Vaishnavism and Shaivism

Vaishnavism and Shaivism are not branches that broke apart from a single church. They are two great streams of devotion that grew side by side within Hinduism, each focused on one god whom its followers regard as the supreme reality behind the universe. Most Hindus belong broadly to one stream or the other, or honour both, and the line between them has always been more porous than the labels suggest.

Both gods appear in the oldest Hindu scripture, the Rig Veda, but in modest roles. Vishnu is known for taking three great strides across the cosmos; Rudra, later identified with Shiva, is a fierce and unpredictable power to be approached with caution and praise. Over the following centuries each rose to supremacy. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, perhaps from the last centuries BCE, praises Rudra-Shiva as the one Lord. The Bhagavad Gita presents Krishna, later understood as an avatar of Vishnu, as the highest God who invites loving devotion. By the early centuries CE organised groups of worshippers existed on both sides, among them the Shaiva Pashupatas and the Vaishnava Bhagavatas.

The great Puranas, composed over the first millennium CE, told the myths of each god at length and often exalted one over the other. Between about the sixth and ninth centuries, Tamil poet-saints transformed both traditions into popular movements. The twelve Alvars sang of Vishnu, and the sixty-three Nayanars of Shiva, travelling from temple to temple. Their hymns are still sung in South Indian temples today.

Later teachers built systematic theologies. Ramanuja, traditionally dated 1017–1137, taught that souls and the world are real and form the “body” of God, and he shaped Sri Vaishnavism. Madhva, in the thirteenth century, taught a strict distinction between God and souls, and Chaitanya (1486–1534) inspired the ecstatic Krishna devotion of Bengal. On the Shaiva side, Shaiva Siddhanta, rooted in Sanskrit scriptures called Agamas and Tamil hymns, became dominant in the South, while in Kashmir thinkers such as Abhinavagupta (c. 950–1016) taught that all is the consciousness of Shiva. In twelfth-century Karnataka Basava inspired the Lingayats, who reject caste and wear a small linga on the body.

For Vaishnavas, Vishnu sustains the universe and descends whenever goodness declines, as Krishna puts it in the Gita. These descents, or avatars, are classically counted as ten, among them the fish, the boar, Rama and Krishna. Many Vaishnavas worship Krishna or Rama directly; for Gaudiya Vaishnavas, Krishna is the original form of God himself. Vishnu is usually honoured together with Lakshmi, goddess of fortune, and Vaishnava temples present him as a king, adorned and served with elaborate daily rites.

For Shaivas, Shiva is both the ascetic yogi meditating on Mount Kailash and the householder with Parvati and their sons Ganesha and Skanda. He is Nataraja, Lord of the Dance, whose dance creates and dissolves the worlds. In most temples he is worshipped in the linga, a rounded pillar that devotees understand as the sign of the formless Lord. Shaiva Siddhanta teaches that the soul is bound by ignorance and karma until Shiva’s grace frees it; Kashmir Shaivism teaches that liberation is recognising one’s own identity with Shiva.

Followers can often be recognised by their marks. Vaishnavas apply vertical lines of clay or sandalwood paste to the forehead, Shaivas three horizontal lines of sacred ash. Vaishnavas carry beads of tulsi wood and revere the tulsi plant, Shaivas wear beads of rudraksha seeds and offer bilva leaves. Many Vaishnava communities keep a strictly vegetarian diet, as do many Shaivas, though practice on both sides varies by region, caste and family.

The two traditions have sometimes been rivals. Medieval texts tell stories in which one god bows to the other, and some kings favoured one sect over the other. Yet there is also a long tradition of harmony. The image of Harihara, half Vishnu and half Shiva, appears in temple art from the early medieval period, and in Tamil tradition Vishnu is the brother of Shiva’s consort, making the two gods family.

Precise figures are difficult, since Indian censuses do not record sect. One widely cited scholarly estimate counts about two-thirds of Hindus as Vaishnavas and about a quarter as Shaivas, with Shaktas and others making up the rest, but many Hindus would not describe themselves by a single label. Vaishnavism is especially strong in northern and eastern India and Gujarat, while Shaivism is prominent in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, among Kashmiri Hindus and in Nepal, where the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu is a major shrine. Both traditions also maintain orders of renunciants: Shaiva ascetics, often smeared with ash and carrying a trident, and Vaishnava monks of lineages such as the Ramanandis gather in great numbers at the Kumbh Mela.

Two further traditions complete the picture. Shaktas worship the Goddess, as Durga, Kali or the Divine Mother, as the supreme power, and are strong in Bengal and Assam. Smartas, associated with the philosopher Shankara and the monasteries founded in his name, worship five deities, Vishnu, Shiva, the Goddess, Surya and Ganesha, as equally valid forms of the one Brahman. Their outlook has shaped the widespread modern view that all gods are paths to one reality.

Vaishnavism has also travelled abroad, most visibly through the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, founded in New York in 1966, while Shaiva temples serve Tamil and other Hindu communities from Malaysia to Canada. In India itself most temples welcome worshippers of every tradition, and the great festivals of Krishna and Shiva alike draw Hindus of all backgrounds.