History of Shaivism

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Shaivism is considered by many to have been born in Tamilnadu, the southernmost part of India. Others dispute that statement as many believe Agastya brought Shaivism from the north to the south. So even today Tamilnadu continues to be considered the home of Shaivism. It can be dated back to Indus Valley Civilization, but it became a distinct religion and took the name Shaivism only during the period between the 3rd century A.D. to the 10th century A.D.

Contents 1 Salient features 2 Shaivism in various regions 3 Gods 3.1 Architecture 3.2 Other idols 3.3 Other gods of Shaivism 3.3.1 Ganapathi and Murugan worship 3.3.2 Sakthi cult 3.3.3 Emergence of the name 'Siva' 4 Worship 5 Agamas 5.1 Salagaramam 5.2 Rudram 5.3 Chamakam 5.4 Om 5.5 Namasivaya 5.6 Sivacharya/Gurukal 5.7 Siva Shrines 5.8 Gurus 5.9 Nayanmars 5.10 Vaishnavism 5.11 Mahayogi worship 6 Vedic influence-phase I 7 Vedic influence-phase II 7.1 Ascendency of Rudra over Yama 7.2 Nataraja worship 8 Vedic influence-phase III 8.1 The Sacred Ash 9 Counter reformation 10 Consolidation 11 Present day Shaivism

[edit] Salient features

1. Siva is considered to be the supreme God. Of the god-trinity, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, the last is the most powerful and controls the other two.
2. He is worshipped in two forms. One as a lingam and the other as human form. The human form has several varieties. The most important of them are Nataraja - the dancing posture and Dakshinamoorthy - the teacher instructing the four sages on the absolute truth.
3. His consort Parvathi, his sons Ganapathi and Murugan are also worshipped in the temples.
4. There are many temples in Tamilnadu dedicated to Siva. Their architecture, layout, the location of various idols, and methods of worship are all prescribed by books called Agamas and no deviation is allowed.
5. People also worship Siva at home. They have idols of natural lingam-shaped Saligrama stones to which they perform ablution, flower-worship and Nivedhanam (food offering).
6. Certain portions of the Vedas such as Rudram and Chamakam are believed to be adolatory to Siva, although vedas do not make references to either Siva or Vishnu.
7. The sacred ash forms an important part of worship. Siva is bathed in it and that is why he is also known as Panduranga (white colored.) This is distributed to the devotees who wear it on their forehead, neck, chest, and hands of the body with reverence.
8. The sacred syllable Om is profusely used during the worship.
9. The five syllabled word Na-ma-si-va-ya is considered holy and devotees consider it their duty to repeat it several times.
10. The priests of the Siva temples are called Sivacharyas. Brahmins can perform poojas but they are not allowed to perform the worship inside the sanctum sanctorum.
11. Chidambaram, a town in Tamilnadu houses the famous Nataraja Temple. This place is considered the holiest of Siva shrines.
12. Thirugnana Sambandar, Thirunavukkarasar, Sundaramurthy, and Manickavachakar are considered the Gurus of Shaivism. The hymns sung by the first three are collected into a book called Thevaram. The work of Manickavachakar is called Thiruvachakam. These books are reverentially worshipped and recited by the devotees. The four exponents of Saivism form part of the 63 Nayanmars, staunch devotees of Siva.

[edit] Shaivism in various regions

Shaivism is practiced in various parts of India. Of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines, the most famous temples dedicated to Siva, Rameswaram alone is in Tamilnadu. Varanasi on the banks of Ganga and Kedarnath on the Himalayas are two of them. The two of these Jyotirlinga in Madhaya Pradesh are at Ujjain called Mahakalashvar and other one at Omkareshwar with the same name of the place.

Some Shaivism was practiced in the Indus Valley. In Mohenjodaro, Harappa and other sites of western India and Pakistan, the remains of an ancient civilisation dating back to 3rd millennium B.C. have been excavated. Among the artifacts, a lingam, a figure of a male god in Yogic posture, and another surrounded by animals have been found. These Mahayogi and Pasupathi could be the precursors of Dakshinamoorthy, a form of Siva.

Karaikkal Ammaiyar, the earliest of the 63 ardent devotees of Siva, is supposed to have lived in 3rd century A.D. The Shaivism as gathered from her hymns is different in many aspects from the one that prevailed in the time of Thirumoolar (4th century A.D.), one of the great savants of Shaivism. Shaivism can be said to have attained the present form between these two periods.

