Roots of Yoga by James Mallinson

Author:James Mallinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141978246
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2016-12-10T16:00:00+00:00

SEVEN

Mantra

The use of verbal formulas called mantras to bring about worldly and soteriological aims has a pre-eminent place in almost all Indian religious traditions.1 It is central to Vedic religion, whose rites involve the chanting, with great precision, of mantras from the Vedic Saṃhitās (c. 1500–1000 BCE), while making sacrificial fire offerings. It is equally important in the tantric traditions (c. 200 CE onwards), whose mantras include five from the Vedas (the brahmamantras) supplemented by a vast array of additional formulas. Tantric mantras, which are repeated, either audibly or internally, and visualized, may vary from single ‘seed’ syllables (bījamantras) to lengthy ‘garland’ formulas of twenty or more syllables (mālāmantras). In contrast with the usually meaningful Vedic mantras,2 tantric mantras often consist of syllables which embody tantric deities but are otherwise uninterpretable.

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