Prasenā, Prasīnā & Prasannā: The Evidence of the Niśvāsaguhya and the Tantrasadbhāva

Abstract

Prasenā, Prasīnā & Prasannā: The Evidence of the Niśvāsaguhya and the Tantrasadbhāva The literature of the Śaiva Mantramārga evidences differing strategies of incorporating prasenā divination into its theoretical frameworks. The early Niśvāsaguhya confines prasenās a prognosticatory role in support of a more common method of dream divination used to determine reasons for failed initiation. Questions of intertextuality and doctrinal dependence are raised when the Trika’s Tantrasadbhāva envisages prasenās as fulfilling exactly the same function.

Keywords

• Prasenā
• divination
• possession
• oracle
• onychomancy
• catoptromancy