Hinduism

Vaishnavism

FOUNDED: c. 500 B.C.E.

REL IG ION AS A PERCENTAGE OF

WORLD POPULATION: 9.5 percent

OVERVIEW Vaishnavism is the name given to the faithand practices of those Hindus who hold Vishnu (“theall pervasive one”) and the goddess Lakshmi as supremedeities. The Sanskrit term Vaishnava means “followerof Vishnu.”

Devotion to Vishnu seen in the Vedas and laterSanskrit literature, amalgamated with the worship ofmany local deities and texts, eventually gave rise to theVaishnava faith. Vaishnavas also worship Vishnu’smany incarnations, especially his appearances as Ramaand as Krishna, as well as his manifestations in iconicform in several temples. These manifestations in templesare considered to be actual incarnations of Vishnu ina worshipable form. In addition, many Vaishnavas alsorevere various poet-saints and theologians whom theyconsider to be paradigmatic devotees. There are severaltraditions of Vaishnava theologies, but a Vaishnavadoes not have to be affiliated with any one of them. Itis thus difficult to determine the exact number of Hin-dus who practice Vaishnavism.

HISTORY While the deity Vishnu appears in the Vedas,the earliest Sanskrit sacred compositions in India (c.1500 B.C.E. ), it is believed he became a mighty and su-preme deity a millennium later. The distinctive charac-teristics of Vaishnava faith, which upholds Vishnu as

the supreme being who alone can grant salvation, seemto have gathered force with the compositions of theepics Ramayana and the Mahabharata around 500 B.C.E.and particularly with the Bhagavad Gita, a section of theMahabharata that may have been composed around thesecond century B.C.E.

Vishnu also became identified with the deitiesNarayana and Vasudeva sometime in the first millenni-um B.C.E. Narayana is a supreme deity eulogized in sev-eral texts, including the Mahabharata, as well as in booksassociated with goddess traditions that are called agamas.Archaeological evidence from the second century B.C.E.suggests that Vasudeva was worshiped in both north-western as well as central India.

The deity Mal in the Tamil-speaking lands ofSouth India was also first venerated in the early centu-ries of the Common Era. He is identified with Vishnu,and some of the stories connected with Mal, such as thechurning of the mythical ocean of milk, are attributedto him. In this story divine beings (devas) and demonicbeings (asuras) churn the ocean of milk for the elixir ofimmortality. When the enterprise seems to fail, Mal-Vishnu incarnates himself in several forms, includingthat of a tortoise, to help them.

During the reign of the Gupta dynasty (c. fourth–fifth centuries C.E.) in the north and the Chalukyasdynasty in the Deccan Plateau of south central India(after the sixth century C.E.), royal patronage and in-creased temple building gave rise to the devotional fer-vor of Vaishnava devotees. It was about this time, thefirst half of the first millennium C.E., that the major Pu-

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ranas, texts that praise the deities in the Hindu tradition,were compiled in their present forms.

Perhaps the greatest stimulus to the Vaishnava tra-dition came through the composition of vernacularhymns, which first appeared in the seventh century C.E.Tamil-speaking devotees from the south of India com-posed these songs in praise of Vishnu-Narayana, espe-cially in the form in which he was enshrined in the manytemples of southern India. It is believed that these devo-tees made pilgrimages, visiting sacred sites in variousparts of India. Twelve poet-saints (men and women dis-tinguished by their devotion to Vishnu) came to becalled Alvars, or those immersed deeply in the love ofGod. It was the first time that devotional poetry wascomposed in a local, but classical, language, and by thetenth and eleventh centuries the Vaishnava communitythat revered these poems, known as Sri Vaishnavas,came to regard them as equivalent to the Sanskrit Vedas.

Devotion to Vishnu and Vaishnava traditions canbe found in almost every part of India. Vaishnava textsand practices, however, have not been confined to India.By the fifth century C.E. devotees worshiped Vishnu inCambodia, and Vishnu temples flourished in that coun-try. Icons of Vishnu are found all the way from Thai-land to Japan, where some of his manifestations are sub-sumed in Buddhist lore.

