The Maṇḍala Rites of Noble Mārīcī

[F.165.b]

Homage to the goddess Mārīcī.12

I will explain the maṇḍala of Mārīcī’s arising from the tantra called Māyā Mārīcī’s Arising, which was taught by the perfect Victor.

Fill the vases with the five great medicines, the five grains, the five precious substances, and perfumed water, and wrap them with two strips of cloth. Anoint the body of each vase with white sandalwood, adorn them with flower garlands,13 and furnish them with the various divine food offerings and a row of lamps. Then, recite the mantra one hundred and eight times over the all-victorious vase,14 furnish it with the five supreme medicines and five jewels, decorate it with white, yellow, red, green, and blue colored strips of cloth, and set it down.

If there is not one there already, make a canopy out of two pieces of cloth and raise it, hang flower garlands on the various victory banners, fumigate the area with sweet-smelling incense, and have the disciple enter. The disciple’s face should be veiled by two pieces of cloth.15 Place a turban on his head, anoint him with sandalwood, adorn him with a flower garland, and then confer the consecration.

All the ritual implements should be incanted with the mantra oṃ mārīcyai svāhā.

In the middle is the goddess Mārīcī, whose golden complexion flickers like gold from the Jambu River. She wears a blue lower robe and a blue upper garment and shawl, is adorned with all her various ornaments, bracelets, and the like, and is installed in the middle. She has six arms, three faces, and three eyes. She is mounted on a boar, and her hair has grown into a caitya crown. Her left hands hold a bow, thread, and aśoka branch. Her right hands hold an arrow, vajra, and needle. She sits in the middle of a caitya with her right foot extended.

oṃ arkamasi svāhā. [F.166.b] The goddess installed in the eastern quarter16 is adorned with all her ornaments. She is like the sun at dawn and is a young girl in the prime of her youth. She wears a blue upper garment and holds in her two hands a needle and thread that she uses to sew eyes and mouths shut.

oṃ markamasi svāhā. The goddess in the southern quarter should be depicted17 as a young girl with a pale-yellow complexion18 wearing a blue lower robe and a blue upper garment and shawl. Her two hands hold an aśoka branch and a needle and thread, and she is adorned with all her ornaments. That is the goddess of the southern quarter.

oṃ antardhānamasi svāhā. In the western quarter is a young girl adorned with all her ornaments. She holds a noose and an aśoka branch, has a yellow complexion, wears a blue lower robe, upper garment, and shawl, and rides a boar. She has two arms, blazes like fire, and dwells in the western quarter.

oṃ tejomasi svāhā. In the northern quarter is a young girl adorned with all her ornaments. She has a red complexion and wears a blue lower robe, upper garment, and shawl. Her two hands hold an arrow and bow.

A goddess should be installed in the eight directions in the proper order.19

Install the goddesses in that order. Following proper ritual procedure, imagine that they all have the face of a boar, are extremely powerful, and are preceded by a charging boar.

The two mantras oṃ padākramasi24 svāhā and oṃ varāli svāhā are written on a card25 in the southern quarter.

The two mantras oṃ parākramasi svāhā and oṃ varāli svāhā are written on a card in the western quarter.

The two mantras oṃ gulmamasi svāhā and oṃ varāli svāhā are written on a card in the northern quarter.

The two mantras oṃ mahācivaramasi svāhā and oṃ varāhamukhi svāhā are written on a card in the eastern quarter.

Here is the description of the protectors who guard the gates, beginning in the east. They are the colors of the tathāgatas Akṣobhya and so forth, they hold implements such as the vajra, the hook, and the rest, and they all bear the same objects and have the same complexions as the goddesses Vattāli, Arkamasi, and so forth.

The two goddesses on the cards beginning in the southern quarter are the color of the tathāgata of that quarter. Imagine all of them in due order holding a vajra, aśoka branch, arrow, bow, needle, thread, hook, and noose. They all have the face of a boar, have three eyes, are mounted on a boar, and are adorned with all their ornaments.

A maṇḍala that has been visualized in this way will remove all negative deeds, make that person successful and prosperous, and bring wealth and good harvests. He will attain whatever good result he desires just by reciting the mantra on a regular basis.

This is another rite. The mantra oṃ mārīcyai svāhā and its supreme seed syllable oṃ māṃ are effective for all rites. Add the syllable dri to the mantra for rites of pacifying, increasing, enthralling, subjugating, and attracting.

If he imagines the syllable hūṁ blazing in his heart and mounted on a whirling firebrand while performing the attracting rite with the hook and noose, it will attract a divine woman who is within one hundred leagues.

If he wants to enthrall a king, [F.167.b] he should make an effigy out of salt and offer it into the fire at the three junctions of the day, and in seven days the king will give an indication of his trust26 and be enthralled. If he wants to pacify him, he should make it out of dūrvā grass anointed with ghee.27

If he wants him to have a long life, he should kindle the fire with uḍumbara, bodhi tree, banyan, and butea branches, coat aśoka flowers with the three sweets, and perform one hundred thousand fire offerings. The king will be enthralled and give an indication of his trust within seven days, and he will even receive a turban.28

Another rite is as follows: The most important ingredient is the outer layers of the right horn of a tawny cow. He should prepare a collyrium that contains equal proportions of that and the blood from the left ear of a boar and incant it with the mantra oṃ mārīcyai antardhānamasi29 svāhā for the duration of a lunar eclipse, and it will be activated. He will become invisible by simply applying it to the eye. He should coat a collyrium mixed with a female black cat’s excrement30 with the three types of metal and place it in his mouth during the lunar eclipse while reciting the mantra for the duration of the eclipse, and it will be rendered effective.

This is the most advanced invisibility spell‍—it ensures that one cannot be seen, cannot be seized, cannot be bound, cannot be stopped, cannot be opposed, cannot be enchanted, cannot be cut by a blade, cannot be decapitated, cannot be injured, cannot be burned, and cannot be brought under an enemy’s control.31 Use the mantra oṃ mārīcyai antardhāna svāhā for all invisibility rites.

The following is the description of the fire pit:

He should scatter kuśa grass on the four sides, place a water vessel to the left, and place all the ritual implements to the right. He should recite the mantra oṃ mārīcyai hūṁ phaṭ [F.168.a] svāhā over the water and sprinkle it, expel all the vighnas, and then invoke the deity Agni with the following mantra:

This mantra will summon and install Agni in the middle of the fire pit. He sits on a sun disk, has three eyes and four arms, and holds a boon-granting water vessel, a lotus garland, a staff, and a string of akṣa beads.34 His tawny hair blazes upward. Agni is peaceful,35 and he is supreme among those who eliminate all manner of misdeeds. The oblation should be offered into his mouth three times.

After that, the deity is installed.36 He should imagine that the image of a sun disk appears out of the syllable raṃ, the syllable a appears on that, and a lunar disk emerges from it like a blazing fire. Then, he should imagine that the goddess Mārīcī is installed upon the lunar disk just as before, and he should offer the oblation into her mouth three times.

If he desires a particular siddhi,37 the vajrācārya should ritually purify himself and wash his body. He should wear white robes for the pacifying rite, yellow robes for the increasing rite, red robes for the enthralling rite, and black robes for the subjugating rite. He must learn the rite through a vajrācārya’s instructions.

He should perform one thousand fire offerings of lotuses dipped in yogurt, honey, and ghee. Or, if he wants to become a local ruler,38 he should offer the one thousand lotuses in front of the painting. Then he will see Mārīcī in her true form or enjoy great prosperity. This is the best rite for engendering all manner of happiness in this life. Also, if the fire offering is performed with a hundred thousand red and blue lotuses, he will attain any type of material wealth he desires and have a vision of Blessed Mārīcī.

Another rite is as follows: He should recite the mantra oṃ mārīcyai vattāli vadāli varāli varāhamukhi [F.168.b] sarvaduṣṭānāṃ cakṣurmukhaṃ bandha bandha svāhā seven times over his robe as he ties a knot. Then, if he inserts a teakwood dagger that is four fingers long into the knot and sets off on a journey, robbers and the like will perceive him as a king of elephants baring his tusks, and every thief will be restrained. All the multitudes of living beings will adore him and be enchanted.

