition of the amnayas.

Amnayas of the Kaulatantras 67

The Amnayas of the Kaulatantras

The division into amnayas seems to have been originally into four, with each amnaya symbolically set in one of the four directions. We have seen that the KMT knows only of four. The Yogakhanda of the MBT also refers to only four amnayas where they have a more tangible identity.83 They are represented as corresponding to the four Ages (yuga), with the

Pascimamnaya as that which is most fit for the present Kali Age.84 In the Sat SS the amnayas are said in various places to be either five, six or even seven. The five-amnaya division is equated with the five vital breaths in such a way that the Pascimamnaya corresponds to the Pervasive Breath

(vyana), the experience of which is the universal pervasion of conscious­

ness to which the teaching leads.85 The division into five amnayas (formed by adding an upper one to the original four) is at times represented as spoken by the five faces of Sadasiva, following the basic Siddhanta pattern. The six-fold scheme can be formed by adding a sixth upper current "beyond the upper" (urdhvordhva), although a division into six is also possible by adding a lower current, an example of which we have already noted in relation to the five-fold Siddhanta pattern with Kula as the sixth.86 The former alternative is found in Trikatantras like the

Bhargasikha where Trika is located above the Upper Face which is that

of Isana,87

The four-fold division appears to be the oldest. This supposition is confirmed by the Kularnavatantra which characterizes the secret of the "secrets more secret than secret" (rahasyatirahasya) of its own Kaula doctrines as an upper-amnoya88 situated above the four amnayas to which the many Kaula traditions belong that are "known to many."89 These five are here said to be spoken by Siva. The Samketapaddhati, an early'Kaula text,90 refers to just four amnayas.91 A four-fold division which, as in the

Samketapaddhati, is equated with four metaphysical moments in the

dynamics of ultimate reality, represented as aspects of the power Speech

(bharatisakti) which issues from the four faces of the "beginningless

Mother" - Mahavidya, is found in Amrtananda's Saubhagyasudhodaya which he quotes in his commentary on the Yoginihrdaya.92

An account of the spirituality and history of the four amnayas, from the Pascimamnaya point of view, is recorded in a short but interesting work called the Cineinimatasarasamuccaya. All the manuscripts of this text located up to now are found in Nepal.93 The CMSS claims that it

belongs to the Divyaugha and is a compendium or essence of the Supreme Kaula doctrine of the Siddha tradition.94 It also implicitly identifies itself with a type of Tantric work common in the earlier period (i.e., prior to the

68 THE KAULA TANTRAS

eleventh century), namely, a Sarasastra, by referring to a number of other Tantras of this type in its introductory section,95 while affirming that it presents the essence (sara) of the Kubjikamata. The four amnayas (here variously called vesman grha or ghara)96 are presented as originating

from the Pascimamnaya which is the "Source Tradition" (janmamnaya) that possesses them all.97 Similarly, the MBT also says of it that it clearly manifests the four amnayas, the knowledge of which gives rise to the Divine Tradition (divyamnaya) and so is the highest of them.98 The

Pascimamnaya is where all the sequences of inner mystical states of the

other three amnayas, once abandoned and transcended, ultimately merge.99 As such, it is equated with the pure thought-free consciousness of the Sambhava state - Siva's inner experience of himself which pervades all the Kaula traditions. Thus, because it is also essentially Saiva,100 it is their ultimate goal, embracing as it does both Kula and Akula - Sakti and Siva.101 So, pure in all respects, and free of both virtue and vice (dharma and adharma), the Pascimamnaya is above all the other amnayas.102

Let us see then what the CMSS has to say about the Purva, Daksina and Uttara amnaya, after which we shall present our analysis of its views, to conclude with a short account of the Pascimamnaya.

The Amnaya Classification and the Four Amnayas