Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions Dr. Paul Donnelly presented a paper, “The Buddhist Goddess Kurukullā and her Rituals of Subjugation” at the 51st Annual Conference in South Asia in Madison, Wisconsin last month.
Abstract: The tantric Buddhist goddess Kurukullā is perhaps the most important of the tantric deities of subjugation (vaśya, vaśīkaraṇa). Kurukullā has been propitiated across the tantric Buddhist world and is especially important in Tibetan cultural areas, with all four of the major sects practicing her rituals. There is a tantra devoted to her in the Tibetan Kangyur in the Anuttarayogatantra collection and she is mentioned in other major tantras such as Hevajra and Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa. There are nineteen texts on her in the Sādhanamāla and numerous sādhanas composed by Tibetan masters of various sects. Despite this, Kurukullā has received relatively little scholarly attention and none of the work that has been done has engaged with the root tantra, the Āryatārakurukullākalpa. This project starts with a close reading of this text and the sādhana’s in the Sādhanamāla to establish the mythology, rites, and iconography of the forms of Kurukullā. Analysis will be undertaken with an eye to investigating similarities and differences between Kurukullā’s rites, mantras, and iconography with parallels in Śākta rites of subjugation and love magic, such as the early cults of the Nityā goddesses and Lallitā/Tripurasundarī. This paper will be a contribution to the understanding of an understudied tantric Buddhist goddess, make progress toward a better comparative knowledge of Buddhist and Śākta/Śaiva tantra, and contribute to the growing body of scholarship of tantra, sexuality, and gender.