From the Sequence of the Sun-Goddess (bhānavīkrama) to Time-Consumption (kālagrāsa): Some Notes on the Development of the Śākta Doctrine of the Twelve Kālīs

The doctrine of the twelve Kālīs is one of the earliest developments of the Śākta tradition of the Kālīkula/Kālīkrama/Mahānaya and it is well known in the later exegetical works of Abhinavagupta (10th–11th c.), Kṣemarāja (11th c.), and Maheśvarānanda (13th–14th c.). Although the twelve Kālīs have been treated to some extent in secondary literature, a systematic study of the development and reception of this doctrine has not been undertaken yet. This is mainly due to the fact that most of the Kālīkula scriptures are available in manuscript form, and methodical analysis of their contents remains a desideratum. In this article, I intend to examine selected tantric scriptures teaching the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs, focusing on the development of the constituent elements of this doctrine, as they appear in different tantric sources. This article traces the origins of the twelve Kālīs to the esoteric teaching of the Sun-Goddess, linked to the tradition of the Skeleton of Kālī (kālīkaṅkāla/kaṅkāla). It will argue that in the subsequent phase of the doctrine’s development the solar context gradually diminished and an emphasis on the twelve goddesses’ function as the destroyers of time became more and more pronounced. This tendency, in turn, influenced the codification of the twelve Kālīs as the fully-fledged doctrine of time-consumption (kālagrāsa), popular in the Trika and the Trika-inspired Krama sources.

Introduction direct influence on the development of the doctrine in later texts. On the other hand, doctrinal modifications call our attention to the fact that those concepts, which provided different emphases in the formulation of the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs, were directly affected by the type of discourse that appear to have been dominant at the time when a particular text was composed. With this in mind, I argue that the development of the doctrine proceeded from a more esoteric Kula/Kaula phase to a more philosophically oriented Trika-Pratyabhijñā phase. As the twelve Kālīs drifted away from their early Kula/Kaula orientations-deeply rooted in the teaching of the Sun-Goddess (bhānavīkrama)-, they became enveloped with a new philosophical outlook that combined the Krama notion of the four-fold sequence 6 with a Trika notion of the cognizer, the cognition, and the cognizable, under the concept of anākhyakrama. This process of 'rationalization' reached its peak in Abhinavagupta's formulation of saṃviccakrodaya where the key metaphysical concepts associated with the twelve Kālīs, such as 'fire of time' (kālāgni) or 'great time' (mahākāla), became equated with the different levels of the cognizer borrowed from the Pratyabhijñā system. Due to the abundance of textual material, most of which has not yet been edited, this study can only provide a preliminary outline of the development mentioned above, and also point to some new lines of inquiry about this understudied tantric doctrine.

The Twelve Kālīs and the Sun-Goddess in the Kālikākramapañcāśikā and the Jayadrathayāmala
The doctrine of the twelve Kālīs has its roots in the esoteric teachings of the Sequence of the Sun-Goddess (bhānavīkrama) or the Kula of the Sun-Goddess (bhānavīkula) propounded by Niṣkriyānanda. Niṣkriyānanda was one of the early Krama siddhas and the preceptor of the Higher Krama of the Oral Instruction (Sanderson, 2007a, p. 333), who transmitted the teachings to his spiritual son, and the siddha whose appearance was that of a tribal (śabara), by the name Vidyānanda or Vidyāśabara. 7 Both Niṣkriyānanda and Vidyānanda feature as the earliest 'human' teachers of the Krama tradition in the Devīpañcaśataka. 8 The exposition of the bhānavīkrama attributed to Niṣkriyānanda and transmitted to Vidyānanda is found in the Kālikākramapañcāśikā, one of the two texts comprising the tradition of the *Uttaragharāmnāya (Sanderson, 2007a, p. 252). The Kālikākramapañcāśikā is found in chapter seven of the twelfth century Ciñcinīmatasārasamuccaya. Despite the rather late date of this scripture, internal evidence indicates that the Kālikākramapañcāśikā is likely to contain some early material on the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs, for it aligns on critical points with the Jayadrathayāmala, as will be shown below. Unlike other Kālīkula/Kālīkrama scriptures and exegetical works, the Kālikākramapañcāśikā does not place the twelve Kālīs in the anākhyakrama, but treats them independently as the central teaching of the bhānavīkrama. The names of the twelve Kālīs 9 worshipped as part of the pūjākrama correspond to those given in the Devīpañcaśataka, known also as the Kālīkulapañcaśataka, with the exception of the thirteenth Kālī in the middle, who is substituted by the goddess Kumārī. While the twelve Kālīs should be worshipped with the mantra hrīṃ śrīṃ, Kumārī should be worshipped at the end of the twelve (dvādaśānta), 10 i.e., at the end of the worship of the twelve Kālīs and at the symbolic location of the yogic body that is twelve inches above the head (the place of the praśānta). The latter, sometimes identified with the rise of the kuṇḍalinī, is the place where the mantra becomes the most subtle (beyond any perception in uccāra).
The goddess of the Kālikākramapañcāśikā is called Sūryakulakṛśodarī and her name points to the early Kālīkula's association with the Saura tradition that has already been mentioned by Sanderson. 11 She is defined in Nāgārjunian terms as being 'empty of inherent existence' (niḥsvabhāva). From her own nature, a wheel arises, which is established in the solar course of consciousness, consciousness being identified with the sun. 12 The wheel manifests (lit. "shines") as the reflection (pratibimba) eager only to devour the mirror. 13 The text gives the following definition of the kālikākrama (The Sequence of the Kālīs): "Kālikākrama is the tradition of the twelve". 14 In another passage, we read: "Kālī, the terrible one, she, who is black as collyrium, is the Sun-Goddess (bhānavī) of the twelve risen suns." 15 9 CMSS 7.244-249: These are, (1) Sṛṣṫikālī, (2) Sthitikālī, (3) Saṃhārakālī, (4) Raktakālī, (5) Sukālī, (6) Yamakālī, (7) Mṛtyukālī, (8) Bhadrakālī, (9) Paramārkakālī, (10) Mahāmārtāṅḋakālī, 11) Rudrakālī, and 12) Mahākālī. 10 CMSS 7.249: madhye tu paramā devi kumārī kulabhakṣaṇī/ dvādaśānte tu saṃpūjyā pūrvoktavidhiṃ vallabhe// 11 Sanderson (2009, p. 57) has already argued that the existence of strong solar elements in the early Kālīkula scriptures can be explained to be either the result of borrowing by the Ś āktas an independent Saura tradition that was known to have had their own canon of scriptures, or an independent development within the Ś aiva-Ś ākta fold. The Ś āktas worshipped the Sun under the name of Vīra or Vīreśvara, often accompanied by the goddess Bhargaśikhā. These names also employed in the Ś aiva and Smārta Kashmirian scriptures in reference to the sun-god and his consort at the Mārtāṅḋatīrtha. 12 CMSS 7.171cd-172ab: Sā cid ā niḥsvabhāvatvāt sūryakulakṛśodarī// tatsvarūpoditaṃ cakraṃ cidbhānvarkagatisthitaṃ/ 13 CMSS 7.172cd: pratibimbam ivābhāti bimbagrāsaikalampaṭaṃ/ The employment of the mirror metaphor to describe the relationship between the main Kālī and the other twelve Kālīs is also attested in the Tantrarājatantrāvatārastotra by Viśvāvarta, where the śakticakra is compared to "a single face reflected in [twelve] mirrors" (Sanderson 2007a, p. 257). The same simile is found in the Śrīkālikāstotra of Jñānanetranātha (see below). 14 CMSS 7.160: śṛṇu devī pravakṣyāmi kālikākramam uttamam/ dvādaśaiva paraṃ bhadre saṃpradāyaṃ vadāmy aham//. 15 CMSS 7.205ab: kālī kālāñjanī bhīmā dvādaśoditabhānavī/.
The solar symbol is also employed to denote the epistemological goal of the bhānavīkrama, namely the "sun of knowledge" (jñānārka, bodhabhāskara). In one passage, a more elaborate description of the practice that leads to this goal is given: When the act of abandoning and grasping [the perceptions], [which takes place] through the distinction of giving up and taking, has been dissolved, then the one who knows the [true] reality, seeing the sun of knowledge, may make it manifest. 16 In another passage of the Kālikākramapañcāśikā, bhānavīkula is compared to the wheel of destruction that is imagined, in cosmological terms, as the devouring fire of consciousness (grāsaghasmara) that consumes the three worlds. 17 This fiery image, often termed as the fire of time (kālāgni) will persevere in other Krama sources and Trika scriptures and will be commonly employed to designate the all-consuming function of the twelve Kālīs. 18 Among other features of the goddess Sūryakulakṛśodarī that seem to form an important part of the bhānavīkrama teaching is her association with the process of sensory experience. In this regard the goddess is identified with Kaulinī Ś akti/ Kuleśī, which points to the Kula/Kaula roots of the Kālīkula. 19 Kaulinī Ś akti is primarily the enjoyer of all sensory experience (sarvabhogabhuk). The process of sensory experience is conceptualized, in phenomenological rather than theological terms, as one of withdrawal (saṃhāra), in which the obtainment of the object of perception (i.e., sound, touch, etc.) generated through the bliss of relishing (rasanā) becomes dissolved in the activity of the sense-organs; once this activity ceases, the supreme wonder arises. 20 In order to explain the actual practice that helps to achieve "the supreme wonder", the Kālikākramapañcāśikā seems to allude to the Kaula method of sexual intercourse as follows: Having united the sexual organs in the course of reciprocal rite, when, upon abandoning one mental state, the mind (citi) does not grasp another, which 16 CMSS 7.234: hānādānavibhedena tyāgagraha parikṣaye/ nirīkṣamānas tattvajño jñānārkaṃ saṃprakāśayet//. 17 CMSS 7.213. 18 The image of the great fire will be retained by Abhinavagupta in the Tantrasāra (chap. 5, ed. Ś āstrī, 1918, pp. 36-37) in his description of dhyāna in the āṇavopāya during which the adept is instructed to visualize, as vividly as possible, the Great Fire of Bhairava in the form of the twelve flames of energy (i. e., śakti-jvālā-dvādaśaka as the twelve Kālīs). This fiery conflagration proceeds from the visualization of the three constituent parts of the cognitive process symbolized by fire, sun, and moon going through the phases of sṛṣṭi, sthiti, saṃhāra, and viśrānti in relation to the external objects. 19 Indeed, Matsyendranātha, known also as Mīnanātha, whom Jayaratha identifies as the avatāraka of the Kula teachings in the pīṭha of Kāmarūpa (Sanderson, 2007a, p. 264) appears in the mythical lineages of the Krama teachings (siddhakrama) of the Kaliyuga in the Devīpañcaśataka, where he is accompanied by his consort Koṅkāmbā and worshipped in the sṛṣṭikrama. The anonymous Khapañcakastotra also considers Matsyendranātha to be the teacher of the Kaliyuga. 