History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.314

v7.c92.314

Another characteristic item in Tāntrik worship is ‘*yantra*’ (geometrical diagram), sometimes called *cakra* also, which one finds to some extent also in the Purāṇas and slightly in modern orthodox practices. A *yantra* is a diagram (or figure) engraved, drawn or painted on metal, stone, paper or other material. It resembles a maṇḍala but differs from it in this that a maṇḍala may be employed in the worship of any *devatā*, while a yantra is specially appropriated to the worship of a particular deity or employed for a particular purpose The Kulārṇava-tantra¹⁸⁶⁰ states; ‘Yantra is a development (or product) of mantra and a deity apprehended in the form of a mantra; the deity worshipped on the yantra immediately becomes favourable; yantra is so called because it removes all pains (or perturbations) arising from such faults as love and anger; if God is worshipped in yantras, he is pleased’. The same Tantra further says ‘if worship is done without a yantra the *devatā* is not pleased’. Here the word ‘yantra’ is derived from the root ‘*yantṛ*’. In another place the same tantra states ‘Yantra is so declared because it always saves (the worshipper) from Yama (god of death) and goblins and other dangers’. The Rāmapūrvatāpanīya Upaniṣad¹⁸⁶¹ observes ‘the arrangement (or preparation) of a yantra is the body of the deity which confers safety’. The Kaulāvalīnirṇaya observes ‘worship (of a deity) without employing a yantra, satiating (the goddess) without offering flesh, drinking wine without being accompanied by a Śakti (the wife or other woman associated with a Śākta worshipper)-all these yield no fruit’ Some works evolved a ‘yantra-gāyatrī’ also¹⁸⁶²