Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism, also called Vishnuism, is one of the major Hindu religious traditions, that considers Vishnu as the supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, that is, Mahavishnu. It is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. Its followers are called Vaishnavites or Vaishnavas, and it includes sub-sects like Krishnaism and Ramaism, which consider Krishna and Rama as the supreme beings respectively.
The ancient emergence of Vaishnavism is unclear, and broadly hypothesised as a fusion of various regional non-Vedic religions with worship of Vishnu. Those popular non-Vedic theistic traditions, particularly the Bhagavata cults of Vāsudeva-Krishna and Gopala-Krishna, as well as Narayana, developed in the 7th to 4th century BCE, and were identified with the Vedic God Vishnu in the early centuries CE, and finalised as Vaishnavism, when it developed the avatar doctrine, wherein the various non-Vedic deities are revered as distinct incarnations of the supreme God Vishnu. Narayana, Hari, Rama, Krishna, Kalki, Perumal, Shrinathji, Vithoba, Venkateswara, Guruvayurappan, Ranganatha, Jagannath, Badrinath and Muktinath are revered as forms or avatars of Vishnu, all seen as different aspects of the same supreme being.
The Vaishnavite tradition is known for the loving devotion to an avatar of Vishnu, and as such was key to the spread of the Bhakti movement in the Indian subcontinent in the 2nd millennium CE. It has four Vedanta—schools of numerous denominations : the medieval-era Vishishtadvaita school of Ramanuja, the Dvaita school of Madhvacharya, the Dvaitadvaita school of Nimbarkacharya, and the Shuddhadvaita of Vallabhacharya. There are also several other Vishnu-traditions. Ramananda created a Rama-oriented movement, now the largest monastic group in Asia.
Key texts in Vaishnavism include the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Pancharatra texts, Naalayira Divya Prabhandham, and the Bhagavata Purana.
According to a 2020 estimate by The World Religion Database, hosted at Boston University's Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, Vaishnavism is the largest Hindu sect, constituting about 399 million Hindus.
History
Origins
Northern India
The ancient emergence of Vaishnavism is unclear, with evidence inconsistent and scanty. In the Rg Veda Vishnu is "a benevolent, solar deity," who is mentioned in just a few hymns, and rose to prominence mid-first century BCE. Syncretism of various local traditions and deities with Vishnu resulted in Vaishnavism.According to Dandekar, what is understood today as Vaishnavism did not originate in Vedism, but emerged from the merger of several popular theistic traditions after the decline of Brahmanism at the end of the Vedic period, shortly before the second urbanisation of northern India, in the 7th to 4th century BCE.
According to Dandekar, Vaishnavism initially formed as Vasudevism around Vāsudeva, a deified leader of the Vrishnis, and one of the Vrishni heroes. Later, Vāsudeva was amalgamated with Krishna "the deified tribal hero and religious leader of the Yadavas", to form the merged deity Bhagavan Vāsudeva-Krishna, due to the close relation between the tribes of the Vrishnis and the Yadavas. This was followed by a merger with the cult of Gopala-Krishna of the cowherd community of the Abhıras in the 4th century CE. The character of Gopala Krishna is often considered to be non-Vedic. According to Dandekar, such mergers positioned Krishnaism between the heterodox sramana movement and the orthodox Vedic religion. The "Greater Krsnaism", states Dandekar, then adopted the Rigvedic Vishnu as Supreme deity to appeal to orthodox elements.
According to Klostermaier, Vaishnavism originates in the last centuries BCE and the early centuries CE, with the cult of the heroic Vāsudeva, a leading member of the Vrishni heroes, which was then later amalgamated with Krishna, hero of the Yadavas, and still several centuries later with the "divine child" Bala Krishna of the Gopala traditions. According to Klostermaier, "In some books Krishna is presented as the founder and first teacher of the Bhagavata religion." According to Dalal, "The term Bhagavata seems to have developed from the concept of the Vedic deity Bhaga, and initially it seems to have been a monotheistic sect, independent of the Brahmanical pantheon."
