For the texts classified as Tantras, see Tantras. Hinduism and Buddhism fly yoga roma co-developed most likely about the middle of the 1st millennium AD. Starting in the early centuries of common era, newly revealed Tantras centering on Vishnu, Shiva or Shakti emerged. In Buddhism, the Vajrayana tradition is known for its extensive tantra ideas and practices.

Certain modes of non-vedic worship such as Puja are considered tantric in their conception and rituals. Hindu temple building also generally conforms to the iconography of tantra. The connotation of the word tantra to mean an esoteric practice or religious ritualism is a colonial era European invention. The word appears in the hymns of the Rigveda such as in 10. Vairocabhisambodhi-tantra is also referred to as Vairocabhisambodhi-sutra. Sabarasvamin’s commentary on Mimamsa Sutra 11. Set of sites and worship methods to goddesses or Matrikas.

The 5th-century BC scholar Pāṇini in his Sutra 1. The ancient Mimamsa school of Hinduism uses the term tantra extensively, and its scholars offer various definitions. When an action or a thing, once complete, becomes beneficial in several matters to one person, or to many people, that is known as Tantra. For example, a lamp placed amidst many priests. In contrast, that which benefits by its repetition is called Āvāpa, such as massaging with oil.

Medieval texts present their own definitions of Tantra. American people, at the same time creating a misleading impression of its connection to sex. In modern scholarship, Tantra has been studied as an esoteric practice and ritualistic religion, sometimes referred to as Tantrism. There is a wide gap between what Tantra means to its followers, and what Tantra has been represented or perceived as since colonial era writers began commenting on Tantra. Tantric traditions have been studied mostly from textual and historical perspectives. Anthropological work on living Tantric tradition is scarce, and ethnography has rarely engaged with the study of Tantra. This is arguably a result of the modern construction of Tantrism as occult, esoteric and secret.