1871. ] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 279 
dit was employed in examining the library of the late Sir Raja 
Rédhékanta Bahddur, K. C. 8. I. where he will have ample work 
for at least four months. 
9. My assistant was, for a time during the period under report, 
employed in examining the library of Raji Yatindramohana Tha- 
kura of Calcutta, who has very kindly placed his collection of MSS. 
at my disposal. It is perhaps the richest private collection in 
Calcutta, and contains a larger number of Tantras than what I 
have any where else met with, not excepting the collections of the 
Asiatic Society of Bengal, and of the Sanskrit colleges of Calcutta 
and Benares. Very few works of this class have yet been examined 
by European orientalists, and owing to the circumstance of some 
of them being of an offensive character, they are generally looked 
upon with disfavour. They are wanting too in the halo of anti- 
quity. Theoldest among them, as far as I can guess, does not 
date before the 3rd century of Christ, and the bulk of them 
were composed probably between the 5th and the 12th cen- 
turies. They exercise, however, the most sovereign influence on 
the religious life of the Hindus, and control all their actions. 
A few display a curious phase of thought, in which a hyper- 
trophy of the sentiment of veneration for the creative energy has 
lead to the most mystic and obscene rites that mankind has ever 
indulged in. Some of the works of this class profess to be revela- 
tions by. S‘iva made at the request of his consort Parvati, and 
a great many are acknowledged to be compilations, but they all have 
the same characteristics, the same style of composition, and very 
similar professions of faith. Their subjects are various. Ancient 
legends, topography, medicine, and grammar are frequently treated 
of, but those subjects are all intended to lead to the establishment 
of the preéminence of the female energy in the creation of the 
world, or the mysterious adoration of the phallic emblems as the 
means of salvation. Traces of this dogma may be noticed in the 
Egyptian, the Chaldee, the Hebrew, the Gnostic, the Greek and 
other ancient creeds, but nowhere has it been developed to so 
inordinate or revolting an extent, or carried to so extravagant a 
length as in the Tantras, and in that respect they are of interest 
to the antiquarian and the student of ancient religious history. 
