Saraha,Sarhappa, Sarahapa, Sarahapāda (, ; ) was an Indian Buddhist Mahasiddha and poet. The name Saraha means "the one who has shot the arrow.".Lara Braitstein. The Adamantine Songs: Vajragiti by Saraha. American Institute of Buddhist Studies. 2014, p. 4 According to one, scholar, "This is an explicit reference to an incident in many versions of his biography when he studied with a dakini disguised as a low-caste arrow smith. Metaphorically, it refers to one who has shot the arrow of non duality into the heart of duality."Lara Braitstein. The Adamantine Songs: Vajragiti by Saraha. American Institute of Buddhist Studies. 2014, p. 4
Saraha is considered to be one of the founders of Vajrayana Buddhism, particularly the Mahāmudrā tradition associated with the mind teachings of Tibet.*Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche (2006). A Song for the King: Saraha on Mahamudra Medition. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. pp. 1-6.
Saraha was originally known as Rāhula or Rāhulabhadra and was born in Roli, a region of the city-state of Rajni in eastern India, into a Shakya family and studied at the Buddhist monastic university Nalanda. The Arrow Making Dakini
Saraha is normally shown seated and holding an arrow (Skt. śaru). It is from a mature nameless woman, often called the Arrow Smith Dakini or the Arrow Making Dakini, who was Saraha's teacher and consort, that the typical iconography of Saraha holding an arrow emerges. Some versions of their meeting say that Saraha saw the Arrow Making Dakini in a vision and thus was wandering here and there, searching her out. Some say they met at a crossroads,*Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche (2006). A Song for the King: Saraha on Mahamudra Medition. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. pp. 11-13. while other versions say that it was in a busy marketplace where she was selling her arrows.Lara Braitstein. The Adamantine Songs: Vajragiti by Saraha. American Institute of Buddhist Studies. 2014, pp. 11-12Herbert Guenther. (1993). Ecstatic Spontaneity: Saraha's Three Cycles of Doha. Asian Humanities Press, pp. 4-6.
Whether they meet in a marketplace or a crossroads, it is this woman's intense concentration and spiritual instructions to Saraha that are transformative. When he finds her, Saraha inquires about what she is doing. Her reply to him is pith and direct: "The Buddha's meaning can be known through symbols and actions, not through words and books."Lara Braitstein. The Adamantine Songs: Vajragiti by Saraha. American Institute of Buddhist Studies. 2014, pp. 11-12
The Arrow Making Dakini then explained the symbolic meaning of the arrow to him using the elusive tantric twilight language that is common to Dakini teachings. It is said, that in this moment, Saraha fully realized the state of mahamudra and at that moment he said the single syllable "da." This is a play on the sound of this word, which can mean either "arrow" or "symbol" (dadar or mda' dar in Tibetan). Saraha then recognized the wisdom Dakini in front of him, abandoned his studies and monastic vows, and moved to a cremation ground with her to practice*Khenchen Trangu Rinpoche (2006). A Song for the King: Saraha on Mahamudra Medition. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. pp. 11-13. Lara Braitstein. The Adamantine Songs: Vajragiti by Saraha. American Institute of Buddhist Studies. 2014, pp. 11-12
As an homage to the Arrow Making Dakini and Saraha and their great spiritual accomplishments, and to bring forth the blessings of these spiritual lineages, contemporary tantric communities are engaging in archery and arrow smithing as a form of spiritual discipline and practice.
The Radish Curry Dakini
The second nameless woman who was Saraha's teacher and consort is often called the Radish Curry Girl or the Radish Curry Dakini. Saraha met her when she was just 15 years old and it is likely she had been working as a servant. The story that provides this accomplished dakini with the epithet Radish Curry Girl also has several versions. One of the more well-known ones states that Saraha asked this young woman to make him a radish curry one day. While she was doing this, Saraha fell into meditation. His meditative absorption was so complete that he remained in samadhi for twelve years.
