panca-tantra

Updated: May 16, 2025

C. The word Tantra originally meant a manual giving the essentials of a subject but later usage tends to restrict it to works, whether Hindu or Buddhist, inculcating the worship of Śiva's spouse. But there are exceptions to this restriction: the Panca-tantra is a collection of stories and the Lakshmî-tantra is a Vishnuite work.

Sir Charles Eliot - Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2