A person who has mastered the mantras, maṇḍalas, and other elements of a particular deity and their ritual practices, usually through being consecrated by and receiving direct instructions from another master of that tradition.

The family to which women who dye cloth are said to belong in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The sun and the celestial deity identified as the sun.

The name of a king.

Identified as the seventh consciousness in the Yogācāra system, this term refers to the aspect of mind that is responsible for maintaining a subtle sense of self and perpetuating the mental afflictions.

The name of a city.

One of the many names of the god Indra. The lord of the Trāyastriṃśa heaven on the summit of Mount Sumeru. As one of the eight guardians of the directions, Indra guards the eastern quarter. In Buddhist sūtras, he is a disciple of the Buddha and protector of the Dharma and its practitioners. He is often referred to by the epithets Śatakratu, Śakra, and Kauśika.

An unidentified ritual ingredient. Possibly a plant of the Pistia genus.

A type of plant.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The name of a siddhi.

Aloe vera.

The name of a king.

An unidentified ritual substance.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified medicinal and ritual substance.

An asura king.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The name of a lunar mansion.

The name of a king.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views, but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).

The name of a lunar mansion.

The name of a goddess.

A particular class of tantric ritual.

The central channel of the subtle body.

The name of a region.

One of the “eight close sons of the Buddha,” he is also known as the bodhisattva who embodies compassion. In certain tantras, he is also the lord of the three families, where he embodies the compassion of the buddhas. In Tibet, he attained great significance as a special protector of Tibet, and in China, in female form, as Guanyin, the most important bodhisattva in all of East Asia.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

Sida cordifolia.

The name of a city located just north of Mount Sumeru.

An unidentified ritual substance.

The name of an asura king.

An offering of various types of food, drink, and other substances that one presents to a specific deity or class of deities.

The name of a king.

The flowers of Pentapetes phoenicea or Terminalia tomentosa.

The regions of India now divided between the Indian state of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh.

Ficus benghalensis.

An alkali made by incinerating barley, boiling the ash in water, and decanting it to isolate the alkali.

A term for any language that is not commonly known or spoken.

Terminalia bellirica. One of the three myrobalan fruits.

Areca catechu.

A particular class of tantric ritual.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

An unidentified plant ingredient used in ritual and alchemical preparations.

A term for the vagina.

A lineage of kings.

The name of a town.

The name of a city.

An unidentified ritual substance.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

The name of a city.

The name of a king.

An individual famous for attaining siddhi in the city of Mālavī.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A group of people opposed to Rāma and his supporters in the Rāmāyaṇa.

This is either a type of ground creeping vine or perhaps a term for an earthworm.

This term in its broadest sense can refer to any being, whether human, animal, or nonhuman. However, it is often used to refer to a specific class of nonhuman beings, especially when bhūtas are mentioned alongside rākṣasas, piśācas, or pretas. In common with these other kinds of nonhumans, bhūtas are usually depicted with unattractive and misshapen bodies. Like several other classes of nonhuman beings, bhūtas take spontaneous birth. As their leader is traditionally regarded to be Rudra-Śiva (also known by the name Bhūta), with whom they haunt dangerous and wild places, bhūtas are especially prominent in Śaivism, where large sections of certain tantras concentrate on them.

A medium for writing texts and mantras. The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla prescribes using birch bark to copy down the text.

A type of bean used in ritual preparations. Most often identified as black gram (Vigna mungo).

Solanum nigrum.

In normative Mahāyāna doctrine, bodhicitta refers to the aspiration for awakening, in both its relative and absolute aspects. In tantric thought it frequently refers to semen in the context of its generation through sexual yoga, its use as a ritual substance, and its manipulation through practices dealing with the chanels and centers of the body.

The name of an interlocutor in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

A being who is dedicated to the cultivation and fulfilment of the altruistic intention to attain perfect buddhahood, traversing the ten bodhisattva levels (daśabhūmi, sa bcu). Bodhisattvas purposely opt to remain within cyclic existence in order to liberate all sentient beings, instead of simply seeking personal freedom from suffering. In terms of the view, they realize both the selflessness of persons and the selflessness of phenomena.

The family to which kṣatriya women are said to belong in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The name of a king.

Diseases involving bone marrow (Skt. majjā, Tib. rkang).

A class of yoginī or ḍākinī who takes birth in a human form. Buddhist and non-Buddhist literature lists multiple classes of such beings, with Buddhist literature often employing a threefold typology: those born from sacred spaces (kṣetrajā or pīṭhajā), those born from mantra (mantrajā), and those born from the natural state (sahajā).

Lagenaria siceraria.

A high-ranking deity presiding over a divine world; he is also considered to be the lord of the Sahā world (our universe). Though not considered a creator god in Buddhism, Brahmā occupies an important place as one of two gods (the other being Indra/Śakra) said to have first exhorted the Buddha Śākyamuni to teach the Dharma. The particular heavens found in the form realm over which Brahmā rules are often some of the most sought-after realms of higher rebirth in Buddhist literature. Since there are many universes or world systems, there are also multiple Brahmās presiding over them. His most frequent epithets are “Lord of the Sahā World” (sahāṃpati) and Great Brahmā (mahābrahman).

A term for the heavenly realm of Brahmā and the gods who dwell there.

The yogic practice of breath retention, of which there are multiple techniques.

The name of the deity identified with the planet Jupiter and Thursday.

The name of a king.

The name of the deity identified with the planet Mercury and Wednesday.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

Clitoria ternatea.

The name of a tantric deity, the main deity of the Caṇḍa­mahāroṣaṇa­tantra.

One of the eight yoginīs in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The name of a goddess who is identified as a wrathful form of the goddess Durgā in the purāṇic traditions.

A lineage of kings.

A brahmin’s son who becomes king.

The moon and the celestial deity identified as the moon.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

One of the eight yoginīs in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A codeword for feces.

The name of a goddess in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

Pathways for the vital energies (prāṇa) of the subtle yogic body.

Vitex agnus-castus.

A type of plant.

Wedelia chinesis or Sphagneticola calendulacea.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

The translation of this term follows the rendering in the Sanskrit witnesses. The meaning of the corresponding Tibetan is obscure.

Identified tentatively as Ficus glomerata or Ficus racemosa. Alternately, it may be identified with Pueraria tuberosa, commonly known as kudzu.

Mesua ferrea.

Cocos nucifera.

The name of a country.

The name of a siddhi.

The name of a siddhi. In The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, it is said to allow one to attain all the siddhis.

One of the two primary categories for the practice of union (yoga) in Vajrayāna Buddhism. These two stages include a variety of practices. Generally speaking, the generation stage consists of practices for attaining spontaneous union as the deity maṇḍala, while the completion stage consists of practices to test, demonstrate, or perfect this union.

A term for an illness that is brought on by multiple humoral imbalances.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

Literally “sprinkling” in Sanskrit, an abhiṣeka is a ritual consecration that often functions as an initiation into a particular deity maṇḍala and its practices.

In The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, this term refers to a siddhi that yogins can attain by ingesting prepared mercury prior to performing sexual yoga.

Dolomiaea costus .

Elephantopus scaber, commonly known as elephant’s foot.

A cremation ground or place for discarded corpses. Also becomes synonymous in tantra with a type of power place where yogins and yoginīs congregate.

A race of people.

The name of a goddess.

Mimosa catechu.

A musical instrument.

The male equivalent to a ḍākinī. The term can refer to a mundane class of supernatural beings and to a class of Buddhist deities.

A class of powerful nonhuman female beings who play a variety of roles in Indic literature in general and Buddhist literature specifically. Essentially synonymous with yoginīs, ḍākinīs are liminal and often dangerous beings who can be propitiated to acquire both mundane and transcendent spiritual accomplishments. In the higher Buddhist tantras, ḍākinīs are often considered embodiments of awakening and feature prominently in tantric maṇḍalas.

The name of a king.

An implement held by several forms of Mahākāla and a number of forms of the goddesses in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla. The ḍamaru is typically a hand-held, double-sided drum with two strikers. Each side of the drum can be made out of various substances, but in many tantric Buddhist traditions the two halves of this drum are made out of human skulls.

One of the eight yoginīs in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The name of a yogin.

The king of Ayodhyā and the father of Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa in the Rāmāyaṇa.

The name of a king.

Datura metel.

Diospyros embryopteris or Diospyros malabarica.

One of the three root afflictions that bind beings to cyclic existence.

A king.

Butea monosperma.

The term dhāraṇī has the sense of something that “holds” or “retains,” and so it can refer to the special capacity of practitioners to memorize and recall detailed teachings. It can also refer to a verbal expression of the teachings‍—an incantation, spell, or mnemonic formula‍—that distills and “holds” essential points of the Dharma and is used by practitioners to attain mundane and supramundane goals. The same term is also used to denote texts that contain such formulas.

The name of a Buddhist scholar active in the seventh century ᴄᴇ who is famous for his commentaries on the Buddhist epistemological (pramāṇa) works of Dignāga. The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla mentions that someone named Dharmakīrti and his six close disciples will attain siddhi.

A yakṣa.

Someone who plays a game of dice.

A grain used to make a mash for distilling alcohol.

A root used to make a mash for distilling alcohol.

Refers to a type of woman.

A measure of volume, or a container of a certain capacity.

A loosely standardized schema for organizing some of the most important supernatural powers that one gains through the performance of rites associated with a particular deity or set of deities. The list of eight great siddhis in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla consists of the sword (ral gri, khaḍga), collyrium (mig sman, añjana), pill (ril bu, guṭika), and swift feet (rkang mgyogs, pāduka) siddhis, rendering medicines effective (grub pa’i sman, siddhauṣadhi) and competence in the recitation of mantras (sngags rnams la nges pa, mantrārṇave nirṇaya), and the mercury (dngul chu, rasa) and alchemy (bcud len, rasāyana) siddhis.

The eight metals are gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, brass, iron, and steel.

Refers to an ornament of Mahākāla in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

See “eight great siddhis.”

The opening chapter of The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla lists the eight yoginīs as Caṇḍeśvarī, Carcikā, Kālikā, Kulikeśvarī, Khaṇḍaruhī, Dantotkaṭī, Pracālī, and Maheśvarī.

Phyllanthus emblica. One of the three myrobalan fruits.

Randia dumetorum.

A particular class of tantric ritual.

A particular class of tantric ritual.

A term for the use of coded terminology in Buddhist tantric literature.

A particular class of tantric ritual.

Eclipta prostrata.

A type of ritual.

A fire pit can take various shapes (square, circular, triangular, and so forth) and be of various sizes depending on the specific ritual one is performing.

Acts for which one will be reborn in hell immediately after death, without any intervening stages; they are killing an arhat, killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, causing a schism in the monastic community, and maliciously drawing blood from a tathāgata.

The five skandhas, or aggregates, are form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. On the individual level the five aggregates are the basis upon which the mistaken idea of a self is projected.

The five ambrosias are feces, urine, phlegm, semen, and menstrual blood.

A term for the five consecrations that constitute the vase consecration in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

In The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, these are the vajra family, lotus family, jewel family, action family, and body family.

The specific types of meat included in this group can vary, and there are several ways that this term is rendered in both Tibetan and Sanskrit. A typical set is called gokudahana, a five-syllable acronym for the flesh of a cow (go), dog (kukkura), elephant (dantin), horse (haya), and human (nara).

The name of a siddhi.

A musical instrument.

