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TANTRAS: MANTRA AND VAIDIK LITERATURE
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noted to exist amongst the Jains by the careful reader of the Tantra here published.
MANTRA AND VAIDIK LITERATURE
The learned editor of Sadhanmālā, Dr. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya though considering magic to be mere superstition says: "If materials were available it could be traceable right upto the beginning of creation, and superstition exists now in more or less aggravated form in almost all civilised countries."
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"India is, therefore, not exception and three principal religions of ancient India, Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism alike shared belief in magic. In India, the course of the development of magical conception can be traced through a continuous literature without a break for over three thousand years, and the different phases of development find expression in the Rgveda, the Brahmanas, Atharvaveda, Kalpasūtras, Dharmasūtras, Puranas, the Tantras and the Pancaratras."
This will convince the reader of the connection of Mantras with the ancient Vaidik literature. "Even Kautilya the famous author of Arthashastra and the famous Minister of the Emperor Chandragupta recommends to the King to seek the help of magicians to avoid calamities to the State."
TANTRAS AND VEDAS
Hinduism reveals as it were a double framework. on the one hand there are the four Vedas with their Samhitas, Brahmanas, and Upanishads and on the other what has been called the "Fifth Veda" that is Nigama, Agama and kindred shastras and certain especially 'Tantrik' Upanishads attached to the Saubhagya Kanda of the Atharvaveda such as Advaitabhāva, Kaula, Kālikā Upanishads. "There are Vaidik and Tantrik Kalpa Sutras and Suktas such as the Tantrika Devi and Matsya Sūktas. As a counter-part of the Brahmasutras we have the Shakti Sūtras of Agastya. There is both Vaidik and Tantrik ritual such as Vaidik ten Sangskāras and the Tantrik Sangskāras, such
