THE SACRED LIBRARY
About Shakta Tantras
The Mahanirvana Tantra provides one example, framed as a conversation between Parvati and Shiva. It explicitly refers to other Tantras teaching different forms, mantras and yantras: sacred formulae and ritual diagrams. Its particular teaching belongs within this wider family, rather than defining every member of it.
More About Shakta Tantras
A diverse family of Goddess-centred scriptures; practice and theology are lineage dependent.
AT A GLANCE
Identity & Context
- Identity
- Text
- Form
- Agamas & Tantras
- Tradition
- Hindu religious traditions
INSIDE THE TEXT
Stories & Teachings
ROLE & ESSENCE
Themes & Meaning
This breadth is central to understanding the family. A Shakta Tantra can explain the Goddess as the ground of existence, describe a method of worship and organise a practitioner’s daily obligations. Theology, devotion and disciplined action are joined within a received path.
Library Category
Form / Textual Family
Scriptural family
Traditional Attribution
An inherited textual tradition; no single historical author is established here.
Subject & Teachings
A diverse family of Goddess-centred scriptures; practice and theology are lineage dependent.
Textual Relationships
Historical Context
Composition, transmission and redaction must be distinguished; no unsupported exact date is assigned.
Reading Notes
This overview supplies context and reading connections, not reconstructed initiation or ritual instructions.
Tradition Notes
Names and accounts can vary by recension, region and commentary. This entry distinguishes attested details from identifications still requiring a passage-level source.
Archive Classification Notes
Original archive annotations are retained here. The current playable classification is shown in the side panel.
- Tradition Dependence
- High — compare the identified textual or regional account.
- Structure
- Consult the identified edition for chapters, recension and numbering.
TRADITION & MEANING
Traditions & Interpretations
The Mahanirvana’s statements describe its own approach. Its acknowledgement of different Goddess forms and teachings in other Tantras preserves a wider setting of related systems. The family therefore has shared concerns without requiring every scripture to use the same ritual, imagery or explanation.
Names and accounts can vary by recension, region and commentary. This entry distinguishes attested details from identifications still requiring a passage-level source.
FOLLOW THE THREADS
Connected Cards
7 connected profiles. Every path leads to an original record.
The Sacred Library2
Characters & Cosmic Entities4
The Mahanirvana’s hymn addresses Adya Kali.
Parvati asks about the Goddess’s worship and related duties.
Shiva answers the Goddess’s questions in the Mahanirvana passages discussed here.
