Chapter 15: An Account of Royal Lineages

15.1“Blessed One,” the Goddess said, “please describe those places where people live and are reborn, and those places where the mortal and immortal lords and yoginīs dwell.”

15.2The Blessed One replied, “North of Mount Sumeru there is a city called Bālabhañja, where in this eon there is a nāga king named Bogadhiga, who has attained the mahāmudrā siddhi. The nāga line in that city will continue through a thousand of his descendants. He performed ten million recitations of the venerable Mañjuśrī’s heart mantra, and he will attain siddhi after a series of rebirths as numerous as the needles of the sarala pine. After that, the city will fall into the sea.

15.3“An asura king named Andra will be born on the island of Varika. A rākṣasa named Gardhava will be born seven generations after him and live for one hundred twenty thousand years. After that, it is taught that an incarnation of the noble Avalokiteśvara will assume all the various forms through which the Dharma can be taught there.

15.4“North of that, on the island of Uttarāṅkura, the power of samaya, meditation, and complete understanding will result in an eon of renowned activity that will last for ten million two hundred twenty thousand twenty-seven years. [F.66.b] Then, periods celebrated for being joyous will pass for one hundred ten million, one hundred seventy-one thousand, twelve thousand, and one hundred one years, followed by one hundred fifty-one velas and then a period of one million six hundred thousand years. During all these times, it will be known as Uttarāṅkura.

15.5“South of Mount Sumeru, on the border of Laṅka, there is a mountain called Vahura, where a horde of rākṣasas has lived for as long as there has been a sun and moon. South of that there is a city named Samori, where there is a king is named Rasana. South of that there is a city called Kāmarūpa, where there will be a king named Saptalakṣaṇa. In the place where the king will appear there will be females with attractive forms who had not been there before, nor would be there. Caṇḍikā was prophesied to appear as well.

15.6“A fisherman will be eaten by a fish, die, and then be reborn as a yogin named Dārika. He will live in Vadaha, where he will cause alcohol to pour forth in the Ganges River for one ghaṭikā and bind the ḍākas and ḍākinīs as a result of his mantra practice.

15.7“There will be a great astrologer named Varaha in that country, and King Suvāha and his son and grandsons will also appear there. He will begin building one hundred thousand temples by the age of twenty-four and complete them when he is fifty. Eight years later there will be one hundred fifty thousand more, and ten thousand yogins and one thousand buddhas will reside there over the course of three eons.

15.8“To the east there is a king of mountains, one that has been flooded by the ocean and reemerged three times, where a yakṣa named Dhṛta will reside for two yugas. [F.67.a] After that, he will be born as the wife of a leader of the Baṅgala tribespeople and make offerings to the goddess Cundā. Eight lives later, she will be born as the king of Kāmarūpa. He will have four hundred queens, nine palaces, abundant grain harvests, and an abundance of black aloeswood.

15.9“There will be a market town to the south named Magandhari that will remain for one hundred thousand years. Later it will be known as the market town Śrī. When he goes there, one-fifth of the town will see its cow dung, white kuśa grass, and fresh black aloeswood increase a hundred thousandfold over the following three thousand two hundred years.

15.10“On the southern border of Kāmarūpa is a mountain where Hanumān lives called Kuhara, which has been there for as long as there has been a sun and moon. To the south, after Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa’s father Daśaratha, along with Ajati’s sons Vālin and Sugrīva and their followers, have brought desire , delusion, and anguish to the bhujaṅgapodadhikas, there will be a king named Samarthin.

15.11“To the west of that location will be an emanation of Vāsudeva named Pāṇḍu who bears the five insignia and is able govern without wielding the staff of the law. He will be succeeded by the asura king Bali. Their country will be surrounded by ocean, and its central region will be called Paṭṭikeraka. His sons, grandsons, and so forth will reign there and make offerings to the Lord of Cattle as their tutelary deity for five hundred fifty years. The kings during that period will bear the name Pāla , and there will be fifty of them in the lineage.

15.12“To the southwest of that location will be the royal seat of the city of Bhaṇḍapurī, where Jambhala’s blessing will allow a king named Vikramāditya to attain siddhi and live for four hundred years. In that city all the specific siddhis will be attained, [F.67.b] and one-fifth will have sons. The bhūtas and gods will protect them for fifty years.

