आगमे विश्वासटिप्पन्यः

(Jayākhyasaṃhitā, chapter 14)

The use of a rosary or string of beads (akṣamālā, akṣasūtra) as a means for keeping count of a repeated incantation or prayer is very usual in Hinduism as well as in Buddhism. Most of the texts concerning the ritual recitation of a mantra, japa, that is – be they purāṇas, tantras or manuals of ritual – include passages on how to use a rosary, and how to assemble or to dispose of it. As is to be expected, such instructions are specially numerous and detailed in Tantric works.

One such text is the Jayākhyasaṃhitā (JS) of the Vaiṣṇava Pāñcarātra, which is one of the ‘Three Jewels’, ratnatraya (with the Pauṣkāra- and the Sātvata-saṃhitā), of the Pāñcarātra: one of the most authoritative of such works. The JS is also one of the earliest samhitās since some of its passages are quoted by Utpalavaiṣṇava, in Kashmir, in the tenth century. As far as one can know or imagine, it originates, if not from Kashmir, at least most probably from the north-western part of India. Like all Pāñcarātra saṃhitās, it deals with a great variety of topics, several of its chapters concerning mantras: chapter 11 is on mantranyāsa, 14 on japa, 19 on the signs showing the mastery over mantras, chapters 26 to 29 on the rites to be performed after initiation by the initiate so as to master and make use of the mantra he has received (mantrasādhana). The ninety-five ślokas of chapter 14 are on japa, the ritual recitation of mantras (japavidhānam). Of these we shall leave aside those concerning such common rules as, for instance, the three sorts of japa, or the times and places when and where to perform it, and concentrate on the ślokas dealing with the rosary itself, insisting especially on such prescriptions as appear to be proper to this saṃhitā. As we shall see, these prescriptions bring together, in a very typically Indian Tantric way, ritual rules, yoga practices and metaphysical notions.

The chapter begins (śl. 5b-27) by saying how to prepare and put together a rosary: how to make the string, how to chose and assemble the beads. This is to be done by the user of the rosary (who is in principle an initiate2). It is not a mere technical operation, but a ritual process implicating personally the owner-user of this object. It is the initial, inaugurating, portion of the japa. The point in this case is not merely to acquire a ritual object for religious use, but to create and fashion it with reference to the use it will be put to, both as an object made up of certain materials and, more importantly, as an instrument charged with divine power, an image as it were of the deity whose japa the user will accomplish with it and which will thus help him to gain the fruits he is looking for.3

The beads of the rosary (which the JS calls maṇi, jewels, even when they are made of some ordinary material) are first, as is always the case in such texts, classified as being of three sorts: superior, middling and inferior. A classification, of a general order it seems, distinguishes between three sorts of vegetal seeds (śl. 5–6), the best being akṣa (rudrākṣa, that is), the middling ones are made of myrobalan fruits, dhātrī, the less good are jujube stones (badara).4 Another distinction is made by reference to the uses the rosary will be put to, in which case one distinguishes between different metals: gold to obtain riches, prosperity or beauty; copper for power of thought or sovereignty; lead or brass if to master several sorts of beings or demons, or to operate in hells. The lowest sort of rosary is made of iron. It is to be used for so-called inferior or bad rites (kṣudrakarmāṇi), that is, black magic, or sorcery. We may note that liberation (mokṣa) is not mentioned here among the aims of japa. It is quoted further on (śl. 13–46) in connection with the material of the beads: those in precious stones and of coral give long life, health, riches, happiness (and can be used in all rites); those made of crystal give liberation – which is therefore not associated with the most precious material. Crystal, however, usually symbolises the clarity of a pure being or that of a peaceful mind. Here as in many other cases in Tantra (see note 2) liberation appears as being not quite on the same level as the other, interested, aims that an adept may pursue – a fact that is not entirely surprising insofar as the normal addressee of a tantra is a sādhaka, that is, a bhubukṣu, not a mumukṣu.5

The JS does not merely mention the different sorts of beads (a matter on which other texts are more explicit). It describes how the rosary is to be ritually put together, then the rites which make it ready for use and cause the user to become apt and worthy to use it fruitfully.

The beads must all be of the same sort and the same size. They must first be washed free of all impurity (kṣalayet) with scented water and the Astra mantra, OṂ HAḤ Astrāya PHAṬ., the mantra having as much (or even more than) a purifying effect as water.6 The string (sūtra) is made by carefully twisting together three cotton or hemp threads, and it is then ‘washed’ in the same way as the beads (śl. 19b-20). All the constitutive parts of the rosary are thus submitted to the purifying action of water and of mantras.

