cted with Tantrism, was disappearing, Saktism was probably
the most powerful religion in Bengal, but Vishnuism was gaining
strength and after the time of Caitanya proved a formidable rival to
it. At the beginning of the fifteenth century we hear that the king of
the Ahoms summoned Brahmans to his Court and adopted many Hindu rites
and beliefs, and from this time onward Saktism was patronized by most
of the Assamese Rajas although after 1550 Vishnuism became the
religion of the mass of the people. Saktism never inspired any popular
or missionary movement, but it was powerful among the aristocracy and
instigated persecutions against the Vishnuites.

The more respectable Tantras[699] show considerable resemblance to the
later Upanishads such as the Nrisinhatapaniya and Ramata-paniya,
which mention Sakti in the sense of creative energy.[700] Both classes
of works treat of magical formulae (mantras) and the construction of
mystic diagrams or yantras. This resemblance does not give us much
assistance in chronology, for the dates of the later Upanishads are
very uncertain, but it shows how the Tantras are connected with other
branches of Hindu thought.

The distinction between Tantras and Puranas is not always
well-marked. The Bhagavata Purana countenances tantric rites[701] and
the Agni Purana (from chapter XXI onwards) bears a strong resemblance
to a Tantra. As a rule the Tantras contain less historical and
legendary matter than the Puranas and more directions as to ritual.
But whereas the Puranas approve of both Vedic rites and others, the
Tantras insist that ceremonies other than those which they prescribe
are now useless. They maintain that each age of the world has its own
special revelation and that in this age the Tantra-sastra is the only
scripture. Thus in the Mahanirvana Tantra Siva says:[702] "The fool
who would follow other doctrines heedless of mine is as great a sinner
as a parricide or the murderer of a Brahman or of a woman.... The
Vedic rites and mantras which were efficacious in the first age have
ceased to have power in this. They are now as powerless as snakes
whose fangs have been drawn and are like dead things." The Kularnava
Tantra (I. 79 ff.) inveighs against those who think they will obtain
salvation by Vedic sacrifices or asceticism or reading sacred books,
whereas it can be won only by tantric rites.

Various lists of Tantras are given and it is generally admitted that
many have been lost. The mo