The Sivaratras of Vasugupta is an aphoristic Agamic text of Kashmir Saivism, Known as Trika. The tradition records that the Satras were revealed to Vasugupta by Lord Siva himself, through an inscription on a rock which is still found in Kashmir. The Satras form the basic text of the school and they have come down in at least two recensions. They had been inter preted by a humber of Acaryas, naturally in different ways, without interfering with the basic tenets of the school. Most of the earlier interpretations are now lost, owing to the influence of Abhinavagupta, with the exception of the interpretations of the Sutras given by Bhaskara in his Sivasätraväritika. Bhaskara claims to have received it is a direct line of spiritual and intellectual inheritence from Vasugupta through Kallata, a direct disciple of the former. It is probable that in it we have the sense in which Kallata understood them from Vasugupta. Therefore, the Varttika, though not much elaborate is supposed to contain an earlier interpretation and, hence is of immense histori cal importance.
The present volume which is reprint of volumes iv and v of Kashmir series of texts and studies contain the Sutras, the Varttika and an anonymous gloss called the Vrtti. The Värttika is in verse whereas the Vrtti is in terse prose.
The present edition includes an exhaustive introduction in Sanskrit, outlining the history of the Kashmir tradition of Saivism and its texts, by a renowned scholar of Indian philosophy.

In the preface to the Shiva Sûtra Vimarshini (Vol. I Kashmir series) it was promised that a comparison would be made, in the Introduction to the Shiva Sotra Värttika, between the interpretation of the Shiva Satras, as given by Bhaskara and published in this volume and that given by Kahemaraja in his Vimarshini. But, owing to shortness in the stock of the same kind and quality of paper an has been used in the printing of the text of the Varttika and it being thought inadvisable to use paper of a different sort in one and the same volume of a book, the publication of this promised Introduction is held back for the present.
But as the Text of the Varttika alone, without the Introduction, would make but a small volume, it has been thought expedient to publish along with it the text of the Spanda Kârikfis, with the Vritti of Kallata, which has been printed on the same paper as used in printing the Varttika.
The text of the Shiva-Sûtra-Vritti, which is obviously only an extract from the Vimarshini of Kshema Raja, published in the first volume of the series, is also given in this volume as an appendix to the text of the Varttika, for the convenience of readers who may like to make a comparative study of the two different interpretations of the Shiva Sûtras, one given by Kshema Raja and the other as we have it in the Vârttika.
For an account of the Spanda Kârikás the reader is referred to Kashmir Shairaism, (i.e, volume II of the series) constituting a general introduction to the whole system.