Tantrayukti (तन्त्रयुक्तिः)

Tantrayukti (Samskrit : तन्त्रयुक्तिः) means the methodology of composing shastra works. The ancient Indians were widely and rightly known for their assiduous pursuit of knowledge (ज्ञानम्) which is considered to be the most sacred thing in the world. They laid down the rules in construction of a shastra, approaching it in an orderly manner, defining all aspects (lakshanas) of a given subject, referring previous literature about a particular topic, presenting new thoughts and theories thereby establishing a comprehensive methodology of composing and interpreting the shastra which are lately seen in the modern day scientific compositions or treatises.

परिचयः|| Introduction

Samskrit literature abounds with hundreds of treatises pertaining to ancient Bharatiya Vijnana shastras of which more than half a dozen books provide us the information detailing how a scientific or methodical structure of a shastra is composed. A number of devices relating to words, structures and meanings related to the composition of a shastra are described in authoritative and famous texts as early as Vishnudharmottara Purana, Panini Maharshi's Ashtadhyayi, Kautilya's Arthashastra, Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, Vagbhata's Ashtangasangraha (the book on Ayurveda), Neelamegha's Tantrayuktivichara. All these works portray the depth of Indian thinkers, who looked at the scientific treatises from all possible angles, critically examined the various conceptual aspects of the scientific works along with paying attention to the subtle aspects. The lesser known fact is that these great Indian thinkers after a thorough research, indepth comprehensive study of the shastras available to them, formulated a methodology for preparing scientific compositions having 95 constituents, namely

• तन्त्रयुक्तयः (tantrayuktayaḥ) ॥ 36 Tantrayuktis
• व्याख्यानि (vyākhyāni) ॥ 15 Vyakhyas
• कल्पनाः (kalpanāḥ) ॥ 7 Kalpanas
• आश्रयानि (āśrayāni)॥ 20 Ashrayas
• ताच्छील्यानि (tācchīlyāni)॥ 17 Taatchilyas

Thus we see, Tantrayukti refers to