[edit] Gods

• The God Trinity – Saivaites are the devotees of the God Siva. Siva is one of the holy trinity with Brahma and Vishnu being the other two. Vedic texts do not have references to these Gods but Indus Valley people might have worshipped Siva as Pasupathi. Seals found in Indus Valley probably indicate the worship of Siva. The concept of trinity and Siva worship must have been indigeneous to India as no vedic text refers to them. Since the worship of Siva and Vishnu, the vedic gods such as indra have been relegated to the background positions of devas. Excepting the brahmins, other hindu devotees do not invoke indra or other devas in their prayers.

• Nataraja – A Nataraja idol, usually made of bronze, is kept and worshipped in the northeast corner of a temple. The evolution of Nataraja is interesting.

In olden days, people believed that the dead became spirits and haunted the burning ghats. They worshipped those spirits to ward off any harm from them. In course of time, the belief evolved that there was a head of those departed souls and he was worshipped. In the next stage of the evolution of religious beliefs, the head of the spirits and Rudra mentioned in the Vedas came to be considered identical. Perhaps it was influenced by the Vedas—Rudram, a part of Yajur Veda that begins eulogising Rudra and ends up praising Yama, making no distinction between the two. The three-eyed Rudra is the lord of spirits. He presided over not only the dead but also the living and granted welfare to his devotees. The above was the condition when Ammaiyar lived. She describes the lord as wearing the sacred thread, having the river Ganga on his head, sharing his body with his consort, dancing in the cremation ground in the company of demons. But she did not call him by the name Siva. During the days of old Tamil kingdoms, the worship of sudalai madan (a grave yard dweller) was common. Sudalai madan with ashes smeared on his body and being in charge of the dead could have evolved as God Siva.

The next stage was very important and it led to many far-reaching changes in the religion in later times. The scene was the region ruled by Chola Kings. With its fertile soil it provided a lot of opportunities for the development of religion, arts, and literature. Those who pioneered the reformation were the Cholias of Chidambaram (dhiksithars), the aboriginal brahmins of the Chola region. They are, even today, identifiable by their peculiar way of wearing their tufts, tying the tuft to the side of their heads and not in the back as other brahmins do. These Cholias installed a bronze idol of the dancing lord in a hall that they named Ambalam (assembly). This idol was given all honours which were given to the stone on the grave of the king, like ceremonial ablutions, feeding, flower decoration, and others. They, being Vedic scholars, used those portions of the Vedas as might be relevant to the new form of worship. Thus, the dancing lord of the cremation ground was brought to a dignified place, and Chidambaram became the nursery for the religious revolution that was to take place shortly afterwards.

• Dakshinamoorthy – The stone idol of Dakshinamoorthy is placed, facing south as his name literally means, on the southern part of an outer perimeter path of the sanctum sanctorum. He sits under an Al (banyan) tree and teaches his sage-disciples. This can be linked to the Mahayogi figure of the Indus Valley.

• Absolute truth – He is supposed to teach without opening his mouth, simply by his gesture. His right index finger is bent and touching the tip of the thumb. The other fingers stand apart. This is explained as follows. The thumb denotes God. The index finger denotes the man. The other three fingers represent three impurities of man such as haughtiness, ignorance, and past misdeeds. Man can reach God when he dissociates himself from the impurities and bends towards God.

Parvathi – Parvathi is the consort of Siva. She is the daughter of the mountain-king, Himalaya. During the Sangam age, the worship of Parvathi was not prevalent. During Ammaiyar's time, She was supposed to occupy the left half of the body of her husband. When temples were begun to be built, she was not worshipped separately. But later, separate shrines for Parvathi came to be built, probably influenced by the Sakthi cult. Parvathi's stone image is usually erected near the sanctum sanctorum in a separate shrine. It usually faces south or east.

Ganapathi – Variously called Ganesha, Vinayaka, Pillaiyar, and others, he is the eldest son of Siva and Parvathi by some accounts. In others, he is the second son. He is located in three places: at the base of the flag-mast, on the southern side of the entrance and on the south west corner of the circumambulation. These are all made of stone. This deity is given the priority in worship. Hindus believe that Vinayaka removes all obstacles and hence is worshipped at the beginning of all mundane and spiritual activities. But the worship of Ganapathi was alien to Tamilnadu and probably migrated from Maharashtra alomg with the brahmins. The description of Ganapathi as we find today is not mentioned in the Vedas also. But nowadays, Ganapathi is worshipped before every Vedic ritual.

