Tantra (Overview)

Shaman Hatley, Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Religious Studies

Synonyms: Tantric traditions; Tantrism; Āgamic traditions

Introduction

Tantra or Tantrism is an historically influential and widely misunderstood dimension of

Hinduism. This is equally true of Buddhism, both in and beyond South Asia. Tantric practices

flourished within Jainism as well, and even had influence in Indian Sufism. While this article

concerns Hindu tantric traditions, these cannot truly be understood in isolation, for Tantra has

historically transcended religious boundaries. Moreover, the rubric of ‘Hindu Tantra’ is at least

partially misleading: in the period of their greatest influence, tantric forms of Śaivism and

Vaiṣṇavism were considered by the Vaidika orthodox to be heterodox (vedabāhya), like

Buddhism and Jainism. And if formal acknowledgement of the Vedas, however nominal, defines

the boundaries of Hinduism, early Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava tantric traditions would not necessarily be

considered Hindu.

Although possessing earlier roots and broad influence, Tantra is primarily associated with

the genre of scriptural literature known as tantras, which emerge in the post-Gupta or early

medieval period, from the fifth or sixth century C.E. Initiatory religious traditions centered

around the rituals and doctrines of the tantras flourished throughout the subcontinent and the

lands of its influence particularly through the twelfth century C.E., and some remain vital living

traditions today. Paradoxically, tantric traditions are not always recognized as such, for their

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success was such that the boundaries between orthodoxy/orthopraxy and Tantra blurred over

time, especially in ritual. Crucially, also, the category “Tantra” acquired an air of disrepute in

the colonial period, being associated in turn with outlandish superstition, black magic, and/or

debased sexuality.[1] Tantric traditions have received a more sympathetic appraisal in the

contemporary world, and a wave of new scholarship allows for a much richer understanding of

the tantras and their historical contexts than was previously possible.[2] The most up-to-date

and comprehensive introduction to the subject is André Padoux’s The Hindu Tantric World: An

Overview.[3]

Tantras, Tantra, and Tantrism: the problem of definition

There is little agreement concerning the definition of “Tantra,” and likewise its boundaries.

At the heart of this problem lies the fact that Tantra, as an abstract noun designating a religion,

spiritual practices, or philosophy, seems to have no premodern precedent. It is, in other words,

an etic, modern category. In premodern usage, the Sanskrit word tantra primarily designates a

genre of revealed scripture. While not calling themselves “Tantra,” the religions which treated

tantras as scriptural authorities certainly did have names for themselves: for instance, the Śaiva

Mantramārga (“Way of Mantras”), the Buddhist Mantranaya (“Mantra Method”) or Vajrayāna

(“Adamantine Vehicle”), and the Vaiṣṇava Pāñcarātra. One might hence reasonably object to

the use of “Tantra” as an abstract noun. A particularly unsatisfying alternative is the neologism

“Tantrism.” Use of the descriptive adjective “tantric” is far less problematic, calqued as this is

upon the Sanskrit tāntrika, “based upon tantras.” Recent scholarship hence tends to favor

expressions such as “Tantric Śaivism” over “Śaiva Tantra” and the problematic (what to speak

of inelegant) “Śaivite Tantrism,” and also to avoid the monolithic category “Tantra” or

“Tantrism.” Another trend, particularly among Buddhologists, is to use the English term

“esoteric” rather than “tantric.” Regardless of terminological preferences, it is crucial to bear in

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mind that tantric religious systems were diverse, and that the boundaries between these and

more mainstream traditions varied widely.

What, then, characterizes tantras and tantric traditions, distinguishing these from other

Indic religious systems? Traditional etymologies (nirukti) of the word tantra emphasize, for

instance, the power of tantric mantras to effect spiritual liberation (mukti, mokṣa) as well as

supernatural powers (siddhi) and pleasures (bhoga). Modern scholarship has tended to approach

the definitional problem through polythetic or multifactoral classification: identifying key shared

characteristics of tantric traditions, rather than a single essential defining property.[4] One of the

earliest of such attempts outlined eighteen “constituents of Tantrism,” which “need by no means

to be present in their entirety in a Tantric text.”[5: 7–9]. This expansive list highlights numerous

important features of Hindu tantric traditions, such as the centrality of initiation, the guru, and

secrecy; the existence of a tantric ritual paradigm distinct from the Vedic; forms of yoga

involving an esoteric physiology, manipulation of bodily energies, and deity-visualization; ritual

applications of tantric mantras (distinct from the Vedic), geometric diagrams (maṇḍala), and

ritual gestures (mudrā); complex theories of mantra and sacred sound; and a distinctive outlook

on the nature of spiritual practice (sādhana) and liberation. Similar definitional endeavors have

generated, for instance, descriptions of eight “significant features of tantric Buddhism;”[6: 197–

