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
7 (of 57)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Though the Vedas and Agamas are understood by the word Agama, yet the word Agama, in practice is used to convey only a particular literature and not the Vedas. The Vedas, on the other hand, are denoted by words like 艣ruti, nigama etc. The reason could be that, the Vedas, according to convention, are not of human origin and hence they are impersonal (apauru峁ya). On the contrary the Agamas though treated on par with the Vedas, are not treated as impersonal (apauru峁y膩). In order to distinguish this particular aspect, the word Agama has been coined to denote a particular literature while the word nigama is used to convey only the Vedas. Both Agama and nigama are considered to be the most sacred and the most authoritative texts in Hindu scriptures as they enshrine and teach the supreme value of human endeavour. Vide also 鈥溎乯帽膩 vastu samant膩cca gamyata ity膩gamo mata岣� tanute trayate nityam tantramittha峁� vidurbudh膩h " pingalamata quoted in Tantras, re-quoted in studies in their Religion and Literature p.2 7
