18th C Sanskrit Grimoire for Ritual Subjugation (Saṭkarma)

Description

A practical manual of Tantric ritual magic, structured around the ṣaṭkarma — the six classic rites of ritual subjugation and magical control found in Śaiva and Śākta traditions.

India, 18th century | Devanagari script on handmade paper

12 yantras, 13 folios / 26 pages

Condition: stack of loose folios as is standard with this type of manuscript – first 2 folios attached.

This striking manuscript presents a rare, practical manual of Tantric ritual magic, structured around the ṣaṭkarma — the six classic rites of ritual subjugation and magical control found in Śaiva and Śākta traditions. These include:

• Śānti (pacification)
• Vāśīkaraṇa (enchantment or attraction)
• Stambhana (immobilization or paralyzing)
• Vidveṣaṇa (division or sowing enmity)
• Uccāṭana (banishment or exorcism)
• Māraṇa (destruction or killing)

Importantly, each rite is aligned with a specific lunar day (tithi), creating a sequential calendrical system of desire-based rites (kāmya-vidhāna) that unfold across the waxing or waning fortnight. This time-encoded ritual structure reflects esoteric timing principles central to Tantric sādhanā.

Each kāmya-vidhāna begins with a rubricated title in red ink (e.g., “trayodaśī-kāmya-vidhānaṁ” for the thirteenth day rite), followed by mantras, invocations, ritual instructions, and prohibitions — all written in a clean and confident Devanagari hand using alternating red and black ink.

On the verso of each text folio, the corresponding yantra is drawn: complex ritual diagrams rendered in red and black ink, often organized around seed syllables (bījākṣaras) and mantric phrases. These yantras serve as visual and energetic anchors for the rites, aligning verbal invocation with geometric consecration.

This manuscript thus functions not merely as a descriptive text, but as a ritual working manual for the Tantric practitioner. The alternating structure of mantra-text and yantra-diagram points to its likely use in active ritual performance — for healing, coercion, protection, destruction, or devotional aims aimed at divine or occult results.

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