202] twelve “features which characterize the spirit of Buddhist tantric thought”;[7: 4–5] and, in

the case of Douglas Brooks, a detailed polythetic definition of “Hindu Tantrism.”[8: 52–72]

Needless to say, such definitions usually diverge, and offer abundant scope for disagreement

concerning the properties identified and their relative priority. Moreover, definitions which lay

claim to wide applicability in some cases can be shown to emerge from and reflect more narrow

contexts. For instance, the ten defining criteria Brooks adduces privilege Śākta traditions in

their late-medieval, orthodox Brahmanical varieties—Śrīvidyā in particular. Furthermore, absent

from Brooks’ list is at least one important criterion: the ontological identity of mantras and

deities, which is surely a defining characteristic of the Śaiva “Way of Mantras” (mantramārga).

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 Given these limitations, some scholars eschew a polythetic approach to the category tantra

altogether and advance reductionistic definitions.[9: 7–9] Others seek to reconcile essentialistic

and polythetic approaches. Ronald Davidson, in particular, drawing upon insights from cognitive

science into the role of metaphors in category formation, proposes to define esoteric (i.e. tantric)

Buddhism by identifying its central “sustaining metaphor”—that of the practitioner assuming

divine kingship—in a manner that also satisfies “polythetic (or feature bundle) category

construction.” In Davidson’s words, “the central and defining metaphor for mature esoteric

Buddhism is that of an individual assuming kingship and exercising dominion.”[10: 118–23]

Gavin Flood affirms Davidson’s approach but offers an alternative, and in my opinion more

broadly applicable, central metaphor—that of the practitioner’s divinization.[11: 9–12] Yet

another approach, inspired by poststructuralism, has been to emphasize the contingent,

dialectically constructed nature of the category: Donald Lopez thus highlights the ways in which

“tantra” takes on meaning in various discursive contexts in opposition to other categories: sūtra,

“original Buddhism,” etc.[12: 83–104] This is useful, especially since in the Hindu context the

categories tantra or tāntrika often take on meaning in opposition to veda and vaidika. Going

further, Hugh Urban argues that Tantra is “a social construction, a category that is by no

means stable or fixed”—one “born through the creative interaction between the scholarly

imagination and the object of study.”[1: 271–72] While this discourse-analytical approach leads

to important insights, philological and historical approaches may have more to offer in a field

where so large a proportion of primary sources still await serious study.

The roots and early history of Tantric Śaivism

Tantric forms of the Śaiva religion—an important branch of what we now call Hinduism—

come into evidence around the sixth century C.E. While having complex roots, these develop

most immediately from the Pāśupatas and other closely-related Śaiva ascetic orders, known

collectively as the Atimārga, “The Path Beyond.” Much of our knowledge of the formative

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period of Tantric Śaivism derives from the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā, which has close connections

with the Atimārga. Its editors place the text’s oldest portion in the mid-fifth to early-sixth

centuries.[13: 30–73] Within a relatively short period, though, Tantric Śaivism, or rather the

Mantramārga (“Way of Mantras”), became integral to the religious landscape of early-medieval

South and Southeast Asia, with records of royal initiation appearing already in the second half

of the seventh century. Indeed, Śaivism—including, if not especially, its tantric varieties—

became so prominent that Alexis Sanderson describes the early-medieval period as “the Śaiva

age.”[14]

Tantric Śaiva accounts of revelation posit scripture emanating from the five faces of the

supreme deity, Śiva, in “streams” or “currents” (srotas). Two of these correspond to the primary

historical divisions of Mantramārga Śaivism. First and probably more ancient is the Śaiva

Siddhānta, for which texts called Siddhāntatantras form the principal scriptural authorities. The

second and more diverse “Bhairava current” (bhairavasrotas) comprises cults of Bhairava—Śiva

in his guise as a fierce, skull-bearing ascetic (kapālin)—and a variety of associated goddesses.

The scriptural sources for these cults in their early forms are called Bhairavatantras (“Tantras

of Bhairava”). It is within this stream that the Kaula tantric systems emerged. Though

belonging to Tantric Śaivism, much of this literature is “Śākta” insofar as the supreme

Goddess—the parā śakti, “supreme female power”—occupies a position of cultic and/or

theological preeminence. The remaining three streams are historically important but poorly

preserved: the cult of the Sisters (bhaginī) of Tumburu (Śiva as celestial musician) taught in the

Vāmatantras (“Tantras of the Leftward Stream”); and those of the Bhūtatantras and

Gāruḍatantras, focused upon apotropaic and/or medicinal magic.