An implement held by Mahākāla and a number of forms of the goddesses in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The name of a siddhi.

The four qualities that are said to result in rebirth in the Brahmā World. They are limitless loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. (Provisional 84000 definition. New definition forthcoming.)

In the sūtras, the deities ruled over by Māra are also symbolic of the defects within a person that prevent awakening. These four personifications are (1) the divine māra (devaputramāra,lha’i bu’i bdud), or the distraction of sense pleasures, (2) the māra of the Lord of Death (mṛtyumāra, ’chi bdag gi bdud), (3) the māra of the aggregates (skandhamāra, phung po’i bdud), and (4) the māra of the defilements (kleśamāra, nyon mongs pa’i bdud). These may symbolize different pitfalls in tantric texts, where often, as is the case in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, they are trampled upon by wrathful deities with four legs in the visualization of a maṇḍala.

An unidentified plant ingredient used in ritual and alchemical preparations.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A class of generally benevolent nonhuman beings who inhabit the skies, sometimes said to inhabit fantastic cities in the clouds, and more specifically to dwell on the eastern slopes of Mount Meru, where they are ruled by the Great King Dhṛtarāṣṭra. They are most renowned as celestial musicians who serve the gods. In the Abhidharma, the term is also used to refer to the mental body assumed by sentient beings during the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Gandharvas are said to live on fragrances (gandha) in the desire realm, hence the Tibetan translation dri za, meaning “scent eater.”

The Gaṅgā, or Ganges in English, is considered to be the most sacred river of India, particularly within the Hindu tradition. It starts in the Himalayas, flows through the northern plains of India, bathing the holy city of Vārāṇasī, and meets the sea at the Bay of Bengal, in Bangladesh. In the sūtras, however, this river is mostly mentioned not for its sacredness but for its abundant sands‍—noticeable still today on its many sandy banks and at its delta‍—which serve as a common metaphor for infinitely large numbers.According to Buddhist cosmology, as explained in the Abhidharmakośa, it is one of the four rivers that flow from Lake Anavatapta and cross the southern continent of Jambudvīpa‍—the known human world or more specifically the Indian subcontinent.

A rākṣasa king.

The name of a king.

In Indian mythology, the garuḍa is an eagle-like bird that is regarded as the king of all birds, normally depicted with a sharp, owl-like beak, often holding a snake, and with large and powerful wings. They are traditionally enemies of the nāgas. In the Vedas, they are said to have brought nectar from the heavens to earth. Garuḍa can also be used as a proper name for a king of such creatures.

The name of a country.

One of the two primary categories for the practice of union (yoga) in Vajrayāna Buddhism. These two stages include a variety of practices. Generally speaking, the generation stage consists of practices for attaining spontaneous union as the deity maṇḍala, while the completion stage consists of practices to test, demonstrate, or perfect this union.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A period of twenty-four minutes.

The seeds of this plant are used to prepare a collyrium that grants the ability to see buried treasure. The precise identity of this plant is not clear.

The name of a king.

Calotropis gigantea.

One of the four main continents that surround Sumeru, the central mountain in classical Buddhist cosmology. It is the western continent, characterized as “rich in the resources of cattle,” thus its Tibetan name “using cattle.” It is circular in shape, measuring about 7,500 yojanas in circumference, and is flanked by two subsidiary continents. Humans who live there are very tall, about 24 feet (7.3 meters) on average, and live for 500 years. It is known by the names Godānīya, Aparāntaka, Aparagodānīya, or Aparagoyāna.

The primary interlocutor in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The name of a king.

A plant identified in Āyurvedic sources with snake mallow (nāgabalā).

The name of a king.

A set of grahas (a type of harmful spirit) that rule or lead (nāyaka) other categories of grahas. This list likely varies, but one attested version includes the deities that govern the directions: Aindra, Āgneya, Yama, Nairṛita, Varuṇa, Maruta/Vāyu, Kubera, and Aiśāna. This set also includes two additional figures, Grahaka and Paiśācika, who are not associated with the directions.

An epithet for the goddess who acts as the primary interlocutor in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An implement held by Mahākāla and a number of forms of the goddesses in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The monkey god and major figure in the Rāmāyaṇa.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual substance.

The name of a lunar mansion.

The name of a king.

This term describes a race of people.

A term that is used to identify a particular mantra as primary, central, essential, or most important.

Prunus cerasoides.

The precise identity of this substance is not clear. A literal translation suggests this might simply refer to a large quantity (parikara) of gold coins (hiraṇya), but that reading seems unlikely in this context.

An implement held by several forms of Mahākāla and a number of forms of the goddesses in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

A particular class of tantric ritual.

One of the five types of meat that is offered and consumed, whether literally, as a visualization practice, or both.

The name of a mountain that is the home of numerous asuras.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A vessel used to offer incense.

Plumbago indica.

In The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, the sap from the leaves of this plant is bonded with mercury as part of a collyrium preparation for seeing subterranean chambers.

Brassica juncea.

Santalum album.

Valeriana jatamansi. The root of this plant is used in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla to prepare a concoction that allows one to attain the pill siddhi.

A term for the consort‍—whether actual, imagined, or spontaneously realized‍—with which an initiated practitioner engages in sexual yoga in Buddhist tantric literature. This particular term invokes the general principle that the female half of the tantric couple is the perfect embodiment of insight or prajñā.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The name of a country. This region is also identified as one of the primary “seats” (pīṭha) from which the tantric revelations of the Mahāyoga- and Yoginītantras were first disseminated.

The exact identity of this plant remains unclear, but it is possible that this is a shortened form for lajjālu, or the sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica), also known as touch-me-not.

A yakṣa king associated with wealth and often identified with Kubera/Vaiśravaṇa.

