Ajay Kumar: Creating a new article

2023-08-28T18:41:36Z

Creating a new article

New page

{{Short description|British Indologist}}

{{Copy edit|date=August 2023}}
'''Mark S. G. Dyczkowski''' is an English [[Indologist]], musician and a scholar on [[Tantra]] & [[Kashmir Shaivism]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dr. Mark Dyczkowski |url=https://muktabodha.org/dr-mark-dyczkowski/ |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=Muktabodha Indological Research Institute |language=en-US}}</ref> He has published multiple translations & commentaries, most notably the 12 volume Manthanabhairava Tantra<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mathanabhairavatantram |url=https://ixtheo.de/Record/1381118607 |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=Index Theologicus}}</ref> and an 11 volume [[Tantrāloka]] including the commentary by [[Jayaratha]]. Dyczkowski also plays the [[sitar]] and has collected over 1,500 compositions for sitar.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Misra |first=Aparna |date=2020-02-21 |title=Mark Dyczkowski plays Bhairavi for Shiva at Varanasi |url=https://www.csp.indica.in/mark-dyczkowski-plays-bhairavi-for-shiva-at-varanasi/ |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=Center for Soft Power, Indica Academy |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Life and career ==
Mark Dyczkowski was born in London on 29 August 1951 to a Polish father & Italian mother. He discovered the East & India at a very young age & was deeply influenced by their cultures & religion.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Osto |first=D. E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cE7VDwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PT172&dq=%22Mark+Dyczkowski%22+-wikipedia&hl=en |title=An Indian Tantric Tradition and Its Modern Global Revival: Contemporary Nondual Śaivism |date=2020-03-06 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-04929-9 |location=Oxford & New York |language=en}}</ref> Dyczkowski at 14 read [[Vivekananda]], [[Yogananda]], [[Ramakrishna Paramahansa]], the [[Bhagavad Gita|''Bhagavad Gita'']], the [[Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra|''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'']], among others; and started playing the ''sitar'', which became a constant companion.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Compilation |first=Prabuddha Bharata |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v29lDwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PT205&dq=%22Mark+Dyczkowski%22+-wikipedia&hl=en |title=Approaching Ramakrishna |date=July 2018 |publisher=Advaita Ashrama (A publication branch of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math) |isbn=978-81-7505-908-5 |edition=1st Ebook |location=Kolkata |language=en}}</ref> When he read [[Walter Evans-Wentz|Walter Evans-Wentz's]] books [[The Tibetan Book of the Dead|''The Tibetan Book of the Dead'']] and the ''Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines,'' he found them to be too complex to understand & realised the need for a [[Guru]].

After finishing school at 17, Dyczkowski, now 18, traveled to India. He visited Guru Maharaj Ji's ([[Prem Rawat|Rawat Singh]] - then 12 years old) ashram in [[Delhi]] recommended by 2 fellow hotel guests, where he stayed for 6 months. Dyczkoswki went to London to assist Maharaj in his sermons, and stayed there until the Guru suggested he go to college in India.<ref name=":0" /> He enrolled in the [[Banaras Hindu University]] in 1970 at the age of 19, where his professor was [[Acharya Rameshwar Jha]] and a fellow student was K.D. Tripathi. Dyczkowski met Pandit Hemant Chakravarti in [[Varanasi]] in 1971 (a student of [[Gopinath Kaviraj]], who in turn was a student of [[Vishuddhananda Paramahansa]] & [[Anandamayi Ma]]). He studied [[Sanskrit]], philosophy and [[Tantra]] under his guidance, while simultaneously learning the ''sitar'' from [[Budhaditya Mukherjee]].<ref name=":0" /> Dyczkowski also studied with Vrajvallabh Dwivedi & Pandit [[Vagish Shastri]] (who taught him [[Sanskrit grammar]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Battistini |first=Alessandro |date=2014-07-23 |title=Ātaṅkavādaśataka: the Century of Verses on Terrorism by Vagish Shastri |url=https://governarelapaura.unibo.it/article/view/4422 |journal=Governare la paura. Journal of interdisciplinary studies |language=en |volume=7(1) |issue=2014: India and Fear: Anatomy of an Emotion |pages=4 |doi=10.6092/issn.1974-4935/4422 |issn=1974-4935}}</ref>

