Lakshmi Tantra

The Laksmi Tantra is a text in Hindu scripture dedicated to the goddess Laksmi, and which dates to the ninth to twelfth centuries.

Contents

The Laksmi Tantra is one of the Pāñcarātra texts, which are dedicated to the worship of Narayana (Vishnu) and form part of the Agamas. It was compiled sometime between the ninth and twelfth centuries.

It deals with the worship of the mother-goddess Laksmi (Lakshmi), the Shakti of Vishnu-Narayana. The text not only glorifies Laksmi, but also women in general as beings created in the cherished form of Laksmi, and it advocates their worship. It also refers to the left-handed tantras which require a female partner.

The Laksmi Tantra deals mainly with Pāñcarātra philosophy and cosmogony, and with the mantra sastra ("linguistic occultism"). A minimum is said about the ritualistic side of worship, and iconography is discussed only in the form of the dhyanas of the most important deities, such as Laksmi-Narayana, the Vyuhas, the main emanations of Laksmi, her retinue etc. Temple architecture and temple worship are totally omitted. The text also ignores public festivals, death rites and expiatory rights. This silence indicates that the Laksmi Tantra concerns itself only with the individual worshipper, who desires to be released from the miseries of worldly existence.

The Laksmi Tantra attempts to make a synthesis out of all the various concepts present in the Pāñcarātra and Tantric milieu. It does not always succeed in blending all these notions smoothly. Sometimes, contradictory ideas such as Samkhya realism and Radical Monism (Advaita-vedanta) are presented side by side. The text also reveals traces of Mahayana Buddhism. The influence of the Bhagavad Gita is also clearly apparent and passages from it have sometimes been quoted literally.[1]

References

  1. ↑ from the Introduction of S. Gupta, Laksmi Tantra, A Pancaratra Text, Translation and Notes, Brill Leiden Netherlands 1972.
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