This volume provides the first critical edition and complete Western translation of an influential apotropaic scripture of Mahayana Vajrayana Buddhism, The Great Amulet, Great Queen of Spells (Mahapratisara-Mahavidyarajni). This piece of the dharani literature from around the middle of the first millennium became a member of the popular Pancaraksa collection and has remained in use in Nepal up to the present time.
After an introduction, editions of the five Gilgit fragments (ca. 7th c.) and fifteen selected Eastern Indian and Nepalese manuscripts (11th-19th c.) are given, followed by an annotated translation.
The present study offers a detailed treatment of a scripture rather neglected by scholarship and attempts to throw light on the characteristics and use of this talismanic text of the Kriya-tantra in South Asian Buddhism and beyond. |
