Agarchand Nahta Abhinandan Granth Part 2

Author(s): Dashrath Sharma
Publisher: Agarchand Nahta Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 120

Tāntric Čult in Eastern India
Dr. Upendra Thakur Professor and Head of the Department of Ancient Indian and Asian Studies, Magadh University, Bodh-Gaya.
BIHAR The Tantras may rightly be termed as "so many encyclopaedias of the knowledge of their time" as they deal with all matters of "common belief and interest from the doctrine of the origin of the world to the laws which govern kings and the societies... medicine and science generally. The Tantra is... the repository of esoteric belief and practices, particularly those relating to yoga and mantra-tattva".1 In them we find the description of the Supreme Being, the creation and destruction of the Universe, ihe classification of creatures, the origin and worship of the gods, the heavenly bodies different worlds and hells, man and hells, man and woman, cakra (centre of the human body), dharma, aśramas and the sacraments, mantra, yantra (magic diagram on which to worship), various forms of spiritual training, Japa, Vrata, worship (internal and external), medicine, science and many other things.
It has been argued that the Tantras are a recent Śästra and are largely the creation of the people of Eastern India which is supposed to be its stronghold. The antiquity of the Tantra has, however, been proved beyond doubt to be as ancient as the Sruti itself. In fact, not only in Eastern India, But throughout the whole of India the upper classes of Hindu community are governed by the Tantric religion as far as initiation (dikşā) is concerned. There are Säktas, Vaişņavas and Saivas all over the country, The Śāktas are initiated by the Sakti-mantra, the Vaisnavas by the Visņu-mantra and the Saivas by the Siva-mantra. All these mantras are the exclusive properties of the Tantra. Like Mithilā, Madras, Bengal, Bombay, Kāšī (Banaras), Kashmir, Assam and other fuch notable places of India have Śaktas, Vaişņavas and Saivas in a large number following the Tántric system. It is, therefore, absurd to argue that this system is the exclusive creation of the people of
1. Bhattacharya, Matykabheda Tantram, Intro. 3, Avalon, Principles of Tantras
(Tantra-tattva) pref. Iff, 49-50 2. Bhattacharya, Intro. 7ff, Avalon, Intro. 58ff, D. N. Bose, Tantras : Their Philo
sophy and Occult Secrets, pp. 2ff, Upendra Thakur, Studies in Jainism and Buddhism in Mithila, chap. II, pp. 29-38.
इतिहास और पुरातत्त्व : ८३