To celebrate the Gupta Navarātrī (Summer Goddess Festival) this year, we got together in Portland and decided to take up a new text, the Saundarya Laharī, an exceedingly beautiful Śrī Vidyā primary source & primer attributed to Ādi Śankarācarya to study alongside the Yoginī Hṛdāya which we started studying together last week.
In this first of many talks on the Saundarya Laharī (follow along with this lecture series here), after a little introduction & discussion featuring Mahadevaji (which you can watch here), I jump in to introduce some foundational & preliminary ideas about Tāntrik Goddess worship starting with the Aṣṭarasā (अष्टरसा) (the “8 flavors of consciousness”) model and the Aṣṭamātṛkās (the 8 fierce yoginīs that correspond to the 8 sets of the Sanskrit alphabet) to which these rasas are often mapped.
Here are some citations & resources:
From Bhārati’s classical source:
शृङ्गारहास्यकरुणरौद्रवीरभयानकाः । बीभत्साद्भुतसंज्ञौ चेत्यष्टौ नाटये रसाः स्मृताः śṛṅgārahāsyakaruṇaraudravīrabhayānakāḥ | bībhatsādbhutasaṃjñau cetyaṣṭau nāṭaye rasāḥ smṛtāḥ ||
Śṛṅgāra (erotic love) Hāsya (comedy) Karuṇa (compassion/grief) Bhayānaka (terror) Bībhatsa (disgust) Vīra (heroic) Adbhuta (amazement) Raudra (anger)
And the bonus +1 from Abhinava: Śānta (quiescent/transcendent/spritiual)
note: Aṣṭarasā (8 flavors) is the classical list; Abhinava adds the 9th to make “navarasa” (9 flavors).
The source for these is Abhinava Bhārati, Abhinava’s commentary on the Nātya Śāshtra of Bharati but also for the “9th”, see Abhinava’s Dhvanyaloka Locana, his commentary on Anandavardhana’s “dhvani” idea (what makes poetry poetic)
Here are the 8 sets (mātrikā-Varga/Mātrika Kula) of Sanskrit letters:
स्वर (vowels)
अ (a), आ (ā), इ (i), ई (ī), उ (u), ऊ (ū), ऋ (ṛ), ॠ (ṝ), ऌ (ḷ), ॡ (ḹ), ए (e), ऐ (ai), ओ (o), औ (au), अं (aṃ), अः (aḥ)
कण्ठ्य (gutturals)
क (ka), ख (kha), ग (ga), घ (gha), ङ (ṅa).
तालव्य (palatals)
च (ca), छ (cha), ज (ja), झ (jha), ञ (ña).
मूर्धन्य (retroflex)
ट (ṭa), ठ (ṭha), ड (ḍa), ढ (ḍha), ण (ṇa).
दन्त्य (dentals)
त (ta), थ (tha), द (da), ध (dha), न (na).
ओष्ठ्य (labials)
प (pa), फ (pha), ब (ba), भ (bha), म (ma).
अन्तस्थ (semivowels/liquids)
य (ya), र (ra), ल (la), व (va)
ऊष्मन् (sibilants + aspirant)
श (śa), ष (ṣa), स (sa), ह (ha).
In the next class, we’ll look at another set of 8 (the 8 shadows/pāśās) to complete our understanding of today's material!
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