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
43 (of 57)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
These thirty eight deities are held to be pradurbh膩va (earliest manifestation). Here, Krsna is the son of Brahm膩 and not the son of Vasudeva.' The number of these deities is stated to be 39 in Ahirbudhnya Samhit膩.2 There is discrepancy between the accounts among the Pa帽car膩tra texts. Visakhay奴pa is considered to be a Vibh膩va and leaving off the thirty eight deities as enumerated. Vi艣膩khay奴pa is not separately mentioned and is referred to by the word Padman膩bha. There are divergent views in regard to the descents. Aniruddha, Matsya, K眉rma and Var膩ha, spring from Vasudeva, Nrsimha, V膩mana, Parasur膩ma and R膩ma from Sankar峁na, Balarama from Pradyumna and K峁涐梗峁嘺 and Kalki from Aniruddha.鲁 The Sanatkum膩ra sa峁僪it膩 mentions the descent of Kurma and Nrsimha from Samkar峁na.* 2. 3. 4. 1234 SS IX 77-84b
AhS 5.50 56.
Is this AhS
SKS Indra r膩tra III.38, 67
43
