Essay name: Diksha (initiation) in Pancharatra
Author:
Shanta Srinivasan
Affiliation: University of Madras / Department of Sanskrit
This English essay studies Diksha in Pancharatra with reference to important texts. Diksha refers to initiation ceremonies into a particular esoteric tradition which is given, for example, by the teacher (Guru) to the student (Shishya). Pancharatra refers to an ancient school of Vaishnavism based on ancient Tantra-like texts called Agamas which were commonly written in Sanskrit verse.
Chapter 1 - Introduction
18 (of 57)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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Besides, B膩峁嘺', 艢a峁卥ara虏, Jayanta鲁, Yamuna and R膩m膩nuja cite many passages from the P膩帽car膩tra texts. The Pa帽car膩tra is referred to by Utpala (850 A.D) as p膩帽car膩tra艣ruti and p膩帽car膩tropani峁d in his Spandapradipika. The mentioning of 艣ruti and Upanisad shows that these two formed part of the Ek膩yana Veda which was available to Utpala and is no longer extent now. Among the texts of Pa帽car膩tra, the Ratnatraya, namely, Sattvata, Pauskara and Jay膩khya may be assumed to belong to 800 A.D. The Ahirbudhnya Samhit膩 and the Laksmi Tantra seem to belong to a slightly later period than the Jay膩khya. 1.7 VALIDITY OF P膧脩CAR膧TRA The Vedas and Smrti texts are held by the Hindus in great veneration and authority. Most of the people have faith in the Vedas 1. Har峁carita pp. 238-239 2. BSB II.ii.42-45 3. The allegorical drama 膧gam膩岣峚mbara Act III & IV 4. Agamapr膩m膩峁噛a passim. 5. Vide JS, forward p.7 for the extracts of this works. Vide also p.34 18