20 A very similar practice is quoted as the passage of the Mahānayaprakāśa (which however could not be identified in the texts available to us at present) in the Mahārthamañjarīparimala (v. 35, p. 81): Bhāvavṛttiṣu tāś citte cittaṃ saṃvidi sā pare/ vyomny astaṃ gamito yatra krama ullaṅghanātmakāḥ//. immediately arises, then, the supreme reality, which is one's own true nature, manifests. 21 One has to notice that the practice of focusing attention on an interval between the two perceptions, similar to the one described above, also features in a number of Trika and Spanda texts, such as Abhinavagupta's commentary on the Parātrīśikāvivaraṇa 22 , the Spandakārikā (v.41), 23 and the Vijñānabhairava (v.62). Another point worth noticing is that the Kālikākramapañcāśikā considers the bhānavīkrama to be a part of the tradition of the Skeleton of Kālī (kālīkaṅkāla), of which we unfortunately know nothing about. In this regard, the Kālikākramapañcāśikā avers thus: O goddess, [I will tell you] the tradition of the Skeleton of Kālī 24 , the one taught by the guru, its single characteristics being one's own perception, the supreme plane of the inexplicable (anākhya). Listen, o goddess, I will tell you the supreme sequence of the Kālīs. O Bhadra, I will tell you the supreme tradition of the twelve. 25 Importantly, the association of the solar Kālī with the tradition of the "Skeleton" is also attested in the fourth ṣaṭka of the Jayadrathayāmala, the tantra of the Bhairavasrotas where Bhairava wants to teach the goddess about the "the highest 21 CMSS 7.178-179ab: Kandendriyāni saṃyojya parasparavidhikrame/ hitvā bhāvaṃ na gṛhnāti yadā bhāvāntaraṃ citiḥ// tadā tatparamaṃ brahma svasvabhāvaṃ pravartate/. 22 Parātrīśikāvivaraṇa, p. 93 (trans. J. Singh) refers to the "interval between two different determinate perceptions, one that has just been terminated, and the other that is about to arise." Abhinavagupta asserts that this interval between two perceptions is known in the tantras by various names, such as unmeṣa or pratibhā, but for him it is the nirvikalpa saṃvit. 23 Kṣemarāja's commentary on verse 41 of the Spandakārikā (p. 143) has a clear 'Krama' bent; for him the bliss of transcendental awareness that arises in that moment is a result of a sudden swallowing of thought-constructs that is concomitant with the dissolution of the object of thought. 24 In the Kālikākramapañcāśikā, the goddess Kālī described through apophatic language is referred twice as the one who devours the Skeleton. For example: CMSS 7.220cd-221: rūpārūpāntaraṃ rūpaṃ svarūpaṃ rūpavarjitam// bhāvābhāvavinirmuktaṃ sarvatoditaniṣkalam/ tatroditā parā devī kālī kaṅkālabhakṣiṇī// "Within the form and non-form, [the one who is] the form, one's own form, devoid of form; free of being and non-being, the undifferentiated and yet present in everything, the supreme goddess Kālī, the one who devours the Skeleton, has arisen there." In the CMSS 7.228cd-229: tena kālīti vikhyātā kaṅkālakulabhakṣiṇī// bhāvābhāvasvabhāvasya ciccakracidā carvitaḥ/ svādasaṃbodhāhlādena sphurat kālikramodayaḥ// "In this manner, she is known as "Kālī" who devours the Kula of the Skeleton. For the inherent nature of existence and non-existence is relished by the consciousness of the wheel of consciousness (ciccakra). The arising of the sequence of Kālīs manifests through the delight of the perfect knowledge of (its) taste." In another place, CMSS 7.204, however, the goddess Kaulinī, in the supreme expansion of her own nature, is called the energy of the kaulakaṅkāla, who is the fire of devouring (tatsvarūpaparollāsavikāse sphurat kaulinī/ kaulakaṅkālakalayā grāsaghasmararūpiṇī//). We also find the reference, in CMSS 7.11, to the sky of the Kula of the Skeleton where Rudra and his energy are churned. 25 CMSS 7.160 and CMSS 7.162cd-163ab: guruvaktragataṃ devi svānubhūtyaikalakṣaṇam/ kālīkaṅkālasaṃkrāmam anākhyapadam uttamam// śṛṇu devi pravakṣyāmi kālikākramam uttamam// dvādaśaiva paraṃ bhadre saṃpradāyaṃ vadāmy aham/.
Kaula teaching which is concealed within the closed hand [of the teacher]." 26 The goddess expresses her interest in obtaining this teaching, saying: I am satisfied, o Lord; I have truly understood the highest goal. By your favour, o Lord of all, great Ś iva, I now want to hear the Kaulārṅava teaching, called, the "Skeleton" (kaṅkāla) in which the goddess Kālī becomes manifest arising from the sun of consciousness (cidarka). She is the one who is located on the summit of Bhairava's crest, and who radiates out in the form of the mass of [twelve] rays [i.e. raśmipuñja= 12 Kālīs]. O you who are venerated by the foremost of gods, o Lord, I wish to know the sequence in accordance with its two aspects, external and internal. 27 Although no records about this tradition seems to be currently extant, the Kālīkaṅkāla/Kaṅkāla appears to have been known to the Kaula Kramācāryas, who adopted it as part of their Kāpālika practice. In the third ṣaṭka of the Jayadrathayāmala, the wandering vratī addresses himself in the following words: "I am a skull-bearing Kāpālika of the skeleton (kaṅkālī), eager to taste the fusion of the rays (of consciousness)." 28 In the post-Jayadrathayāmala texts, references to the tradition of the kaṅkāla in the context of the Kāpālikas or the Kālīkula doctrine are rare. The only evidence I was able to find that clearly links it to the fully-fledged Krama practice of sensory experience, and thus may be a reminiscent of the Kālīkaṅkāla tradition, is Yogarāja's commentary on Abhinavagupta's Paramārthasāra. There we come across an explanation of the Kāpālika vow, called by Yogarāja the "skeleton posture" (kaṅkāla-mudrā). The hero (vīra) following this vrata assumes the skeleton-posture in which he drinks the drink of the heroes (vīrapāna), i.e., the essence of all entities in the universe, from the skull of the sensory objects. The skull is held in his own hands that are glossed in terms of the Kālīkula doctrine as the 'rays of consciousness' (saṃvitkara). The 'rays' are the goddesses that are the senses, such as the eye, the ear, etc. while the sensory experience they offer to Bhairava brings about the final repose (viśrānti) in one's own consciousness. 29 Yogarāja's commentary is a good example of the later 26 JY 4.57v5-6: "Listen, I shall now teach you the highest secret, the highest Kaula teaching which is concealed within the closed hand [of the teacher]. The great teaching which resides among the khecarīs, which is free of thought-constructs, without doubt, all-including and free of dualities." (śṛṇotu kathayiṣyāmi rahasyaṃ idam uttamam. muṣṭibhūtaṃ mahākaulaṃ khecarāvasthitaṃ mahat, avikalpam asandigdhaṃ prapūrṇaṃ ubhayojitaṃ). 27 JY 4.57v2-4: tṛptāsmi bhagavata samyag jñātaṃ tat paramam padaṃ/ mayā tava prasādena sarveśvara maheśvara/ adhunā śrotum icchāmi kaṇkālākhyaṃ kaulārṇavam/ yatra sā kālikā devī cidarkotthā vijṛmbhate/ śekharāvasthitā yā sā raśmipuñjavirājitā/ etasmin yad kramam bāhyābhyantarabhedataḥ/ etad icchāmi bhagavan jñātum suravarārcita/. 28 JY 3 (232r7) Quoted in Sanderson (1986, p. 211 tradition associated with the exegetical works of the Kashmiri Kālīkrama, 30 where the purpose of the sensory experience, as well as the goal of the cycle of the twelve Kālīs is the final repose (viśrānti) in one's own consciousness. 31 Another striking intertextual similarity between the Kālikākramapañcāśikā 32 and the Jayadrathayāmala, already noted by Sanderson (2009, pp. 57-58), is attested in the exposition of the solar teaching that distinguishes between the plurality of suns that seem to correspond to the outer sense faculties, the inner cognitive faculties and the ultimate sun beyond them. In this regard, the Jayadrathayāmala avers thus: This sun has emerged from within the sun [located] within the light of illuminator. Within this sun, is [yet another] sun, which illuminates the entire universe. The universe is overflowing with the mass [of rays] of Kaulinī, who is the sun-goddess (bhānavīkaulinī), and who embodies the Kaula absolute. It is from there that the great mantras, which are the wombs of sixty-four Bhairavas have arisen. Not located in light, nor in the void, not in one, nor in both, not in neither, the sun, all-pervading, shines, free of all obscurations […]. This sun, which is fearsome and terrible, shines at the limit of the fourth state of the sun with the rays that are ever arisen; those rays belong to the supreme sun, which is self-awareness. That person and him alone who realizes the wheel of the sun (bhācakra), overcomes time. 33 The description of the supreme sun endowed with the rays that are ever-arisen (nityodita), the knowledge of which leads the sādhaka to transcend the limits of time, is directly linked to the description of the twelve Kālīs. For the Jayadrathayāmala 'rays' (raśmicakra) stand for the twelve Kālīs. 34 The sādhaka, insofar that he established 30 See the Mahānayaprakāśa of Ś itikaṅṫha 12.4 (ed. Ś āstrī, 1918, p. 133) where the object of experience is the favorite place of the goddesses of the senses (khecarīvāhadevīs) who delight in consuming it (upabhoga). When the goddesses of the senses have relished the field of objectivity, they offer it to Bhairava, who is consciousness (cidbhairava), until offering themselves, then they abandon it and come to rest. This is the foundation of the enjoyment of external objects (viṣayabhoga). Ś itikaṅṫha explains that in this way, the yogin is always content, thus having made contact with the krama (the deployment of the energies of the senses), he takes rest in the akrama. In other words, having made each individual sense experience one with its own nature and given up attachment to external things, he should transcend all. 31 (see below). 32 For the parallel passages of the Kālikākramapañcāśikā and the Jayadrathayāmala, see Sanderson (2009, p. 75 fn.45). 33 JY 4:57r1-4: raviḥ pradīpakāloke sūryamadhyāt samutthitaḥ/ raver antargato bhānur bhāsayaty akhilaṃ jagat// bhānavī kaulinī yā sā tatpuñjabharitam jagat/ tatrotpannā mahāmantrā bhairavāṣṭāṣṭayonayaḥ// na prakāśe na cākāśe nobhaye nobhayojjhite/ sarvāvaraṇanirmukto sarvago bhāti bhāskaraḥ nirmukto// sa raviḥ sūryaturyānte bhrājate raudraḍāmaraḥ/ svasaṃvitparamādityanityoditamarīcibhiḥ// bhācakraṃ bhāsitaṃ yena sa vai kālañjaro bhavet/. Sanskrit text quoted in Sanderson (2009, p. 57). 34 JY 4:58r5: "Thus Kālī is known to be of thirteen kinds, in accordance with the distinction of the rays" (trayodaśavidhā kālī vijñeyā raśmibhedataḥ). JY 4:58v3-4: "When he is situated in the sun with the cycle of rays expanded, then he is established in the twelve signs of the zodiac, [and] becomes the bearer of the mass of rays; [when] he has fully internalized these [signs of the zodiac], then he becomes the lord of the Kula." (raśmicakraṃ vikāsitaṃ tadā raviṃ sthitā [for sthitaḥ?]/ yadā dvādaśarāśistho raśmipuñjadhāro bhavet/ tāni kālayate samyag tadā kulapatir bhavet//). The tradition of time-wheels (kālacakra) of twelve spokes representing the twelve suns, the twelve of signs of the zodiac and/or the twelve months is also attested in an early Ś aivasiddhānta scripture, the Niśvāsakārikā. For example, in v.17 of the Dīkṣottaraprakaraṇa section (pp. 1062 ff.) of the Niśvāsakārikā we find the solar identity of the himself in the twelve signs of the zodiac, is said to embody those 'rays'. He now manifests in the form of the sun itself, the nature of which is the expansion of the domains of the sense-faculties. 