So far no attempt has been made to identify the extent of pre and post Tantrasamuccaya texts. Even academics seem to have not succeeded in providing a relative chronology of these texts. The failure may be due to the fact that many of the texts do not provide sufficient information regarding the authorship or the date of its composition. Broadly Kerala tantra literature can be grouped into pre- Tantrasamuccaya and post- Tantrasmauccaya texts. This classification is based on following factors (1) no other ritual manual has gained such popularity at all levels (2) TS describes all rituals in detail and the chapters are arranged in a systematic manner. This is not the case with earlier texts (3) the necessity of having initiated into a particular cult is totally ignored in TS. The basic qualification is defined as any Brahmin who has undergone the sodashasamskaras is eligible to perform all temple rituals.
Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati is the only reliable source to get details of pre-Tantrasamuccaya texts. On the basis the references made in it the pre-Tantrasamuccaya texts up to can be arranged chronologically as follows.
1. Prapañcasāra.
2. Prayogamañjarī.
3. Saivāgamanibandhanam.
4. Devodbhava.
5. Matrsadbhāva.
6. Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati.
It is not certain whether this is the exact order of texts or not. And there are some texts written after Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati and before the time of TS. They are:
7. visnusamhitā.
8. Kriyāsāra.
9. Putayurbasa
Here only the pre-Tantrasamuccaya texts are taken into account because the initiation totally disappears from post-Tantrasamuccaya Kerla tantra corpus. The texts Prayogamañjarī, Śaivāgamanibandhana and Īśānaśīvagurdevapaddhati follow the initiation methods of Śaivasiddhānta. visnusam hitā is a text of Pāñcarātra tradition and the initiation methods described there are in accordance with Pāñcarātra prescriptions. Matrsadbhāva is a text belonging to the genre of Sākta tantras. But the initiation procedures described in it are similar to that of Śaivatantras.
The two texts i.e. Prapañcasāra and Devodbhava are excluded from the ongoing discussion owing to the fact in the case of former the authorship of the text is not convincingly ascertained yet. Since the present scholar could not able to collect the Devodbhava it is also excluded from the discussion. And for the sake of convenience the initiation procedures found the śaiva class of texts i.e. Prayogamañjarī, Śaivāgamanibandhana and Īśānaśivagurdevapaddhati are discussed together one by one.
Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati is the only reliable source to get details of pre-Tantrasamuccaya texts. On the basis the references made in it the pre-Tantrasamuccaya texts up to can be arranged chronologically as follows.
1. Prapañcasāra.
2. Prayogamañjarī.
3. Saivāgamanibandhanam.
4. Devodbhava.
5. Matrsadbhāva.
6. Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati.
It is not certain whether this is the exact order of texts or not. And there are some texts written after Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati and before the time of TS. They are:
7. visnusamhitā.
8. Kriyāsāra.
9. Putayurbasa
Here only the pre-Tantrasamuccaya texts are taken into account because the initiation totally disappears from post-Tantrasamuccaya Kerla tantra corpus. The texts Prayogamañjarī, Śaivāgamanibandhana and Īśānaśīvagurdevapaddhati follow the initiation methods of Śaivasiddhānta. visnusam hitā is a text of Pāñcarātra tradition and the initiation methods described there are in accordance with Pāñcarātra prescriptions. Matrsadbhāva is a text belonging to the genre of Sākta tantras. But the initiation procedures described in it are similar to that of Śaivatantras.
The two texts i.e. Prapañcasāra and Devodbhava are excluded from the ongoing discussion owing to the fact in the case of former the authorship of the text is not convincingly ascertained yet. Since the present scholar could not able to collect the Devodbhava it is also excluded from the discussion. And for the sake of convenience the initiation procedures found the śaiva class of texts i.e. Prayogamañjarī, Śaivāgamanibandhana and Īśānaśivagurdevapaddhati are discussed together one by one.