The name of the southern continent in Buddhist cosmology, which can signify either the known human world, or more specifically the Indian subcontinent, literally “the jambu island/continent.” Jambu is the name used for a range of plum-like fruits from trees belonging to the genus Szygium, particularly Szygium jambos and Szygium cumini, and it has commonly been rendered “rose apple,” although “black plum” may be a less misleading term. Among various explanations given for the continent being so named, one (in the Abhidharmakośa) is that a jambu tree grows in its northern mountains beside Lake Anavatapta, mythically considered the source of the four great rivers of India, and that the continent is therefore named from the tree or the fruit. Jambudvīpa has the Vajrāsana at its center and is the only continent upon which buddhas attain awakening.

Eugenia jambolana, also known as Java plum, black plum, and jambolan.

The juice or sap (rasa) of this substance appears as an ingredient in the preparation of a collyrium for attaining invisibility in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla. The precise identity of this substance is not clear.

An unidentified ingredient used in ritual and alchemical applications

The mental state of envy or jealousy. One of the twenty subsidiary afflictions (upakleśa).

The family to which brahmin women are said to belong in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

Monier-Williams identifies this as Achyranthes triandra, which is synonymous with sessile joyweed or Alternanthera sessilis.

This might also refer to the small round fruit of Vangueria spinosa.

The name of a king.

An unidentified ritual substance.

The name of a king.

One of the eight yoginīs in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The fourth in a repeating cycle of four eons, in which the lives of beings are short and the world is afflicted by famine, illness, and war. This is our current eon.

The god of love and desire.

The name of a city.

The name of a king.

A king.

The name of a country.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The identity of this substance is not clear.

An unidentified substance.

An unidentified ritual substance.

An ancient city that was the capital of Vatsa, a region down the Ganges River from Rājagṛha.

The name of a yakṣa.

The name of the celestial deity identified with comets.

See “Khaṇḍaruhī.”

One of the eight yoginīs in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The name of a country.

The seeds of this plant are used to prepare pills and a collyrium that grant the ability to see subterranean chambers. Possibly identified as Boswellia thurifera.

The name of a sage.

A particular class of tantric ritual.

A class of nonhuman beings that resemble humans to the degree that their very name‍—which means “is that human?”‍—suggests some confusion as to their divine status. Kinnaras are mythological beings found in both Buddhist and Brahmanical literature, where they are portrayed as creatures half human, half animal. They are often depicted as highly skilled celestial musicians.

An unidentified substance.

The name of a king.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

The name of a mountain.

A nāga king.

One of the eight yoginīs in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

A general term for a young girl or an epithet for the goddess Durgā. The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla refers to a group of kumārīs who can be depicted on a cloth canvas and then worshiped (see “seven kumārīs”).

The identity of this type of meat is not clear.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

Holarrhena pubescens.

A king.

A lineage of kings.

The name of Rāma’s brother.

A goddess understood in the purāṇic traditions to be a wife of Viṣṇu.

The primary left channel of the subtle body.

The name of a goddess in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The name of an ancient kingdom located to the south of Mount Sumeru and commonly identified as the island of Śrī Laṅka.

The name of a country.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A substance used as a medium for writing mantric talismans in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

A species of Citrus limon.

The capital of Tibet.

A phrase describing a lineage of kings.

A physical representation of the god Śiva in the form of short cylindrical column that is rounded at the top and sits on a circular base. A “solitary liṅga” (ekaliṅga) is often listed among suitable sites for esoteric rituals and practices.

An unidentified plant ingredient used in ritual and alchemical preparations.

The name of a god.

The family to which dancing women are said to belong in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

A single day of the lunar calendar.

The twenty-seven or twenty-eight sectors along the ecliptic that exert influence on the world according to Indic astrological lore.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

A musical instrument.

A place the north of Paṭṭikeraka with a king named Kamboja.

The name of a market town.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

An epithet for the deity Mahākāla, as well as the name of a wrathful form of Śiva.

The name of a town.

An alternative name for Mahākāla. Mahādeva is also an epithet of Śiva.

The name of a wrathful form of the god Śiva and one of the most popular protector deities in Tibetan Buddhist traditions.

Literally “great mudrā,” this is an important and polyvalent term in esoteric Buddhist literature. Here it refers to spontaneous union as the deity maṇḍala and the transformation of one’s own body, speech, and mind into a the body, speech, and mind of the deity.

This term refers to spontaneous union with the deity and the transformation of one’s own body, speech, and mind into a the body, speech, and mind of the deity.

An alternative name of the deity Mahākāla.

The name of a goddess in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A type of powerful fever that is said to be curable only by religious, rather than medical means.

One of the eight yoginīs in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

Monier-Williams lists as “a kind of citron tree with ill-smelling blossoms.”

The bodhisattva Maitreya is an important figure in many Buddhist traditions, where he is unanimously regarded as the buddha of the future era. He is said to currently reside in the heaven of Tuṣita, as Śākyamuni’s regent, where he awaits the proper time to take his final rebirth and become the fifth buddha in the Fortunate Eon, reestablishing the Dharma in this world after the teachings of the current buddha have disappeared. Within the Mahāyāna sūtras, Maitreya is elevated to the same status as other central bodhisattvas such as Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara, and his name appears frequently in sūtras, either as the Buddha’s interlocutor or as a teacher of the Dharma. Maitreya literally means “Loving One.” He is also known as Ajita, meaning “Invincible.”For more information on Maitreya, see, for example, the introduction to Maitreya’s Setting Out (Toh 198).

The thirty-two primary physical characteristics of a “great being,” mahāpuruṣa, which every buddha and cakravartin possesses. They are considered “major” in terms of being primary to the eighty minor marks or signs of a great being.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A string of beads that is used to count recitations of mantra. The beads may be made from seeds, gemstones, shells, or other natural substances, which are often specifically selected for the mantra deity being recited or the intended purpose of the rite.

