A History of Sanskrit Literature c33.s4.4

c33.s4.4

The sectarian literature of the Pañcarātra school of Vaiṣṇavas, long best known from the late *Nārada Pāñcarātra*³ (perhaps 16th cent.), is better represented by a large number of Saṁhitās which may be of considerable age; the *Ahirbudhnya*,⁴ which has been claimed to belong to the period of the later epic, gives no very favourable impression of the literature which mixes Vedānta and Sāṁkhya ideas in a curious way. The *Īçvara Saṁhitā* is quoted in the tenth century, but others are at least worked over if they are really ancient in substance, the *Bṛhad Brahma Saṁhitā* alluding to doctrines of Rāmānuja. The *Bhaktiçāstra*, ascribed to Nārada, is a late production, and so are the *Bhaktisūtras*,⁵ alleged to be by Çāṇḍilya, who appears as an authority on the Pañcarātra both in Çaṅkara and Rāmānuja. Quite modern is the Hindi *Bhaktamāla*⁶ which is interesting, apart from its technical explanations of the doctrine of faith, for its legends. The effect of Christian influence in it may be readily admitted in view of the prolonged existence in India of a Christian church.⁷