01Pancharatra

The Narayaniya section of the Mahabharata's Shanti Parva already names the Pancharatra as the teaching of Narayana. Its samhitas teach the four vyuhas, Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, and the five forms in which Bhagwan is present: para, vyuha, vibhava, antaryami and archa, the consecrated image in the temple. Three are called the ratnatraya, the three jewels: the Sattvata, Paushkara and Jayakhya Samhitas. The name is read in more than one way; one explanation is that Narayana gave the teaching over five nights.

02In the Narayaniya

The Shanti Parva carries the Pancharatra's own charter. In the Narayaniya, Narada travels to Shvetadvipa, the White Island, and sees Narayana worshipped there by beings of single-minded devotion. Later Bhishma tells Yudhishthira that Sankhya, Yoga, Pancharatra, the Vedas and the Pashupata are five bodies of knowledge, each with its own teacher: Kapila for Sankhya, Hiranyagarbha for Yoga, Shiva himself for the Pashupata, and for the whole Pancharatra, Bhagwan Narayana. Those who know the Pancharatra and follow it step by step, he says, come to Hari in ekanta bhava and enter him.

03Six qualities, four vyuhas

The Pancharatra speaks of Bhagwan through six gunas: jnana, shakti, bala, aishvarya, virya and tejas. Vasudeva holds all six in fullness. From him come the other vyuhas, each showing two: Sankarshana knowledge and strength, Pradyumna lordship and virility, Aniruddha power and splendour. Through them the world is created and kept, and through them the devotee draws near. The archa, the image installed with mantra in the sanctum, is the form closest to the worshipper. Pillai Lokacharya and the later Shri Vaishnava teachers say that in the archa Bhagwan makes himself dependent on his devotees, letting them bathe him, feed him and carry him in procession.

04Three jewels and their temples

Tradition counts 108 Pancharatra samhitas, and lists give more names than survive. The three jewels stand at the head, and Shri Vaishnava teachers pair each with a later samhita and a great temple: the Sattvata with the Ishvara Samhita followed at Melukote, the Paushkara with the Parameshvara at Srirangam, the Jayakhya with the Padma at Kanchipuram. The Ahirbudhnya Samhita, in which Shiva as Ahirbudhnya teaches the rishi Narada, is the text of the Sudarshana Chakra and its yantra. In the Lakshmi Tantra the Devi herself teaches Indra, explaining her place as Bhagwan's inseparable shakti.

05Five times a day

The Pancharatra orders the devotee's day into five periods. Abhigamana, the approach, at dawn: bathing, sandhya, coming before Bhagwan. Upadana, the gathering of flowers and materials for worship. Ijya, the puja itself. Svadhyaya, study of the scriptures. Yoga, meditation, at night. A Shri Vaishnava enters this life through the pancha samskara given by an acharya: the conch and discus marked on the shoulders, the urdhvapundra on the forehead, a new name as a servant of Bhagwan, the mantra, and instruction in worship. Many Vaishnava families still take the samskara from the acharya of their line, at Srirangam, Melukote or Kanchipuram.

06Vaikhanasa

Vaikhanasas trace their line to Maharshi Vikhanasa, a form of Brahma by their account, and his four disciples. They hold their Agama to be a Vedic tradition, tied to their own Kalpa Sutra of the Krishna Yajurveda, and their priests are born into it rather than initiated. At Tirumala the archakas who serve Shri Venkateshwara are hereditary Vaikhanasas, and Marichi's Vimanarchana Kalpa is among their main texts.

07Worship as the Vedic fire

The Vaikhanasa samhitas teach that worship of Vishnu in the temple carries on the Vedic fire offering in another form. They speak of Vishnu as nishkala, without parts, and sakala, with form, and they set up five images in a full temple. The dhruva bera is the great fixed image in the sanctum. The kautuka receives the daily worship, the snapana the ritual baths, the utsava goes out in procession, and the bali bera receives the offerings to the attendant deities. At Tirumala all five stand before the devotee, and the annual Brahmotsavam with its nine days of vahanas follows the Vaikhanasa order.

