Lakshmi Tantra

Contents

The Lakshmi 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.

The text not only glorifies Goddess Lakshmi (the Shakti of Vishnu-Narayana) but also women in general (as beings created in the cherished form of Lakshmi); it advocates their worship.

The Lakshmi Tantra deals mainly with Pāñcarātra philosophy and cosmogony as well as mantra sastra. A minimum is said about the ritualistic side of worship. Iconography for Lakshmi-Narayana and Vishnu’s Vyūhas is discussed. Temple architecture and temple worship are totally omitted. The text also ignores public festivals, death rites and expiatory rights. This silence indicates that the Lakshmi Tantra concerns itself only with the individual worshipper, who desires to be released from the miseries of worldly existence.

The Lakshmi Tantra attempts to synthesize all the concepts in the Pāñcarātra and Tantric milieu. 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]

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References
  1. from the Introduction of S. Gupta, Laksmi Tantra, A Pancaratra Text, Translation and Notes, Brill Leiden Netherlands 1972.
  • Sanjukta Gupta - Laksmi Tantra, a Pancharatra text ISBN 978-81-208-1735-7
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