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 3 - The preliminary rites of Diksha
11 (of 18)
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)
incense sticks, collection of leaves green in colour mixed up with blue fresh grass, guggulu, powdered incense, oil for lamps, wicks, mirror, bell, vessel for arghya and others, pollen, pair of karani, pālikā,² white small pitcher, icons of Gods made of gold in about five angulas, five darbhas (in group), white thread coloured with lac, scissors, blade, eight sticks with unbroken edge, and having the plume of the peacock or sticks made of metal or mud or wood, long and having a firm edge, lamp stand, pitcher for water, vase, leaf³, pitcher with stand filled with roots grown out of time, a vessel (round shaped laddle with lid), culika seat with four 1. Karani a particular measure. 2. palikā-small cup with wide mouth to be filled in mud and grains for ankurārpaṇa. 3. Leaf of a typical plant. 4. culikā--a kind of water pot. 109