15.13“One thousand years after they have been conquered, there will be a king named Kūrma, who will live for two hundred years. He will rule over Baṅgala for one hundred eighty years, and his dynasty, which will be known to be like the prominent teeth of a tawny-colored divine bull, will reign as the kings of Āvalakā. His son, grandson, and so forth will reign, and during the reign of those kings there will be five yogins and two yoginīs who attain siddhi. That country will rival the country of Oḍra. The people born there will be extremely diligent, and it will be like the tale of the Rāmāyaṇa. One lord of yoga whose name begins with the first member of the first consonant class ornamented with the first vowel (ka) and the fourth member of the seventh consonant class (ha) will attain the eight great siddhis. There has never been one like him in Jambudvīpa in the past, nor will there be in the future. The six yogins who are his disciples will attain mahāmudrā free from corporeality.

15.14“Then a royal dynasty with the name Candra will become the guardians of that kingdom. When that lineage declines, a brahmin’s son named Candra and a śūdra named Nāmbhapālita will become king. Then a disciple whose name is spelled with the second member of the first consonant class ornamented by the third vowel (khi) and the first member of the fourth consonant class ornamented with the thirteenth vowel (tau) and with the name Candra at the end will become king. That will be the result of his twelve million recitations of the honorable Mañjuśrī in a previous lifetime.

15.15“Varmāsana will be king after that, and then his son, grandson, and great-grandson will be yogins. [F.68.a] Another with the name Pāla will follow, and he will have a single male heir. After he is gone, Datta, Ghoṣa, Dama, Siṃha, Nandi, Ambara, Āditya, and Senā will all rule in succession for a time. The kings that follow them will have little merit.

15.16“There will be a sea to the north of Paṭṭikeraka that will later become a desert. In that country, there will be a place called Maḍa with a king named Kamboja. His son named Kośāmba will be king, and there will be a city named Kauśāmbi. Later in Paṭṭikeraka there will be one named Sārabhū, and his son will become king. In the middle of that country is a place called Vikramapūri, where yoginīs will come and attain siddhi. A yoginī will serve as queen over the middle of that country, and due to her merit, the lineage of her son, grandson, and so forth will purify Baṅgala.

15.17“It is said that when the earth there is depleted it will be the Kaliyuga. Once it passes, the buddha known as Lord Maitreya will appear and teach by means of his intellect, which sees the inherent nature that is non-existent. The nāga kings will bring timely rains to the lands of Oḍra, Coḍa, and Siṁhaladvīpa. In the land of Radhā a line of men named Pāla will continue for thirty generations. The last descendant of that dynasty will conquer Saphala, the king of Oḍra, along with his divine retinue, and conquer the yoginīs. He will then attain the state of a preeminent yogin, a lord of yoga whose vow equals that of the buddhas, and he will perform twelve million mantra recitations. He will have two disciples, and his two disciples will have three disciples, and those three will also have yogin disciples. [F.68.b] They will have a disciple, the renowned Dharmakīrti, who is preeminent among yogins and scholars. He and six other people who benefit the teachings and have adopted the spiritual life will attain siddhi.

15.18“Later, protectors named Matila, Pāgara, Bhavyaghoṣa, and Sahāsrakārṇa will attain siddhi over the course of thirty years. The Kūrma lineage will conclude with the yogins Sarma, Hastin, Garmuka, Pacana, Samveda, Buddhahāsa, and Patela.

15.19“Farther west will be a city named Mālavī, a place where siddhi is attained. After the time of the renowned Bhojyadeva, two sage-kings named Khotika and Pālita and their courts will rule there for one thousand years.

15.20“West of that city there will be a city called Sambuka, where a line of kings named Govardhana will rule for five thousand years, followed by Kale and Mala, both of whom will attain siddhi.

15.21“To its south will be a city called Ajarayoginī, where the yogin named Nāgārjuna will give his kingdom to Gopāla, who will have climbed a sala tree. After his son dies, that line of kings will proceed from Vahna’s grandson, who will reach perfection as a glorious lord of yoga and attain the eight great siddhis associated with being king of the threefold world. That king’s son, Kaivartaputra, will be killed by a member of the merchant caste, and those among his sons and grandsons who travel west will reach Vajra .

