Kashmir Shaivism
Also called: Trika Shaivism · Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 3 "Empires and Kingdoms: 6th to 10th Centuries"
Meaning
Kashmir Shaivism is a school of Shaiva philosophy, meaning thinking about the god Shiva. It grew in Kashmir from about the 9th century. It is also called Trika ("threefold") Shaivism. It is non-dualist: it teaches that everything is one, and that God and the soul are not really separate. In this view the world is real, because it is Shiva's own energy showing itself. The school is important because it joined deep philosophy with ideas about art, poetry and beauty.
Example
Its greatest scholar was Abhinavagupta of Kashmir (c. 10th–11th century). He wrote the Tantraloka, a large work on Shaiva practice. He also wrote famous commentaries on aesthetics, the study of beauty in art. In these he explained rasa, the feeling or "taste" that a play or poem creates in its audience.
Don't confuse with
- Shankara's advaita vedanta: also non-dualist, but it treats the visible world as illusion (maya). Kashmir Shaivism treats the world as real.
- Virashaivism (Lingayats): a 12th-century devotional movement led by Basavanna in Karnataka. It was a social and devotional movement, not a Kashmiri school of philosophy.