The body is of central importance to the Hindu and Buddhist Tantra traditions because it is thought to contain the entire universe within it. The body recapitulates the cosmos, with the highest level of Shiva or the Goddess located at, or above, the crown of the head and the level of the earth located at the feet. 

The practices of the Tantras are designed to achieve liberation (moksha) but also to achieve magical powers and worldly success (siddhi). In the traditional worldview of ancient and medieval India, supernatural powers afforded through yogic practice were a standard list of eight that included powers of levitation and increase or decrease of size. The other kind of worldly success through ritual was the destruction of one’s enemies and the power of attraction; to attract a desired person through a kind of ‘love magic’. An early text (possibly 7^th century) describes visualization techniques for ‘hooking’ the desired person and drawing her/him into oneself. Other powers gained through mantra repetition were protection from possession by demonic forces. As such, the Tantras became popular texts among medieval kings who desired an increase of power and the destruction of enemies.