Lineage founder !r" !ri Jñ#nanetra (‘Eye of Wisdom,’) was initiated in an ecstatic revelation by K#l" and her 12 ‘Cremation Ground Goddesses’ (P!"he#war!s, otherwise known as Yogin!s or K$l!s), in a cremation ground in O$$iy#%a, a region just north of Ka&hmir. He laid the foundation for a powerful, internalized, form of K#l" worship in which the 12 goddess were envisioned as the natural phases of time and awareness itself (see below).
II. Key#ravat" (fl. ca. 875-925 AD)
Of his 17 known disciples, Jñ#nanetra bestowed the office of lineage holder onto three of his female pupils: • $r" Key#ravat" (‘The One Imbued with the Coiled [Power]’) • $r" Anik! (‘The Impassioned One’) • $r" Kaly!%ik! (‘The Kind-Hearted One’)
Regarding Key#rvat", we know that she was highly regarded by future
Krama masters— *Ar%asi&ha (fl. 1025-1075 AD) called her the embodiment of the ‘highest wisdom of the cremation ground Goddesses’ that initiated Jñ#nanetra (p!"hajajñ$nap$rag$)1 *An anonymous source reports—“I give honor to Key#rvat", that famous goddess of a woman who lived without a home. It is said that because of the flood [of immortal nectar] triggered from repeatedly fixing her inner gaze in the sky of [pure] consciousness, she radiated an effulgence that came from constantly identifying the entire universe as one with her very Self.”2
III. Eraka (fl. ca. 900-950 AD)
*co-disciple of the 3 women masters: Key'ravat", Anik#, and Kaly#%ik# *author of the beloved Kramastotra (‘Praise to the Sequence’ of Internal Goddesses)
1 Mah$nayaprak$#a 154 (‘Light on the Great Way’) 2 Quoted by Jayaratha in his commentary to Tantr$loka 4.173ab.
1 KRAMA definitions of K#l"
mah!k!l"ti sa&jñ! s! p!ramparyakramodit! |
sad-asad-tyakta-sadbh!v! param!nanda-nandin" ||
“She is called the ‘Great Annihilator (Mah$k$l!),’ because She
continually perpetuates the stages of existence in an endless succession. [Yet] her true nature, which is beyond the categories of Being and Non-Being, is the ecstatic delight of unimaginable bliss.”
-- !hr" !hr" Jñ#nanetra, from his K$lik$kulapañca#atik$ 5.18 3
k!l"& mah!k!lam ala&grasant"& vande hy acinty!m
anil!nal!bh!m ||
“Praise be to K#l", who devours up the great cycles of time. She is
inconceivable, indestructible, and unattainable.”
--KRAMA master !hr" Eraka from his Kramastotra. Eraka was jointly initiated by
k!l"ti k'(%!pi | --“‘K#l"’ just means Dark One.” (Jayaratha, Tantr$loka commentary)
3 ‘500 Verses on [Worshipping the Internalized] Group of K#l"s.’ The K$lik$kulapañca#atik$ is considered to be one of the few core scriptures of the KRAMA, and one of only 3 attributed directly to Jñ#nanetra. For more on Jñ#nanetra and the place of the KRAMA lineage in the evolution of Tantric Shaivism, see the ‘Intro to Tantra’ handout from week one.
2 The 12 K#l"s.
*drawn by CT from the un-translated K$lik$kulapañca#atik$ (‘500 Verses on the
Retinue of K#l"’) of !r" Jñ#nanetra
1. Creation- (S()*ik#l") Objectivity (prameya).
2. Stasis- (Sthitik#l") 4 powers: emergence, stasis, dissolution, and their nameless 3. Dissolution- (Sa+h#rak#l") ground 4. Passion- (Raktak#l")
5. Joyous- (Suk#l") Perception (pram!"a).
6. Beyond- (Yamak#l") 4 powers: emergence, 7. Deadly- (M(tyuk#l") stasis, dissolution, and their nameless ground 8. Gracious- (Bhadrak#l")
9. Supreme Sun Ray- (Param#rk#) Subjectivity (pram!t#).
10. Sun- (M#rta%$" or M#rta%$ak#l") 4 powers: emergence, 11. Fire of Time- (k#l#gnirudrak#l") stasis, dissolution, and 12. Destroyer of Time (k#lak#l") their nameless ground
13. Mah#k#l" (‘Great Annihilator,’) a.k.a. the ‘Nameless Ground