The popularity of Vaishnavism can be attributedto many factors. Sanskrit texts were known all overIndia, from possibly as early as several centuries beforethe Common Era, and formed a common substratumfor the Vaishnavas; however, it was the local vernaculartexts of passionate devotion that led to the rapid spreadand sustenance of the many Vaishnava traditions. Philo-sophical texts by the major theologians gave it ortho-doxy; hagiographical texts entertained and educated themasses. Many of the texts were told and retold in locallanguages, and some were expressed through performingarts. The songs of the Alvars, for instance, were sungand acted out in temples. In later centuries religiousleader Chaitanya (1485–1533) took his emotional wor-ship of Lord Krishna and devotional singing to thestreets, a practice that was adopted by the members ofInternational Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISK-CON), or the Hare Krishna movement, in the twentiethcentury. The emphasis on devotion also led to the soft-ening of gender roles and the roles incumbent upon oneby way of caste; people from all castes of society couldbe considered to be Vaishnava.

CENTRAL DOCTRINES Like almost all other practi-tioners of schools of Hindu thought and practice,Vaishnavas believe in the immortality of the soul anda supreme being. They also take for granted that thesoul is caught in a cycle of life and death. Unlike otherforms of Hinduism, however, Vaishnavas believe thatit is devotion to Vishnu that will save them from endlessrebirth. In practice this monotheism is rather elastic.Worship also includes devotion to the Goddess Sri, orLakshmi, the many incarnations of Vishnu, his manifes-tations in local temples in southern India, his emana-tions in a theological framework called vyuha, the para-digmatic celestial devotees Hanuman and Garuda, andthe Alvars, the exalted human devotees. Many of thesecelestial and mortal beings are seen in icons that havebeen consecrated in temples and are part of the ritualuniverse of the Vaishnavas.

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The theology of the various schools of Vaishnavismis significantly different from each other. While all theschools have distinctive features that describe the rela-tionship between the human being, the created universe,and the supreme being, all believe that it is devotion toVishnu and Lakshmi as well as Vishnu’s salvific gracethat will grant liberation from the cycle of life and deathfor the human devotee.

In all Vaishnava contexts the object of devotion isVishnu, who is also known as Narayana. In the Rigveda,Vishnu-Narayana is seen as having paced the universein giant strides. The two epics Ramayana and the Mahab-harata portray Rama and Krishna, who ultimately areconsidered the most important incarnations of Vishnu.Eventually various stories about Vishnu, Narayana, andVasudeva come together into a cohesive theory of thedescent (avatarana) of the supreme being to earth in oneof many incarnations. While the early Puranas com-posed in the beginning of the Common Era speak ofas many as 24 incarnations, a later version includes 10incarnations.

The Bhagavad Gita, a section of the epic Mahab-harata, and one of the most important texts in Hindu lit-erature, gives a clear reason for Vishnu’s multiple incar-nations. Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, says in thistext that whenever dharma (righteousness) falters onearth, Vishnu comes down to destroy evil and protectthe good people.

While Vishnu’s many incarnations, especially thoseof Rama and Krishna, serve as the focal point of devo-tion, some Vaishnava texts known as the Pancharatraagama, which is held as authoritative by the Sri Vaishna-va community, describe various emanations of Vishnu.In the Pancharatra agama, as well as other Puranas, Vishnuis portrayed lying down in an ocean, and a fourfoldmanifestation called vyuha appears from him to take careof various cosmogonic functions, such as the creationand destruction of the universe. The Sri Vaishnava com-munity believes that Vishnu has five forms, all of whichexist simultaneously and completely. Vishnu abides inheaven, or Vaikuntha; he appears on the ocean of milk,the locus from which the emanations as the vyuha origi-nate to perform the cosmogonic functions; he descendsto earth periodically as the avatara, or incarnation, as-suming a form appropriate for the purpose and for thetime; he resides in a ritually consecrated icon in a tem-ple; and, finally, he is all pervasive and abides in everysoul. Some Vaishnava communities also believe thatVishnu incarnates himself in temples in a form that can

be worshiped so as to be accessible to human beings.This iconic form in a temple is held, therefore, to bean actual manifestation of Vishnu, not just a symbol ora focal point of concentration as some other Hindusmay believe.

Vaishnavas also venerate Lakshmi, who is consid-ered to be inseparable from Vishnu. She has her ownshrine in many South Indian temples. In icons she isportrayed as abiding on a lotus, a symbol of auspicious-ness, and also as residing on Vishnu’s chest, as an articu-lation of divine grace.

