Magazine

Tantra in India - its Origin and Development

Here in the West, the word “tantra” has been given a confusing variety of different meanings in recent years. A huge range of word associations come into play depending on who is using the word and whom they are talking to. One reason for this is a real and noticeable change in meaning which the term underwent during the previous century: in Europe and the USA the term “tantra” now covers something bearing little resemblance to either current or historical usage of the term in its land of origin - India. Another reason is the diversity of heterogeneous phenomena which the term is used to cover in South-East Asia itself.

Tantra and Neo-Tantra in the West

Although Neo-Tantra, as it was developed in the West, has little to do with what was taught in India, it would be naive to say that it is a complete self-creation. Since the beginnings of the 20th century (and increasingly since the 1970s), there has been a constant, but arbitrary and little systematic appropriation of practices and practices taught by various tantric and yogic schools in India. There were also remarkable re-imports of Western Tantra into Indian culture and from there back to Europe and the USA.