Three categories of major “Agama”

Introduction

In popular culture, “Agama” is associated with temple architecture and tantric practices. However, Agamas are a vast number of texts which cover various other topics such as yoga, cosmology, idol worship…etc.

Major Agamas can be categorized into three segments - Vaishnava Agama, Shaiva Agama and Shakta Agama. Vaishnava Agamas are the basis for worship of Lord Vishnu, Shaiva Agamas are for Lord Shiva and Shakta Agamas for Goddess Shakti. Overtime, the writings in Agamas promoted sectarianism. But it did not manifest into sectarian practices and violences that we witness in the semitic religions. This is largely due to inherent pluralism & secularism in the Vedic tradition.

These Agamas are interpreted by some of its adherents to involve knowledge pertaining to advanced technology. However, these claims are only “pseudoscientific”; i.e., claims which are unfalsifiable and which are driven by confirmation-bias rather than scientific experimentation. For example, the concept of “vimana” in Agama shastras is misinterpreted to mean “aircraft” whereas it indicates the “tower of a temple” (Gopura).

Nonetheless, Agamas are highly relevant even today for domestic worship as well as worship in temples. Though the yogic practices mentioned therein are not followed in the mainstream, they act as a bridge between Vedanta & Yoga Philosophy.

Vedic Tribe is happy to bring you this introductory series on “three categories of major Agamas” (i.e. vaishnava, shaiva & shakta).

Our intention is to create enough curiosity in you so that you study Vedic literature and adopt them in your day to day lives

All the best.

Madhwesh K

Vedic Tribe

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1. Vaishnava Agamas

As per the current estimate, there are 108 Agama texts dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Though this collection is called “Pancharatra Samhita”, there are two major traditions in practice: Vaikhanasa and Pacharatra.

During the Gupta Empire (the Golden Age of India) the temple designs were primarily done according to Vaishnava Agamas. For example, the “Dashavatara Temple” excavated in Deogarh contains the oldest known depiction of Lord Vishnu’s ten avatars in a stone carving (500-600 CE). 

Sri Ramanujacharya & Sri Madhwacharya uphold the authenticity of Vaishnava Agamas and prescribe the same for the worship of Lord Vishnu. Sri Ramanujacharya’s agamic tradition is called “Sri Vaishnava” (which is derived from Vaikhanasa tradition) and Sri Madhwacharya’s agamic tradition is called “Sadh Vaishnava” (derived from Pancharatra tradition).

If you are interested to know more, you may read the book “Philosophy of Pancharatra” by S. Rangachar.

In our next write-up, we will discuss “Shaiva Agamas”.

Madhwesh K

Vedic Tribe

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2. Shaiva Agamas

As per the current estimate, there are 28 Agama texts dedicated to Lord Shiva. This collection is classified into four traditions of practice: Kapala, Kalamukha, Pashupata and Shaiva.

In Kapalika tradition, only “Aghori” sect survives today and no other practices are found. Since there are no written scriptures available for Kapalika tradition, very little is known about the philosophies and practices of this tradition.

Kalamukha tradition survives mainly in Karnataka today and the famous Lord Shiva’s temple in Nanjangud follows this tradition 

Pashupata tradition is more inclined towards “bhakti” and is not as widely practiced as Kalamukha or Shaiva.

Shaiva tradition is widely practiced among “shaiva agama” traditions. A Wide range of texts can be found involving dualistic, non dualistic and qualified dualistic ideas. For example, Kashmir-Shaiva-Agamas propounded by Sri Abhinavagupta subscribes to non dualistic philosophy almost identical to Sri Adi Shankaracharya's.

If you are interested to know more, you may read the book “Shaivism in the Light of Epics, Purāṇas, and Āgamas” by Niddodi Ramachandra Bhatt .

In our next write-up, we will discuss “Shakta Agamas”.

Madhwesh K

Vedic Tribe

— 

3. Shakta agamas

As per the current estimate, there are 64 Agama texts dedicated to the Goddess Shakti. This collection of Shakta Agama texts are called "Tantra".

The popular Shakta tantra traditions are Sri-kula and Kali-kula. The Sri-Kula tradition is prominent in Southern India and Kali-kula in Northern & Eastern India.

In Sri-Kaula tradition, the focus is on the goddess Lalitā Tripurasundarī and in Kalikula tradition the focus is on the goddess Kali. 

The prominent movement in Sri-Kaula tradition is the Śrī-Vidyā Upasana and in Kali-kula tradition is Maha-Vidya Upasana.

If you are interested to know more, you may read this book "Shakti and Shakta" by Arthur Avalon.

Vedic Tribe is happy to have brought you this introductory series on “three categories of major Agamas”.

Our intention is to create enough curiosity in you so that you study Vedic literature and adopt them in your day to day lives

All the best.

Madhwesh K

Vedic Tribe