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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
( xxvii)
traced in these manuscripts as well as in works like the Syāmārahasya, sections of which (e.g., Sava-sādhanā) closely agree with similar sections of the Tantra-sāra.
Ātma-rahasya (6201-2), Āgama-tattva-samgraha (6215), Tantrasiddhānta-kaumudi (6222) and Cidānanda-mandākini (6229) give exposition of some aspects of the philosophy of the Tantras. (2) Works on different deities.
(a) Kālī.-The Kāli-tattva (6306-7) is an important work, the more so if its author Rāghavabhatta be identical with the famous commentator of the same name who commented on the Sāradātilaka. The way in which the commentary is referred to in the former work (fol. 6A of 6307) would naturally make one inclined to suggest the identification. It quotes from and refers to a number of original Tantra works. No Tantra digest is foun' to have been referred to though many of them are stated to have been consulted for the preparation of the work. Though several MSS. of the Kālitattva were already reported, all that was known of the work was through a short notice by R. L. Mitra (Bik., p. 586). The present volume gives a detailed description of the work and its contents.
(6) Tārā.-The Matsya-sūkta (5997), which is different from a Puranic work of the same name, is referred to in many a Tantric compilation of Bengal. The work or at least the portion preserved in the MS. of the Society deals with the details of the worship of Tārā. A work called the Brhanmatsya-sūkta is referred to in the Mantra-ratnākara (6192) and the Arcana-sangraha (6212).
It may be noted that no MS, of the Tārā-rahasya which is a popular work in Bengal is found here. The Tārā-pradipa (63322-3) is an interesting work, as it is attributed to Laksmana Desika who may be identical with the author of the famous Sāradā-tilaka. It may be that this work as well as the Kālā-tattva of Rāghavabhatta were intended to supplement the Sāradā-tilaka with which both the authors were closely associated and which does not deal with the popular deities, Kāli and Tārā. It is curious that all the MSS. that have been reported of the Tārā-pradāpa are in the Bengali script except the one in Bikaner. The popularity of the work thus appears to have been restricted to Bengal where Tantric digests like the Tantra-sāra and the Syāmā-rahasya refer to and quote from a work of the same name. But the work seems to be little-known in these
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