15.22“Even farther west is a temple called Tripāṭana, to the south of which one of his sons, named Ārka, will reside. At its southwestern border is a city named Bhaṭakunire, where the intelligent citizens are ruled by a king named Bandhadeva. Following his sons and grandsons, [F.69.a] the next in line will move to Sindhu, and upon his death the line will appear in a place named Gar. For the next seven generations they will be recognized yogins and will not be associated with any country. After that, the next in line will leave that city for a place named Bhandani, where he will unite with Caṇḍa­mahāroṣaṇa and become king. He and his entire court will attain the fruit of buddhahood in that lifetime.

15.23“To the south there is a town called Sarṣibhañjikā, where the blessing of the buddhas is always present. A venerable buddha will rule there for one thousand years, surrounded by a court of people who have all attained siddhi. The lord who sits upon the vajra throne fashioned by the gods will live to the north, and the venerable noble Avalokiteśvara will appear in the land named Khasarpāṇi along the eastern frontier.

15.24“In the west there will be a city called Mahābhañjapuri, where a king named Vasubhadhana will rule. It is said that the line of his descendants will last for eight generations, and then the entire town will fall into the sea.

15.25“Countries such as Lāṭa, Coḍa, Gauḍa, Baṅgala, Oḍiyāna, Jālandhara, Paṭṭikeraka, Kāmarūpa, and so forth will be continually blessed by the buddhas. In these lands, renowned as Jambudvīpa, every desire will be available, and the kings, royal courts, yogins, siddhas, and the like will fulfill their aims.

15.26“To the east of the ocean is the mountain Hura, which is home to an unfathomable number of asuras. To the south is the home of the crow-faced people, who are all known to be eminently skillful. To the south of the ocean live the triangular-faced people, rākṣasas, [F.69.b] kinnaras, asuras, and the like, monkeys and other animals whose cries sound like laughter, and Hanumān. To the west of the ocean live people with faces shaped like half-moons, and to the west of them live the gods and the like.

15.27“The home of the people who live around the ocean is called Godānīya. The people there have circular faces, and the king who lives there rules over the entire region. He is not subject to the process of death, transmigration, and rebirth.

15.28“To the west is a city called Rasalandhi, where an asura king will reign during its initial period. He will be followed by a king named Devāṅgana, and when he dies he will be followed by his son Kāmpisiṃha and by his grandson. After that, seven generations of men with the surname Bhaiṣajyasena will rule, followed by a king named Pāla . After that, a king called Sahadevakaivartaputra will enter the town to the west.

15.29“There is a city named Maṇḍa to the east of Kāñcana, where the original inhabitants were people with broad faces adorned with peacock feathers. They completed the accumulation of merit and wisdom by reciting the mantra oṁ sumukhinī sarva and consuming only saliva as food. Their king will be the serpent who beautifies the four directions, and a rākṣasa will rule after him. After the line of his sons and grandsons comes to an end, everything will fall into the sea.”

15.30The Goddess asked, “Blessed One, why have you not described all the places there are? And in those you did describe, why did you leave out the bodhisattvas associated with them? Is there anything about what you have said that is false?”

15.31“Listen closely, Great Goddess,” the Blessed One replied. [F.70.a] “Each of the places I described has been blessed by buddhas. There are other places that have been created by deities who are not buddhas, and all such places have been named after someone who has attained siddhis. A samādhi exists in each of these places that brings about the purification of every wicked deed. There are places where the three vases and the like are known to be the body wherein the five aggregates are present. Kings, kingdoms, yogins, and yoginīs are purified with each exhalation and inhalation, as exemplified by the sense faculties and sense objects.

15.32“Any being who goes for refuge in those connected with the path of the sugatas will accomplish everything they have set out to accomplish in this lifetime, and anyone who recites this account of royal lineages will receive its hidden wisdom.

15.33“In chapter thirty-six I will explain the wisdom of calculation, which will correctly engage the knowledge of the past, future, and present. In chapter twenty-five and elsewhere, Goddess , I will explain the names that have the capacity to engender omniscience, and I will explain the wisdom that arises on that occasion. In this way, no one will ever be deceived by Māra .”

15.34This concludes chapter fifteen in The Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, “An Account of Royal Lineages.”