This compendium of eight papers, seeks to discover the interrelationships and common ritual syntax of the Saiva, Buddhist, Vaisnava and Saura traditions of Tantra, with a particular emphasis on the Buddhist Manjusriyamulakalpa and the Saiva Nisvasatattvasamhita.

It also throws light on the Saiva tattvas and their evolution, yogini-temples, alphabet-deities, an early treatise of snake-related magic, iconographic prescriptions in early pratisthatantras, the implications of the use of the bhutasankhya system, and a fragment of a Buddhist trantric sadhana.