Introduction

i.1The Tantra of Great Gaṇapati is a compendium of ritual instructions for the performance of offering rites, mantra recitation, and meditation practices related to the elephant-headed deity Gaṇapati. The text is divided into fifteen chapters. The topics covered in these chapters include instructions for the construction of Gaṇapati’s maṇḍalas, instructions for making various images of Gaṇapati, the ritual applications that correspond to those images, descriptions of various forms of Gaṇapati and the deities that accompany him in his maṇḍala, and a handful of instructions on the “selection of mantra syllables” (Skt. mantroddhāra; Tib. sngags btu ba), for mantras associated with Gaṇapati.

i.2Gaṇapati enjoys a rich mythology in purāṇa literature, where he is identified as one of two primary sons of the divine couple Śiva and Pārvatī. As a result of his popular identification with Hindu traditions, Gaṇapati’s important role as a Buddhist deity is often overlooked. There is archeological evidence at the Buddhist cave vihāra complex outside of Aurangabad, Mahārāṣṭra of Gaṇapati’s involvement in Buddhist ritual life in South Asia from as early as the sixth and seventh centuries ᴄᴇ. Here, in a small chapel at the entrance to a Buddhist monastic complex carved into the rock cliffs outside of the city, Gaṇapati appears flanked by Durgā in her forms as the buffalo demon-slaying goddess (mahiṣāsuramardinī) and a semi-wrathful form of the goddess Cāmuṇḍā. He is also accompanied by depictions of the Seven Mothers (Saptmātṛkā) and two Buddha images. The level of Buddhist participation in the Gaṇapati cult in India requires more research, but it is supported by the existence of Gaṇapati shrines such as the one found at the Aurangabad cave complex. Both works devoted to this deity in the Tibetan Kangyurs‍—The Tantra of Great Gaṇapati (Toh 666) and The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati (Toh 665) ‍—provide additional textual evidence of his importance to Indian Buddhist traditions.

i.3While The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati appears in the Phangthangma and Denkarma royal catalogs of Tibetan translations under the abridged title ’phags pa tshogs kyi snying po, neither of these catalogs contains any mention of The Tantra of Great Gaṇapati. The Tantra of Great Gaṇapati also does not appear to be included among the various works on Gaṇapati that were incorporated into the compendia of dhāraṇīs translated into Chinese from the seventh century.

i.4Tarthang Tulku’s catalog to The Nyingma Edition of the sDe-dge bKa’-’gyur and bsTan-’gyur notes that Bütön (Bu ston rin chen grub, 1290–1364) questioned the authenticity of this text. This may explain why the text’s colophon does not follow the usual conventions but is rendered instead in verse as follows:

i.7The emphasis placed here on the fact that Atiśa arrived with this text from India (rgya gar yul nas) appears to be some form of response to the text’s contested status, as noted by Bütön, and to justify including it in the Kangyur as an authentically Indic work.

i.8This translation is based on the version of The Tantra of Great Gaṇapati that appears in the “Tantra Collection” (rgyud ’bum) of the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur. Unfortunately, no known Sanskrit version of the text appears to have survived. Christopher Wilkinson’s English translation of the text was also consulted.