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John Woodroffe: Introduction to Tantra Śāstra
The Scriptures of the Ages
Each of the Ages has its appropriate Śāstra or Scripture, designed to meet the characteristics and needs of the men who live in them.1 The Hindu Śāstras are classed into: (1) Śruti, which commonly includes the four Vedas (Ṛg, Yajur, Sāma, Atharva) and the Upaniṣads, the doctrine of which is philosophically exposed in the Vedānta Darśana. (2) Smṛti, such as the Dharma Śastra of Manu and other works on family and social duty prescribing for pravṛttidharma. (3) The Purāṇas,2 of which, according to the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa, there were originally four lakhs, and of which eighteen are now regarded as the principal. (4) The Tantra.
For each of these ages a suitable Śāstra is given. The Veda is the root of all Śāstras (mūla-śāstra). All others are based on it. The Tantra is spoken of as a fifth Veda. Kulluka-Bhatta, the celebrated commentator on Manu, says that Śruti is of two kinds, Vaidik and Tāntrik (vaidiki-tāntriki caiva dvi-vidha śrutihkīrtitā). The various Śāstras, however, are different presentments of śruti appropriate to the humanity of the age for which they are given. Thus the Tantra is that presentment of śruti which is modelled as regards its ritual to meet the characteristics and infirmities of the Kali-yuga. As men have no longer the capacity, longevity, and moral strength necessary for the application of the Vaidika Karma-kāṇḍa, the Tantra prescribes a special sādhana, or means or practice of its own, for the attainment of that which is the ultimate and common end of all Śāstras. The Kulārṇava-Tantra says3 that in the Satya or Kṛta age the Śāstra is Śruti (in the sense of the Upaniṣads); in Tretā-yuga, Smṛti (in the sense of the Dharma-Śāstra and Śrutijīvikā, etc.); in the Dvāpara Yuga, the Purāṇa; and in the last or Kali-yuga, the Tantra, which should now be followed by all orthodox Hindu worshippers. The Mahānirvāṇa4 and other Tantras and Tāntrik works5 lay down the same rule. The Tantra is also said to contain the very core of the Veda to which, it is described to bear the relation of the Parāmātmā to the Jīvātmā. In a similar way, Kulācāra is the central informing life of the gross body called vedācāra, each of the ācāra which follow it up to kaulācāra, being more and more subtle sheaths.
Footnotes
1. On the subject matter of this paragraph see my Introduction to “The Principles of Tantra” (Tantra-tattva), where it is dealt with in greater detail.
2. These are referred to as saṃ hitā (collection), which term includes amongst other things Dharma-Śāstra, Smṛti, Śrutijīvikā, Purāṇa, Upapurāṇās, Itihāsa (history), the books of Vaśiṣtha, Vālmīkī, and others. See Śabda-ratnāvali, and Brahmavaivartta Purāṇa, Jnāna-Kāṇḍa, chap cxxxii.
3. Kṛte śrutyukta ācāras Tretāyām ̣ smṛti-saṃ bhavāh, Dvāpare tu purāṇ oktaṃ Kālau āgama kevalaṃ.
4. Chapter I, verse 23 et seq.
5. So the Tārā-Pradipa (chap. i) says that in the Kali-yuga the Tāntrika and not the Vaidika-Dharma is to be followed (see as to the Śāstras, my Introduction to “Principles of Tantra”).
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