দশমহাবিদ্যা ও দেহকেন্দ্রিক থেলিমাতত্ত্ব | The Ten Goddesses of Magnificent Magic and Thelemic Doctrines of the Body

Abstract

This article takes a novel comparative approach to the study of the Bengali tradition of Dasamahavidya, or "ten goddesses of magnificent magic." After surveying a few references to them as a group in academic literature, excerpts are provided from the 'Brhat-tantrasara,' a Sanskrit and Bengali compendium of earlier source-texts that gives detailed instructions and mantras for invoking the goddesses. Since the system is centered around a yogic process of invoking the kundalini serpent who is coiled at the base of the spine, comparison can be made with other traditions that use this formula, albeit in innovative ways. The article then briefly surveys how kundalini is described in contemporary Thelemic literature, including differences that arise due to the characterization of the "New Aeon" as the "worship of the spiritual made one with the material." A poetic verse is then translated into Bengali from Liber LXV that Aleister Crowley described as an "Invocation of kundalini."