Part 4 The Master’s spiritual consort for his meditation on this maṇḍala, the yoginī called Śīlatvā, took up the second kīla-dagger, that of wrathful Amṛtakuṇḍali. She hurled it into the lake in Baṅgala, turning the nāga and its retinue into ashes. After seven days and seven nights, the lake dried up and all the heretical schools were overcome. The Master’s retreat attendant, a yogin from Kāmarūpa called Ratnaśīla, took up the third small kīla-dagger. With it he struck the crystal boulder in Rājagṛha, which immediately fell to pieces. This too greatly benefited the Buddhists. Śīlatvā and Ratnaśīla also had reached the vidyādhara stage, and, although they have disappeared, if they wished they could reappear in emanation bodies. The Master stayed a little longer in Trimala and crafted a sandalwood image of Noble Avalokiteśvara. In Vikramaśīla he built a small Tārā temple. Then he went again to glorious Uḍḍiyāna, gathered together the fortunate, and they built a temple there. During that time, near Uḍḍiyāna in a land called Kaccha, there was a highly respected Buddhist community. Even the king held the lay vows and was a paṇḍita. The Turkish king of Pāgada in the land of Molatāna had attacked Kaccha with his army and destroyed a few of its monastic colleges, yet more were facing imminent destruction. As the invading army, swimming and in boats, approached along the river Nīli, the Master awaited them on the bank. With a wrathful stare he raised his forefinger in the threatening mudrā. This caused the entire Turkish army—seven large ships, about five hundred small wooden boats and those swimming—to sink to the bottom of the river. All were killed. For many generations there was no further harm from Turks in that land. A Work Telling the Life and Liberation Story of the Great Master Padmākara.His ordination name was Padmākara, ‘the Lotus Born’. The secret name he received upon initiation into the maṇḍala was Padmasambhava, ‘the Lotus Born’.[26] In earlier times, people of Uḍḍiyāna called him Kamalakuliśa or Padmavajra, because on his forehead was a figure

When I walk on snow-laden paths of hills my each footprint appear clear, deep and distinct which I can trace my path back without effort. But after a while due to wind and fresh snowfall all traces of my footsteps are wiped out in the snow. The residue is what sticks to my imagination. It is the same with the study of history. Every episode in it howsoever realistic, does fade with the sweep of time and occurrences of new events. Surviving evidences largely depend on interpretation of the historian whose reason emanates from intellect and as such has the glaring weakness of limitations of one’s mind which are conditioned by the present environment. The general attitudes and outward expressions of men of our time cannot be similar to those of the primitive society or even of the preceding generations. Thus, the logic of today recalling the events of the past times with indecisive evidences must surely be inaccurate in many ways.་The line of demarcation between history and legend is too thin to observe while writing; the two overlap each other unconsciously and unknowingly. Faith and reason overpower each other throughout one’s life, which results in contrad iction, but the conflict never ceases in any sphere. As such, it is difficult to say if the author of a book of history is free from the influence of his faith in analysing the past. I know many such persons who do not accept in their writings many episodes as historical in order to exhibit their rational mind and modern scholarship. But in the core of their hearts they believe the episodes in toto and do respect them. Such proclivities in authors are nothing short of dishonesty. As we focus our vision on the historical perspective of our time interspersed with strong socio-economic bias of the historian for recording past events to suit their political ideologies, we can sense the real flaw in the cross currents of historical literature and that takes us into a land of phantasy. In this situation I