Bhashya

(“commentary”) Any commentary,
whether on a text or an oral teaching.
The need for commentary was presupposed in most texts on Hindu philosophy as well as in the secret ritual
tradition known as tantra. Philosophical
works were often nothing more than
collections of brief aphorisms, which
were intentionally kept short to
facilitate memorization but which
clearly needed further explanation. In
the case of tantra, commentary was
essential because the texts were written
using coded language to conceal their
contents from the uninitiated. This
may have been in the form known as
sandhabhasha, which often uses
erotic language to indicate religious
practice, or it may simply have been
a technical language in which
everyday words had contextual meanings.