The Saubhāgya Saṃpradāya

image credit: C. Kondaiah Raju

The early Śrīvidyā tradition was actually known as the Saubhāgyasaṃpradāya (the auspicious tradition), as well as Traipuradarśana (the lineage of Tripurā). These names fell out of favor as “Śrīvidyā” eclipsed them both as the preferred name for the tradition of worshiping Tripursundarī. The term saubhāgya (from su–bhagā) invokes Tripurā’s auspicious, beautiful, creative, and blissful nature, as well as her pleasing method of worship.

The twenty-fifth chapter of the Tripurārahasya Māhātmyakhaṇḍa teaches that the fifteen-syllabled mūlamantra (principal mantra) of Tripurasundarī is called the Saubhāgyavidyā, which is taught alongside the Saubhāgyāṣṭottaraśatanāmastotra (the auspicious hymn of one hundred and eight names), and the Saubhāgyanavaratnastotra (the auspicious hymn of nine gems).

In line with this understanding, several of the foundational Śrīvidyācāryas, such as Śivānanda and Amṛtānanda, authored works that begin with “saubhāgya,” such as the Śivānanda’s Saubhāgyahṛdayastotra, as well as Amṛtānanda’s ritual manual, the Saubhāgyasudhodaya. Furthermore, Amṛtānanda, in his Dīpikā commentary on the Yoginīhṛdayatantra, repeatedly mentions the mūlamantra of Tripurasundarī is known as the Saubhāgyavidyā (See Dīpikā 2.1, 2.7, 2.14, 2.17, 2.54-56, 2.65, 2.72, 2.77, 3.91, 3.97, 3.105, and 3.151) and explicitly mentions in his commentary on 2.17, that it consists of fifteen syllables (śrīsaubhāgyavidyā’vayavapañcadaśākṣarāṇāmartho bhāvārthaḥ).

Elsewhere in his Dīpikā commentary (2.1, 3.112) Amṛtānanda refers to the fifteen syllabled mūlamantra as “śrīvidyā,” particularly when describing how it relates to the fifteen properties of the pañcamahābhūtas (five great elements) and the Nityākalādevīs (goddesses of the individual lunar days). These references, along with a brief mention in his Saubhāgyasudhodaya (2.20: sṛṣṭyādibhedabhinnaśrīvidyāvarṇayugalanavakātmā navanādavargarūpā mātā sā madhyā’bhidhā vitatā) are perhaps three of the earliest mentions of Śrīvidyā as the mūlamantra of Tripurasundarī currently known.

In contemporary Śrīvidyā practice, however, the term saubhāgya often evokes a form of Tripurasundarī’s mūlamantra known as the Saubhāgyapañcadaśī—a combined form of her principal fifteen-syllabled mūlamantra (known as the Pañcadaśī or Pañcadaśākṣarī) and the mūlamantra of Bālātripurasundarī.