Introduction to Pancaratra

[Guest guest]

Friends,

 

Otto Schrader's Introduction to the Pancaratra and the Ahirbudhnya

Samhita (Madras: Adyar Library, 1916) is available in various formats

from the Internet Archive Project at:

 

http://www.archive.org/details/introductiontoth020344mbp

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear Devotee :

 

The PDF Fonts are hard to read : Too Small

and can not be enlarged . Ia m sure that there is

valuable material here but can not use it now .

Best Regards,

V.Sadagopan

-

" granthapustaka " <evans.robert.d

<Oppiliappan >

Friday, September 21, 2007 1:13 PM

Introduction to Pancaratra

 

 

> Friends,

>

> Otto Schrader's Introduction to the Pancaratra and the Ahirbudhnya

> Samhita (Madras: Adyar Library, 1916) is available in various formats

> from the Internet Archive Project at:

>

> http://www.archive.org/details/introductiontoth020344mbp

>

>

>

>

>

> Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan

> http://www.sadagopan.org

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Sadagopan:

 

Many/all the internet archive books are also available on microsoft book search

You can find this book in a more readable state at

'http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q= & scope=books#q=pancaratra & filter=all & start=1 & t=81faoSYvEbXgSRdja9qQiA & sq=pancaratra'

 

also another more readable pdf download is at

http://ia301111.us.archive.org/1/items/introtothepancar00shcruoft/introtothepancar00shcruoft.pdf

 

S. Sriram

 

 

 

-

Dr. Sadagopan

Oppiliappan

Saturday, September 22, 2007 12:51 PM

Re: Introduction to Pancaratra

 

 

SrI:Dear Devotee :The PDF Fonts are hard to read : Too Small and can not be enlarged . Ia m sure that there isvaluable material here but can not use it now .Best Regards,V.Sadagopan- "granthapustaka" <evans.robert.d<Oppiliappan >Friday, September 21, 2007 1:13 PM Introduction to Pancaratra> Friends,> > Otto Schrader's Introduction to the Pancaratra and the Ahirbudhnya > Samhita (Madras: Adyar Library, 1916) is available in various formats > from the Internet Archive Project at:> > http://www.archive.org/details/introductiontoth020344mbp> > > > > > Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan> http://www.sadagopan.org >

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear SrI Sriram :

 

Thanks for the recommendations .

I was able to read confortably .

There is a wealth of Information here .

Thanks again .

V.Sadagopan

 

-

S. Sriram

Oppiliappan

Saturday, September 22, 2007 6:54 PM

Re: Introduction to Pancaratra

 

Dear Sri Sadagopan:

 

Many/all the internet archive books are also available on microsoft book search

You can find this book in a more readable state at

'http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q= & scope=books#q=pancaratra & filter=all & start=1 & t=81faoSYvEbXgSRdja9qQiA & sq=pancaratra'

 

also another more readable pdf download is at

http://ia301111.us.archive.org/1/items/introtothepancar00shcruoft/introtothepancar00shcruoft.pdf

 

S. Sriram

 

 

 

-

Dr. Sadagopan

Oppiliappan

Saturday, September 22, 2007 12:51 PM

Re: Introduction to Pancaratra

 

 

SrI:Dear Devotee :The PDF Fonts are hard to read : Too Small and can not be enlarged . Ia m sure that there isvaluable material here but can not use it now .Best Regards,V.Sadagopan- "granthapustaka" <evans.robert.d<Oppiliappan >Friday, September 21, 2007 1:13 PM Introduction to Pancaratra> Friends,> > Otto Schrader's Introduction to the Pancaratra and the Ahirbudhnya > Samhita (Madras: Adyar Library, 1916) is available in various formats > from the Internet Archive Project at:> > http://www.archive.org/details/introductiontoth020344mbp> > > > > > Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan> http://www.sadagopan.org >

[Guest guest]