35 In that capacity he becomes the leader of the twelve Kālīs. 36 Although the Jayadrathayāmala talks about the sādhaka who embodies the twelve rays of the sun, it gives the names of the thirteen Kālīs who "emerge in the voidawareness of the rays as they begin to expand". 37 Although Abhinavagupta, as we shall see below, was more interested to present the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs as the philosophical model of saṃviccakra, he probably knew about the solar tradition associated with the twelve Kālīs. This is hinted at in Abhinavagupta's commentary (vivaraṇa) on the Parātrīśikā, where he adopts the solar metaphor to assert the soteriological validity of true reasoning (sattarka), the single method applied in the śāktopāya. In the śāktopāya, whose core are the twelve Kālīs in the Tantrāloka and Tantrasāra, cultivation of correct mental representations (vikalpasaṃskāra) is purported to remove the pertinacity of duality, which is nothing else but ignorance covering one's own true self. 38 The shedding away of ignorance is simultaneous with the self's uncovering of its own luminous nature. In the Parātrīśikā, Abhinavagupta adopts the solar metaphor to assert the soteriological validity of sattarka as the method that enables an instant dissolution of ignorance, which like the flecks of clouds, cover the 'sun of consciousness': Footnote 34 continued zodiacal signs that are "equal to the sun". In the rāśiśañcāra, the twelve spokes of the cakra are correlated with the vowels beginning with 'a'. I thank the anonymous reviewer for pointing this out. For the similar attestations in the Krama and Trika texts, see infra fn. 54. 35 JY 4:58v4-5: "Endowed with the rays he becomes free within the plurality of manifested world" (bhavabhāvāntaranirmukto raśmiyuk). JY 4.58r1: "Now, he expands as the sun itself, as the expansion of the domain of sense-faculties." (vṛttidhāmavikāsātmā ravir eva vijṛmbhate). 36 JY 4.58r1-2: "Embodying the twelve, residing in the twelve, illuminating the limit of the twelve, permeating the totality of the rays of the mantras, he is the leader of the circle of Kālīs with the subdivisions of the division of the rays those [who attain this realization] shine forth" (dvādaśātmā dvādaśastho dvādaśāntāntabhāsakaḥ mantraraśmikulakramī kālikācakranāyakaḥ, raśmibhedaprabhedena te sphurānti). 37 JY 4:58r2-3: "I will tell you that sequence as it has come down through the unbroken oral tradition. The thirteen [Kālīs] emerge in the void-awareness of the rays as they begin to expand." (tatkramaṃ saṃpravakṣyāmi mukhaparamparāgataṃ pronmiṣad raśmikhacitau jṛmbhaty eva daśatrikaṃ). The list of their names, then, follows: (1) Sṛṣṫikālī, (2) Sthitikālī, (3) Saṃhārakālī, (4) Raktakālī, (5) Sukālī, (6) Yamakālī, (7) Mṛtyukālī, (8) Bhadrakālī, (9) Paramādityakālī, (10) Mārtāṅḋakālī, (11) Kālāgnirudrakālī, (12) Mahākālakulakālī, (13) Mahābhairavakālī. 38 Tantrasāra, 4 (ed. Ś āstrī, 1918, pp. 24-25): "The function of true reasoning (sattarka) is to break the pertinacity of duality, nothing else. Because, everything is essentially the absolute consciousness (cit), therefore, even in the ordinary experience, the manifestation of the desired form of the body and so on, and suppression of the opposing (undesired) form, takes place-this is the meaning of repeated practice. As it has been said previously, from the supreme reality nothing can be taken away. The pertinacity of duality is not a separately existing thing, but it is rather ignorance with regard to one's own true self. Therefore, it is said that the removal of duality takes place through mental representation (vikalpa). The supreme truth is that the luminous essence of the Self, progressively shedding away the form of ignorance it assumed due to its (essential) freedom, shines forth-first in the intentionality to reveal itself (vikāsonmukha), then in the act of self-revelation (vikāsat), and finally as fully revealed (vikāsitam). This form of self-revelation constitutes the essence of the supreme Lord. For this reason, the different limbs of yoga do not constitute here (in this process of self-revelation) any direct means. Even if they aid to reasoning, it is only the true reasoning which is the direct means (of self-realization).". Among all the lights of yoga, sattarka has been determined in the Mālinīvijayottaratantra to be the blazing sun by which one is liberated and liberates others. And this [sattarka] has to be grasped and reflected upon at all times by those wise ones who, having given up the envy, so common in human beings, for a moment, want to reach the supreme. The aspirant is established in one's own self immediately after the sattarka [ālocana], and the flecks of clouds [that cover] the sun of consciousness are dissolved at once, through the relish of one's own true nature. 39 The aforementioned passage distinguishes between the sun-like sattarka as the method of realization and the 'sun of consciousness' as its goal. The former is the process of purifying reflection, which suddenly disperses the clouds of ignorance or the malas; the latter represents the pure luminosity of consciousness that becomes "fully revealed" through this method. In accord with Abhinavagupta's reformulation of liberation as consisting of enjoyment/savouring (bhogamokṣasāmarasya), the goal of this practice is the "relish of one's own nature". It is quite certain that by adopting the solar metaphor Abhinavagupta alludes to the Kālīkula doctrine of the Sun-Goddess that formed an esoteric background of the early teaching of the twelve Kālīs, but gives it, instead, a rational outlook of sattarka.
Post-Abhinavagupta Trika authors, such as Jayaratha and Yogarāja, were aware of the solar context linked to the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs, and did not shy away from affirming its soteriological value. One example in case is Jayaratha's commentary on Abhinavagupta's passage of the Tantrāloka describing the three Trika goddesses (parā, aparā, and parāparā), who arise as the twelve Kālīs. According to Abhinavagupta, those twelve goddesses embody the fully expanded nature of consciousness, and those who venerate those twelve are directly established in Ś iva's nature. 40 Jayaratha clearly pays heed to the earlier solar tradition by quoting from a text where the twelve goddesses constitute the supreme sun of one's own consciousness (svasaṃvitparamāditya), which is the imperishable mass of light. 41 Similar example is found in Yogarāja's commentary on the Paramārthasāra, where, in accordance with the passage of the Parātrīśikā quoted above, the revelation of the "sun of consciousness" is instigated by the destruction of the "veil of delusion". A person who has reached this state shines as the "sun in the guise of Ś iva", "with his rays unhindered", "with the host of rays of consciousness". For such a person, liberation ensues, which is described as "the state wherein his own energies are fully deployed." 42 This description echoes the passage of the Jayadrathayāmala referred to above where the sādhaka manifests as the sun with the 'rays' (i.e., the twelve Kālīs), fully expanded.

The Twelve Kālīs as the Kalās of Mahākālī in the Devīpañcaśataka
Much like the Kālikākramapañcāśikā and the Jayadrathayāmala, the Devīpañcaśataka-which together with the Kālīkulakramasadbhāva and the Yonigahvaratantra belongs to the groups of texts that are believed to have been revealed in the Northern Sacred Seat (uttarapīṭha) by Jñānanetra or Ś rīnātha, known also as Ś ivānandanātha 43 -knew about the esoteric teaching of the Sun-Goddess Kālī. This is attested in the seventh paṭala, where the text refers to the secret teaching of the supreme sun, which is the circle of consciousness (citimaṇḍala) located at the end of Ś iva (śivānta). Unlike the Kālikākramapañcāśikā and the Jayadrathayāmala, however, the main goddess of the Devīpañcaśataka-who both embodies the supreme sun and is endowed with the twelve rays-is equated with the plane of repose of consciousness (cittaviśrāmabhūmika). In effect, an adept who knows this goddess attains the state of the sky-farer. The Devīpañcaśataka speaks of it in the following words: I will tell you the secret and most excellent Kālikākrama. One should think of the supreme sun, whose nature is the abode, the supreme and all-pervading, endowed with sentience [in the form of] the circle of consciousness and radiant like a crore of moons. It has the brightness of the thousand fires at the 42 Paramārthasāra with Yogarāja's commentary (trans. Bansat-Boudon and Tripathi 2011:221), stanza 56: "He whose veil of delusion has been destroyed now shines as the Sun in the guise of Ś iva, that is, comes into evidence with his rays unhindered, with the host of rays of his consciousness (cinmarīci); and there is for him no such thing as the liberation postulated by other schools of thought, if that means going somewhere else [...]. For him, there ensues only that state wherein his own energies are fully deployed, for the constriction imposed by the sheaths of māyā, etc., has vanished.". 43 Jayaratha calls Jñānanetra the master "who brought down the doctrine of Krama to earth" (avatārakanātha). The mānavaugha consisted of (1) Netra (Jñānanetra), (2) Rājñī (Keyūravatī), and (3) Hrasvanātha (Vāmana) MP (Ś ) 9.5 (ed. Ś āstrī, 1918, p. 107). Keyūravatī is praised in Arṅasiṃha's Mahānayaprakāśa as the one who has understood the wisdom born of the sacred seat and who attained the state of a sky-farer: śrīmatkeyūravatyākhyā pīṭhajajñānaparagā/ khacakracariṇī yeyaṃ tām ahaṃ naumi bhaktitaḥ// MP (A) 154, (ed. Dyczkowski n.d. p. 62). According to Abhinavagupta, Keyūravatī, also known as Kakāradevī, was one of the three female yoginīs (other two being Madanikā and Kalyāṅikā) who passed on the teachings received from Ś ivānandanātha to Govindarāja, Bhānuka, and Eraka. The last one is the author of the Kramastotra, quoted in Abhinavagupta's exposition of the saṃviccakrodaya, on which Abhinava wrote a commentary (now considered lost), called the Kramakeli. Hrasvanātha, also called Vāmana/Vāmanadatta or Vīranātha might have been the author of the Svabodhodayamañjarī and the Dvayasaṃpattivārtika, also known as Bodhavilāsa (Sanderson 2007a, p. 276). end of the eon and a splendour equal to the great sun. Established in [everything], from the worlds situated at the very bottom of the universe 44 up to Śiva, it is intent on causing all beings to arise. Through the sudden dissolution of the energy (kalā), there, one should know the space [that is] the circle of consciousness, which is tranquil, pure and resembling Brahmā. It is where the goddess, who is the plane of repose of consciousness, resides. She whose nature is the supreme sun has emanated with the twelve divisions. With the twelve rays, she resembles one hundred thousands rays.
