पृष्ठम्:ईशानशिवगुरुदेवपद्धतिः (प्रथमः भागः).djvu/८

4 Isanaśivagurudevapaddhati Brāhma, Bhāradvaja, Sāttvata, Śripraśna, Vişnu, Visnutilaka, Lakşmitantra, Marica, Atri, Parama and Pauskara. In his Intro- duction to Pañcaratra Prof. Schroeder has listed the names of 215 works belonging to the class of Samhitäs. Works of this class with the names of Agastya, Aniruddha, Upendra, Käsyapa etc., are unpublished. Thus it may be seen that there is a vast class of religious literature grouped under the terms Tantra, Agama and Samhita. Then there are some more allied works called Rahasya works like Sivarahasya, Brahmarahasya and vişnurahasya are instances. On Tantra literature we have works classified as Yamalas and Damaras. The first type is defined as follows: सृष्टिश्च ज्योतिषाख्यानं नित्यकृत्यप्रदीपनम् । क्रमसूत्रं वर्णभेदो जातिभेदस्तथैव च ॥ युगधर्मश्च संख्यातो यामलास्याष्ट लक्षणम् ॥ Some of the works pertaining to these types may be men- tioned here. Yamalas attached to Adi, Brahma, Visņu, Rudra, Ganesa and Aditya are mentioned in some works, Damaras called Yoga, Siva, Durga, Sarasvati, Brahma and Gandharva are also known. The Tantras pertain to Vedic and non-vedic classes. The first type is called Dakṣiṇamarga while the second is named Vamamarga. Tantra literature thus embodies a vast class of manuals of encyclopaedic nature. Each of them contains vast materials and profuse quotations from the other. As for instance Isanasivagurudevapad that has extensively quoted from nearly sixty works belonging to Agamas, Samhitas and Tantras. Tantı 1 in Kerala It is not definitely known when Tantra literature was intro duced to Kerala. But it is certain that it happened in a much earlier period. Traditions maintain that Parasurama, the legen- dary creator of Kerala is said to have established 108 temples and brought Brahmins from outside to perform rituals there. Keralamāhātmya, a work of Puranic nature, contains some interesting accounts in this regard. God Vişņu ordained that