Vaishnavism

Topic: Early Indian Art and Architecture: Stupas, Rock-cut Caves, Temples · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"

Meaning

Vaishnavism is a Hindu tradition in which Vishnu is worshipped as the principal deity, often through his ten avatars (avatar = a form the god takes when he comes down to earth). The devotee is tied to the god by bhakti (loving devotion to one god of your own choice).

It matters because it took many local cults and joined them into one broad religion across India. Its avatar stories also filled the walls of the first temples.

Explanation

Background: the saviour idea and bhakti

• Buddhism had the Bodhisatta, a being who saves others. But the saviour idea was not unique to Buddhism.
• The same idea grew inside two Hindu traditions:
• Vaishnavism, where Vishnu is the principal deity.

• Shaivism, where Shiva is the chief god.

• In both, the devotee and the chosen deity were bound by love and devotion. This bond is bhakti.

• Why it spread fast:
• Bhakti did not need a priest or a Vedic sacrifice.
• So ordinary people could take part directly.

The ten avatars

• Worship gathered around the ten avatars of Vishnu.
• Why Vishnu takes avatars: he takes a form to save the world whenever evil threatens to win.
• The standard list of ten is called the dashavatara: Matsya (fish), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha (boar), Narasimha (man-lion), Vamana (dwarf), Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Kalki [3].
• Note that the Buddha is counted as one of Vishnu's avatars in this list [3].

How it unified many cults

• Key move: local deities were recognised as forms of Vishnu.
• A village god was not rejected.
• He was treated as another face of the same great god.

• This unified the tradition across regions.

• Best example: Vasudeva-Krishna. He was first worshipped around Mathura and later all over the country.

• The stories of the avatars were kept in the Puranas. These were texts in simple Sanskrit verse, compiled by Brahmanas by about the mid-first millennium CE.
• The Puranas were read aloud to everybody, including women and Shudras, who were shut out of Vedic learning.
• Much Puranic lore came from interchange between priests, merchants and ordinary travellers. Stories picked up on trade and pilgrim routes were written in.

Results: Vaishnavism in art and temples

• Sculptors gave clues so a worshipper could tell which god an image showed:
• headdresses (crown type, hair style)
• ornaments (necklaces, ear-rings)
• ayudhas, the weapons or auspicious objects held in the hands. For Vishnu these are the conch, discus, mace and lotus.

• posture (standing, seated, reclining, dancing)

• The meaning of these clues comes from the Puranas. Without the Purana story, an image is just a figure holding things.

• Vaishnava art is full of story-scenes from the avatars. Shaiva art centres on the linga (a plain upright stone shaft that stands as a symbol of Shiva) in a dark shrine room.
• The first temples (c. 3rd century CE) began as a small square garbhagriha (the shrine room where the image stands) with one door. Later a shikhara (tall tower over the shrine) and sculpted walls were added. These walls became the place for avatar panels.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: the tradition grows between about c. 200 BCE and 700 CE. The Puranas were compiled by about 500 CE. Major Vaishnava temples date from the Gupta age (c. 5th–6th century).
• Mathura: the early centre of the Vasudeva-Krishna cult.
• Deogarh (Uttar Pradesh), c. 5th century: the Dashavatara temple.
• It is named after the ten incarnations of Vishnu shown on it and a rock-cut well nearby [2].
• Its famous panel shows Vishnu lying on the serpent Sheshnag (Sheshashayi Vishnu).
• Two other large panels survive: the rescue of the elephant (Gajendra-moksha) and the penance of Nara-Narayana [2].
• It is one of the earliest temples that still has its shikhara [2].
• It stands on the Betwa river, which curves around it on three sides [2].
• Dating differs. NCERT says 5th century, while ASI/IGNCA material says the beginning of the 6th century [2]. Use the NCERT date in the exam.

• The Gupta temples of north India, Deogarh included, are on UNESCO's Tentative List [2].

• Aihole (Karnataka), c. 6th century: a Varaha panel shows Vishnu as a boar, lifting the earth goddess out of the water. The temples here belong to the Early Chalukyas, roughly 6th–8th century CE [4].

• Evidence: the Puranas (the stories), the dashavatara list [3], and sculpture, read through headdress, ornaments, ayudhas and posture.

Don't confuse with

• Shaivism: Shiva is the chief god, worshipped mainly as the linga and only occasionally in human form. Vaishnavism worships Vishnu in human and animal avatar forms, shown in story panels.
• Bodhisatta (Buddhism): also a saviour figure, but a Buddhist one. The Vaishnava saviour is Vishnu's avatar, who comes down whenever evil threatens.
• Puranas vs Vedas: the Puranas were in simple Sanskrit and read aloud to women and Shudras too. Vedic learning was closed to these groups.
• Mahabalipuram Durga relief: this shows Durga (goddess) fighting the buffalo demon Mahishasura, under the Pallavas [5]. It is not a Vishnu avatar panel. Do not mix it up with Deogarh (Sheshashayi Vishnu) or Aihole (Varaha).

Prelims Hooks

• Deogarh (UP): Dashavatara temple, with the Vishnu on Sheshnag panel. It is on the Betwa river [2].
• Aihole (Karnataka): Varaha panel showing Vishnu as a boar rescuing the earth goddess. It was built under the Early Chalukyas [4].
• Vasudeva-Krishna cult began around Mathura, then spread countrywide.
• Trap: the Buddha is one of the ten avatars in the standard dashavatara list, along with Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna and Kalki [3].
• Ayudhas of Vishnu: conch, discus, mace, lotus. Ayudhas are the main clue for identifying an image.
• Bhakti is central to both Vaishnavism and Shaivism. It needed no priest or Vedic sacrifice.

Mains Points

• Vaishnavism unified by absorbing, not rejecting.
• Local gods were named as forms of Vishnu, so village cults joined one tradition instead of fighting it.
• Vasudeva-Krishna moved from Mathura to all of India this way.

• Puranas in simple Sanskrit, read aloud to women and Shudras, opened up sacred knowledge.

• The avatar answered the same human need as the Bodhisatta. Both promise a saviour. This shows Buddhism and Puranic Hinduism developed side by side and shared ideas. The first temples (c. 3rd century CE) were built at the same time as Sanchi's final form.

• Avatar art carried a political message. At Deogarh (Gupta age) and Aihole (Early Chalukyas), panels of Vishnu saving the world linked kings with the god who protects order from evil [2][4]. The panels also turned temple walls into picture-books of Puranic stories for every visitor.

Related concepts

• Puranic Hinduism
• Avatar
• Dashavatara
• Varaha
• Vasudeva-Krishna
• Shaivism
• Linga
• Garbhagriha
• Antarala
• Shikhara

Read more

• Puranic Hinduism and the first temples