Shakti and Shâkta : essays and addresses on the Shâkta Tantrashâstra

TANTRA SHASTRA AND VEDA

worshipping Indra for wealth, children and the like; though Nishkama Rishis adored the Sarvashaktim4an (Devisikta is Advaitasiddhipfirna). In Treta, worship according to Smriti prevailed. It was then that Vashishtha is said to have done Sadhana of Brahmavidya according to Chinacharakrama. Thoughin the Dvapara there was both Smriti and Purana, rites were generally performed according to the Puranas. There was also then, as always, worshippers of the Pirnashaktimahavidya. At the end of Dvapara and beginning of the Kali age the Tantra Shastra was taught to men. Then the ten Sangskaras, Shraddha and Antyeshtikriya were, as they are now, performed according to the Vaidikadharma: Ashramachara according to Dayabhaga and other Smriti Texts; Vratas according to Purana ; Diksha and Upasana of Brahman with Shakti, and various kinds of Yoga Sadhana, according to the Agama which is divided into three parts Tantra (Sattvaguna) Yamala (Rajoguna) and Damara (Tamoguna). There were 64 Tantras for each of the three divisions Ashvakranta, Rathakranta, Vishnukranta. Such is a Tantrik tradition concerning the Ages and their appropriate Scriptures. Whether this tradition has any historical basis still awaits inquiry, which is rendered difficult by the fact that many Tantras have been lost and others destroyed by those inimical to them. It is sufficient for my purpose to merely state what is the belief; that purpose being to shew that the Tantra Shastra recognises, and claims not to be in conflict with, Veda or any other recognised Shastra. It accepts the six Philosophies (Darshana) which Shiva says are the six limbs of Kula and parts of His body, saying that he who severs them severs His limbs (Kularnava IT, 84, 84-95). The meaning of this is that the Six Philosophies and the Six Minds, as all else, are parts of His body. It accepts the Shabda doctrine of Mimangsa subject to certain modifications to meet its doctrine of Shakti. Though it, in common with the Shaiva Tantra,