By 1974 Dyczkowski had obtained a [[BA Degree|BA]] & [[MA degree|MA]] in [[Indian philosophy|Indian Philosophy]] & Religion with distinction from Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He returned to England & was admitted to [[University of Oxford]] to conduct doctoral research into Kashmir Trika Shaivism. His doctoral advisor was [[Alexis Sanderson]], one of the few scholars in the West who knew of its existence. His supervisor was [[Richard Gombrich]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Das |first=Sadananda |url=https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Samarasya.html?id=MZ3WAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y |title=Samarasya |last2=Fürlinger |first2=Ernst |date=2005 |publisher=D.K. Printworld |isbn=978-81-246-0338-3 |language=en}}</ref> In 1976 Dyczkowski traveled to Kashmir & was formally initiated into Kashmiri Shaivism by [[Swami Lakshman Joo]], who became his guru & who he would stay with for 6 months every year to attend his lectures.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vasugupta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQwtCrGERjkC&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PR9&dq=%22Mark+Dyczkowski%22+-wikipedia&hl=en |title=The Yoga of Vibration and Divine Pulsation: A Translation of the Spanda Kārikās with Kṣemarāja's Commentary, the Spanda Nirṇaya |last2=Singh |first2=Jaideva |date=1992-01-01 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-1179-7 |location=Albany, New York |language=en}}</ref>

Dyczkowski returned to India in late 1979 after receiving his [[PhD]]. He worked towards a second [[Doctorate]] at the Banaras Hindu University, where he studied as a [[Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan|Commonwealth Scholar]]. In 1985 he enrolled at the [[Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya]] for the Vachaspati ([[Doctor of Letters|DLitt]]) degree.<ref name=":1" /> He started learning the ''sitar'' & [[Indian classical music]] from Dr. Gangrade (the head of the music faculty at BHU) & Omir Bhattacharya, and learnt vocals from Pashupatinath Mishra. Dyczkowski published his [[Thesis|doctoral dissertation]], ''The Doctrine of Vibration'' as his first book, which introduced many people to Kashmir Shaivism & was reprinted multiple times.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Davis |first=Richard |date=1990 |title=Review of The Doctrine of Vibration: An Analysis of the Doctrines and Practices of Kashmir Shaivism, by Mark S. G. Dyczkowski |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1062928 |journal=[[History of Religions]] |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=424-426 |via=JSTOR}}</ref>

Prof. Sanderson gifted two books to Dyczkowski on his wedding. One of these was the ''Kubjikamata'', which sparked his curiosity & led him to research the ''[[Kubjika]]'' tradition in Nepal which he would visit once or twice a year. His path breaking research was the first ever exposition of a secret [[Tantric]] tradition & led to multiple other such efforts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=White |first=David Gordon |date=2011 |title=Review of Manthānabhairavatantram Kumārikārikākhaṇḍaḥ: The Section Concerning the Virgin Goddess of the Tantra of the Churning Bhairava, by M. S. G. Dyczkowski |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/23044647 |journal=[[Journal of the American Oriental Society]] |volume=131 |issue=2 |pages=295–297 |jstor=23044647 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> Dyczkowski primarily focuses on the ''Trika, [[Kaula (Hinduism)|Kaula]], Krama, [[Bhairava]]'' and ''Siddhaanta'' schools of Tantra, among others.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kinsley |first=David R. |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gkCsrfghkZ4C&oi=fnd&pg=PP15&dq=%22Mark+Dyczkowski%22&ots=mtGpC2pUuN&sig=uensxNl0d127OZCEz_zE-BSXT4E&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22Mark%20Dyczkowski%22&f=false |title=Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine: The Ten Mahāvidyās |date=1998 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1522-3 |edition=1st |location=Delhi |pages=253-280 |language=en}}</ref> He is also notable for digitizing many previously inaccessible Sanskrit manuscripts & scriptures in association with the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute.<ref>{{Citation |last=Törzsök |first=Judit |title=The Search in Śaiva Scriptures for Meaning in Tantric Ritual |date=2007 |url=https://hal.science/hal-00710959 |work=Mélanges tantriques à la mémoire d'Hélène Brunner – Tantric Studies in Memory of Hélène Brunner |pages=485–516 |editor-last=Padoux |editor-first=Dominic Goodall & André |access-date=2023-08-27 |series=Collection Indologie 106 |publisher=Institut Français de Pondichéry Ecole Française d'Extrême Orient}}.</ref>