The name of a king.

Adhatoda vasica.

The name of a city.

The name of a city.

The name of the deity identified with the planet Mars and Tuesday.

Mañjuśrī is one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha” and a bodhisattva who embodies wisdom. He is a major figure in the Mahāyāna sūtras, appearing often as an interlocutor of the Buddha. In his most well-known iconographic form, he is portrayed bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñā­pāramitā­sūtra in his left. To his name, Mañjuśrī, meaning “Gentle and Glorious One,” is often added the epithet Kumārabhūta, “having a youthful form.” He is also called Mañjughoṣa, Mañjusvara, and Pañcaśikha.

A mantra used to confuse or stupefy a particular target.

A term for an initiated practitioner who has been authorized to take up a mantra recitation practice.

The name of a lunar mansion.

Māra, literally “death” or “maker of death,” is the name of the deva who tried to prevent the Buddha from achieving awakening, the name given to the class of beings he leads, and also an impersonal term for the destructive forces that keep beings imprisoned in saṃsāra: (1) As a deva, Māra is said to be the principal deity in the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations (paranirmitavaśavartin), the highest paradise in the desire realm. He famously attempted to prevent the Buddha’s awakening under the Bodhi tree‍—see The Play in Full (Toh 95), 21.1‍—and later sought many times to thwart the Buddha’s activity. In the sūtras, he often also creates obstacles to the progress of śrāvakas and bodhisattvas. (2) The devas ruled over by Māra are collectively called mārakāyika or mārakāyikadevatā, the “deities of Māra’s family or class.” In general, these māras too do not wish any being to escape from saṃsāra, but can also change their ways and even end up developing faith in the Buddha, as exemplified by Sārthavāha; see The Play in Full (Toh 95), 21.14 and 21.43. (3) The term māra can also be understood as personifying four defects that prevent awakening, called (i) the divine māra (devaputra­māra), which is the distraction of pleasures; (ii) the māra of Death (mṛtyumāra), which is having one’s life interrupted; (iii) the māra of the aggregates (skandhamāra), which is identifying with the five aggregates; and (iv) the māra of the afflictions (kleśamāra), which is being under the sway of the negative emotions of desire, hatred, and ignorance.

Māra, literally “death” or “maker of death,” is the name of the deva who tried to prevent the Buddha from achieving awakening, the name given to the class of beings he leads, and also an impersonal term for the destructive forces that keep beings imprisoned in saṃsāra: (1) As a deva, Māra is said to be the principal deity in the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations (paranirmitavaśavartin), the highest paradise in the desire realm. He famously attempted to prevent the Buddha’s awakening under the Bodhi tree‍—see The Play in Full (Toh 95), 21.1‍—and later sought many times to thwart the Buddha’s activity. In the sūtras, he often also creates obstacles to the progress of śrāvakas and bodhisattvas. (2) The devas ruled over by Māra are collectively called mārakāyika or mārakāyikadevatā, the “deities of Māra’s family or class.” In general, these māras too do not wish any being to escape from saṃsāra, but can also change their ways and even end up developing faith in the Buddha, as exemplified by Sārthavāha; see The Play in Full (Toh 95), 21.14 and 21.43. (3) The term māra can also be understood as personifying four defects that prevent awakening, called (i) the divine māra (devaputra­māra), which is the distraction of pleasures; (ii) the māra of Death (mṛtyumāra), which is having one’s life interrupted; (iii) the māra of the aggregates (skandhamāra), which is identifying with the five aggregates; and (iv) the māra of the afflictions (kleśamāra), which is being under the sway of the negative emotions of desire, hatred, and ignorance.

An unidentified ritual substance.

Semecarpus anacardium.

The name of a king.

The third caste in the brahmanical system of laws and customs concerning castes and stages of life (varṇāśrama­dharma).

The name of a siddhi, and the substance related to that siddhi.

A ritual substance.

Moringa oleifera.

A sacred mountain located in the Himālayas, thought by both Buddhists and Hindus to be the abode of a number of important gods.

According to ancient Buddhist cosmology, this is the great mountain forming the axis of the universe. At its summit is Sudarśana, home of Śakra and his thirty-two gods, and on its flanks live the asuras. The mount has four sides facing the cardinal directions, each of which is made of a different precious stone. Surrounding it are several mountain ranges and the great ocean where the four principal island continents lie: in the south, Jambudvīpa (our world); in the west, Godānīya; in the north, Uttarakuru; and in the east, Pūrvavideha. Above it are the abodes of the desire realm gods. It is variously referred to as Meru, Mount Meru, Sumeru, and Mount Sumeru.

A musical instrument.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

A term for any kind of symbol or symbolic gesture. Also a term for the consort‍—whether actual, imagined, or spontaneously realized‍—with which an initiated practitioner engages in sexual yoga in Buddhist tantric literature.

Phaseolus radiatus.

An unknown ingredient used in rites.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A class of nonhuman beings who live in subterranean aquatic environments, where they guard wealth and sometimes also teachings. Nāgas are associated with serpents and have a snakelike appearance. In Buddhist art and in written accounts, they are regularly portrayed as half human and half snake, and they are also said to have the ability to change into human form. Some nāgas are Dharma protectors, but they can also bring retribution if they are disturbed. They may likewise fight one another, wage war, and destroy the lands of others by causing lightning, hail, and flooding.

A yogin who surrendered his kingdom to his son Gopāla.

The name of a king.

A nāga king.

The name of a goddess in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The name of a king.

A name of the god Viṣṇu.

