ˈtən.trə noun
( -s )
Usage: often capitalized
Etymology: Sanskrit, literally, warp, essential part, doctrine, from tanoti he stretches, weaves — more at thin
1. : a Hindu religious writing of the less ancient fourth class of shastras containing mystical teachings (as that the natural processes of creation and destruction rather than being illusory manifest the active conscious energy of divine spirit to be worshiped as a goddess wife of a Vedic god who attains his highest power in union with her) and ritual instructions including magical incantations, gestures, and diagrams (as for healing illness, averting evil), largely supplanting the Vedas, and forming especially the scriptures of the Shakta sects
2. : one of a body of related Buddhist treatises of similar character