Sandhyā Worship in the 14th Century Pāñcarātra: Theory and Practice?

Abstract

In his Pāñcarātrarakṣā, Veṅkaṭanātha states that a Pāñcarātrin is not obliged to follow the prescriptions of the Pāñcarātra Saṃhitās, but can also follow those of the Vedic Sūtras when performing sandhyā worship. The paper tries to clarify the meaning and background of this statement by presenting and comparing various sandhyā prescriptions—from Veṅkaṭanātha himself, from Vedic Sūtras, and from several Pāñcarātra Saṃhitās—and it investigates the question of whether this statement gives us insight into the relationship between theory and practice of sandhyā worship in Veṅkaṭanātha’s lifetime.

Keywords

• Veṅkaṭanātha
• Vedāntadeśika
• Pāñcarātrarakṣā
• Pāñcarātra
• sandhyā worship