Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text provides a prescriptive procedure for making torma cake offerings to nāgas, subterranean serpentine deities. The work functions as a liturgical manual, directing the practitioner to prepare a physical vessel containing grains, dough, and specific medicines. It integrates visualization techniques, requiring the practitioner to perceive a gem-encrusted vessel emerging from the seed syllable BAṂ. The ritual culminates in a series of mantra recitations dedicated to specific nāga figures, including Varuṇa, Ananta, Takṣaka, Vasuki, Karkoṭaka, and the Padma and Mahāpadma nāgas. By following these instructions, the reader commits to a formal act of propitiation intended to appease or honor these entities through a combination of material offerings, mental visualization, and sonic invocation. The text is attributed to the translator Glan chung Dar ma tshul khrims.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual procedure for the extensive nāga torma offering, this work belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The text is attributed to the translator lo tsA ba glan chung dar ma tshul khrims. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཛི, where it comprises two pages and is situated within the Other Skillful Means Tantras collection. The work enacts a formal propitiation of subterranean serpentine deities through a prescriptive liturgical sequence. It directs the practitioner to arrange a vessel of precious materials containing grains, dough, and nāga medicines, while simultaneously employing visualization techniques to perceive a gem-encrusted vessel and a moon maṇḍala arising from seed syllables. This process culminates in the recitation of mantras dedicated to specific figures such as Varuṇa, Ananta, Takṣaka, Vasuki, Karkoṭaka, and the Padma and Mahāpadma nāgas. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the intersection of material offering, mental visualization, and sonic invocation used to appease or honor these entities.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “An Extensive Ritual for Torma Cake Offerings to a Nāga” (Toh 2196), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2196
Summary & commentary
Significance
The text illustrates the integration of indigenous spirit propitiation within the Buddhist ritual framework, specifically the use of torma and seed syllables. It is significant for its preservation of the names of specific nāga deities, reflecting the complex cosmology of the Indo-Tibetan tradition.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Ritual Instructions and Visualization
Instructions for the physical arrangement of offerings and the visualization of a gem vessel from a seed syllable.
2
Mantras and Invocations
A sequence of mantras dedicated to various nāga deities and the offering of milk.
3
Colophon
Closing statement identifying the translator Glan chung Dar ma tshul khrims.
Themes
Ritual Propitiation (1-2)
Visualization (1)
Nāga Cosmology (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaAn Extensive Ritual for Torma Cake Offerings to a Nāga·
The Extensive Nāga Torma Offering:
Within a beautiful vessel of precious materials, arrange various grains, various nāga medicines, and heaps of dough and so forth. Within the heaps of dough and so forth, from the syllable BAṂ, visualize a vessel made of the five kinds of precious gems. From the syllable A, a moon maṇḍala. Above that, from the syllable PAṂ, an ocean of nectar. Above that, from the syllable HRĪḤ, light radiates forth, and one should imagine an ocean of nectar and an ocean of milk, white in color, possessing the eight supreme tastes, and fragrant. From the syllable OṂ, medicinal trees fill the three-thousandfold world system. From the syllable SVĀ, inconceivable groves of utpala flowers are visualized. From the syllable TAṂ, wish-fulfilling trees are generated, from which immeasurable milk and vases flow.
Abiding in the deity yoga of oneself, light radiates from the syllable at the heart. All classes of nāgas, such as those with seven snake heads, or the nāga classes of the local spirits (sa bdag), are summoned from the four continents, Mount Meru, the sky, and the entire earth by light rays like hooks and lassos. Visualize a vajra upon their tongues. From the syllable HŪṂ above that, light radiates, and they drink through tubes of light rays. Imagine them possessing a non-dual mind.
For the five offerings, recite: OṂ BATĀLI MAHĀBATĀLI HŪṂ HŪṂ HŪṂ JAḤ HŪṂ BAṂ HOḤ. This is the invocation.
OṂ BHŪ ADHIPATI MAHĀPADMA MĀLE MṚJAḤ ĀKARṢAYA JAḤ HŪṂ BAṂ HOḤ.
OṂ VARUṆA NĀGA DEVA TĀ OṂ ĀKARṢAYA JAḤ HŪṂ BAṂ HOḤ.
OṂ ĀGACCHA ĀGACCHA MAHĀNĀGA HOḤ BATI SARVA PHUḤ PHUḤ SAMAYA JAḤ HŪṂ BAṂ HOḤ.
Offer flowers.
OṂ BHAKṢA SAMAYA TIṢṬHA JAḤ HŪṂ SVĀHĀ. Offer milk and so forth. OṂ VARUṆA NĀGA DEVA TĀYE SVĀHĀ. OṂ NĀGA SARVA PHUḤ PHUḤ ANANTA KĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ PHUḤ PHUḤ TAKṢAKĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ PHUḤ PHUḤ VASUKIYE SVĀHĀ. OṂ PHUḤ PHUḤ KARKOṬAKĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ PHUḤ PHUḤ PADMĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ PHUḤ PHUḤ MAHĀPADMĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ PHUḤ PHUḤ ŚAṄKHAPĀLĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ PHUḤ PHUḤ HULUKĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ PHUḤ PHUḤ ANANTA ŚĀNTIṂ KURU SVĀHĀ. OṂ NĀGARĀJA ANANTĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ NĀGA ŚAṄKHAPĀLĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ NĀGA SARVA PŪJA MEGHA SAMAYE SVĀHĀ. OṂ NĀGA SARVA IDAṂ BALIṂ GṚHṆA GṚHṆA SAMAYE SVĀHĀ. NĀGA HULUKĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ NĀGA VASUKIYE SVĀHĀ. TAKṢAKĀYA SVĀHĀ. VATĀLI SVĀHĀ. UPANANDA SVĀHĀ. VARUṆĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ VIRŪPAKṢĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ NĀGALE NĀGALE SVĀHĀ. OṂ NĀGA KEŚE PHUḌA YATE NĀMAKA PRAMARDANĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ BHŪ-ADHIPATI MAHĀPADMA MĀLE MṚJA. IDAṂ BALIṂ GṚHṆA GṚHṆA PĀYA SVĀHĀ. OṂ BHŪ-ADHIPATI MAHĀPĀRA. MAHĀPADMA MĀLO MṚJA. MAHĀPŪJA SAMAYA SVĀHĀ. This is the offering to the local spirits (sa-bdag). Regarding the pacification of the nāgas: VAJRA PRĀṆI NĀGA ŚĀNTIṂ KURU SVĀHĀ. If one recites this a thousand times, the local spirits, nāgas, and nyen will be bound. Examine the depth [of the practice]: if it is profound, various forms should be made, and from time to time, meat and fish meat should be used, and water taken from a spring should be mixed with the milk of a reddish-yellow cow. If it is minor, the ritual is performed with torma. Extracted from the Garuḍa Samaya Tantra.
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.