The development of the Krishna-traditions was followed by a syncretism of these non-Vedic traditions with the Mahabharata canon, thus affiliating itself with Vedism in order to become acceptable to the orthodox establishment. The Vishnu of the Rig Veda was assimilated into non-Vedic Krishnaism and became the equivalent of the Supreme God. The appearance of Krishna as one of the Avatars of Vishnu dates to the period of the Sanskrit epics in the early centuries CE. The Bhagavad Gita—initially, a Krishnaite scripture, according to Friedhelm Hardy—was incorporated into the Mahabharata as a key text of Krishnaism.
Finally, the Narayana worshippers were also included, which further brahmanized Vaishnavism. The Nara-Narayana worshippers may have originated in Badari, a northern ridge of the Hindu Kush, and was absorbed into the Vedic orthodoxy as Purusa Narayana. Purusa Narayana may have later been turned into Arjuna and Krsna.
In the late Vedic texts, the concept of a metaphysical Brahman grew in prominence. The Vaishnavism tradition considered Vishnu to be identical to Brahman, just like Shaivism and Shaktism consider Shiva and Devi to be Brahman respectively.
This complex history is reflected in the two main early denominations of Vishnavism: the Bhagavats, worshipping Vāsudeva-Krishna and follow Brahmanic Vaishnavism, and the Pacaratrins, who regarded Narayana as their founder and follow the Tantric Vaishnavism.
Southern India
states that the Vaishnava Alvars lived in the first half of the 12th century with their works flourishing about the time of the revival of Brahminism and Hinduism in the north and speculates that Vaishnavism might have spread to the south as early as the first century CE. Secular literature also ascribes the tradition in the south to the 3rd century CE. U. V. Swaminatha Iyer, a scholar of Tamil literature, published the Paripatal, which contains seven poems in praise of Vishnu, including references to Krishna and Balarama. Aiyangar notes an invasion of the south by the Mauryas in some of the older poems of the Sangam, suggesting that opposition to northern conquest may have an element of religion, with orthodox Brahmanism resisting the spread of Buddhism under Ashoka. Tamil literature of this period also records the settlement of Brahman colonies in the south, and exhibit considerable Brahmanical influence.The Pallava dynasty of Tamilakam patronised Vaishnavism. Mahendra Varman built shrines both of Vishnu and Shiva, several of his cave-temples exhibiting shrines to Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. In the age of the Pallava domination, which followed immediately, both Vaishnavism and Shaivism flourished, fighting the insurgent Buddhists and Jains. The Pallavas were also the first of various dynasties that offered land and wealth to the Venkatesvara temple at Tirumala, which would soon become the most revered religious site of South India. The Sri Vaishnava acharya Ramanuja is credited with the conversion of the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana from Jainism to Vaishnavism, consolidating the faith in Karnataka. The Chalukyas and their rivals of the Pallavas appear to have employed Vaishnavism as an assertion of divine kingship, one of them proclaiming themselves as terrestrial emanations of Vishnu while the other promptly adopted Shaivism as their favoured tradition, neither of them offering much importance to the other's deity. The Sri Vaishnava sampradaya of Ramanuja would hold sway in the south, the Vadakalai denomination subscribing to Vedanta philosophy and the Tenkalai adhering to regional liturgies known as Prabandham.
According to Hardy, there is evidence of early "southern Krishnaism", despite the tendency to allocate the Krishna-traditions to the Northern traditions. South Indian texts, including the Manimekalai and the Cilappatikaram, show close parallel with the Sanskrit traditions of Krishna and his gopi companions, later widespread in North Indian text and imagery. Hardy argues that the Sanskrit Bhagavata Purana is essentially a Sanskrit "translation" of the bhakti of the Tamil alvars.
Devotion to the southern Indian Mal may be an early form of Krishnaism, since Mal appears as a divine figure, largely like Krishna with some elements of Vishnu. The Alvars, whose name can be translated "immersed", were devotees of Perumal. They codified the Vaishnava canon of the south with their most significant liturgy, the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, traced to the 10th century as a compilation by Nathamuni. Their poems show a pronounced orientation to the Vaishnava, and often Krishna, side of Mal. But they do not make the distinction between Krishna and Vishnu on the basis of the concept of the avatars. Yet, according to Hardy, the term "Mayonism" should be used instead of "Krishnaism" when referring to Mal or Mayon. The early Alvars glorified Vishnu bhakti, but also expressed sympathy for Shiva bhakti, sometimes even describing Shiva and Vishnu as one, although they do recognise their united form as Vishnu.