Vaishnava theology

Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the sole supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, i.e. ''Mahavishnu''. Its followers are called Vaishnavites or ''Vaishnava''s (), and it includes sub-sects like Krishnaism and Ramaism, which consider Krishna and Rama as the supreme beings respectively.
According to a 2010 estimate by Johnson and Grim, Vaishnavism is the largest Hindu sect, constituting about 641 million or 67.6% of Hindus.

The ancient emergence of Vaishnavism is unclear, and broadly hypothesized as a fusion of various regional non-Vedic religions with Vishnu. A merger of several popular non-Vedic theistic traditions, particularly the Bhagavata cults of Vāsudeva-krishna and ''Gopala-Krishna'', and Narayana, developed in the 7th to 4th century BCE. It was integrated with the Vedic God Vishnu in the early centuries CE, and finalized as Vaishnavism, when it developed the avatar doctrine, wherein the various non-Vedic deities are revered as distinct incarnations of the supreme God Vishnu. Rama, Krishna, Narayana, Kalki, Hari, Vithoba, Venkateshvara, Shrinathji, and Jagannath are among the names of popular avatars all seen as different aspects of the same supreme being.

The Vaishnavite tradition is known for the loving devotion to an avatar of Vishnu (often Krishna), and as such was key to the spread of the Bhakti movement in Indian subcontinent in the 2nd millennium CE. It has four main categories of ''sampradayas'' (denominations, sub-schools): the medieval-era Vishishtadvaita school of Ramanuja, the Dvaita school (Tattvavada) of Madhvacharya, the Dvaitadvaita school of Nimbarkacharya, and the Pushtimarg of Vallabhacharya. Ramananda (14th century) created a Rama-oriented movement, now the largest monastic group in Asia.

Key texts in Vaishnavism include the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Pancaratra, and the Bhagavata Purana.

History

Origins

Northern India

The ancient emergence of Vaishnavism is unclear, the evidence inconsistent and scanty. Syncretism of various traditions resulted in Vaishnavism. Although ''Vishnu'' was a Vedic solar deity, he is mentioned less often compared to Agni, Indra, and other Vedic deities, thereby suggesting that he had a minor position in the Vedic religion.

According to Dandekar, what is understood today as Vaishnavism did not originate in Vedism at all, but emerged from the merger of several popular theistic traditions which developed after the decline of Brahmanism at the end of the Vedic period, closely before the second urbanisation of northern India, in the 7th to 4th century BCE. It initially formed as Vasudevism around Vāsudeva, a deified leader of the Vrishnis, and one of the Vrishni heroes. Later, Vāsudeva was amalgamated with Krishna "the deified tribal hero and religious leader of the Yadavas", to form the merged deity '' Bhagavan Vāsudeva-Krishna'', due to the close relation between the tribes of the Vrishnis and the Yadavas. This was followed by a merger with the cult of ''Gopala-Krishna'' of the cowherd community of the Abhıras in the 4th century CE. The character of Gopala Krishna is often considered to be non-Vedic. According to Dandekar, such mergers consolidated the position of Krishnaism between the heterodox sramana movement and the orthodox Vedic religion. The "Greater Krsnaism", states Dandekar, then adopted the Rigvedic Vishnu as Supreme deity to increase its appeal towards orthodox elements.

According to Klostermaier, Vaishnavism originates in the latest centuries BCE and the early centuries CE, with the cult of the heroic Vāsudeva, a leading member of the Vrishni heroes, which was then amalgamated with Krishna, hero of the Yadavas, and still several centuries later with the "divine child" Bala Krishna of the Gopala traditions. According to Klostermaier, "In some books Krishna is presented as the founder and first teacher of the Bhagavata religion." According to Dalal, "The term Bhagavata seems to have developed from the concept of the Vedic deity Bhaga, and initially it seems to have been a monotheistic sect, independent of the Brahmanical pantheon."

The development of the Krishna-traditions was followed by a syncretism of these non-Vedic traditions with the Mahabharata canon, thus affiliating itself with Vedism in order to become acceptable to the orthodox establishment. The Vishnu of the Rig Veda was assimilated into non-Vedic Krishnaism and became the equivalent of the Supreme God. The appearance of Krishna as one of the ''Avatars'' of Vishnu dates to the period of the Sanskrit epics in the early centuries CE. The '' Bhagavad Gita''—initially, a Krishnaite scripture, according to Friedhelm Hardy—was incorporated into the Mahabharata as a key text for Krishnaism.

Finally, the Narayana worshippers were also included, which further brahmanized Vaishnavism. The Nara-Narayana worshippers may have originated in Badari, a northern ridge of the Hindu Kush, and absorbed into the Vedic orthodoxy as Purusa Narayana. Purusa Narayana may have later been turned into Arjuna and Krsna.

In the late-Vedic texts (~1000 to 500 BCE), the concept of a metaphysical Brahman grows in prominence, and the Vaishnavism tradition considered Vishnu to be identical to Brahman, just like Shaivism and Shaktism consider Shiva and Devi to be Brahman respectively.

This complex history is reflected in the two main historical denominations of Vishnavism. The Bhagavats, worship Vāsudeva-Krishna, and are followers of Brahmanic Vaishnavism, while the Pacaratrins regard Narayana as their founder, and are followers of Tantric Vaishnavism.

Southern India

S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar states that the lifetime of the Vaishnava Alvars was during the first half of the 12th century, their works flourishing about the time of the revival of Brahminism and Hinduism in the north, speculating that Vaishnavism might have penetrated to the south as early as about the first century CE. There also exists secular literature that ascribes the commencement of the tradition in the south to the 3rd century CE.
U.V. Swaminathan Aiyar, a scholar of Tamil literature, published the ancient work of the Sangam period known as the Paripatal, which contains seven poems in praise of Vishnu, including references to Krishna and Balarama. Aiyangar references an invasion of the south by the Mauryas in some of the older poems of the Sangam, and indicated that the opposition that was set up and maintained persistently against northern conquest had possibly in it an element of religion, the south standing up for orthodox Brahmanism against the encroachment of Buddhism by the persuasive eloquence and persistent effort of the Buddhist emperor Ashoka. The Tamil literature of this period has references scattered all over to the colonies of Brahmans brought and settled down in the south, and the whole output of this archaic literature exhibits unmistakably considerable Brahman influence in the making up of that literature.

The Vaishnava school of the south based its teachings on the Naradiya Pancharatra