Malcolm wrote: ↑Mon Oct 22, 2018 3:59 pmI think the most likely explanation is that the legend of Khyidron being the consort is quite late (I can find no reference to it earlier than the Taksham bio of Tsogyal -- it is not mentioned in any earlier bio of Tsogyal-- I looked), and that ChNN was referring to earlier historical sources he had available to him that are now obscure, since as you mention, it seems no one asked him for a source, including myself.
Sadly, this is all conjecture as no one asked him. A possible ancient text on Ati Muwer is not impossible, but there's no evidence for it. There is also no proof that the description of the tigress as Tashi Chidren started with Samten Lingpa. We would have to look at older texts that deal with Drolo in the various terma traditions, and there are quite a lot of those. One thing is for sure, though, the Drolo texts in the termas as Adzom Drukpa's and Dudjom Tersar include mention of the tigress as the consort rather than as a subjugated Bon deity.
The other day I just had a quick flick through the 500+ pages of Adzom Drukpa's Drolo cycle and noticed that the tigress is treated pretty much the same as in the Dudjom Tersar. For example, on page 144 it describes the mandala in the usual way starting talking about the uncontrived immeasurable display of the cremation ground, in the middle of a roaring blazing hurricane of red wind, in the expanse of a turbulent dark red lake of blood, on the peak of an adamantine rock mountain, above a lotus of non-attachment and a sun and moon of means and wisdom, on a throne of crossed male and female rudras of the ego, a seat of a
wrathful liberating consort, a majestic red tiger or words to that effect.
སྒྲོལ་ཡུམ་ཁྲོས་པ་སྟག་དམར་བརྗིད་པའི་གདན༔
Adzom Drukpa clearly doesn't think that it is odd to have the heruka ride on the consort. Dudjom Rinpoche, as you surely know, said exactly the same kind of thing (in the Pema srog drup) referring to the tigress as the liberating consort, a carnivorous pregnant tigress.
སྒྲོལ་ཡུམ་ཟ་བྱེད་སྟག་མོ་གྲུས་མ་ནི༔
Again, in the kong wa, the tigress is referred to as "the greatly blissful wisdom (shes rab - prajna) the liberating consort"
བདེ་ཆེན་ཤེས་རབ་སྒྲོལ་བའི་ཡུམ
I think considering the tigress as the consort of Drolo is so pervasive that there isn't really any reason to discuss it. We can accept that on one occasion an alternative was taught, and appreciate that a multiplicity of views adds colour and diversity to the mythos, but ultimately, that the tigress is Drolo's consort is the most commonly accepted view.
Anyway, this really is enough from me. I even managed to bore myself.