The Śaiva Siddhānta

The Śaiva Siddhānta, so-called for having the Siddhāntatantras as its principal scriptures,

represents the historical mainstream of the Mantramārga. The earliest Siddhāntatantras

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established fundamental ritual forms and doctrines followed or further inflected in many other

tantric traditions. In cultic terms, the Siddhāntatantras center upon the pacific, five-faced deity

Sadāśiva—“Eternally (sadā) Auspicious (śiva)”—whose body is constituted by the five brahma

mantras, which also correspond to his five faces. This tradition developed a vast scriptural canon

and rich exegetical literature by the early second millennium, and was influential throughout the

subcontinent as well as maritime Southeast Asia, from Kashmir to Indonesia. Teachings of the

Śaiva Siddhānta are preserved in the Tutur or Tattwa literature in Old Javanese.[16] Today the

Śaiva Siddhānta is nonetheless almost exclusively associated with South India, especially Tamil

Nadu, where exists a rich living tradition. While a continuous tradition, it is useful to

distinguish the South Indian Śaiva Siddhānta from the early, i.e. pre-12th century Śaiva

Siddhānta, for these differ in key ways.

Early Siddhāntatantras, many of which survive and several of which have been published

with English or French translations, expound upon a variety of subjects. The fifteen chapters of

the Parākhyatantra, for example, treat such topics as the nature and interrelationship of the

soul, body, and Lord; scriptural revelation, the creation of the universe, and cosmography;

mantra and language; the disciplines of yoga; the rite of initiation; and the nature and

attainment of spiritual liberation.[17: lxiii–lxxiii] Although the earliest sources were not initially

organized in this manner, a Siddhāntatantra is conventionally considered to possess four sections

(pāda): those of doctrine (jñāna), meditation (yoga), ritual (kriyā), and the comportment of

ascetic ‘vows’ (caryā). Among the important surviving early (pre-9th century) sources are the

Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā, multiple recensions of the Kālottara, the Rauravasūtrasaṃgraha,

Svāyambhuvasūtrasaṃgraha, Kiraṇa, Mataṅgapārameśvara, and Mṛgendra. The Mṛgendra is

perhaps the most learned of these in character, approaching the exegetical works of authors such

as Sadyojyotis in doctrinal sophistication. In contrast, earlier works such as the Sārdhatriśati

Kālottara were written in comparatively rustic Sanskrit, are mainly concerned with practice, and

lack some of what came to be core doctrines of the Śaiva Siddhānta.

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 Contrary to the view that ‘Tantra’ is private, esoteric, and antinomian, the ritual manuals

(paddhatis) compiled by Śaiva Siddhānta exegetes, and a variety of other evidence, paint the

picture of an institutionalized religion with a strong civic dimension. While the early tantras

mainly expound practices meant to benefit the individual practitioner, the Śaiva Siddhānta also

developed rituals performed by officiants to benefit patrons, from royal consecration to ritual for

public temples. Śaiva gurus presided over what were sometimes large and well-endowed

monasteries, and played important roles in royal courts. An entire genre of scripture, called the

Pratiṣṭhātantras, was dedicated to the construction of temples, iconography, and the

consecration of religious images. This institutionalization and integration into the religious,

political, and economic fabric of early-medieval India was probably a factor in the Śaiva

Siddhānta’s increasing conformity to orthodox social values.[14: 252–303] If Bhaṭṭa Rāmakaṇṭha,

writing in tenth-century Kashmir, seems to uphold Brahmanical caste and gender norms, such

orthodoxy is greatly amplified in late-medieval South India, where the Tamil Śaiva Siddhānta

also possesses a hereditary brahmin priesthood. This situation obscures the fact that early

traditions broke radically from Vaidika values in offering tantric initiation to those qualified,

regardless of caste and gender.

The early Śaiva Siddhānta developed an influential school of philosophy. First crystallized in

scriptural texts such as the Svāyambhuvasūtrasaṃgraha, Śaiva doctrine was systematized most

notably by Sadyojyotis (fl. c. 675–725 C.E.),[18] the 10th-century Kashmirian Bhaṭṭa

Rāmakaṇṭha, and South Indian scholars of the early second millennium, such as Aghoraśiva.

The ‘classical’ Śaiva Siddhānta advanced a dualist ontology premised on the fundamental

distinction between Śiva (pati, the Lord), the “bound soul” (paśu), and matter (pāśa, “fetter”).

