Non Vedic Origin of Tantrism
Ajithan P.I.Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
References
T. Burrow, A cultural history of India (etd. by A.L. basham), p.20.
Cf. The srautasutras use the word in the sense of a process of a work containing many parts and in that of an act serving the purpose of many other acts. The latter interpretation is confirmed in the Mimamsa tradition according to which Tantra is an act- process- a method of doing or making something. In the Mahabhasya the word Tantra signifies a branch of knowledge, while the writers of the science of polity and medicine used the word Tanrayukti to mean 'cannons', 'propositions', 'principles', 'expositions', etc. The scientific treatises comprised in India are generally known as Tantras; their sections and subsections also bear the same title. Any system or thought- structure was also known as Tantra. Sankara used the term Kapilasya-tantra to denote the system expounded by Kapila, i.e., the Sankhya philosophy and Vainasika-tantra to denote the Buddhist philosophy of momentary existence..........Bhaskara-raya referred to Mimamsa philosophy as Jaimini-tantra in his common Devimahatmya. Bhattoji in his Tantradhikarinirnaya had used the terms PQrvatanra and uttara-tantra to denote the Purvamimamsa and Uttaramimamsa respectively'. N.N Bhattacharya, History of the Tantric Religion, pp. 1-2, See also P.V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, Vol-5,pp. 1031-33 and S.C Banerjee, A Brief history of Tantric Literature, p.1.
History of Dharmasastra, op. cit, p.l031.
'TNC< KUQU
(As quoted from Medinikosa by E.V Raman Namboothiri in his Introduction to Tantrasamuccaya (Malayalam), p.3.
The Unique characteristics include four-fold classification of subject - matters, linguistic peculiarities etc.
iuiti iOivxa vEidkl taiNCkl C, E.V Raman Namboothiri in his introduction to Tantrasamuccaya has pointed out that the extant manuscript does not contain the verse.
Andre Padoux, Vac, p.36.
ingmStaiNCkae imiiOivx> aaeKt Aagm>, ingmae ivon> aaeKtae imiae Eagvt> Sm«t>. ctu> islaNtsiht> paAcraCStu taiNCk>, AanNds
Alexis Sanderson, Saivism and Tantric Traditions, p.644.
Ibid, p. 663.
Mark S.G. Dyczkowski, The canon of Saivagama and the Kubjika Tantras of the Western Kaula tradition, p.6.
Ibid., p.7. 'Many of these tantras and related works must still have existed in the thirteenth century when Jayaratha commented on the Tantraloka and quoted extensively from these sources'.
Dominic Goodall, Hindu Scriptures, p.xxxiii.
Ancient India, p.25.
Idem.
History of the Tantric Religion, p.l58.
IS.Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, Lokayata- A study in Ancient Indian Materialism, p.xxi.
Ibid., p.xxii.
op. cit, p.vii. 'Historically one has to admit that certain tantric ideas and practices are evidently rooted in primitive sex rites based on the magical association of natural and human fertility. One should not fail to recall in this connection that such primitive sex rites contributed everywhere to the development of religious ideas and, in a broad sense, to the evolution of the human thought as a whole'.
Unlike the goal of fertility rites, the purpose of sexual rites in the vSma and kaula traditions is the spiritual progress of the practitioner.
op. cit, p, 60. 'The ritual practice of putting sacrificial oblations into their own mouths sounds highly peculiar. However, the rituals of the Tantrikas are something that sort; they drink wine and eat meat, whatever might be the significance they attach to such practices'.
Agni-The Vedic Ritual of the Fire altar (edt by Frits Staal), vol-2, p.44.
Ibid., pp. 41-42. 'the chief feasts of Dasa ritual appear to have been halfyearly seasonal rites, they are essentially "Tantric" in character, and are Ultimately connected with the mythology of Prajapati and Rudra, which includes the Sunahsepa legend.
See History of Dharmasastra, vol-5, pp.1035-39.