Murugan – He is variously called Velan, Kumaran, and others, and identified with Subrahmanya and considered the second son of Siva and Parvathi. Even during the Sangam age, he was worshipped and known as the son of the Lord under the banyan tree and Korravai, whereas Ganapathi was not mentioned till the 6th century. Murugan was the favourite god of the hill areas of the ancient period. The statue of Murugan is usually placed at the northern side of the entrance and just behind the lingam on the circumambulation. In parts of northern India, he is more commonly known as Kartikey.

[edit] Architecture

The Siva temples have a tall tower called Gopuram at the entrance. The lingam is placed deep inside directly facing the front entrance. In between, the flagstaff, the altar, and the Nandhi (bull) hide the line of sight. Around the sanctum sanctorum, there is one circumambulatory path, sometimes more. All around there is a tall compound wall.

[edit] Other idols

In the circum-path, on the southern side, the idols of 63 Nayanmars, facing north, are placed in big temples. Facing south is the figure of Dakshinamoorthy. On the western side, the idols of Ganapathi, Murugan, Lakshmi, and Saraswathi are placed in that order. On the northrn side, the idol of Durga, called Korravai in Sangam age, adorns the northern wall of the sanctum sanctorum. Just in front of it is the shrine of Chandeswarar, who is supposed to be the accountant of the Siva household. At the north eastern corner is the idol of Nataraja. Navagrahas (the planet-gods) are kept on a raised platform near there.

[edit] Other gods of Shaivism

[edit] Ganapathi and Murugan worship

Ganapathi, brought from Maharashtra, came to be worshipped in the KOILs and gradually the worship of Murugan, the custom of the hilly region of Tamilnadu, spread throughout the land.

[edit] Sakthi cult

There existed in Tamilnadu the worship of female goddesses and Kali was one of them. They were all ferocious and human sacrifices to them were common. The new Shaivism began to refine this and the Sakthi cult was born. A goddess with benign and beautiful looks came to be regarded as Sakthi, the consort of Siva. Formerly, the dancing Lord was conceived to be having his wife in the left half of his body. Hence, she was not separately worshipped. Now, stone sculpting had become popular, and separate shrines with stone images of Sakthi came to be erected within Siva temples. Some temples of the former ferocious goddesses were converted into Sakthi temples, and a lingam was also erected in them. The legend that Sankara reduced the ferociousness of Akilandeswari in Thiruvanaikoil (near Trichy) by making some changes in her ornaments lends support to this.

[edit] Emergence of the name 'Siva'

The word 'Siva' occurs in the Rigveda as "auspicious" and Lord Indra uses this word to describe himself several times (2:20:3, 6:45:17, 8:93:3.) The Vadamas who combined the Nataraja worship and the lingam worship searched for a similar word in the Vedas. They found that one of the 300-odd forms mentioned in Rudram was Siva, which meant benevolent. The word Siva was found to be bridging the two sects, and they popularised it. Thereafter, the God came to be known as Siva and the religion Shaivam. In the Yajur Veda, the sacred Shaiv phrase "Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram" occurs describing Lord Rudra. While Saivism was popular in Tamil Nadu, Jainism also flourished. Tamil kings, notably the Pallavas and Pandyas, often converted from Saivism to Jainism and back. The practice of being a strict vegertarian, a required trait of all Jains, permeated to Saivism. Saivites adopted vegetarianism and avoided all animal sacrifices in their worship. Hence vegetarianism came to be called Saivam in Tamilnadu.

[edit] Worship

Worship by the priest is done from once to six times a day, depending on the resources and the popularity of each temple. The usual methods of worship follow this routine. The deity is bathed with oil, water, milk, ghee, honey, curd, various juices, sandal paste, and others. Then it is dressed in the traditional way of Tamilnadu. Jewels and flower garlands are put on. Incenses are burnt. Then food, usually a rice preparation, is offered. Then lamps of various designs are shown to the deity as an honour. Camphor is lit and shown. Then the burning camphor is brought to the devotees who reverentially show their palms over it and place them over their eyes. The sacred ash and Kumkum is distributed which are applied on the forehead. They go round the temple once or more and prostrate themselves before the deity. Various Vedic and other hymns like Thevaram are recited. No one except the priest is permitted to perform the rituals or go inside the sanctum sanctorum. However, in Chidambaram and a few other places, AdhiSaivas act as priests

[edit] Agamas

Agamas are books of later period. They are usually in Sanskrit. They are 28 in number. Each temple follows its own Agama. The priests are well versed in Agamas, whereas they study only a limited portion of the Vedas.

