Hindu denominations: Encyclopedia - Hindu denominations

Hindu denominations

Hinduism encompasses many movements and schools fairly organized within Hindu denominations. A denomination shares a common ground of beliefs but embraces many different movements and schools inside its philosophical branches.

Hindu denominations - Basic overview

Contemporary Hinduism is traditionally divided into four major denominations: Śaivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism, and Smartha.

Hinduism is a very rich and complex religion. Each of its four denominations share rituals, beliefs, traditions and personal Gods with one another, but each denomination has a different philosophy on how to achieve life's ultimate goal (mokśa, liberation) and different views of the Gods. Each follows different methods of self-realization and worships different aspects of the One Supreme God. However, each respects and accepts all others, and conflict of any kind is rare. Among Hindu followers as a whole, there is a strong belief in there are many paths leading to the One God or the Source, whatever one chooses to call that ultimate Truth.

An established philosophical school within a denomination is called a sampradaya and a traditional lineage of teachers from any sampradaya is a parampara.

The presence of different denominations and schools within Hinduism should not be viewed as a schism. On the contrary, there is no animosity between the schools. Instead there is a healthy cross-pollination of ideas and logical debate that serves to refine each school's philosophy. It is not uncommon, or disallowed, for an individual to follow one school but take the point of view of another school for a certain issue.

As per Hinduism Adherents.com the majority of Hindus are Vaishnavas, though often mixing in some aspects of the Smarta viewpoint.

Hindu denominations - Vaishnavism

Vaishnavas worship Vishnu, or Krishna and his avataras (especially Rama) as the supreme deity. This is the largest denomination.

Vaishnava sampradayas:

• Madhvas - followers of Madhavacharya
• Shri Vaishnavas, followers of Ramanujacharya
• Rudra Vaishnavas, followers of Vallabhacharya
• Nimbarka Vaishnavas
• Gaudiya Vaishnavism, followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. They are connected to Madhva sampradaya.

Modern Vaishnava groups attached to the main sampradayas:

• Swaminarayan - Ramanuja sampradaya
• International Society for Krishna Consciousness - Madhva / Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya
• Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mission - Madhva / Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya

Hindu denominations - Śaivism

Śaivites are those who primarily worship God Śiva as Supreme God, both Immanent and Transcendent.

Śaivism embraces at the same time Monism and Dualism. It focuses on yoga, meditation and love for all beings.

Major theological schools of Śaivism include Kashmir Śaivism, Śaiva Siddhanta and Virasaivism.

To Saivites God Śiva is both with and without form; He is the Supreme Dancer, Nataraja; He is the linga, without beginning or end.

• Siddha Yoga
• Lingayats in Karnataka

Hindu denominations - Shaktism

Shaktas worship Shakti, the divine Mother, in her many forms like (Kali, Durga, Laxmi, Saraswati etc.).

Shakta form was one of the oldest forms of Hindu religion (evidences even from Indus valley civilisation), but with evolution of civilisation and emergence of various doctrines, various other forms of Hindu philosophy emerged. Shaivism and Shakta forms are really inseparable, as is the description of Shiva and Shakti/Sati/Parvati. Vaishanvism has also its connections with Shakta philosophy as Goddess Durga herself is called Narayani.

Shakta in behaviour are identical to the Shaivites or Vaishanvites in the fundamental philosophy, but they tend to be very liberal in their thinking. Typically in a Shakta family/household, all Ishwar forms are worshipped alongside. Shaktas many times do not identify themselves as Shaktas but as Hindus in general. In India, Bengal, Assam, Orissa and Bihar are the main regions where detailed Devi Pujan or Shakta rituals are followed. Madhya Pradesh (Chamunda Pujan), Maharashtra and Gujrat (Nav Durga) are also equally zealous and various rituals for Devi Pujan and celebration take place in these regions. It is actually unfair and very hard to identify or isolate Shaktas amongst any other denominations. Shaktas do not believe in denominations, and believe that these ideas of classification are a very Christian way of classification. This might be true as Devi Pujan (worship) is actually a nationwide phenomenon.

