mahAdevI-vyAkaraNa

(Source: https://threader.app/thread/1464492897059885058)

Sometime before the 800s a shAkta text under a tAthAgatan garb known as the Arya-shrI-mahAdevI-vyAkaraNa was transmitted to the Tibetans. In it the cosmic buddha of sukhAvatI vyUha declared that the H goddess mahAdevI would become a future buddha & called upon the saMgha & others to worship her with a 108 names.

One has to ask if it was a missionary ploy on part of the bauddha-s to appropriate mahAdevI or whether they simply could not avoid the growing H influence and had to simply accommodate it saying it was being sanctioned by the cosmic buddha.

A version of the text in Sanskrit is found in the famous Gilgit manuscripts & was already present by the gupta. Along with the bauddha material the Gilgit manuscripts also contains a fragment of the shaiva tumburu-chaturbhaginI tantra; we shall touch upon that later. The mahAdevI-aShTottara-shata-nAmAni are also found in the above noted complete Tibetan text; a chIna translation& a Mongol one (probably derived from Tibetan). In the text the cosmic buddha tells the bodhisattva avalokiteshvara that recitation of the names of mahAdevI explicitly aid a v2 to counter epidemics in his kingdom along with the silencing of robbers & rogues.

One of the names is aShTa-grahAShTaviMshati-nakShatra-shrI.+++(5)+++ By gupta age the navagraha, 27 nakShatra system was standard among H. Hence, this appears like a sign of the saugata anxiety to sound different.+++(4)+++

Following the recitation of the names, the buddha recommends a series of mantras- for fire offerings including: chatur-veda-nakShatra-graha-gaNAdi-mUrtyai svAhA | The reference to the shruti transparently points to a H origin but the grouping of the veda-s with nakShatra-s & graha-s is again an odd one suggesting a bauddha rework.+++(4)+++

The final offering is made with sarva-kR^ityA-kakkhoDa-vinAshanyai svāhā | The second pada is a variant of khArkhoDa, the ghost prayoga first seen in charaka’s medical saMhitA.