Devotion (bhakti) to Krishna and Vishnu is thedistinguishing characteristic of Vaishnavism. In somediscussions several kinds of devotion are highlighted:One may pray to Vishnu with the attitude of a servant,a parent, a lover, or a friend. While all forms of devotionare considered valid in the Sri Vaishnava tradition,Chaitanya’s school privileges devotion that is coloredwith the passion of romantic or sometimes erotic love.The love of Radha—the consort, or in some Vaishnavatraditions the girlfriend, of Krishna—becomes paradig-matic of the love that should be obtained between thedevotee and the supreme being. In these theologies therole of the cowherd girl Radha is ambiguous; some dev-otees think of her as the ideal devotee, and others as agoddess-consort of Krishna.

MORAL CODE OF CONDUCT Most Vaishnava schoolsaccept the epics and the dharmasastras (texts of dharmaor righteousness) as important sources of moral con-duct, but like most Hindus, Vaishnavas would not befamiliar with the content of these texts. The main teach-ings of the Bhagavad Gita would be known in someform to most devotees. For example, adherents hold de-votion to Krishna paramount, and all action should bedone in the name of Krishna/Vishnu-Narayana. TheBhagavad Gita enjoins devotees to act in a detachedmanner without being focused on the results of one’sactions. The moral code incumbent upon men andwomen, which varies from region to region, is also ap-plicable to Vaishnavas. As in other devotional move-ments, however, devotion trumps all textual and prac-ticed notions of dharma. Devotion to Vishnu and thequest for liberation wins over the codes for conduct ineveryday life.

Virtues associated with the Vaishnava faith, andspoken of in the texts of dharma known as samanya dhar-ma, or the code of conduct applicable to all human be-

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ings, include compassion, purity, humility, and the no-tion of ahimsa, or nonviolence.

Attitudes toward caste issues have evolved andthose issues continue to be reinvented within the devo-tional Vaishnava contexts. By the eleventh century C.E.,when the poetry of the Alvars was anthologized, it wasclear that some of the paradigmatic devotees were, infact, of the so-called lower castes and in some cases evenan outcaste. While some Hindu texts have spoken ofcaste as a matter of individual potential and behavior,the practice over the millennia has overwhelmingly beento think of it as fixed by birth into a particular familyand community. In the late twentieth century C.E. Bhak-tivedanta (also known as Swami) Prabhupada (1886–1977), the founder of ISKCON, addressed the issue ofcaste. Prabhupada spoke about a simpler version of casteto the new Euro-American Vaishnava devotees he hadconverted. Instead of the complex caste system, Prabhu-pada described a fourfold division originally mentionedin the Vedas, but the idea was not followed in its entire-ty. A few male members of the ISKCON movementwear a sacred thread, an emblem of the upper castes inIndia. No specific caste name is given to most devotees.

SACRED BOOKS Almost every Vaishnava school has itsown set of books that it considers canonical; however,almost all Vaishnava traditions hold sacred the Vedas(as in many other Hindu communities), the two epicsof Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and the Vaishnava Pu-ranas. Among the Puranas, the Vishnu Purana and in latertraditions the Bhagavata Purana are considered to be sig-nificant. In addition to these texts, every Vaishnava tra-dition has several genres of works both in Sanskrit andin the local vernacular. The vernacular languages, inmany cases, are also classical languages. There are philo-sophical treatises written by the major theologians; thereare devotional panegyrics; there is hagiographical litera-ture; and there are texts and narratives transmittedthrough song and dance.

SACRED SYMBOLS Vishnu is said to hold severalweapons in his hands to destroy evil, and among thesethe conch and the discus are considered to be most im-portant. The conch is blown before a battle; the discusis hurled to slice and destroy anything evil. Many Vaish-navas etch these sacred symbols on wedding necklaces.These marks are also used during initiation into somecommunities. In the Sri Vaishnava community, for in-stance, the spiritual teacher brands these marks on the

shoulders or upper arms of the devotee who seeks initia-tion.