The beads once threaded (not freely, but following strict rules), the two ends of the string are knotted together an additional bead being included in the knot. This is a very important point, for this bead, called Meru – thus evoking Mount Meru, the axis mundi – marks the limit of all recitations of the rosary, being thus both its two extreme and its central point. The recitation abuts (being then briefly interrupted) against this bead which must never be overstepped (see infra. p. 86).

The rosary thus constituted must be anointed with sandal paste, placed in a pure vessel and honoured with ‘flowers, incense, and so forth’, then a purification (śuddhi) is to be performed: ‘One must conceive it as being burned by the Astra[mantra], fanned by the Varma[mantra], then bathed by the mūlamantra as made of supreme ambrosia.’7 Here too the ritual operations are deemed to be effected by mantras: mantras are the main element of Tantric Hindu ritual, which is a universe where one ‘does things with words’ (to use J.L. Austin’s phrase). ‘The rosary once thus purified’, the JS adds, ‘it is to be conceived as a body’ (śaṃśodhyaivaṃ purā sūtraṃ dehavac cintayet tataḥ – śl. 30a). This is to say that the adept must imagine (smaret) it as ‘having four arms, being free from impurities, beyond compare like Nārāyaṇa, one hand making the gesture of granting wishes, the other that of fearlessness, [the two other hands] being joined in salutation’; after which the adept is to imagine this rosary as being ‘like a flame on the door of Brahmā (that is, on the top of the head) of this [divine body]’.8

The JS then discloses the mantra of the rosary (akṣasūtramantra), which is not the mantra to be recited with the help of the rosary but the mantra of the rosary, the formula which embodies its essence and is used to worship it. The process here is indeed the same as that of the mental worship of a deity, whose aspect is to be imagined by the worshipper, who has a mantra, and is invoked, made present in the cult icon and then ritually worshipped: these successive parts of the Tantric pūjā we shall see here being acted out for the rosary.9

Śl. 32b-34a give the uddhāra,10 the extraction, the word content, that is, of the akṣasūtramantra, which runs: OṂ kaustubha trailokeśvaryada gopanākṣasūtrāya- namaḥ, a formula in praise of the rosary, seen as a divine jewel (kaustubha), which protects and gives sovereignty over the three worlds.11 The rosary being considered as a deity has anthropomorphic features, hence the ritual process of sakalīkaraṇa now prescribed, which consists in placing on the different parts of the rosary’s ‘body’ and ‘hands’ ancillary mantras of the main mantra representing its different ‘parts’ (its aṅgas: hr̥daya, śiras, śikha, varman, netra and astra12), its powers, that is. Then a pūjā is to be performed: a brief worship, apparently, immediately followed by another, mental, worship, which is a complex yogico-spiritual practice where the mentally produced image of the divine power present in the rosary is to be seen and felt by the officiating adept as present in his body, as illuminating the place where he stays, and is finally imagined as being transferred from the adept to the rosary, all this being produced by that particular form of intense identifying mental concentration called bhāvanā.13 The passage is as follows:

This supreme Power of Viṣṇu, inseparable from the supreme Self, shining like the full moon moving in the sky, surrounded like the sun by rays, increased in power by the energy of the fire that destroys the cosmic cycles, must be invoked as before together with the inspired breath (pūrakena) in the order of emanation14 as situated in the lotus of the heart. Then, the breath being held (kumbhakena), O Best of Brahmins, it is to be kept [there]. One must then invoke her, staying in the lotus of the heart as before, as [going] upwards up to the brahmarandhra, whence, progressively, by the central channel, she will reach the dvādaśānta, this being done whilst breathing out (recakena yogena). The rosary is to be meditated with this [Power].15

The adept is now to imagine ‘the place of the sacrifice [that is, the place where he practises the japa] as illuminated by the rosary as the sky by the full moon’. This imaginary vision is to be pursued as follows:

He must then think that the King of mantras [which is probably Visṇu’s mūlamantra OṂ KṢĪṂ KṢĪḤ namaḥ nārāyaṇāya viṣvātmane HRĪṂ svāhā], which is partless (niṣkalā) though inseparable from all the [other] mantras, as being immersed in this [rosary], and meditate the Power of the Lord whose nature is the same as that of the mantra, as well as the phonemes of the mantra of the rosary as identical with it, for they are [inseparably mixed up] like water and milk. Then, taking hold of the rosary by its ‘back’16 with his two hands joined and holding flowers (puṣpāñjalau), the twice born17 must imagine that the [mūla]mantra – which is both one and made up of its constituent parts (sakalaniṣkala) – falls, following the same process as the creation of the cosmos (sr̥ṣṭikrameṇa), on the ‘back’ of the rosary made perfect (susaṃskr̥ta) [by the preceding rites], and that, reaching it, [the mantra] on the rosary will loose its strength like a shower of sparks [flying from a fire].18

This mental visualisation where Viṣṇu’s energy, which is mantra (mantrātmā) in the sense both of the basic mantra (mūlamantra) of the deity and of the original Word (source and essence of all mantras, therefore both one and infinitely diverse) is imagined falling like a shower of sparks on the rosary so as, as it were, to pervade it with its power and reinforce the ‘mantrisation’ of the rosary, identifying it with the Word, the Energy (śakti) of Viṣṇu. The adept is now to address the God, saying: ‘O Acyuta! [You who are here] in the shape of the rosary, give [it] to me.’ He imagines thus that the rosary is given to him by Acyuta so as to perform the japa of the mantra. He takes it again by its ‘head’, saying ‘Be me favourable’.19 The adept is thus deemed to have received from the deity the rosary he has in fact made up himself, but which, being henceforth pervaded by mantras and by the energy of the deity, is an image, an aspect or form of that deity. For a bhākta, a true devotee, everything he receives comes from his god.

The deity, however, has until now only been invoked, which is necessary but not sufficient. It is also necessary that, being present, Viṣṇu/Acyuta should also be favourably inclined towards his devotee and therefore ready to listen to him and answer his prayer. The preliminary rites of the Tantric pūjā (āvahana, sthāpana, etc.) are now to be performed. That such rites should now to be performed is quite normal since the rosary is treated as an icon.

The JS says:

The rosary having been received, it must be installed. Then, having worshipped it with the water from the arghyapātra, with flowers and with incense, one must place on it [the mantra] with all it contains and all that accompanies it, [considering it as] surrounded by all the powers, [and saying] ‘O Acyuta! Master of all gods! Be thou present and remain in this ensemble of beads named rosary until moon and sun pass away.20

The adept is now to show the so-called gesture of the rosary (akṣasūtramudrā) which consists in touching with the thumb, in a particular order, the phalanxes of the right hand. This mudrā, which is in fact the gesture by which one usually keeps count of the recited japa formula – the so-called karamālā, ‘hand-rosary’ – can be seen as a kind of outward, visible, confirmation of the ritual process just performed. The JS underlines the significance of this gesture by saying that this mudrā is nityasannidhikāriṇī: making the deity constantly present. Sannidhi or sannidhāna is, as we have seen, one of the four rites always associated with the creation of a cult icon – which is precisely the case of the rosary.

‘Then, one must begin the japa, which must not be seen by other people’ (japaṃ samārabhet paścād adr̥ṣya itarair janaiḥ), says JS śl. 52a. The JS, however, does not immediately start describing the japa. Two other mental acts are to take place first. One consists of concentrating one’s attention (anusamdhāna) on the five states of consciousness (avasthā). The other is an intense identifying meditation (bhāvanā) of the mantra, felt as present in the adept as well as in the rosary. The aim of these two actions is to give to the japa a deeper significance and intent: not merely that of a devotional concentration on the deity, but, more intensely, that of an intuitive intellectual apprehension of the meaning and import of the speech act of the japa in an universe born from the divine Consciousness whose highest plane is vāc, the Word, and which is entirely pervaded by vāc. There is a correspondence between the five planes of individual consciousness (avasthā) (from waking (jāgrat) to the fifth plane (turyātīta), the plane of fusion in the absolute), the five levels of cosmic consciousness and the levels or planes of the Word. Grasping the essence of the mantra to be recited in japa is thus grasping the transcendent and immanent deity of which the mantra is the vācaka: this occurs on the fifth and supreme level which pervades and sustains the four others. Below is this passage of the JS:

One must first realise by meditation (bhāvayet) that the senses, the word and the mind are caused to be by Viṣṇu, the supreme Self, in the form of energy (śaktirūpeṇa), through mantra (mantreṇa). What is in thought, where the object is present, goes to speech, consciousness being thus associated with the object, speech coming third, O Narada! This evolutionary process reaches progressively the plane of action. This is how the mantra evolves (vivartate) progressively from the fourth plane of consciousness (turya) to that of waking (jāgrat21), after which, O Brahmin! it goes through the same stages in the reverse order. The nature (svarūpa) of the senses is that of vāc whose nature is that of consciousness (cidrūpiṇī). What is thought (citta) becomes mantra, which becomes the Unborn, Hari. This supreme Brahman is omnipresent (vyāpaka) and the śakti is that of Nārāyaṇa. She indeed, by transforming herself (pariṇamena), reaches the plane called fourth (turya), which becomes deep sleep (suṣupti), which becomes dream (svapna), which becomes waking (jāgrat), which in turn will be the first of the four planes. [All these planes] must be mentally evoked (smaret)22 [from jāgrat] up to the [plane of] the energy of the Lord as being all together and forming one whole. O Brahmin! all that one sees in this world, ephemeral [variegated but unsubstantial], like a painting, this external phenomenal field, is what is called waking. The [equally] ephemeral but always superior to the preceding one, transitory, like a dream, is the state of dream which is the cause of [the state of] waking. Know that the perfectly peaceful state of deep sleep is superior to that of dream. To attain the energy form of Viṣṇu is to enter the fourth state. When one identifies oneself with this, this is called the state beyond the fourth (turyātītam). One must thus realise with one-pointed attention (anusaṃ dhayet) that the supreme mantra which is above all mantras and that the two [conditions] subtle and gross, as well as the fifth state, of the ātman, are but one. This one-pointed attention once attained, the japa is then to begin.23

Then a bhāvanā is to take place through which the adept, thanks to the intensity of his mental effort, identifies himself with the images he causes to appear and perceives mentally as present in his body:

The supreme Lord, resplendent, of crystal purity, abiding in the centre of the lotus of the heart, shines forth by his own luminous power (svatejasā). His great Energy made of sound (śabdamayīśakti) flows like fire, and the pure succession of the phonemes which is hers and of the same nature as Her comes forth engendering the mantras. From Her is born the King of mantras, sprouting out of Her like the flower of a creeper, O Best of Munis! This is how one must realise (smaret) how the mantra appears in the rosary. Then, it must be dissolved again in the heart. Such is [the bhāvanā] of the only Lord of the mantra appearing inside and outside.24

This meditative practice strengthens the link between the adept and the deity he will worship whilst reciting his rosary since he experiments visually the deity and its mantra as present in his heart, from where he instils them in the rosary and then takes them back into himself. This process is parallel to that of the ritual worship (pūjā) of a deity performed with an icon (mūrti, bimba) where the deity is first to be imagined and felt as present in the heart of the officiating person, who will transfer it mentally, with the proper rites, into the cult icon or on a maṇḋala, which, vitalised, animated by the divine presence thus instilled in it, will be ready to be used for the ritual worship25 at the end of which the officiant will take back the deity into himself. Such a practice has the effect of bringing about an intensely experienced participation of the officiating person in the rite he performs. The JS underlines the union thus brought about between the reciter of the mantra and the deity: it is in a state of mental union or identification with Viṣṇu that the beads are to be told one after the other: viṣṇuvad yogam āsr̥tya akṣam akṣaṃ samāharet (śl. 71b).

