Vaikhanasa

Vaikhanasa, member of a South Indian minority group within Vaishnavism, a form of Hinduism characterized by devotion to the god Vishnu. Vaikhanasas were originally an early order of ascetics who, upon abandoning life in the forest, took to the management of temples. Vaikhanasas worship in accordance with the ritual prescribed in the Vaikhanasa Samhitas, one of two collections of ritual texts. The Pancharatra Samhitas supplanted the Vaikhanasa Samhitas within most of Vaishnavism in the 12th...