Perhaps the most ubiquitous body marking in Indiais that worn by men and women on their foreheads, amark that is both secular and sectarian. Many of themarks, especially those worn for ritual occasions, indi-cate the sectarian community to which a Hindu may be-long. Many Vaishnavas are known by U- or Y-shapedforehead marks. These marks, made with white clayfrom a sacred place, usually symbolize the foot of Vish-nu. The red line or red dot in the middle indicates theinseparability of the Goddess Sri from Vishnu. In someVaishnava communities the forehead marks may indi-cate Rama, his wife Sita, and his brother Lakshmana;in others the marks represent the reality of a supremebeing who is without qualities and simultaneously hasall good attributes.

EARLY AND MODERN LEADERS There have beenmany important Vaishnava leaders and teachers, as wellas leaders who happen to be Vaishnavas. Many musicalcomposers are particularly well known and admired inIndia. The compositions of the late fifteenth-centurycomposers Annamacharya and Purandara dasa are stillsung by exponents of Carnatic music in South India.Perhaps the best-known Vaishnava musician is Tyagara-ja (1767–1847), whose compositions to Rama are hon-ored every year in India and in the diaspora with the an-nual Tyagaraja Festival. Mohandas Karamchand(Mahatma) Gandhi (1869–1948) was born into aVaishnava family. Vaishnava texts, such as the BhagavadGita, and Vaishnava codes of conduct, such as the em-phasis on nonviolence, were significant in his life.

MAJOR THEOLOGIANS AND AUTHORS Ramanuja (c.1017–1137) is probably one of the best-known expo-nents of the Vaishnava tradition. He expressed his phi-losophy of qualified nondualism in his commentariesand texts, especially the Sri Bhashya and the Gitab-hashya. Madhvacarya (1296–1386), a major theologianin the Kannada-speaking area of southern India,preached a philosophy called dualism, or dvaita, in whichthe soul is seen as distinct from the supreme deity Vish-nu.

Madhva’s followers have a philosophically and so-cially distinct form of Vaishnava tradition. While theSri Vaishnava and Madhva schools of philosophicalVaishnavism flourished in southern India, the followersof Vallabhacharya (b. 1479) and Chaitanya (1485–

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Vaishnava Theology

Although there are great differences betweenvarious schools of Vaishnavism, all reject the philos-ophy of pure nondualism taught by Shankara(700?–750), the Indian theologian and exponent ofthe Advaita Vedanta school. Shankara had taughtthat the ultimate reality is Brahman, the ineffablesupreme being, and in the highest stage of realiza-tion there is no difference between the individualsoul and the supreme being. While many Vaishnavaschools subscribe to forms of nondualism (with theexception of Madhva), they do not think of the soulas Isvara, or the supreme being. The philosophy ofRamanuja (c.1017–1137), known as Visistadvaita(qualified nondualism), is considered by many as an“anchor” Vaishnava movement. According toRamanuja, the supreme being, Brahman or Vishnu,is understood to be the soul of the entire universe.The entire universe, including all sentient andinsentient matter, form the body of Vishnu. In theo-ry, if not in actual practice, most Vaishnava schoolsaccept the significance of this school; theSwaminarayan school of Vaishnavism, for instance,calls itself Navya Visistadvaita, or “Neoqualifiednondualism.”

1533) were primarily from the northern and northeast-ern parts of India. These theologians significantly in-creased the number of Vaishnava devotees through thedevotional schools of philosophy and practice that theyespoused. Chaitanya and his followers, who eventuallycame to be called Gaudiya Vaishnavas or Vaishnavasfrom the land of Bengal, conceptualized the supreme re-ality as Krishna, which is distinct from the belief ofmany other Hindus who think of Krishna as one of themany incarnations of Vishnu. Several traditions alsocame to think of Rama as the supreme being, and overthe centuries those who think of Rama or Krishna asthe primordial deity have come to be called Vaishnava.Ghanshyam (better known as Swaminarayan; b. 1781)established one of the most influential schools of Vaish-navism in the western state of Gujarat. The Swami-narayan movement is a socially engaged form of Vaish-navism with several forms of outreach activities. No listof Vaishnava theologians would be complete withoutthe profound influence of Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada,the founder of ISKCON, better known as the HareKrishna movement. It was largely through his teachingand practices that Vaishnavism came to be adopted bya number of Euro-Americans.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE The many Vaishnavatraditions have distinctive organizational structures. Itis important, however, to recognize that one can be aVaishnava without ever belonging to an institution orto a philosophical tradition. Many of the Vaishnavasingers and poets were not affiliated with specificschools of thought.

