History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.47.1

v7.c92.47.1

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.