The Tantric Secret Seed Syllables of the Seven Hundred Verses to Durga

During the Sharadiya Navratri the nine nights of the goddess in autumn, my dear Suresh Anand brought me a photocopy of a book titled 'Tantra Durga Saptashati'. This copy was not clear; the vowel signs of many seed syllables bijakshara root-letters were obscure. In many places, such as in 'ham', 'him', and 'haum', it was difficult to determine exactly which seed syllable was intended. The book had been printed by one Pandit Shivadatta Shastri. It contained the seven hundred verses of the 'Durga Saptashati' in the form of seed mantras. In his introduction, Sri Shastri wrote that he had transcribed them in the month of Ashvin in the year 2000 Vikram Samvat calendar; equivalent to 1943 CE from a handwritten booklet belonging to a Mahatma who was engaged in the practice of these seed mantras. According to Shastri, the 'Tantra Durga Saptashati' is the transformed seed-form of the prevalent 'Durga Saptashati' verses.

I knew nothing about 'Tantra Durga Saptashati'. It was wonderful and unheard of. I searched for it in the 'Tantric Literature' compiled by Pt. Gopinath Kaviraj and in literature related to Tantra and Shakta-Sadhana worship of the Goddess. I contacted many practitioners, scholars, sages, and Mahamandaleshwars leaders of monastic orders who came to the Haridwar Kumbh, both in person and by phone, seeking information about 'Tantra Durga Saptashati', but everyone had only one answer: 'We know nothing about it.'

Nevertheless, I harbored the desire to edit and publish the 'Tantra Durga Saptashati', which is endowed with wonderful and unimaginable seed mantras prevalent in the Kaula and Samayachara traditions of Shakta worshippers.

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