The nine dramatic sentiments are borrowed from South Asian performance theory (nāṭyaśāstra), where they signify nine modes of performance that evoke the specific emotional responses from an audience. The traditional list of nine includes the erotic (sgeg pa, śrṅgāra), heroic (dpa’ ba, vīra), disgusting (mi sdug pa, bībhatsa), comical (dgod pa, hāsya), wrathful (drag zhul, raudra), terrifying (’jigs su rung ba, bhayānaka), compassionate (snying rje, karuṇā), wonderous (rngam pa, adbhūta), and peaceful (zhi ba, śānta) sentiments.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual substance.

A term for a state in which the mind is not directed toward any object or referent.

A disorder of the eye, often equated with cataracts or similar conditions.

The name of a country. This region is also identified as one of the primary “seats” (pīṭha) from which the tantric revelations of the Mahāyoga- and Yoginītantras were first disseminated.

Oḍra is the ancient name of the region roughly equivalent with the modern Indian state of Oḍisha.

Boswellia serrata.

A term for the opening statement or introduction to a text.

This term refers to the ability to locate and see points of access to buried treasures or any object that might be buried underground. In The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, this process generally requires mastery of the collyrium siddhi‍—the application of concoctions of various substances around one’s eyes in order to gain supernatural abilities.

A type of plant.

The name of a king.

The name of a king.

A unit of weight in the range of 30 to 75 grams.

The name of a lineage of kings.

A king of Rasalandhi.

A line of kings in Radhā.

A king of Baṅgala.

A king of Paṭṭikera.

The name of a sage.

Borassus flabellifer.

The father of the five Pāṇḍava brothers in the Sanskrit epic the Mahābhārata.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A particular class of tantric ritual.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The name of a king.

The name of a major city in the Samatata kingdom, located in the southeast Bengal delta.

An unidentified ritual substance.

A race of people.

An unidentified plant.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The name of a siddhi.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual ingredient. It is known in Āyurvedic sources, but its precise identification in uncertain.

The fruit of Musa paradisiaca.

Musa paradisiaca.

Punica granatum.

Citrus decumana.

Literally a “bean,” this term also signifies a unit for measuring weight that is equal to that of either 7–8 rosary peas or 4–5 grains.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

One of the eight yoginīs in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

This term can refer to any sādhana practitioner, but in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla it refers specifically to an advanced practitioner who has received the full sequence of consecrations and carries the ultimate authorization to perform the sādhanas of the deity Mahākāla.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

See “Prajñābala.”

The name of a bodhisattva interlocutor in chapter twenty-six of The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

A person’s particular preceptor within the monastic tradition. They must have at least ten years of standing in the saṅgha, and their role is to confer ordination, to tend to the student, and to provide all the necessary requisites, therefore guiding that person for the taking of full vows and the maintenance of conduct and practice. This office was decreed by the Buddha so that aspirants would not have to receive ordination from the Buddha in person, and the Buddha identified two types: those who grant entry into the renunciate order and those who grant full ordination. The Tibetan translation mkhan po has also come to mean “a learned scholar,” the equivalent of a paṇḍita, but that is not the intended meaning in Indic Buddhist literature.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

This term denotes any protector deity, from those associated exclusively with a localized area to deities such as Mahākāla who are considered protectors of both localized areas, trans-local populations, and the Dharma itself.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The name of a lunar mansion.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

The name of a lunar mansion.

Raised boils on the skin.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

Another term for mercury (rasa).

The great editor and translator Ra Gelong Chörap was active during the eleventh century and is one of the translators of The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

An unidentified country.

The name of the celestial deity identified with the eclipse.

A class of nonhuman beings that are often, but certainly not always, considered demonic in the Buddhist tradition. They are often depicted as flesh-eating monsters who haunt frightening places and are ugly and evil-natured with a yearning for human flesh, and who additionally have miraculous powers, such as being able to change their appearance.

The name of the prince of Ayodhyā and main character of the Sanskrit epic the Rāmāyaṇa.

One of the oldest and most important Buddhist temples in Tibet. Located in Lhasa, it was founded in the seventh century by King Songtsen Gampo (srong btsan sgam po) and houses the Jowo Mikyö Dorjé (jo bo mi bskyod rdo rje) and contains the statue of the buddha Akṣobhya that tradition tells us was brought to Tibet as a gift by Songtsen Gampo’s Nepalese wife Bhṛkuṭī.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The name of a city.

The primary right channel of the subtle body.

A king.

Crotalaria retusa.

A type of arsenic sulfide.

The name of a siddhi.

The name of a lunar mansion.

Carpopogon pruriens.

Ficus indica.

A type of ritual.

Derived from the Sanskrit verb √sādh, “to accomplish,” the term sādhana most generically refers to any method that brings about the accomplishment of a desired goal. In Buddhist literature, the term is often specifically applied to tantric practices that involve ritual engagement with deities, mantra recitation, the visualized creation and dissolution of deity maṇḍalas, etc. Sādhanas are aimed at both actualizing spiritual attainments (siddhi) and reaching liberation. The Tibetan translation sgrub thabs means “method of accomplishment.”

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A king.

The name of a king.

In a general sense, samādhi can describe a number of different meditative states. In the Mahāyāna literature, in particular in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, we find extensive lists of different samādhis, numbering over one hundred.In a more restricted sense, and when understood as a mental state, samādhi is defined as the one-pointedness of the mind (cittaikāgratā), the ability to remain on the same object over long periods of time. The Drajor Bamponyipa (sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa) commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti explains the term samādhi as referring to the instrument through which mind and mental states “get collected,” i.e., it is by the force of samādhi that the continuum of mind and mental states becomes collected on a single point of reference without getting distracted.

Samantaśrī was a Nepalese paṇḍita active during the eleventh century and is one of the translators of The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

A king.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

Literally, in Sanskrit, “coming together.” Samaya refers to precepts given by the teacher, the corresponding commitment by the pupil, and the bond that results, which can also be the bond between the practitioner and the deity or a spirit. It can also mean a special juncture or circumstance, or an ordinary time or season.

