সংস্কৃত থেকে বাংলা কাহ্নপার দোহাকোষের মেখলা টীকা | Kāņhapā's Dohākoşa and Mekhalā commentary

The article attempts to present translations of mahāsiddha Kanhapa's (or Känhu/ Kähņa) Tantric Buddhist dohās (didactic couplets) from Magadhi Apabhramśa to modern Bengali, retaining the rhyming metre as close as possible to the original. Here, the translator believes that the dohas (and the caryäs) of the siddhas, marked the moment of 'return to rhyming orality' from the written Mahayanist sutras, and also a significant moment in the formation of New Eastern Indo-Aryan languages. The Mekhala commentary to these dohas, written originally in Sanskrit (by an unknown author from circa 12th century) are translated as faithfully as possible to Bengali in an effort to provide keen insights into the complex processes of visualization and yogic exercises of breath, propagated through the esoteric couplets. Here, structurally the Bengali translation of the Mekhalațika, seeks to adhere as closely as possible to the Sanskritic tradition of commentating on a text which picks up a particular word or phrase, explains it and moves on to the next. From the 32 dohās in Kanhapa's Dobakasa and its commentary, sequential stages of a siddha-lineage of ritualistic practice emerge, which posit the text as one of the early foundational vernacular discourses of the Mahamudra tradition. The text when looked at closely and critically, reveals layers of Natha terminology and practice, inseparably fused with Tantric Buddhist concepts. The importance of the text in its contemporary times, is attested by the profuse citation of these dohas in other texts like the Subhasita Sangraha and the Caryāgitikoşa with Munidatta's commentary.