Scriptures

श्रीशिवमहापुराण

Śrī Śiva Mahāpurāṇa

One of the eighteen Mahāpurāṇas, given in the form Vyāsa received it from Sanatkumāra. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Sections

13

Chapters

234

Verses

12,440

Cited by

443

In progress — next chapter 16 Oct

श्रीश्रीकुलार्णवतन्त्रम्

Kulārṇava Tantra

The foremost Tantra of the Kaula school, given as a dialogue between Śiva and Pārvatī on Kailāsa. Seventeen ullāsas on the bondage of souls, the greatness of the Kula path, the guru, the disciple, initiation, mantra, and Kaula worship. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Sections

1

Chapters

17

Verses

2,058

Cited by

11

तन्त्रालोकः

Tantrāloka

Abhinavagupta's eleventh-century encyclopedia of Kashmir Śaiva doctrine and practice, in thirty-seven āhnikas — the means (upāya) to liberation, the levels of reality, initiation, and the rites of the Trika and Kula traditions, with Jayaratha's Viveka as its classical commentary. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Sections

1

Chapters

24

Verses

4,427

Cited by

0

In progress — next chapter 12 Oct

तन्त्रसारः

Tantrasāra

Abhinavagupta's own short digest of the Tantrāloka, in twenty-two āhnikas of plain prose with summary verses — the kinds of knowledge, the four means to liberation, the levels of reality, initiation and the daily and occasional rites, written "in straight words" for those who cannot enter the larger work. Our own translation, paragraph by paragraph.

Sections

1

Chapters

14

Verses

244

Cited by

0

In progress — next chapter 12 Oct

बृहत्तन्त्रसारः

Bṛhat Tantrasāra

Kṛṣṇānanda Āgamavāgīśa's sixteenth-century compendium of Śākta ritual from Bengal, distilled from some hundred and seventy tantras — the guru and disciple, initiation, mantra, rosary and puraścaraṇa, the daily worship and the mantras, meditations, hymns, armours and yantras of the deities, and the rites of homa, mudrā and vīra-sādhana. Our own translation, unit by unit.

Releasing 15 Oct

मन्त्रमहार्णवः

Mantra Mahārṇava

Mādhavarāya Vaidya's great ocean of mantras, gathered from some seventy tantras: forty waves in three khaṇḍas — the gods in the first, the goddesses in the second, the yakṣiṇīs, the six acts and the yantras in the third — each giving a deity's mantra with its nyāsas, meditation, yantra, puraścaraṇa, rites, armour and thousand names. Our own translation, unit by unit.

Releasing 15 Oct

श्रीविश्वकर्मप्रकाशः

Viśvakarma-prakāśa

A vāstu-śāstra given as a teaching from Śiva, handed down through Parāśara and Bṛhadratha to Viśvakarma, who declared it for the good of the world. Fourteen adhyāyas on examining land, laying out a house, doors, reservoirs, felling timber for construction, entering a new home, the marks of a fort, hidden defects in the ground, and the blemishes a building can carry. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Releasing 1 Nov

मन्त्रमहोदधिः

Mantra Mahodadhi

Mahīdhara's sixteenth-century ocean of mantras, with his own Nauka commentary: twenty-five taraṅgas covering the sādhaka's daily discipline and then, deity by deity, the mantroddhāra, nyāsas, meditation, yantra, puraścaraṇa and rites of Gaṇeśa, Kālī, Tārā, Chinnamastā, Tripurā, Bagalāmukhī, Śrī Vidyā, Hanumān, the navagrahas, Rudra and many more. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Sections

1

Chapters

1

Verses

212

Cited by

0

In progress — next chapter 1 Nov

बृहत्पाराशरहोराशास्त्रम्

Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra

The foremost classic of Vedic natal astrology, given by Sage Parāśara to his disciple Maitreya as a dialogue: ninety-seven adhyāyas on the nature of the planets and signs, the ascendant and the divisional charts, the significations of the twelve houses, the daśā systems of planetary periods, yogas, and the reading of a birth chart house by house and planet by planet. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Releasing 1 Nov

शारदातिलकतन्त्रम्

Śāradātilaka Tantra

A single sweeping compendium of mantra-śāstra in twenty-five paṭalas: it opens with the origin of sound and the letters, lays out the rites of initiation, and then moves deity by deity — Sarasvatī, Lakṣmī, the many forms of Devī, Gaṇapati, the planets, Viṣṇu and his avatāras, Śiva and his fierce forms — giving each one's mantra, dhyāna and yantra, before closing with a chapter on yoga.

