Some further pA~ncharAtrika-s notes: Both saiddhAntika shaiva-s & pA~ncharAtrika have a hunting ritual where the simulate either rudra or viShNu going out on an hunt (an old IA memory now lodged in a tAntrika tradition). 1 of the days recommended for it in the PR tradition is
their equivalent of the dashamI following the autumnal navarAtrI which is termed the vIralakshmyutsava. Like with the shaiva version the image of viShNu was borne on a horse & the procession was accompanied by an armed entourage. The association with dashamI, the traditional H
day for campaign initiation (like H rulers routinely started out on campaigns against Mohammedan/preta tyrants on that day) suggests that it might have also been seen as a simulation of campaigns initiated by the god. It looks as though in some shaiva versions (e.g. raurava)
man-eating animals were actually hunted - they & any human hunter who got killed in process was said to achieve shivasAyujyam. In the vaiShNava versions I've examined the animals were capture alive & released in front of the image of the god.
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