With the rise of Shaivism and Vaishnavism in the early centuries of the Common era, Hinduism is generally monistic and henotheistic: there is practically a consensus that there is a supreme, absolute, and omnipresent divine entity.

Hinduism is divided into numerous denominations, primarily Shaivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism, Smarta and much smaller groups like the conservative Shrauta.

Hindu idealism is central to Vedanta philosophy and to such schools as Kashmir Shaivism.

In his long life he completed over 35 works, the largest and most famous of which is Tantrāloka, an encyclopedic treatise on all the philosophical and practical aspects of Trika and Kaula ( known today as Kashmir Shaivism ).

Thus, Kashmir Shaivism is also be categorized by some as propounding theistic monism or panentheism.

The word " Tāntrika " is used for followers of the Tantras in Shaivism, but Buddhist practices based on the Tantras do not use the word Tantric to refer to themselves.

According to Saiva Siddhanta, which was for many centuries the dominant school of Shaiva theology and liturgy across the Indian subcontinent ( and beyond it in Cambodia ), the linga is the ideal substrate in which the worshipper should install and worship the five-faced and ten-armed Sadāśiva, the form of Shiva who is the focal divinity of that school of Shaivism.

The Saiva-Siddhanta school is a form of Shaivism found in the south and is of hoary antiquity.

The city houses one of the most important temples of Hindu Shaivism, that is the Vadakunnathan temple.

Shaivism ( sometimes called Shivaism ) is a belief system where Lord Shiva is worshipped as the Supreme Lord.

Shaivism is widespread throughout India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

It is very difficult to determine the early history of Shaivism.

Their religious sect is also called Pashupata or Pasupata ( Pashupata Shaivism ).

Hindu movements in which bhakti is the main practice are called bhakti movements — the major schools are Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and Shaktism.

Within Hinduism, it is not uncommon to encounter assertions that the Shaiva and Vaishnava schools of Hinduism lead to moksha, or spiritual liberation, whereas Shaktism leads only to siddhis ( occult powers ) and bhukti ( material enjoyments ) – or, at best, to Shaivism.

This epic is a major work in Tamil literature, describing the historical events of its time and also of then-prevailing religions, Jainism, Buddhism and Shaivism.

His temples or shrines are present within or near most Jyotirlinga temples, the sacred twelve shrines dedicated to Shiva across India, including Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Varanasi and the Mahakaleshwar Temple at Ujjain, where at the Kal Bhairav Temple, he is worshipped by the Kapalika and Aghori sects of Shaivism, here one can also find the Patal Bhairav and Vikrant Bahirav shrines.

The Nagarathars ( Tamil: நகரத ் த ா ர ் ச ெ ட ் ட ி ய ா ர ்) is a Chettiar forward caste community in Shaivism ( Tamil: ச ை வ சமயம ்) that originated in Kaveripoompattinam under the Chola kingdom of India.

Siddha Yoga is a spiritual path based on the Indian spiritual traditions of Vedanta and Kashmir Shaivism.

Hindu Splitters, and individual adherents, often identify themselves as adherents of a religion such as Shaivism, Vaishnavism, or Shaktism according to which deity they believe to be the supreme creator of the universe.

The Siddhanta tradition, like Kashmir Shaivism and Kaula, differs from the Vedic and Puranic worship of Shiva and also from the ancient Pasupati tradition by its adherence to texts called Agamas or Tantras, which lay down rites that may be performed by men of the first four varnas ( women in these varnas played marginal roles ) and describe a progressive, fourfold spiritual path of virtuous and moral living ( charya ), ritual ( kriya ), individual practice ( yoga ) and knowledge ( jnana, vidya ).

The 9th-10th century master of the religious system known as " the nondual Shaivism of Kashmir " ( or " Kashmir Shaivism ") and aesthetician, Abhinavagupta brought rasa theory to its pinnacle in his separate commentaries on the Dhvanyāloka, the Dhvanyāloka-locana ( translated by Ingalls, Masson and Patwardhan, 1992 ) and the Abhinavabharati, his commentary on the Nātyashāstra, portions of which are translated by Gnoli and Masson and Patwardhan.

The goal of Kashmir Shaivism is to merge in Shiva or Universal Consciousness, or realise one's already existing identity with Shiva, by means of wisdom, yoga and grace.

During his time, the Buddhists wreaked vengeance on the Hindu Brahmins ( especially the followers of Shaivism ) for the harm they had received earlier from Shankaracharya.

Breaking from the Shaivism tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu.

The Siddha Yoga tradition draws its teachings from the yogic philosophy of Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism, and the Maharashtran poet-saints.

Durvasa received from Shiva the spiritual mission of keeping the tradition and secrets of Agamic Shaivism alive.

Thus, from Vasugupta emerged two disciples, Somananda and Bhatta Kallata, each proposing a school of monistic Shaivism, Pratyabhijna and respectively Spanda.

Abhinavagupta took teaching from all the schools of Shaivism and reached spiritual liberation himself, after which he took on the huge undertaking of uniting all these schools into one coherent system.

It is philosophically important to distinguish Kashmir Shaivism from the Advaita Vedanta of Shankara as both are non-dual philosophies which give primacy to Universal Consciousness ( Chit or Brahman ).

As a monistic tantric system, Trika Shaivism, as it is also known, draws teachings from shrutis, such as the monistic Bhairava Tantras, Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta, and also a unique version of the Bhagavad Gita which has a commentary by Abhinavagupta, known as the Gitartha Samgraha.

Teachings are also drawn from the Tantraloka of Abhinavagupta, prominent among a vast body of smritis employed by Kashmir Shaivism.

Palaniappan cites inscriptional evidence for a gradual sound change from āļvār to āzhvār over a period of two centuries from the 9th century to the 11th century involving references to religious leaders in Vaishnavism, Shaivism and even Jainism and to political personalities.

Though he gets converted from being follower of Jainism to Shaivism he remains tolerant of other religions and respects their practices.

Shaivism ( devotional worship of Lord Shiva ) was the dominant branch practiced by the Tamil peoples thus most of the traditional Hindu temple architecture and philosophy of Sri Lanka drew heavily from this particular strand of Hinduism.

In Kashmir Shaivism, all things are believed to be a manifestation of Universal Consciousness ( Cit or Brahman ).

Vaishnavism and Shaivism both worship Lakshmi with Vishnu and Parvati with Shiva respectively as beings on an equal level of magnitude ( the male and female aspects of God ).

Shaivism, also Saivism, is a branch of Hinduism whose followers worship Siva as the Supreme God.

Examples of a personal supreme God include Shiva in Shaivism or Vishnu in Vaishnavism.

* Triadic Heart of Siva: Kaula Tantricism of Abhinavagupta in the Non-Dual Shaivism of Kashmir ( Suny Series, Shaiva Traditions of Kashmir )

Abhinavagupta succeeded in smoothing out all the apparent differences and disparities that existed among the different branches and schools of Kashmir Shaivism before him.