Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori

THE HUMAN BODY 53
and drinking-cup, and making the sign of blessing, and
that which dispels fear. She wears a garland of human
bones. She is excited, and her heart is softened with
wine. 1 Here, also, are several other Śaktis, such as
Kala-ratri, as also the bīja of air (vāyu) or “yaṃ.” Inside
the lotus is a six-cornered smoke-coloured maṇ ḍ ala and
the circular region of smoke-coloured Vāyu, who is
seated on a black antelope. Here, too, is the embodied
ātmā (jīvātmā), like the tapering flame of a lamp.
VIŚUDDHA
Viśuddha-cakra or Bhāratisthāna, abode of the Devī
of speech, is above the last and at the lower end of the
throat (kaṇ ṭ ha-mala). The Tattva of this cakra is
“ether.” The lotus is of a smoky colour, or the colour of
fire seen through smoke. It has sixteen petals, which
carry the red vowels—“aṃ,” “āṃ,” “iṃ,” “īṃ,” “uṃ,” “ūṃ,”
“ṛ ṃ,” “r¯̣ ṃ,” “ḷ ṃ,” “l¯̣ ṃ,” “eṃ,” “aiṃ,” “oṃ,” “aṃ,” “aḥ ”; 2 the
seven musical notes (niṣada, ṛ ṣabha, gāndhāra, ṣadja,
madhyama, dhaivata and pañcama): “venom” (in the
eighth petal); the bījas “huṃ,” “phat,” “vauṣat,” “vaṣat,”
“svadhā,” “svāhā,” “namah,” and in the sixteenth petal,
nectar (amṛ ta). In the pericarp is a triangular region,
within which is the androgyne Śiva, known as Ardhanārīśvara.
There also are the regions of the full moon
and ether, with its bīja “haṃ.” The ākāśa-maṇ ḍ ala is
1 [“… more than a little drunk, and more than a little mad.”]
2 [The last two are the anusvarā and viśarga, not strictly vowels but
marks which modify vowel sounds, traditionally counted with the vowels in
the alphabet. The former is romanized as “ṃ
” or “ṃ .” In the symbolic representation
of the letters on the lotuses, (see, e.g., plates in The Serpent Power)
they are written with the anusvara dot above, whereas the anusvara and
viśarga are attached to the first vowel, A (a), so both the a and anusvara
appear the same both in the Devanagari script (A