Abhinav Gupta

Abhinav Gupta was a philosopher, mystic and aesthetician from Kashmir. His mother, Vimala, died when he was just two years old. As a consequence of losing his mother, of whom he reportedly was very attached to, he grew more distant from worldly life and focused all the more on a spiritual endeavor. His birthplace was Kashmir. His family is full of scholars and mystics. Also, he studied all the schools of philosophy and art of his time, under the guidance of as many as 15 teachers and gurus. His father, Narasimha Gupta, after his wife’s death, favored a disciplined lifestyle while raising his three children. He had a cultivated mind and heart "outstandingly adorned with devotion to Mahesvara". His father was his first teacher, who was instructing him in grammar, logic, and literature. He was considered not only an influential musician, but also a poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician. In his life, he has done thirty-five works, the most popular of which is Tantraloka, an encyclopedic and practical aspect of Trika and Kaula.

Another one of his important contributions was in the field of philosophy of aesthetics with famous Abhinavabharati commentary of Bharata Muni. His thought was highly influenced by Buddhist logic. "Abhinavagupta" was not his original name, rather a title he earned from his master. In his analysis, Jayaratha was Abhinavagupta's good commentator. He is considered a systematiser of the philosophical thoughts. He rebuilt, explained and arranged the philosophical knowledge into a more reasonable form. He is evaluating all the accessible sources of his time, as a modern scientific researcher of Indology. In his family, he had a brother and a sister. The brother, Manoratha, was a well-versed devotee of Shiva. His sister, Amba, devoted herself to worship after the death of her husband, late in life.

Religious works: His better work was Tantraloka, "Lok or Look, here, transliterates to throw Light on Tantra", a synthesis of all the Trika system. Tantrasara ("Essence of Tantra") is a summarized version, in prose, of Tantraloka, which was once more briefed in Tantroccaya, and finally presented, in a summary form under the name of Tantravaṭadhanika – the "Seed of Tantra".