The Scholar
Bhaskararaya Makhin, roughly 1690 to 1785, and the reason this entry sits in a series about saints is that he is the closest thing the Shakta tradition has to a final authority, and he got there by reading.
Where he came from
A Maharashtrian brahmana family, his father Gambhiraraya Makhin a scholar before him, and he moved a great deal: study in the Deccan, then Varanasi, and finally south.
His teachers, as the tradition records them: Gangadhara Vajapeyin for the Vedic material, Shivadatta Shukla at Varanasi for the shastras generally, and Nrisimhananda for Srividya initiation, after which he carried the name Bhasurananda Natha.
He settled in Tamil Nadu, near Tiruvidaimarudur in the Thanjavur country, at a village that came to be called Bhaskararajapuram, under the patronage of the Maratha rulers of Thanjavur.
What he actually was
And this is the point that gets missed.
He was not a tantric specialist who dabbled elsewhere. He was a first rank Sanskrit scholar across the whole curriculum, who happened to be the greatest authority on Srividya.
He wrote in Mimamsa, the discipline of textual interpretation and ritual logic, which is the hardest and driest thing in the Sanskrit world.
He wrote in Nyaya, logic. In Vedanta. On the Vedas. On dharmashastra.
And this matters for a reason that has nothing to do with his biography.
Because the standing assumption in a great deal of modern writing is that tantra is a fringe: unlearned, transgressive, outside the mainstream, opposed to the brahmanical world.
And the greatest Srividya scholar was a Mimamsaka who could argue with anybody in any school.
Which does not settle the theological questions, and it is not an argument that tantra is correct. It settles the sociological one. The tantric traditions in India were argued about, defended and attacked by the same people, using the same tools, in the same language, as everything else. They were inside the conversation.
What he wrote
- Setubandha, his commentary on the Nityashodashikarnava, and the central scholarly work on Srividya ritual and theory
- Saubhagya Bhaskara, his commentary on the Lalita Sahasranama, and the standard one
- Varivasya Rahasya, his own compact treatise on Srividya practice, with his own Prakasha commentary on it
- Guptavati, his commentary on the Durga Saptashati
- Khadyota, on the Ganesha Sahasranama
- Commentaries on the Shakta Upanishads, including the Bhavana and Tripura Upanishads
- And the Mimamsa, Nyaya and Vedanta work
Over forty works are attributed to him, and the number is not padding.
The Saubhagya Bhaskara
Worth singling out, because it is the one most readers have already met without knowing.
The Lalita Sahasranama, the thousand names of the goddess, is one of the most recited texts in India, and almost every published edition with explanation descends from Bhaskararaya's commentary, directly or through translators and popularisers who used him.
When somebody tells you what a particular name of Lalita means, they are usually telling you what Bhaskararaya said it means, and the alternative readings he considered and rejected are generally not in the version that reached you.
What Srividya Is
Set out plainly, because it is usually described either in code or in advertising.
The deity
Lalita Tripurasundari, the goddess as the beautiful one of the three cities, and in the Srividya reading she is not one goddess among many but the ultimate itself, in a form, with the whole cosmos as her expression.
The diagram
The Sri Chakra, also called the Sri Yantra: nine interlocking triangles producing forty three smaller triangles, surrounded by lotus petal rings, a triple circle and a square enclosure with four gates.
What it is for
It is a map, and it is meant to be read in two directions.
Outward, from the central point, the bindu, to the outer square: which is the account of how a single undivided thing becomes a world.
Inward, from the square to the bindu: which is the practice, and the practitioner moves through the nine enclosures, the avaranas, in order, worshipping the deities of each, and arrives at the point.
And the same movement is mapped onto the body, which is why the Sri Chakra material and the chakra material overlap.
The mantra
The Panchadashi, of fifteen syllables, in three groups, and the sixteen syllable Shodashi which adds one.
Two main lineages transmit it differently: the Kadi and the Hadi, named for the syllable each begins with, with a third Sadi stream, and Bhaskararaya's work handles them comparatively.
The practice
Navavarana puja, the worship of the nine enclosures, is the central ritual, and it is long, technically demanding and performed with the chakra in front of you, either drawn, engraved on a plate, or in the three dimensional form called the Meru.
The dispute Bhaskararaya was in
And this should be stated rather than glossed, because the two positions are still live.
