Mālinī Nyāsa

Mālinī Nyāsa · mālinī-nyāsa, “the placing of the garland of letters”

The Mālinī nyāsa is the nyāsa (ritual placing by touch and mantra) in which the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, taken in the Mālinī order from na to pha, are placed one by one on the body of the worshipper, each letter with its own śakti. Parameśvara teaches it in the Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 145, as the first of the six nyāsas of the Śākta side. Beside it he teaches the nyāsa of the Rudras, in which each vowel and consonant is placed on the body with a form of Rudra, from Śrīkaṇṭha on the śikhā to the Saṃvartakas on the kośas.

By this nyāsa the body of the sādhaka, from the tuft of hair on the crown to the soles of the feet, becomes the seat of the śaktis: Nādinī on the śikhā, Cāmuṇḍā on the three eyes, Nārāyaṇī on the ears, Vāyuvegā on the shoulder, Ambikā on the prāṇa, Mahākālī, Tārā, Jñānā and Kriyā, Gāyatrī and Sāvitrī, down to Dohinī and Phalkārī on the two feet. The chapter’s colophon names it “the nyāsa of the Mālinī mantra and others”, and it closes with a promise: one who worships the Rudra-śaktis with the bīja hrīṃ obtains all his wishes.

The three sixfold nyāsas

Parameśvara says: “Now I shall tell of various mantras that are preceded by the sixfold nyāsa.” These sixfold nyāsas are of three kinds, Śāmbhava, Śākta and Yāmala, and each is sixfold.

• The six of the Śāmbhava side: the first, in which the śabda in the form of the six and sixteen granthis (knots) is principal; the second, the three vidyās and their taking up; the third, the nyāsa made of the three tattvas; the fourth, the Vanamālā nyāsa, in twelve ślokas; the fifth, the Ratnapañcaka nyāsa; the sixth, the nyāsa of the nine-syllable mantra.
• The six of the Śākta side: the Mālinī nyāsa; the Trividyā nyāsa; the Aghora-ashṭaka nyāsa; the Dvādaśāṅga (twelve-limbed) nyāsa; the Shaḍaṅga (six-limbed) nyāsa; and the śakti-nyāsa named Astracaṇḍikā.
• The Yāmala nyāsa: the sixfold nyāsa of the bīja-mantras klīṃ krīṃ hrīṃ klīṃ śrīṃ krūṃ phaṭ. Of these, the nyāsa of the bīja śrīṃ grants the fulfilment of all wishes.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 145

The nyāsa of the śaktis

The Mālinī nyāsa is done from na to pha. Parameśvara gives each letter, its śakti and its place on the body, in this order. The text also says that in the Mālinī mantra there are nine letters.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 145

The nyāsa of the Rudras

Then Parameśvara teaches the nyāsa of the Rudras. Each letter is placed with a Rudra, the sixteen vowels first and then the consonants, in the order of the alphabet:

The phala

Parameśvara closes the chapter with the phala (fruit): one who worships the Rudra-śaktis with the bīja hrīṃ obtains all his wishes. Of the Yāmala nyāsa he has said that the nyāsa of śrīṃ grants every wish.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 145

The Rudras of the letters

In the rules of mantra that Agni Deva teaches Vasishṭha Maharshi, the same Rudras are named as the devatās of the letters. The svara-mūrtis, the devatās of the sixteen vowels, are Śrīkaṇṭha, Ananta, Sūkshma, Trimūrti, Amareśvara, Ardhīśa, Bhārabhūti, Tithīśa, Sthāṇuka, Hara, Ḍiṇḍīśa, Bhautika, Sadyojāta, Anugraheśvara, Akrūra and Mahāsena. The vyañjana-mūrtis, the devatās of the consonants, are Krodhīśa, Caṇḍīśa, Pañcāntaka, Śivottama, Rudra, Kūrma, Trinetra, Caturānana, Ajeśa, Śarma, Someśa, Lāṅgalī, Dāruka, Ardhanārīśvara, Umākānta, Āshāḍhī, Daṇḍī, Adri, Mīna, Mesha, Lohita, Śikhī, Chagalaṇḍa, Dviraṇḍa, Mahākāla, Kapālī, Bhujaṅgeśa, Pinākī, Khaḍgīśa, Baka, Śveta, Bhṛgu, Nakulī, Śiva and Saṃvartaka. The Rudras beginning with Śrīkaṇṭha are to be placed in order together with their śaktis.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 293

Sources

• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 145, 293