A German National, Dr. Otto Schroder, was the Director of the Adyar Library for 11 years (1905-16);

he was incarcerated at Ahmednagar during World-war I and while in prison, he wrote this excellent

exposition on Pancharatra; it was published by the Library in 1916 thro the efforts of another German

National and is available on the Web as a PDF document. I copied a few pages, pasted in a Word

document and enlarged the Font to Ariel Font size 12. It opens our eyes to the fact that if one has

great scholarly interest in the subject plus dedication and hard effort, even the prison-walls cannot

prevent us from achieving our objective. It is significant that the Publisher, without bitterness about

being imprisoned, acknowledged: "

The publication of this book also, …………… has been greatly

facilitated by the courtesy of the military censors at Ahmednagar, to whom our sincere thanks are due. "

 

 

Below is the extract which I would like to share with Members:

krishnaswamy m k

 

 

Extract from:

 

http://www.archive.org/download/introductiontoth020344mbp/introductiontoth020344mbp.pdf (We can increase the viewing size as much as we want in a PDF document. If we wish to

copy and paste, the Font size comes out small, but the size can be increased in MS Word.)

 

PREFATORY NOTE

 

THE book, small

in size but rich in

contents, which is herewith placed

before the public, has been written

by a prisoner of war

during his captivity at Ahmednagar,

though some of the materials on which

it is based had, fortunately,

been collected by him before the

War broke out. Only

the Samhita MSS, of

the Adyar Library, namely

those of nos. 8, 70 and

195 of the synopsis

on pp. 6 fil,

which were acquired recently, have remained entirely

unknown to

Dr. Schrader.

The burden of

seeing the work through the press has

fallen on the undersigned who, though having

done all in

his power to acquit himself honourably

of his task, is fully

aware of its difficulties

and of the inadequacy of his

knowledge of Sanskrit to

cope with those with complete

success. It was impossible

under such circumstances to produce

an absolutely faultless work;

still, a glance at

the list of Additions

and Corrections will show

that the purely typographical errors

found by the Author

in the printed sheets are of a trifling

nature. Two omissions in

the MS., however, have caused a few

words of importance to fall

out which must be

restored at once. These

omissions are given in

the Errata for p. 16,

1. 12 from bottom,

p. 32 1. 6

from bottom, and p.

42 1, 10. The

reader should also correct immediately

the erratum for p.

24

The Author has undoubtedly doubled the value of

his monograph, by adding to it

copious indexes and a

detailed synopsis of

the contents. Together they render the whole

of the subject-matter of

the book in all its

categories instantaneously available for reference. Thus the

work may preliminarily serve as

a concise but encyclopedic reference book on

the Pancharatra, until

it shall be superseded by

subsequent more exhaustive publications.

The Numeral Index contains

some items not found elsewhere in the book.

 

A personal word

in conclusion. The publication

of this little work coincides

with the severance of

the connection with the

Adyar Library, though for

wholly different reasons, of

both Dr. Schracler and myself,

I may be permitted

to express here my great satisfaction

at having had the privilege

of watching over the booklet on

its way through the

press, a last service rendered to

the Adyar Library in close

and pleasant co-operation with

Dr. Schrader, which puts a

term to a period of

over seven years' daily collaboration with the

same aims, in the

same spirit and in

complete harmony, for the same

object.

May Dr. Schrader's

last official work performed for the

Library enhance the renown of

that Institution, and may it

be judged to constitute a

fit conclusion to his eleven

years' tenure of office

as Director of the Adyar Library.

The publication of this

book also, as that of

the two volumes of

the text edition of Ahirbudhnya Samhita,

has been greatly facilitated

by the courtesy of the military censors

at Ahmednagar, to whom

our sincere thanks are due.

ADYAB, JOHAN VAN MANEN,

 

August 1916. Assistant Librarian, Adyar Library.

Introduction to Paancharatra by F.