[…] He who knows her, immediately, in that moment, becomes a sky-farer; 45 he measures out the whole universe, and playfully devours it again. Thus, in this world, the sādhaka has no comparison: he who abides in the three worlds, is supreme, and on the account of being the lord, he is like Īśvara. 46 The aforementioned passage, parts of which are also found in the Yonigahvaratantra, proves that the solar elements in the worship of the goddess Kālī 47 were still strong in the period when the tantras of Uttarapīṫha flourished. At the same time, it is in the Devīpañcaśataka where we find, for the first time, the fully-fledged doctrine of the twelve Kālīs who-as the 'energies' or kalās of the goddess Mahākālī-are worshipped in the anākhyakrama. Nevertheless, at this stage, the twelvefold cognitive structure of the anākhyakrama that became the key-concept associated with the twelve Kālīs in later scriptures is not yet attested. Like the Jayadrathayāmala, the Devīpañcaśataka refers to the "tradition of the twelve" [Kālīs] (dvādaśadhāmnāya), but gives the names of the thirteen Kālīs worshipped in the anākhyakrama. Those twelve constitute the essential nature (svabhāva) of Mahākālī, who, through her own capacity, brings forth destruction and terminates 44 For this translation of ūhaka, see Tantrikābhidhānakośa II (Brunner, Oberhammer and Padoux, 2004, p. 304). 45 Together with the Yonigahvara and the Kramasadbhāva, the Devīpañcaśataka understands the state of the sky-farer (khecarī) as the ultimate goal of the Kālīkula teachings while asserting emptiness as the foundation of reality through the process that negates everything it is not. In the second paṭala, Bhairavī teaches Bhairava about the pervasion of emptiness (vyomavyāpī) by negating its identification with all things through the rhetorical structure of 'na X, na ca vā Y', that closely resembles the Upaniṣadic netineti approach. Parallel examples of the same stylistic device employed to describe either the nature of the goddess or the krama are also found in the Kramasadbhāva and the Yonigahvaratantra. 46 DP 7.42cd-7.47ab. kathayāmi rahasyaṃ ca kālikākramam uttamam// cintayet paramādityaṃ dhāmarūpaṃ paraṃ vibhum/ ciccakracetanāyuktaṃ candrakoṭyavabhāsakam// kalpāntāgnisahasrābhaṃ bhūrisūryasamaprabham/ ūhakādiśivāntasthaṃ sarvasattvodayodyatam// kalālayena sahasā praśāntaṃ citimaṇ alam/ tatrākāśaṃ vijānīyān nirmalaṃ brahmasannibham// yatra sā saṃsthitā devī cittaviśrāmabhūmikā/ sṛtā dvādaśabhir bhedaiḥ paramārkasvarūpiṇī// raśmidvādaśabhiḥ raśmisahasraśatasannibhā/.
[…] DP 7.48-49: yo vindati sakṛt tasyā tatkṣaṇāt khecaro bhavet/ nirmāti viśvam akhilaṃ grasate līlayā punaḥ// na tasya sādhakasyaivam upamā bhuvi vidyate/ trailokye tiṣṭhate paraḥ prabhutvena yatheśvaraḥ//. 47 DP 5.14cd-5-15ab: "She, who is single and is the supreme goddess (parā devī) is known as Brahmasvarūpiṅī. Thus, she is [the goddess] whose essential nature is the sun with twelve divisions" (ekaikā ca parā devī jñeyā brahmasvarūpiṇī// evaṃ sā dvādaśair bhedaiḥ paramārkasvarūpiṇī/). DP 5.22-23ab: "She is the end of phaṭ, very fierce devouring Bhairavas-Īśvaras. In the middle of the sun, she is the bliss of stillness, she shines inwardly as the rays of consciousness. Listen to her tradition of the twelvefold together with their names" (phaṭkārāntā mahāghorā grasantī bhairaveśvarān/ ravimadhye nirānandā cinmarīcyantabhāsikā// tasyā dvādaśadhāmnāyaṃ nāmabhiḥ saha tac chṛṇu/). the reality of time. Each of the twelve Kālīs is called the energy (kalā) and as such it belongs to the goddess Mahākālī, who embodies the supreme energy (parā kalā), 48 called the nectar (amṛta). 49 Although Mahākālī still retains the characteristics of the Sun-Goddess, in that she is described as the absence of bliss (nirānanda), 50 abiding in the middle of the sun, where she shines as the rays of consciousness; the tendency to refer to the goddess through the discourse of emptiness is also strongly attested. Thus, we find the expressions that have a clear śūnyavādin orientation and define Mahākālī as the energy of emptiness, established in emptiness, made of emptiness, etc. 51 Further, Mahākālī is described through the epithets that point to her transcendental nature. Thus she is the unmovable place of bindu, eternal, fixed, alone, a single heroine (ekavīra), very subtle, imperishable. She is described through the use of apophatic language as "neither the object of perception, nor the object of speech, free of attributes." 52 The Devīpañcaśataka also draws attention to another, fierce aspect of Mahākālī in which she, as the very fierce one (mahāghora) and the end of the syllable phaṭ, devours the Lord Bhairava. 53 This trait is also found in a number of other early and later texts, such as the Kramasadbhāva, Mahānayaprakāśas of Arṅasiṃha and Ś itikaṅṫha, and Jñānanetra's Kālikāstotra, where Bhairava becomes unequivocally associated with the principle of time, which the goddess successfully devours.
The Devīpañcaśataka gives two alternatives for the worship of the twelve Kālīs: the saṃvitkrama and the pūjākrama, the distinction still retained in Jayaratha's commentary on the Tantrāloka. In the saṃvitkrama, the twelve goddesses are worshipped internally as the succession of one's own cognitive process (svasaṃvitti). In the pūjākrama, the instructions are given to worship the twelve goddesses in the external ritual setting as the retinue of the thirteenth goddess located in the middle. The text refers to these as follows: 48 The concept of parā kalā, although not found in the Kālikākramapañcāśikā, is also attested in the Kramasadbhāva and the Jayadrathayāmala, where it represents the energy of the new moon (amākalā) in the seventeen-syllable vidyā of Caṅḋayogeśvarī/Kālasaṃkarṣiṅī, wherein the sixteen digits of the new moon (kalā) are contained. The parā kalā is called nectar (amṛta) (lit. "deathless"), because it remains as a permanent, unchanging element in the cycle of waning and waxing moon. The difference is that in the Devīpañcaśataka the parā kalā represented by the seventeen-syllable vidyā should be worshipped in the form of the twelve suns, either in the heart-cakra or externally in the twelve-spoke wheel. See, e.g., the passage of the avatārakrama 4.29cd-4.33. Other scriptures revealed in the Uttarapīt˙ha, such as the Yonigahvaratantra and the Kramasadbhāva, untypically give the names of the sixteen or even seventeen Kālīs of the anākhyakrama, which may be explained as an endeavor to assimilate the Kālīs, in concomitance with Kālasaṃkarṣiṅī's vidyā as the lunar, and not the solar energies. 49 DP 5.11cd: mahākālīkalākhyātā kalāmṛtamayī śubhā/. 50 The reference to the goddess as nirānanda continues the tradition of Niṣkriyānanda who teaches about the condition of 'inactivity' (niṣkriyā) as the ultimate reality. According to the Mahānayaprakāśa of Arṅasiṃha (v.126), 'inactivity' is a characteristic feature of the śāmbhava state, wherein the power of mental process (citti) is suddenly (sahasā) dissolved into the great void, which is 'without movement' (niḥspanda) and has no abode. According to the Kramasadbhāva (3.46ab) Kālī is 'the end of the twelve', 'the absence of bliss', 'the end of the sixteen' and 'mind beyond mind': dvādaśāntā nirānandā ṣoḍaśāntā manonmanī. 51 DP 5.21ab: khasvarūpā khamadhyasthā khacakre ca vyavasthitā/. 52 DP 5.21cd: nirāmayā cāprameyā anuccāryā guṇojjhitā//. 53 DP 5.22ab: phaṭkārāntā mahāghorā grasantī bhairaveśvarān/.
O supreme Lord, one should worship those [twelve Kālīs] at the Brahmā-lotus, which is inexplicable and complete, at the end of the sixteen, at the end of the nine, or at the of cit. O Three-eyed one, worship them with the succession of one's own cognitive process (svasaṃvitti), or else, externally, on a red cloth. One should make a circle of emptiness with lapis lazuli powder. Outside of that [circle], on should place the circle of the twelve. 54 Having worshipped Mahākālī in the middle, one should worship the other twelve [located] on the outside, in due sequence, beginning with the east, O one delighted in yoga.
[The sādhaka] should be wearing female clothes, or be naked; he should be wise, devoid of thought-constructs, propitious, and be an expert in the ritual procedure. 55 The ṣoḍaśānta, navānta, and cidanta are symbolic locations present in the yogic body that are often correlated with the points in the rise of kuṇḍalinī. The "End of the Sixteen" represents the location at the distance of the sixteen fingers above the head, and as such it is unknown to the Svacchandatantra, Netratantra, Siddhayogeśvarīmata and rarely mentioned in the Tantrasadbhāva, and the Mālinīvijayottaratantra. Abhinavagupta never refers to the "End of the Sixteen". For him, the "End of the Twelve" (dvādaśānta) is the highest point in the ascent of kuṇḍalinī, and this is a standard description borrowed from the Svacchandatantra. The "End of the Sixteen" is, however, known to the Jayadrathayāmala, and the Kramasadbhāva. In the Kramasadbhāva, Mahākālī is praised as the one established at the "End of the Sixteen". 56 It is clear that by mentioning the "End of the Sixteen" as the location to worship the twelve Kālīs, the Devīpañcaśataka aligns with the Jayadrathayāmala and not the Kālikākramapañcāśikā, where the reference to the more common location at the "End of the Twelve" is found (see above).
The Devīpañcaśataka is an important text for understanding the development of the twelve Kālīs, for it reflects a transitional point between the early doctrine of the Sun-Goddess with twelve rays and the teaching of Mahākālī with twelve kalās, intent on devouring time-Mahākāla. The text is also relevant for linking the teaching on the solar goddess with the concept of cittaviśrāma that will be adopted as the 54 The instructions for drawing the maṇ ala with the central thirteenth Kālī surrounded by other twelve is also found in the fourth ṣaṭka of the JY 4.57v4-5 (also quoted in Sanderson, 2007a, p. 257): "Having drawn the maṇḍala of the goddess consisting of the great twelve [Kālīs]; he should make the thirteenth [Kālī] in their centre together with the vowels of a zodiac, and having drawn a square, O Goddess, he should fill it with red powder" (saṃlikhya maṇḍalaṃ devīṃ mahādvādaśasaṃmitam/ madhye trayodaśaṃ kāryaṃ rāśivarṇasamanvitam/ raktena rajasā devi caturlekhaṃ prapūrayet/.) In the description of the Umāmāheśvaracakra of the Trika scripture, the Tantrasadbhāva (seventh paṭala, vv.11c-14), we find the solar Mārtaṅḋabhairava in the centre surrounded by the second layer (āvaraṇa) of the cakra consisting of twelve spokes installed as the twelve rudras who are identified with the twelve solar vowels (devoid of four "eunuch/napuṃsaka" vowels, ṛ ṙ l l) and the twelve signs of the zodiac. I thank the anonymous reviewer for pointing this out. For the identification of the twelve Kālīs with the twelve vowels in other Krama and Trika scriptures, see below and fn.70. 55 DP 5.47-49ab: pūjyām etad brahmapadme nirākhye ca nirāmaye/ ṣo aśānte navānte vā cidante parameśvara// svasaṃvittikrameṇaiva bāhye vātha trilocana/ rājāvartena rajasā vyomabimbaṃ tu kārayet// bimbadvādaśakaṃ bāhye tadrūpam avatārayet/. DP 5.52-53: madhye pūjyā mahākālī bāhye 'nyā dvādaśa kramāt/ pūrvād ārabhya sarvās tāḥ pūjayed yoginandana// strīveśadhārī bhūtvāsau nagnavāso mahāmatiḥ/ nirvikalpaḥ prasannātmā pūjākarmaviśāradaḥ/. 56 KS 1.12: arūpe asvare garbhe ṣoḍaśānte vyavasthite/ icchārūpasvabhāvasthe bhairaveśi namo 'stu te//. goal of the anākhyakrama by the Mahānayaprakāśas as well as the Trika exegetical authors.
