| |
Shivite |
Shakta |
Vaishnavite |
Smarta |
| Deities |
Worship Shiva and associated deities |
Worship the divine mother (Devi, Shakti)
including Kali, Durga, and others |
Worship Vishnu, his avatars (Krishna, Rama)
and consorts (Radha, Sita) |
Worship any deity of choice, seeing all as
manifestations of the one Brahman. More philosophical than
devotional. |
| Power (shakti) |
The manifest power of Shiva |
Shakti is a distinct being, separate from the
other deities |
No special focus on power but associated with
the female consorts of Vishnu's avatars |
Deities are metaphorical representations of
abstract, impersonal powers |
| Personal nature of god |
Love and compassion, immanent and
transcendent, appeased by purity in the devotee |
Both compassionate and terrifying, pleasing
and wrathful, appeased by sacrifice and submission |
Loving and beautiful, the object of our
devotion, pleased by service and surrender |
Imaged as a human-like deity, based on
projection from the devotee |
| Avatars (incarnate manifestations of
the deity) |
No incarnations of Shiva |
No incarnations of the feminine divine |
10 classic incarnations |
All deities can take physical (incarnate)
forms |
| Relationship between God and Self |
The soul is one with Shiva |
The soul is saved through devotion to the
divine mother |
The soul is distinct from God, destined to
worship Vishnu |
The soul and God are, in reality, both
Brahman. It is maya (illusion) that deceives us to thinking the two are
separate |
| Spiritual Practice |
Worship of Shiva and ascetic practices (yoga,
austerities) bhakti yoga and meditation |
Worship of divine mother, along with occult
(magical) and ascetic practices; bhakti and Kundalini yoga |
Loving devotion and worship, non-ascetic;
karma and bhakti yoga |
Bhakti, karma and raja yoga lead to the
highest path of knowledge (jnana yoga) |
| Scriptures |
Vedas, Shiva puranas |
Vedas, Tantic (ritual) texts, Puranas |
Vedas, Puranas, The great epics: Ramayana,
Mahabharata, esp. Bhagavad gita |
Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, the Great epics,
Gita, other texts |
| Regions |
Widespread: north and south India, Nepal, Sri
Lanka |
Widespread, especially in Northeast India and
Bengal |
Widespread: north and south India |
Widespread, especially north and south India |