Preface

The Vārāhī Tantra is an important text of the Kaula Tradition.

Even though several Tāntrik texts and compilations such as the Ṭoḍalatantra, Mahāsiddhasāratantra, Bṛhattantrasāra and the Puraścaryārṇava refer to a Vārāhī Tantra, and many Indian paṇḍits, such as Śivānanda and Lakṣmīdhāra in their commentaries to the Nityaṣodaśikārṇava and Saundaryalaharī respectively, cite a Vārāhī Tantra as one of the Bahurūpāṣṭaka, the eight Śaktitantras between the sixty-four nondual Tantras, the particular Vārāhī Tantra that we used in this work seems to have never been published before.

The first step of this work has been to search for the manuscripts of the Vārāhī Tantra in manuscript libraries and private collections in Varanasi, Guwahati, Kolkatta, Pune, Dharamsala, Bombay, Delhi, Puri, Jaipur and Kathmandu. As a result, five manuscripts carrying the name Vārāhī Tantra have been found, between which only two belong to the same text (there are number of texts which carry the name Vārāhī Tantra); this research has been centered on the study of these two manuscripts, of which fifteen chapters have been edited.

The work has been divided in two parts: the first comprises an introduction to the literature and philosophy of the Śākta Tradition in order to place the Vārāhī Tantra within the larger context of Tāntrik Literature; an extensive exposition of the contents of the Vārāhī Tantra to make the contents of the Vārāhī Tantra accessible not only to Sanskrit specialists; and a study on the two available manuscripts, necessary to comprehend the methodology adopted in the critical edition.

The second part consists of the critical edition of fifteen chapters of the Vārāhī Tantra, which constitutes the core of this research. The manuscripts have been transcribed by myself.

This research project is a modest contribution to preserve the sacred texts of the Śākta Tradition, aiming to make the Vārāhī Tantra available to Sanskrit scholars for further research and as well as to others who have a deep interest into the tradition and the worship of the Goddess.

Two introductions to the Vārāhī Tantra have been presented, one in Sanskrit and the other in English, with the intention to make this study on the Vārāhī Tantra available to a vaster public, and at the same time to humbly support the Sanskrit language as an inestimable treasure of the Indian culture.

The introduction in Sanskrit comprehends an outline of the various manuscripts of the Vārāhī Tantra; an overview of the worship of the Goddess in Indian Literature, particularly in the non-dual Tantras; and an exposition on the Vārāhī Tantra where the text has been contextualized within its framework. The introduction in English opens with a presentation of the various manuscripts of the Vārāhī Tantra; it is followed by an exposition on the Śākta Tantras, where their theology, characteristics and divisions have been examined. Following this an overview of the Vārāhī Tantra and the contents of the thirty-six chapters of the Vārāhī Tantra have been exposed in detail, including translations of parts of the text. The study on the Vārāhī Tantra concludes with an examination of the two manuscripts and of their script.

The second part consists of a critical edition of the first fifteen chapters of the Vārāhī Tantra and it comprehends extensive critical notes, different readings in the two manuscripts (pāṭhāntara), possible readings of the text (śakyapātha) and similar readings in other Tantras. Subtitles have been added to the root text for easier reference.

The research concludes with four appendixes: the first appendix shows various characters of the script of both the manuscripts; in the second appendix the verses of the Vārāhī Tantra referred in various compilations have been examined; in the third appendix some verses of the Vārāhī Tantra have been compared with similar verses of other texts; and the fourth appendix contains a list of texts referred in the Vārāhī Tantra.