Tantric Mantras and the Mantras ́a ̄ stra
However important the notion and uses of mantras may have been from early
times, it was only with the development within Hinduism of Tantric notions and
practices that mantras really pervaded all types of religious, ritual, and magical
action. Speculations on the subject thrived, and innumerable treatises, digests,
or ritual manuals were written, dealing with their nature and uses and extolling
their power. Tantric and mantric practices and notions were so interwoven that
mantras ́a ̄stra, the science or doctrine of mantras, was not only looked on as the
most important portion of Tantric teaching, but it was also identified with it, the
terms mantras ́a ̄straandtantras ́a ̄straoften being taken as synonymous. An early
form of Tantric S ́aivism was named mantramargaand a traditional division of
S ́aiva tantras is between those of the mantrapı ̄t.haand those of the vidya ̄pı ̄t.ha
(vidya ̄sbeing female mantras). All tantric texts deal either entirely or in part with
mantras. The extent of this literature (noteworthy, though not always interest-
ing and often repetitive) is enormous. It includes all the basic Hindu sectarian
works: the tantras, a ̄gamas, sam.hita ̄s, philosophico-religious texts of all persua-
sions, hymns, eulogies (stotra), lists of divine names, and so forth, whether S ́aiva
or Vais.n.ava – and this literature went on being added to down to our own days.
Even texts of the s ́rutisuch as certain upanis.ads came also to include tantric
mantras.^9 These were also to be found in a number of Pura ̄n.as (the Agnipura ̄n.a,
for instance, is a rich repertoire ofmantras ́a ̄stra), and even in some dharmas ́a ̄stra
texts. And so forth.
Tantric developments, however, did not obliterate earlier practices. Tantric
texts and practices went on prescribing and using s ́rautaorsma ̄rtamantras.
Formally, too, the Tantric mantras did not always differ very much from
nontantric ones. Their most noteworthy development lay in the increased use of
nonlinguistic elements, that is, syllables or groups of syllables devoid of meaning
but deemed to be imbued with power and efficacy. Either one or several such
syllables were added to the initial OM. of the mantra, or before the final ritual
exclamation, the ja ̄ti:namah., sva ̄ha ̄, etc. (OM. HAUM. S ́IVA ̄YA NAMAH., for
instance), or else the whole mantra was made up of one such meaningless
syllable, or of several either enumerated separately or grouped together. Such,
for instance, is the mantra SAUH.^10 of Para ̄, the supreme goddess of the Trika, or
the mantra of the goddess Tripurasundarı ̄, consisting of 15 syllables: HA SA KA
LA HRI ̄M.,HA SA KA HA LA HRI ̄M.,SA KA LA HRI ̄M., or the Nava ̄tmamantra
HSKS.MLRVYU ̄M..
The use of such syllables or groups of syllables as elements of mantras or as
mantras was justified by the fact that they are made up of Sanskrit phonemes
and therefore of forms of the power ofva ̄c, the Word originally spoken in the
sacred Sanskrit language. A well-known Tantric saying runs: “All mantras are
made up of phonemes, the nature of all phonemes being that of S ́iva” (mantra ̄h.
varn.a ̄tmaka ̄h.sarve,varn.a ̄h.sarve s ́iva ̄tmaka ̄h.). As we have seen, the privilege of
brief and esoteric utterances over discursive ones goes back to Vedic times. The
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