The soul’s true nature is śivatva, the omniscient, liberated state of Śiva. To regain this—to

attain liberation—first and foremost requires the Lord’s grace in the form of tantric initiation

(dīkṣā). Distinctive to the Śaiva Siddhānta is its emphasis on the material nature of primordial

impurity (mala), which binds the soul but may be destroyed by the power of ritual. The Śaiva

Siddhānta shares with other branches of Tantric Śaivism a distinctive emanationist cosmology.

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Building upon the Sāṃkhya theory of twenty-five ontic principles or evolutes (tattva), Śaivas

extend this analysis to arrive at thirty-six, divided into the created, ‘impure’ universe and the

higher, ‘pure’ universe, beyond the sphere of the material principle, māyā. The pure universe

consists of the tattvas of paramaśiva, the wholly transcendent supreme deity; śakti, the supreme

creative principle or energy; sadāśiva, God as transcendent-cum-immanent; īśvara, God as

immanent; and śuddhavidyā, the subtle material principle of the pure universe. Below these are

principles such as māyā, time (kāla), and fate (niyati), and then the tattvas of Sāṃkhya,

beginning with the soul (puruṣa).[19: xxxiv–xxxviii] Śaiva exegetes produced rigorous and learned

expositions of their doctrines, including critiques of various schools of Atimārga Śaivism,

Buddhism, and Vedānta, among others. Recent scholarship has done much to highlight the Śaiva

Siddhānta contribution to Indian philosophy.[20; 21]

The Śaiva Siddhānta evolved considerably in Tamil Nadu. South Indian theologians of the

mid-second millennium moved away from the views of their predecessors, developing a Vedānta-

inflected nondualism that is effectively a new, self-consciously Veda-congruent school.[22: 38–44]

The Śaiva scriptural canon was also significantly extended, with the composition of the so-called

“South Indian Śaiva Temple Āgamas.”[23: 128] Attested neither in early manuscripts nor quoted

by first-millennium exegetes, these scriptures are distinguished by their focus upon Śaiva temple

rituals and public festivals (utsava). The titles of the temple āgamas are calqued on those of lost

texts listed in authoritative accounts of the early Śaiva Siddhānta canon. The earliest (c. 13th-

century) and most influential of the temple āgamas is the Kāmika, whose cosmology and ritual

are brought to life vividly in Richard Davis’s Ritual in an Oscillating Universe: Worshipping

Śiva in Medieval India.[24] This South Indian tradition, which modern authors typically have in

mind when referring to the Śaiva Siddhānta, also draws on the riches of Tamil Śaiva bhakti

literature.

The cults of Bhairava and goddesses

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 Cultic and scriptural diversity characterized the Mantramārga early in its history, perhaps

already in the sixth century. The Bhairavatantras, revelation associated with the fierce southern

or rightward face of Sadāśiva, rival the Siddhāntatantras in historical importance. This scriptural

stream is associated with the deity Bhairava, “the terrifier,” and various goddesses, such as

Cāmuṇḍā and the Mothers (mātṛ), forms of Bhairavī, and Kālī. Also historically important was

the cult of Tumburu-Bhairava and his four sisters (bhaginī) taught in Vāmatantras, the

“leftward” stream of revelation. Only one of these, the Vīṇāśikhātantra, seems to survive, but

the tradition was influential through at least the eighth century.[25: 33–38]

The ritual world of the Bhairavatantras diverges from the Śaiva Siddhānta mainstream

profoundly, carrying forward otherworldly and antinomian elements of Atimārga asceticism.

Centered upon deities whose iconography combines images of death, power, and eroticism, the

ritual of the Bhairavatantras makes use of conventionally impure items, such as human skulls

and offerings of alcohol and flesh. Mantric practices aiming at the attainment of supernatural

power (siddhi) and all manner of pragmatic magic abound in this literature. The

Bhairavatantras are themselves diverse, divided into the Mantrapīṭha and Vidyāpīṭha. In the

latter, the cultic focus is upon goddesses—vidyās, in the sense of “female mantra-deities”—more

than forms of the male god Bhairava. Fundamental to the Mantrapīṭha is the Svacchanda or

Svacchandalalitabhairava, whose doctrine and ritual are comparatively close to the early

Siddhāntatantras. Early tantras of the Vidyāpīṭha, on the other hand, delineate radically

antinomian practices, including ritual coitus, rites for controlling dangerous spirits, and all

manner of tantric “sorcery.” As with the Atimārga’s Kāpālikas (“Skull-bearers”), the preferred

ritual locus is the cremation ground (śmaśāna). Major branches of the Vidyāpīṭha include the

cult of Caṇḍā Kāpālinī (“Grim Bearer of the Skull”) taught in the Brahmayāmala or Picumata

