The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c9.s2.3

c9.s2.3

The Tāntrics who were the advocates of psychic culture, by persistent efforts through mental exercises, used to obtain super-normal powers which were known as Siddhis. Those who gained such Siddhis were called Siddhas, and the process through which they obtained Siddhis called Sādhana. In the Yogasūtra which is recognised to be the earliest work in Sanskrit on the subject of psychic exercises, enumerates eight different Siddhis. Later works mention more and the Brahmavaivarta Purāṇa mentions thirty-four kinds of Siddhis including the eight already mentioned in the Yogasūtra.