An essential component of Tantrism or Tantrika rituals which appear to have had pre-Vedic roots, Yantra had unprecedented proliferation during the period from around fifth-sixth to seventeenth-eighteenth centuries. As a result Indian texts, both ancient and medieval, and even those of late – of the eighteenth-nineteenth centuries, came out with a huge body of yantras, and now the number of yantras, each of which has a distinct form and mystic bearing, is acclaimed as nine hundred sixty. A mechanism of forms is the basis of yantra-doctrine, and its proto-idea has been taken from the metaphysical principle of Maya. What as a form an eye beholds is Maya – Illusion, but even Maya has to resort to a form – a visible manifestation, for giving an idea of itself. Thus, ‘form’ has two levels : form is an illusion, but it is in a ‘form’, which is illusion, that the ‘real’ manifests. Further, not in a form but it is in the mechanism of forms that the power is generated. It is a mechanism that the needle in a clock moves. Identically, even mere linear forms, divine and cosmic powers are condensed in circles, triangles, squares, dots and lines in a yantra which drawn and enlivened under certain principles of mystic mechanism, or dynamics, acquire mystic powers and transform into energy source and power engine.
This yantra, an energy pattern and power diagram, has been rendered pursuing the standard format as it has evolved over centuries, though the text part assimilated with it is somewhat unusual. It seems to have been included pursuing the practices of early medieval days. In early medieval days such deity-invocations, mantras or fragments of texts, were assimilated in the body of the yantra for helping those who could not memorize or recite them correctly. In such a case a practiser could perform his ‘sadhana’ – ritual practice, by endorsing the inscribed hymns and invocations and acquire thus the same mystic powers as he would by reciting them of his own. The yantra seems to have been conceived on the same lines, perhaps keeping in mind the requirement of a contemporary practiser who knows little of Sanskrit and is rarely able to recite a mantra correctly. Obviously, this yantra with text presents a more useful form of Shri Yantra the mere presence of which would accomplish the desired.
This Shri Yantra has a symbolic bhoopura drawn in deep maroon on gold-background and inscribed as ‘prathama varnam Shri Trailokya Mohan’ indicating that this is the first chakra – ring, and Maya, the Enchantress of Three Worlds, pervades it. Bhoopura is the square ground plan of the yantra, though removed from the main body of the yantra, its ‘mekhala’ – girdle, and with inscriptions identifying the four doors merged with the ground, its identity as bhoopura is largely lost and it looks more like ornamental drawings conceived for manipulating the corners rather than defining the ground-plan. This ground plan, or outer periphery, is a broad square with four doors on four sides. The entrance on the west portrays the figure of the lotus-seated goddess Lakshmi with auspicious symbolss and pot-motifs on both sides. On the top the artifact has been identified as ‘Shri Shri Yantra’. The entrance on the east has an inscription acclaiming that the instrument – the yantra, is the Maha-mantra of Mahalakshmi who the inscription hails is the supreme beauty in three worlds. The entrances on the north and the south have been defined by the fragments of the mantra-text. All excerpts of text have been embossed using small and big characters. This outer periphery and two circles, green and golden yellow, inside this periphery, the yantra’s mekhala, are symbolic of three worlds which Maya – Cosmic Illusion, alluded to as 'Trailokyamohana', pervades.
The outer one of these two circles, known as 'Sarva-shaparipuraka chakra', consists of sixteen lotus petals, while the inner one, known as 'Sarva-shankshobhana chakra', consists of eight. Deviating from the tradition the inner ring in this yantra has been named as ‘Samprana chakra’. These two chakras accomplish the 'desired'. In the form of fourteen triangles which create the fourth ring having hexagonal form, inside these two rings, the Shri Yantra has its more essential pith. With its power to bestow all bliss, this fourth chakra is known as 'Sarva-saubhagyadayaka chakra'. This chakra also effects spiritual elevation. A long series of interlocking triangles covers the space inside this hexagonal chakra. There are inside it the fifth and the sixth chakras, each consisting of ten triangles. The all-accomplishing fifth chakra is known as Sarvartha-sadhaka chakra, while the all-protecting sixth, as Sarvartha-rakshakara chakra. In this yantra the name of the sixth chakra has been shortened to Sarva-rakshakara chakra. The fifth and sixth chakras define the stage when the inner realisation begins to unfold.
The sixth chakra is followed by the seventh, identified as the Sarva-roga-hara chakra. It consists of eight triangles and has the power to redeem not only from the maladies of the physique but also of mind – all desires and infatuations. This is the stage when all earthly bonds vanish and the sadhaka – practiser, is ready to enter the zone of ultimate realisation. The Sarva-roga-hara chakra is followed by Sarva-siddhiprada chakra, the eighth. It defines the stage where nothing remains to be accomplished and the realisation is only to be consummated. Ultimately emerges the ‘bindu’ – the dot, the ninth and the last of the chakras. Not symbolic of, it is the sanctum sanctorum which Shakti and Shiva enshrine. It is known as the Sarva-anandamaya chakra. This is the stage of the ultimate union. Here the self and the Supreme Self unite, the sadhaka merges with the cosmos and becomes the cosmos himself, and now the duality ends: the stage of absolute joy.
This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr. Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of literature and is the author of numerous books on Indian art and culture. Dr. Daljeet is the curator of the Miniature Painting Gallery, National Museum, New Delhi. They have both collaborated together on a number of books.
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