by Dr Haroon Rashid
Niraj Kumar’s translation of the Kālacakra Tantra highlights the exploration of inner tantra, cosmology, yoga, and comparative philosophical traditions.
Among the few texts of early India that have maintained their relevance in contemporary times, Niraj Kumar’s translation, annotation, and commentary of Naropa’s Kālacakra Tantra is one of them. This review will discuss the translator’s second volume of Kālacakra Tantra (The Kālacakra Tantra: Translation, Annotation and Commentary, Vol. 2, New Delhi: D K Print World, 2025, pp. 325), which navigates the Adhyātma, or inner Kālacakra. This volume enters a spiritual space that is both mysterious and highly personal by navigating tantric cosmology not outside the individual self but within it.
Locating the Text
Academics and popular circles have engaged in extensive debates about Tantra, both as a literary genre and as a mystical tradition. To its critics, it offers wine and women in the name of religion, whereas to its preachers and practitioners, it is a way to achieve salvation by transcending worldly pleasures through Yoga, Mantra, Yantra, Prāṇāyāma, etc.
Tantra, both as a literary genre and a mystical tradition, is believed to have emerged from forest tribes, and there are endless tantric texts, although a major chunk has been lost over time. It emerged in early medieval times and impacted the religious landscape of South Asia, to which Buddhism was no exception. When Tantra influenced Buddhist theology and philosophy, it gave birth to a unique tantric Buddhist tradition called Vajrayāna, or the “Diamond Vehicle.” Among the various tantric scriptures to which Vajrayāna subscribes, the eleventh-century CE Kālacakra Tantra of Naropa is highly significant. This significance is owing to two reasons: first, it was composed at a time when Buddhism had lost state patronage and had almost declined; second, it was composed during a period when Buddhism was facing a scriptural crisis, as its literature was being destroyed and monasteries burnt, a process that further intensified in medieval times.
Adhyātma Kālacakra Tantra: The Search Within
The Kālacakra Tantra is broadly divided into three portions: Bāhya, Adhyātma, and Paramādibuddha. Niraj Kumar’s translation, annotation, and commentary on The Kālacakra Tantra in two volumes represent the Bāhya and Adhyātma portions, respectively. However, this review discusses the second volume of The Kālacakra Tantra, which concerns the Adhyātma, or inner Kālacakra. This volume by Kumar is based on six chapters that deal with various dimensions of Tantra, especially those related to subtle trajectories within the individual self.
The first chapter, Birth of Individual Avatāra and Winds, opens as an enquiry by King Suchandra to Ādibuddha regarding cosmology within the self. In it, Suchandra wants to know how the three worlds are prevalent within one’s physical self. Similarly, this chapter also throws light on the theory of incarnations, or Avatāra. It discusses ten Avatāras popular in the Vaiṣṇava tradition, especially in the Matsya Purāṇa, and argues that these Avatāras exist within every human being from the stage of semen to losing teeth. Similarly, this chapter is important for understanding the function of winds, or prāṇa/vāyu, in tantric traditions, especially in realising the ultimate self.
The second and third chapters, Prolegomena on Cakras and Prolegomena on Nāḍī, respectively, discuss the concept and function of various Cakras and Nāḍīs in tantric yoga. In simplistic terms, the Cakras are hotspots of subtle energy prevalent in the subtle body, or what tantric practitioners prefer to call the Sūkṣma Śarīra. The major function of these Cakras in tantric yoga is to regulate and utilise subtle energy to awaken ultimate consciousness. Similarly, the Nāḍīs are channels through which the subtle energy generated or prevalent in the Cakras flows.
The fourth chapter, Prognosis of Signs of Death, is a very interesting and mind-boggling chapter. It opens with a calculation of an individual’s lifespan based on the measurement of the flow of Prāṇa, or life force, through Nāḍīs. It states in its opening verse that if Prāṇa flows in a single Nāḍī for a day and night, the duration of one’s life is just three years. Similarly, this chapter offers further calculations of lifespan based on the flow of Prāṇa. The fascinating aspect of the chapter is its explanation and calculation of lifespan or death based on zodiac signs, to which the modern mind can relate; see the statistical diagram of death on page 786.
The fifth chapter, Haṭha-Yoga, Medicine, Perfumery and Midwifery, deals with these aspects of Tantra. Haṭha-Yoga is a particular kind of yoga concerned with training one’s inner self to tread the path towards a higher state of consciousness. Similarly, the section on perfumery deals with the making of perfumes and their significant use in tantric practices, as they are considered important for awakening the senses towards a higher goal. Likewise, the concept of midwifery is very important in Kālacakra Tantra, as women are central to giving birth to human life, and birth is considered not merely a biological phenomenon but also a cosmological one.
The last chapter, Logical Analysis of Other Doctrines, is highly comparative and deals with traditions such as Vedic Brahmanism, especially Vaiṣṇavism and Śaivism, Vijñānavāda Buddhism, Cārvāka, Islam, etc. It discusses their ideas of creation, ultimate reality, soul, worldly life, access to scriptural authority, heaven, etc. Similarly, it highlights inadequacies in their discourses. For example, this chapter debunks the idea that the Vedas are restricted only to the twice-born; rather, it argues that they are everywhere and open to everyone.
Strengths
This text is highly useful for scholars, students, and common readers interested in the study of Indic mystical traditions, especially Tantra. The greatest contribution of Kumar lies in giving access to this unique text to the common reader, whereas earlier it was hegemonized by Sanskritists and the religious elite. Readers from non-Sanskrit backgrounds will find themselves developing a workable vocabulary of Sanskrit and tantric terminology by reading this text. Similarly, Kumar has critically engaged the Kālacakra Tantra with other traditions, especially in the last chapter; in this way, he has opened a path for contemporary interfaith dialogue.
Where the Work Falls Short
Two lacunae are worth highlighting. First, Kumar has not engaged the text with other tantric traditions; the one I would especially like to mention here is the tantric Śaiva tradition of Kashmir. Both traditions share similarities in their ideas of cosmology, yoga, the individual self, and ultimate reality. Engaging them comparatively would open the way for constructive dialogue among sect-based tantric traditions, which could help reorganise the long-fragmented field of tantric studies.
Second, although the author has introduced the text in the preface, what seems missing is a nuanced contextualisation of the text and its content. Such contextualisation would have been particularly helpful for students unfamiliar with Tantra in understanding the text in greater detail.
(The author is a post doctoral fellow at School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Ideas are personal.)
