Mantra Maharnava is a digest of extant Tantra texts. The author mentions his name at the end of his work as Madhav Ray, a physician who lived in a village called Bisahunagar in Rajasthan.
Mantra Maharnava is divided into three khandas (sections) –
- The first deals with male deities
- The second deals with female deities
- The final section discusses yakshini and other minor deities
Each section is divided into tarangas. The fifth section of the first book starts with rituals for Ganesha as Vakratunda, Ucchishta Ganapati, Shakti Vinayaka, Haridra Ganesha etc.
Ganapati is dealt with extensively in kavaca (protective verses) containing the thousand names of Ganesha. After Ganesha, the six-syllable mantra of Shiva is dealt with. It is followed by placement of the syllables in the fingers and then in the body. Shiva is worshipped along with Uma in the altar named sarvatobhadra mandala and associated with vama and other shaktis. Another form of Shiva, namely, the three-syllable mantra of mrityunjaya tryambaka, is discussed.
The text then takes up Vishnu Tantra. It begins with the eight-syllable mantra of Vishnu. As Rama is considered one of the forms of Vishnu, the author elaborates the procedure. In the same way he takes up Krishna in his various forms such as Dadhi Vamana, Hayagriva, Narasimha and so on. After Vishnu Tantra comes Surya Tantra. It is followed by Hanuman Tantra.
The middle portion of the text starts with Gayatri Tantra, followed by Durga Tantra and ten mahavidyas.
The last section of the text deals with matter which are means to attain siddhis, powers for fulfilling worldly aims.