Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts Asiatic Society Vol 08 Part 02

SR No.: 020275
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hariprasad Shastri, Chintahran Chakravarti
Publisher: Asiatic Society
Publication Year: 1940
Total Pages: 340
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Catalogue
File Size: 19 MB

Page 27

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(6067) describes the details of the worship of Vanadurgā, a deity whose worship is highly popular in several districts of Bengal 1. There is, however, no work here which describes all the rites to be performed by the regular worshippers of the deity, of which there is a good number in Bengal.
Works on deities whose rituals are dealt with both in original Tantras and Digests have been noticed, for the sake of convenience, only under Digests. (3) Works on Caitanya.
A number of apparently late but nevertheless interesting works refer to or deal with the worship of the great Vaişņava saint of Bengal-Caitanya. These are associated with well-known Tantric texts. In one of them, associated with the Kulārnava (5913), the divinity of Caitanya is established with various arguments. In another, associated with the Visvasāra-tantra (6038), which professes to give an account of this 'secret' incarnation of Vişnu, the date of his appearance is also indicated (4586 of the Kali age). In the Urdhvāmnāya-samhita (5959) he is referred to as an avatāra in place of the Buddha. It is significant that the last MS. is in the Nāgari script and presumably is of a non-Bengali origin. Of other works of the type reference may be made to the sections on Caitanya ascribed to the Brahma-yāmala and the Krsna-yāmala, manuscripts of which are found in the old collections of the Society (AS., p. 64) and the Bangiya Sāhitya Parişad (VSP., p. 41). (4) Works on Alchemy.
Among manuscripts of works on alchemy reference may be made to the following:
Rasārņava (5870) and Rasa-kalpa (5871) associated with the Rudra-yāmala deal with various preparations of mercury. The Suvarnatantra (6101) and Svarnatantra (6824) describe the synthetic preparation of valuable metals like silver and gold.
(5) Works on the use of hemp.
We have here a small manuscript (6068) containing an extract on the Tantric use of hemp. The topic has been incidentally dealt with in a number of Tantra works. The Mahānirvānatantra (V.
i cf. JASB., 1930, pp. 382-3.