Another application of the mantra is as follows: He should draw the effigy on a copper vessel. Then he should inscribe the mantra augmented with the target’s name with the end of a double vajra39 using yellow arsenic, turmeric, and sulfur, and it will paralyze them. He should place the vessel in water, and they will give an indication of their trust.

Another application of the mantra is as follows: He should draw the effigy with bovine bezoar and horse blood on a copper pot, augment the mantra with the target’s name, and write it in the center. Then he should place the pot in water and recite the mantra, and it will summon any being within one thousand leagues. If he imagines the man or woman seated on a whirlwind and summons them with the noose and hook, they will undoubtedly be drawn to him.

If he performs the following offering to both the deity and a guru who has been consecrated in the maṇḍala of Mārīcī’s Arising,40 he will perfect the goddess’s mantra, which was taught by the perfect Victor. He should install the four syllables in the four directions with a lunar disk in the middle like a mountain of blue sapphire whose light spreads for a thousand leagues. Then, he should imagine himself as the deity emanation that appears out of the syllable māṃ at the center of the lunar disk.

She is bright yellow, has beautiful tresses of thick hair,41 and wears a black lower robe. She wears a blue upper garment and shawl. She has six arms, three boar-faces, and three eyes. She is adorned with all her ornaments and wears a caitya on her head. In her right hands she holds a garland of luminous, blazing vajras, an arrow, and a needle. In her left hands she holds a bow, thread, and an aśoka branch. [F.169.a] She is seated on a lunar disk in a boar-drawn chariot with a beautiful deep golden color. Whether he imagines that it is evening and she sits on a lunar disk, or that it is day and she sits on a solar disk, the visualization will be just as effective.

oṃ vaṃ yaṃ raṃ vaṃ maṃ mā me paśyantu sattvā42 antardhānamasi svāhā. If he recites this mantra while traveling, it will ensure that he cannot be seen, cannot be seized, cannot be bound, cannot be stopped, cannot be opposed, cannot be enchanted, cannot be cut by a blade, cannot be decapitated, cannot be injured, cannot be burned, and cannot be brought under an enemy’s control.

He should mix realgar and bovine bezoar with a collyrium and sit at the base of the northern side of a crepe jasmine bush, naked and with his hair down, during a lunar or solar eclipse. He should combine the previous ingredients, make them into a pill, and wrap the pill in gold, silver, and copper. He should place it in his mouth and hide. This pill is the best for making one invisible for an entire day. It is said that “oṃ māṃ43 is the supreme heart mantra. It is the essence of the essence, and the most secret of secrets. It grants the four desirable gifts,44 and through it one can attain buddhahood.”

Another application of the mantra is as follows: He should visualize Blessed Mārīcī in the middle of a lunar disk and seated on a lunar disk. Mārīcī is beautiful and shines like gold from the Jambu River. She has three faces, three eyes, and six arms. She wears a blue lower robe and a blue upper garment and shawl. She is adorned with her various ornaments and wears a caitya on her head. Her primary face is yellow and smiling. Her left face is a terrifying black boar that bares its fangs. Its tongue lolls about as it snarls and strikes fear in the enemy. Her right face is white and casts a light as pure as the autumn moon. Her left hands hold a bow, thread, and aśoka branch. Her right hands brandish an arrow, needle, and vajra. She is lovely and grants whatever one desires. She is efficacious [F.169.b] and grants all the siddhis.

This is the maṇḍala that was taught by the Victor. The section in The Tantra of Mārīcī’s Arising called Mārīcī Appears45 says:

He should install the goddesses in the maṇḍala in this way and make offerings, and they will grant anything he desires. The aforementioned sequence should also be used to draw the painting. When a disciple is consecrated in the maṇḍala, they should be close to attaining the siddhis and should offer their own wealth or their own body.

In the sky is the syllable māṃ inside a sun and moon caitya. The syllable transforms into a youthful girl who is yellow like the color of molten gold. She is radiant and blazes forth like the sun at dawn. She has a garland of a thousand light rays that radiate outward. She wears a lower robe as red as the scarlet mallow and hibiscus flower. [F.170.a] She wears an upper garment and shawl of various shades of red, bracelets, earrings, a girdle, and bangles for her feet. She wears anklets, and her arms have various types of armlets. She is adorned with all her ornaments, Vairocana is seated on her crown, and her head is ornamented with an aśoka wreath. She has eight hands, three faces, and three eyes. In her left hands she brandishes a bow, aśoka branch, thread, and noose. In her right hands she brandishes a blazing vajra, needle, hook, and arrow. She is lovely.

Her primary face is peaceful and open like a flower in full bloom. It is bright yellow like gold with eyes like blue lotuses and lips that look as if they have been smeared with vermillion powder. Its countenance is charming and playful.

The face on the left49 is wrathful and contorted, bares its fangs, and is terrifying. It radiates like blue sapphire or lapis lazuli. Its radiance is equal to that of twelve suns. Its snarling grimace is wrathful, it has a curling tongue, and it is unbelievably terrifying.

The face on the right is bright red and wreathed in red flowers on the blooming branches spreading from an aśoka tree trunk that has been planted in the middle of a caitya50 and blaze forth like the light of a divine ruby.

At the base beneath her is Lord Vairocana with his crown of matted locks, peaceful demeanor, and golden yellow complexion, baring the hand mudrā of supreme awakening.

She is seated with her right leg extended inside a caitya that has been placed on a boar-drawn chariot.51 She is a young girl in the prime of her youth.

Down in front of the chariot there is a whirlwind, on which is the syllable ha, and out of which appears an emanation of the great celestial deity Rāhu,52 who eclipses the sun by day and the moon by night. She is surrounded by four goddesses, and her mantra is oṃ mārīcyai svāhā. [F.170.b]

The goddess on the lead chariot summoned into the space in front of her has four arms, is red, has the face of a boar, and wears a red lower robe. She wears a red upper garment and shawl and is adorned with all her ornaments. She rides the lead chariot brandishing a needle and thread,53 and she holds a hook with which she draws in her target, a noose, and a branch. He should recite the mantra oṃ vattāli vadāli varāli varāhamukhi svāhā, and whatever woman or man he wishes will be conveyed on a whirlwind and be drawn to him.

The mantra for the goddess who dwells in the southern quarter is oṃ vattāli vadāli varāli varāhamukhi54 sarvaduṣṭapraduṣṭānām55 cakṣurmukhaṃ bandha bandhami svāhā. This mantra shuts the mouths of wicked people. She has four arms and a golden complexion, and she wears a red lower robe and a red upper garment and shawl. One set of hands holds an aśoka branch and a noose, and the other set holds a sewing needle and thread. Her head is wreathed with a garland of aśoka flowers.

The mantra for the goddess who dwells in the western quarter is oṃ vattāli vadāli varāli varāhāmukhi56 sarvaduṣṭapraduṣṭānāṃ stambhaya svāhā. Imagine this goddess with four arms in the space behind Mārīcī. She holds a vajra, noose, branch, and needle. She has a golden complexion and wears a red lower robe and a red upper garment and shawl. She appears as a young girl adorned with all her ornaments, with her head wreathed with a garland of aśoka flowers.

oṃ vattāli vadāli varāli varāhamukhi57 sarvaduṣṭām me vaśam ānaya svāhā.58 The goddess who dwells in the northern quarter has four arms and the various ornaments. She wears a red lower robe and a red upper garment and shawl. She emits a radiant light like the sun at dawn and blazes like the fire of passion. Her left hands hold a blazing bow and aśoka branch, and her right hands hold an arrow and luminous vajra. The goddess stands there like the fire that consumes the world at the end of an eon, [F.171.a] and she enthralls all beings.

To begin, he should first hold a feast for the noble saṅgha. He should have an artist who maintains the precepts draw the painting of Blessed Mārīcī on a new canvas. The faithful one should arrange the upper robe on one side and complete the painting. Then he should hold a feast for the fully ordained nuns as well as for the young women. Then he should display the image inside a reliquary caitya located at a pool, at the ocean, on a mountain, in a charnel ground, at the base of a banyan tree, in a garden, in a shrine, or in a house, and he should recite the hundred-thousand-syllable mantra using the five customary offerings.