OTTO SCHRADER, PH.D, DIRECTOR,

ADYAR LIBRARY (1916)

It may be supposed

that the name Paancharatra 1

points to five principal subjects treated in

that system. So it is, indeed, understood

in the apocryphal Naaradiya, which says that the five

kinds of ratra= " knowledge

" are: tattva, mukti-prada, bhakti-prada,

yaugika, and vaiseshika that

is to say that they are concerned respectively with (1)

ontology (cosmology), (2) liberation, (3) devotion, (4)

Yog a3 an

d (5) the objects of sense. Though

the five books of the

said Samhita accord, but very imperfectly with

this division, and the five Ratras

of Mahasanatkumara Samhita still

less, and though the Naaradiya as a

whole can certainly not be used as a

Paancharatra authority, the above statement may

none the less rest on good

tradition. In this case ratra,

originally " night " , would have

come to mean -- how we

do not know -- both a cardinal doctrine of a system as well as the

chapter or work dealing with

that doctrine, that is: it became synonymous

with tantra and samhita, so that Paancharatra

would be a designation of the ancient Vaisnavite system

in exactly the same manner as,

according to the twelfth chapter of

Ahirbudhnya Samhita, Shashti Tantra was one

of the Samkhya Yoga. This

explanation, though perhaps at

variance with the chapter just mentioned stating (in

sl. 45-18) that the Paancharatra consists

of ten cardinal teachings (samhitas) ,

is at least not so fanciful as " the night=obscuration, of the

five other systems " , or " the system,

cooking=destroying the night=ignorance " , or

the attempts to connect that

name with the five sacraments (branding, etc.)

or the five daily observances (abhigamana, etc.) of the Paancharatras.

However, it seems to us that the

original use of the name is

only connected with the first of

the ten topics referred to (Bhagavat),

namely the peculiar God-conception of

the Paancharatras, and that

it can be discovered in the

Panchatra Sattra spoken of in

S'atapatha Brahmana XIII 6. 1, which

is, moreover, the earliest passage in

which the word Paancharatra occurs.

In that passage " Purusa

Narayana is mentioned as having

conceived the idea of a Paficaratra Sattra (continued sacrifice for five days) as a means of obtaining superiority over

all beings and becoming all beings

and the preceding chapter (XII

3. 4) narrates in detail

how He, by sacrificing Himself,

actually became the whole world.

Narayana is thus connected with,

and even made the author

of, the Purusa Sukta which, together with the Sahasrasirsa section of Mahanarayana Upanishad, plays such a prominent

part in the cosmolog ical

accounts and Mantra exegesis of the Pancaratrins.

It appears, then, that the sect

took its name from its

central dogma which was the Paancharatra

Sattra of Narayana interpreted philosophically as the

fivefold self -manifestation of

God by means of His Para, Vyuha, Vibhava,

Antaryamin, and Archa forms. This would well

agree with the statement of Ahirb. Samh., at

the end of the eleventh adhyaya,

that the Lord Himself framed out

of the original S'astra " the

system (tantra) called Paancharatra describing His

[fivefold] nature [known] as

Para, Vyuha, Vibhava, etc. " , and

" that highest " Will of Vishnu

called Sudars'ana through which He split into five,

appearing five-mouthed. "

 

[...................]

The principal subjects treated in the Paancharatra:

 

 

 

Philosophy; Linguistic occultism (mantra-s'dstra)

; Theory of magical figures

(ya/ntra-stftst/ra) ; Practical magic (maya-yoga) ;

Toga; Temple-building (mandira-nirmana) ; Image-making (pratistha-vidhi) ; Domestic observances (samskara, ahnika) ; Social rules (varnashrama-dharma,)

; Public festivals (utsava).____

 

1 For the transition, the meaning of

" Thousand and one lights =as many stories " , may perhaps be compared.

 

 

[Guest guest]



SrI:

 

Dear Sriman Krishnaswamy : Many thanks for your Help .

I am in the middle of comparing the two VaishNavite

Aagamams and your help in this context is very

much appreciated .

 

The scholarship and dedication of this author

is remarkable indeed .