The Śrīkālikāstotra of Jñānanetra: The Twelve Kālīs and the Codification of the Twelvefold Anākhya The Śrīkālikāstotra of Jñānanetra marks a shift away from the descriptions of the goddess Kālī as emptiness, prevalent in the tantras revealed in the Uttarapīṫha, to the goddess representing consciousness. Moreover, Jñānanetra's ideas are strongly influenced by the concept of sahaja usually translated as 'spontaneity', 'coemergent', or 'inborn'. Sahaja was a popular notion in the Indian Buddhist tantras, such as Hevajra, and it was widely associated with the 9 th century mahāsiddha Saraha, who in his spiritual songs (dohās), propagated sahaja both as the method and the soteriological goal. Jñānanetra uses the word sahaja in compounds to describe the nature of the goddess Kālī. Thus, she is the 'supreme spontaneity' (niruttarasahaja) that emerges from Ś iva's consciousness and assumes the form of pure will. She is the 'spontaneity of recognition' (sahajasaṃvitti) that can be attained by means of pure consciousness, devoid of any limiting adjuncts (anupādhi). She is the 'innate spontaneity' (sahajasvarūpa), when she divides herself thirteenfold. 57 Although Jñānanetra never mentions the twelve Kālīs directly, nor does he refer to the goddess' solar aspects, there is a sense that some of the verses refer to the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs. According to Jayaratha-who in his commentary on Abhinavagupta's exposition of saṃviccakrodaya quotes a couple of verses from the Śrīkālikāstotra-, Jñānanetra was a recipient of the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs. 58 He further argues that even when Jñānanetra mentions the goddess divided into thirteen forms, he actually means the twelve, and not the thirteen Kālīs. 59 In order to substantiate his argument, Jayaratha quotes the following verse of the Śrīkālikāstotra: Hail to your form propelling the whirlpool of the manifestation of the universe, having made your innate nature thirteenfold. Your own unique nature is three-fold through distinction into emission (prasara), permanence (sthiti), and withdrawal (vilaya), and that is fourfold in each case by the reason 57 ŚKS v.3, 9, and 10. For the Sanskrit text, see Silburn (1975, pp. 191-192). 58 Jayaratha (Tāv 4.173;ed. Ś āstrī, 1922, p. 195, vol. III) calls him the master "who brought the doctrine of Krama down to earth" (avatārakanātha). According to a lost Krama text, which Sanderson (2007a, p. 273) identified as the Kramavaṃśāvalī, Jñānanetra had seventeen disciples, some of whom eventually began to initiate others, establishing their own lineages. According to Jayaratha (ibidem), the total number of disciples was nineteen. Among them were three female disciples (yoginīs): Keyūravātī (aka Kakāradevī), Madanikā, and Kalyāṅikā who passed the teachings to Govindarāja, Bhānuka, and Eraka. 59 Tāv 4.173;(ed. Ś āstrī, 1922, p.198), vol. III: tasmāt dvādaśadhātvam evātra vaktum abhipretaṃ siddhapādānām-ity avagantavyam, "Therefore it was intended by the siddha (Jñānanetra) to express here only the twelvefold [nature of the goddess, when he mentioned the thirteen-fold], this is as it should be understood." For the discussion on the twelve Kālīs of the Tantrāloka and the thirteen Kālīs of the Devīpañcaśataka see Sanderson (2007b, pp. 101-103). of arising (udaya), preserving (saṃsthiti), dissolution (laya) and repose (viśrama). 60 The above passage is important for it is the first time we come across the formulation of the twelvefold anākhya. Abhinavagupta clearly incorporates this very sequence into his exposition of the saṃviccakrodaya, where he correlates each phase of the twelvefold process with the name of a specific Kālī. He also substitutes the cosmic functions of prasara, sthiti, and vilaya with their cognitive equivalents, corresponding to prameya, pramāṇa, and pramātṛ. 61 The Cidgaganacandrikā of Ś rīvatsa (12th-13th century), which according to Sanderson (2007a, pp. 297) is rephrasing Arṅasiṃha's ideas in a more poetic style, adheres to the same model. There, the face of the goddess resembling the sun of consciousness consists of the aggregate of powers (śaktivṛnda) as the plane of the twelvefold sequence expanded out into the universe through the squaring of triads. These twelve reside within the abodes of the moon, sun, and fire, which are the three eyes of the goddess in the form of cognizable object, the means of cognition, and the cognizing subject. 62 Another concept that the Śrīkālikāstotra shares with the Cidgaganacandrikā is the identification of the twelvefold body of Kālī with the principle of time. The Śrīkālikāstotra says: Hail to you who, having divided the body of the Kālī of Time, split twelvefold. You then shine, making that form radiant in itself. 63 For Jayaratha this verse proves that Kālī maintains her true identity of all-inclusive light (prakāśa) even in the external projection as time. He says further that Kālī's ability to manifest time in the manner of the reflection in the mirror belongs to the goddess's nature as anākhya. 64 In another passage, Jñānanetra refers to Bhairava as the form of time, who creates the world from the [first] cause to the last insect. The 60 ŚKS v.8-9ab: ekaṃ svarūparūpaṃ prasarasthitivilayabhedatas trividham/ pratyekaṃ udayasaṃsthitilayaviśramataś caturvidhaṃ tad api// iti vasupañcakasaṃkhyaṃ vidhāya sahajasvarūpam ātmīyaṃ/. 61 The fourth ṣaṭka of the Jayadrathayāmala (57r5-6) can be regarded as textual antecedent to the development of this cognitive version of the twelve Kālīs: "Directing his awareness towards cognition, the object of cognition, and the cognizer as pervaded by that awareness, he achieves dissolution into the highest abode whose attribute is the absence of ego" (jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ tataḥ jñātā jñāptigarbhanibhālayan layaṃ yāti pare dhāmni nirāhaṃkāradharmiṇi). 62 CDC 36-37ab: tvanmukhaṃ tripathanetri bhātmakaṃ śaktivṛndam iha turyathāgamam (em.; yad yathāgamam)/ dvādaśa kramapadaṃ padādibhir jṛmbhitaṃ jagati taccatustrikaiḥ// mānameyamitinetralakṣaṇāḥ somasūryadahanās tridhāmagāḥ/. 63 ŚKS v.5: kālasya kāli dehaṃ vibhajya munipañcasaṃkhyayā bhinnam/ svasminvirājamānaṃ tadrūpaṃ kurvatī jayasi//. 64 Tāv 4.173; (ed. Ś āstrī, 1922, p. 198), vol. III: munipañcasaṃkhyayā dvādaśadhā vibhajya-bahir evaṃ samullāsya, punarapi atiriktam eva tadrūpaṃ svasmin prakāśaikaghane rūpe, "'having divided [your body] twelvefold by counting seven and five' [means]: having manifested your nature externally, and moreover, having made that nature, which is separate, into one's own self whose nature is all-inclusive light"; virājamānaṃ kurvatī-darpaṇapratibimbavadanātiriktatayaiva avabhāsayantī, "'making [that form] radiant' [means]: manifesting that in the manner of reflection in the mirror, as though [the reflection] was not separate from that [mirror]"; jayasi-atidurghaṭakāriṇaikenaiva anākhyena rūpeṇa sarvakālaṃ parisphurasīti, "'hail' [means]: you radiantly manifest at all times through your inexplicable nature, which is one and only one and accomplishes this what is difficult to accomplish.". goddess is intent on devouring the dreadful and terrible Mahākāla who has consumed the three worlds, and as such she is called the Thin-bellied (Kṛśodarī). 65 The Cidgaganacandrikā praises the goddess Kālī, whose twelvefold body of time is represented by the twelve vowels, and diversified in accordance with the signs of the zodiac; the same association is also present in the Jayadrathayāmala (see above). 66 In another verse introducing, as it were, the exposition of each of the thirteen Kālīs, which, according to Sanderson (2007a, pp. 297), is based on Eraka's Kramastotra, yet another identification is found. The Kālī of Time, who abides on the plane of Ś iva, is defined both as the ferocious fire of time (kālaghasmarī) and the twelvefold sun (dvādaśātmāravi). 67 These appellations are absent in Jñānanetra's stotra.
The Mahānayaprakāśa of Arn . asim . ha: Devīkakrama as Varn . akrama The Mahānayaprakāśa of Arṅasiṃha-one of the three texts bearing the same title -represents a later stage in the development of the twelve Kālīs doctrine, filtered, as it were, through the technical terminology present also in the Kashimirian Krama exegesis. Arṅasiṃha's exposition of the twelve Kālīs, as revealed in the description of the anākhyakrama, is also, in many ways, dissimilar to the presentation given in the Kālikākramapañcāśikā or the Devīpañcaśataka. The most apparent difference is the absence of any reference to the Sun-Goddess. There are also noticeable dissimilarities in the overall presentation of the doctrine. First, Arṅasiṃha develops the idea of the twelve vowels that we have already encountered in the Jayadrathayāmala (see above) and explains the process through which the twelve vowels of the previously described wheel of light (prakāśacakra) become the twelve Kālīs in the anākhyakrama. The reference to the twelve vowels-beginning with 'a' and ending with 'ḣ', but devoid of the four neuter letters 68 -, indicates that Arṅasiṃha is referring to the Sequence of Letters (varṇakrama), one of the three modes of the Mahānaya worship. 69 It is worth noticing that in Abhinavagupta's exposition of the śāmbhavopāya, we also find the twelve Kālīs being referred to as the twelve vowels. 70 According to Arṅasiṃha,71 however, in the anākhyakrama, those twelve vowels enter the process of reversion (pratyāvṛtti), 72 which takes place when they, full of the relish of cognition (ciccamatkārabharito), are withdrawn from their objects. 73 Once this happens, the twelve Kālīs arise to destroy the manifested and unmanifested nature of these twelve vowels. 74 At the same time, he adopts the twelvefold structure of anākhyakrama and labels it as creative imagination (kalpanā) of the thirteenth Kālī. 75 Second, drawing on the Kaula terminology, Arṅasiṃha identifies the sequence of the goddesses (devīkakrama) with the 'rays' (raśmayaḥ, raśmipuñja), which are devoid of ego, and free of thought-constructs, 70 Although the twelve Kālīs belong to the śaktopāya per se, the allusion to the goddesses is also found in other upāyas. In the śāmbhavopāya-in which, as Padoux (1990, p. 193) tells us, "the disciple must become one with the precognitive impulse (icchā) of Ś iva manifesting the universe through the supreme word or vāc"-the twelve Kālīs assume the form of pure "phoneme-reflections" (parāmarśa). In chapter 3 of the Tantrasāra (ed. Ś āstrī, 1918, pp. 13-18), Abhinava discusses the topic of "phonematic emanation" by showing the progressive levels of actualization of speech that proceed from the undifferentiated level of speech to the differentiated level of articulated speech. At the highest level of pure "phonemereflection" which is the letter A or anuttara, there are no divisions. When the division between "seed" (bīja) and "womb" (yoni) or, in other words, between vowels and consonants takes place, then, the supreme "phoneme-reflection" assumes the form of the possessor of power (śaktimān) and power (śakti). Similarly, when the "phoneme-reflection" manifests in eight classes of phonemes, then, in conjunction with the lord of the wheel (cakreśvara), it creates nine places of articulations (varga). This division is further subdivided into fifty phonemes of the Sanskrit alphabet or even into eighty-one pādas. Nonetheless, Abhinavagupta assures us that, in reality, only six "phoneme-reflections" exist, which nourish the universe with the power of perfect fullness. These six become twelve through the processes of expansion (prasaraṇa) and fusion (pratisaṃcaraṇa). Moreover, these twelve are considered to be the powers of the Lord in the form of awareness, known as the venerable Kālikā. 