Mark Dyczkowski

Mark S. G. Dyczkowski (29 August 1951 – 2 February 2025) was an English Indologist, musician, and scholar of Tantra and Kashmir Shaivism. He has published multiple translations and commentaries, most notably the 12-volume Manthanabhairava Tantra and an 11-volume Tantrāloka including the commentary by Jayaratha. Dyczkowski also played the sitar and collected over 1,500 compositions for sitar.

Life and career Mark Dyczkowski was born in London on 29 August 1951 to a Polish father and Italian mother. He discovered India at a young age and was deeply influenced by its cultures and religions. At age fourteen, Dyczkowski read the writings of Vivekananda, Yogananda, and Ramakrishna Paramahansa, along with texts like the Bhagavad Gita and Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra; and started playing the sitar. When he read Walter Evans-Wentz's books The Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, he found them to be too complex to understand and realized the need for a Guru.

After finishing school at the age of 17, Dyczkowski, now 18, traveled to India. He visited Guru Maharaj Ji's ashram in Delhi, which had been established twelve years prior, as recommended by two fellow hotel guests, and remained there for six months. Dyczkoswki went to London to assist Maharaj in his sermons, and stayed there until the Guru suggested he go to college in India.

By 1974 Dyczkowski had obtained a BA and MA in Indian Philosophy and Religion with distinction from Banaras Hindu University. He returned to England and was admitted to University of Oxford to conduct doctoral research into Kashmir 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. In 1976, Dyczkowski traveled to Kashmir and was formally initiated into Kashmiri Shaivism by Swami Lakshman Joo, who became his guru, and with whom Dyczkowski would stay for six months out of the year to attend his lectures.

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 Scholar. In 1985 he enrolled at the Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya for the Vachaspati (DLitt) degree.

Sanderson gifted two books to Dyczkowski on his wedding. One of these books was the Kubjikāmata, which sparked his curiosity and led him to research the Kubjikā tradition in Nepal, which he would visit once or twice a year. His research was the first such exposition of a secret Tantric tradition and led to multiple other such efforts. Dyczkowski primarily focuses on the Trika, Kaula, Krama, Bhairava, and Siddhānta schools of Tantra, among others. He is also notable for digitizing many previously inaccessible Sanskrit manuscripts and scriptures in association with the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute.

Dyczkowski died in February 2025, at the age of 73.

Works Books The Doctrine of Vibration: an analysis of the doctrines and practices of Kashmir Shaivism (1987, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York). . The canon of the Śaivāgama and the Kubjikā Tantras of the western Kaula tradition (1987, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York). . Kubjikā, Kālī, Tripurā, and Trika (2000, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart & The Nepal Research Centre, Kathmandu). . The cult of the goddess Kubjika: a preliminary comparative textual and anthropological survey of a secret Newar goddess (2001, The Nepal Research Centre, Kathmandu). . A journey in the world of Tantras (2004, Indica Books, Varanasi). . Self Awareness, own being and egoity (1990, DK Book Agencies, Varanasi). .

Works edited or translated The stanzas on vibration: the Spandakārikā with four commentaries by Vasugupta (1992, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York). . The aphorisms of Śiva: the ŚivaSūtra with Bhāskara's commentary, the Vārttika by Vasugupta, Bhāskarabhatta (1992, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York). . 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). . Tantraloka – The Light on and of the Tantras (2023, self-published at Varanasi) by Abhinavagupta. Vol. I: . Vol. II: . Vol. III: . Vol. IV . Vol. V. . Vol. VI. . Vol VII. . Vol VIII. . Vol IX. . Vol X. . Vol XI. . 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). The Samvitprakasa by Vamanadatta (1990, Ratna Printing Works, Varanasi). .

Articles The Khacakrapañcakastotra, Hymn to the Five Spheres of Emptiness: Introduction, Edition, and Translation in Tantrapuspanjali (2018, pp. 67–131, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts). . The doctrines and practices associated with the Kashmiri Śaiva concept of Spanda (PhD Thesis). (1986, British Library, London). .