The first, second, and third recitations59 will purify misdeeds. At the fourth, he will have a vision in which he crosses the ocean, comes to rest on a mountain, and encounters a young girl. He should understand this as an indication that his misdeeds are now purified. At the fifth, the tip of the lamp will grow, and a sweet smell will fill his nose. At the sixth he will see the buddhas and bodhisattvas. At the seventh he will have a vision of Mārīcī. When the practitioner sees these signs, the siddhis have been stabilized.

If at some point the practitioner sees an inauspicious sign such as serpents, monkeys, cats, donkeys, horses, elephants, buffalo, or dogs quarreling with one another and becomes worried, he should recite the mantra two hundred thousand times. At that point he will actually see the form of Blessed Mārīcī and perfect the rite that is taught in the ritual manual.

The mantra oṃ mārīcyai svāhā can be used for any rite. If he recites it one hundred and eight times without interruption, his intellect will sharpen, and he will be able to remember one thousand texts. He will have a long life, be healthy and powerful, and be worthy of all beings’ offerings. [F.171.b] Someone who has completed ten thousand recitations will gain the siddhi of extending their lifespan to one thousand years. If he continually offers the five things while reciting the mantra ten million times, he will attain siddhis.

This is precisely what Vairocana taught. It brings about many miraculous things such as the invisibility, collyrium, shoes, sword, pill, bovine bezoar, and flight siddhis and the ritual powers60 of enthralling, attracting, expelling, killing, sowing discord, paralyzing, enchanting, binding, overcoming, pinning with a dagger, attracting yakṣiṇīs, and piercing ḍākinīs. It cures things such as fever, illness, poison, and the four-day fever, and it grants the power of entering, attracting divine beings, and finding lost treasure. The mantra must be recited continually by one who has performed the king of mantras invocation and is perfectly endowed with the pride of Mārīcī.

The following is the ritual for enthralling and attracting: In a private and secret place,61 he should smear a maṇḍala with white sandalwood or cow dung in front of the deity image. He should draw the effigy with the sap of aśoka flowers, red lac, red sandalwood, and bovine bezoar, add the target’s name to the mantra, and place it in the middle. Then he should place his left hand on its genitals,62 recite the mantra, and imagine that the target’s legs give out and that they exhibit various types of madness such as letting their hair down and trembling with intense passion. Performing this rite on the one who bears that name will enthrall the desired target within three days.

Another application of the mantra is as follows: He should make an effigy of the target out of the soil from both banks of a river and soil from a footprint. Using the same substances described above, he should augment the mantra with the target’s name and write it on birch bark or a piece of cloth from the cremation ground and place it in the middle. This rite should be performed when the moon is in the lunar asterism Puṣya. He should take an aśoka wood [F.172.a] dagger eight fingers long and stab the effigy’s vagina. Then, he should place the dagger in his left hand and recite the mantra while bearing the target’s name in mind. This will enthrall even Maheśvara’s wife within three days, not to mention the spouse of another human being.

Another application of the mantra is as follows: He should make the effigy out of beeswax, write the mantra augmented with the target’s name on a piece of birch bark with vermillion powder using the aforementioned great medicines colored with vermillion powder,63 and place it in the middle. All these rites should be performed when the moon is in the lunar asterism Puṣya. He should stab the effigy in the genitals with an aśoka wood dagger, smear the body with black mustard seed, and offer incense in a fire kindled with teakwood. This rite will enthrall even Śakra’s daughter in three days’ time, not to mention the daughter of a human being. The mantra recitation also works on men.

Another application of the mantra is as follows: He should make the effigy out of ash from a charnel ground, dirt from an anthill, clay from a potter’s wheel, and soil from a footprint, write the mantra augmented with the target’s name on a piece of birch bark with red sandalwood and bovine bezoar, and place it in the middle. He should burn it in a fire kindled with teakwood while reciting the mantra in front of the painting for seven days at the three junctures of the day, and any human king will give an indication of his trust and be enthralled.

There is another more advanced procedure for a faithful disciple that is described as follows: He should gather the collyrium from the left eye of a dead person, the left ring finger, and a left rib bone six fingers long. Then, using a male skull, he should prepare an ink of red sandalwood, red lac, bovine bezoar, and aśoka flowers when the moon is in the lunar asterism Puṣya. He should write the king of mantras augmented with the target’s name on a lotus with eight petals. He should imagine the goddess surrounded by six fires,64 filled with the wind seed-syllable, and standing on a sun disk with her right leg extended.65 As he draws the target in with the hook and noose, a whirlwind will draw in any target who is within one thousand leagues. This is the supreme siddhi of attracting a woman. [F.172.b]

Another application of the mantra is as follows: He should draw a clear likeness of the king on a plank of aśoka wood and write his name in the center with his own blood, bovine bezoar, and red saffron. It should be surrounded by the syllable māṃ, and that should be surrounded by the syllable cyai. He should trample the plank with his left foot while bearing the king’s name in mind and reciting the mantra, and he will undoubtedly draw near within three days.

If he wants to attract a yakṣiṇī, he should go to a charnel ground on an auspicious day when the moon is in the lunar asterism Puṣya66 and fashion a piece of banyan wood measuring one cubit into an effigy of a girl in the prime of her youth that clearly resembles a yakṣiṇī. She should be adorned with all her ornaments, and her right foot should be slightly bent. She should be holding a banyan branch with her left hand, with a flirtatious air that indicates she is intent on fulfilling her sexual desire. He should write the mantra augmented with the target’s name using the aforementioned great medicines and place it in the middle. At night, in a private and secret place where there are no people to distract him, he should smear a maṇḍala on the ground with sandalwood and place it in front of the painting. He should scatter flowers on it, light the lamps, and make an incense offering of bdellium. He should recite the mantra while bearing the yakṣiṇī’s name in mind, and she will come. A sign will appear on the first day, and the next day she will reveal herself. At that point he should remain silent, and if he maintains a vow of silence for an entire month, he will attain the siddhi. The yakṣiṇī will bestow on him the supreme siddhi. The practitioner should call her mother, sister, or wife. Then, she will take him on her hip67 and transport him to her realm. The practitioner will live as long as he wants, up to one eon. If at any point he makes a mistake and does not heed this instruction, he will not gain the siddhi and will become a great patron. At that point he will obtain great and vast wealth, and [F.173.a] he will be born into a family of yakṣas in his next rebirth. That is called the yakṣiṇī practice ritual.

If he wants to enthrall a king, he should make an effigy on a banyan branch that hangs down to the base of the tree. It should be well made and clearly resemble the target. He should write the target’s name clearly in the middle with bovine bezoar, red lac, and red saffron, summon them with the noose and hook, and imagine that their two legs give out as he recites the mantra. At that point the target will be his servant for as long as they live. This is a highly advanced practice, and it requires perseverance and determination.

The following rite is also performed on an auspicious day when the moon is in the lunar asterism Puṣya, and the statue should be made from a piece of aśoka wood that measures one cubit. Victorious Blessed Mārīcī has eight arms, three faces, and three eyes. Her hair adorns the top of her head like a caitya.68 She wears a wreath of aśoka flowers and is ornamented with gold earrings, a neck ornament, a half-length necklace, bracelets, a girdle, bangles for her feet, and hundreds of various garlands. Her body is blazing and radiant like gold from the Jambu River, and it emanates a light as bright as ten thousand suns. She wears a red lower robe and a multicolored upper garment and shawl. In her left hands she holds a bow, aśoka branch, noose, and thread. In her right hands she brandishes a blazing vajra, arrow, needle, and hook.

She has the face of a boar on the left and the right. Her primary face shines like a flower in full bloom. Her complexion is like molten gold. Her eyes are like blooming flowers. Her beautiful face is radiant, and her lips are as red as coral, scarlet mallow, and hibiscus flowers. Her left face is wrathful, bares its fangs, is terrifying, and has a horrific scowl. Its gaze does not waver and is never deterred. Its tongue curls back, [F.173.b] and it is unbelievably terrifying. The complexion of her left face is like blue sapphire. Her right face is that of a boar, and its complexion is like a red ruby. It is adorned with a flowering aśoka branch.

