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From the Bhakti List Archives

skaushik • March 15, 1996 


In connection to what was said earlier by Sri Mani and Sri Sadagopan, we should
note that some of India's most famous temples are Saivite (Badri, Benaras,
Rameshwaram, etc). Further, Srikanta who lived sometime around 1200 AD (??)
expounded the Brama-sutras in which Siva was the material as well as the instrumeal 
cause of the Universe. He criticized Ramanuja and Sankar in thier respective
interpretations of teh Sruti. His work received further commentary by 
Appaya Dikshitar, a noted Vedic scholar in the 1500s. 

In other words, I don't think it is fair to characterize Saivism as some minor,
cultish or fringe viewpoint in the India. Its Vedic origins is quite readily
establishable and if archeology is any source of information, it could have
verily predated Vaishnavism in the Indian subcontinent (the insignias found
at the Harappa settlement bear the seal of a bull -- the symbol of Siva).

sk