Charyapada (Paperback)

The Charyapada is a collection of 8th-12th century Vajrayana Buddhist caryagiti, or mystical poems from the tantric tradition in eastern India. Being caryagiti, or 'songs of realization' the Charyapada were intended to be sung. These songs of realization were spontaneously composed verses that expressed a practitioner's experience of the enlightened state. Miranda Shaw describes how caryagiti were an element of the ritual gathering of practitioners in a tantric feast: The feast culminates in the performance of tantric dances and music that must never be disclosed to outsiders. The revelers may also improvise "songs of realization" to express their heightened clarity and blissful raptures in spontaneous verse. A manuscript was discovered in the early 20th century. It provides the early examples of the Assamese, Oriya and Bengali languages. The writers of the Charyapada, the Mahasiddhas or Siddhacharyas, belonged to the various regions of Assam, Bengal, Orissa and Bihar. A Tibetan translation of the Charyapada was also preserved in the Tibetan Buddhist canon.