[edit] Salagaramam

This is a stone available in the river bed of Gandaki in Nepal. This is black and has a glossy surface. It varies in shape from cylindrical with rounded ends to flattened globes. Depending on the shape, this is considered to represent variously Siva, Vishnu, and others. Very big stones are used to chisel figures of gods for worship in temples. Small ones are worshipped at homes.

[edit] Rudram

The Vedas adore many gods such as Agni, Vayu, Soma, Surya, and others. In the long list of gods, Rudra is one. Rudram is the verse praising the glory of Rudra. In the beginning of the verse, Rudra is seen similar to the sun. As it develops, the verse says that there are thousands of Rudras. It enumerates the various forms of Rudra and salutes them. The following are some of the various salutations. Ye the golden handed, salutations to thee. Ye the commanders of the armies, salutations to thee. In this manner, Rudra is addressed as being the lord of the animals, people sitting on the back of the bulls, those wearing the sacred thread, ministers, merchants, leader of robbers, cheaters, sitting people, those lying on their backs, dogs, masters of the dogs, potters, carpenters, waters of the lake, waters of the tank, rain waters, arid zones, clouds, lightning, wind. Among these 300 odd forms of Rudra, one is Siva, meaning the benevolent. It has no special significance of its own, but it had a significance attached to it by the people who revolutionised the religion of the day.

[edit] Chamakam

This is another Vedic hymn. This contains the prayer of a devotee to the Lord to bestow on him various material benefits and spiritual salvation. This list is long—nearly 300 items such as long life, grains of various kinds, cattle of various kinds, rivers, hills, and others. It is considered a favourite prayer to Siva, though nowhere in the entire hymn is the name of Siva mentioned. In fact, it is addressed to Agni and Vishnu.

[edit] Om

This is the holiest of syllables of Veda. The Vedas speak highly of this. Various meanings are given to it. In short, it represents the entire universe and the God. It precedes every hymn of Vedas and other religious prayers.

[edit] Namasivaya

The holiest word for Shaivites today. It has its origin in Yajur Veda. It means 'salutation to the benevolent'. This is one of the 300 odd attributes of Rudra, the Vedic god. It is a world wide sound from death to life cycle.

[edit] Sivacharya/Gurukal

Those who performed worship in Shiva temples were called shiva brahmanas, Adhi Shaivas or Gurukal and they were in existence even during the time of Rajaraja I as revealed in his inscriptions. Brahmin- settlers from North India who were invited by Rajendra-I were known as Ashta sahasram literally meaning 8000. (Perhaps so many number immigrated as one lot.) There is a town near Kanchipuram with the name Ennayiram, the Tamil equivalent of Ashta sahasram. V.S.Pathak Says in his Book,"Shaivism in Early mediaeval India as known from archaeological sources: Rajendra Chola saw the best of the Shaivas in Northern India when he came to take a bath in the Ganges and carried them to settle in his own country in Kanchi and elsewhere in the chola land." It was believed that they are the early migrants to (or may be the aborigines of) the Tamil country before the Iyers. Unlike most Iyers who believe in smarthism, they follow Shaivism (esp Kashmir shaivism) and follow agamams while they learn only a limited portion of the Vedas. They follow baudhayana sutra which is older to apastamba sutra followed by most of the smarthas. They are often confused with Shaiva Adhinams who belong to Shaiva Vellala caste. Like the Chidambaram Dikshitas they believe that they directly descended from Lord Siva to claim their supremacy in priesthood. Jnanasambandhar is said to have been a shaiva brahamin from the Kaundinya gotra; again, Tirumular (shaiva brahamin) is said to come from the North and he was said to an associate of Agastya. He is conversant with the teachings of Kashmiri Shaivism. These are some prominent among them. --Kothandaramans 15:19, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

They share many similarities with that of namboodris like following: tantric / agamic texts along with veda, following boudhayana sutra, which is older than apasthamba sutra—followed other brahmins—taking priesthood in temples, knowledge in ayurveda, and others.

[edit] Siva Shrines

There are numerous Siva temples in Tamilnadu, most of which are located in the Thanjavur district that was a major part of the Chola kingdom. Of the sixty-three nayanmars, who sang their praise of God Sia, those visited by the naalvar - Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar, and Manickavskar -- are the most famous and considered to have special divinity about them. Each has local legend describing the miracles performed by Siva on that soil.