A general term for beings that are bound to a particular deity maṇḍala and bound by contractual agreement to protect, support, and commune with practitioners who provide them with the requisite offerings.

The precise identification of this flower is not clear, but it may refer to either Vangueria spinosa (Skt. golā) or the jujube (Skt. kolā).

The name of a city.

The name of a city.

An unidentified plant ingredient used in ritual and alchemical preparations.

The name of a king.

The name of the deity identified with the planet Saturn and Saturday.

A nāga king.

The name of a king.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A king.

The name of the father of a king.

A goddess understood in the purāṇic traditions to be the wife of Brahmā.

The name of a king.

The name of a town.

Unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual substance.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The name of a king.

A term for an object of the five senses. In this case the term functions as a shorthand for the pursuit of knowledge of external objects and the ways in which external objects are known or perceived (i.e., epistemology).

A nāga king.

Sesbania grandiflora.

In The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla this term refers to a painting depicting a group of seven goddesses to whom one can make offerings.

The seven regions below the surface of the earth where subterranean beings such as nāgas live.

A yoga practice mentioned in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla. The term kunduru is a code words for sexual copulation in Buddhist tantric sources.

Streblus asper.

Accomplishment or success in general, as well as any particular magical power or ability. This includes everything from the performance of a particular ritual to the attainment of specific magical powers and, finally, the attainment of awakening itself.

Unidentified plant used in pill preparations. The Sanskrit witnesses suggest this may be equivalent to siṃhaka/siṁhikā, the identification of which is also uncertain.

Unidentified ritual ingredient.

The name of a king.

One of the names of the island of Sri Lanka.

The name of a region generally located in the Indus River valley.

An implement held by Mahākāla in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

One the primary brahmanical gods. The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla notes that the deity Śiva, presumably in his form as Mahākāla, acts as a protector of the Buddhist teachings.

The trainings of the bodhisattva path: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, and insight.

Fifth of the ten nonvirtuous (akuśala) actions, the first of the three related to speech (the latter two being harsh speech and senseless talk).

The name of a siddhi. This term is used as a synonym for the term “pill” in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla. Because both terms are so similar in both Tibetan and Sanskrit, they are sometimes used interchangeably.

Sapindus mukorossi.

The moon and the celestial deity identified as the moon.

An unidentified ritual substance.

This term, literally “divine grain,” can refer to a number of different species of sorghum.

In The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, this term signifies that the realization of emptiness is accompanied by the arising of profound bliss.

Crinum asiaticum.

The Sanskrit term śrāvaka, and the Tibetan nyan thos, both derived from the verb “to hear,” are usually defined as “those who hear the teaching from the Buddha and make it heard to others.” Primarily this refers to those disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain the state of an arhat seeking their own liberation and nirvāṇa. They are the practitioners of the first turning of the wheel of the Dharma on the four noble truths, who realize the suffering inherent in saṃsāra and focus on understanding that there is no independent self. By conquering afflicted mental states (kleśa), they liberate themselves, attaining first the stage of stream enterers at the path of seeing, followed by the stage of once-returners who will be reborn only one more time, and then the stage of non-returners who will no longer be reborn into the desire realm. The final goal is to become an arhat. These four stages are also known as the “four results of spiritual practice.”

A market town.

Jasminium multiflorum.

Averrhoa carambola.

In The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, this phrase describes the state that arises when the vital winds of the left and right channels are suppressed.

The quality or condition of things as they really are, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms.

The root of this plant appears as one of a number of ingredients used to make a pill that can improve one’s digestion and increase the body’s strength in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The fourth and lowest caste in the brahmanical system of laws and customs concerning castes and stages of life (varṇāśrama­dharma).

One of the standard epithets of the buddhas. A recurrent explanation offers three different meanings for su- that are meant to show the special qualities of “accomplishment of one’s own purpose” (svārthasampad) for a complete buddha. Thus, the Sugata is “well” gone, as in the expression su-rūpa (“having a good form”); he is gone “in a way that he shall not come back,” as in the expression su-naṣṭa-jvara (“a fever that has utterly gone”); and he has gone “without any remainder” as in the expression su-pūrṇa-ghaṭa (“a pot that is completely full”). According to Buddhaghoṣa, the term means that the way the Buddha went (Skt. gata) is good (Skt. su) and where he went (Skt. gata) is good (Skt. su).

The name of an unknown plant used in foot salve rites in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The brother of the monkey king Vālin and a major character in the Rāmāyaṇa.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The name of the deity identified with the planet Venus and Friday.

The precise identity of this substance is obscure, primarily because the term māgadhā can refer to so many substances.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A particular class of tantric ritual.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

Helianthus annuus.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

A type of tree.

The sun and the celestial deity identified as the sun.

A king.

The name of a lunar mansion and a lunar month.

Acorus calamus.

The name of a siddhi.

The name of a siddhi.

A seal, in both the literal and metaphoric sense. Mudrā is also the name given to an array of symbolic hand gestures, which range from the gesture of touching the earth displayed by the Buddha upon attaining awakening to the numerous gestures used in tantric rituals to symbolize offerings, consecrations, etc. Iconographically, mudrās are used as a way of communicating an action performed by the deity or a specific aspect a deity or buddha is displaying, in which case the same figure can be depicted using different hand gestures to signify that they are either meditating, teaching, granting freedom from fear, etc. In Tantric texts, the term is also used to designate the female spiritual consort in her various aspects.

A term for the subtle body, which is composed of clusters or groupings (cakra) of channels (nāḍī).

A nāga king.

A stringed instrument used for creating drone-like sonic textures as an accompaniment to vocal performances and other musical instruments.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

An ingredient frequently used in tantric rituals; the three hot spices are black pepper, long pepper, and dried ginger.