== Works ==

=== Books ===

* ''[https://www.worldcat.org/title/14127908 The Doctrine of Vibration: an analysis of the doctrines and practices of Kashmir Shaivism]'' (1987, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York). {{ISBN|9780887064319|9780887064326}}.
* ''[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/42856082 The canon of the Śaivāgama and the Kubjikā Tantras of the western Kaula tradition]'' (1987, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York). {{ISBN|9780585078458}}.
* ''[https://www.worldcat.org/title/49874723 Kubjikā, Kālī, Tripurā, and Trika]'' (2000, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart & The Nepal Research Centre, Kathmandu). {{ISBN|9783515077729}}.
* ''[https://www.worldcat.org/title/51728219 The cult of the goddess Kubjika: a preliminary comparative textual and anthropological survey of a secret Newar goddess]'' (2001, The Nepal Research Centre, Kathmandu). {{ISBN|9783515081061}}.
* ''[https://www.worldcat.org/title/56368336 A journey in the world of Tantras]'' (2004, Indica Books, Varanasi). {{ISBN|9788186569429}}.
* ''[https://www.worldcat.org/title/715632176 Self Awareness, own being and egoity]'' (1990, DK Book Agencies, Varanasi). {{OCLC|715632176}}.

=== Works edited and/or translated by Dyczkowski ===

* ''[https://www.worldcat.org/title/1154972079 The stanzas on vibration: the Spandakārikā with four commentaries]'' by [[Vasugupta]] (1992, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York). {{ISBN|9780585078526|9781438401751}}.
* ''[https://www.worldcat.org/title/25026943 The aphorisms of Śiva: the ŚivaSūtra with Bhāskara's commentary, the Vārttika]'' by Vasugupta, [[Bhaskara (Kashmiri)|Bhāskarabhatta]] (1992, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York). {{ISBN|9780791412633|9780791412640}}.
* ''[https://www.worldcat.org/title/427757276 Manthānabhairavatantram Kumārikākhaṇḍaḥ = Section concerning the virgin goddess of the Tantra of the churning Bhairava]'' (2009, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts & D.K. Printworld, New Delhi). {{ISBN|9788124604984}}.
* ''Tantraloka – The Light on and of the Tantras'' (2023, self-published at Varanasi) by [[Abhinavagupta]]. Vol. I: {{ISBN|9798376139219}}. Vol. II: {{ISBN|9798379174637}}.
* ''Tantrasadbhavatantra - on the basis of Nepalese palmleaf manuscripts NAK 5-1985 / NGMPP A42/6'' (2005, Muktabodha Indological Research Institute Digital Library).
* ''Ūrmikaulārṇava -'' on the basis of NAK MS no: 5-5207 (sic. 5-5202) and NGMPP reel no: B 115/9 (Muktabodha Indological Research Institute Digital Library).
* ''Ciñcinīmatasārasamuccaya'' - on the basis of (MS) NAK 1-767; (MS) NAK 1-245; (MS) NAK MS 1-145; (MS) 1-99 (Muktabodha Indological Research Institute Digital Library).
* [https://www.worldcat.org/title/1146440897 The Samvitprakasa] by Vamanadatta (1990, Ratna Printing Works, Varanasi). {{OCLC|1146440897}}.

=== Articles ===

* ''[https://ixtheo.de/Record/1736636502 The Khacakrapañcakastotra, Hymn to the Five Spheres of Emptiness: Introduction, Edition, and Translation]'' in Tantrapuspanjali (2018, pages 67 - 131, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts). {{ISBN|8173055904}}.
* [https://www.worldcat.org/title/65016884 The doctrines and practices associated with the Kashmiri Śaiva concept of Spanda] (PhD Thesis). (1986, British Library, London). {{OCLC|65016884}}.

== References ==

{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:British Indologists]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyczkowski, Mark S. G.}}
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]

{{Improve categories|date=August 2023}}
[[Category:Kashmir Shaivism]]
[[Category:Tantra]]

Mark S. G. Dyczkowski - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Creating a new article