The Cidvilāsastava of the great Śrīvidyācārya, Amṛtānanda (fl. c. 1325-1375) is one of the most comprehensive treatments of the esoteric contemplation of ritual found within the Śrīvidyā tradition and Śaiva tantra in general. This short forty-verse hymn offers esoteric knowledge and creative contemplations (bhāvanā) for critical steps in the ritual worship of Tripurasundarī. Although belonging to the Śrīvidyā tradition, the Cidvilāsastava will likely be of great interest to all who perform pūjā as many of the verses deal with topics and procedures that are common to all traditional forms of ritual worship.
Tripurā Tallikā is pleased to offer this new translation that provides the original Sanskrit, following Professor Vrajvallabha Dwivedi, a transliteration into Roman script using the International Alphabet for Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) scheme, comprehensive notes to help contextualize and explain esoteric concepts, history, and vocabulary by Brian Campbell, and the most complete, accessible, and poetic translation to-date by Dr. Ben Williams, a specialist in tantric literature.
