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Laghukālacakratantrarājatikā (Vimalaprabhā)

Inscribed 2011

What is it

The Vimalaprabhā is an exhaustive commentary on the Kālacakra Tantra, one of the most important Tantras in Tibetan Buddhism, which has now spread to other parts of the world. One complete and one incomplete copy of the Vimalaprabhā have been registered.

Why were they inscribed

The complete copy of the Vimalaprabhā is regarded by scholars of Tibetan Buddhism as the oldest in existence. It is one of the most important Tantras not only in India, but also in Tibetan Buddhism, and it discusses many Indian philosophical concepts.

Where are they

Asiatic Society, Kolkata, India

The Laghukālacakratantrarājatikā (Vimalaprabhā) is the most important commentary on the Kālacakra Tantra, which was delivered by the Buddha at Dhānyakataka in South India. Buddhist Tantric literature is both vast and extensive, and the Kālacakra Tantra is a distinguished paradigm among them. It was on this Tantra that the King Pundarāka, one of the thirty-two kings of Shambhala, composed the great encyclopedic commentary named Vimalaprabhā in the 9th century.

In addition to the text of the Tantra, the commentary contains detailed discussions of philosophy, astrology and astronomy. There is also discussion on the lesser known wisdom of svarodaya. āyurveda occupies an important thematic focus in the Tantra. Measurements of the globe are given which are more detailed than those in the Abhidharmakosa, a celebrated 4th-century text authored by Acharya Vasubandhu, which is itself a renowned encyclopedia of information.

There were once a large number of manuscripts of Kālacakra Tantra and its commentaries in India. However, as Buddhism disappeared from India during the 12th and 13th centuries, a large body of Buddhist literature was lost. Many of the literary manuscripts were taken to neighbouring countries and regions such as Nepal and Tibet. In the 19th century, when European scholars commenced their studies in Buddhism, abundant literary materials in Nepal were discovered. B.H. Hodgson, an English administrator, ethnologist and a resident at the royal court of Nepal, bequeathed 144 manuscripts to the Asiatic Society in Kolkata with a view to preserving them. Among the manuscripts that have been collected is this unique and complete text of the Vimalaprabhā. All other known manuscripts of the Vimalaprabhā are incomplete. The complete palm-leaf manuscript was copied in the thirty-ninth year of Harivarman of Bengal (last half of 10th century), which makes this the oldest extant copy of the commentary, transcribed a little over one hundred years after the commentary was composed.

Pages from the palm-leaf manuscript