Commonly understood as copper, silver, and gold.

Yellow myrobalan, emblic myrobalan, and belleric myrobalan.

Rock salt, viḍlavaṇa (a medicinal salt), and black salt.

Crateva roxburghii, Crateva nurvala, or Crateva magna.

The three realms that contain all the various kinds of existence in saṃsāra: the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm.

An unidentified plant.

Mimosa pudica.

A race of people.

An implement held by Mahākāla and a number of forms of the goddesses in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The name of a city.

The name of a temple.

An unidentified ritual ingredient.

The quality or condition of things as they really are, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms.

A brahmanical goddess who is understood in the Purāṇic tradition as an alternative name for Śiva’s wife Pārvatī.

A term for a multitude of practices that facilitate union with a deity maṇḍala and culminate in attaining insight into the nature of reality or even complete awakening.

An ideal monarch or emperor who, as the result of the merit accumulated in previous lifetimes, rules over a vast realm in accordance with the Dharma. Such a monarch is called a cakravartin because he bears a wheel (cakra) that rolls (vartate) across the earth, bringing all lands and kingdoms under his power. The cakravartin conquers his territory without causing harm, and his activity causes beings to enter the path of wholesome actions. According to Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa, just as with the buddhas, only one cakravartin appears in a world system at any given time. They are likewise endowed with the thirty-two major marks of a great being (mahāpuruṣalakṣaṇa), but a cakravartin’s marks are outshined by those of a buddha. They possess seven precious objects: the wheel, the elephant, the horse, the wish-fulfilling gem, the queen, the general, and the minister. An illustrative passage about the cakravartin and his possessions can be found in The Play in Full (Toh 95), 3.3–3.13. Vasubandhu lists four types of cakravartins: (1) the cakravartin with a golden wheel (suvarṇacakravartin) rules over four continents and is invited by lesser kings to be their ruler; (2) the cakravartin with a silver wheel (rūpyacakravartin) rules over three continents and his opponents submit to him as he approaches; (3) the cakravartin with a copper wheel (tāmracakravartin) rules over two continents and his opponents submit themselves after preparing for battle; and (4) the cakravartin with an iron wheel (ayaścakravartin) rules over one continent and his opponents submit themselves after brandishing weapons.

A general term for anyone occupying a social standing that is entirely outside of the brahmanical system of laws and customs governing caste and the stages of life (varṇāśrama­dharma).

Uraria lagopodioides, the flower of which resembles a “hairy tail” or lāṅgūla.

Various permutations of this phrase frequently appear in tantric Buddhist literature to describe the potency and versatility of particular mantras or any other ritual component. In these contexts the term las (Skt. karman) should be understood as the equivalent of the English terms “rite,” “ritual,” or “ritual action.”

The name of an island located north of Varika.

The name of a city.

The name of a king.

The name of a mountain that is the home of numerous rākṣasas.

This term generally indicates indestructibility and stability. In the sūtras, vajra most often refers to the hardest possible physical substance, said to have divine origins. In some scriptures, it is also the name of the all-powerful weapon of Indra, which in turn is crafted from vajra material. In the tantras, the vajra is sometimes a scepter-like ritual implement, but the term can also take on other esoteric meanings.

An area west of the city of Ajarayoginī.

This is the term used in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla for the subtle yogic body.

A location for performing rites.

A protective net of impenetrable, interlinking vajras that surrounds the outside of a maṇḍala in all directions and acts as its protective boundary.

The family to which ḍombī women are said to belong in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The identity of this substance is uncertain.

The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla uses this term to refer to the system for performing the sixth consecration.

The name of a goddess.

A monkey king who was a major character in the Rāmāyaṇa.

The name of a great astrologer.

An unidentified type of tree.

The name of an island.

The name of a king.

The name of a king who will rule in a town called Mahābhañjapuri.

A name of the god Kṛṣṇa in his incarnation as a prince of the Yādava clan, King of Dvārakā, and the close companion and confidante of Arjuna and the Pāṇḍavas in the Mahābhārata.

A nāga king.

A term for an exceedingly high number.

Mucuna pruriens.

The name of a goddess in the Mahākāla maṇḍala described in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla.

The root of Andropogon muricatus.

An unidentified ritual substance.

A class of beings who create obstacles.

A king.

The name of a town.

The god Gaṇapati/Gaṇeśa.

A term for the life force in the subtle body.

A period of approximately three hours.

Pistia Stratiotes.

Ficus infectoria. The term plakṣa can also be applied to other species of Ficus.

Possibly a reference to a white (śukla) variety of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.

Ocimum gratissimum.

A class of nonhuman beings who inhabit forests, mountainous areas, and other natural spaces, or serve as guardians of villages and towns, and may be propitiated for health, wealth, protection, and other boons, or controlled through magic. According to tradition, their homeland is in the north, where they live under the rule of the Great King Vaiśravaṇa. Several members of this class have been deified as gods of wealth (these include the just-mentioned Vaiśravaṇa) or as bodhisattva generals of yakṣa armies, and have entered the Buddhist pantheon in a variety of forms, including, in tantric Buddhism, those of wrathful deities.

A female yakṣa.

The name of the lord of death and of the realm of the dead.

An implement held by Mahākāla in The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla. Yama is the lord of death, who judges the dead and rules over the hells.

Terminalia chebula. One of the three myrobalan fruits.

A substance used in the performance of tantric rituals as a kind of ink for writing down mantras or as an additive for a number of ritual preparations.

Depending on the context, this term can signify a class of potentially harmful female beings, goddesses associated with various astrological conjunctions, female yoga practitioners (both human and nonhuman), the awakened consorts of male tantric deities, and the awakened female leaders of tantric maṇḍalas.

A period of time, ranging from several years to an eon.