The Pancaratra was not Brahmanic in origin[483] and the form of the Sankhya philosophy from which it borrowed was also un-Brahmanic.  It seems to have grown up in north-western India in the centuries when Iranian influence was strong and may owe to Zoroastrianism the doctrine of the Vyuhas which finds a parallel in the relation of Ahura Mazda to Spenta Mainyu, his Holy Spirit, and in the Fravashis.  It is also remarkable that God is credited with six attributes comparable with the six Amesha Spentas.  In other ways the Pancaratra seems to have some connection with late Buddhism.  Though it lays little stress on the worship of goddesses, yet all the Vyuhas and Avataras are provided with Saktis, like the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of tantric Buddhism, and in the period of quiescence which follows on the dissolution of the Universe Vishnu is described under the name of Sunya or the void.  It attaches great importance to the Cakra, the wheel or discus which denotes Vishnu’s will to be,[484] to evolve and maintain the universe, and it may have contributed some ideas to the very late form of Buddhism called Kalacakra.  This very word is used in the Ahirbudhnya Samhita as the name of one of the many wheels engaged in the work of evolution.

Though the Pancaratra is connected with Krishna in its origin, it gives no prominence to devotion to him under that name as do modern sects and it knows nothing of the pastoral Krishna.[485] It recommends the worship of the four Vyuhas[486] presiding over the four quarters in much the same way that late Buddhism adores the four Jinas depicted in somewhat similar forms.  Similarly the Sivaites say that Siva has five faces, namely Isana or Sadasiva (the highest, undifferentiated form of the deity) at the top and below Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha, and Sadyojata, presiding respectively over the north, south, east and west.  It is thus clear that in the early centuries of our era (or perhaps even before it) there was a tendency in Vishnuism, Sivaism and Mahayanist Buddhism alike to represent the ineffable godhead as manifested in four aspects somewhat more intelligible to human minds and producing in their turn many inferior manifestations.  Possibly the theory originated among the Vishnuites,[487] but as often happened in India it was adopted by their opponents.  None of these theories are of much importance as living beliefs at the present day but their influence can be seen in iconography.

As a sect the Pancaratras seem to have been a subdivision of the Bhagavatas and probably at the present day many Vishnuites would accept the second name but not the first.  The Pancaratra is studied at only a few places in southern India but its doctrines permeate the popular work called Bhaktamala and in view of the express approbation of Ramanuja and other authorities it can hardly be repudiated by the Sri-Vaishnavas.  Bhagavata is sometimes used in the south as a name for Smartas who practise Vedic rites and worship both Siva and Vishnu.[488]