Sections

1

Chapters

11

Verses

1,440

Cited by

0

In progress — next chapter 12 Oct

श्रीप्रपञ्चसारतन्त्रम्

Prapañcasāra Tantra

A tantra attributed to Śrī Śaṅkarācārya, opening with the cosmology of the mātṛkā and the tattvas and moving through mantra-śāstra for Sarasvatī, Tripurā, Bhuvaneśvarī, Lakṣmī, Durgā, Agni, Gaṇeśa, Viṣṇu, Śiva and other devatās. Our own translation, verse by verse — a work still in progress.

Sections

2

Chapters

14

Verses

1,132

Cited by

0

In progress — next chapter 12 Oct

श्रीधर्मसिन्धुः

Dharmasindhu

A working manual of dharma — the rite for the day, the exception that overrides it, and whom each applies to. It settles what the tantra corpus does not touch: which observance falls on which tithi, how a vrata is begun and broken, what a saṃskāra requires, and the deśa-kāla-gotra-nāma of the saṅkalpa that opens any of them. Our own translation, verse by verse — a work still in progress.

Sections

3

Chapters

4

Verses

126

Cited by

0

In progress — next chapter 13 Oct

श्रीनिर्णयसिन्धुः

Nirṇayasindhu

The nibandha that settles disputed practice by weighing the authorities against each other — which tithi carries an observance when two are possible, whose ruling prevails when the smṛtis disagree, and on what grounds. Where Dharmasindhu gives the answer, this gives the argument. Our own translation, verse by verse — a work still in progress.

Releasing 15 Nov

श्रीफलदीपिका

Phaladīpikā

Mantreśvara's handbook of phalita jyotiṣa — what the twelve bhāvas carry, how the grahas are dignified and afflicted, the yogas, the daśās and the reading of a chart. Terse, ordered and much quoted. Our own translation, verse by verse — a work still in progress.

Releasing 15 Nov

श्रीमुहूर्तचिन्तामणिः

Muhūrta Cintāmaṇi

Rāma Daivajña's manual of muhūrta — which tithi, nakṣatra and lagna carry each undertaking, from the saṃskāras and marriage to journeys and the building of a house. Terse, practical and the standard reference for choosing a time. Our own translation, verse by verse — a work still in progress.

Releasing 15 Nov

जातकपारिजातः

Jātaka Pārijāta

Vaidyanātha's compendium of jātaka — the rāśis and grahas, the length of life, yogas and rājayogas, the twelve bhāvas, the horoscopes of women, the kālacakra and the daśās, gathered from Garga, Parāśara and the Sārāvalī. Our own translation, verse by verse — a work still in progress.

Releasing 1 Dec

श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता

Bhagavad Gītā

Kṛṣṇa's teaching to Arjuna on the field of Kurukṣetra — duty, action without attachment, knowledge, devotion and the nature of the Self — in eighteen adhyāyas of the Bhīṣmaparvan. Our own translation, verse by verse — a work still in progress.

Sections

1

Chapters

18

Verses

701

Cited by

7

ईशावास्योपनिषत्

Īśa Upaniṣad

The shortest of the principal Upaniṣads — eighteen mantras closing the Śukla Yajurveda: the Lord dwelling in all that moves, work done without grasping, knowledge and ignorance, and the prayer to see the truth behind the golden lid. Our own translation, mantra by mantra.

Releasing 1 Dec

केनोपनिषत्

Kena Upaniṣad

The Upaniṣad of the Sāmaveda that asks "by whom?" — by whom the mind thinks, the eye sees and the breath moves — and answers that Brahman is what the senses and mind cannot reach, then tells how the gods learned it from the yakṣa and from Umā. Our own translation, mantra by mantra.

Releasing 1 Dec

श्रीदुर्गासप्तशती

Durgā Saptaśatī

The seven hundred verses of the Devī Māhātmya — the Goddess against Madhu and Kaiṭabha, Mahiṣa, and Śumbha and Niśumbha — with the kavaca, argalā, kīlaka and the other aṅgas recited around it. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Releasing 15 Dec

पातञ्जलयोगसूत्राणि

Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali

Patañjali's 195 sūtras on yoga in four pādas: what yoga is and how the mind is stilled, the eight limbs of practice, the powers that come with deep concentration, and final freedom. Our own translation, sūtra by sūtra.