(c. 7th–8th centuries); tantras of the Trika (the cult of the goddesses Parā, Aparā, and

Parāparā), especially the Siddhayogeśvarīmata and Tantrasadbhāva; and tantras of the Krama

(the cult of Kālī), such as the Kramasadbhāva and Jayadrathayāmala. These sources place much

emphasis on yoginīs: variegated, wild, often therianthropic flying goddesses with whom

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practitioners sought visionary, transactional encounters.[15] Vidyāpīṭha sources and cults have

notable parallels in the early Vajrayāna Buddhist Yoginītantras, especially the

Cakrasaṃvaratantra, and Alexis Sanderson has made a compelling case for pervasive Śaiva

influence.[14]

Kaula Śaivism, attested by the ninth century, departed from the Vidyāpīṭha by eschewing

mortuary emblems and rituals, and attenuating the quest for occult power characteristic of so

much of Vidyāpīṭha praxis. While having continuity with Vidyāpīṭha cults, the Kaulas

developed a simplified ritual paradigm for both initiation and daily observances, placing more

emphasis on ecstatic gnosis and the inward practices of yoga.[14] The Kaula reform is associated

with the legendary guru Macchanda or Matsyendra, who also features among the Siddha

“saints” of Vajrayāna Buddhism, and is one of the legendary gurus of the Nātha sect. Kaula

tantras posit themselves as a higher, hidden stream of revelation beyond the five main currents

of scripture. Kaulism came to be divided into four main traditions (āmnāya) with different cultic

orientations: the Kaula Trika and Krama, and cults of the hunchback crone Kubjikā and the

beautiful Tripurasundarī.[15: 679–90]

A school of nondualist Śaiva philosophy emerged in Kashmir in the late-ninth century with

scriptural roots in the Kaula Krama and Trika. Commonly referred to as “Kashmir Shaivism,”

this is distinct in numerous ways from the nondual Vedānta of Śaṅkara. The tradition was

inaugurated by the Śivasūtras of Vasugupta, whose teachings form the basis of the “Doctrine of

Vibration” (Spanda). This emphasizes the dynamic, creative nature of the all-embracing, wholly

autonomous consciousness that is Śiva. Later teachers refine this conception by positing

consciousness as having the dual nature of prakāśa, luminosity, and vimarśa, reflective

awareness. A succession of authors of the tenth to eleventh centuries articulated nondual Śaiva

doctrine in rigorously philosophical terms. The nondualists critiqued the ritualism of the Śaiva

Siddhānta exegetes, emphasizing instead the lib erating p ower of gnosis: “re-

cognizing” (pratyabhijñā-) one’s essential nature as Śiva. This school is thus called the

Pratyabhijñā, “the Doctrine of Recognition,” as formulated by Utpaladeva (mid-tenth century).

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Like their Śaiva Siddhānta contemporaries, the nondualists engaged deeply with the views of

other schools of Indian thought. The Buddhist Yogācāra or Vijñānavāda receives particularly

incisive critique, though this form of Buddhist idealism shares a great deal with—and indeed

directly influenced—nondual Śaiva thought.[26] The most distinguished proponent of nondual

Śaivism was Abhinavagupta (fl. c. 975–1025), a Kashmirian polymath who, in addition to his

considerable contributions as a Śaiva exegete and philosopher, wrote important works in the

field of aesthetics, such as the Abhinavabhāratī commentary on the Nāṭyaśāstra. His magnum

opus, the Tantrāloka (“Light on the Tantras”), accomplishes a virtuoso synthesis of Śaiva ritual,

nondual philosophy, and aesthetics.

Kaula traditions developed in new directions in the second millennium, some fading into

obscurity while others thrived, such as Śrīvidyā—the Kaula cult of Kāmeśvarī or Tripurasundarī.

