Fwd: Antiquity of Tantra

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hinducivilization , ShankaraBharadwaj

Khandavalli <shankarabharadwaj wrote:

 

More on the references:

 

Prayoga part of the mantra vidyas is found in Atharva Veda. The astra

part of them is found in Dhanurveda, an upaveda. Most of these form

the sadhana aspect, and are found in Tantra. For instance:

 

1. Bala, atibala are Gayatri vidyas whose reference we see in Ramayana

- they are given to Rama and Lakshmana by Viswamitra. These are found

in Rudra Yamala.

2. Jatavedasi Durga is found in Rig, Yajur and Atharva Vedas. Its

astra aspect is Agneyastra, whose reference we find in MBH as well as

Ramayana. The prayoga part is found in Rudra Yamala.

3. Pasupata is found in Yajurveda. Its astra reference makes a

significant portion of MBH - Arjuna gaining and applying it. We find

the prayoga part in Saiva Agamas, Rudra Yamala as well as Atharva Veda.

4. Brahmastra references are found in MBH and Ramayana. There are

multiple versions of it - for instance under the vidyas Sarabha

Saluva, Bagala Mukhi and Gayatri. We find all these in the Tantra,

esp. Bagala Mukhi in Rudra Yamala.

5. Reference to Sudarsana prayoga is found in MBH - Sri Krishna has

it. It is found in Vaishnava Agamas as well as Rudra Yamala.

 

One can argue that most of these references are in upakhyanas and can

well be later additions to Jayam or Ramayana. But fact remains that

Tantra, Veda and Puranic literature are closely related, and they

developed hand in hand. Therefore the antiquity of one will, in good

probability, influence the antiquity of another.

 

hinducivilization , ShankaraBharadwaj

Khandavalli <shankarabharadwaj wrote:

 

" The Vedas talk of Beeja alphabets such as Phat. "

 

 

Aditi or Bhuvaneswari beeja that has different names like Lajja,

Hrillekha, Bhuvaneswari, Mahamaya appears in the early Riks itself -

for instance in Purusha Sukta (hreesca te lakshmeesca patnyau).

 

 

" Ganesha adharva

sirshyam,prayer to Ganesha found in later Vedic literature mentions

Lam as the Bijakshara connected with Ganesha. "

 

" Gam " - may be a typo Ga is first of Ganas (Ga, ka etc are Ganas in

alphabet and Ga is the consonant that originates from the deepest

portion of the mouth) and is called Ganaadi. Varnaadi is " a " .

Anusvaara or visarga end most of the beejas. Thus Gam is formed with

the leaders of Ganas and therefore is Ganapati. This is how mantra

sastra forms basis for theology.

 

In general each devata's tatva is defined by the major beejas of the

mula mantra/vidya. Whether the Devata is a pleasant or angry form, how

many hands or legs or heads or weapons are there in the description,

what are the benefits in worship, all this is determined by the same.

 

Language and mantra sastra are closely related. Syllables or

word-roots are representatives of natural phenomena. Mantra Beejas are

composed by the same principle and that is how the qualities of Devata

are determined by the beejas. For instance the vidyas having maya

beeja as the central one are pleasant and smiling forms (Ex. Lalita,

Bhuvaneswari). The vidyas having krodha (hum) are angry or ferocious

forms. The various natural phenomena like happiness and auspiciousness

(sreem, central in Kamalatmika/Sri), anger (hum, central in

Chinnamasta), smoke (dhuum central in Dhumavati), fire (agni - ram),

desire (kleem, central in Sri Krishna and Bala vidyas) form central

letters of the vidyas. For the same reason alphabet is referred to in

multiple ways in the description of Gods - Kali wearing 51 skulls, 64

yogini Ganas worshiping the Mother, seven Matrikas and so on. These

" beejas " are found in common usage, not only in sanskrit but in

regional languages

too: one is said to make a " humkara " when angry, " Sri " is used as a

sign of noble, and so on.

 

However we cannot say that this developed along with the development

or formalization of language, because study of beejas and mantra

sastra has to do with syllables and not really a formal language or

grammar. And Veda itself expounds a well developed Mantra Sastra,

which is much prior to the formalized grammar.

 

Tantras relate themselves closely to Atharva Veda, with explicit and

implicit references. Tantra was a general term used to refer to any

school/methodology and was not a specific kind of text as we refer to

it today. The application part of worship was practiced as a " tantra " .

In case of Vaishnava Agamas they are not even treated as a separate

school of practices from the Vedic. Early references to Pancaratras

(Narada) could be found in the Mahabharata itself. They deal with many

vidyas, of vedic devatas and their derivatives.

 

The current shape of Tantra texts evolved in multiple stages. A

possible sequence:

1 basic mantra sastra and theology - even this is evolutionary but

this is the early basis for all other portions of the text

2 putting it in a formal guru-sishya parampara, diksha and so on

3 formulation of temple and individual worship

4 summary of theology, evolving a spiritual philosophy - this is

developed to some extent on the base of Vedanta.

5 formulating a world view or a darsana around the practices - this

developed with Tantric darsanas such as Nakuleesa Pasupata, Raseswara,

Pratyabhijna.

 

The evidence available on Tantra is much smaller compared to what is

visible on the Vedic literature. This is because a whole civilization

is centered around the latter while Tantra is upasana-specific. Its

evolution can be studied through the evolution of the text itself: the

way the early male forms like Virocana have later become to be

worshiped in female forms like Vairocani, the development of Yoga

Sastra and the way early references to yoga transformed into the later

well developed and systematic explanation of different forms of Yoga -

Laya, Mantra, Kundalini, Hatha. If one draws a parallel of development

between Tantra and Puranic literataure, this will be easier. For

example Devi Mahatmya and Lalita Upakhyana of Markandeya and Brahmanda

Puranas are in sequence of evolution. And so are Candi and Sri Vidya

of Tantra. The latter is popularized by Adi Sankara.

 

So while the Tantras as they appear today could have formed between

1-10th centuries, having a " Tantra " and following it must be much

older. In fact one can see a parallel between Tantras and the Vedic

texts that deal with procedures and methods - like Brahmanas and Kalpa

Sutras, compilations like Mahanyasa.

 

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