The term “Tantra” after about 500 BC, in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism is a bibliographic category, just like the word Sutra (which means “sewing together”, mirroring the metaphor of “weaving together” in Tantra). The same Buddhist texts are sometimes referred to as tantra or sutra; for example, Vairocabhisambodhi-tantra is also referred to as Vairocabhisambodhi-sutra.^[21] The various contextual meanings of the word Tantra vary with the Indian text and are summarized in the appended table.

The connotation of the word tantra to mean an esoteric practice or religious ritualism is a colonial-era European invention.^[16][17][18] The term is based on the metaphor of weaving, states Ron Barrett, where the Sanskrit root tan means the warping of threads on a loom.^[1] It implies “interweaving of traditions and teachings as threads” into a text, technique or practice.^[1][1