The Tantra of Caṇḍa­mahā­roṣaṇa
Magical Practices

Then the lord said:

“One should perform all the following rituals with this mantra while visualizing Caṇḍa­mahā­roṣaṇa: ‘Oṁ, Caṇḍa­mahā­roṣaṇa, you who are a teacher of all magic! Teach all the magical methods to remove obstacles! Hūṁ phaṭ!’225

“One should saturate a thickly woven cloth with the sap of cluster fig. Then one should blend sesame oil with oleogum resin, and throw it onto this cloth. One should make a wick from it. The lamp, with its glow, will burn steadily under water.226

“By rubbing two flat pieces of stone227 together at night time while saying ‘Hūṁ,’ one will produce the brilliance of lightning. [F.338.b]

“One should light a wick that has been dyed red with lac mixed with powdered dead leeches. Upon seeing it, women will become naked.

“Anointing ears and eyes with clarified butter affords protection for oneself.

“One should cut off the tail of a halāhala snake. Naked and with loose hair, one should dance for as long as the snake writhes. One should obtain four māṣakas of powder from the crushed tail, and the root, bark, leaves, flowers, and fruit of downy datura, one māṣaka of each part. One should light a lamp whose wick is made of cloth that has been dyed red with lac mixed with the above ingredients. All who see this lamp will dance. As before, this affords protection for oneself.

“One should blend together the root of toothbrush tree and the root of belleric myrobalan, and leave this mixture in a house. A quarrel will ensue.

“One should throw the pollen, obtained from the center of a flower of downy datura, into the center of a pleasantly scented flower. With a mere whiff of it, one will get a headache. One will obtain relief by applying an errhine of sour gruel.

“A peacock’s feather, fumigated with and wrapped in the placenta of a bitch, will remove vitiligo if rotated to the right.228 This can be undone if it is rotated to the left.

“One should write the mantra with blood from the heart of a crow, on a leaf of a mango tree, with a stylus made from the crow’s pinion. The person into whose excrement one throws this leaf will be eaten by a crow. The mantra to say is ‘Oṁ, the deceitful angry crow hen! Cause such and such to be eaten by a crow! Svāhā!’229

“One should make a hole in the ground in the shape of a vulva. Then throw into the hole a woman’s feces composed of Indian stinging nettle, and bury it. The woman’s path will become difficult.

“After rubbing into the hair the milky sap of common milk hedge and sesame oil, the hair will become white. One will remedy this by shaving.

“One should obtain the placenta of a female cat and the placenta of a woman.230 After fumigating with these two, any spots231 on the wall will no longer be seen. This can be undone by censing with honey incense.

“One should amply infuse yellow orpiment in the sweat and foam from camel’s jowls, and camel’s urine. One should then rub it on one’s hand and draw the hand in. Vitiligo will disappear. This can be remedied by washing the hand.

“After fumigating the affected skin with the placenta of a woman, one will remove vitiligo. This can be undone by fumigating with bdellium.

“By anointing the eyes with the fat of a frog, one will perceive the rafters of one’s house as snakes.

“When the flame of a lamp is extinguished, it can be relit after adding sulphur powder. [F.339.a]

“After smearing the feet with muṇḍirī, śevāla,232 leech, and the fat of a frog, and wrapping the feet in a banana leaf, one does not get burned when walking on glowing charcoal embers.

“One should eat the root of common milk hedge with sugar. This will induce sleep.

“One should tie the root of black nightshade to one’s hair. This will induce sleep.

“One should grind together the root of Indian bowstring hemp, the root of droṇapuṣpaka, turmeric, and rice, and rub this onto one’s body. One will win the water trial.

“By burying an asafetida pill at the root of a silk-cotton tree, one will cause its flowers to fall.

“To cause vomiting, one should serve gamboge with wine or betel.

“To make blood flow, one should feed the target sap of common milk hedge, seeds of giant milkweed, and powdered woodworm with sugar.

“To make a horse stop eating, one should rub its nose with the powder of a female shrew mouse. This can be remedied by rinsing the nasal passages with sandalwood.

