saivism origins
HE ORIGINS OF sAIVISM THE origins of Saivism are lost in obscurity, but it is clear that the Saivism of history is a blend of two lines of development, the Aryan or Vedic and the pre-Aryan. Much more than the urbane cult of Visnu, it has exhibited a close alliance with yoga and thaumaturgy, and a constant tendency to run into the extremes of ascetic fervour. It is not a single cult, but a federation of allied cults, whose practices range from the serenest form of personal...