Comparative Study of Mantrashastra

Author(s): Mohanlal Bhagwandas Jhaveri
Publisher: Sarabhai Manilal Nawab

Page 64

TANTRAS: ANTIQUITY OF TANTRAS
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AUTIQUITY OF TANTRAS On the antiquity of the Tantra literature, Sir John Woodroffe, in his introduction to Principles of Tantra, says as follows:
"Whatever be the date of the first appearance of specifically Tantric doctrinès, which, owing to the progressive nature of its developments, may never be ascertained, it will be probably found, upon a profounder inquiry into the subject than has been hitherto made, that the antiquity of the Tantra has been much underestimed. This however, does not mean that all the current Tantras, or all their contents, are of great antiquity. Comparatively modern Tantras may, however, be based on older versions now lost.
"The following remarks of Professor Hayman Wilson have a bearing on this point, both on the general question of the antiquity of the Hindu śăstras and that of the Tantra, if, as is commonly done, the date of the latter is to be fixed with reference to the alleged date of the Paurānic period, which, according to general European views precedes them. 'It is', therefore, 'as idle as it is irrational to dispute the antiquity or authenticity of the great portion of the contents of the Purānas in the face of abundant positive and circumstantial evidence of the prevalence of the doctrines which they teach, the currency of the legends which they narrate, and the integrity of the institutions which they describe at least three centuries before the Christian Era. But the origin and development of these doctrines, traditions and institutions were not the work of a day, and the testimony which establishes their existence three centuries before Christianity carries it back to a much more remote antiquity-to an antiquity that is probably not surpassed by any of the prevailing fictions, institutions, or beliefs of the ancient world".
Sir John Woodroffe has also given expression to a generally accepted view according to which "the Agamas did not come into being earlier than a date later than the first and chief Upanishads and perhaps at the close of what is generally called the Aupnishadik age." The Purānas are replete with Tantrik rituals and Sadhanā. Agni Purāna contains worship of several Tāntrik deities and shows that the Tāntrik worship had made considerable progress and was developed to an extent. Shiva Purana V Samhitä, L Adhyāya V. 28-29 actually names the ten Mahāvidyās as emanating from Durgā. The general opinion therefore above cited gives a correct indication of the age of Tantras.
VALUE OF TANTRA Speaking about the intrinsic value of Tantra Shāstra Sir John