vaishnava
वैष्णव vaiṣṇavaOf the stream of Hinduism that worships Vishnu, and his forms such as Rama and Krishna, as the supreme reality.
Where this term appears
- What is Vaishnavism? Lineages
The first great architect was Ramanuja, the Sri Vaishnava teacher traditionally dated to 1017 to 1137, whose lifespan the tradition records as more than a century and which we should read as hagiography rather …
- Devas and Asuras Deities
Prahlada, son of the greatest asura enemy the Vaishnava tradition knows, is a devotee of Vishnu from childhood.
- How to Read a Murti Deities
The Shaiva, Vaishnava and Shakta traditions prescribe their images differently; a Chola bronze of the south follows conventions a northern stone carving does not; the same deity shifts in detail across region a…
- Ishta-Devata: Choosing a Personal Deity Deities
… that sits behind the whole map of Hinduism's four great streams, the Vaishnava, the Shaiva, the Shakta and the Smarta, each lifting a different face of the one reality to the centre of its devotion.
- Saguna and Nirguna: Form and the Formless Deities
Sanatana Dharma approaches the one reality, *Brahman*, in two ways. *Saguna Brahman* is the divine with qualities and form, the personal Lord (*Ishvara*) who can be…
- The Dashavatara: The Ten Avatars of Vishnu Deities
The Dashavatara are the ten principal descents (*avataras*) of Vishnu: Matsya the fish, Kurma the tortoise, Varaha the boar, Narasimha the man-lion, Vamana the…
- What Does Om Mean? Deities
Om, also written Aum, is the *pranava*, the primordial sound-syllable that the Upanishads treat as the audible form of *Brahman*, the ultimate reality. It is…
- What is an Avatar? Deities
The avatara doctrine is chiefly a Vaishnava one, the descents of Vishnu.