Although most Vaishnavas are lay people, leader-ship is frequently held by a small number of sannyasins,or renunciants. In the Swaminarayan, Sri Vaishnava, andPushti marg (Vallabha) communities, some of the initi-ating teachers (acharyas) are householders who have de-scended from those men appointed by the originalfounding teacher of each sect.

HOUSES OF WORSHIP AND HOLY PLACES Indiaabounds with sacred places connected with the Vaishna-va faith. Pilgrimage traditions have been religiously, so-cially, culturally, and economically significant in the lasttwo millennia. Of the thousands of such places, a fewcities and towns are strikingly important. While manyof the northern Indian traditions consider places con-nected with Krishna—such as Govardhana, Gokula, andMathura—as the most significant, southern Indian Sri

Vaishnavas may deem the many temple towns such asSrirangam and Tirumala-Tirupati as the most impor-tant sites. People from the state of Kerala consider theKrishna Temple at Guruvayur to be the most significantpilgrimage site. Vaishnava devotees from Maharashtramake annual pilgrimages to see Vithoba in Pandaripur.Puri, on the east coast of India, in the state of Orissa,has been one of the most important pilgrimage centersfor at least the last millennium. The tenth-century Pra-sat Kravan Temple and the twelfth-century AngkorWat Temple, both near Siem Reap in northwesternCambodia, were built through the patronage of nobleand royal Cambodian families. Angkor Wat is one ofthe biggest Vishnu temples in the world, and it has thelargest bas-relief ever completed on any work of archi-tecture.

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The iconic manifestation of Vishnu in all thesetemples is considered by most Vaishnavas to be a revela-tion in action. Devotees think of the enshrined icon asa continuous revelation of the supreme being, not as anidol made of material substance. Vaishnavas considerthis icon to be God—on earth as He is in heaven.

While the temple is extremely holy and significantin Vaishnava faith, the home and the human body arealso considered to be sacred. Icons and pictures of Vish-nu are kept in home altars, and daily worship at suchhousehold altars signifies that the deity is treated as anhonored guest. He is woken up, bathed, offered food,and made to sleep at night. One can be a good Vaishna-va without ever having to set foot outside the home.

The human body is also a container of the divine.In daily exercises, when Vaishnava symbols are anointedon different parts of one’s body, the various names ofVishnu are recited. One is therefore enjoined to keepone’s body physically and mentally pure. This deity inone’s heart is not different from or lesser than the deityin the temple or the one in heaven.

WHAT IS SACRED? Vishnu is also seen as abiding in afossil called a salagrama, which is found in lakes in theHimalayan region. The salagrama fossil is believed tohave a complete presence of Vishnu, and when the sala-grama is present at home, it is treated like a temple deity.Ordinarily only men handle a salagrama.

HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS The Vaishnava traditionsshare many holidays and festivals with other Hindus,and these vary by region and by community. Like mostother Hindus, the Vaishnavas celebrate Deepavali, theFestival of Lights, on the new moon or the day beforethat comes between 15 October and 15 November. Thefestival is celebrated for various reasons. Vaishnavas innorthern India celebrate this as the day Rama returnedfrom Lanka after defeating the demon Ravana, whereasdevotees in the south believe that on dawn that dayKrishna and his wife, Satyabhama, together defeatedNarakasura, the demon of Hell.

Southern Indian Vaishnavas, along with otherTamil-speaking people from Tamil-Nadu, celebratePongal, a festival of harvest and thanksgiving. Althoughcelebrated in mid-January, this three-day festival marksthe winter solstice in the Hindu calendar. It is called thebeginning of the uttarayana punya kala, the blessed timewhen the sun travels north. The Sri Vaishnava commu-nity also celebrates the songs of the Alvars in a festival

of recitation in the month of Margasirsa (mid-December to mid-January). The songs are recited andsung, and in some holy temples like Srirangam andSrivilliputtur, men from families who have the heredi-tary right to do so act out some of the poems.

Vaishnavas tend to celebrate the birthdays of theirspiritual teachers as well as the birthdays of Rama andKrishna. The birthdays of the deities—the astrologicaldate on which they are said to have incarnated them-selves—are days of considerable celebration with thepreparation and consumption of many sweets and dish-es.

MODE OF DRESS Vaishnava garb for men and womenvaries depending on the region. On ritual occasions insouthern India, men wear a veshti, a piece of white cottoncloth that is twirled around the legs. Also on ritual occa-sions both priests and Brahman men in southern Indiado not ordinarily wear a shirt. The sacred thread thatthey wear over their shoulders announces their caste. Atone time many men in all parts of India, especially theBrahmans, tended to shave their heads except for a tuftof hair that resembles a ponytail on the top of theirheads, but this custom is seldom followed now. Ortho-prax (“correct practice”) Brahman women belonging tothe Sri Vaishnava community wear a special, nine-yardsari on ritual occasions, especially weddings. Men andwomen in the north tend to cover themselves more fully.In general, women from the north tend to veil theirheads or drape their saris lightly over their heads inmodesty; whereas women from the south do not followthis custom. In the past only widows covered their headsin southern India.

DIETARY PRACTICES The Vaishnava calendar ismarked with days of feasting and fasting. Ekadashi, orthe eleventh day after the new moon or full moon, isordinarily a day of fasting when grain is not consumed,and a diet of fruits and dairy products is recommended.There are other days of complete fasting, such as thehours just before the birthday of Krishna or duringeclipses.

Vaishnavas are said to prescribe to the Sanskrit dic-tum “ahimsa paramo dharmah” (nonviolence is thehighest virtue) and tend to be vegetarians. SeveralVaishnava theologians have written extensively on di-etary regulations; this is, in fact, one of the most impor-tant aspects of premodern Vaishnavism. While many ifnot most of these regulations are not followed now,

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Vaishnavas had strict rules on what, when, and withwhom they ate, as well as who cooked the food. Gener-ally the food had to be cooked by a Vaishnava of thesame caste; orthoprax pilgrims still take a cook withthem on their tours to be sure their diet is not compro-mised.

RITUALS Daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, and an-nual rituals are celebrated at Vaishnava homes and tem-ples. In temples the deities are “woken” up from theirsleep with special prayers and bathed and adorned be-fore formal worship. Every temple has its own schedule.In Nathdwara, Rajasthan, for instance, Krishna is wor-shiped in the form of a baby. The understanding is thata baby needs to sleep, and, therefore, the times openedfor devotee worship (darshan, literally “viewing”) are verylimited. As in most Hindu temples, worship in Vaishna-va temples is ordinarily not congregational, though thatcan be found in a few communities. Devotees take fruitsand flowers, and the Brahman priest performs a puja(worship) on behalf of the worshiper to the enshrineddeity. While most Vaishnava priests in India are maleand belong to the Brahman caste, women in the ISK-CON tradition have an active role in the bathing andadorning of the deities.

Domestic rituals vary by caste and gender. Thereis daily worship at the home altar that may be done byany member of the family and may range from simplylighting a lamp to more elaborate rituals. Singing classi-cal and popular songs to the various manifestations ofVishnu, and reciting the 108 or 1,008 names of Vishnu,Lakshmi, or any one of their many manifestations is alsoconsidered to be meritorious.

RITES OF PASSAGE Vaishnavas, like other Hindus,follow sacraments that are common all over India, aswell as those that may be specific to their communityor their local areas. Thus, all children go through ritesof passage in which they are named and given the firstsolid food. In addition, one’s first birthday and some-times the formal starting of education are marked withrituals. Boys of the upper castes also go through the up-anayana ceremony in which they are invested with a sa-cred thread that marks a young man’s spiritual birth.

The wedding is frequently the most important sac-rament in a Vaishnava’s life. Sixtieth and eightieth birth-days are marked with religious rituals that include pro-pitiatory rites to various deities for peace in one’s life.In death the body is cremated, and the ashes immersed

in a holy river. Local or community Vaishnava rites ofpassage may include celebrations to mark menarche andprenatal rituals for pregnant mothers.

MEMBERSHIP One may be born into a Vaishnava fam-ily or become a Vaishnava by choice. Most frequentlythe person who becomes a Vaishnava does so by simplyaccepting Vishnu as the supreme being and perhaps byfollowing some of the dietary and ritual practices. Onthe other hand, those who formally want to becomeVaishnavas may get initiated into a particular Vaishnavatradition by one of the many spiritual teachers. The ini-tiation ceremony may involve the giving of a mantra, aname that now articulates the devotee’s new status, andperhaps the marking of the upper arms with the signsof Vishnu—the conch and the discus.

Hundreds of websites cater to the Vaishnava sub-groups, creating transnational communities. Whilesome communities have had periods of active proselytiz-ing, in general, Vaishnava traditions do not focus onnew recruitment; rather, the websites as well as the indi-vidual teachers try to get the existing Vaishnavas to bebetter devotees.

RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE While there is no persecutionagainst Vaishnavas today, there have been occasionalhistorical cases of struggle between Vaishnavas, Shai-vites, and Jains in southern India. In general, a sense ofreligious pluralism among Hindus has prevailed in mostcommunities in India and elsewhere at most times.

SOCIAL JUSTICE Many of the Vaishnava traditionshighlight the importance of faith and devotion andplace these traditions as more important than socialclass or caste. Thus, there are many narratives that speakabout how religious leaders befriended those of the“lower” castes. There have also been several Vaishnavamovements to include members of the outcaste groupsinto the social fabric. In this logic of devotion (whichmay be different from the rules of ethics that apply ina day-to-day situation), women, too, are considered tobe qualified for salvation. In practice, however, womenand those who belong to the “lower” castes have not hadpriestly roles in temples.

SOCIAL ASPECTS Vaishnava traditions celebrate theimportance of community. Devotees frequently sing orcompose poems longing to live with other devotees.Such a life with other devotees is considered to be the

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“real” society (sat sangh)—that is, the ideal society inwhich one should aspire to live. There is much reverencegiven to devotees of Vishnu, and frequently more re-spect is given to such devotion than to age, caste, or gen-der. In spite of these concepts, the caste system that ex-ists in Hinduism is present in the Vaishnava traditionsas well.

CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES Many Vaishnava groupshave internal tensions over succession issues, and afterthe death of a charismatic leader, these groups frequent-ly splinter over issues of philosophical interpretationand social practices. Controversies over the authority ofcertain castes to have sacerdotal functions or the author-ity of women to do certain rituals and recite certainmantras or prayers also exist. In general, the Vaishnavaleaders, like most Hindu leaders of other traditions, donot speak out publicly on such issues as birth control,abortion, and gay marriages.

CULTURAL IMPACT Vaishnava traditions are perhapsbest appreciated in the arts, and for centuries Vaishna-vism tenets have been transmitted through the perform-ing arts rather than through books or sermons. Whetherit is a simple bhajan (devotional song) or a complex danceperformance, the power of the narratives is brought outthrough articulating the emotion with performing arts.The glory of the various incarnations of Vishnu as wellas the soul’s longing for union with the divine is fre-quently portrayed in classical dances. The dancer takeson the role of a young woman pining for her lover inan allegory for the soul’s search for God. Folk songs anddances, such as the ras in Gujarat, also reenact incidentsfrom the life of Krishna.

The various hand gestures adopted by dancers arealso seen in iconography. Vishnu icons abound in Southand Southeast Asia, with some spectacular ones seen insouthern India and in Cambodia. Vishnu can be por-trayed as standing, sitting, reclining, or striding; andthere are hundreds of ways in which Rama, Krishna, orthe other incarnations can be portrayed.

Vaishnava themes, especially stories relating to thelife of Krishna, have been the focus of miniature paint-ing for the last four centuries in northern India. Someincidents depicted in the paintings are seen as expressiveof particular modes of music (ragas) and are projectedas the visual dimension of aural aesthetics.

Vasudha Narayanan

See Also Vol. 1: Hinduism

BibliographyBryant, Edwin. The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic

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Carman, John. The Theology of Ramanuja. New Haven: YaleUniversity Press, 1974.

Haberman, David. Journey through the Twelve Forests: An Encounterwith Krishna. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Hawley, John Stratton. Krishna: The Butter Thief. Princeton,N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1983.

———. Songs of the Saints of India. New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1988.

Narayanan, Vasudha. The Way and the Goal. Cambridge:Center for the Study of World Religions, HarvardUniversity, 1988.

Williams, Raymond Brady. An Introduction to SwaminarayanHinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

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