Tantric and Purānic Cosmology according to Shaykh Muḥammad Ghawth's Bahr al-Ḥayāṭ

Abstract

Baḥr al-Ḥayāt ("the Ocean of Life") is a 16th century Persian text written by Muḥammad Ghawth Gwaliyari (d 1563). It is originally a translation of a yogic text known as Amṛtakuṇḍa ("Pool of Water of Life") which is now lost. Muḥammad mentions only an Arabic version named Ḥawḍ al-Ḥayāt. Baḥr is consisted of ten chapters. In its last chapter there is a kind of cosmology similar to those of the Tantric and Purānic. It promotes the doctrine of "Multiplicity in Unity" which is in accordance with Muḥammad's thoughts. Muḥammad employs Islamic proofs for Hindu ideas for instance when the text speaks of the Sound as the first manifestation of the Absolut, or the love as the vital element of creation or the primeval waters as the foundation for creation Muḥammad brings quotations from Quran and Islamic traditions as evidences. This paper tries to trace Muḥammad's narration in the Hindu literature.