Digital Ebook (PDF) — A Complete Prapanchasara Collection: Arthur Avalon's Classic Sanskrit Edition (Tantrik Texts, with English Introduction) & Dr. Ramchandra Puri's Two-Volume Hindi Study 'Shankaracharya: Tantrik Sadhana'
Texts / Tradition: Śrī Prapañcasāra Tantram (celebrated tantric compendium attributed to Adi Shankaracharya) | Sanskrit edition (Parts I & II) edited by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe), with English introduction — Tantrik Texts Series Vols. XVIII & XIX, Agamanusandhana Samiti, Calcutta | Hindi study 'Prapanchasaratantre Shankaracharya: Tantrik Sadhana' (Vols. 1 & 2) by Dr. Ramchandra Puri — Vrajajivan Prachyabharati Granthamala 141
Key Features
The Prapanchasara Tantra is one of the most celebrated and authoritative compendiums of the entire tantric tradition, generally attributed to the great philosopher and sage Adi Shankaracharya. Its very name reveals its scope: prapancha is the extended universe composed of the five great elements (mahabhuta) — ether, air, fire, water, and earth — so that the title means "the essence, or the account, of the manifest cosmos." This special collection brings together the classic Sanskrit edition prepared by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) with his masterly English introduction, alongside Dr. Ramchandra Puri's rich two-volume Hindi study of the text, offering the reader both the primary scripture and its modern exposition.
Avalon's edition — first issued in the renowned Tantrik Texts series and here presented in both its parts, covering the full sweep of the work's thirty-six chapters — was praised in its own time as a landmark of tantric scholarship, elucidating some of the abstrusest mysticism and obscurities of Tantrik literature with terse and lucid explanation. His edition preserves the Sanskrit text together with the traditional commentary of Padmapada and a further gloss, making it the standard reference for serious students of the tradition.
The Prapanchasara ranges across the entire landscape of Tantra. It opens with the deepest questions of cosmology and philosophy — the two principles of Purusha and Prakriti, the twenty-five tattvas, and the evolution of the manifest world from Bindu through Nada into gross form. It then unfolds the profound science of sound and speech (the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet arranged under Soma, Surya, and Agni), the mysteries of Kundalini and her seed-mantra hrīṃ, the rites of initiation and homa, and the worship of a great host of deities — Sarasvati, Sri Tripura, Bhuvaneshvari, Lakshmi, Durga, Agni, Ganesha, Krishna, and the Pranava (Om) — together with the disciplines of yoga. As an authoritative source, it is cited by later masters such as Raghava Bhatta and Kalicharana, and it forms the foundation on which texts like the Sharadatilaka Tantra were built.
Dr. Ramchandra Puri's companion volumes open this vast scripture to the Hindi reader, exploring the tantric sadhana of the Prapanchasara tradition and its place within the legacy of Shankaracharya. Together, the Sanskrit source with English introduction and the two-volume Hindi study make this collection an unusually complete resource on one of Tantra's foundational works.
Ebook Details
- Format: PDF (digital download)
- Texts Included: Prapanchasara Tantra — Sanskrit edition Parts I & II by Arthur Avalon (Tantrik Texts Vols. XVIII & XIX, with English introduction and traditional commentary); and 'Shankaracharya: Tantrik Sadhana' Vols. 1 & 2, a Hindi study by Dr. Ramchandra Puri
- Language: Sanskrit text with English introduction, and Hindi study/exposition
- Content: Complete Sanskrit verses with commentary and scholarly introduction, plus a two-volume Hindi study, faithfully reproduced from the printed editions
- Ideal For: Students and practitioners of Tantra, Sri Vidya, and mantra shastra, admirers of Adi Shankaracharya, readers of Arthur Avalon / John Woodroffe, scholars of Sanskrit tantric literature, and collectors of foundational tantric scriptures
Why You'll Love It
A complete Prapanchasara library in a single download — pairing Arthur Avalon's classic Sanskrit edition and English introduction with Dr. Ramchandra Puri's two-volume Hindi study — bringing the great tantric compendium of Adi Shankaracharya, its cosmology, its science of mantra, and its worship of the deities, to both English and Hindi readers alike.
Order Now
Bring home the Prapanchasara Tantra, the celebrated tantric compendium of Adi Shankaracharya, in this special ebook bundle pairing Arthur Avalon's Sanskrit edition with a two-volume Hindi study, available exclusively at The Soma Store. As soon as your payment is complete, you'll receive your ebook instantly — the download will appear on the checkout confirmation page and be sent to your email as well.