Releasing 15 Dec

परशुरामकल्पसूत्रम्

Paraśurāma Kalpasūtra

The sūtra manual of Śrīvidyā worship: initiation, the rites of Gaṇeśa, Lalitā, Śyāmā, Vārāhī and Parā, the fire offering and the rules common to all of them, with the old appendix on yantras, mantras and their arrangement. Our own translation, sūtra by sūtra.

Releasing 15 Dec

मनुस्मृतिः

Manusmṛti

The Laws of Manu in twelve adhyāyas: creation, the duties of the stages of life, rites, food and purity, kingship and law, marriage and inheritance, expiation and the fruits of action. The standard text with our own translation, verse by verse; explanations report the text neutrally.

Releasing 15 Dec

श्रीमद्वाल्मीकीयरामायणम्

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa

The ādikāvya — Vālmīki's telling of Rāma's life in seven kāṇḍas, from his birth in Ayodhyā through exile, the loss and recovery of Sītā, and his reign. Our own translation, verse by verse — a work still in progress.

Releasing 1 Jan

श्रीमन्महाभारतम्

Mahābhārata

Vyāsa's great itihāsa in eighteen parvas — the story of the Kuru house, the rivalry of the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas, the war at Kurukṣetra and its aftermath, with the teachings on dharma woven through it. Our own translation, verse by verse — a work still in progress.

Releasing 1 Feb

माण्डूक्योपनिषत्

Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad

The shortest of the principal Upaniṣads, from the Atharvaveda: twelve mantras that read the syllable Om as the whole of what is, and map its sounds a, u and m onto waking, dream and deep sleep, with the silence after it as the fourth, the Self. Our own translation, mantra by mantra.

Releasing 1 Dec

कठोपनिषत्

Kaṭha Upaniṣad

The Upaniṣad of the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda in which the boy Naciketas, given away to Death by his father, waits three nights at Death's door and wins three wishes. For the third he refuses every pleasure and asks what happens to a person after death, and Death teaches him the Self that is never born and never dies. Our own translation, mantra by mantra.

Releasing 1 Dec

मुण्डकोपनिषत्

Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad

The Upaniṣad of the Atharvaveda in which the householder Śaunaka asks the sage Aṅgiras what it is that, once known, makes everything known. The answer divides knowledge into lower and higher, weighs ritual against the knowledge of the imperishable, and teaches the Self through images: the spider and its thread, the sparks from a fire, the bow of Om and the arrow of the self, the two birds on one tree, the rivers entering the sea. Our own translation, mantra by mantra.

Releasing 1 Dec

प्रश्नोपनिषत्

Praśna Upaniṣad

The Upaniṣad of the Atharvaveda in which six seekers come to the sage Pippalāda with fuel in their hands and, after a year of discipline, each asks one question: where do living beings come from, which powers hold up the body, where does the breath come from and how does it work, what sleeps and what stays awake in us, what the one who meditates on Om reaches, and where the person of sixteen parts is found. Our own translation, mantra by mantra.

Releasing 1 Dec

श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषत्

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad

The Upaniṣad of the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda that opens with a circle of seekers asking what the cause of the world is, and answers with the one God who rules all causes: known through meditation, the yoga of breath and mind, and the syllable Om; hidden in all beings as the inner Self; called Rudra, Śiva and the Lord; the master of māyā and the one to whom the seeker goes for refuge. It closes with the sage Śvetāśvatara teaching it, and with the call for devotion to God and to the teacher. Our own translation, mantra by mantra.

Releasing 1 Dec

तैत्तिरीयोपनिषत्

Taittirīya Upaniṣad

The Upaniṣad of the Black Yajurveda in three parts. The first teaches the student: how to pronounce the Veda, how to meditate on joined sounds and on the great utterances, and the parting advice a teacher gives at the end of study. The second says that the one who knows Brahman reaches the highest, traces the world back to the Self, and peels the person into five layers, from food to bliss, before measuring the bliss of Brahman. The third tells how Bhṛgu, sent back again and again by his father Varuṇa, found Brahman step by step as food, breath, mind, understanding and bliss. Our own translation, anuvāka by anuvāka.