71 MP (A) 212: svaṃ svaṃ viṣayam āhṛtya pratyāvṛttikramāgataḥ/ ciccamatkārabharito dvādaśākṣisvaro gaṇaḥ//. 72 The reference to the process of reversion (pratyāvṛtti) into one's own nature of the cycle of cognition represented by the goddesses of the vṛndacakra occurs in the Mahānayaprakāśa of Trivandrum (7.54cd-58ab) in the context of haṭhapāka ("forceful maturation"). This process leads to the ultimate state of fusion (sāmarasya), defined as the absence of even the most latent traces of the desire-driven consciousness, and the state of repose (viśrāma). Theologically speaking, this state is represented by the emaciated goddess (Kṛśā) who embodies the dissolution of all desires. See also verse 7.37cd-7.38ab: "In the same way, it is possible to bring [the universe] into the unobscured radiance of consciousness by the process of forceful maturation whose nature is the process of reversion (pratyāvṛttikrama) simply by carefully observing this [dynamic] structure of consciousness" (tathaiva haṭhapākena pratyāvṛttikramātmanā// nirāvaraṇatāṃ netuṃ śakyaṃ saṃsthānaśīlanāt/). In the verse 2.22 of the same text, pratyāvṛtti refers only to the withdrawal of manifested appearances (abhāsāna). 73 In the developed Kālīkrama, the bliss of tasting (rasanā) has purely cognitive overtones associated with the interiorization of the object of perception: "I know that object" is the relish (rasa) of wonder (camatkāra) caused by the repose within one's own nature. In Abhinavagupta's model of the twelve Kālīs, this is conveyed by Sthitināśakālī (TĀ 4.150, ed. Ś āstrī, 1922, p. 162, vol. III), who represents the saṃhāra state of prameya: "[The goddess] who is wishing to dissolve [that object of perception] through the relish of interiority, conceives the withdrawal of the state permanence [of the object], thus she is named Sthitināśakālī". Jayaratha's commentary (Tāv 4.150, ed. Ś āstrī, 1922, pp. 162-163, vol. III) explains "'interiority' [means] because of being inclined inwards towards the state of being one with the perceiver" (antarmukhatā-antaḥ pramātrekātmatāyām aunmukhye); "through the relish-because of delight which is the nature of wonder caused by the repose within the self as expressed by the statement 'I know that object" ("jñāto mayārthaḥ" iti svātmaviśrānticamatkārātmano rasāt). beyond the sequence and the non-sequence, and transcending any contact with the sensory experience. 76 Third, the activity of destruction that those 'rays' instigate is described through the use of technical terms, such as 'forceful withdrawal' (haṭhasaṃhāra), and 'fire of total devouring' (alaṃgrāsaikaghasmara). 77 In another place, Arṅasiṃha also uses the term sahasā 78 to refer to the process of sudden withdrawal activated by the twelve goddesses. The references to haṭhākarṣa and grāsaghasmara are also found in Niṣkriyānanda's Kālikākramapañcāśikā, but they are not found in the Devīpañcaśataka, which only mentions the term sahasā. These terms are also found in other Mahānayaprakāśas 79 and in the Kashmirian Trika exegesis. 80 Fourth, Arṅasiṃha gives additional identification of the anākhyakrama, when he correlates it with the fourth state (turīya), 81 on the one hand, and with the condition of oneness (sāmarasya), 82 on the other. Finally, Arṅasiṃha postulates the existence of the thirteenth Kālī, who as the source of other twelve goddesses, presides over the great wheel of withdrawal of all things and is intent on emitting and devouring these twelve goddesses. 83 Arṅasiṃha's exposition of the twelve Kālīs summarized above represents the stage in the development of the doctrine that was already drawing upon the established set of concepts, such as pratyāvṛtti, ciccamatkāra, alaṃgrāsa or sāmarasya found also in the Trika and the Trika-influenced Krama sources. This indicates that at the time of Arṅasiṃha, the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs was already more or less codified and it was adopted in that form as a core of the later Kashmirian Krama exegesis. Arṅasiṃha's explanation of the twelve Kālīs had a great influence on Maheśvarānanda's formulation of the same concept in his 13th-14th century Mahārthamañjarī. The concept of turīya, originally found in the Śivasūtras (v.7) to describe the final state of yogic realization which pervades the three states of waking (jagat), sleep (svapna), and deep sleep (suṣupti), has been adopted in the concept of the twelve Kālīs from the Jayadrathayāmala (4.57r4) onwards: sa raviḥ sūryaturyānte bhrājate raudraḍāmaraḥ, "That sun shines at the limit of fourth state of the sun, which is fearsome and terrible." The association of the twelve Kālīs with the concept of turīya reached its peak in the Mahārthamañjarīparimala (v.39), which clearly draws upon Arṇasiṃha's Mahānayaprakāśa. 82 For the association of the twelve Kālīs or anākhyakrama with the samarasa/sāmarasya or ekarasa, see

The Thirteen Kālīs as Time-Consumption (kālagrāsa): The Mahānayaprakāśa of Trivandrum
The anonymous Mahānayaprakāśa of Trivandrum, a post-Abhinavagupta scripture written by the 12th century and certainly influenced by the Pratyabhijñā school, is undoubtedly our most useful source to understand the philosophical foundation of the doctrine of the thirteen (and not the twelve) Kālīs. The text formulates this concept in terms of the practice of anākhyakrama built upon the notion of atemporal temporality (kramākrama), or, in other words, the non-sequential sequence that belongs to the single, manifesting consciousness (saṃvit-sphuraṇa). According to the text, anākhya has two states: on the one hand, it penetrates plurality, for it contains within itself the sequences of sṛṣṭi, sthiti, saṃhāra; on the other, it is established at the same time in its own state of final repose (viśrānti), beyond the reality of the sequence. This finds its theological extension in the worship of the Kālīs. The Mahānayaprakāśa of Trivandrum is clearly influenced by the Kashmirian Krama exegesis, when it associates the twelve Kālīs with the twelvefold cognitive process, as follows: The single nature of one's own nature (svasvarūpa) functions as pervading the fields of the knowable (meya), the instruments of knowledge (māna) and the knower (pramātṛ). These three, who are being one with the phases of emission (sarga), permanence (avatāra), and withdrawal (saṃhāra) become fourfold through the aspects beginning with sṛṣṭi, sthiti, etc. The fourfold expansion starting with the udaya, to the final moment of the kālagrāsa, has a single point of repose (viśrānti), and that is the reason why there are thirteen goddesses [worshipped in the pūjākrama]. 84 The text briefly touches upon the subject of repose (viśrānti) represented by the thirteenth goddess: Within any [sequence comprising of sarga, etc.], there is a final repose, which transcends the polarity of sequence and non-sequence, and which is present as the inseparable essence that cannot be penetrated by the adjunct, which is time. 85 The argument that in any sensory perception the non-successive aspect (i.e., viśrānti) is inherently present ensues. By way of example, the text refers to the appearance of the colour 'blue', which seems to be external to the perceiver, and yet is only seemingly so, for the subjective experience of 'blue', which results in 'relish', is also present non-successively. The text says: Clearly, the manifestation [of consciousness] must be present in the [external perception of] 'blue' and that manifestation [of consciousness] is certainly located in the [subjective experience of] relish. If they weren't present nonsuccessively, there could be no perception of 'blue '. 86 Thus, the non-successive aspect is posited as the underlying substratum for each of the cognitive sequence. Its function is to unify the sequences of cognition appearing within consciousness as its contents. The following verses expand on this issue by describing the non-successive aspect as something that must be presupposed in any sensory experience; the absence of which would result in the fragmentation of cognition into discrete phases, such as 'blue', 'manifestation', etc.: If we first had the 'blue', then the 'manifestation', and then, the 'relish' mutually excluding one another, there would be no perception of 'blue'. The sequence is declared to be of the nature of temporal succession; as a result of mutual exclusion, there would be no cognition in this way, because of the division between distinct parts. [Thus] it is [only] through the experience of the power of anākhya, which consists of the enjoyment of partless cognition accomplished in any experience, that the worldly experience is established. 87 The philosophical analysis of anākhya is complemented by a more detailed discussion of its practice. The practice of anākhya is built upon the notion of timeconsumption (kālagrāsa), whose goal is to reach the non-successive state of repose (viśrānti) suddenly. The Mahānayaprakāśa states thus: "by concentrating on the non-successive essence of time, which takes the form of coloring time 88 by succession, there is a sudden devouring of time, and this comes about through a direct sensual experience (saṃkrama)." 89 Time is constructed with a metric symmetry as the set of moments applicable to the sequence. However, in the midst of this regularity an unexpected split comes, namely a sudden opening that causes time to be devoured by non-time. Beneath the formal logic of this passage, there is a conviction that liberation from temporality comes-paradoxically enough-via the use of time as the vehicle for reaching the goal of viśrānti. The practice of kālagrāsa starts with engagement in ordinary sensory experience (saṃkrama). The text enlarges on the saṃkrama as follows: The manifestation of anākhya is effortlessly present in whichever object of sense the 'rays' penetrate. 90 The concept of the senses as 'rays' is reminiscent of the Kaula tradition, as it echoes the passage of Niṣkriyānanda's Kālikākramapañcāśikā, already referred to above, where anākhya is defined as being the basis of one's own personal experience (svānubhūti). The sensory experience is structurally ascertained within the fourfold division that arises in the object (parijñeya), subject (mātṛ) and instruments of cognition (māna) as: (1) spontaneous effulgence (akalitollāsa), (2) sensual enjoyment of that (tatsaṃbhoga), (3) subjective relishing (carvaṇa), and (4) rest (virāma). In all these twelve cases, there is one repose (viśrānti), which is free of limiting adjuncts. 91 This twelvefold structure is reflected in the worship of the twelve Kālīs, wherein pūjā is described as the reflection (parāmarśa) on the twelve goddesses: Through the power of reflection on these twelve goddesses, the state of nondifferentiated awareness (nirvikalpa), which is devoid of latent traces of cognition, clearly manifests. 92 A close affinity between this cognitive aspect of worship and its ritualistic equivalent is ascertained in the next paragraph dedicated to the description of the Kaula ritual. The text refers to the worship of the twelve goddesses through the panorama of typically Kaula ritual that includes consumption of wine, meat, and sexual enjoyment of women. Both dimensions of worship serve as the means for kālagrāsa. In each case, kālagrāsa leads to one viśrānti, which is the thirteenth goddess. This unique explanation that correlates the twelve Kālīs with the Kaula substances is not found in other Krama texts.
