Guru Abhinavagupta – The Writer of Tantraloka

Posted on by

Abhinavagupta Biography

Abhinavagupta was a famous musician and poet born in 950 AD in Kashmir. His works had a lot of cultural influence on Indian society. His father was Narasimha Gupta and a great devotee of Lord Shiva, and his mother was Vimala. When Abhinavagupta was two years old, his mother died. Then Narasimha Gupta taught him grammar, literature and logic. So Narasimha Gupta was his first teacher to evolute the thoughts of Abhinavagupta in logic and Philosophy. Later he studied under the guidance of nearly fifteen teachers and Gurus. He wrote many books. His famous book was Tantraloka which narrated the philosophy and Kashmir Shaivism. He also wrote comments about the Natyasastra of the famous Bharata Muni. The Buddhist logic influenced Abhinava, which would help him to write his favourite books.

Abhinavagupta Family

Abhinava had a brother named Manoratha, a great devotee of Lord Shiva and wrote devotional verses praising God. He also had a sister named Amba, who married at a very early age; after her husband died, she spent her life in memory of her husband, Karna. Amba and Karna had a son called Yogesvaridatta, who had tremendous talent in Yoga. The entire family had special skills in various areas connected with devotion.

Disciples’ Contribution to the Success

Abhinavagupta had talented and devotional disciples; among them, Ramadeva was one. He served his Guru Abhinavagupta and learned about the theories of logic and literature. Ksema was another disciple of Gupta. Ksema was also the childhood friend of Karna, who was the cousin to Abhinavagupta. All his disciples worked and learned with his Guru to write comments on Natya Shastra and logical philosophical books. However, his beloved disciple Vatasika was credited for every successful work of Gupta.
He lived in a peaceful area and arranged the place as his Ashram.

Many disciples spent there learning new concepts. The environment made him enlighten the spiritual powers and infuse to bring new theories. Every disciple around him also had the same spiritual power and treated Abhinava as their spiritual master. On one side, his family supported him; fortunately, his cousins, brothers, spiritual leaders, and disciples also had a genius and led the best quality of life. So that only Abhinavagupta completed the magnificent work of Tantraloka, which is still an admirable book and follows its principles.