Sampradaya
Encyclopedia
In Hinduism
, a sampradaya (IAST
) can be translated as ‘tradition’ or a ‘religious system’, although the word commands much more respect and power in the Indian context than its translations in English does. It relates to a disciplic succession serving as a spiritual channel and providing a
delicate network of relationships that lends stability of religious identity being clarified precisely when that network becomes unstable. In the contrast with it a particular guru
lineages are called parampara
and by receiving an initiation
(diksha
) into a parampara of a living guru, one belongs to its proper sampradaya. The concept of sampradaya therefore is closely tied to the concrete reality of guru
-parampara
— the lineage of spiritual masters who are both carriers and transmitters of the tradition. Initiation diksa is a means by which one can become a member of a sampradaya, it is a ritual procedure, or to an individual in the parampara, is one of the primary functions of sampradaya; one cannot become a member by birth
, as is the case with gotra
, a seminal, or hereditary, dynasty
. Sampradaya is a body of practice, views and attitudes, which are transmitted, redefined and reviewed by each successive generation of followers. Participation in sampradaya forces continuity with the past, or tradition
, but at the same time provides a platform for change from within the community of practitioners of this particular traditional group.
There are four Vaishnava sampradayas according to Padma Purana
quoted in Böthlingk Sanskrit
-Sanskrit dictionary
, entry Sampradaya,
Four Vaisnava disciplic successions, inaugurated by Sri, Lord Brahma
, Lord Rudra
, and Sanaka, one of the four Kumaras, according to the scriptural source, appear in the holy place of Jaganatha Puri
, and purify the entire earth
during the Kali yuga
(believed to be the current age in Hinduism
). Sri
chooses Ramanuja
to represent her disciplic succession. In the same way Lord Brahma
chose Madhvacharya
in Brahma sampradaya
, Rudra
chose Visnuswami in Rudra Sampradaya
, and the four Kumaras chose Nimbaditya (Nimbarka Sampradaya
)."
Number of traditions due to assumption of the god-like status of their founder, rejected the parent sampradaya in favour of the new, as would be an example with Ramanandi
s, Vallabhacharya and Swaminarayan.
Thus concept and basic beliefs may be shared between different sampradaya faiths, as is often the case in traditions worshiping Radha Krishna
or in more generic terms following Krishnaism
, while adoration of the founding leader may obviously differ.
Beside widely known Vaishnava sampradayas there are also Shaivite
sampradayas, for example, the Nath
and Nandinatha Sampradaya
s.
For followers of Advaita tradition, Adi Sankara sampradya proceeds in this disciplinic succession: Vyasa
--- Śuka
---Gaudapada
--- Govindapada----Adi Sankara.
. These are usually controversies at the human end of the parampara, over the basic question of control or 'who is the legitimate representative of a particular line, or . . . whose “level of divine realization” is superior’. One must taken in the context of the fact that "the institutional memory implicit to parampara defined the contours of sampraday for every individual" participating in it.
traditional context, but also allows one to make those claims in the first place. An often quoted verse from the Padma Purana
states, sampradayavihina ye mantras te nisphala matah: "Mantras which are not received in sampradaya are considered fruitless."
"Unless one is initiated by a bona-fide spiritual master in the disciplic succession, the mantra he might have received is without any effect." As Wright and Wright put it, ‘If one cannot prove natal legitimacy, one may be cast out as a bastard. The same social standard applies to religious organizations. If a religious group cannot prove its descent from one of the recognised traditions, it risks being dismissed as illegitimate.’
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, a sampradaya (IAST
IAST
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is a transliteration scheme that allows a lossless romanization of Indic scripts as employed by the Sanskrit language.-Popularity:...
) can be translated as ‘tradition’ or a ‘religious system’, although the word commands much more respect and power in the Indian context than its translations in English does. It relates to a disciplic succession serving as a spiritual channel and providing a
delicate network of relationships that lends stability of religious identity being clarified precisely when that network becomes unstable. In the contrast with it a particular guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
lineages are called parampara
Parampara
Parampara denotes a succession of teachers and disciples in traditional Indian culture and Indian religions such as Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism...
and by receiving an initiation
Initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components...
(diksha
Diksha
Diksa also spelled deeksha or deeksa in common usage, translated as a "preparation or consecration for a religious ceremony", is giving of a mantra or an initiation by the guru in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism...