08Defended by the acharyas

Yamunacharya wrote the Agama Pramanya to establish that the Pancharatra is as authoritative as the Veda, and Ramanujacharya took up the same point in his Shri Bhashya. Ramanuja also reorganised the worship at Srirangam on Pancharatra lines, according to the Shri Vaishnava accounts of his life. At Melukote, Kanchipuram and many other divya desams the Pancharatra governs worship; at Tirumala, Vaikhanasa. Vedanta Desika later wrote the Pancharatra Raksha in its defence.

09Festivals the samhitas ordain

Most of what a pilgrim sees in a South Indian Vishnu temple comes from these books: the order of the six daily services, the vahanas, the raising of the Garuda flag that opens a festival, the floating festival in the tank. At Srirangam the Adhyayana Utsavam of Margazhi runs about three weeks, with Vaikuntha Ekadashi opening its second half, and the Divya Prabandham is recited before Namperumal day after day. At Tirumala the archakas go through the Vaikhanasa rites before dawn, beginning with Suprabhatam, while the crowds wait in the queue complex below.

What it contains

1
Sattvata Samhita
One of the three jewels of the Pancharatra, on the worship of the vyuhas. Its teaching is the source of the Ishvara Samhita, which governs worship at Melukote.
2
Paushkara Samhita
One of the three jewels; the Parameshvara Samhita followed at Srirangam is held to derive from it. It is a long dialogue between Bhagwan and Brahma, born of the lotus (pushkara), on worship, images and temple rites.
3
Jayakhya Samhita
One of the three jewels, on mantra, worship and initiation. Tradition links the Padma Samhita of Kanchipuram to it.
4
Ahirbudhnya Samhita
Shiva as Ahirbudhnya teaches the Sudarshana and its worship. It explains the Sudarshana as Bhagwan's will in action and gives the yantra used in Sudarshana homas today.
5
Lakshmi Tantra
A Pancharatra text in which Shri Lakshmi teaches Indra. It sets out creation through her as Bhagwan's shakti and gives the mantras of her worship.
6
Vaikhanasa Samhitas
The works of Atri, Bhrigu, Marichi and Kashyapa, including Marichi's Vimanarchana Kalpa. Bhrigu's texts deal largely with ritual, Kashyapa's with knowledge, and Atri's with the images and their worship. Together they are the manuals of the Tirumala archakas.

Famous verses

साङ्ख्यं योगं पञ्चरात्रं वेदाः पाशुपतं तथा । ज्ञानान्येतानि राजर्षे विद्धि नानामतानि वै ॥
Sankhya, Yoga, Pancharatra, the Vedas and the Pashupata: know, O royal sage, that these are bodies of knowledge, each with its own view.Mahabharata, Shanti Parva 12.337.59 (BORI Critical Edition)

पञ्चरात्रस्य कृत्स्नस्य वेत्ता तु भगवान्स्वयम् । सर्वेषु च नृपश्रेष्ठ ज्ञानेष्वेतेषु दृश्यते ॥
The knower of the whole Pancharatra is Bhagwan himself, and, O best of kings, he is seen in all these bodies of knowledge.Mahabharata, Shanti Parva 12.337.63 (BORI Critical Edition)

पञ्चरात्रविदो ये तु यथाक्रमपरा नृप । एकान्तभावोपगतास्ते हरिं प्रविशन्ति वै ॥
Those who know the Pancharatra and follow it in due order, O king, reach single-minded devotion and enter into Hari.Mahabharata, Shanti Parva 12.337.67 (BORI Critical Edition)

Influence

Yamunacharya and Ramanujacharya established their authority; they govern worship at Tirumala, Srirangam, Kanchipuram and the 108 divya desams.