Her chariot is furnished with the sun and moon and driven by the asuras and a boar.69 The youthful goddess stands with her left leg forward.70 Down in front of the chariot there is a whirlwind with the syllable ha71 on it, out of which appears the celestial deity Rāhu,72 who eclipses the sun by day and the moon by night.

When the moon is in the lunar asterism Puṣya, he should offer whatever he has and carefully prepare a feast for the young maiden. When the statue is finished, the wise one should coat a relic pill with gold and place it inside the base of the caitya that crowns her head. That statue is known as a statue that contains a relic.

Then, in a place where there is a house with a vast amount of land,73 he should make a maṇḍala in front of the statue by smearing the ground with sandalwood or cow dung, and he should perform the offering while reciting the mantra. He should scatter it with flowers, drape it with flower garlands and long and short lattices, decorate it with a garland of lamps, and offer perfumes, fragrances, offering cakes, sandalwood, and bdellium.

Now I will describe the vessel for the water offering. He should use a vessel made of conch or pearl oyster shell, a vessel made out of gold, silver, or copper, or a vase made of clay.74 He should focus on Vairocana’s great consort just as before,75 recite the mantra oṃ mārīcyai ehy ehi antasannihito bhava to summon Blessed Mārīcī, and visualize her approaching and standing there in that form. Then the practitioner should make offerings to her with the five customary offerings while reciting the following mantra:

The vidyā master should incant the aforementioned vessel that has been anointed with white sandalwood and adorned with flower garlands with the mantra one hundred and eight times and then place the vessel down as the water offering.76 He should sprinkle Blessed Mārīcī with the water77 and supplicate her, saying, “From this day forward, please ensure that your mantra is effective for me.” Then he should recite the mantra and perform the visualization with pride in himself as Mārīcī,78 and he should recite the hundred-thousand-syllable mantra.

Afterward, signs of the siddhis will appear. The statue of Mārīcī might shake or tremble, or he might see a string of points of light, smell a sweet fragrance, experience heat, see smoke, or see fire. If he does not see any of these signs, he should double the mantra recitation. When he has performed ten million mantra recitations, he will attain siddhi. He will see the actual body of Blessed Mārīcī and attain siddhi. She will bestow the highest state along with whatever siddhi he wishes, be it the sword, collyrium, shoes, bovine bezoar, invisibility, pill, or alchemical elixir.

The sword siddhi refers to becoming a lord of the vidyādharas and frolicking with the vidyādharīs simply by taking hold of the beautiful siddhi-sword.

The collyrium siddhi refers to enthralling gods, asuras, and human beings when he looks at them, simply by applying the collyrium to the eye.

The shoe siddhi refers to wearing shoes that allow him to travel a thousand leagues.

The bovine bezoar siddhi refers to taking on manifold forms and enthralling kings by placing a bindi on the forehead using the bovine bezoar.

The pill siddhi refers to placing a pill in his mouth that allows him to travel the vast earth and take whatever form he wishes, just like a yakṣa.

The mercury siddhi refers to acquiring mercury [F.174.b] that can transform any element into gold and make his body indestructible.

Also, should he wish, he can become immortal and become a lord of the celestial beings with a divine body that is impervious to all manner of evil influences and can take on various forms. If he desires, the power and magical ability of his radiance will be so majestic it can subdue others. Performing the practice before such a painting and statue can bring siddhis such as these. He can also gain siddhi by meditating on the lack of a self. This authentic practice was taught by Vairocana.

If he wants to enthrall a king, he should draw an effigy of the target on a piece of birch bark with red sandalwood and bovine bezoar,79 write the mantra augmented with their name in the middle, and place it under the feet of the statue. He should put on a red rosary and robes, make an offering with red flowers, and burn an incense offering of bdellium.80 Then he should summon the target with the noose and hook, imagining them vomiting and both of their legs giving out. By invoking them with the king of mantras, he will enthrall a lord of men in three days.

Another application of the mantra is as follows: He should draw the target’s body in front of the statue on a piece of birch bark with saffron and bovine bezoar mixed with blood, write the mantra augmented with their name in the middle surrounded by the seed syllable māṃ,81 surround that with the syllable skroṃ,82 surround that with the syllable cyai, and place it in front of the statue. Then he should burn an incense offering of bdellium while reciting the mantra one hundred and eight times while summoning them with the noose and hook and imagining them riding in a whirlwind. If he does this, he can summon any beautiful woman who is within one league.

Now I will explain the relic pill practice. He should mix the fat of a human corpse, a woman’s nose, and ash from a charnel ground with pulp from a ripe elephant apple, white bdellium, and horse milk.83 [F.175.a] He should coat with it a trustworthy relic of the Sugata, wrap it in gold, silver, and copper, and finish it on the third day of Puṣya. Then he should recite the mantra in front of Mārīcī, and he will gain the siddhi. When he places the pill in his mouth, he can take the form of any yakṣa in the world he wishes.

There is also the following pill practice: He should grind up excrement from a black cat with the eye of a black dog, the eye of a black horse, the eye of a black raven, the left ear of a pig, and blood84 and use it to coat a trustworthy relic of the Sugata. He should finish it on the third day of Puṣya by placing it in a sun and moon fire three times. Then he should place it on the roof of the mouth and recite the mantra in a secluded place in front of Mārīcī. His wealth will increase sixfold, and he will enjoy other men’s beautiful wives.

Another pill rite is as follows: He should coat the eye of a black nocturnal bird, the eye of a black raven, the eye of an owl, the eye of a black cuckoo, or a trustworthy relic of the Sugata with vajra milk.85 Then he should wrap it in gold, silver, and copper, and finish it while reciting the mantra in front of Mārīcī, and he will gain siddhi. When he places it in his mouth, he will be invisible. He will be invisible, imperceptible, unable to be restrained, unstoppable, unable to be overcome, unable to be enchanted, unable to be cut with a blade, unable to be decapitated, invincible, impervious to fire, and unable to come under an enemy’s control. Vairocana taught this supreme invisibility rite, and only someone whose mantra recitation is highly advanced can perform it.

If he wants it to rain, he should have a young boy and a young girl of just twelve years who have wide eyes and are beautiful86 ritually purify themselves and bathe in a private place, put on white robes, anoint their bodies with sandalwood, put on a flower garland, perfume themselves, and fumigate themselves with incense. Then, [F.175.b] he should smear a maṇḍala with cow dung, have them stand in it, and burn bdellium incense while reciting the mantra one hundred and eight times and offering them gifts. He should imagine that a red syllable māṃ blazes like fire on top of a moon disk in the center of the target and perform the worshiping ritual with the pride of the deity Mārīcī while ringing the bell and making the incense offering with bdellium, and it will instantly start to rain in that location. The mantra he should recite to make it rain is oṃ mārīcyai āveśaya dhuna kampa kampāya prataṅgrāha gṛhṇa hūṁ oṃ a mārīcyai svāhā. This rite was taught by Vairocana.

The “rainfall” meditative concentration that invokes all the nāgas also brings down a torrential rain if the nāga invocation is properly performed. When there is a drought, it means that a wicked and terrible nāga with evil intentions is making it so that there will be no crops, the roots and foliage will wither, and there will be no medicinal plants. So, when there is a drought, the vidyā holder should recite this perfect heart mantra once, and the rain will fall in a great torrent, making the crops and the entire forest with its roots, foliage, and medicinal plants grow:

When a vidyā holder merely recollects the verses of this dhāraṇī mantra called the heart mantra of the nāga Ever-Flashing Lightning, the nāgas will let forth a torrent of rain.

He should recite the words of an appropriate dhāraṇī mantra such as tadyathā oṃ mārīcyai jata jata vijata vijata slathā slathā sapārijiṭi svāhā just as before while performing one hundred eight fire offerings of white dūrvā grass seeds [F.176.a] at a body of water in which a nāga lives, and it will immediately release a torrential rain.

