The Mahavidyas are the representative Tantric feminine pantheon by divergent religious strands and elements: the matr and yogini worship, the cult of Kali and Tripurasundari, Vajrayana Buddhism, Jain Vidyadevis, Saiva and Vaisnava faith, Srividya, the Brahmanial strand of Puranic traditions, etc. This volume is the first attempt to explore the historical process, through which these traditions culminated in the Mahavidya cult and the goddesses with different origins and contradictory attributes were brought into a cluster, with special reference to socio-political changes in the lower Ganga and Brahmaputra Valley between the ninth and fifteenth centuries CE.

This is the definitive work for anyone seeking to understand goddess cults of South Asia I general and the history of eastern Sakta traditions in particular. To aid study, the volume includes images, diagrams and maps.