Smartism: Five Deities on One Altar and the Tradition of Adi Shankara

IOverview

Smartas worship five deities as equals in the Panchayatana arrangement: Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, Ganesha and Surya. All five are understood as manifestations with form of a Brahman beyond form. The tradition's philosophy is Advaita Vedanta, the non-dual teaching linked with Adi Shankara. It is strongest among Brahmin families that keep up Sanskrit learning, especially in South India.

IIHistory

Smartism rests on the way of life of Brahmin families who kept Vedic rites and the codes of dharma from the first millennium BCE. Tradition holds that Adi Shankara, who lived around the 8th century, systematised the worship of five deities to reconcile rival sects and founded four monasteries at the four quarters. Scholars still debate how far Shankara himself established this form of worship, but all agree he shaped Advaita, the tradition's philosophy.

• 1st millennium BCESmriti and the dharma codes
  The Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras set out household ritual, the basis of the Smarta way of life.
• 8th centuryAdi Shankara
  Tradition gives 788 to 820, while many scholars place him earlier, around 700 to 750. He commented on the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita in a non-dual sense.
• by tradition, 8th centuryThe four monasteries
  Sringeri in the south, Dwarka in the west, Puri in the east and Jyotirmath in the north.
• 14th centuryVidyaranya
  The head of Sringeri is associated with the Vijayanagara empire, adding to the monastery's prestige.
• 20th centuryModern Shankaracharyas
  The heads of the mathas become influential voices in Indian religious life.

IIITeachings and Distinctives

Smartas honour the Veda and the smriti and keep the life cycle rites called samskaras, such as naming, the sacred thread ceremony, marriage and funeral rites. The main texts are the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutra, the Bhagavad Gita and Shankara's commentaries. The Dashanami order of renunciants, the ten names, is linked to Shankara's mathas.

IVPractice, Liturgy and Life

In household Panchayatana worship the five deities are often represented by five natural stones arranged like the five on a die, four at the corners and one in the middle. The deity the family chooses as principal sits at the centre. Each deity has its own kind of stone, such as the shaligram for Vishnu and the banalinga for Shiva. A variant called Shanmata adds Skanda as a sixth.

Many families also keep sandhyavandana, prayers at dawn and dusk, and celebrate all the great festivals of the other traditions, from Maha Shivaratri to Krishna Janmashtami and Navaratri.

VOrganisation and Distribution

There is no reliable separate figure for the number of Smartas. Many people follow Smarta practice without calling themselves Smarta, and surveys rarely ask questions at this level of detail.

VIIn Vietnam

There is no significant Smarta community in Vietnam, and no source was found for any organisation or Panchayatana shrine here. The Hindu temples in Ho Chi Minh City belong to the Tamil tradition of Murugan and Mariamman worship. The religion of the Cham Ahier continues Champa's Shaivism rather than the Smarta pattern. Vietnamese readers may be reminded of the many deities sharing one shrine in Vietnamese folk religion, but the two traditions have separate origins.

VIISymbol of the Branch

Five Panchayatana stones

पञ्चायतन Pañcāyatana

VIIISub-branches

• Lineages linked to the four monasteries founded by Adi Shankara, including Sringeri Sharada Peetham, together with Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham

IXOther Branches of Hinduism

Vaishnavismवैष्णव VaiṣṇavaThe tradition centred on Vishnu and his avatars, above all Rama and Krishna.Shaivismशैव ŚaivaThe tradition centred on Shiva, whose main object of worship is the linga.Shaktismशाक्त ŚāktaThe tradition that takes the Goddess, as Devi, Durga or Kali, as the root principle of power (shakti).Smartismस्मार्त SmārtaA tradition with no single deity at the centre.Cham Ahier (Cham Brahmanism)AhiérThe localised Shaiva tradition of Champa kept by the Cham Ahier.Neo-Hindu and Reform MovementsNeo-Hinduism, Reform HinduismMovements from the 19th century onward that reinterpret the tradition for modern times, such as Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj and the Ramakrishna Mission.

XSources

The library cross-checks the sources below. Where they disagree, the page gives both.

1. Wikipedia, Hindu denominations
2. Wikipedia, Smarta tradition
3. Wikipedia, Panchayatana puja
4. Britannica, Shankara
5. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Shankara

?Quick Questions

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