He should perform an incense offering to the nāgas using white bdellium mixed with honey while reciting the dhāraṇī twenty-one times. He should draw a nāga with chalk and milk92 surrounding the outside of the maṇḍala, arrange the four gates, and place seven full vases on each side filled with as much of the various liquids93 as possible. He should completely cover the ground with flowers, offer the various bali offerings, and purify the fruit offering. He should burn bdellium incense around the four vases full of water, four vases containing an abundance of bali offerings, and four containers. He should make eight lamp offerings. Then the vidyā holder should perform the fire offering at the eastern gate by making one hundred and eight fire offerings with white mustard mixed with rock salt into a fire kindled with oleander wood. When the one hundred and eight fire offerings are complete, all the nāgas will let forth a torrential rain. Someone who wants rain to fall across all of Jambudvīpa should exert themselves in this rite for a year.

He should make a pill out of a powder of white mustard seeds, black mustard oil, honey, nerium flowers, and cobra saffron, place the pill in the center, and recite the mantra one hundred and eight times. Just placing it in the center will please the nāgas, and they will let forth a torrential rain. If it does not immediately rain, their bodies will rot and decay, they will contract an infectious disease, and they will suffer tremendous torment.

He should cook ashes from a fire with sour rice gruel, incant it with the mantra sixty times, and pour it into a place where a nāga lives. Simply pouring it there will intoxicate the nāgas, and they will release a torrent of rain. If it does not immediately start to rain, the flesh on their bodies will develop vitiligo,94 and they will go blind.

He should take a copper-colored powder containing a mixture of lotus, giant milkweed, blue lotus anthers, and yellow arsenic, [F.176.b] mix it with water containing white mustard, indrahasta, red lac, and molasses, and make wisdom pills by reciting the mantra eighty times while making pills the size of a jujube fruits. Then he should place seven pills in a place where a nāga lives, and it will rain continuously for seven days during a drought. If it does not immediately start to rain, all the bodies of water where the nāgas live will dry up, and all the nāgas will suffer.

He should attach a pill to the top of a victory banner at a pond where a nāga lives, fasten a blue banner to it, write out the mantra, and attach it to the banner. The nāgas will make it rain as long as the pill does not fall from the top of the victory banner.

To explain another ritual: He should incant some rice gruel with the mantra oṃ mārīcyai suprativajra tu nādhe mili mili svāhā, make a statue of a nāga with nine heads that is eight fingers tall, and smear its body with cinnabar. He should display a banner that has the mantra written on it, make a square maṇḍala in front of Blessed Mārīcī, cover the maṇḍala with flowers, perform a thorough white bali offering, and present gifts of flowers and incense. The body of the nāga statue should be rubbed against a pomegranate branch that has been incanted with the mantra twenty-one or one hundred eight times,95 and the nāga who bears that name will become distressed. It will be miserable in its own abode, so it will not return and will let loose a torrential downpour. If it does not rain, the target will die.

He should recite the mantra one thousand eight times while casting mustard seeds at the nāga. After one thousand eight recitations, the nāga statue will begin to move and will open its hood.96 He should strike it with the pomegranate branch, pick it up, and stand there displaying the snake. If he displays the snake for an entire evening, all the nāgas [F.177.a] will come under his control and do whatever he says.

He should combine milk with white sesame and place it anywhere while reciting the corresponding mantra‍—tadyathā oṃ mārīcyai jata jata vijata vijata svathā svathā śavari citi citi svāhā‍—one hundred eight times, and it will attract all of them from their individual locations in all directions. If the vidyā holder has done this for an entire day following the proper ritual procedure and all the nāgas of Jambudvīpa do not send forth rain to nourish all beings, then he should recite the vidyā holder’s samaya and the corresponding dhāraṇī. He should recite the seven-part mantra just as before. Then, at a spring where nāgas live, he should perform one hundred eight fire offerings using white dūrvā grass seeds. The nāgas’ home will burst into flames, and there will be nothing left but a dried-out heap of nāga bones.97

When there is too much rain, he should light a fire with giant milkweed and perform one hundred and eight or one thousand fire offerings of white mustard and nerium flowers at a nāga pond or spring using the following mantra, and it will be pacified:

The sky in that place and the entire region98 will blaze with the radiance of a thousand suns, the māras will be burned by radiating sharp-pointed vajra darts, and all attachment, hatred, ignorance, becoming, birth, old age, and death will be destroyed.

As he recites the mantra, he should imagine that the syllable māṃ appears in the middle of the blazing and radiant horizon and that a magically emanated young girl in the prime of her youth instantly appears. Mārīcī emits a bright yellow light like molten gold from the Jambu River and radiates a mass of light rays in a flash of light equal to a thousand suns that illuminates the entire sky. [F.177.b] She has eight arms, and she has three faces with three eyes on each face. Two of her faces are the face of a black boar. Her own face is in the middle, she has two legs, and she adopts a playful stance.99 She wears a blue lower robe and multicolored upper garment and shawl. She has gold earrings and a girdle that is ornamented with strings of bells. She has bracelets on her wrists. On her ankles she has anklets that jingle, and she is adorned with all her ornaments. She is adorned all over with the various nāga lords. She is bathed by the light of the nāga lord Pīta’s jeweled snake hood. Her head is wreathed in aśoka flowers, and her matted locks are drawn up and ornamented with a caitya. Behind her is a caitya, and in the hollow of the caitya stands a great aśoka tree full of flower blossoms.

Glorious Vairocana is seated in front of her on a blooming white lotus. The Lord wears a crown of matted locks and is peaceful, and his wisdom eye is open. He is bright yellow like the color of molten gold. His face is handsome and attractive. His body blazes like the sun. He bears the hand mudrā of supreme awakening. He sits in single-pointed meditative absorption with his legs crossed, and the blazing light from his radiant power adorns him like the ornament of a buddha‍—with burning tips of tongues of fire that pervade the sky and radiate a circular halo of light.

Blazing with light, Blessed Mārīcī holds in her first left hand a bow of immeasurable quality that is nocked with an arrow and drawn to her ear. The second hand holds Vāsuki, who is coiled like a snake and holds a blazing thread. The third holds the nāga Takṣaka with his aśoka flower. She points the index finger of her fourth hand and holds Karkoṭa with his noose.

In her first right hand she holds Kulika with his sharp blazing vajra that casts a fiery light. The second hand holds Padma with his arrow. The third holds Mahāpadma with a needle and a thread that is coiled like a snake below him. [F.178.a] The fourth holds Śaṅkhapāla, who is wrapped around a hook. The nāgas bare their fangs, and their tongues are curled and twisted.

The nāga lord Supīta looks out, illuminating the cardinal and ordinal directions with the radiant light of his jeweled venomous-snake hood. His smiling face radiates a flashing light that spreads like the rising sun. His lips are like scarlet mallow and hibiscus flowers. His face is beautiful like a blooming lotus, his brow and nose are pronounced, and he has eyes like a blooming lotus. The right face is radiant white like a flower. Its white light is like a white cloud and pure white like the autumn moon. The left face is blue and has a terrifying wrathful expression. The brilliant light from its fangs is terrifying and radiates outward like the horrifying light of a thousand suns as if one is witnessing the fire that consumes the world at the end of an eon. Its wrathful snarl is difficult to look at. Its eyes are casting a sideways glance, and their gaze terrifies the horde of nāgas. When it falls on them, they will look down and vomit water, a torrential downpour will fall from their abode in the heavens, and the entire earth will be saturated with a deluge of rain.