One of the unique features of Shaktas is that there is immense respect for women as mothers in common household. Young sons and daughters touch the feet of their mother, seeking her blessings on festive/important occasions. Simultaneously mothers typically pray/worship for the well being of their family and children.

To roughly cover the Shakta centers all over India, one could begin with all the Shakti Peeth in India. There are typically 51 Shakti Peeth all over India, which are typically revered as places of pilgrimage. The mythological background behind these temples or Shakti Peeth goes back to the story of Shiva performing "Tandava" (the dance of fury) carrying the dead and burnt body of Sati in immense anger, effectively destroying the entire Universe. Seeing Shiva's rage, Vishnu realised that that Shiva's strength emerged from the dead body of Sati/Shakti and decided to cut her dead body to peices with his Sudarshan chakra, which led to halting of Shiva's wrath. There were 51 pieces of her dead body which fell on earth at 51 places and those are the spots of Shakti Peeth. To name a few are the Kalighat Mandir at Kolkata, the Kamakhya Mandir at Assam, the Vaishnav Devi Mandir at Jammu and many others.

Typically in Shakta philosophy dominated regions, various forms of Hindu religion thrive harmoniously. It is the understanding of Shaktas, that everyone is the son/daughter of the same Divine Mother, and hence harmonious existence is "Mother's" desire. Various stalwarts of Hindu Philosophy viz. Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa Dev and Swami Vivekananda who guided the Hindu world with their depth of understanding of humanity and religion, were Shaktas.

Shaktas celebrate all festivals like Dussera/Durga Puja, Diwali/Kali Puja/Lakshmi Puja, Satya Narayan Puja, Ganesha Puja, Saraswati Puja, Kartik Puja, Janmashtami, Shivaratri, Sankranti etc. including all possible days. Shaktas never refuse to worship one or the other form of God unlike some Vaishnavites in South India. Shaktas also have diverse philosophy and rituals including Mantra and Tantra. Several Hindu rituals like putting sindoor and bindi and basically the entire attire of Hindu bride has originated from the concept of Goddess Durga and Lakshmi.

Shakta being the oldest form has its origin in Vedas, and Puranas. Durga Puran, Kalika Puran and Skanda Puran are some of the basic sources. Ramayan, Mahabharat and Shrimad Bhagvat Gita also form the basic texts, read and revered by every Shakta. It is very common to see Krishna Pujan and Shiva Pujan in Shakta families. One of the possible explainations could be the fact that Sri Rama the very revered and worshipped avatar of Narayan himself is described to be an ardent Shakti worshipper. It is known that celebration of Durga Puja in Bengal was started, marking the worship performed by Rama himself. In addition, the legends of the demons, Madhu and Kaitabh, also mention the spell cast by Goddess Kali on the demons, which made it easy for Narayan to kill them and save mankind. Apparently, the scriptures and mythology are not classified into such denominations, and after all its those scriptures that still dictate the basic "psyche" of Hindu philosophy.

Hindu denominations - Smartha sect

Smarthas have free rein to choose whichever deity they wish to worship. They usually worship five deities (pancopasana). It is a liberal and eclectic sect.

Some prominent Smarta communities:

• In south India
  • Iyer
  • Vaidike Mulukanadu
  • Vaidiki Velanadu
  • Vaidiki Telanganya
  • Namboothiri
  • Badaganadu
  • Hoysala Kannada
  • Kota brahmin
  • Babboor Kamme
  • Arvel Niyogi Brahmins
• In Maharashtra
  • Karhade
  • Deshastha
  • Konkanastha or Chitpavan
  • Devrukhe
• Saraswat Brahmins
  • Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB's)

Hindu denominations - Newer denominations

Hindu denominations - Agama Hindu Dharma

The newest and least numerous denominations are comprised of Balinese Hindus, who make up a sect of Hinduism that once flourished on the nearby island of Java until late 16th century when a vast majority of its adherents converted to Islam.

See also

• Survey of Hindu organisations

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Hindu denominations", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki