Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This technical treatise provides a systematic classification of mantras based on the phonetic and symbolic properties of vowels and consonants. The text maps specific letters of the Sanskrit alphabet to anatomical locations within the subtle body and associates them with specific colors, directions, and symbolic imagery. By linking phonetic sounds to the palate, teeth, crown, and navel, the work establishes a correspondence between linguistic elements and the practitioner's internal physiology. Furthermore, it integrates these sounds with ritual visualization, assigning geometric shapes, celestial bodies, and animal symbols to specific letter groups. The reader is committed to a framework where sound is not merely communicative but is a manifestation of energetic and spatial coordinates, requiring a precise synchronization of articulation, visualization, and somatic awareness to achieve the intended ritual effect.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise on the science of sounds and the meaning of the forty-nine vowels and consonants, the Ālikālimantrajñāna is attributed to the Indian author Vajraghaṇṭa. Preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition under the title a phreng ka phreng gi sngags kyi rim pa, the work is found in the Tengyur, volume ཟི, where it extends over three pages. It is situated within the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The work enacts a systematic mapping of the Sanskrit alphabet onto the subtle body, assigning specific letters to anatomical locations such as the palate, teeth, crown, throat, and navel. It further integrates these phonetic elements with ritual visualization, associating letter groups with geometric shapes, colors, directions, and symbolic imagery, including the midday sun and various animal forms. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to understand the technical correspondence between linguistic articulation and somatic awareness, exploring how the practitioner synchronizes sound with internal physiology and spatial coordinates to transform the body into a ritualized landscape.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “An Classification of Mantras in Terms of Vowels and Consonants” (Toh 2404), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2404
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its intersection of linguistics and tantric physiology, illustrating how the Sanskrit alphabet is internalized as a map of the body. For the modern reader, it provides evidence of the sophisticated phonetic science employed in Indo-Tibetan ritual practice to bridge the gap between sound and materiality.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Introduction and Phonetic Mapping
Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan and maps specific letters to anatomical locations such as the palate, teeth, crown, and navel.
3
Symbolic and Spatial Associations
Associates specific letter groups and sounds with colors, directions, geometric shapes, and symbolic imagery.
Themes
Somatic Phonetics (2)
Ritual Visualization (3)
Correspondence between Sound and Space (2-3)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaAn Classification of Mantras in Terms of Vowels and Consonants·
In the language of India: Ālikālimantrajñāna-nāma. In the language of Tibet: A-phreng ka-phreng gi sngags kyi rim-pa zhes-bya-ba (The Sequence of Mantras of the Vowels and Consonants). Homage to the glorious Heruka!
The meaning of the sounds and the science of the sounds of self and others, consisting of the forty-nine vowels and consonants, was not realized even by those such as Vālmīki. Therefore, I shall explain the clear meaning.
The locations of sound are eight: the palate, the tongue, and the teeth; the crown of the head, the throat, the lips, the chest, and the nose. The first of these is the row of vowels (āli), which possesses the sixteen half-periods (yāma) and so forth. It is the mirror-like wisdom of insight (prajñā); the wise should understand it. The fourteenth among them is the syllable of Sarasvatī, the clarity of sound. The first ten of those are the wisdom of equality. The five arising in their proper order are short; the others should be known as long. Excluding the first two of the vowels, they are named the fourteen. The four—e, ai, o, and au—are the syllables of the union of the ultimate and the conventional. The letter a is the bindu of emptiness; it is the moon, the sun, and the fierce goddess Caṇḍālī. The letter a endowed with two bindus differentiates the fierce sound. Ṛ, ṝ, ḷ, and ḹ are the four elements; through their differentiation, they are the syllables that burn. A short vowel is one blink of an eye; a long vowel is two blinks. The third moment is the "calling" syllable. A half-moment is a consonant (vyañjana). On the left side of the yogi is the sixteenfold Sarasvatī, the insight. These are the locations of sound.
The letters A, Ku, and Ha fall into the two bindus. A is the letter of the interior. I, Cu, Ya, and Śa reside in the palate. Ḷ, Tu, La, and Sa arise from the teeth. Ṛ, Tu, Ra, and Ṣa are renowned as being in the crown. Aṃ is the nasal of clear light; residing at the navel, it flows upward. E and Ai are in the throat; O and Au are in the lips. At the beginning of that is the Dharmadhātu. Having thus explained the row of vowels, A, Ka, Ca, Ṭa, Ta, Pa, Ya, and Śa are the root sounds. From Ka to the end of Ha, one should know the consonants are on the right side. The row of Ka consists of five groups of five; they are the touch of the four sounds. Together with Śa, Ṣa, Sa, and Ha, the first two of each are not counted. The remaining three of each are the sounds; the five groups of five arise from the nose. The four elements residing at the end are severed by the yogi who desires the conventional. In the space of the five groups of Ma, the "hot" letters Śa, Ṣa, Sa, and Ha reside. Kṣa is the union of the mother of the Kāli. That is the yoga of the wheel. Through the divisions of the generation stage, the causal letters shall be explained. From Ka to the end of Ha, the corpse is the seat. Adorned with Ya, Ra, La, Va, and Ma, it is the method of generation for the Ḍākinīs. Kaṃ is the skull and the khaṭvāṅga. Ca is the skeleton and the parasol. The five groups of Ṅa are the sun. Śa and Ṣa should be known as the charnel grounds. Having explained the seed syllables, the introduction to the Kāli yoga is shown. The Ka-group together with Ya is the blue crescent moon in the west and east. Phu, Phu, and Sa are attached to the others. Just as the drawing is seen, the letter of the east is Wind. The Ca-group together with Ra and Śa...
A red triangle and the midday sun; at the time of hatred, a snake should also be drawn. The south is the abode of the fierce. The ṭa-group together with bha is circular and white, at the time of the morning. Kali, jña, and bhukka have the markings of a bird of delusion; in the western direction is the female spirit. The ta-group together with kṣa and ṇa is square and greenish-yellow; at midnight, it is the element of earth and wind. At the time of the expansion of red envy, one sees horses and tigers in dreams; this is the face of the king and the earth-lord spirits. One should apprehend [these] in the northern direction. The blue va-group is water and wind; it possesses the shape of a triangle and a crescent. At the time of morning and evening, the elements are heavy; the yogi should examine this with awareness. Likewise, one should receive from the mouth [the instructions] on the twenty-five minor elements. The application endowed with skillful means, adorned with stainless insight, completely dispels the darkness of conventional terminology. These are the emptiness and self of the nature of mind. By the virtue of having set these down in conventional terms, I dedicate it so that the suffering of the six classes of beings may be exhausted. This concludes the Yoga of the Ali and Kali, composed by the master Ghandha.
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.