Having humble origins in a tradition of love magic, Śrividyā incorporated the doctrines of

nondual Śaivism through the exegetical works of Jayaratha (12th century) and Amṛtānanda

(13th or 14th century), its sophistication reaching its apogee in the learned works of

Bhāskararāya (18th century). Śrīvidyā flourished from Kashmir to Bengal and South India, and

remains influential today. Disavowing antinomian or ‘left-handed’ ritual culture, the Śrīvidyā

won acceptance in elite, orthodox circles, including the lineage of Śaṅkarācāryas at Śṛṅgerī and

Kanchipuram. The Śrīvidyā adopted the influential six-chakra system of kuṇḍalinī yoga first

attested in the root text of the Kaula cult of Kubjikā, the Kubjikāmata. This yoga is in fact best

known today through a colonial-era translation of a Śrīvidyā text: the yoga chapter of the

Tattvacintmāmaṇi of Pūrṇānandagiri (16th century), translated by “Arthur Avalon” in The

Serpent Power (1918).[27]

Much as the Śaiva Siddhānta developed new scriptures in post-12th century South India, a

new corpus of goddess-oriented, i.e. “Śākta,” Kaula tantras arose mainly in eastern India

(“Greater Bengal”). The Bṛhattantrasāra of Āgamavāgīśa, a tantric digest composed in 17th

century Bengal, looks back upon a large canon of such śākta tantras, surprisingly few of which

belong to the first millennium. Distinctive to the Śākta tantras of Bengal is their synthesis of the

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cults of Kālī (the Kālīkula) and Tripurasundarī (Śrīkula or Śrīvidyā), as well as, for example,

their incorporation of deities from Vajrayāna Buddhism, such as Tārā. Such syncretism is

exemplified by the Daśa Mahāvidyās, a popular pantheon of ten tantric goddesses possessing

roots in Śaiva, Buddhist, Vaiṣṇava, and folk traditions.[14: 240–43; 28] Bengali Vaiṣṇava

devotionalism impacted Bengal’s tantric Śāktism, as evident for instance in the poignant

devotional songs of Rāmprasād Sen (18th century). Śāktism was integral to Bengal’s non-

Vaiṣṇava brahmin communities, and the trend within elite Śākta circles towards brahmanical

conformity is already pronounced in the 12th-century Śāradātilaka of Lakṣmaṇadeśika, an

Orissan brahmin.[14: 252]

Tantric Vaiṣṇavism

Prior to Śaivism’s efflorescence in the post-Gupta, early-medieval period (c. 6th–12th

centuries), Vaiṣṇavism was India’s dominant theistic tradition. A vibrant form of Tantric

Vaiṣṇavism known as the Pāñcarātra developed alongside the tantric traditions of Śaivism and

Buddhism, and is attested in the seventh century.[29] This likely had roots in a non-tantric

Vaiṣṇava sect by the same name existing centuries earlier. Much like the Śaiva Siddhānta, the

Pāñcarātra is today generally considered a temple-based Hindu sect of South India, but its

earliest sources concern private ritual praxis more than public temples, and the tradition was

present as far away as Kashmir, Nepal, and Cambodia in the early-medieval period.[29] Though

viewed skeptically by the most orthodox, the Pāñcarātra, perhaps even earlier than the Śaiva

Siddhānta, tended to position itself in a non-oppositional manner to the Vedas and Brahmanical

norms.

The Pāñcarātra is an initiatory tradition founded on the authority of revealed texts,

alternately called saṃhitās, āgamas, or tantras. Among the earliest (probably pre-ninth century)

and most authoritative of these are the Jayākhyasaṃhitā, Sātvatasaṃhitā, and Pauṣkarasaṃhitā,

sometimes referred to as the “three jewels.” The Jayākhya and newly discovered early scriptures

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such as the Svāyambhuvapañcarātra prove particularly close to, and indeed indebted in various

ways, to early Śaiva tantras.[14: 61–67] The practices of the early Pāñcarātra largely mirror

those of Tantric Śaivism, sharing to a large degree a common ritual syntax and technical

terminology, as documented extensively by the Tāntrikābhidhānakośa project.[30] Post-initiatory

praxis centers on mantra-based inner-worship of Vaiṣṇava deities, as well as external worship

using substrates such as maṇḍalas and religious images. The meditational disciplines of yoga are

integral to the early Pāñcarātra, which, like Mantramārga Śaivism, also teaches practices

specifically for the sādhaka who seeks occult powers (siddhi).[31] The Pāñcarātra expanded its

scriptural corpus in second-millennium South India, like the southern Śaiva Siddhānta, with

newer scriptures such as the Pādmasaṃhitā focusing on the ritual life of Vaiṣṇava temples and

civic religion more than private religious practice. Recent research has highlighted the sectarian

diversity of the second-millennium Pāñcarātra.[32]

The Pāñcarātra teaches a Sāṃkhya-based emanationist cosmology, akin to the Śaiva

Mantramārga but with unique Vaiṣṇava conceptions of the divine. Distinctive is its theogony of

the fourfold emanations (vyūha) of the supreme deity, Vāsudeva (i.e. Krishna or Viṣṇu)—

