Krishnaism
Krishnaism is a term used in scholarly circles to describe large group of independent Hindu traditions—sampradayas related to Vaishnavism—that center on the devotion to Krishna as Svayam Bhagavan, Ishvara, Para Brahman, who is the source of all reality, not simply an avatar of Vishnu.
[3] Leading scholars do not define Krishnaism as a suborder or offshoot of Vaishnavism, considering it at least a parallel and no less ancient current of Hinduism.
[12][15] While Vishnu is attested already in the Rigveda as a minor deity, the development of Krishnaism appears to take place via the worship of Vasudeva in the final centuries BCE.
In other words, Krishnaism, according to Dandekar, is not an offshoot of Vaishnavism, but, on the contrary, the cult of Vishnu and his avatars is the later transformation of Krishnaism-Bhagavatism.
[note 4] This earliest phase was established in the time of Pāṇini (4th century BCE) who, in his Astadhyayi, explained the word vasudevaka as a bhakta (devotee) of Vasudeva.
[17][20][21] A branch which flourished with the decline of Vedism was centred on Krishna, the deified tribal hero and religious leader of the Yadavas.
[22] Worship of Krishna, the deified tribal hero and religious leader of the Yadavas, took denominational form as the Pancaratra and earlier as Bhagavata religions.
[23] By the time of its incorporation into the Mahabharata canon during the early centuries CE, Krishnaism began to affiliate itself with Vedism in order to become acceptable to orthodoxy, in particular aligning itself with Rigvedic Vishnu.
[6] According to Friedhelm Hardy,[note 5] there is evidence of early "southern Krishnaism," despite the tendency to allocate the Krishna-traditions to the Northern traditions.
[27] Early writings in Dravidian culture such as Manimekalai and the Cilappatikaram present Krishna, his brother, and favourite female companions in the similar terms.
[33] The Jagannath temple in Puri, Odisha is particularly significant within the tradition and one of the major pilgrimage destinations for Hindus since about 800 CE, later became a centre of attraction for a number of both Krishnaite and other Vaishnava acharyas,[34] and a place where for the first time the famous poem Gita Govinda was introduced into the liturgy.
[48] The other 15th–16th centuries Bhakti poet-sants – Vidyapati, Meera Bai, Surdas, Swami Haridas, as well as Narsinh Mehta (1350–1450), who preceded all of them, also wrote about Radha and Krishna love.
[57] During the 18th century at Kolkata existed the Sakhībhāvakas community, whose members ware female dress in order to identify themselves with the gopis, companions of Radha.
[60] Baba Bharati founded in 1902 the short-lived "Krishna Samaj" society in New York City and built a temple in Los Angeles.
[64] Baba Bharati's followers later formed several organisations in US, including now defunct the Order of Living Service and the AUM Temple of Universal Truth.
For instance, the Shri Radhacharita Mahakavyam—the 1980s epic poem of Kalika Prasad Shukla that focuses on devotion to Krishna as the universal lover—"one of the rare, high-quality works in Sanskrit in the twentieth century.
[68][69] At the same time, Friedhelm Hardy does not at all define Krishnaism as a suborder or offshoot of Vaishnavism, considering it a parallel and no less ancient current of Hinduism.
[76] Krishnaism is often also called Bhagavatism, after the Bhagavata Purana which asserts that Krishna is "Bhagavan Himself," and subordinates to itself all other forms: Vishnu, Narayana, Purusha, Ishvara, Hari, Vāsudeva, Janardana, and so on.
Krishna is often described as having the appearance of a dark-skinned person and is depicted as a young cowherd boy playing a flute or as a youthful prince giving philosophical direction and guidance, as in the Bhagavad Gita.
[81][82] Many of the Hindu scriptures sometimes differ in details reflecting the concerns of a particular tradition, while some core features of the view on Krishna are shared by all.
[83] The most remarkable Hindu scriptures for the Krishnaites became Bhagavad Gita,[3][84][85] Harivamsa (appendix to the Mahabharata),[86][87] and Bhagavata Purana (especially the 10th Canto).
[104] In the tenth canto the Bhagavata Purana describes svayam bhagavans Krishna's childhood pastimes as that of a much-loved child raised by cowherds in Vrindavan, near to the Yamuna River.
The young Krishna enjoys numerous pleasures, such as thieving balls of butter or playing in the forest with his cowherd friends.
This love, represented by the grief they feel when Krishna is called away on a heroic mission and their intense longing for him, is presented as models of the way of extreme devotion (bhakti) to the Supreme Lord.
[113] Krishna theology is presented in a pure monism (Advaita Vedanta framework by Vallabhacharya, who was the founder of Shuddhadvaita school of philosophy.
[114] The acharya-founders of the remaining Krishnaite sampradayas did not create new schools of philosophy, following the old ones or nor attaching importance to philosophical speculations.
[119] And "Samaj-Gayan" is the Radha-vallabha Sampradaya's collective style of hymn singing by the Hindustani classical forms "dhrupad" and "dhamar".
[119] Sankardev in Assam helped establish satras (temples and monasteries) with kirtan-ghar (also called namghar), for singing and dramatic performance of Krishna-related theology.
[96][123][124] On the other hand, Goloka is considered the eternal abode of Krishna, Svayam Bhagavan according to some Krishnaite schools, including Gaudiya Vaishnavism.
[127][128][129] The first Hindu member of the United States Congress Tulsi Gabbard is follower of the Krishnaite organisation Science of Identity Foundation.