When he emerged from meditation, he asked the young woman if he could have some of the radish curry twelve long years later. Her direct replies to him are the teachings. She said: "You sit in samadhi for twelve years and the first thing you ask for is radish curry?"*Keith Dowman (1983). Masters of Enchantment: The Lives and Legends of the Mahasiddhas. Inner Traditions.
Saraha noted her wisdom and realized his own faults in meditative practice. He decided that the only way for him to make any progress on the spiritual path would be to move into an isolated mountain location, away from all distractions.
Again, the Radish Curry Dakini offered pith instructions to Saraha: "If you awaken from samadhi with an undiminished desire for radish curry, what do you think the isolation of the mountains will do for you? The purest solitude," she counseled, "is one that allows you to escape from the preconceptions and prejudices, from the labels and concepts of a narrow, inflexible mind."*Keith Dowman (1983). Masters of Enchantment: The Lives and Legends of the Mahasiddhas. Inner Traditions.
Saraha was wise enough to listen carefully to the wisdom of this dakini in front of him, realizing that she was indeed not just his consort but also his teacher. From that moment forward, his meditative practices changed and he eventually attained the supreme realization of mahamudra. At the time of his death, both Saraha and his consort ascended to Dakini Pure Lands.*Keith Dowman (1983). Masters of Enchantment: The Lives and Legends of the Mahasiddhas. Inner Traditions.
Disciples Luipa was a pupil of Saraha.Source: (accessed: Sunday 7 March 2010)
Doha, Caryagiti, and Vajragiti In the oral and literary traditions of South Asia, there are at least three classifications for the tantric compositions and teachings of Saraha: doha (poetic couplets), caryagiti (performance songs), and vajragiti (adamantine songs, which are classified according to the content, not the form).
As Braitstein writes:
Doha is a form of couplet poetry and a portion of Saraha's doha are compiled in Dohakośa, the 'Treasury of Rhyming Couplets'. Pada (verses) 22, 32, 38 and 39 of Caryagītikośa (or Charyapada) are assigned to him. The script used in the doha shows close resemblance with the present-day Bengali–Assamese, Tirhuta and Odia scripts which imply that Sarahapa has compiled his literature in the earlier language which has similarity with all Assamese, Bengali, Maithili and Odia languages.Pandit Rahul Sanskrutayan, Bihar Rashtrabhasha ParishadDr. Banshidhar Mohanty. Oriya Sahityara Itihasa. Vol I. Frends Publishers, Cuttack, Orissa, India (1970)
In the disputed opinion of Rahul Sankrityayan, Sarahapāda was the earliest Siddha or Siddhācārya and the first poet of Bengali, Odia, Maithili and Hindi literature . According to him, Sarahapāda was a student of Haribhadra, who was, in turn, a disciple of Śāntarakṣita, the noted Buddhist scholar who traveled to Tibet. As Śāntarakṣita is known to have lived in the mid-8th century from Tibetan historical sourcesPasang Wandu and Hildegard Diemberger. dBa' bzhed: The Royal Narrative concerning the bringing of the Buddha's Doctrine to Tibet (Vienna, 2000). . and Haribhadra was a contemporary of Pāla king Dharmapala (770 – 815 CE), Sarahapāda must have lived in the late 8th century or early 9th-century CE.Dasgupta, Shashibhusan, Obscure Religious Cults, Firma KLM, Calcutta, 1995 CE, , pp.8-9 From the colophon of a manuscript of Saraha's Dohakośa, copied in Nepali Samvat 221 (1101 CE) and found from Royal Durbar Library in Nepal (most probably the earliest manuscript of Dohakośa), by Pt. Haraprasad Shastri in 1907, we know that many doha-s of Saraha were extant by that time. Thanks to the efforts of a scholar named Divakar Chanda, some of them have been preserved.,Sen, Sukumar Charyageeti Padabali (in Bengali), Ananda Publishers, Kolkata, , pp. 26 and were printed and published first in the modern Bangla font by the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad in 1916 along with the Dohakosh of Sarahapa in Bangla font, the Sanskrit notes of the dohas of Sarahapa also in the Bangla font, the Dakarnab adage-poems, the dohas of Kanhapa or Krishnacharyapa or Kanifnath and the Mekhla notes. The mouthpiece was by Haraprasad Shastri who had found the manuscript at the Royal Durbar Library of the Nepal kingdom in 1907.