Then the mantra oṃ padākramasi svāhā emerges from the sun in the sky as before, along with the mantra oṃ parākramasi svāhā, out of which a goddess with four arms emerges and stands in front of Mārīcī. She wears a yellow lower robe, upper garment, and shawl. She has the face of a boar with three eyes, is mounted on a golden boar, and is adorned with all her ornaments. She blazes like a fiery blue sapphire and bares her fangs. Her brow is furrowed in a wrathful snarl, and her sideways glance inflicts pain on the nāga lords.100 She holds a blazing vajra and thread in her left hands101 and a hook and needle in her right hands.

oṃ gulmaya102 svāhā. The goddess of the southern quarter appears in the form of a young girl. [F.178.b] She wears a yellow silk lower garment and a blue upper garment and shawl. She has the face of a boar and rides a black boar. She has three eyes and is adorned with all her ornaments. One of her left hands has the forefinger extended and holds a noose, and the other holds a flowering branch. Her right hands hold a hook and a needle.

oṃ padāmasi svāhā. The goddess of the western quarter has four arms and wears a blue and red lower robe and a multicolored upper garment and shawl. She has the face of a spotted boar with three eyes and is adorned with all her ornaments. Her left hands hold a bow and aśoka branch. Her right hands hold an arrow and the chain hand mudrā.

oṃ antardhānamasi svāhā. The goddess of the northern quarter emits a light the color of a pale green emerald. She wears a red lower robe, a red upper garment and shawl, and a girdle adorned with a serpent. She has three eyes, the face of a boar, and four arms. Her left hands hold a vajra and ringing bell and a needle and thread. Her right hands hold a noose and a hook.

All four goddesses surrounding Mārīcī have matted locks bound up like a lord of nāgas, and their hair is decorated with a caitya. Their own mantras are preceded by the mantra oṃ mārīcyai, from which Mārīcī has emerged mounted on a golden boar.

Then he should imagine that the great nāga king Nanda, who is black, emits a blazing light in the east. He has seven snake hoods, his nāga consort has three hoods, and both stand there holding a lotus. They present their gift below the goddess of the east, and their hair hangs down. Their venomous gaze sees all, and they wear a crown with a large jewel. They are adorned with their various ornaments, and the light of the jewel on their snake hoods overcomes all darkness. They hold the palms of their lotus hands together at their hearts. Since they are distressed and terrified of her, they vomit water from their mouths, and a torrent of rain falls from their serpentine heads. [F.179.a]

The four protectors are also stationed at the gates in the east, south, west, and north.

While reciting the following mantras, imagine that the goddesses subdue the nāgas in the ordinal directions, beginning with the southeast, and stand there in due order:

As it says, “The place where the rite is performed should have the names of the eight nāgas depicted in the aforementioned sequence.”108 This ritual should be performed on an auspicious day when the moon is in the lunar asterism Puṣya. He should be furnished with the five devotional offerings and unfurl the canvas for the painting. The artist should shave his head, maintain the precepts, and draw the painting in a solitary place that is covered by a roof. After the rite, he should hold a feast for the fully ordained nuns and young women.109

When there is a drought, an accomplished mantrin should raise his resolve by properly washing and purifying himself. He should drink milk, wear black robes, and associate with virtuous friends. He should build a dwelling at a spring, shrine, or any other beautiful location where a nāga’s abode is within sight, such as the bank of a pond, lake, river, or pool. Then he should make a maṇḍala with cow dung and set out the deity image by taking a multicolored flag, placing it at the top of a victory banner, and drawing the image on it. He should raise the canopy and draw a square maṇḍala with four gates using a dye made of white and black mustard boiled in rice. The outer edge of the maṇḍala is a great lotus. The eight-petaled lotus in the middle of a whirlwind where the principal deity sits radiates forth, and a vajra with the syllable hūṁ at its center blazes like the fire that consumes the world.

He should make a nāga effigy using soil from the bank of a river that flows to the sea [F.179.b] and dirt from an anthill and place it on the eight-petaled lotus. The nāga should be surrounded by its retinue, and there should be nāgas seated on both sides with their palms together. The nāga should have the syllable hūṁ at its heart and the syllable phu at its throat, and it should be wrapped in its beautiful tail. As it says, “The light from the jewels on the snake hoods of the eight nāgas is like an all-consuming fire.” He should anoint its limbs with perfume and sandalwood, ornament it with a flower garland, and hang a long and short necklace on the effigy. He should scatter red, blue, and white lotuses and maloka110 flowers, set out eight vases filled with water, light eight continually burning lamps, and place them in eight earthen bowls filled with milk. He should offer a delicious cake made with yogurt, honey, ghee, sugar, and grain as the bali offering and purify it with incense and white mustard.

The essential hand mudrā for all the nāga lords is as follows: Both palms are face up. Make the tips of the two pinky fingers like needle points. Align the ring fingers behind that. Align the tips of the middle fingers alongside the three joints of the ring fingers, and bend the two index fingers and thumbs, making the shape of a serpent hood.

For Yamāntaka’s hand mudrā, place the palms of the hands together, place the middle fingers on top of the thumbs, and bend the three joints of the fourth fingers. [F.180.a] His mantra is oṃ yamāntakāya hūṁ. Recite each respective mantra while summoning with the hand mudrā.113

After that, the vidyā holder should fill an unfired earthen bowl with milk and incant it with the mantra. He should then go into the water up to his neck, and, with the pride that accompanies worshiping Mārīcī, he should invoke the nāgas and perform the recitation using the secret mantra described above. The accomplished mantrin should return, enter the deity’s abode, coat white mustard, sea salt, and nerium flowers with black mustard oil, and perform a fire offering at the eastern gate of the maṇḍala into a fire kindled according to the above ritual procedure in a fire pit made to the dimensions mentioned above. After that, the nāgas will send forth a torrential rain.

To explain another application of the mantra: The syllable māṁ should be imagined in the center of the sky, out of which Mārīcī emerges in the form of a young girl with a yellow complexion who is adorned with all her ornaments. She has a blue lower robe and a multicolored upper garment and shawl, and she has the characteristic features explained above. She has six arms, her face is like a blooming lotus, and her lips are as red as scarlet mallow and hibiscus flowers. Her eyes are like blue lotuses, and the hair on her head is ornamented like a caitya. Behind her is the moon and a caitya that is beautifully adorned with part of a fully blooming aśoka branch growing out of its hollow. She is mounted on top of a golden boar.

If he binds the middle of the boar with the mudrā while reciting the mantra and visualizing the goddess, the goddess who cannot be seized, cannot be bound, cannot be stopped, cannot be opposed, cannot be enchanted, cannot be cut by a blade, cannot be decapitated, cannot be injured, cannot be burned, and cannot be brought under an enemy’s control will move about among the enemy’s ranks. He should perform the rite with this mantra:

He should close his mouth and allow the breath to gradually slow until it stops, hold the tip of the nose with his fingers, expel the breath from his nostrils, and then pinch them closed as he recites the mantra and recollects the goddess. He should recite the mantra twenty-one times over the hem of his lower robe and then sit there with his mouth and eyes shut and his tongue bound while making a knot. All robbers and wicked people will be bound and stay where they are.

If he imagines the goddess and recollects the mantra when he travels on the road in a dangerous forest among thieves, the mantrin should perform the rite correctly and “he will not be seen, will not be seized, will not be bound, will not be stopped, will not be opposed, will not be enchanted,” and so forth.

During Puṣya, he should recite the mantra twenty-one times over an unbroken cord that has been spun by a young girl and twisted into three strands. He should smear it with the blood of a boar and with bovine bezoar while reciting the mantra. He should insert his name115 into the mantra, make a series of knots‍—knotting the thread twenty-one times‍—tie it around his wrist or the hem of his robe, and pierce his ears with a boar tusk. When he travels, it is said that he will not be seen, will not be seized, will not be bound, will not be stopped, will not be opposed, will not be enchanted, will not be cut by a blade, will not be decapitated, and so forth.

He should take the root and flowers of a boar’s-ear plant and bovine bezoar, crush it with realgar using a boar’s tusk when the moon is in the lunar asterism Puṣya, form it into a ball, and let it dry out in the shade. When he meets a powerful great king, he should use it to make a bindi on his forehead, and the king will be enthralled.

If he crushes and combines jayanta fruit and white vijayā fruit together with bovine bezoar using a boar’s tusk when the moon is in the lunar asterism Puṣya and makes a bindi on his forehead with it, any powerful great king will be happy and not wrathful when he sees him, and when he goes to battle, he will be victorious.

He can enthrall the wife of a person in the court just by hitting her with an incanted powder made with the dirt from a bodily wound and eye rheum mixed with putrajari,116 avanacitika,117 [F.181.a] rutanti, and daṇḍotapala.

