Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Adya
Adya
Here is a translation of the Tantrik Hymn to Kali from the Mahanirvana Tantra, which
illustrates how many aspects of the Goddess are combined in the Indian imagination. They
hymn itself is called "the own form of the Supreme Goddess of Time". Every description
begins with the letter K, the Goddess's own seed sound, but it is impossible to reproduce
this effect in English. The hymn begins and ends with three great mantras.
HRIM [a mantra combining the sounds that evoke Lord Siva (H), fire (R), the great Weaver
of illusory worlds (I), the sounds which generates all others (M), and the ungraspable
ultimate point] O conqueror of Time: SRIM [the mantra of the Goddess-form of Good
Fortune] O tremendous one: KRIM, O Kind giver of peace, gifted with all the arts [You are]
the lotus-flower smashing the pride of this degenerate age; devoted to [Siva] which the
matted hair, devourer of that Devouring Time, you are bright as the fires that consume the
Universe. Wife of [Siva] with the matted hair, your teeth are fangs, but you are [also] the
nectar-ocean of compassion; your whole nature is compassion, compassion without limit,
compassion that gives access to yourself. You are fire, female deity of flame; your black
body increases the bliss of the Black Lord [Krisna], and as the very form of Desire you
liberate from the bonds of desire. Like a bank of cloud you sustain all the female energies
of the Universe, and blot out the evil of our degenerate age; pleased by the worship of
girls, you are the refuge of those who worship them, and take delight in the sweet offerings
they are given [in shell baskets, when the soles of their fee have been painted pink]. You
wander in the Kadamba forest [as the Gopis whom lord Krisna loved] and enjoy the
[brilliant yellow] flowers of the Dadamba trees [that surround the place of gems] in which
you live, wearing Kadamba flowers [over your years]. You are young, deep-throated with a
voice that resounds [with the battle mantra]. Excited with Kadamba-flower wine, drinking
from a skull and wearing a garland of bones, you delight to sit on the lotus [emblem of the
unfolding worlds] at the center of which you belong, intoxicated with the lotus-fragrance.
You move swaying like a swan, destroying all fear. Formed as Desire, you live in the place
of [sexual] Desire and play there as [Kundalini in the Muladhara cakra]. You are the
creeper whose fruit satisfies every wish, hung with those [fruits which are] rich ornaments.
Adorable image [and evocation] of tenderness, you r body is delicate and small-belied.
You take pleasure in the nectar of pure wine, and give success to those who [in the Tantrik
ritual] enjoy this wine [whose name also means the Ultimate Cause of every effect]. You
are the chosen one of those who perform japa when high on causality-wine, pleased when
it is used in the worship, immersed in this wine-ocean, you protect those who perform
rituals with wine. The fragrance of musk gladdens you, your forehead is marked with its
[saffron yellow]; used in puja musk excites you, and you love those, who worship you with
it. You are a mother to those who burn musk-incense; you love musk deer and swallow
with pleasure their [aphrodisiac] musk. The scent of [another aphrodisiac] camphor
gladdens you, and you wear garlands made of it; your body is all smeared with paste of
camphor and [fragrant] sandalwood [powder]. You relish wine flavored with camphor, you
bathe in an ocean of camphor, and it is your natural home. You are pleased at recitation of
the powerful mantra HUM, which you yourself utter [when conquering demons]. Lady of
[noble] Kula family, Kula-Tantrikas adore you, and you reward them, you follow the Kula
path yourself, and eagerly point out the path to its followers. Queen of Siva’s sacred city
[Banaras], soother of suffering, you give Siva what he chooses, give him delight, and
overwhelm his mind with pleasure. The bell-rings on your toes jingle as you move, and you
wear a belt of tinkling bells. You live on the Golden Mountain Meru, and you are the
moonbeam that shines upon it. You are enthralled by recitation of the mantra [of sexual
union] KLIM, for it is your own self. You abolish all the evil intentions and the afflictions of
Kula-Tantrikas. Lady of the Kulas, you destroy the fear of death with these three mantras
KRIM HRIM SRIM.