History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.47
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.47
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therefore it is called Tantra'.¹⁶⁸⁸ They can only be described but one matter is included in almost all of them, viz. the five 'Makāras'. Often they contain an amalgam of religion, philosophy, superstitious dogmas, rites, astronomy, astrology, medicine, prognostications. They resemble the Purāṇas in several respects. The Buddhists deified many important personages of Buddhism and took over in course of time certain Hindu deities like Gaṇeśa and Sarasvatī. Tantras are classified by comparatively later works into three groups, Viṣṇukrānta, Rathakrānta and Aśvakrānta and 64 Tantras are assigned to each of the three groups (vide Tāntrik Texts, vol. I. ed. by Arthur Avalon, Introduction pp. II-IV); but these numbers seem to be fictitious The same Tantra is put in two classes by certain works. The Kulārṇava-tantra (III 6-7) speaks of five *āmnāyas* (East, West, South, North and ūrdhva) as the paths to Mokṣa. The Paraśurāma-kalpasūtra¹⁶⁸⁹ I. 2 does the same. Besides, Tāntrik worshippers are divided into three classes viz. Śaiva, Śākta and Vaiṣṇava. Bagchi states ('Studies in Tantras' p. 3) that Tāntrik literature is classified into *Srotas* (which are three) *Pīṭha* and *Āmnāya*. The Saundaryalaharī, ascribed by some to the great Advaita teacher Śaṅkarācārya, refers to sixty-four Tantras (in verse 31 which begins 'catuṣṣaṣtyā tantraiḥ' which, it is said therein, were declared by God Śaṅkara for deluding¹⁶⁹⁰ the world.
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Several Hindu and Buddhist Tantras have been published and we have now a fair idea of what the numerous Tantras must have been like. Some of the published Hindu Tantras are Kulārnava, Tantrasāra, Nityotsava, Paraśurāmakalpa-sūtra, Pārānandasūtra, Prapañcasāra, Mantra-mahodadhi of Mahīdhara, Mahānirvānatantra, Rudrayāmala, Vāmakeśvaratantra, Śāradātilaka (about 11th century A. D.). Besides, there are works like the Tantrāloka and Mālinīvijaya-vārtika of Abhinava-gupta of Kashmir Tāntrism. They stand somewhat apart from the works enumerated above. Among the published Buddhist tantras are, Advayavajrasangraha, Āryamañjuśrīmūlakalpa, Guhayasamāja-tantra (probably 6th century A. D.), Jñānasiddhi of Indrabhūti (717 A. D.), Nispan-nayogāvalī of Abhayākaragupta (composed between the last quarter of 11th and first of 12th century A. D.), Prajñopāya-viniscaya-siddhi of Anangavajra (about 705 A. D.), Sat-cakra-nirūpana (1577 A. D.), Sādhanamālā (containing 312 small works supposed to be from 3rd to 12th century A. D.). Of the Buddhist Tantras Āryamañjuśrīmūlakalpa and Guhyasamāja-tantra¹⁶⁹¹ are the oldest according to Dr. B. Bhattacharya (Intro. p. XXXVIII. to Guhya-samājatantra). Most of the above works have been published by Arthur Avalon (Sir. John Woodroffe) and in the Gaikwad Oriental Series.
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Some of the Hindu Tantras contain sublime philosophical views derived from the Upanisads and the Gītā or from the Sānkhya and Yoga and the final goal according to them is *Mukti* (liberation from the cycle of births and deaths) for all men but to be secured by following the path laid down by the Tantras. As the number of published Hindu Tantras is considerable, reference will be made mainly to a few viz. Kulārṇava, Pārānandasūtra, Prapañcasāra, Māhānirvāṇatantra, Vāmakeśvaratantra (Ānan. ed.), Śaktisaṅgamatantra, Śāradātilaka and in the case of the Buddhist tantras to Āryamañjuśrīmūla-kalpa, Guhyasamājatantra, Prajñopāyaviniścayasiddhi, Jñānasiddhi, Sādhanamālā, Sekoddeśaṭīkā. The purpose of most Buddhist Tantras is to indicate a short path for attaining Buddha-hood through Yoga practices and they introduce the element of Śakti for Yogic practices and for securing miraculous powers (called *siddhis*). In the History of Dharmaśāstra not much need be said about Buddhist Tantras except for comparison and stress will have to be laid on the Hindu Tantras alone. The philosophical aspects of Tāntrik culture may be studied in the Paraśurāmakalpasūtra, the Vāmakeśvara-tantra, Tantrarāja, the works on Kashmir Śaivism, works of Bhāskararāya, Bhāvanopaniṣad. This last is a late work dignified with the title of Upaniṣad, as it deals with *bhāvanā* and summarises the Vāsanāpaṭala of Tantrarājatantra (vide Intro. to the latter p. 3).
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There are also Vaiṣṇava Tāntras like the Gautamīya-tantra (D. C. ms. No. 1120 of 1886-1892) and Kramadīpikā of Keśava (who was a successor of Nimbārka) with the commentary of Govinda Vidyāvinoda (published in the Chowkhamba S. series), which are not referred to in this work from considerations of space. Vide Agnipurāṇa 39. 1-7 for the names of twenty-five Vaiṣṇava Tantras dealing with the establishment of Viṣṇu image and other matters and Māheśvaratantra 26. 16-20.