If he incants āśapacatika,118 krānta,119 sranti,120 lakṣmī,121 rheum from a sore, rheum from the eye, and tears with the mantra, it will immediately enthrall the king’s wives. Tranta is identified as viṣṇu or vikrama.122 Pracanta is a plant that is always identified as ngünma.123 Anapacitaka124 is identified as a plant that looks like the palms joined together. Ngünma, daṇḍotpala, and saha can be used to enthrall a woman.

He should make a powder with the roots of sūryāvarta, cakṣuṣya, indrahasta, abhayahasta, sand, yellow soil,125 and conch shell, use tears to form a dough,126 and take it with alcohol,127 and his own harem will be enthralled.

He should maintain the visualization of Blessed Mārīcī as a beautiful woman by bringing her to mind until the recollection of the deity is stabilized.128 Then he should use a blade to mix the base of a white giant milkweed stalk, madder, a newly hatched bird,129 and costus with the blood from a wound on his own body and eye rheum and form it into a pill, and it will enthrall the three realms.

He should make a powder of sitasāra pulses,130 asakatasa, and red flowering aśoka, and he will enthrall an unwed woman he does not know who is difficult to subdue. If he performs the rite when the moon is in the lunar asterism Puṣya using the seed mantra, it will enthrall any person he does not know.

He should mix radruti and kṣavaka131 and form it into a pill, take it with betel and a glob of crystalized sap from a teakwood tree, and the Lord of the Thirty will enthrall one’s own wife.132

If he mixes white dūrvā grass and tawny dūrvā grass with bovine bezoar [F.181.b] and uses it to make a bindi on his forehead, he will enthrall the king with a mere glance.

He should take cobra saffron and lotus filaments, red sandalwood, red lotus, blue lotus, realgar, and bovine bezoar with palmyra, press it with barha perfume and viṣṇu vikrama,133 and fashion it into a pill with the blood of a boar while reciting Mārīcī’s mantra. If he places a bindi on his forehead, on the crown of his head, and on his neck, heart, two hands, midsection, and feet, he will become massive like a yakṣa, he will take the form of whatever yakṣa he wishes, and he will roam the earth. He also will not be seen, will not be seized, will not be bound, will not be stopped, will not be opposed, will not be enchanted, will not be cut by a blade, will not be decapitated, will not be injured, and will not come under an enemy’s control.

He should take the nostrils of a buffalo that have been burned in wood from a coral tree, the soil from a funeral pyre, ash, and the bracelets of a dead woman and burn them in a fire kindled with wood that has been used to burn a corpse. He should extinguish it with the juice of the datura plant and form the powder into a pill, and he will instantly enthrall even the daughter of the lord of the gods.

If he makes a bindi on his forehead with a mixture of the lord of birds’ discus,134 guarded by the lord of the gods,135 realgar, bovine bezoar, and rheum, he will enthrall her.

He should make a dough with the lord of birds’ discus, guarded by Indra,136 anavatijataka, ngünma, and tears, and it will instantly enthrall a ruler’s woman.

He should combine a flower from the corpse of the dead husband of a newlywed bride, a flower that sits at the top of a pale scarlet mallow plant, and the ash of the fire in which the widow was burned. Simply by hitting a woman with it, she will come to his door.

He should make a dough with viṣṇu vikrama, guarded by Indra, lakrana, and [F.182.a] mātula snake mixed with ngünma and tears, and when the moment of death has come, the lord’s wife will instantly be enthralled.137

Hold the two hands parallel with both palms either pressed together or with an opening. Hold the ring fingers with the thumbs, join the two middle fingers, and curl both forefingers. Sit with the legs crossed and rest the hands at the navel.

The following is another application of the mantra: Visualize a golden boar, and visualize Mārīcī on top of it, wearing a lower robe of white cloth and surrounded by a pack of boar. There is a caitya in the middle,138 and she holds a flowering aśoka branch in her left hand. He should perform that visualization when faced with one of the great perils while holding his robe at the heart. He should recite the mantra seven times while tying it in a knot, and when he travels, he will have no fear of robbers and the like. Later, when he arrives somewhere safe, he can untie the knot. This is the mantra that binds mouths:

And this is the mantra to be recited while tying the knot:

He should tie seven knots or tie an individual knot for however many people have been captured and taken as slaves, and they will be released right before him.

After that, there is a practice for another of Blessed Mārīcī’s rites. He should add the target’s name in the middle of the syllable māṃ in two bowls and fill the bowls with ash, wrap them with yellow thread, seal the top bowl to the bottom bowl with a vajra,148 and place it in a secret location. He should recite the following root vidyā to Vadāli and the others one thousand and eight times, and the target will travel wherever they wish, free from all manner of perilous situations and worry:

The practitioner’s name should be written with the command inside the aforementioned seed syllable, and the eight vidyādharas should be inscribed with the root mantra around the circumference of the seed syllable. He should do this inside the heads of the letters for all of them.152 He should wrap it three times and write it on birch bark with saffron for a man and bovine bezoar for a woman. The vidyā holder can also write it on his robe and wear the vidyā, and he will be protected from all manner of perils. The gods, asuras, and others will not be able to harm them, and they will attain the mantra siddhi they so deeply desire.

If he wants to bind wicked people, he should write the target’s name clearly with the command bandhavin153 in the middle of the aforementioned seed syllable and place it in a vessel with a lid filled with a powder of ash. He should place it in a remote location, and it will bind those wicked beings. To kill them,154 he should write the syllable oṃ on a piece of cloth from a charnel ground and bury it there. To make himself invisible, he should write his own name in the middle of the aforementioned seed syllable, and he will see a sign resembling a blue mist. As he recites the hundred-thousand-syllable mantra, the mist will spread, and it will look as if the sky is ablaze. From then on, he will not encounter any obstacles anywhere.

If he wants to put all of them in a stupor, he should write the mantra that begins with vatāli in the middle of the aforementioned seed syllable along with the root mantra, place it inside a bowl with a lid, tie it with yellow thread, perform an offering with red and yellow flickering flame flowers,155 and hide it in a remote location. Then he should recite the mantra one thousand and eight times, and anywhere he wishes to go, all the wicked beings will stand there in a stupor and not see him.

He should draw an eight-spoked wheel in the middle of the aforementioned seed syllable [F.183.b] with the paralyzing mantra beginning with vatāli in the middle along with the command “do this” in a bowl, and so forth. The target will blaze with a yellow hue, and he will see a flickering light pervade the sky. He should place the bowl in a remote location and perform an offering with yellow flowers while reciting the mantra one thousand and eight times, and it will undoubtedly halt anything he needs to, such as robbers, armaments, poison, fire, an enemy army, and so forth.

This is “The Mantra Wheel: A Jewel That Fulfills Every Wish” from Blessed Mārīcī’s Supreme Secret. He should make an eight-spoked wheel in the middle of the aforementioned seed syllable. He should write the eight vidyās beginning with arkamasi and the like in order on the eight spokes, write the root mantra that begins with varāli along with the command along the wheel’s outer rim, and draw the vidyā goddesses on the spokes of the wheel. He should write the name with the command in the center and perform a rite for pacifying, increasing, enthralling, attracting, killing, expelling, paralyzing, sowing discord, subjugating, and so forth. The thing they actually desire is what leads the vidyā queens, who are the great guardians of the directions and like a wish-fulfilling jewel, to carry out whatever practitioners desire.

First, he should draw Blessed Mārīcī with saffron on birch bark, with the terrifying blue face of Vajravārāhī to the left and right, submerge it in milk, and perform an offering with the white substances. He should draw her wearing white clothes. The target will be pacified.

For the increasing rite, he should draw her with bovine bezoar mixed with ghee, place the drawing in a bowl with a lid, and submerge it in water, and the target will be increased.

