Pancharatra

(“five nights,” of uncertain meaning)
The name denotes a particular group of
Vaishnavas (devotees of the god
Vishnu). Although there is plenty of evidence that the Pancharatra community
is very old, very little is known about its
origins. In the earliest Vaishnava sectarian texts, the Pancharatra community is
unfavorably compared to another
group, the Bhagavatas, with the former
described as marginal and the latter as
“Vedic” and respectable. Despite this
seeming disapprobation, in their earliest appearances Pancharatras do not
seem theologically different from the
Bhagavatas, although their differences
may have been rooted in differing
practices. In their later history, the
Pancharatras become associated with
an elaborate theory of creation, finalized somewhere around the sixth century
and based on the successive appearance
of four divine emanations: VishnuNarayana, Sankarshana, Pradyumna,
and Aniruddha. The successive activity
of these divine emanations brings the
world into being, but each is also associated with a particular facet of spiritual
life through which human beings can
reverse the process of creation and gain
liberation. The Pancharatra school is
also important for its theory of primary
and secondary avatars, in which the latter can include any properly consecrated image of the deity. The doctrine of
secondary avatars has become a pivotal
idea in the later Shrivaishnava community, through which Pancharatra ideas
have continued to influence modern
Hindu life.