Samayachara holds that Srividya is internal. The worship happens in the sahasrara, the chakra is a mental object, external ritual is preliminary at best, and the tantric substances have no place. Lakshmidhara's commentary on the Saundarya Lahari is the great statement of this position, and it is the reading much of southern orthodoxy took.
Kaula holds that the external ritual is real ritual, that the chakra is worshipped as an object, and that the tantric materials, including the five makaras, belong to the practice for the qualified.
Bhaskararaya argued the Kaula side, and argued against Lakshmidhara directly, and did it with the full apparatus of a Mimamsaka: this is what the text says, this is what the word means, this is why your reading fails.
And the argument was never settled. Both positions are held today, by lineages that regard each other as mistaken and not as outside.
What this article will and will not do with that
It will report the dispute, because pretending Srividya is uniformly internal and sanitised is false, and readers meet the other version eventually and should not be surprised by it.
It will not describe the makaras or supply any ritual detail.
And it will state one thing without qualification. Nothing in this literature, on any reading, authorises a teacher to require sexual access, alcohol or drugs from a student.
A person who tells you that your practice requires you to sleep with them is not describing a tradition. They are committing an offence, and the numbers are police 112, women's helpline 181, and free legal aid 15100.
And that holds regardless of lineage, regardless of how senior they are, and regardless of what any text says.
What Is Sold in His Name
Srividya is the most commercialised strand of Hindu practice, and it is worth being specific about how.
One. The yantra market
Search for Sri Yantra and you will be offered objects at every price, in copper, silver, gold plate, crystal, sphatika, with claims attached: wealth, business growth, removal of obstacles, a house that prospers.
What is true
A Sri Chakra is a diagram. Its meaning is in its structure, and the structure is the same whether it is drawn in kumkum on a plate, printed on paper, engraved in copper or carved from crystal.
An expensive one is not a better one. It is a more expensive one.
What the claims are worth
Nothing, as claims. No object placed in a house causes revenue. A yantra is an aid to worship and attention, and a seller who describes it as a device that produces money is selling a device that produces money, which is a different product and does not exist.
And the specific tell: guaranteed results, energised by a special ritual for an extra fee, only nine remaining, and must be installed by our expert who will visit. Each of those is a sales technique and none of them appears anywhere in Bhaskararaya.
Two. Paid initiation
Srividya diksha is genuinely restricted, genuinely requires a teacher, and genuinely involves a lineage. That much is not a marketing claim, it is how the tradition actually works.
Which is exactly why it can be sold.
What to watch for
- A price list. Levels of initiation with fees attached, higher levels costing more
- Weekend intensives conferring what the tradition treats as a long relationship
- Online initiation at scale, with hundreds initiated at once by somebody who does not know their names
- Escalation: the first initiation is affordable, and it turns out to be insufficient without the next one
- Exclusivity claims: only this lineage is authentic, only this teacher has the real mantra, and everybody else is fake
A real teacher may accept dakshina. A price list is a business, and the difference is not subtle.
Three. The prosperity framing
Lalita Tripurasundari is presented in a great deal of contemporary material as a wealth goddess, with the Sri Chakra as a wealth instrument, and this is a reduction of the entire thing to one desired output.
Bhaskararaya's subject is not wealth. The Setubandha and the Varivasya Rahasya are about the structure of the cosmos, the correspondence between the diagram and the practitioner, and the nature of the ultimate. The word for what is being marketed is not srividya.
What is actually open to everybody
And this is the useful part of the entry.
The Lalita Sahasranama requires no initiation.
It is published, it is freely available, it is recited daily in enormous numbers of ordinary households, it costs nothing, and there is no gate on it.
The same is true of:
- Lalita Trishati, the three hundred names
- Saundarya Lahari, which is a hymn and can be read by anybody
- Devi Mahatmya or Durga Saptashati, on which Bhaskararaya wrote the Guptavati
- Simply Om Aim Hrim Shrim Shri Lalitambikayai Namah, or the name Ma
So the position is this. The restricted material is restricted and you will not get it from an article or from a website that takes payment. The open material is genuinely open, is very large, and is what most devotees of the goddess have always actually used.
