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Updated: May 23, 2025
Any historical treatment of Hinduism inevitably makes Vishnuism seem more prominent than other sects, for it offers more events to record. But though Sivaism has undergone fewer changes and produced fewer great names, it must not be thought of as lifeless or decadent.
We have not yet sufficient documents to enable us to trace the history and especially the chronology of thought in these regions but we can say that certain forms of Vishnuism, Śivaism and Buddhism were all evolved there and often show features in common. Thus in all we find the idea that the divine nature is manifested in four forms or five, if we count the Absolute Godhead as one of them .
In another region, probably in the west, grew up the monotheism of the Bhâgavatas, which was the parent of Vishnuism. Hinduism may be said to fall into four principal divisions which are really different religions: the Smârtas or traditionalists, the Sivaites, the Vishnuites and the Śâktas. The first, who are still numerous, represent the pre-buddhist Brahmans.
In every Lingâyat village there is a monastery affiliated to one of these five establishments. Though Śivaism can boast of an imposing array of temples, teachers and scriptures in the north as well as in the south, yet Vishnuism was equally strong and after 1000 A.D. perhaps stronger.
The sect did not originate in Kashmir but its adherents settled there after attending the Council of Kanisḥka and made it into a holy land. Subsequently, first Vishnuism and then Śivaism entered the mountain valleys and flourished there.
Hence though the prevalence of sect is undoubtedly a feature of modern Hinduism it is also intelligible that some observers should assert that most Hindus belong to the same general religion and that only the minority are definitely sectarian. The sectarian tendency is stronger in Vishnuism than in Śivaism.
The worship of Râdhâ is a late phase of Vishnuism and is not known even to the Bhâgavata Purâṇa. Vallabhism owes much of its success to the family of the founder. They had evidently a strong dynastic sentiment as well as a love of missionary conquest a powerful combination.
Brahmanism flourished in what we call the United Provinces: Buddhism arose in the regions to the east of this district and both Vishnuism and Śivaism are first heard of in the west. The earliest sect of which we have any record is that of the Bhâgavatas, who were or became Vishnuite.
For the essence of Vishnuism is passionate devotion and self-surrender to a deity and this idea is not prominent in the Tantras.
Tamil Śivaism, though important for the south, has not spread much beyond its own province, but the Vishnuism associated with such eminent names as Râmânuja and Râmânand has influenced all India, and the latter teacher is the spiritual ancestor of the Kabirpanthis, Sikhs and various unorthodox sects. But in filling up this outline the possibilities of error must be remembered.
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