Saṃkarṣaṇa (i.e. Balarāma), Pradyumna, Aniruddha, and the vyūha form of Vāsudeva—as well

as various lower manifestations (vibhava, i.e. avatāra). These deities and an array of female

śaktis, especially Śrī or Lakṣmī, form the principal deities of the Pāñcarātra. Pāñcarātra

theology was highly influential, for it informs Śrī Vaiṣṇavism, and hence the Viśiṣṭādvaita

Vedānta of Rāmānuja. His teacher’s teacher, Yamunācārya, in fact wrote a spirited defence of

the status of Pāñcarātra āgamas or tantras as scripture (the Āgamaprāmāṇya). The Pāñcarātra

also influenced Bengali Vaiṣṇavism, whose theologians considered its saṃhitās authoritative and

cited them extensively, especially in matters of ritual.[29: 155]

Other regional forms of Vaiṣṇavism developed tantric traditions, notably the Vaiṣṇava

Sahajiyās of early-modern Bengal. The Sahajiyās form a heterodox counterpart to Gauḍīya

Vaiṣṇavism, a movement founded by Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the early sixteenth century. While

mainstream Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas cultivated loving devotion to Kṛṣṇa through worship and

13
collective chant (saṃkīrtana), the Sahajiyās sought to experience the ecstasy of Rādhā and

Kṛṣṇa’s divine union through practice of sexual yoga. Sahajiyā ideas and practices are influential

among the Bāuls of Bengal, a tantric sect whose teachings also draw on Sufism.[33, 34]

Medical tantras and the Sauratantras

In the model of Mantramārga revelation where Sadāśiva’s faces emit five streams of

scripture, two of these are comprised of medical texts: the Bhūtatantras (concerned especially

with spirit possession) and Gāruḍatantras (concerned especially with snakebite). These, along

with Bālatantras, concerned with the magical protection and healing of young children, are the

major branches of tantric, mantra-based medicine. Owing to the recent monograph of Michael

Slouber,[35] our knowledge of these traditions is greatly enhanced—particularly of the

Gāruḍatantras. These are named after their supreme deity: the divine eagle, Garuḍa, who is

treated as a form of Śiva. While oriented towards health and healing, this literature presents

complete systems of tantric ritual, and possesses a soteriological dimension. Although the early

canonical sources appear to be lost, several important texts do survive, such as the

Kriyākālaguṇottara, a digest of earlier Bhūta- and Gāruḍatantras. Moreover, teachings of the

medical tantras were incorporated into Pāñcarātra, Buddhist, Jaina, and other Śaiva tantric

sources, as well as various Purāṇas. Tantric medical practices were widely influential, and in

some cases remain in use today.[35]

While few early medical tantras survive, none at all seem to survive of the tantric cult of the

solar deity, Sūrya. Lists of text-titles reveal that there was once a substantial number of Saura

(“Solar”) tantras, and the cult of Sūrya attracted royal patronage. Of its tantric literature, only

the Saurasaṃhitā seems to survive in manuscript, a critical edition of which is being prepared by

Diwakar Acharya. However, this teaches a syncretic cult of Sūrya as a form of Śiva, and draws

on Śaiva sources.[14: 53–58]

14
Haṭhayoga and medieval monastic orders

In the early second-millennium, yoga took a corporeal turn. New body-centered techniques

for longevity and spiritual perfection emerged, such as difficult non-seated āsanas (yoga

postures) and prāṇāyāma (breath control), with an emphasis on retention of the life-energy

(bindu) through celibacy and yogic disciplines. With roots in tantric yoga as well as tapas, forms

of bodily mortification, these techniques crystallized into Haṭhayoga, “forceful yoga.”

Haṭhayoga’s early history has strong Buddhist connections: the expression haṭhayoga first occurs

in the context of Buddhist tantric yoga, and the earliest surviving text of Haṭhayoga,[36] the

11th-century Amṛtasiddhi, was composed by a Buddhist.[37] Haṭhayoga readily transcended

religious boundaries, however; texts on the subject were authored by Buddhists, Śaivas,

Vaiṣṇavas, and even Sufis. Kaula works such as the thirteenth-century Matsyendrasaṃhitā

incorporated Haṭha techniques extensively, and Kaula kuṇḍalinī yoga became integral to

Haṭhayoga, as reflected in sources such as the Haṭhapradīpikā (15th-century).[38]

After the twelfth century, new pan-South Asian monastic orders played important roles in

shaping yoga’s development. These include the Nātha Sampradāya, a Śaiva monastic order with

Kaula tantric roots flourishing from the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Its legendary gurus,

especially Matsyendra and Gorakṣanātha, are credited with many of the teachings and texts of