Where to go
- Tiruvidaimarudur, Thanjavur district, and Bhaskararajapuram, where he lived and died
- Thanjavur, for the Maratha court that supported him and the Saraswati Mahal Library
- Kanchipuram, Madurai and Tiruvannamalai, for the great southern goddess temples
- Varanasi, where he studied
A daily practice from this entry
- The Lalita Sahasranama, or as much of it as your morning allows
- Om Aim Hrim Shrim Shri Lalitambikayai Namah
- And the buying rule: if it is being sold with a guarantee, the guarantee is the product and it is empty
The Short Version
Who: Bhaskararaya Makhin, roughly 1690 to 1785, the closest thing the Shakta tradition has to a final authority, from a Maharashtrian brahmana family whose father Gambhiraraya Makhin was a scholar before him. He studied in the Deccan and at Varanasi, under Gangadhara Vajapeyin for the Vedic material, Shivadatta Shukla for the shastras generally and Nrisimhananda for Srividya initiation, after which he carried the name Bhasurananda Natha. He settled near Tiruvidaimarudur in the Thanjavur country, at a village that came to be called Bhaskararajapuram, under Maratha patronage.
What he was: not a tantric specialist who dabbled elsewhere, but a first rank Sanskrit scholar across the whole curriculum who happened to be the greatest authority on Srividya. He wrote in Mimamsa, the hardest and driest discipline in the Sanskrit world, and in Nyaya, Vedanta, Vedic study and dharmashastra. This matters because the standing assumption in much modern writing is that tantra is a fringe, unlearned and outside the mainstream, and the greatest Srividya scholar was a Mimamsaka who could argue with anybody in any school. That does not settle the theological questions; it settles the sociological one.
What he wrote: the Setubandha on the Nityashodashikarnava, the central scholarly work on Srividya; the Saubhagya Bhaskara on the Lalita Sahasranama, and the standard one; the Varivasya Rahasya with his own Prakasha commentary; the Guptavati on the Durga Saptashati; the Khadyota on the Ganesha Sahasranama; commentaries on the Bhavana and Tripura Upanishads; and the Mimamsa, Nyaya and Vedanta work. Over forty works are attributed to him. Almost every published Lalita Sahasranama with explanation descends from his commentary, so when somebody tells you what a name of Lalita means they are usually telling you what Bhaskararaya said it means.
Srividya: the deity is Lalita Tripurasundari, who in this reading is not one goddess among many but the ultimate itself in a form. The Sri Chakra is nine interlocking triangles producing forty three smaller ones, with lotus rings, a triple circle and a square enclosure, read outward from the bindu as an account of how one undivided thing becomes a world and inward through the nine avaranas as the practice. The mantra is the fifteen syllable Panchadashi and the sixteen syllable Shodashi, transmitted by the Kadi, Hadi and Sadi lineages. Navavarana puja is the central ritual, long and technically demanding, performed with the chakra drawn, engraved or in the three dimensional Meru form.
The dispute: samayachara holds Srividya is internal, worship happening in the sahasrara with the chakra as a mental object and no place for tantric substances, and Lakshmidhara's commentary on the Saundarya Lahari is its great statement. Kaula holds the external ritual is real ritual and that the tantric materials including the five makaras belong to the practice for the qualified. Bhaskararaya argued the Kaula side against Lakshmidhara directly with the full apparatus of a Mimamsaka, and the argument was never settled. Nothing in this literature on any reading authorises a teacher to require sexual access, alcohol or drugs from a student: a person who says your practice requires you to sleep with them is committing an offence, whatever their lineage or seniority. Police 112, women's helpline 181, free legal aid 15100.
What is sold: yantras at every price with claims of wealth and prosperity attached, when a Sri Chakra is a diagram whose meaning is in its structure and is the same drawn in kumkum as carved in crystal, so an expensive one is not a better one but a more expensive one. Guaranteed results, energising for an extra fee, only nine remaining and installation by a visiting expert are sales techniques that appear nowhere in Bhaskararaya. Paid initiation is the second market, and it works because Srividya diksha genuinely is restricted and genuinely does require a teacher: watch for price lists, weekend intensives, mass online initiation, escalation and exclusivity claims. A real teacher may accept dakshina; a price list is a business.
What is open: the Lalita Sahasranama requires no initiation, is freely available, is recited daily in enormous numbers of ordinary households and has no gate on it, and the same is true of the Lalita Trishati, the Saundarya Lahari, the Durga Saptashati and the simple name.
