Shakti and Shâkta : essays and addresses on the Shâkta Tantrashâstra

SHAKTI AND SHAKTA

Kamika Agama of the Shaiva Siddhanta (Tantrantara Patala) says

Tanoti vipuldnarthan tattvamantra-samanvitan

Trdénancha kurute yasmat tantramityabhidhiyate (It is called Tantra because it promulgates great knowledge concerning Tattva and Mantra and because it saves). It is @ common misconception that Tantra is the name of the Scripture of the Shaktas or worshippers of Shakti. This is not so, There are Tantras of other sects of the Agama, Tantras of Shaivas, Vaishnavas and so forth. We cannot speak of “The Treatise’ nor of “The Tantra” any more than we can or do speak of the Purana, the Samhita. We can speak of the Tantras as we do of the Puranas. These Tantras are ShAstras of what is called the Agama ? In a review of one of my works it was suggested that the Agama is a class of Scriptures dealing with the worship of Saguna Ishvara which was revealed at the close of the age of the Upanishads, and introduced partly because of the falling into desuetude of the Vaidika Achara, and partly because of the increasing numbers of persons entering the Hindu fold who were not competent (Adhikari) for that Achara. I will not however deal with this historical question beyond noting the fact that the Agama is open to all persons of all castes and both sexes, and is not subject to the restrictions of the Vaidika Achara. This last term is a common one and comes from the verbal root char, which means to move or to act, the prefix a being probably used in the sense of restriction. Achara thus means practice, way, rule of life governing a Sadhaka, or one who does Sadhana or practice for some desired end (Siddhi),

The Agamas are divided into three main groups according as the Ishtadevata worshipped is Shakti, Shiva or Vishnu. The first is the Shakta Agama, the second the Shaivagama, and the third the Vaishnava Agama or Pancharatra. This last is the Scripture to which the Shrimad Bhagavata refers as Sattvata Tantra in the lines,