Guānzìzài púsà huàshēn Rángwúlīyè tóngnǚ xiāofú dúhài tuóluóní jīng 觀自在菩薩化身蘘麌哩曳童女銷伏毒害陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī of the Maiden Jāṅgulī, Manifestation-Body of Avalokiteśvara, for Subduing Venoms (Skt. Jāṅgulīnāmavidyā) by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric dhāraṇī-sūtra on Jāṅgulī 蘘麌哩 (also 穰麌梨) — the vidyā-maiden goddess of venoms, whose mantra cures snakebite and reverses all poisons — translated by Amoghavajra (不空). The text identifies Jāṅgulī as a manifestation-body (nirmāṇakāya) of Avalokiteśvara 觀自在菩薩, locating her cult within the broader Avalokiteśvara family of compassionate-emanation deities. This is the first of the two parallel renderings preserved as T1264a/b (KR6j0494 / KR6j0495). Korean Tripiṭaka K1296; Zhōnghuá H1422; Nanjio 0961. Sanskrit affiliation in canwww: Jigulā-nāma-vidyā. Alternate titles 蘘麌哩童女經 and 穰麌梨童女經.
Abstract
The text gives Jāṅgulī’s iconography (a maiden depicted with serpents around her neck and arms, sometimes shown trampling a snake), her mantra (in transliterated Sanskrit), and the rite for its recitation. The applied use is in snake-bite cure, scorpion-sting reversal, water-poisoning, food-poisoning, and reversal of hostile mantra-attacks (which were conceived as another form of “poisoning” the practitioner). The text is paired with KR6j0495 (T1264b, Fó shuō Rángwúlí tóngnǚ jīng) and with KR6j0496 (T1265, by 瞿多), both of which treat the same goddess in alternate Chinese renderings. Date: Amoghavajra’s Chángān activity, 746–774.
Translations and research
- Snellgrove, David. Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and Their Tibetan Successors. Boston: Shambhala, 1987 — for the Indian background of the vidyā-maiden goddesses.