) into a parampara of a living guru, one belongs to its proper sampradaya. The concept of sampradaya therefore is closely tied to the concrete reality of guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
-parampara
Parampara
Parampara denotes a succession of teachers and disciples in traditional Indian culture and Indian religions such as Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism...
— the lineage of spiritual masters who are both carriers and transmitters of the tradition. Initiation diksa is a means by which one can become a member of a sampradaya, it is a ritual procedure, or to an individual in the parampara, is one of the primary functions of sampradaya; one cannot become a member by birth
Birth
Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring. The offspring is brought forth from the mother. The time of human birth is defined as the time at which the fetus comes out of the mother's womb into the world...
, as is the case with gotra
Gotra
In the Hindu society, the term Gotra broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. Panini defines gotra for grammatical purposes as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram , which means "the word gotra denotes the progeny beginning with the son's son"...
, a seminal, or hereditary, dynasty
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
. Sampradaya is a body of practice, views and attitudes, which are transmitted, redefined and reviewed by each successive generation of followers. Participation in sampradaya forces continuity with the past, or tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
, but at the same time provides a platform for change from within the community of practitioners of this particular traditional group.
There are four Vaishnava sampradayas according to Padma Purana
Padma Purana
Padma Purana , one of the major eighteen Puranas, a Hindu religious text, is divided into five parts.In the first part of the text, sage Pulastya explains to Bhishma about religion and the essence of the religion. The second part describes in detail Prithvi...
quoted in Böthlingk Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
-Sanskrit dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
, entry Sampradaya,
Four Vaisnava disciplic successions, inaugurated by Sri, Lord Brahma
Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
, Lord Rudra
Rudra
' is a Rigvedic God, associated with wind or storm, and the hunt. The name has been translated as "The Roarer", or "The Howler"....
, and Sanaka, one of the four Kumaras, according to the scriptural source, appear in the holy place of Jaganatha Puri
Puri
Puri is district headquarter, a city situated about south of state capital Bhubaneswar, on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal in the Indian state of Orissa. It is also known as Jagannath Puri after the Jagannath Temple . It is a holy city of the Hindus as a part of the Char Dham pilgrimages...
, and purify the entire earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
during the Kali yuga
Kali Yuga
Kali Yuga is the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Indian scriptures. The other ages are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga and Dvapara Yuga...
(believed to be the current age in Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
). Sri
Lakshmi
Lakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
chooses Ramanuja
Ramanuja
Ramanuja ; traditionally 1017–1137, also known as Ramanujacharya, Ethirajar , Emperumannar, Lakshmana Muni, was a theologian, philosopher, and scriptural exegete...
to represent her disciplic succession. In the same way Lord Brahma
Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
chose Madhvacharya
Madhvacharya
Madhvācārya was the chief proponent of Tattvavāda "Philosophy of Reality", popularly known as the Dvaita school of Hindu philosophy. It is one of the three most influential Vedānta philosophies. Madhvācārya was one of the important philosophers during the Bhakti movement. He was a pioneer in...
in Brahma sampradaya
Brahma Sampradaya
The Brahma Sampradaya refers to the disciplic succession of gurus starting with Brahma in Hinduism. The term is most often used to refer to the beliefs and teachings of Madhvacharya and his Dvaita philosophy. Sometimes it may also refer to the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his Gaudiya...
, Rudra
Rudra
' is a Rigvedic God, associated with wind or storm, and the hunt. The name has been translated as "The Roarer", or "The Howler"....
chose Visnuswami in Rudra Sampradaya
Rudra Sampradaya
In Hinduism, the Rudra Sampradaya is one of four Vaishnava sampradayas, a tradition of disciplic succession in the religion. Vaishnavism is distinguished from other schools of Hinduism by its primary worship of deities Vishnu and/or Krishna and their Avatars as the Supreme forms of God...
, and the four Kumaras chose Nimbaditya (Nimbarka Sampradaya
Nimbarka Sampradaya
The Nimbarka Sampradaya , also known as the Hamsa Sampradāya, Kumāra Sampradāya, ' and Sanakādi Sampradāya, is one of the four authorised Sampradāyas as according to the Padma , one of the eighteen main...
)."
