Academics divided over translation of ancient Buddhist tantric text Sadhanamala is being translated from Sanskrit to a regional language - Bengali - for the first time

| | Published 09.03.19, 07:10 PM

According to modern historians, the text was originally compiled by the great Buddhist scholar Abhyakaragupta between the 11th and 12th centuries. Abhyakaragupta was associated with the Vikramasila-mahavihar of present-day Bhagalpur district in Bihar. Says Guha, “The Caryapadavalis or Charyapad is accepted as the earliest example of Bengali literature. Its commentary begins with a salutation to Goddess Vajrayogini. Now, who is Vajrayogini? To know about her we must refer to the Sadhanamala. Therefore, it is necessary to translate the text into Bengali to know the Buddhist tantric tradition of early Bengal, which may also help render the socio-cultural scenario of that time.”

Chakraborty talks about the countless metal and stone figures and paintings of Buddhist deities belonging to the early-medieval era that have been discovered from the Indian subcontinent — Gangarampur and Mogalmari in Bengal, Vikrampur of Dhaka, Dinajpur in Bangladesh, Jolaibari in Tripura, Telhara (near Nalanda) in Bihar and Suryapahar in Assam are some such places.


Priyanku Chakraborty is engrossed. He is examining a four-inch figurine. When he looks up from it, the research fellow in Buddhist Studies from Calcutta’s Asiatic Society says, “This is the idol of Sadaksari-Lokesvara and embodies the compassion of all the avatars of Buddha.” He points out how the four-armed deity is seated on a double-whorled lotus. How one pair of hands is folded in greeting, and the other two hold a string of prayer beads and a lotus, respectively. “That this idol does not represent Vajrasattva, Maitreya or Manjusri or any other Buddhist deity is defined in the Sadhanamala, the text that deals with Buddhist tantric or meditative practices,” he continues. “If it was a figure of Maitreya, the deity would have been holding a Nagkesar flower; likewise, it would have had a sword had it represented Manjusri,” he adds. Chakraborty knows. After all, he is working on the translation of the Sanskrit text, Sadhanamala, into Bengali — the first such attempt in any Indian regional language, according to him. Collaborating with him is Anindya Bandhu Guha, a Comparative Literature scholar.