Haṭhayoga, though the Nāthas themselves seem not always to have prioritized physical

disciplines.[39] Like the more orthodox Śaiva Dasnāmīs, who gradually eclipsed the Nāthas in

most regions, Nāthas practice the tantric ritual and yoga of Śrīvidyā. The Vaiṣṇava Rāmānandī

ascetic order, prominent in North India from around the fifteenth century, also incorporates

Haṭhayoga into its otherwise devotionally-oriented praxis.[40, 41] Vaiṣṇava engagement with

Haṭhayoga began much earlier, however, for the earliest list of non-seated āsanas comes from a

Vaikhānasa source,[42: 87-88] and a Vaiṣṇava wrote the Dattātreyayogaśāstra (c. 13th century),

one of the earliest texts of Haṭhayoga.[42: xx–xi]

15
 While modern postural yoga has distanced itself from all things tantric, and indeed religion

itself, the tantric traditions’ contributions to its development are considerable.

Tantra in the modern world

The modern legacies of India’s tantric traditions are manifold. Arguably, Hinduism as we

know it was shaped through a synthesis of Vedic and tantric traditions, with additional impetus

from śramaṇic and various local traditions. Modern Hinduism as a whole has however moved

away from its tantric roots—in theology and in rhetoric, to be sure (for the very word tantra

conjures unsavory images), but also in matters of ritual and devotion. By the twentieth century,

all but the most orthodox-congruent tantric traditions had declined in influence or fallen into

disrepute. Nonetheless, some traditional tantric systems retain high status today and are seeing

something of a revival, especially Śrīvidyā, and perhaps also the so-called Kashmir Śaivism.

Colonial Bengal was a crucible for the tantric traditions’ encounters with modernity. Tantric

sects have been prominent in the Bengali religious landscape since their inception, extending

into the modern period and cutting across sectarian and class boundaries. In the colonial era,

tantric scriptures and ritual still held high status among the Śākta brahmins of Bengal, despite

Tantra’s disrepute in reformist circles. It is their traditions which came to the attention of global

anglophone audiences in the early twentieth-century with the prolific publications of ‘Arthur

Avalon’—the pen name of a British judge in India, Sir John Woodroffe, and his collaborator,

Atul Bihari Ghosh. Still in print today, their books have, more than any other texts, shaped

modern knowledge of Hindu Tantra within and beyond India.[43: 134]

A number of new religious movements of Indian origin have drawn on or sought to revive

tantric teachings, beginning in the early-twentieth century with the Ramakrishna Mission. This

influential monastic order was founded by the charismatic Swami Vivekananda, a disciple of

Ramakrishna Paramahansa, a rustic and saintly priest of Kālī. In contrast to the Brahmo

Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission embraced some traditional forms of religious practice,

16
alongside its Vedāntic theology and mission of social service. Its relationship to Ramakrishna’s

practice of Tantra is nonetheless ambivalent.[44] In the postcolonial period, several gurus

founded transnational new religious movements which more explicitly embrace Tantra. Those

whose teachings mainly emphasize tantric yoga and who have international followings include,

for example, Harbhajan Singh Yogi (founder of 3HO), Swami Muktananda (Siddha Yoga), Shrii

Shrii Anandamurti (Ananda Marga), and Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (Sahaja Yoga). There have

also been novel efforts to engage with Tantra philosophically, most notably by Sri Aurobindo

(1872–1950) and Shrii Shrii Anandamurti (1921–1989), both of whom were prolific and highly

original. In point of contrast, Rajneesh/Osho (1931–90) developed a lucrative global brand of

“neo-Tantrism” that was decidedly hedonistic. Appearing to perpetuate antinomian strands of

“left-handed” Tantra, his neo-Tantrism is in fact “a kind of postmodern pastiche,”[1: 235–43]

like much of new-age spirituality. Synergy between Tantra and new-age thought, and likewise

Tantra and Western esotericism, in fact has much older roots, having been pioneered by the

Theosophical Society in the late-nineteenth century.[1: 208]

Cross-references
Abhinavagupta
Anandamarga
Bhairava
Guru, Hinduism
Kālī
Kāpālikas
Kaśmir Shaivism
Kaula
Kuṇḍalinī
Pāñcarātra
Pāśupatas
Pratyabhijñā
Rajneesh
Sahaja
Śiva
Śāktatantras

17
 Śaiva Āgamas
Śaiva Siddhānta
Śaivism (Overview)
Siddha Yoga
Śrīvaiṣṇavism
Śrīvidyā
Trika
Vaiṣṇava Āgamas
Yantra
Yoga
Yoginī

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