 

NamO SrI NrusimhAya ,

V.Sadagopan

 

-

mkrishnaswamy

Oppiliappan

Sunday, September 23, 2007 11:15 AM

Re: Introduction to Pancaratra

 

A German National, Dr. Otto Schroder, was the Director of the Adyar Library for 11 years (1905-16);

he was incarcerated at Ahmednagar during World-war I and while in prison, he wrote this excellent

exposition on Pancharatra; it was published by the Library in 1916 thro the efforts of another German

National and is available on the Web as a PDF document. I copied a few pages, pasted in a Word

document and enlarged the Font to Ariel Font size 12. It opens our eyes to the fact that if one has

great scholarly interest in the subject plus dedication and hard effort, even the prison-walls cannot

prevent us from achieving our objective. It is significant that the Publisher, without bitterness about

being imprisoned, acknowledged: " The publication of this book also, …………… has been greatly

facilitated by the courtesy of the military censors at Ahmednagar, to whom our sincere thanks are due."

 

Below is the extract which I would like to share with Members:

krishnaswamy m k

 

 

Extract from:

http://www.archive.org/download/introductiontoth020344mbp/introductiontoth020344mbp.pdf (We can increase the viewing size as much as we want in a PDF document. If we wish to

copy and paste, the Font size comes out small, but the size can be increased in MS Word.)

 

PREFATORY NOTE

THE book, small in size but rich in contents, which is herewith placed before the public, has been written by a prisoner of war during his captivity at Ahmednagar, though some of the materials on which it is based had, fortunately, been collected by him before the War broke out. Only the Samhita MSS, of the Adyar Library, namely those of nos. 8, 70 and 195 of the synopsis on pp. 6 fil, which were acquired recently, have remained entirely unknown to Dr. Schrader.

The burden of seeing the work through the press has fallen on the undersigned who, though having done all in his power to acquit himself honourably of his task, is fully aware of its difficulties and of the inadequacy of his knowledge of Sanskrit to cope with those with complete success. It was impossible under such circumstances to produce an absolutely faultless work; still, a glance at the list of Additions and Corrections will show that the purely typographical errors found by the Author in the printed sheets are of a trifling nature. Two omissions in the MS., however, have caused a few words of importance to fall out which must be restored at once. These omissions are given in the Errata for p. 16, 1. 12 from bottom, p. 32 1. 6 from bottom, and p. 42 1, 10. The reader should also correct immediately the erratum for p. 24

The Author has undoubtedly doubled the value of his monograph, by adding to it copious indexes and a detailed synopsis of the contents. Together they render the whole of the subject-matter of the book in all its categories instantaneously available for reference. Thus the work may preliminarily serve as a concise but encyclopedic reference book on the Pancharatra, until it shall be superseded by subsequent more exhaustive publications. The Numeral Index contains some items not found elsewhere in the book.

A personal word in conclusion. The publication of this little work coincides with the severance of the connection with the Adyar Library, though for wholly different reasons, of both Dr. Schracler and myself, I may be permitted to express here my great satisfaction at having had the privilege of watching over the booklet on its way through the press, a last service rendered to the Adyar Library in close and pleasant co-operation with Dr. Schrader, which puts a term to a period of over seven years' daily collaboration with the same aims, in the same spirit and in complete harmony, for the same object.

May Dr. Schrader's last official work performed for the Library enhance the renown of that Institution, and may it be judged to constitute a fit conclusion to his eleven years' tenure of office as Director of the Adyar Library.

The publication of this book also, as that of the two volumes of the text edition of Ahirbudhnya Samhita, has been greatly facilitated by the courtesy of the military censors at Ahmednagar, to whom our sincere thanks are due.

ADYAB, JOHAN VAN MANEN,

August 1916. Assistant Librarian, Adyar Library.

