Comparative Study of Mantrashastra

SR No.: 006575
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Mohanlal Bhagwandas Jhaveri
Publisher: Sarabhai Manilal Nawab
Publication Year: 1944
Total Pages: 376
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, L000, & L020
File Size: 21 MB

Page 70

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 Sādhanmālā, Dr. Benoytosh Bhattāchāryya 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."
***
*** "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 Brāhmanas, Atharvaveda, Kalpasūtras, Dharmasūtras, Purānas, the Tantras and the Pancarätras."
This will convince the reader of the connection of Mantras with the ancient Vaidik literature. "Even Kautilya the famous author of Arthashāstra 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 Samhitās, Brāhmanas, and Upanishads and on the other what has been called the "Fifth Veda" that is Nigama, Agama and kindred shāstras and certain especially "Tāntrik' Upanishads attached to the Saubhagya Kānda of the Atharvaveda such as Advăitabhāva, Kaula, Kālikā Upanishads. "There are Vaidik and Tantrik Kalpa Sūtras and Sūktas such as the Tantrika Devi and Matsya Sūktas. As a counter-part of the Brahmasūtras we have the Shakti Sūtras of Agastya. There is both Vaidik and Tāntrik ritual such as Vaidik ten Sangskāras and the Tāntrik Sangskaras, such