Reader Questions Answered
Who was Bhaskararaya?+
Bhaskararaya Makhin, roughly 1690 to 1785, the greatest scholarly authority on Srividya and the author of over forty works. He came from a Maharashtrian brahmana family, studied in the Deccan and at Varanasi under Gangadhara Vajapeyin, Shivadatta Shukla and Nrisimhananda, took the initiation name Bhasurananda Natha, and settled near Tiruvidaimarudur in the Thanjavur country under Maratha patronage at a village that came to be called Bhaskararajapuram. He was not a tantric specialist alone but a first rank Sanskrit scholar across Mimamsa, Nyaya, Vedanta, Vedic study and dharmashastra.
What is the Saubhagya Bhaskara?+
Bhaskararaya's commentary on the Lalita Sahasranama, and the standard one. The Lalita Sahasranama, the thousand names of the goddess, is one of the most recited texts in India, and almost every published edition with explanation descends from this commentary, either directly or through translators and popularisers who used him. So when somebody tells you what a particular name of Lalita means, they are usually telling you what Bhaskararaya said it means, and the alternative readings he considered and rejected are generally not in the version that reached you.
What is the Sri Chakra?+
The diagram at the centre of Srividya, also called the Sri Yantra: nine interlocking triangles producing forty three smaller triangles, surrounded by lotus petal rings, a triple circle and a square enclosure with four gates. It is a map meant to be read in two directions. Outward from the central bindu to the outer square, it is an account of how a single undivided thing becomes a world. Inward from the square to the bindu, it is the practice, and the practitioner moves through the nine enclosures or avaranas in order, worshipping the deities of each, and arrives at the point. The same movement is mapped onto the body, which is why Sri Chakra material and chakra material overlap. Navavarana puja, the worship of the nine enclosures, is the central ritual.
Should I buy an expensive Sri Yantra?+
No. A Sri Chakra is a diagram, its meaning is in its structure, and the structure is the same whether it is drawn in kumkum on a plate, printed on paper, engraved in copper or carved from crystal. An expensive one is not a better one, it is a more expensive one. No object placed in a house causes revenue: a yantra is an aid to worship and attention, and a seller who describes it as a device that produces money is selling a device that does not exist. The specific tells are guaranteed results, energising by a special ritual for an extra fee, only nine remaining, and installation by an expert who will visit, and each of those is a sales technique that appears nowhere in Bhaskararaya.
Can I recite the Lalita Sahasranama without initiation?+
Yes. The Lalita Sahasranama requires no initiation. It is published, freely available, recited daily in enormous numbers of ordinary households, costs nothing, and there is no gate on it. The same is true of the Lalita Trishati, the Saundarya Lahari, which is a hymn anybody can read, the Devi Mahatmya or Durga Saptashati on which Bhaskararaya wrote the Guptavati, and simply saying Om Aim Hrim Shrim Shri Lalitambikayai Namah or the name Ma. So the position is straightforward: the restricted material is restricted and you will not get it from an article or from a website that takes payment, while the open material is genuinely open, is very large, and is what most devotees of the goddess have always actually used.
How do I tell a real Srividya teacher from a seller?+
Srividya diksha genuinely is restricted, genuinely does require a teacher and genuinely involves a lineage, which is exactly why it can be sold. Watch for a price list, with levels of initiation carrying fees and higher levels costing more; weekend intensives conferring what the tradition treats as a long relationship; mass online initiation of hundreds at once by somebody who does not know their names; escalation, where an affordable first initiation turns out to be insufficient without the next; and exclusivity claims, that only this lineage is authentic and everybody else is fake. A real teacher may accept dakshina, but a price list is a business and the difference is not subtle. Separately and without qualification: nothing in this literature on any reading authorises a teacher to require sexual access, alcohol or drugs from a student, and somebody who says your practice requires you to sleep with them is committing an offence. Police 112, women's helpline 181, free legal aid 15100.
About the author
Acharya Vinaya Kapoor · M.A. Sanskrit, Mantra & Stotra Studies
Acharya Vinaya holds an M.A. in Sanskrit from Banaras Hindu University and writes the mantra and stotra commentary on Vandnaa. Her focus is on accurate pronunciation, traditional context, and helping modern readers connect with classical texts.
Meet the Vandnaa editorial team →