Introduction to Paancharatra by F. OTTO SCHRADER, PH.D, DIRECTOR, ADYAR LIBRARY (1916)

It may be supposed that the name Paancharatra 1 points to five principal subjects treated in that system. So it is, indeed, understood in the apocryphal Naaradiya, which says that the five kinds of ratra= "knowledge " are: tattva, mukti-prada, bhakti-prada, yaugika, and vaiseshika that is to say that they are concerned respectively with (1) ontology (cosmology), (2) liberation, (3) devotion, (4) Yog a3 an d (5) the objects of sense. Though the five books of the said Samhita accord, but very imperfectly with this division, and the five Ratras of Mahasanatkumara Samhita still less, and though the Naaradiya as a whole can certainly not be used as a Paancharatra authority, the above statement may none the less rest on good tradition. In this case ratra, originally "night ", would have come to mean -- how we do not know -- both a cardinal doctrine of a system as well as the chapter or work dealing with that doctrine, that is: it became synonymous with tantra and samhita, so that Paancharatra would be a designation of the ancient Vaisnavite system in exactly the same manner as, according to the twelfth chapter of Ahirbudhnya Samhita, Shashti Tantra was one of the Samkhya Yoga. This explanation, though perhaps at variance with the chapter just mentioned stating (in sl. 45-18) that the Paancharatra consists of ten cardinal teachings (samhitas) , is at least not so fanciful as " the night=obscuration, of the five other systems ", or " the system, cooking=destroying the night=ignorance ", or the attempts to connect that name with the five sacraments (branding, etc.) or the five daily observances (abhigamana, etc.) of the Paancharatras. However, it seems to us that the original use of the name is only connected with the first of the ten topics referred to (Bhagavat), namely the peculiar God-conception of the Paancharatras, and that it can be discovered in the Panchatra Sattra spoken of in S'atapatha Brahmana XIII 6. 1, which is, moreover, the earliest passage in which the word Paancharatra occurs. In that passage " Purusa Narayana is mentioned as having conceived the idea of a Paficaratra Sattra (continued sacrifice for five days) as a means of obtaining superiority over all beings and becoming all beings and the preceding chapter (XII 3. 4) narrates in detail how He, by sacrificing Himself, actually became the whole world. Narayana is thus connected with, and even made the author of, the Purusa Sukta which, together with the Sahasrasirsa section of Mahanarayana Upanishad, plays such a prominent part in the cosmolog ical accounts and Mantra exegesis of the Pancaratrins. It appears, then, that the sect took its name from its central dogma which was the Paancharatra Sattra of Narayana interpreted philosophically as the fivefold self -manifestation of God by means of His Para, Vyuha, Vibhava, Antaryamin, and Archa forms. This would well agree with the statement of Ahirb. Samh., at the end of the eleventh adhyaya, that the Lord Himself framed out of the original S'astra " the system (tantra) called Paancharatra describing His [fivefold] nature [known] as Para, Vyuha, Vibhava, etc.", and "that highest "Will of Vishnu called Sudars'ana through which He split into five, appearing five-mouthed."

 

[...................]

The principal subjects treated in the Paancharatra:

 

 

Philosophy; Linguistic occultism (mantra-s'dstra) ; Theory of magical figures (ya/ntra-stftst/ra) ; Practical magic (maya-yoga) ; Toga; Temple-building (mandira-nirmana) ; Image-making (pratistha-vidhi) ; Domestic observances (samskara, ahnika) ; Social rules (varnashrama-dharma,) ; Public festivals (utsava).____

1 For the transition, the meaning of "Thousand and one lights =as many stories", may perhaps be compared.

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Swamy,

 

Excllent work done by you.

 

Dear Sri Sadagopan Swamy.

 

I am just awaiting to see the Comparative details of two great

agamas.

 

 

Adiyen Srivaishnava dasan

Chari

 

desikasampradaya , " Dr. Sadagopan "

<yennappan wrote:

>

> SrI:

>

> Dear Sriman Krishnaswamy : Many thanks for your Help .

> I am in the middle of comparing the two VaishNavite

> Aagamams and your help in this context is very

> much appreciated .

>

> The scholarship and dedication of this author

> is remarkable indeed .

