know all about shaivism and vaishnavism from madurai

Welcome to the AngelFirePage of Vinaika Solanki !

Shiva, one of the three great deities of medieval and modern Hinduism (the others being Vishnu and the Goddess). Those for whom HE is the supreme God are known as Shaivas and the various cults devoted to him collectively constitute Shaivism. HE is known by many other names, notably, Rudra (The Roarer), Mahadeva (Great God), Nataraja (The Lord Of Dance), Bharaiva (The Terrible) and Sundareshvara (The Beautiful Lord), reflecting the range of HIS contemporaneous manifestations. HE is also called Bholenath and Sivan. As with Vishnu, HE is the subject of an elaborate mythology along with Bhramma (also called "The Creator"). Together, these three are worshipfully called the Tridev or Tirumoorthy.

Although often dubbed "The Destroyer" to complement Vishnu as "The Preserver", like that other great God, Shiva is considered by HIS devotees to exercise total power over The Cosmos, subsuming within HIM self the function of all other deities. Nevertheless, from HIS earliest definite appearance in the history of Indian religions (as the Vedic "Outsider", Rudra), HE has exhibited a set of distinctive and seemingly paradoxical divine traits. In particular HE is associated with world - renouncing asceticism, rejecting and transcending orthodox society. HE favored wild, dangerous places (such as cremation grounds, high icy mountains - HIS abode being cave Amarnath in the Himalayas) and believed to eat meat, use hallucinating herbs, tobacco. Through HIS austerities, Shiva generates great power - Power that HE deploys unpredictably for a variety of ends, from the violently destructive to the tirelessly erotic.

Represented in many anthropomorphic ways, (famously as Nataraja, the Lord who dances the universe to destruction) Shiva is most commonly worshipped in the form of the Aniconic Linga. It is a phallic pillar standing in a base representing the female generative organ (Yoni). Clearly the icon was originally associated with eroticism and fertility; the Linga has come to represent Shiva’s transcendent potency in a much wider and more generalized fashion. Myth has it that HE is a very innocent (almost Child like) character, yet with deadly fury. As a protector of last resort, even the gods beg HIM, to be bail out the world, of catastrophic eventualities. Om Nama Shivaye is the cherished way to remember HIM.

An indication of Shiva’s paradoxical nature is that HE is an ascetic with a family. As Parvati, HIS consort is benign; as HIS Shakti or immanent power, SHE is frequently identified with the great Goddess in HER terrifying and energetic forms. Shiva and Parvati have two sons, the six-headed Skanda (also known as Karttikeya) and the elephant headed Ganesha (also called Vinayaga), both the focuses of important independent cults. Various animals are associated with Shiva, notably Nandi, the bull, which serves as HIS Vahana (vehicle), and the pet cobra. Standard anthropomorphic representations of the God show HIM seated in meditation on a tiger skin, with matted locks and a garland of snakes or skulls. Across the third eye in HIS fore head are three stripes of ash, the sectarian mark of HIS ascetic followers; from HIS hair the mighty river Ganges flows; nearby are HIS trident and drum.

On the other hand, Vaishnavism is an umbrella term for the variety of various religious beliefs and age - old practices of those devotees within Hinduism, collectively known as "The Vaishnavas". They consider Vishnu to be the supreme deity. In numerical terms, Vaishnavism is probably the most widely practiced of the Indian religion. Historically, a number of originally separate Indian religious cults, Vedic, Dravidian and tribal in origin, converged or amalgamated in different ways to form the complex of theological positions and religious practices subsequently known as Vaishnavism. By the time of the Bhagavad - Gita (the holy Hindu scriptures - third century BC), various deified tribal heroes, including Krishna, had come to be identified with the minor Vedic God, Vishnu. This resulted in the elevation of the latter to the role of supreme God and world - savior. An early important tradition was that of the Bhagavatas, which at its widest incorporated the Pancaratra Tantra cults.

All groups of Vaishnavas accept Pancaratra theology as the basis for their ritual practices, especially image worship. It takes the form of a theistic monism, rooted in the idea that Vishnu as the Supreme Lord reveals HIM self in different forms, including various emanations (Vyuha) and incarnations (Avatars), without in HIM self ceasing to be one. The most important of these forms for ritual purposes are the Arcavatara, permanent incarnations in temple or private images (Arca). Various kinds of Puja (worship) are being performed before these literally divine icons. It depends upon the status, ritual qualifications of the devotee to choose their favorite Object, Procedure.

From the tenth century onwards, Pancaratra ritual and theology, the emotional devotionalism (Bhakti) of the Tamil Alvars (south Indian Vaishnava poets) and orthodox Vedanta were combined in a new synthesis, known as Shri Vaishnavism. Shri is Vishnu’s consort, Lakshmi, who mediates between the God and HIS devotees; SHE also represents HIS power or Shakti. The essential figure in development of the Shri Vaishnava movement was the eleventh century thinker Sri Ramanuja, who propounded a theology requiring total surrender (Prapatti) to Vishnu and there fore dependence upon HIS grace for salvation. Subsequently, there were various sectarian divisions, but the temple culture of south India remains an important focus for Shri Vaishnava practice.

The Vaishnavas often mark their bodies, clothing with symbols of Vishnu, notably HIS footprints, conch, and discus. Among a variety of sectarian marks (Tilaka) applied to the fore head, the vertical red line within a white "U", curved up to the eye brows, is widely used, especially by ascetic followers (Sadhus). A common explanation is that it represents one or both of the soles of Vishnu’s feet resting on a lotus, some times represented by a white line or dot at the bridge of the nose. The red line in the middle is usually said to represent the Goddess Lakshmi, Vishnu’s consort.