The first group of the four Kālīs who are intent on kālagrāsa in the field of the object (prameya) derives its name from the root kal in the sense of kṣepa, and it is applied to the enjoyment of women. Kṣepa ("casting forth" or "projection") means here the "extroverted sensual desire" that arises through the contact with women. Therefore, those who are strongly attracted to women enter into the supportless state of kālagrāsa: some simply by seeing an attractive woman, other by touching her limbs, and other by copulation. In this way, those who are attracted to women perceive three levels of experience (i.e., akalitollāsa, tatsaṃbhoga, and carvaṇa), but when time dissolves away, they attain the state of viśrānti, which is free of limitations. 94 The second group of the four Kālīs instigates kālagrāsa in the field of the instruments of cognition (pramāṇa) and derives its name from the root kal in the sense of śabda ("to resonate"), and saṃkhyāna ("to enumerate"). Therefore, those who are addicted to wine can reach kālagrāsa merely by seeing, touching, or drinking the wine. Once the wine is swallowed, the sense of duality is destroyed. As a result, the state of blissful relish becomes firm, without any contact with the object of experience. Through the expansion of this intermediate state (between prameya and pramātṛ), which is the great experience of reflection, 95 the four Kālīs are present resting on the field of pramāṇa. 96 The third and final group of the four Kālīs derives its name from the root kal in the sense of gati ("to go" or "to know"). These four Kālīs arise for those who are immersed in the enjoyment of meat insofar as they penetrate the state of inner relish whose nature is the subject (pramātṛ). Ultimately, the enjoyment of meat leads to the kālagrāsa. 97 Drawing upon the method of "effortless" attainment advocated in the Svabodhodayamañjarī of Vāmanadatta, 98 the Mahānayaprakāśa asserts that the practice of kālagrāsa is easy to attain because, in reality, both time and the devouring of time represented by the twelve Kālīs are only one thirteenth goddess, who is the final repose and the point of dissolution of all cognitions, whether discursive or nondiscursive: 94 MP (T) 9.35-40ab: ye tu yoṣidvyasaninas tanmukhenaiva te kramāt/ kālagrāsapade samyak praviśanti nirāśraye// kecid darśanamātreṇa tathāṅgasparśanāt pare/ dvīndriyotpatti taś cānye viśrāmyanti nirāśraye// itthaṃ yoṣidvyasanināṃ tisro 'nubhavabhūmikāḥ/ dṛśyante kālavilaye viśrāntir nirupādhikā// sṛṣṭisṛṣṭyādibhedena catasro 'nākhyadevatāḥ/ prameyabhūmim āśritya kālagrāsaparāḥ sthitāḥ// kṣepārthasya kalerdhātor anvarthānugamāt sphuṭam/ kālīśabdaś catasṛṇāṃ devīnāṃ vācakaḥ sthitaḥ// kṣepo bahirmukhec chātmayoṣit sambhogajanmani/. 95 The text seems to be following the Tantrāloka (4.175), where the root kal in the sense of gatau ("to go" or "to know") means entering into the nature of consciousness in the manner of reflection. 96 MP (T) 9.41-45: Evaṃ madyavyasanino ye kecijjantavaḥ sthitāḥ/ teṣāṃ tadāśrayeṇaiva kālagrāso 'bhidhīyate// tasyāpi darśanasparśapānayogavataḥ [-tā ms.] Torella (2000).
In this way, with all the phenomena in all states of experience, kālagrāsa is easy to attain through the Mahārtha teaching, "I venerate that structure of the self in which the bliss of the awakening of consciousness has been obtained without any effort, after having correctly examined the nature of things as having no reality of their own." In accordance with the oral teaching of the Siddhas, there is no independent reality of anything with regard to which this time, whose nature is differentiation (kalana), applies. This whole structure manifesting of and by itself is nothing but the expansion of the self. So what is this time, which is devoured by the bliss of the arising of consciousness and what are those twelve Kālīs, which are intent on devouring time? When these are analyzed [the conclusion is reached that], there is nothing at all. There exists only one state of repose (viśrānti), which is the supreme goddess, free of limiting adjunct, which is time. She is characterized as both consciousness and non-consciousness; bliss and non-bliss and absence of both (nirbhoga). She is the point of dissolution of all cognitions, both discursive and non-discursive. She is the one who transcends the states of sequence and non-sequence and is the expansion of those. She is unmoving, devoid of pulsation, but she also experiences all pulsation. Although she is directly perceptible to everyone with different facets, nonetheless, she is realized by various methods such as oral instruction, worship, and direct transmission. She who is figuratively called "the thirteenth" is the ground in which the twelve goddesses dissolve. Therefore, she is present as the highest object of worship, because she is that ultimate goal to be realized. 99 In the concluding verses, the text briefly refers to viśrānti as the state that comes about through the eradication of the residual traces arising from vikalpas, suggesting that kālagrāsa and haṭhapāka 100 lead to the same end. The conclusion also contains an idea that it is in the world of sensory experience, perceived through the prism of non-sequential sequence, where one is expected to attain liberation from saṃsāric existence. This should be read in connection with another passage where the state of liberation in life is defined as "recognition of reality as it is": 101 99 MP (T) 9.51cd-61ab: Taditthaṃ sarvabhāvānāṃ sarvānubhavabhūmiṣu// mahārthadṛṣṭyā sugamaḥ kālagrāso prayatnataḥ [em. apyayatnataḥ]/ samyagvastuvicāreṇa (samyaga-) bhāvānām (-nāma-) asvabhāvataḥ // labdhabodhodayānandaṃ (-bodho*-)  The highest repose, devoid of any desires, arises through the total destruction of the most latent impressions generated by various thought-constructs. In this manner, this sequence of worship (pūjanakrama) [of the Kālīs] is present to all people as a direct experience in all states of phenomenal experience that take place in the state of extroversion. For the wise ones, the highest consciousness blazes up brilliantly by means of those same concrete realities, which others have rejected as factors obscuring consciousness. 102 The Absence of the Twelve Kālīs in the Mahānayaprakāśa of Śitikaṇṭha The last of the three Mahānayaprakāśas, which might have been written in the eleventh century in Kashmir (Sanderson, 2007a, p. 302), does not mention the twelve Kālīs at all; however, its exposition of the anākhyakrama in some respects echoes the other two Mahānayaprakāśas. Like the Mahānayaprakāśa of Trivandrum, Ś itikaṅt˙ha accepts that the Ā didevī-the goddess representing pure unconditioned consciousness-manifests in three divisions (sṛṣti, sthiti, saṃhāra) through her anākhya nature, which is coloured by the reality of the sequence (kramārtharūṣitena). 103 The similarity between the Mahānayaprakāśa of Trivandrum and that of Ś itikaṅt˙ha is also apparent in the formulation of the concept of anākhya as the form of repose (viśrānti). However, unlike the Mahānayaprakāśa of Trivandrum, which asserts a single repose for all the twelve moments, Ś itikaṅṫha says that the anākhyakrama contains all three types of repose for each sequence, namely sṛṣṭyanākhya, sthityanākhya, and saṃhārānākhya, while other sequences merely rest in their own nature and do not contain all three. 104 This particular way of formulating the concept of anākhya is based on Abhinavagupta's Kramakeli, the lost commentary on Eraka's Kramastotra, quoted in the Mahārthamañjarī of Maheśvarānanda, which is also followed by the Mahānayaprakāśa of Trivandrum. 105 According to Ś itikaṅt˙ha, however, those three separate anākhyas represent the conditioned state (sopādhikā) of the fourth anākhya, which is their ultimate ground, free of all limitations (nirupādhikā). It is in this nirupādhikā anākhya, where the three conditioned anākhyas are brought to the state of rest in the state of unity (sāmarasya). 106 The understanding of viśrānti as the ground devoid of limiting adjuncts is also found in the Mahānayaprakāśa of Trivandrum. 107 At the same time, Ś itikaṅṫha echoes the Mahānayaprakāśa of Arṅasiṃha, when he says that the anākhyakrama consists of the state of unity (sāmarasya) through falling away of the sense of differentiation (bheda).

Abhinavagupta's Reception of the Twelve Kālīs
For the Kashmirian Abhinavagupta, the founder of the Trika, the twelve Kālīs represent the "arising of the wheel of consciousness" (saṃviccakrodaya). This term stands for the phenomenology of the twelvefold cognitive process, taking place in the wheel of the inexplicable (anākhyacakra). Despite the fact that Abhinavagupta considers the Devīpañcaśataka as the authority on the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs, he distances himself from the teaching of the Sun-Goddess. For Abhinavagupta Kālasaṃkarṣiṅī, out of her freedom, ideates (kalayantī) each of the twelve Kālīs as if there were different from her, when, in reality, they are not different. The key-term employed by Abhinavagupta is kalayantī, which he understands primarily through the etymology of the root kal. It is noteworthy that this term also appears in the Jayadrathayāmala to refer to the activity of the ultimate, thirteenth Kālī, whose nature is the sun. 108 The commentator Jayaratha, however, aligns with more traditional notion of kālagrāsa, repeatedly found in the Krama texts and uses it to describe the relation between Kālasaṃkarṣiṅī and the other twelve Kālīs, where the supreme goddess-consciousness (saṃviddevī) "manifests as eager to devour the stains of the projection of time". 109 Jayaratha arranges the twelve Kālīs into three groups of four: the first group is delighted in devouring the aspect of the object (prameya), the second group does the same with the means of cognition (pramāṇa), and the third group with the subject (pramātṛ). The names of the twelve Kālīs given in the Tantrāloka are identical with that of Eraka's Kramastotra, an influential work on which Abhinavagupta wrote a now lost commentary, the Kramakeli. Abhinavagupta rejects the order of the thirteen Kālīs given in the Devīpañcaśataka, by eliminating Sukālī. He also reshuffles the order of the Kālīs by placing Raktakālī after Sṛṣṫikālī, while other scriptures, including the Devīpañcaśataka, place Raktakālī after Saṃhārakālī. Jayaratha explains that Abhinavagupta did so to conceal the order of worship (pūjākrama) followed by other great teachers who intended to hide the true order of consciousness (saṃvitkrama). Instead, 107 See fn. 91 above. 108 JY 4:58r5-6: Trayodaśavidhā kālī vijñeyā raśmibhedataḥ/ Paramārkaprabhāsānte sphuratsmaraṇadīpikā/ bharūpā paramā kālī kalayantī jagatsthitā/ "Thus Kālī is to be understood to be of thirteen kinds, in accordance with the distinction of the rays. She who illumines the root-mantra (smaraṇa) shines forth at the limit of the radiance of the supreme sun. This is the ultimate Kālī whose nature is the sun, who is present ideating the entire universe.". 109 Tāv 4. 148: parā saṃviddevī kālakalanākalaṅkagrasiṣṇutayā dyotamānā Abhinavagupta's order of Kālīs follows the true order, so that the saṃvitkrama can be accomplished. 110 Abhinavagupta's saṃviccakrodaya reflects an effort to offer an integrated understanding of the twelve Kālīs from the epistemological perspectives of the Trika and Pratyabhijñā systems. 111 In order to understand the conceptual ramifications of this integration, let us first look at the Tantrasāra, where a shorter version of the twelve Kālīs constituting the essential teaching of the śāktopāya is given. Here Abhinavagupta is keen to incorporate the twelve Kālīs within the Trika system. He does so by first formulating the concept of Parameśvara who in his essence (svabhāva) is the perfect fullness of consciousness (pūrṇatāsaṃvit), capable of manifesting the totality of his powers. Even though Parameśvara has countless powers, there are in fact three particular powers that are capable of displaying the totality. These are the three goddesses of the Trika pantheon: parā-śakti, parāparaśakti, and aparā-śakti. These three are assimilated (through the process of devouring) within another power, called śrīparā, which is the act of synthetic awareness (anusaṃdhāna) of the Lord. This assimilative yet transcendent śrīparā is renamed through the Krama terminology as 'the one who attracts time" or Kālasaṃkarṣiṅī, and she is equated with the essence of subjectivity (mātṛsadbhāva) of the Trika. 112 Each of these four powers functions threefold in creating, maintaining, and dissolving, and in this way, they are twelve Kālīs of the saṃviccakra. 113 110 Tāv 4.149 (ed. Ś āstrī, 1922, p. 161, vol. III): "Objection: How come that Ś rīraktakālī and others have been named here immediately after (Sṛṣṫikālī), for, in this way, there would be the contradiction of scriptures. Answer: True, but in the āgama, in order to conceal the order [of Kālīs] in consciousness, they have been named in this order, scattered and disordered; just as it is also the case with the sthitikrama of the Śrīpañcaśatikā. And it is following that that the great teachers have introduced the pūjākrama. But here [in the Tantrāloka], he [Abhinava] has organized it in true order in order to conceal the order of worship. On the basis of which, the order of consciousness can be accomplished" (tat katham iha tadanantaraṃ śrīraktakālyādi nirdeśaḥ kṛtaḥ, evaṃ hi āgamavirodhaḥ syāt, satyaṃ-kiṃ tu āgame saṃvitkramagopanārtham ālūnaviśīrṇatayaivam abhidhānaṃ, yathā śrīpañcaśatike sthitikrame 'pi, yad eva cānusṛtya mahāgurubhiḥ pūjākramaḥ prakrāntaḥ, iha tu pūjākramagopanāya svaśayya yaiva sthāpanaṃ, yad adhikṛtya saṃvitkramaḥ pariniṣṭhitim iyāt). 111 For the explanation of this adaptation from the point of view of the ritual structure, see Sanderson (1986, pp. 194-204 and1995, pp. 70-75). 112 In the Tantrāloka, Kālasaṃkarṣiṅī is parātītā, beyond the supreme goddess of the Trika (tanmadhye tu parā devī dakṣiṇe ca parāparā-aparā vāmaśṛḍge tu madhyaśṛṅgordhvataḥ śṛṇu-yā sā saṃkarṣiṇī devī parātītā vyavasthitā, Tāv III.3.69-70), but in the Tantrasāra, she is thought to be both the transcendent power and the sustaining ground of other three. See also Sanderson (1986, pp. 192-193 and 197-204;1990, pp. 58-59;2005, pp. 101-102). The supremacy of Kālasaṃkarṣiṅī is also attested in the hierarchy of cosmic principles in Abhinavagupta's Tantroccaya (chap. 8, trans. Sferra 1999, pp. 124-125) where she is said to be the supreme consciousness (parāsaṃvit), as the thirty-eighth principle (to which one rises) having gone beyond (Bhairava, the thirty-seventh principle)-making him assume his aspect as the seat (of the thirty-eighth principle). 113 TS 4 (ed. Ś āstrī, 1918, pp. 29-30): 1. Consciousness (saṃviddevī) initially creates the state internally (Sṛṣṫikālī). 2. Then, she creates it also externally, fully manifest (Raktakālī). 3. When she notices its attractiveness (rakti), she creates further, as she desires to assimilate this state (Sthitināśakālī). 4. Then she creates doubt-the obstacle in assimilation-which she devours as well (Yamakālī). 5.The part of the state that is the devoured doubt, she creates, assimilating it within (Saṃhārakālī). 6. Then she creates her own nature through the ego-feeling: "the state of assimilation is only my nature" (Mṛtyukālī). 7. Then, in the process of creating her nature of the assimilator or devourer (upasaṃhārta), she creates the condition The reformulation of the twelve Kālīs as constituting the saṃviccakra and thereby embodying the perfect fullness of awareness (pūrṇatāsaṃvit) of the Lord enabled Abhinavagupta to introduce the concept of Parameśvara as the lord of the wheel (cakreśvara). This, in turn, led Abhinavagupta to integrate the Trika version of the twelve Kālīs within the pan-Ś aiva concept of Ś iva as the Lord of Powers, prominent also in the Śivasūtras, Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam, and Spandakārikā. 114 By introducing the concept of cakreśvara, he was also able to assimilate the Pratyabhijñā model of "disclosure of powers" (śaktiprakāśa) 115 and "discovery of one's own powers" (śaktyāviṣkaraṇa). 116 In so doing, Abhinavagupta was able to uphold the Pratyabhijñā precepts, which postulated the sovereignty of Ś iva as the substratum of powers. 117 An attempt to 'clean' the twelve Kālīs from its esoteric jargon and integrate them within the philosophical framework of the Trika and Pratyabhijñā systems is also attested in the Tantrāloka. There, some of the key metaphysical concepts associated with the doctrine that we have already encountered on previous pages, such as the 'sun', 'fire of time', and 'great time', became associated with the stages of the cognitive cycle and included within the Pratyabhijñā hierarchy of cognizers. Thus, the twelvefold sun loses its esoteric context of the Sun-Goddess and becomes employed to simply denote the twelve instruments of knowledge (pramāṇa), which are dissolved in the thirteenth egoity of ahaṃkāra, called the 'supreme sun'. 118 That supreme sun, because it is still an instrument of knowledge, gets dissolved into the agent, which is the limited subject (parimita-pramātṛ), called kālāgnirudra. That kālāgnirudra, in turn, since it is only the constructed subject (kalpita, to distinguish it from the unconstructed one, akalpita), must necessarily be dissolved in the supreme subject (para-pramātṛ), called mahākāla, which is unconditional and unconstructed. Mahākāla, who echoes the characteristics of Sadāśiva in the Pratyabhijñā system, is the perfect fullness of I-ness (paripūrṇāhaṃbhāva), but since it is coloured by the experience to assimilate the objects-which are internal, that is to say, which exist as one with the subject, according to the principle of sarvasarvātmakam "everything is of the nature of everything else"-into one's own Footnote 113 continued in which one part becomes a latent trace (vāsanā) and the other becomes part of consciousness itself (Rudrakālī). 8. Then, she creates the wheel of the senses which consists of her own nature (Mārtāṅḋakālī). 9. Then, she also creates the one who rules over the wheel of the senses (karaṇeśvara) (Paramārkakālī). 10. Then, she creates the māyic subject, kalpita-pramātṛ (Kālāgnirudrakālī). 11. Then, she creates the subject who has the capacity to transcend his own limitation, enjoying his own expanded nature (Mahākālakālī). 12. Finally, she creates the fully expanded form of the subject (Mahābhairavacaṅḋograghorakālī). 114 See Śivasūtras 1.6., Spandakārikā 1.1., Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam, v. 20. See also Abhinavagupta's commentary on the Parātrīśikā's verses 25-26, where a description of Bhairava as cakreśvara of the twelve ray-goddesses (raśmi-devāta-dvādaśa) is given. 115 Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā of Utpaladeva (ĪŚK) 2.3.17, see Torella (1994 identity, also needs to get dissolved in the abode, which is transcendent (akuladhāma). 119 This assimilation takes place through the processes of 'total devouring' (alaṃgrāsa) and 'forceful maturation' (haṭhapāka). In this way, the final state is reached when only the consciousness (cinmātra) as the agent of knowing and doing remains, which does not enter into the state of the object of experience of any person in particular. At this level, the consciousness is one with the dissolver, and is, therefore, perfectly full. Abhinavagupta describes this ultimate stage represented by the final Kālī, called Mahācaṅḋograghorakālī, 120 as follows: All the subjects, all the means of knowledge, all the knowledges in their multiplicity, and all the objects, all this is nothing but consciousness itself (cinmātra) at this level. The supreme goddess is an independent freedom of self-awareness as it adopts this diversity of forms. 121 This last passage shows that Abhinavagupta's theory represents an important departure from the Krama scriptures, investigated above, where the goal of the twelve Kālīs unfolding in the anākhyakrama is the plane of repose (viśrānti) of all discursive and non-discursive thoughts. For Abhinavagupta, the purpose of saṃviccakrodaya is to realize the innate freedom of one's own consciousness as the agent of knowing and doing, as it adopts the diversity of forms. This echoes the definition of consciousness attested already in the Śivasūtras (2.1.7): caitanyaṃ sarvajñānakriyā paripūrṇa svatantrya. By placing freedom as the final goal of the saṃviccakrodaya, Abhinavagupta makes an attempt to bring the Krama process of complete reabsorption of consciousness 122 into the Trika model of creation. 123 In other words, he subsumes the Krama goddess Kālasaṃkarṣiṅī, who represents the reabsorption of consciousness, under the Parā goddess of the Trika, who stands for the creation of consciousness. This, in turn, validates the Pratyabhijñā model of autonomy of action, which is freedom.

Conclusion
This article has presented preliminary evidence for the development of the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs focusing on the doctrinal, and in some places, intertextual relationship existing between various tantric texts teaching it. The commonality of themes, lexical similarities, especially visible in a usage of shared technical terminology, and conceptual formulations (or lack thereof) detected in the sources presented here shows that the development of the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs was the outcome of a gradual evolution that seems to have proceeded from the early Kula/Kaula phase to the later Trika-Pratyabhijñā phase. This movement brought with itself the development as well as differentiation of a set of core ideas that received different emphases in various tantras. In the first phase, the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs was formulated in the context of the esoteric teaching of the bhānavīkrama, which appears to have lost its importance in later scriptures. Although references to the twelve goddesses as the 'rays' continue to appear in later tantras, a growing trend was to present the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs as the concept of anākhyakrama often formulated as the practice of time-consumption (kālagrāsa) that leads to repose (viśrānti). The first text that clearly shows this transition is the Devīpañcaśataka, the tantra regarded by Abhinavagupta as an authority on the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs. Another important development was to present the doctrine of the twelve Kālīs or anākhyakrama not so much as a practice that relies on the fullest expansion of the senses, but rather as a philosophical discussion on the dynamic process of consciousness that goes through the twelvefold cycle, a tendency started with Jñānanetra. A notable exception to this rule is the Mahānayaprakāśa of Trivandrum, which tries to integrate the philosophical structure of the twelve Kālīs with the conceptual core of spontaneity 122 The vidyā of Kālasaṃkarṣiṅī consists of the saṃhārabīja khphreṃ, the heart of reabsorption, also known as the 'lord of microcosm' (pañcapiṇḍanātha or piṇḍanātha). Since reabsorption is the destruction of time, Abhinava calls this mantra Kālakarṣiṅī; cf. TĀ 15.533. In the fourth āhnika of his TĀ, Abhinavagupta writes: 'This being (sat) [who appears] externally is first dissolved in the fire of knowledge. What remains then is what is left of the awareness, which is inner resonance. The condition of space being reached, by passing through the three energies, one attains to what is made of knowing, ultimately to dissolve in what is reabsorption'. Cf. TĀ 4.189-91, in Padoux (1990, p. 424). In his commentary, Jayaratha says that these verses give an explanation of the movement of the mind that perceives the world absorbed in the 'emptiness' of consciousness (kh because of kha, emptiness). In resonance (ph), this absorption occurs through the activity of fire of knowledge (r, since ra is the agnibīja); through the operation of Ś iva's three major powers, icchā, jñāna and kriyā (e, since it is a trikoṇabīja), the world is then being swallowed up into the bindu (since bindu is that point where manifestation withdraws upon itself to return to the godhead) all of which results in khphreṃ. Ibidem. 123 The last goddess of saṃviccakrodaya represents fullness of consciousness (pūrṇa), she is called Parā, the supreme goddess of the Trika, who is represented by the syllable sauḥ, which is sṛṣṭibīja. of the senses under the Kaula ritual. As a result of this process of rationalization and semantization, the key metaphysical concepts of the early Kālīkula, such as the 'sun', the 'fire of time' (kālāgni), or the 'great time' (mahākāla), were relegated to the function of their cognitive equivalents, as seen in Abhinavagupta's reformulation of the twelve Kālīs as the saṃviccakrodaya. Abhinavagupta presents the twelve Kālīs within the integrated framework of the Trika and Pratyabhijñā systems, in which the Krama goddess Kālasaṃkarṣiṅī fuses with the Trika goddess Parā, and where the reabsorption of consciousness instigated by the twelve Kālīs leads to the realization of one's own consciousness as the agent of knowledge and action.