Among the medieval works on Tantra, this work in Sanskrit holds a place of great importance for its comprehension and authority. The author, who describes himself as an anchorite who did austerity in Varanasi, prepared this book in twenty-five ‘Tarangas’ more as a compilation of relevant material for the sadhakas than as an independent work. It is encyclopaedic in nature; it is verlly an ocean (as the title suggests) of mantras. Now in Tantrik Sadhana, the mantras are of great significance, for they are sufficient means of visualizing the gods. Indeed the mantras are the "body" of the gods. There is thus a correspondence between the mantra (formulation), murti (Visulization), and the tantra (actualization. This correspondence is the theme of this work. Exceedingly valuable for the spiritual practitioners and extremely popular among them in the North as well as in the South, there was till now no translation of this work into English. Great was it need. Sri Satguru Publication of Delhi have therefore to be congratulated for making this monumental work available to the English-knowing folk. All the 3,300 verses of this work (completed in 1589 A.D.) have been literally rendered into easy English with the help of the author’s own commentary called Nauka.
The board of Scholars who have completed this arduous undertaking have done a fine job, and richly deserve our praise. They have filled a lacuna that was keenly felt. There is also an excellent introduction to the art and science of Tantra, as also an analysis of contents. There are, at the end of the work, illustration of yantras, which are reproduction of the same drawings as were in the lithography copy of the book. It is a very useful publication, and will be a addition to the Tantra literature.
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