Releasing 1 Dec

ऐतरेयोपनिषत्

Aitareya Upaniṣad

The Upaniṣad of the Ṛgveda that begins with the Self alone before anything was. The Self creates the worlds, draws out a cosmic person, and from its opened organs come the powers of nature. Those powers, troubled by hunger and thirst, ask for a home; they enter the human body as speech, breath, sight and the rest. Food is made, and only the downward breath can catch it. Then the Self itself enters through the crown of the head, wakes to see that all is Brahman, and so is called Idandra. The second part tells of the three births of a person, and the third asks who this Self is and answers that consciousness is Brahman. Our own translation, mantra by mantra.

Releasing 1 Dec

छान्दोग्योपनिषत्

Chāndogya Upaniṣad

The long Upaniṣad of the Sāmaveda in eight parts. It begins with the chant itself, Om as the udgītha, and moves through meditations on the Sāman, the sun as honey and the teaching that all this is Brahman, the stories of Satyakāma and Upakosala, the five fires and the two paths after death, Uddālaka's lessons to Śvetaketu ending in "that you are", Nārada learning the infinite from Sanatkumāra, and the Self in the small space of the heart. Our own translation, mantra by mantra.

Releasing 1 Dec

श्रीमत्स्यमहापुराणम्

Matsya Purāṇa

The Purāṇa told by Viṣṇu in the form of a fish to King Manu at the great flood — creation, the royal lines of Sun and Moon, the wars of gods and asuras, vows and gifts, sacred places, the building of temples and images, and the ages to come. Our own translation, verse by verse — a work still in progress.

Releasing 1 Mar

बृहदारण्यकोपनिषत्

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad

The great forest Upaniṣad of the White Yajurveda, the longest of the principal Upaniṣads, in six parts. It begins with the sacrificial horse as the universe and the Self that was alone in the beginning, and moves through the debates of Yājñavalkya at Janaka's court, his teaching to Maitreyī on the Self through which all is known, "not this, not this", the states of waking, dream and deep sleep, the three da's, the five fires and the rites of the householder. Our own translation, kaṇḍikā by kaṇḍikā.

Releasing 1 Dec

ऋग्वेदसंहिता

Ṛgveda

The oldest of the Vedas: hymns of the seers to Agni, Indra, Soma, Savitṛ, Vāk and the other gods, in ten maṇḍalas with the khila hymns beside them. Its most-recited sūktas come first: the Puruṣa-sūkta, the Nāsadīya-sūkta on creation, the sūkta of the Gāyatrī, the sūkta that ends with the tryambakam verse, the Śrī-sūkta and the Devī-sūkta; the whole saṃhitā then follows in order, sūkta by sūkta, from the first maṇḍala. Our own translation, ṛc by ṛc.

Releasing 1 Dec

ब्रह्मसूत्राणि

Brahma Sūtra

Bādarāyaṇa's 555 sūtras on the teaching of the Upaniṣads, in four adhyāyas: that all the Upaniṣads point to Brahman as the cause of the world, that this teaching stands against every objection, the means by which Brahman is known, and the fruit of that knowledge. Our own translation, sūtra by sūtra, with the Upaniṣad passage each one is taken to discuss.

Releasing 1 Dec

श्रीमद्भागवतमहापुराणम्

Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The Purāṇa of devotion, told by Śuka to King Parīkṣit in his last seven days and retold by Sūta to the sages of Naimiṣa — creation, the descents of the Lord, the great devotees, the royal lines, the life of Kṛṣṇa and his last teaching. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Releasing 7 May

श्रीगरुडमहापुराणम्

Garuḍa Purāṇa

The Purāṇa that Viṣṇu told to Garuḍa and Garuḍa to Kaśyapa, handed on by Vyāsa to Sūta — the worship of Viṣṇu and the other gods, mantras, holy places and Gayā, the signs of gems and of the body, astrology, law and the duties of kings, vows, the royal lines, medicine, yoga and the knowledge of the Self, and in its latter part the journey of the dead, the rites that help them, and the fruits of deeds. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Releasing 16 Sep

श्रीविष्णुपुराणम्

Viṣṇu Purāṇa

The Purāṇa told by the sage Parāśara to his disciple Maitreya — how the world comes from Viṣṇu and returns to him, the shape of the earth and heavens, the Manu-ages and the Veda, the royal lines, the life of Kṛṣṇa, and the ages and dissolutions to come. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Releasing 1 Jan

