CHAPTER 22
Mantra
André Padoux
Mantras are among the most characteristic features of Hinduism. They existed
in Vedic times and are still widely used today. They permeate Hindu ritual. As
the saying goes, amantraka kriya ̄ na sya ̄t, “no rites should be accomplished
without mantras,” and ritual was and still very largely is part of the daily life of
all observant Hindus. The term mantra, however, having been in use for some
three millennia all over south Asia, has not always and everywhere had the same
meaning. Mantras were used in different ways, in different contexts, and for dif-
ferent purposes: the meaning of the term, like that of all words, is context-
dependent. It is therefore necessary to examine separately the various meanings,
uses, and values attached to it in the course of time in different Hindu religious
traditions. Not only has the meaning of the term mantra varied according to
time and place, but at any given time the word has been used to refer to differ-
ent ritual, meditative, yogic, and spiritual practices as well as to different forms
or kinds of phonetic and linguistic utterance. It is therefore impossible to trans-
late it by a single word in English or any other modern language. Several such
translations have been suggested; none is satisfactory. But we need not dwell
on them, since the term mantra is now in common use. It is to be found in
dictionaries and needs no translation.
As regards the term itself, the Sanskrit noun mantraderives from the verbal
rootMAN, which means to think, but in the sense of an intentional, active form
of thought. To this root is added the suffix tra, which is used to form words denot-
ing an instrument, a faculty, or a function. A mantra, therefore, is etymol-
ogically a means or an instrument of thought, this thought being intense,
concentrated, efficient: all traits variously to be found, as we shall see, in every
form and use of mantras, ancient or modern. Later, and especially in the Tantric
theory of mantra, the mantras ́a ̄stra, the suffix trawas related to the verbal root
TRAI, to save, mantras being therefore seen as a form of thought leading to
salvation. Thus the Tantric philosopher Abhinavagupta (tenth to eleventh