Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1816

Purāṇic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Purāṇic Literature c8.1816

Language: English

c8.1816

PAÑCĀYATANA. An idol of Śiva in Kāśī. This idol is called Oṃkāra also. Bhagavān Parameśvara who gives mokṣa to men dwells in this idol in the form of Pañcāyatana. The five souls of Śiva are the five āyatanas. They are Śānti (tranquillity), Atitaśānti (passed beyond tranquillity), Parāparavidyā (Greater and smaller knowledge), Pratiṣṭhā (celebrity) and Nivṛtti (Recession). Because these five āyatanas dwell in the idol of Śiva at Kāśī it got the name Pañcāyatana. (Chapter 34, Padma Purāṇa).

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Linked texts (1)

Padmapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit