Shaivism

Shaivism (/ˈʃaɪvɪzəm/; Sanskrit: शैवसंप्रदायः, romanized: Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the supreme being. It is the second-largest Hindu sect, after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million Hindus, found widely across South Asia predominantly in India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The followers of Shaivism are called Shaivas or Shaivites.

According to Chakravarti, Shaivism developed as an amalgam of pre-Aryan religions and traditions, Vedic Rudra, and post-Vedic traditions, accommodating local traditions and Yoga, puja and bhakti. According to Bisschop, early shaivism is rooted in the worship of vedic deity Rudra. The earliest evidence for sectarian Rudra-Shiva worship appears with the Pasupata (early CE), possibly owing to the Hindu synthesis, when many local traditions were aligned with the Vedic-Brahmanical fold. The Pāśupata movement rapidly expanded throughout North India, giving rise to different forms of Shaivism, which led to the emergence of various tantric traditions. Both devotional and monistic Shaivism became popular in the 1st millennium CE, rapidly becoming the dominant religious tradition of many Hindu kingdoms. It arrived in Southeast Asia shortly thereafter, leading to the construction of thousands of Shaiva temples on the islands of Indonesia as well as Cambodia and Vietnam, co-evolving with Buddhism in these regions.

Shaivism encompasses a wide range of sub-traditions, from devotional dualistic theism such as Shaiva Siddhanta, to yoga-oriented monistic non-theism, such as Kashmiri Shaivism. Shaivite theology ranges from Shiva being the creator, preserver, and destroyer to being the same as the Atman (Self) within oneself and every living being. It is closely related to Shaktism, and some Shaivas worship in both Shiva and Shakti temples. It is the Hindu tradition that most accepts ascetic life and emphasizes yoga, and encourages one to discover and be one with Shiva within.

It has a vast literature, considering both the Vedas and the Agama texts as important sources of theology.

Shiva (śiva, Sanskrit: शिव) literally means kind, friendly, gracious, or auspicious. As a proper name, it means "The Auspicious One".

The word Shiva is used as an adjective in the Rig Veda, as an epithet for several Rigvedic deities, including Rudra. The term Shiva also connotes "liberation, final emancipation" and "the auspicious one", this adjective sense of usage is addressed to many deities in Vedic layers of literature. The term evolved from the Vedic Rudra-Shiva to the noun Shiva in the Epics and the Puranas, as an auspicious deity who is the "creator, reproducer and dissolver".

The Sanskrit word śaiva or shaiva means "relating to the god Shiva", while the related beliefs, practices, history, literature and sub-traditions constitute Shaivism.

The origins of Shaivism are unclear and a matter of debate among scholars. According to Chakravarti, it is an amalgam of pre-Vedic cults and traditions and Vedic culture. Gavin flood associates it with the Brahmanization of local traditions. According to Bisschop, early shaivism is rooted in the worship of vedic deity Rudra.