Your guide to reliable sources of Indian Occult.
Helping you understand difficult spiritual subjects through curated explanations, source-backed insights, and guided exploration via a structured knowledgebase.
What's here
Four ways into the corpus
Every number below is counted from the database, not written down — so what a card promises is exactly what is behind it.
Scriptures
6,660 verses
The received Sanskrit beside our own English and Hindi, verse by verse, with transliteration.
Open →Guides
10 guides
Everything reliable sources say on one topic, compiled and filterable — an index, not an opinion. In English and Hindi.
Open →Glossary
742 terms
Every term the corpus uses, with its Devanagari, its gloss, and where it is spoken about.
Open →Blog
2 essays
Longer pieces where the argument is ours, with the sources it rests on named in place.
Open →The text itself
श्रीशिवमहापुराण
Śrī Śiva Mahāpurāṇa
One of the eighteen Mahāpurāṇas, given in the form Vyāsa received it from Sanatkumāra. We set out the received Sanskrit beside our own translation, verse by verse.
6,660 verses across 120 adhyāyas, each one set out in the received Sanskrit with a transliteration beside our own English and Hindi. A doubtful reading is printed as it stands and flagged, never quietly corrected. 264 claims elsewhere on this site stand on one of its verses.
Open the table of contents-
7 adhyāyas
माहात्म्य
The Glory of the Text
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25 adhyāyas
विद्येश्वरसंहिता
The Saṃhitā of Vidyeśvara
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20 adhyāyas
रुद्रसंहिता — सृष्टिखण्ड
The Saṃhitā of Rudra · Sṛṣṭi Khaṇḍa
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43 adhyāyas
रुद्रसंहिता — सतीखण्ड
The Saṃhitā of Rudra · Satī Khaṇḍa
+ 1 more section
Master Question Registry
Top Questions Asked Across Sources
Notes our editors flagged as conceptually noteworthy while seeding the corpus. The set rotates once a day, not on every page load, so a note you find here is still here this evening.
Why is Loban called Shyama Dhoop, and what is its purpose in Tantra Shastra?
In Tantric texts, Loban is termed 'Shyama Dhoop', and its principal function is to attract negative energies and spirits rather than dispel them — used in advanced sadhanas and specific Tantric temples, not ordinary worship.
When should the standing wick (Khadi Batti) be used instead?
The standing wick is for two situations: worship of a fierce (Ugra) deity form, and a vow-bound ritual using an already-perfected (Siddha) mantra or hymn for a specific result. It is doubled by wrapping Kalawa around it.
Does Raal have a use in Tantra?
Yes — under the names Ashvakarna, Kasya, Dhoop Vriksha, Surya Dhoop, and Sarja Dhoop, Raal appears in kavachas and in texts like the Renuka Tantram, where burning it with mantra performs Sthana-bandhan.
What is the correct etiquette for darshan at Kamakhya?
At the Kamakhya shrine, unmarried visitors are traditionally advised against gazing directly at the core idol while circumambulating.
What is the concluding procedure on Raksha Bandhan for the Kubera Sadhana?
Offer 13 betel-leaf rolls to Kubera and 5 to Shiva, pray for legitimate wealth rather than acting on any dreams of buried treasure, then store the ritual items permanently in a wooden, sandalwood, or silver box and repeat the practice each Shravana.
What does the speaker say when asked whether namaz destroys sin?
He declines the question on grounds of not knowing the practice, then argues from the conduct of those who perform it that it does not appear to destroy sin, and refers the questioner to authorities within their own tradition.
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Explore by Topic
Twelve more of the most-covered deities, scriptures and topics, beyond the ones in the search bar above.
Glossary
Today’s Featured Terms
Terms referenced by at least 3 notes across the corpus, rotating daily.
Mahapratyangira
महाप्रत्यंगिराA fierce protective form of Pratyangira.
Akhand Jyot
अखंड ज्योतिThe unbroken lamp kept burning continuously throughout Navratri — it must stay lit until the Kalash is shifted at Visarjan, after which it's allowed to extinguish naturally and fully cooled with Gangajal before the Kalash is carried out for immersion.
Rudrayamala Tantra
रुद्रयामल तंत्रA major Tantric scripture cited as the source of several Bhairava and Kali rites, including the Batuk Bhairav Ashtottara Shatanama and the Shree Kalika Kavach.
Sutak
सूतकThe period of ritual impurity observed by a family after a birth or death, during which regular worship is paused.
Chandika
चण्डिकाA fierce, warrior form of the Goddess Durga, invoked through assertive (Ugra) mantras for protection and the defeat of hostile forces.
Navnath
नवनाथThe nine revered Siddhas (Gorakhnath among them) of the Nath tradition, invoked as part of Guru-Ganesha worship before a sadhana.
Why this site is different
Not more occult content. A route to the sources it is supposed to rest on.
Nothing published without a source
Every note is stored against the source it came from, so an uncited claim cannot exist here — not as a policy we promise to keep, but as a rule the database enforces.
Interpretation kept apart from attribution
Where a claim rests on scripture, the passage is named and graded — stated in the text, inferred from it, customary, or contradicted by it. "The text does not say this" is a sentence we print.
Entities linked as a system
Deities, concepts, scriptures, rituals and traditions are tagged and cross-linked, so a topic can be followed outward instead of read as one isolated page.
The text itself, not only writing about it
Received scripture is set out verse by verse in the original beside our own translation, so you can check any claim against the line it is supposed to rest on.