A table of frequency of certain keywords across 6 shaiva-tantra-s. For each text the 1st column is absolute count; 2nd is rank (ties randomly broken); 3rd is frequency relative to the most frequent word. This provides insights into the post-vaidika evolution of the tradition
The 1st text is uDDAmareshvara, TMK, the best preserved of the extant DAmara tantra-s. It shows a clear dominance of rudra, an absence of sadAshiva & the other names being roughly equally distributed. This is closer to the vaidika name space& it shows mantra-s of an archaic form
that are reminiscent & in some cases directly related the those from the uchChuShma-rudra-kalpa of the atharvan tradition. Thus, it may be inferred to be from an early stratum of the shaiva tradition. The 2nd text is the svachChanda tantra, a dakShiNa-shaiva text. It is marked
by the meteoric rise of 'shiva', used in a placatory or euphemistic sense in the shruti for rudra. However, after shiva is rudra which indicates its still visible connections to the old tradition. The 3rd most prevalent name is bhairava, marking the rise of the bhairava-srotas of
which the svachChanda is an early exemplar. Also apparent here is the emerging presence of the name 'sadAshiva'. The 3rd text is the netra-tantra centered around the worship of the post-Vedic ectype of tryambaka, amR^iteshvara. Here, too shiva dominates but rudra recedes into the
background. However, what is notable here is the rise of the name 'yoginI', which existed at low frequency in the previous 2 texts. It marks the rise of the yoginI-centric system impinging on an otherwise shambhu-para tradition. The 4th text is the troTalA, a pUrvasrotas text
centered on the goddess tvaritA, one of whose visualizations was avicephalic with an adamantine beak (vajratuNDA). She is also called shakradUtI hearkening to gAyatrI in the shruti. Here the situation is similar to the netra but 'bhairava' is infrequent indicating that the
goddess-oriented tradition of pUrvasrotas branched off separately from the comparable ones associated with the dakShiNasrotas. The 5th text is the kaulaj~nAna-nirNaya (name mangled in table) of the yuganAtha, the yogin of the current age, the fisherman siddha matsyendra. Here the
most frequent word is 'yoginI' followed by 'bhairava'. Rest of the names other than 'shiva' recede into the background. This marks the transition of the bhairava-srotas into the yoginI-oriented kaula tradition. It was 1 of the early kaula texts following a system of a multitude
of yoginI-s (usually 64 or more) rather than a single or a few (typically 3, 9 or 16) focal goddesses of the directional AMnAya-s; e.g., kAlI-s, nityA-s, the trikA goddesses, mAlinI, kubjikA, tripurA, guhyakAlI. That leads us to the 6th text, the hAhArava, 1 of the root tantra-s
of the uttarAMnAya's guhyakAlI tradition focused on the glorious therocephalic goddess guhyakAlI. She may manifest in a 3 headed form where the 3 heads are 1. trailokyaDAmarA -- indicating her link to the DAmara-tantra-s; 2. matachakreshvarI -- the classic kAlI; 3. matalakShmI --
indicating her connection to the the vaiShNava kAlI mAdhaveshvarI of the yAmala tantra-s. Alternatively she manifests in 10-headed form with elephant, eagle, human (fierce), crocodile, horse, ape, jackal, boar, lion& human (charming) heads which encompass the the other AmnAya-s
e.g., the hAhArava states the fair elephant head embodies pratya~NgirA; the black horse head the root trika goddess siddhayogeshvarI; the red ape face kubjikA of the pashchimAMnAya & the smoky boar face trilokyaDAmarA of the DAmara-tantra-s & the dark jackal face kAlasaMkarShanI
The hAhArava shows the clear predominance of bhairava & a high frequency of 'yoginI', indicating its still present connection as a kaula text to bhairava-srotas roots. There are some subtle features though: mahAkAla is more prominent than the rare nandin in this text. Tradition
presents the guhyakAlI & several other uttarAMnAya traditions are the teachings of mahAkAla-rudra. gaNesha is more common than skanda: indicates it is later than the other texts. The rise in frequency of DAkinI -- otherwise present only at low frequency -- is an inheritance from
the old DAmara-tantra-s that came to prominence in this & related kaula texts. Finally, the surprising feature of this text is the frequency of (tri)shUla -- rank 2 -- guhyakAlI was visualized as prominently brandishing this weapon. This likely hints the uttarAMnAya roots of the
trident-wielding goddess shUlinI -- a feature inherited from the ancient kShetra of chAmuNDA: https://t.co/1xaXMJyMfB गुह्यकाली महाकाली भद्रकालि सुमंगला । भद्रा भद्रेश्वरी भीमा भीषणा भैरव-प्रिया ॥
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