Four Denominations of Hinduism

For over 200 years, Western scholars have struggled to understand Hinduism, a faith which appeared to outsiders to have a baffling array of spiritual traditions. Few realized that Hinduism is a family of religions with four principal denominations—Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and Smartism. In this pamphlet these four groups and their divergent and similar beliefs and culture are explored. In eight pages, drawn from Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's book Dancing with Siva, we offer a synopsis of these four denominations, followed by a point-by-point comparison. Comparative religion teachers find these pamphlets valuable during their study of Hinduism.