For all manner of crises, he should draw her using bovine bezoar with a pen made of oleander wood on a piece of cloth woven by a young girl and submerge it in the three sweets while reciting the mantra, and the great crisis will be averted. [F.184.a]

For the subjugation rite, he should draw her using poison and so forth on a piece of cloth from a charnel ground or on a garment from someone who has been struck down by a blade.156 He should make the effigy of the target out of the following five types of soil: soil from a riverbank, soil from a royal gate, soil from a crossroads, soil that is stuck to the horn of a young bull, and soil from the target’s well. He should place the image inside the effigy, smear the effigy with mustard oil, and bury it in a charnel ground. Then he should stand on it with his left leg bent like Heruka, adopt the practice of The Conqueror of the Threefold World while reciting the mantra one hundred and eight times, and the target will immediately die. He can also stab it with a dagger made of teakwood and burn it in a charnel ground fire, and the target will immediately die.

For the expelling rite, he should draw her on the same type of cloth using a crow pen and with ink that is a mixture of dog milk, datura juice, and charcoal from a charnel ground. He should make the effigy in rice gruel, place the image inside it, dig a hole and bury it at a crossroads, and perform the recitation and deity recollection using Yamāntaka’s mantra, and any target that is one hundred leagues away will leave.

For the rite to sow discord, he should draw the mantra wheel157 and the like on a strip of cloth with an owl-feather pen using the same charcoal,158 take the soil from the southern bank of a river, make an effigy of the targets, and place the mantra wheel inside them. Then, he should place them back-to-back and tie them with a strand of hair, place the effigies in a charnel ground, put a pile of cow dung on top of them, and cook them with firewood from the charnel ground. When they have been cooked, it causes even Hara and his wife to immediately separate, not to mention the wife of an earthly being.

For the paralyzing rite, he should draw it on a strip of cloth using turmeric and place it in the stomach of an image of Bhaṭṭārikā159 that has been made in yellow dye. He should insert an effigy of the target of the ritual action and perform an offering with yellow flowers, and by the seventh day it will paralyze even a great enemy.

To paralyze an enemy army, he should draw it on a piece of cloth160 in rat’s blood with a pen made of seven twigs. Then, he should make an image of Gaṇapati out of soil that has been dug up by an animal’s horn,161 soil from a crossroads, soil from a royal gate, and soil from the two banks of a stream, place the wheel in the image’s stomach, [F.184.b] dig a hole at a crossroads and bury it, and recite the mantra along with The Conqueror of the Threefold World.

For the attracting rite, he should draw it on a woman’s skull using bovine bezoar and boar fat with a pen made from a sparrow’s wing, make a maṇḍala with dung that has not fallen to the ground, and place it on the maṇḍala with a strand of the target’s hair, and it will attract the target. He should recite the mantra with the command.

To attract someone using a pill, he should draw it exactly the same way and burn a fire kindled with teakwood on top of it, and it will attract anyone who lives within one hundred leagues. If the target is male, he should perform the aforementioned rite in a man’s skull.

During a drought, he should draw the mantra wheel on a plank of uḍumbara wood in white sandalwood using a peacock feather as a pen, make a statue of a nāga king below it out of dirt from an anthill, place it in a pool that has fragrant lotuses with eight petals, and make an offering of oleander and cobra saffron. He should burn an incense of powdered cobra saffron and bdellium. Using the Great Powerful One,162 he should recite the letters of the mantra with the name of the target along the edge of the boundary while holding the wooden plank and imagining Blessed Mārīcī swimming in the ocean of milk, and it will instantly rain. If it does not rain, then the wise one should throw white dūrvā grass seeds at Blessed Mārīcī. For the paralyzing rite, he should place the plank face down and hit it with his palm.

For an application of the mantra that brings about mutual agreement, he should draw the mantra wheel on elephant hide using an ink made from charcoal from a charnel ground and kuśa grass, trample it with the left foot, and drag it on the ground using the supreme hand-mudrā of holding the thread and hook.

There is also a rite for neutralizing a vidyā mantra. He should draw the mantra wheel on a piece of common cloth using ink made from plantain-tree leaves and a pen made from driftwood,163 get naked, let his hair down, and arrange for it to be placed in a peaceful place on top of a banner for one whose rank is comparable to a universal ruler.

For the binding rite, he should prepare the ground and so forth164 in a peaceful place, draw the mantra wheel with cat’s blood in the middle of a triangular maṇḍala, [F.185.a] and place the command it inside it.165 He should hide it in a shrine to the mātṛs, and there will be infighting and great discord.166

For the enchanting rite, he should draw a snake using poison on a spot that has been rubbed with chalk167 and visualize Mārīcī holding a three-headed snake in her left hand and threatening the enemy before her as the sun and moon both revolve around her to the right twenty-one times. Then he should recite the mantra with the extra syllables while making a three-pointed vajra at the high point of a staff and a single-pointed vajra at the low point, and he will not be harmed by robbers and the like. If he carries the staff and recites the six-syllable mantra even while facing one of the great perils, he will be completely protected from all manner of perilous situations.

He should imagine the syllable a with a lunar disk below and a lunar disk above, out of which appears the place where he will hide himself and recite the aforementioned mantra that begins with the phrase “Mārīcī, please protect me.”168 He should imagine that the light of the sun and moon merges together when he faces any peril. To protect himself when he is asleep, he should sit on the bed, draw the syllable cyai, place it on his left foot, and visualize Akṣobhya. After that, robbers will not harm him and will remain bound and enchanted.

Here are the colors of Mārīcī according to the particular rite.

For an enthralling rite she is red with two hands that hold a bow and arrow, and she stands on a solar disk.

For a pacification rite she is white with four hands. Her first right hand displays the boon-granting hand-mudrā, the second right hand holds a vajra, the first left hand holds an aśoka branch, and the second left hand displays the protection hand-mudrā. She stands on a white lotus.

For the increasing rite she has four arms, is pale white, and holds a battle axe and a noose in two of her hands.

For releasing a binding spell, she is green, has two arms, and holds a noose and battle axe.

For the subjugating rite she is black with four arms. She holds a sword in one of her right hands, a hammer in the other right hand, and a skull in one left hand, and she extends the index finger of her other left hand. [F.185.b]

For the expelling rite she has a smoke-colored complexion and two hands, and she holds a noose and axe.

For the rite for sowing discord, she is blue and has four arms. Her right hands hold a sword and staff, and her left hands hold a skull and an aśoka branch.

For the paralyzing rite she has a yellow complexion and six arms. Her right hands hold a vajra, needle, and arrow. Her left hands hold a noose, bow, and aśoka branch.

For the rite for paralyzing an enemy army her body is ablaze and trembles violently. She has twelve arms holding various hand implements, six faces, and six legs. The first face is red, the right face is black, and the left face is off-white, wrathful, and bares its fangs. Above that, the right face is light yellow and smiling, while the left is the face of a buddha.169 The face above that is a boar. Her right hands hold a spear, vajra, arrow, staff, battle axe, and sword. The index finger of the first left hand is extended, and the others hold an aśoka branch, khaṭvāṅga, skull, trident, and a human head.

For the attracting rite she is white with four arms and three faces. Her right hands hold a hook and an arrow, and her left hands hold a noose and a skull. The middle face has a golden complexion, the right is black, and the left is red.

When performing the rite for inciting mutual hostility, she has two faces that are both black. One is the face of a horse, and the other is the face of a boar. Her right hands hold a sword and three-pointed vajra, and her left hands hold a preta and a skull.

Both faces are the same for the rite to neutralize an enemy’s vidyā mantra, and she displays the meditative concentration hand-mudrā and leans against the trunk of an aśoka tree.

He should visualize that a spherical solar disk appears in his mouth out of the syllable ma, a lunar disk appears behind his head out of the syllable sa, and the syllable ca appears at his heart. Vattāli is on the right shoulder, Vadāli is on the left shoulder, Varāli is on the right knee, [F.186.a] and Varāhamukhī171 is on the left knee. On the right torso is the phrase sarvaduṣṭānāṃ cakṣurmukhaṃ bandha bandha, the phrase jambhaya jambhaya is on the back, and the phrase stambhaya stambhaya is on the left torso. The phrase mohaya mohaya is in the middle of the breasts, and the syllable hrīḥ is distributed over the entire body. The syllable hūṁ is for illuminating, the syllable phaṭ is blinding, and the combined syllables svāhā are satisfying. Hold the palms parallel and place the two index fingers in the middle of the two thumbs. This is the body mudrā, and it can be used to perform the ritual for any version of the rite.