The following song and poem of Saraha are from the original Apabhramsa (the language Saraha most often wrote in) is no longer extant but we have the Tibetan translation: Tibetan in Wylie transcription: la la nam mkha'i khams la rtog par snang gzhan yang stong nyid ldan par byed pa de phal cher mi mthun phyogs la zhugs pa yin
English translation Some think it's in the realm of space, others connect it with emptiness: mostly, they dwell in contradiction.Roger R. Jackson (editor, translator) & Sarahapāda, Kṛṣṇavajrapāda, Roger R. Jackson, Tillopāda (authors) (). Tantric Treasures: Three Collections of Mystical Verse from Buddhist India. Oxford University Press.p. 59. , Source: (accessed: Sunday March 7, 2010)
Here is one scholarly interpretation of the above verses: " space: In Indian thought, especially Buddhist, a common metaphor for the objective nature of reality as empty or unlimited, and the subjective quality of the mind that experiences that emptiness...Space also is one of the five elements recognized in most Indian cosmologies, along with earth, water, fire, and air. In certain contexts... "sky" is a more appropriate translation for the Apabhramsa or Tibetan original. emptiness: According to most Mahayana Buddhist schools, the ultimate nature of all entities and concepts in the cosmos, realization of which is required for attaining liberation. Emptiness (Skt. śūnyatā) may be regarded negatively as the absence, anywhere, of anything resembling a permanent, independent substance or nature...more positively, it is regarded as the mind's natural luminosity, which is "empty" of the defilements that temporarily obscure...The critical remarks directed here at those who think "it" (i.e., reality) is connected with emptiness presumably are meant to correct a one-sided obsession with negation, which is one of Saraha's major targets."Jackson, Roger R.; Tantric Treasures: Three Collections of Mystical Verse from Buddhist India Oxford University Press, 2004. p. 59
The point of Saraha in this poem is clearly to ensure that the aspirant on way to becoming adept, does not get trapped by the metaphor and soteriological lexicon. This was a recurrent motif in Saraha's teachings and is key for why he is depicted in Tibetan iconography with an 'arrow' or 'dadar' (Tibetan: mda' dar). Further to this, the comment of scholar Judith Simmer-Brown (2001: p. 359) as follows is relevant: "The word for arrow is mda, which is identical in pronunciation to the word for symbol, brda".Simmer-Brown, Judith (2001). Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism. Boston, USA: Shambhala. (alk. paper). p.359
Works Attributed to Saraha in the Tibetan Tengyur There are a number of songs of realization attributed to the Indian Buddhist yogi Saraha in the Tengyur of the Tibetan Buddhist canon:Ui, H. 1934 A Complete Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons Tohoku Imperial University, Sendai, Japan
rgyud vol Ra. 104b–150a To. 1652: Śrī Buddhakapālatantrapañjikā jñāna vatī nāma (trans: Gayadhara, Jo Zla ba'i 'od zer) 225b–229b To. 1655: Śrī Buddhakapālasādhana nāma (trans: Gayadhara, Gyi jo Zla ba'i 'od zer) 229b–230b To. 1656: Sarvabhūtabalividhi (trans: Gayadhara, Gyi jo Zla ba'i 'od zer) 230b–243b To. 1657: Śrī Buddhakapālamaṇḍalavidhikrama pradyotana nāma (trans: Gayadhara, Gyi ja Zla ba'i 'od zer)
rgyud vol Wi.