[edit] Gurus

Thirugnana Sambandar, Thirunavukkarasar, Sundaramoorthy and Manickvachakar are the Four Gurus of Shaivism. The first three are also counted under the list of devotees called Nayanmars. The Tamil hymns composed by them are collectively known as Thevaram. They lived in about the 7th century A.D. The last named lived in the 10th century A.D. His songs are called Thiruvachakam.

[edit] Nayanmars

The 63 ardent devotees of Siva who lived up to the period of Sundaramoorthy are called collectively by the name Nayanmar. How each worshipped Siva and how she or he was led to salvation are described in a book called Peria Puranam written (in Tamil) by Sekkizhar of the 12th century A.D. The statues of these saints are also worshipped in siva temples.

[edit] Vaishnavism

The worship of Vishnu had been in Tamilnadu since time immemorial. But it became a separate sect and dissociated itself from Shaivism only after the latter was born by the union of Vedic practices and the old Mahayogi worship of Tamilnadu between the 3rd and 10th centuries. Probably it rose as a revolt to the defiling of the Vedas by the architects of Shaivism. There had been many conflicts between these two and still the cold war continues, though not so intensely.

[edit] Mahayogi worship

The seals of the Indus Valley Civilisation show a male in yogic posture. The hood on his head has two horns. One seal shows him surrounded by animals. These features must have been purposely intended to differentiate their god from ordinary man. The modern day Shaivism has a somewhat similar figure, called Dakshinamurthy, and it is one of the forms of Siva. One of his legs is touching the ground and the other is folded like the Mahayogi. Instead of the animals, he is surrounded by sages. This figure could have been evolved from the Indus valley figure. Though the Mahayogi's background is not depicted in the seals, in the Sangam age, he was described as sitting under a banyan tree and his name was the god sitting under the banyan tree. In Ammaiyar's time—that is the 3rd century A.D—the same god is conceived to be dancing in a banyan grove near the cremation ground. That the left leg of both Dakshinamurthy and the dancing god does not touch the ground is to be noted. Considering the similarity of the banyan tree also, it can be safely assumed that the same Dakshinamurthy became the dancer.

[edit] Vedic influence-phase I

Of the numerous gods adored by the Vedas, Rudra is one. The hymn dedicated to him is called Rudram. In the beginning of the hymn, Rudra is identified with the sun. As it proceeds, every person or thing is considered a form of Rudra. From the leader of the armies down to the thief, every one is considered Rudra and is saluted. Rudram ends with a salutation to Yama, the god of death, thus making no distinction between Rudra and Yama. Perhaps due to the influence of this, the Dancing God of Tamilnadu was portrayed as having the cremation ground as his abode. Like Rudra, He was also depicted as having a third eye in the middle of his forehead.

In Ammaiyar's hymns, the Dancing God was called by various names each representing a particular attribute of his. But He was not called Siva. The Sangam literature does not either use the name Siva.

[edit] Vedic influence-phase II

[edit] Ascendency of Rudra over Yama

Thirukkadaiyur is one of the holy places of Shaivism today. There is a legend woven around this place. Yama tried to snatch the life of a devotee of Siva, who protected the devotee and destroyed Yama. It is possible that there was a conflict between the worship of Yama and the newly emerging brahminised form of the Lord and the latter sect won. Interestingly, the temple has an appelation as Mayanam which means a crematorium.

[edit] Nataraja worship

Now another place came into prominence. This was Thillai or modern Chidambaram. Here the bronze image of the dancing Lord was placed under a roof and called Nataraja, the King of dancers. Stone sculpting got a fillip only during the rule of the Great Pallavas in the 7th century and it spread to other regions of Tamilnadu only after that. Moreover the Chola region had no rocks or mountains and it was only later that powerful Chola kings brought stones from far-off places. Hence they had to use only bronze images. Even today, Chidambaram continues to be the holiest place for Nataraja worship, and the temple is closely held by a group of brahmins known as Deekshitars. They maintain their ethnic purity till date and Nataraja is considered their exclusive property. They have a peculiar way of wearing their tufts. They belong to a group called Cholia among brahmins—the tuft of the Cholia brahmins has become proverbial. Cholia means belonging to Chola country and they were the aborigines of the land as distinguished from the other brahmin groups. These Deekshitars caused a very big change in Shaivism by shifting the abode of the Lord from the cremation ground. Hindus traditionally consider the burial and cremation ground as an unclean place and now the god has been shifted away from there, the ferociousness attached to him softened. His looks were pleasing and the religion became refined. They used Vedic hymns for the worship of Nataraja and like the Lingam of the Koils, this bronze image was also given all honours like bathing, flower decoration, showing various kinds of lamps and offering of food. Nataraja worship was not mentioned in the Vedas, and as if to accommodate the Vedic concept of god, they set apart a room for the formless worship of the god. Now it is known as Chidambara Rahasyam—the secret of Chidambaram and a vacant place is shown as God. Here also, they had to contend with the worshippers of Kali, the aborginal female goddess with frightening features. The legend of Chidambaram that Kali was defeated in a dance competition with Nataraja and was exiled could mean the victory of Nataraja worship over that of Kali.

