(Nātya) and gesticulation (abhinaya) have also been evolved under the influence of religious devotion”.
As regards the significance and import of the word Pāñcarātra, several views have been propounded These have been discussed on pages 24 to 26 of Dr Schrader’s Introduction to the Pāñcarātra. His conclusion is that the name "Pañcarātra" is traceable to the central doctrine of this school which has reference to "the Pañcarātra Sattra" of Nārāyana (spoken of in Śatapatha-Brāhmana XIII 6 1) interpreted philosophically as the five-fold self-manifestation of God by means of His Para, Vyūha, Vibhava, Antaryāmin, and Arcā forms. This would well agree with the statement of the Ahirbudhnya Samhita, at the end of the eleventh adhyāya, that the Lord Himself framed out of the original Śāstra the system (tantra) called Pāñcarātra describing His (five-fold) nature (known) as Para, Vyūha, Vibhava, etc” (i e Antaryāmın and Arcā) He also states that, in regard to the topics dealt with in the Pāñcarātra Śāstra in general, “the Scientific student will probably find it best to distinguish the following ten
(1) Philosophy,
(2) Linguistic occultism (mantra-śīstra),
(3) Theory of magical figures (yantra-śastra),
(4) Practical magic (māyā-yoga),
(5) Yoga,
(6) Temple-building (mandir nirmāna),
(7) Image-making (pratisthā-vidhi),
(8) Domestic observances (samskāra, ahnika),
(9) Social rules (varnāśrama-dharma),
(10) Public festivals (utsava)
As has been stated already, the Pāñcarātra Literature, like the literature of Āgamas generally, has not yet been
