Pancharatra
Sign in to saveAlso known as Pañcaratra, Pancaratra, Pāñcarātra
Pancharatra (IAST: Pāñcarātra) was a religious movement in Hinduism that originated in late 3rd-century BCE around the ideas of Narayana and the various avatar and forms of Vishnu as their central deities. The movement later merged with the Bhagavata tradition and contributed to the development of Vaishnavism. The Pancharatra movement created numerous literary treatises in Sanskrit called the Pancharatra Samhitas, and these have been influential Agamic texts within the theistic Vaishnava movements.
~17 min read
Article
12 sectionsContents
- History
- Divine Manifestation
- Influence
- Practices
- Temples
- Pancharatra Texts
- List of agamas
- Notes
- References
- Sources
- Further reading
- External links
Pancharatra (IAST: Pāñcarātra) was a religious movement in Hinduism that originated in late 3rd-century BCE around the ideas of Narayana and the various avatar and forms of Vishnu as their central deities. The movement later merged with the Bhagavata tradition and contributed to the development of Vaishnavism. The Pancharatra movement created numerous literary treatises in Sanskrit called the Pancharatra Samhitas, and these have been influential Agamic texts within the theistic Vaishnava movements.
Literally meaning five nights (pañca: five, rātra: nights), the term Pancharatra has been variously interpreted. The term has been attributed to a sage Narayana who performed a sacrifice for five nights and became a transcendent being and one with all beings. The Pancharatra Agamas constitute some of the most important texts of many Vaishnava philosophies including the Madhva Sampradaya or Brahma Sampradaya of Madhvacharya and the Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya of Ramanuja. The Pancharatra Agamas are composed of more than 200 texts; likely composed between 600 CE to 850 CE.