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Sri Vidya

श्रीविद्या śrīvidyā

The esoteric Shakta tradition of the benign goddess Tripurasundari, centred on her mantra and the Srichakra; the heart of the Srikula stream.

Where this term appears

  • Bhuta Shuddhi: The Rite That Burns the Body to Ash Lineages

    Though it is most elaborated in the Shakta and Sri Vidya traditions, the parallel Shaiva Siddhanta ritual manuals prescribe their own bhuta shuddhi, which tells us the rite is not a Shakta peculiarity but a sha…

  • The 64 Śākta Tantras Lineages

    The 64 Śākta Tantras are the Goddess-centred tantric scriptures, named in a famous verse of the Saundaryalaharī. The number 64 is a traditional and symbolic…

  • The Kularnava Tantra: The Kaula Path and the True Guru Lineages

    …ritative Kaula scriptures, quoted again and again by later Shakta and Sri Vidya writers as a pramana , a source you could cite to settle a question.

  • What are Mudras? Lineages

    A mudra is a "seal," and the word covers four different things that most people never connect: the hand-poses of temple images (like the raised palm of…

  • What are the Āgamas and Tantras? Lineages

    The Āgamas and Tantras are the revealed scriptures of the tantric traditions, a second body of revelation standing alongside the Veda. The word āgama means "that…

  • What is Diksha? Lineages

    Diksha is spiritual initiation: the formal rite by which a qualified teacher transmits a mantra, a lineage, and its saving power into a disciple. The tradition…

  • What is Shaktism? Lineages

    One is the Srikula, the family of Sri, gentle and regal, centred on the beautiful goddess Lalita Tripurasundari, worshipped through her diagram the Sri Chakra and the mantra-system called Sri Vidya.

  • What is Tantra? Lineages

    The Srikula , the family of Sri, gathers around Tripurasundari, "the beautiful one of the three cities," and its central system is Sri Vidya , gentle, refined, and luminous.

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