Parasurama Kalpasutra

The Parasurama Kalpasutra is the foundational ritual manual of the Shri Vidya tradition, attributed to Parashurama — the Rama of the axe, in the tradition’s frame a worshipper of Lalita received from Dattatreya.

Content

The text codifies Shri Vidya worship in brief sutras with commentarial apparatus: the construction and consecration of the Shri Chakra (its nine enclosures, the navavarana), the worship of Lalita with the sixteen offerings, the guru-lineage (which names Parashurama’s line through its krama), and the esoteric readings of the fifteen- and sixteen-syllable mantras (Panchadashi and Shodashi). Ramesvara’s and Vidyaranya’s commentaries? — the tradition’s principal gloss (Vivarana) is attributed to Ramesvara, and the text served Bhaskararaya’s work.

Significance

Almost every extant Shri Vidya line — Bhaskararaya’s, the Kanchi-linked lines, Devipuram’s — grounds its praxis in this Kalpasutra. It is the bridge between the tantric sources and the temple-and-household form the tradition takes today.

Verification notes

• Attribution to Parashurama is traditional; the text’s compilation is medieval.
• Audited against Wikipedia (September 2026).