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INTRODUCTION
Sūtrakrtānga Tīkā by Silānkāchārya. This Sanghadāsa is a Bhāshyakāra and is older than even the great Bhāshyakāra Shri Jinabhadragaạiksa. māshramaņa the author of Viseshāvasyaka Bhāshya and Viseshaņavati. In his latter work he has mentioned the said Vasudeva Hiņdi calling it Vasudeva charita. We can therefore emphatically state that Sanghadāsa flourished prior to 6th century A. D. In his said work Vasudeva Hindi at p. 151 he has mentioned 'Mantra Niyogas' of Atharvaveda. (2) Similarly Sīlānka the commentator of Sūtrakritānga refers to Māntric practices of Atharvaveda meant for Abhichāra. See page 169 commentary Sūtrakṣitānga, Āgamodayasamiti Edition.
Not only the Vedas but also the subsequent Hindu literature comprised of Brāhmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads and Puranas appears to have contributed to the development of Tantras. * We would first refer the readers to what Dr. B. Bhattachäryya says about Vajrayāna at p. XXXVI of his Introduction to Sadhanamāla:"We can thus see that the Vajrayāna took into account all the good things, tenets, philosophical notions and theories, and incorporated all that was best in Buddhism and probably in Hinduism also, and it was owing to this that it attainedgreat popularity." We would then refer the readers to the several quotations above showing the connection of Tantra and Mantra with Atharvaveda etc. and also the appendix II to 'Shakti and Shakta' by Sir John Woodroffe. We would also refer them then to the work in Gujarati by late D. B. Narmadashankar Mehta entitled "Shākta Sampradāya” which traces the Shakti worship through the different classes of literature beginning from the Vedas. The learned writer quotes the following 'Rik'in praise of Sarasvati from Rigveda at the very start to show the existence of Goddess Sarasvati in Vedic times: qolgat agradi arafrafferifladt i farham || (Rig. 10, 61,21). He states that the whole of the Vedas may be summarised in two words, 'Yajna' and 'Brahma'. 'Yajna' requires Anuşthāna,
*Wipternitz also says :-"On the other hand, some essential traits of the Tantras can be found as far back as in Atharvaveda, as well as in the Brāhmaṇas and Upanişads." P. 605 History of Indian Literature.
