Andre Padoux has had a distinguished career as a diplomat and then as a scholar of Sanskrit, notably of ‘Kashmir’ Shaivism and Shakta Tantrism. He was Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, for many years. He is a renowned expert on the ‘science of mantra’ (mantrasastra) and has published important articles in this field.

Providing a systematic and complete overview of the highest scholarly quality on Tantric mantras in Hinduism, this book presents a summary on the nature of Tantric mantras, their phonetic aspect, structure and classifications. Additionally, it explains the metaphysical-theological nature of Tantric mantras and gives an introduction to their beliefs and practices. In individual chapters, Andre Padoux discusses the extraction and examination of mantras, certain characteristics such as their "perfect nature" and their imperfections, and he describes certain mantrics practices.

For the first time, Andre Padoux' work on Tantric mantras is made accessible to an English-speaking readership. This book will be of great interest to scholars of Religious Studies, Theology, Indology, South Asian Studies, and Asian Religion.