Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra in the context of "Vasubandhu"

Sanskrit literature is a broad term for all literature composed in Sanskrit. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as some mixed and non-standard forms of Sanskrit. Literature in the older language begins during the Vedic period with the composition of the Rigveda between about 1500 and 1000 BCE, followed by other Vedic works right up to the time of the grammarian Pāṇini around 6th or 4th century BCE (after which Classical Sanskrit texts gradually became the norm).

Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the extensive liturgical works of the Vedic religion, while Classical Sanskrit is the language of many of the prominent texts associated with the major Indian religions, especially Hinduism and the Hindu texts, but also Buddhism, and Jainism. Some Sanskrit Buddhist texts are also composed in a version of Sanskrit often called Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit or Buddhistic Sanskrit, which contains many Middle Indic (prakritic) elements not found in other forms of Sanskrit.

Mahayana is the largest branch of Buddhism, followed by Theravada. It is a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India (c. 1st century BCE onwards). Mahāyāna accepts the main scriptures and teachings of early Buddhism but also recognizes various doctrines and texts that are not accepted by Theravada Buddhism as original. These include the Mahāyāna sūtras and their emphasis on the bodhisattva path and Prajñāpāramitā. Vajrayana or Mantra traditions are a subset of Mahāyāna which makes use of numerous Tantric methods Vajrayānists consider to help achieve Buddhahood.

Mahāyāna also refers to the path of the bodhisattva striving to become a fully awakened Buddha for the benefit of all sentient beings, and is thus also called the "Bodhisattva Vehicle" (Bodhisattvayāna). Mahāyāna Buddhism generally sees the goal of becoming a Buddha through the bodhisattva path as being available to all and sees the state of the arhat as incomplete. Mahāyāna also includes numerous Buddhas and bodhisattvas that are not found in Theravada (such as Amitābha and Vairocana). Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy also promotes unique theories, such as the Madhyamaka theory of emptiness (śūnyatā), the Vijñānavāda ("the doctrine of consciousness" also called "mind-only"), and the Buddha-nature teaching.

Prajñāpāramitā Devī (Sanskrit: प्रज्ञापारमिता देवी, lit. 'Perfection of Wisdom Goddess'; Tibetan: ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་མ, abbr. ཤེར་ཕྱིན་མ, Wylie: shes rab kyi pa rol tu chin ma abbr. sher chin ma) is a female Buddha that symbolizes and embodies Prajñāpāramitā, the perfection of transcendent wisdom. This is the highest kind of wisdom in Mahayana and Vajrayana, which leads to Buddhahood and is the spontaneous source of Buddhahood. This is the essence of the Prajñāpāramitā sutras of which there are thousands. As such, Prajñāpāramitā Devī is a samboghakaya Buddha, and is known as "Mother of Buddhas" (Sanskrit: बुद्धमातृ, romanized: Buddhamātṛ) or "The Great Mother" (Tibetan: ཡུམ་ཆེན་མོ, Wylie: Yum chen mo).

She is a central figure in Vajrayana and appears in various sutra and tantra Buddhist sources, like the Heart Sutra, Sādhanamāla, Niṣpannayogāvali, the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa tantra, Dhāranisamuccaya, Mañjusrimūlakalpa, and the Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sūtra.