The japa itself can now be performed. It consists of 100,000 repetitions of the mantra (śl. 69) – which implies that it lasts several days, or weeks. The beads are to be counted carefully (prayatnāt), for it is by concentrating on this action that the prescribed aim of union with Viṣṇu is attained. Each repetition of the mantra, on each bead, is to be done together with the movement of the breath (prāṇodayenaiva). An important point, too, is that the count of the beads should not overstep the central ‘Meru’ bead: one must go round it (pradakṣiṇaṃ kuryāt) because this bead is the ‘body’ (mūrti) of the formless mantra (niṣkalasya mantrasya) – it is ‘the bead-form of the pure omnipresent supreme Soul’.26 A different aspect of the ritual performance of the japa is then mentioned: the JS, śl. 76b–78a, says now that the adept is to have different imaginary perceptions of his rosary according to the different results aimed at when he performs the japa. If the japa is made to appease (śāntika), the rosary is to be imagined as translucent like a pure crystal; if the aim is to gain riches (pauṣṭika), it is imagined as yellow; if to dominate others (vaśya), it is to be seen as red like the kiṃśuka flower; for attracting others (ākarṣaṇa) it will be orange like the nr̥paśaila; black in the case of māraṇa, that is to kill or destroy; blue like the wing of a jay when practised for causing discord (vidveśa); and dark grey when used for driving away (uccāṭana). These actions for which a japa can be performed are a variant of the group of magical acts described in many tantras as the ‘six acts’ (ṣaṭkarmāṇi) of magic, their number being usually six. They are among the usual aims of the so-called optional, kāmya, rites, that is, rites undertaken for the attainment of some benefit.27 The JS, 78b-84, then goes on to mention other such acts. It says first that there are two sorts of japa: one luminous (jyotirmaya), which is inferior (apara), and the other made of word or sound (śabdākhya, lit. ‘called word’) which is superior (para). The first one is used for such magical aims as entering in another body (paradehapraveśa) or succeeding in doing other ‘cruel’ ritual acts (krūrakarmāṇi); for this the pure sound of the recited mantra is to be imagined as dissolved in light, this being done also to gain rewards or liberation (bhuktimukti) and to destroy defects and suffering. The other form of japa, said to be ‘with sound’ (saśabda), is used for the appeasing rites (śāntau), and to succeed in all one does, to obtain happiness and pleasure as well as for such actions as kindling the ritual fire (ādhāna), etc. ‘It is to be mentally perceived as Janārdhana shining like drops of water in the night. One must imagine that with one’s mantra the eternally manifest sound issues without any [articulation] effort from the lotus of the heart … The mantra thus recited gives all desired fruits.’28

One may well find it surprising that the first uses quoted here of japa, usually considered a devotional action, preceded and accompanied here by ritual and meditative practices which place it on a high and subtle metaphysical–religious plane, should be acts of magic, of black magic even – magical powers being mentioned before liberation. But Tantric texts, whether Vaiṣṇava or Śaiva, are meant first, as mentioned before (note 2), for the initiated adept, the sādhaka, who is a bubhukṣu, looking for rewards (bhukti) or powers (siddhi) to be obtained by mastering a mantra, not a mumukṣu, looking for liberation (mokṣa).

The JS 84ff. goes on to say that the mantra is to be recited whilst being carefully intent on the wished for end. This must be done going regularly from syllable to syllable, without any fault, neither too fast nor too slow, clearly uttering all words, with a concentrated mind intent on the highest thought (atyutkr̥rṣṭadhiyā). The japa, it is also said, is to be performed in the morning, at midday and in the evening, that is, at the usual times of the daily obligatory (nitya) cult.

Finally, the JS (90–95b) describes how the adept is to replace the string of the rosary when it is worn out. This is to be done according to precise ritual rules, for the rosary having been divinised, as we have seen, cannot be disposed of by simply throwing it or storing it away. Thus:

having cut the string at its ‘point of junction’ [that is, where the knot which holds the rosary is] whilst uttering the visarjana (dismissal) mantra,29 accompanied by the appropriate mudrā, O Narada! then having made a new string and having consecrated it as said [before], one is to place on it the grains as is proper. Having knotted it, the mantrin is to bathe it according to rule, then to impose on it [the mantra and so forth. This is to be done] for fear that the string of the first rosary breaks. A cult is therefore to be performed, then an offering in the fire (homa), for [the breaking of the string] causes the destruction of the [good] karman. Having taken hold of the old string, he must divide its three constitutive threads, and, having knotted them around a stone he must throw it in deep water uttering Viṣvakṣeṇa’s30 mantra, and, having made an offering, he is to invoke Hari whilst [reciting] seven times the mūlamantra, O Best of Brahmins! with a fully concentrated mind.31

It thus appears that from the time one assembles the constituent parts of the rosary to the time one disposes of them, the rosary is the constant object of complex ritual actions. This is because, for its user, who for such texts as the JS is a sādhaka, the akṣamālā is less an instrument of devotion than a means to put into action the power of the Word and use it for specific ends. Such ends can be reached only through a thorough and minutely organised ‘mise en scène’ with an intense bodily and mental participation of the mantrin in the ritual process. The mere devotional use of the rosary does of course also exist, and that especially in the Pāñcarātra Vaiṣṇava context, and in such cases all ritual is transcended. But this devotional use does not interest the text we have seen, which, on the contrary, shows a characteristic case of the ritual proliferation typical of Tantric Hinduism.