Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This fragmentary text provides the introductory instructions for a sādhana, a ritual practice designed for the accomplishment of a specific spiritual goal, centered on the nāga woman Anantamukhī. The text begins by establishing the bilingual identity of the practice, providing the title in both Sanskrit (Nāgībhyaḥ-sādhana) and Tibetan (Klu-mo’i sgrub-thabs). It initiates the ritual process with a seed syllable mantra and specifies the necessary environmental conditions for the practice, requiring the practitioner to be at a nāga abode. The fragment concludes mid-sentence while describing the approach phase, committing the reader to a repetitive mantra recitation. The text functions as a technical manual for a deity-yoga or propitiatory rite, directing the practitioner to align their physical location and vocalizations with the specific energy of the nāga entity to achieve a particular result.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual for the accomplishment of a spiritual goal, the Nāgīsādhana belongs to the genre of sādhana and is attributed to the Indian author Prajñārakṣita. The work was translated into the Tibetan language by Dānaśīla (III) and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཙི, as part of the canonical collection known as The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, a Sādhana Activity Garland of Red Yamāri. This classical Tibetan text enacts a ritual process centered on the nāga woman Anantamukhī. It directs the practitioner to perform an approach phase at a nāga abode, involving the recitation of a mantra one hundred thousand times and entering the water on the fifth day of the lunar month. A scholar or serious reader consults this one-page document today to examine the technical requirements of deity-yoga or propitiatory rites, specifically how the practitioner is instructed to align their physical location and vocalizations with the energy of the nāga entity.
Sanskrit title
Nāgīsādhana
Indian author
Prajñārakṣita
Tibetan translators
Dānaśīla (III)
Canonical collection
The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, a Sādhana Activity Garland of Red Yamāri
The text is significant as it illustrates the integration of Indian tantric ritual structures with Tibetan translation and practice. It highlights the role of nāgas in the Indo-Tibetan tradition as entities to be propitiated or visualized for specific worldly or spiritual gains.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Preliminary Instructions
Provides the bilingual title, a seed syllable, the name of the deity Anantamukhī, and the initial requirements for the approach phase.
Themes
Ritual Space (1)
Mantra Recitation (1)
Nāga Propitiation (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Nāgībhyaḥ-sādhana. In the language of Tibet: Klu-mo’i sgrub-thabs (The Sādhana of the Nāga Woman). Phuḥ haṃ phu.
Next, the sādhana of the nāga woman known as Anantamukhī is as follows: At a nāga abode, one should perform the approach phase by reciting the mantra one hundred thousand times as previously described. Then, on the fifth day of the lunar month, enter the water at a nāga abode. Having made offerings of fragrance, flowers, incense, and so forth, along with milk rice porridge, one should recite the mantra eight thousand times. Following this, the nāga maidens will swiftly emerge from the nāga lake.
To them, one should offer the milk rice porridge as an offering of welcome and inquire, "Are you well?" Then, if they ask, "What shall I do for you?", one should say, "Become my wife." By doing so, she will grant eight treasures every day, and she will be able to kill and then restore to life any enemy.
This concludes the sādhana of the nāga woman Anantamukhī.
Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations, and not in progress there. Translations published elsewhere have not been searched for, so one may exist. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).
Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.