________________ PREFACE The present edition of the second volume of the Vimalaprabha (VP) comprises the commentary on the third and the fourth Patalas of the Kalacakra Tantra (KT), namely, the Abhisekapatala and the Sadhana pafala-, The entire text of the KT is divided into five Patalas containing 1047 verses in the Sragdhara metre. The full title of the text, as found in its Tibetan Translation is : Paramadibuddhoddhita-sr1-kalacakra-nama-tantraraja (sDe Ge, Toh. Nos, 362, 1346 ). The Tibetan and the Sanskrit texts edited by Raghu Vira and Lokesh Chandra have the same titles. The Sanskrit texts edited by Raghu Vira-Lokesh Chandra and B. Banerjee have the following colophons : 1. iti srimadadibuddhoddhste srikalacakre (at the end of Patalas I-1Y) (Variants : at the end of Patalas III and IV:the edition of Raghu Vira-Lokesh Chandra-kalacakre; Banerjee's edition srimahakalacakte ). 2. iti dvadasasahasradibuddhoddhrte srimati kalacakre ( at the end of Patala V). (Variants : Banerjee's edition-dvadasasahasrikadi; srimahakalacakre). Tho VP informs us that there existed the original taptra (Mulatantra), entitled Paramadibuddha, which had 12,000 verses in the anusfubh metre (VP, 1. The edition of the Sanskrit text prepared by (i) Raghu Vira and Lokesh Chandra ( International Academy of Indian Culture, New Delhi, 1966 ) and (ii) Biswanath Banerjee (The Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 1985) have the name Sadhana. The colophon at the end of Patala IV in Banerjee's edition has a variant Sadhana. The VP, in the section on the instructions into the Tantra" (tant radesanoddesa ) enumerates the five Patalas, where it mentions the fourth Patala as Sadhana (VP, Vol. I, p. 12, line 12). While giving the contents of the five Patalas, it designates it as Sadhana (Vol. I, p. 14, lines 7 and 13). The title Sadhana patala is given in the present edition on the basis of the commentary on that Patala (p. 149, line 18 ) and the colophons at the end of the Mahoddesas, most of which have the reading Sadhana. 2. The VP informs that the Sritantra ( i. e., the Laghutantra ) consists of 1030 verses in the Sragdhara metre (see VP, Vol. I, p. 25, line 6 ). cf. also Banerjoe, op. cit., Intro., p. iii,