>

> NamO SrI NrusimhAya ,

> V.Sadagopan

> -

> mkrishnaswamy

> Oppiliappan

> Sunday, September 23, 2007 11:15 AM

> Re: Introduction to Pancaratra

>

>

> A German National, Dr. Otto Schroder, was the Director of the

Adyar Library for 11 years (1905-16);

> he was incarcerated at Ahmednagar during World-war I and while in

prison, he wrote this excellent

> exposition on Pancharatra; it was published by the Library in

1916 thro the efforts of another German

> National and is available on the Web as a PDF document. I copied

a few pages, pasted in a Word

> document and enlarged the Font to Ariel Font size 12. It opens

our eyes to the fact that if one has

> great scholarly interest in the subject plus dedication and hard

effort, even the prison-walls cannot

> prevent us from achieving our objective. It is significant that

the Publisher, without bitterness about

> being imprisoned, acknowledged: " The publication of this book

also, …………… has been greatly

> facilitated by the courtesy of the military censors at

Ahmednagar, to whom our sincere thanks are due. "

>

> Below is the extract which I would like to share with Members:

> krishnaswamy m k

>

> Extract from:

>

http://www.archive.org/download/introductiontoth020344mbp/introduction

toth020344mbp.pdf

> (We can increase the viewing size as much as we want in a PDF

document. If we wish to

> copy and paste, the Font size comes out small, but the size can

be increased in MS Word.)

>

> PREFATORY NOTE

> THE book, small in size but rich in contents, which is herewith

placed before the public, has been written by a prisoner of war

during his captivity at Ahmednagar, though some of the materials on

which it is based had, fortunately, been collected by him before the

War broke out. Only the Samhita MSS, of the Adyar Library, namely

those of nos. 8, 70 and 195 of the synopsis on pp. 6 fil, which were

acquired recently, have remained entirely unknown to Dr. Schrader.

>

> The burden of seeing the work through the press has fallen on

the undersigned who, though having done all in his power to acquit

himself honourably of his task, is fully aware of its difficulties

and of the inadequacy of his knowledge of Sanskrit to cope with those

with complete success. It was impossible under such circumstances to

produce an absolutely faultless work; still, a glance at the list of

Additions and Corrections will show that the purely typographical

errors found by the Author in the printed sheets are of a trifling

nature. Two omissions in the MS., however, have caused a few words of

importance to fall out which must be restored at once. These

omissions are given in the Errata for p. 16, 1. 12 from bottom, p. 32

1. 6 from bottom, and p. 42 1, 10. The reader should also correct

immediately the erratum for p. 24

>

> The Author has undoubtedly doubled the value of his monograph,

by adding to it copious indexes and a detailed synopsis of the

contents. Together they render the whole of the subject-matter of the

book in all its categories instantaneously available for reference.

Thus the work may preliminarily serve as a concise but encyclopedic

reference book on the Pancharatra, until it shall be superseded by

subsequent more exhaustive publications. The Numeral Index contains

some items not found elsewhere in the book.

>

> A personal word in conclusion. The publication of this little

work coincides with the severance of the connection with the Adyar

Library, though for wholly different reasons, of both Dr. Schracler

and myself, I may be permitted to express here my great satisfaction

at having had the privilege of watching over the booklet on its way

through the press, a last service rendered to the Adyar Library in

close and pleasant co-operation with Dr. Schrader, which puts a term

to a period of over seven years' daily collaboration with the same

aims, in the same spirit and in complete harmony, for the same object.

>

> May Dr. Schrader's last official work performed for the Library

enhance the renown of that Institution, and may it be judged to

constitute a fit conclusion to his eleven years' tenure of office as of the Adyar Library.

>

> The publication of this book also, as that of the two volumes

of the text edition of Ahirbudhnya Samhita, has been greatly

facilitated by the courtesy of the military censors at Ahmednagar, to

whom our sincere thanks are due.

>

> ADYAB, JOHAN VAN MANEN,

>

> August 1916. Assistant Librarian, Adyar Library.

>

> Introduction to Paancharatra by F. OTTO SCHRADER, PH.D, DIRECTOR,

ADYAR LIBRARY (1916)

>

> It may be supposed that the name Paancharatra 1 points to five

principal subjects treated in that system. So it is, indeed,

understood in the apocryphal Naaradiya, which says that the five

kinds of ratra= " knowledge " are: tattva, mukti-prada, bhakti-prada,

yaugika, and vaiseshika that is to say that they are concerned

respectively with (1) ontology (cosmology), (2) liberation, (3)

devotion, (4) Yog a3 an d (5) the objects of sense. Though the five

books of the said Samhita accord, but very imperfectly with this

division, and the five Ratras of Mahasanatkumara Samhita still less,

and though the Naaradiya as a whole can certainly not be used as a

Paancharatra authority, the above statement may none the less rest on

good tradition. In this case ratra, originally " night " , would have

come to mean -- how we do not know -- both a cardinal doctrine of a

system as well as the chapter or work dealing with that doctrine,

that is: it became synonymous with tantra and samhita, so that

Paancharatra would be a designation of the ancient Vaisnavite system

in exactly the same manner as, according to the twelfth chapter of

Ahirbudhnya Samhita, Shashti Tantra was one of the Samkhya Yoga. This

explanation, though perhaps at variance with the chapter just

mentioned stating (in sl. 45-18) that the Paancharatra consists of

ten cardinal teachings (samhitas) , is at least not so fanciful as "

the night=obscuration, of the five other systems " , or " the system,

cooking=destroying the night=ignorance " , or the attempts to connect

that name with the five sacraments (branding, etc.) or the five daily

observances (abhigamana, etc.) of the Paancharatras. However, it

seems to us that the original use of the name is only connected with

the first of the ten topics referred to (Bhagavat), namely the

peculiar God-conception of the Paancharatras, and that it can be

discovered in the Panchatra Sattra spoken of in S'atapatha Brahmana

XIII 6. 1, which is, moreover, the earliest passage in which the word

Paancharatra occurs. In that passage " Purusa Narayana is mentioned

as having conceived the idea of a Paficaratra Sattra (continued

sacrifice for five days) as a means of obtaining superiority over all

beings and becoming all beings and the preceding chapter (XII 3. 4)

narrates in detail how He, by sacrificing Himself, actually became

the whole world. Narayana is thus connected with, and even made the

author of, the Purusa Sukta which, together with the Sahasrasirsa

section of Mahanarayana Upanishad, plays such a prominent part in the

cosmolog ical accounts and Mantra exegesis of the Pancaratrins. It

appears, then, that the sect took its name from its central dogma

which was the Paancharatra Sattra of Narayana interpreted

philosophically as the fivefold self -manifestation of God by means

of His Para, Vyuha, Vibhava, Antaryamin, and Archa forms. This would

well agree with the statement of Ahirb. Samh., at the end of the

eleventh adhyaya, that the Lord Himself framed out of the original

S'astra " the system (tantra) called Paancharatra describing His

[fivefold] nature [known] as Para, Vyuha, Vibhava, etc. " , and " that

highest " Will of Vishnu called Sudars'ana through which He split into

five, appearing five-mouthed. "

>

>

> [...................]

>

> The principal subjects treated in the Paancharatra:

>

> 1.. Philosophy;

> 2.. Linguistic occultism (mantra-s'dstra) ;

> 3.. Theory of magical figures (ya/ntra-stftst/ra) ;

> 4.. Practical magic (maya-yoga) ;

> 5.. Toga;

> 6.. Temple-building (mandira-nirmana) ;

> 7.. Image-making (pratistha-vidhi) ;

> 8.. Domestic observances (samskara, ahnika) ;

> 9.. Social rules (varnashrama-dharma,) ;

> 10.. Public festivals (utsava).

> ____

> 1 For the transition, the meaning of " Thousand and one lights =as

many stories " , may perhaps be compared.

>