2022
Gold plated bronze
2.4 x 2.4 x 2.4 cm (dimensions of the human eye)



A sculptural interpretation of verse 2.343 from Kṣemarāja’s commentary on the Netratantra, a description which is also elucidated in Abhinavgupta’s Tantrāloka 4.127-130. It reveals the esoteric nature of the Eye which the deity and its Tantra are named after. The verse contains a central teaching of the Krama tradition: that the One reality is Consciousness, manifesting a cycle of projection of objects, immersion in the object, internalisation of the object in the subject, and resorption of the subject, and that this cyclic process does not taint the timeless pure Light which is its ground.


Textual Sources:

”Victorious is the unique Eye (netram) of Śiva. It is white [in part] with a radiance that is innate, since it bestows the light [of reality] on everything (ābhāsanam). It is red [in part] because it immerses itself in awareness of whatever it manifests (āmarśanam). It is grey [in part] because it internalizes all that [manifestation] in [subjective] relish (saṃcarvaṇam). It is black [in part] because it devours [even] that [subjective awareness] (grāsaḥ). It is neither black nor grey nor red nor not these, since it is the unity embodied as the Circle of the Absolute Light (bhāsācakram). “
~ Kṣemarāja, Netratantra 2.343 (trans. Alexis Sanderson)

”O’ Supreme Goddess, the two white, visible circles of the eyes are (the wheel) of sixteen spokes. The best of Wheels, consisting of twelve spokes, is located there. That second one is said to be the two red (circles of twelve spokes) which are, like enclosures, outside that (wheel of sixteen spokes). In (the iris of each eye,) between (the black pupils and the white circles of the two eyes) there are two (other) Wheels (of the two eyes) which are (partially) black and (partially) white (and have eight spokes each). One should know that within them (in the pupils), there are two (other) pure circles, (their) colour like that of (freshly) sliced black collyrium, with four spokes (each).”
~ Abhinavagupta, Tantrāloka 4.127-130 (trans. Mark Dyczkowski)