श्रीलिङ्गमहापुराणम्

Liṅga Purāṇa

The Purāṇa of the liṅga, told by Sūta to the sages of the Naimiṣa forest — creation and the ages, the pillar of light that Brahmā and Viṣṇu could not measure, the worship of Śiva in the liṅga, yoga and the Pāśupata way, the shape of the world and the royal lines, the deeds of Śiva, and in its second part vows, gifts, initiation and the rites of worship. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Releasing 6 Apr

शुक्लयजुर्वेदसंहिता

Śukla Yajurveda

The White Yajurveda in its Mādhyandina recension, the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā: the formulas and verses the priest speaks while he does the work of the rite — the new- and full-moon offerings, the fire altar, the soma sacrifice, the royal consecration, the horse sacrifice — ending with the Rudra hymn, the Puruṣa hymn and the Īśa Upaniṣad. Our own translation, kaṇḍikā by kaṇḍikā — a work in progress.

Releasing 1 Jan

कृष्णयजुर्वेदीयतैत्तिरीयसंहिता

Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda

The Black Yajurveda in its Taittirīya recension: the formulas the priest speaks while he does the work of the rite, woven together with the explanations of why each act is done — the new- and full-moon offerings, the soma sacrifice, the royal consecration, the building of the fire altar with its hymn to Rudra, and the horse sacrifice. Our own translation, kaṇḍikā by kaṇḍikā — a work in progress.

Releasing 1 Mar

सामवेदसंहिता

Sāmaveda

The Veda of chant, in its Kauthuma recension: the verses on which the sāman melodies are sung, most of them drawn from the Ṛgveda and set in a new order for the soma rite. The Pūrvārcika gathers single verses to Agni, Indra and Soma Pavamāna; the Uttarārcika gives them in the groups that are sung together at the rite. Our own translation, verse by verse — a work in progress.

Releasing 1 Feb

अथर्ववेदसंहिता

Atharvaveda

The fourth Veda, in the Śaunaka recension: twenty kāṇḍas of hymns for the needs of daily life — healing, long life, the home, the fields, marriage, protection and death — beside hymns on the highest powers of the world. Our own translation, ṛc by ṛc — a work in progress.

Releasing 1 Mar

श्रीमद्देवीभागवतमहापुराणम्

Devī-bhāgavata Purāṇa

The Purāṇa of the Goddess, told by Sūta to the sages of the Naimiṣa forest as Vyāsa told it to King Janamejaya — the Goddess as the one power behind Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, her battles with Mahiṣa, Śumbha and Niśumbha, the royal lines and the old stories retold in her light, the shape of the world, her many forms, the Devī Gītā, daily worship and the Gāyatrī. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Releasing 31 Dec

श्रीस्कन्दमहापुराणम्

Skanda Purāṇa

The largest of the Purāṇas, told by Sūta to the sages — the greatness of Śiva and his son Skanda, and of the holy places of India. It holds the Māheśvara Khaṇḍa — Dakṣa's sacrifice, the churning of the ocean, Skanda's war with Tāraka and the glory of Aruṇācala; the Vaiṣṇava Khaṇḍa — Veṅkaṭācala, Puruṣottama (Jagannātha), Badarī and the sacred months; and the Kāśī Khaṇḍa — the praise of Vārāṇasī as the city where death itself brings freedom. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Releasing 31 Dec

श्रीवामनपुराणम्

Vāmana Purāṇa

The Purāṇa that the sage Pulastya told to Nārada — Śiva and Satī, Dakṣa's sacrifice and the burning of Kāma, Prahlāda's war and devotion, the Goddess who slew Mahiṣa, the holy land of Kurukṣetra and its lakes and rivers, the marriage of Śiva and Pārvatī and the birth of Skanda, Andhaka and the other asuras, and at the last Viṣṇu's birth as the dwarf who took the three worlds from Bali in three strides. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Releasing 31 Dec

पद्मपुराणम्

Padma Purāṇa

The Purāṇa of the lotus, told by Pulastya to Bhīṣma and by the Sūta to the sages of Naimiṣa — creation from Brahmā's lotus at Puṣkara, the holy places, the royal lines, and the way to liberation. Our own translation, verse by verse.

Releasing 31 Dec