“To avoid being struck by weapons, one should fasten the root of umbrella tree to one’s head, the root of date tree to one’s hand, and the root of toddy palm tree to one’s face. One should dig out a northern offshoot of each of these roots when the moon is in the asterism of Puṣya. Then, naked and with loose hair, one should grind these three roots and drink a little bit of their concoction.

“One should fashion a pair of shoes out of deerskin and fill them with the seeds of midnight horror. One will not sink in water.

“One should chew up oṣaṇī233 and keep it on one’s tongue. If one licks234 a heated plowshare, it will not burn one.

“Drinking Indian heliotrope mixed with quicksilver and potash will induce miscarriage.

“As protection from the danger of arrows and thieves, one should pull out the root of white wild indigo when the moon is in the asterism of Puṣya. Then one should soak it in the clarified butter of a cow and fasten it to one’s head or other body parts.

“When putting on leather shoes smeared with the fat of a vulture and an owl, one will be able to travel long distances.

“At sundown on an auspicious day, one should consecrate a mustard fruit not cut with a knife and, naked and with loose hair, hold it in one’s left hand. One should not put it on the ground. Protection will be afforded by saying the garland mantra of the lord. [F.339.b]

“With whoever’s blood one would wet this mustard fruit, that person’s blood will be spilled with many weapons. His flesh will be made into utthānaka,235 the bone marrow into oil, and the ashes into nourishment for the crops. In the cup made from his skull, one should sprinkle fat, blood, flesh, and so forth with his blood. One should repeatedly enact protection and oblation acts, assiduously performing fumigation, anointment, and the like.236

“Having put in the mouth the transformed mustard fruit, one should imagine oneself as having his nature. One will become like him.237

“By enclosing the mustard fruit in the three metals, one will become invisible. Here the three metals are prepared as follows: seven-and-a-half māṣaka, two-and-a-half māṣaka, four māṣaka, as well as five māṣaka are sun, moon, and fire, respectively.238

“One should draw, on a human skull, the figure of the target with the pigment of bovine gallstones and blood. One should enclose there, using a second skull, her name written in combination with the mantra and anointed with perfumed water. One should wrap the sacred cord of a deceased Brahmin around the two skulls, seal this with beeswax, and recite the mantra. One should heat it up at night in the embers of a funeral pyre until the wax has melted. Then one will summon even a celestial girl. The mantra to recite is: ‘Oṁ, pull, pull! Bewilder, bewilder! Bring such and such, jaḥ! Svāhā!’239

“One should grind the fruit of elephant wood-apple into powder and infuse it with buffalo curds seven times. One should add that powder to buttermilk kept in a new vessel. In a moment, it will turn to curds.

“One should crush the fruit of elephant wood-apple and use it to smear a new vessel. In there, one should let the milk separate. The curd will be fat free.

“One should let the milk that has been poured into a pot of unbaked clay set. When the curd has formed, one should carefully break the pot. The curds will be in the shape of the pot.

“After dousing a new pot repeatedly with the sap of giant milkweed, the water poured in there will appear as buttermilk.

“During the ten days after a woman has given birth for the first time, one should obtain some ash and put it under water using the pair of cupped hands, one below and one above. If the ash streaks upward, the water jar will dry up. If the ash streaks downward, the water jar will remain full.

“On a Sunday, one should pull out the root of sessile joyweed and the root of chaff tree. One should then smear the ends of two sticks, each with one of the roots, and wear them on one’s hips. One will then be fit for battle. [F.340.a]

“When throwing water onto a thickly woven cloth smeared with vaṅga, seeds of āra,240 and country mallow, the water will not drip. Riding in a coracle made of wicker and cloth smeared with this mixture, one will not sink in water.

“One should blend powdered earthworms and fireflies with sesame oil. Things smeared with this mixture will glow at night.

“One should mix emblic myrobalan with salt in a copper dish. After rubbing an iron dish with it, the dish will look like copper.

“After applying sulphur241 powder to a heated cow bone, a flame will blaze up.

“One should fix a laghu242 flower, or something similar, on top of a ṛṇṭaka243 seed. After putting water inside the flower, it will drip.

“One should place a bee in a sparrow’s nest made from kuṇṭḥīrā244 and then release it into the air. The bee will be confused.

“A dried fish will revive when placed in water after being soaked in the oil of marking nut.”