[edit] Vedic influence-phase III

Waves of brahmin migration into Tamilnadu took place after the time of Ammaiyar. The first group was called Vadama which means, in Tamil, the people from the north. Perhaps they came from Maharashtra. Three evidences could be cited. They wear the holy ash on their foreheads which is a custom peculiar to Maharashtra. In their daily prayers, they pray to the river Narmada, a river of Maharashtra. The prevalence of the worship of Ganapathi in Maharashtra and Tamilnadu prominently may suggest that these brahmins brought this custom also with them to Tamilnadu. Subsequently, more groups of brahmins came from the north. Perhaps to distinguish themselves from the newer settlers, the Vadamas gave them names in Sanskrit such as Brihacharanam (the big footed. It is also held that this is a corruption of Brihad Janaan, thoe one whose origin is spread all over the world.), Vathima (a corruption of 'Madhyaman', person from the middle (of India?); also cosidered a corrupt form of Upadhyaya meaning a teacher ), Ashta Sahasram (the eight thousand that came at the time of Rajendra Chola), Swarna Kesiya (the golden haired). While the other groups were settled in 18 villages each, the first settlers, the Vadamas, spread throughout Tamilnadu and were more numerous than all the other groups put together. They might have come on the invitation of Chola Kings who were known for their patronage to Vedic religion. Other accounts hold them the last of the migrants, citing evidence that most of the families trace their ancestries to groups that arrived in the late 1600s and early 1700s.

[edit] The Sacred Ash

Sacred ash came to be used as a sign of the renovated religion. It was not difficult for the Tamil people to accept this custom, since already they had conceived the Lord as smearing the ash of the cremation ground on his body while dancing. But the ash used in the temple was not the ash of the cremation ground but that of the burnt cow dung. Known as Vibhoothi, in Sanskrit, it is made by burning dried cow dung. It is showered on lingam and, especially, Murugan as a form of honour. It is collected again and distributed to the devotees, who wear it on their foreheads with reverence. There are elaborate rules for making sacred ash.

[edit] Counter reformation

Far reaching changes in religion meet with stiff resistance everywhere. There should have been among the Cholias such people who opposed the installation of the image of the Lord of the burning ghat (the worship of which was not sanctioned in the Vedas) in a temple and the use of Vedic hymns for its worship. They retaliated by installing an image of Vishnu close by. They did not accept the spread of Nataraja cult, the brahminisation of the Koils and the non-Vedic worship of the Lingam. Of course, the Veda censures the phallic worship. They wanted to maintain the purity of the Vedic religion, and they became the Vaishnavas. They would not accept the custom of wearing the sacred ash. Some of the settlers from the north also joined them. Though these two groups were united in maintaining the purity of Vedic practices, their cultural backgrounds differed due to geographical reasons and they chose to remain independent of each other. Thus Vaishanvas were divided into Thenkalai (the Southern sect) and Vadakalai (the Northern sect). Nowhere else in India can we see the conflict of Shaivism and Vaishnavism.

[edit] Consolidation

When Sankara began the great revival of Hinduism in the 8th century, he could not ignore the ground realities and accepted all the prevailing religious practices of the brahmins as Vedic. Thus was born his six-fold categorisation of Hinduism. They are: (1) Shaivam ( the worship of Siva), (2) Vaishnavam ( the worship of Vishnu), (3) Saktham (the worship of Sakthi), (4) Ganapathyam (the worship of Ganapathi), (5) Koumaram ( the worship of Murugan), and (6) Souram (the worship of the sun).

[edit] Present day Shaivism

The Vaishnavas would not accept Sankara's recognition of Shaivam as a Vedic sect and they continued to remain secluded from the mainstream. There had been many conflicts between the two sects in the past. Even today the cold war between the two prominent sects of Tamilnadu continues to some extent.