Parama Samhita (English translation)
by Krishnaswami Aiyangar | 1940 | 69,979 words
This page describes pancaratra and vaikhanasa of the English translation of the Parama Samhita, representing a manual of the Pancaratra school of Vaishnavism philosophy. These pages summarize ritualistic worship, initiation and other topics, as contained in the various Agamas belonging to the Pancaratra school
Pāñcarātra and Vaikhānasa
The Vaiṣṇava āgamas are sometimes spoken of as of two classes, the Pāñcarātra and the Vaikhānasa. The difference between the two schools seem to be in the details of the ritual of worship; but otherwise there seems to be no recognised difference in the matter, or the meaning of these. The 108 Vaiṣṇava āgamas are taken to be all of them Pāñcarātra, and the list does not include the well known Vaikhānasa texts. For a full list of these 108 and what are printed and available, and what not, reference may be made to the introductory volume of Prof Schrader’s Ahirbhudnya Saṃhitā published by the Aḍaiyar Theosophical Society in three volumes. An article on “the Pāñcarātra in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland for 1911 by A. Govindacarya may also be referred to.