Number of traditions due to assumption of the god-like status of their founder, rejected the parent sampradaya in favour of the new, as would be an example with Ramanandi
Ramanandi
Ramanandi are the followers of saint Ramananda. Ramanandi are spread across India, mainly in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Agravat, Nimavat, Kubavat, Tilavat, Devmurari, Ramavat, Nenuji, Sukhanandi and Yoganandi are the most prominent last names in Ramanandi cast. Ramanandi worship Shri Ram...
s, Vallabhacharya and Swaminarayan.
Thus concept and basic beliefs may be shared between different sampradaya faiths, as is often the case in traditions worshiping Radha Krishna
Radha Krishna
Radha Krishna is a Hindu deity. Krishna is often referred as svayam bhagavan in Gaudiya Vaishnavism theology and Radha is a young woman, a gopi who is Krishna's supreme beloved. With Krishna, Radha is acknowledged as the Supreme Goddess, for it is said that she controls Krishna with Her love...
or in more generic terms following Krishnaism
Krishnaism
Krishnaism is a group of Hindu denominations within Vaishnavism, centered on devotion to Radha Krishna or other forms of Krishna, identified with Vishnu.The central text of Krishnaism is the Bhagavad Gita....
, while adoration of the founding leader may obviously differ.
Beside widely known Vaishnava sampradayas there are also Shaivite
Shaivism
Shaivism is one of the four major sects of Hinduism, the others being Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas," and also "Saivas" or "Saivites," revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in all, the creator, preserver, destroyer,...
sampradayas, for example, the Nath
Nath
The Sanskrit word nāthá or नाथ, is the proper name of a Hindu initiatory tradition and the word itself literally means "lord, protector, refuge"...
and Nandinatha Sampradaya
Nandinatha Sampradaya
Nandinatha Sampradaya is a denomination of Hinduism that places great importance on the practice of yoga. It is related to the broader Nath Sampradaya.- Origins :...
s.
For followers of Advaita tradition, Adi Sankara sampradya proceeds in this disciplinic succession: Vyasa
Vyasa
Vyasa is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa , or Krishna Dvaipayana...
--- Śuka
Suka
The Suka was a unique fiddle that was played vertically, on the knee or hanging from a strap, and the strings were stopped at the side with the fingernails; similar to the Gadulka. The body of the instrument was very similar to the modern violin, but the neck was very wide, and the pegbox was crude...
---Gaudapada
Gaudapada
Gaudapada was a very early guru in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy...
--- Govindapada----Adi Sankara.
Functions and Challenges
Functions or roles sampradaya plays in the formation, transmission, and perpetuation of communal religious identity are multi-faceted; it naturally becomes subjected to many challenges to that identity. These challenges become resulting places to look at for the constituents of religious identity and definition of the core as compared with external. However for most observers, controversies regarding sampradaya usually mean controversies of succession, as would be the case for example of succession of Swaminarayan FaithSwaminarayan Faith
Swaminarayan Hinduism, also known as the Swaminarayan faith or the Swaminarayan sect, is a modern tradition in the Vaishnava denomination of Hinduism, in which followers offer devotion to and worship Swaminarayan as the final manifestation of God....
. These are usually controversies at the human end of the parampara, over the basic question of control or 'who is the legitimate representative of a particular line, or . . . whose “level of divine realization” is superior’. One must taken in the context of the fact that "the institutional memory implicit to parampara defined the contours of sampraday for every individual" participating in it.
Necessity
Membership in a sampradaya not only lends a level of authority to one’s claims on truth in HinduHindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
traditional context, but also allows one to make those claims in the first place. An often quoted verse from the Padma Purana
Padma Purana
Padma Purana , one of the major eighteen Puranas, a Hindu religious text, is divided into five parts.In the first part of the text, sage Pulastya explains to Bhishma about religion and the essence of the religion. The second part describes in detail Prithvi...
states, sampradayavihina ye mantras te nisphala matah: "Mantras which are not received in sampradaya are considered fruitless."
"Unless one is initiated by a bona-fide spiritual master in the disciplic succession, the mantra he might have received is without any effect." As Wright and Wright put it, ‘If one cannot prove natal legitimacy, one may be cast out as a bastard. The same social standard applies to religious organizations. If a religious group cannot prove its descent from one of the recognised traditions, it risks being dismissed as illegitimate.’