most of the people including the
King followed shaivism ar vaishna
M
Answers
Answer:
By Vaishnavism if you mean Vishnu Worship then Vishnu worship is very popular in South India. But if you mean schools of Vedanta which prescribe Vaishnavism, then they seem to be less popular but not uncommon.
Explanation:
Traditionally Tamil Nadu followed Grama Devata (village deity) worship and Shaiva Siddantham. But you still find Sri Vaishnavism centered around Ranganatha swamy as a mainstream worship. The pancha rangana kshetras, are very famous temple towns. But historically kings in Tamil Nadu other than Pallavas and Vijayanagara supported mostly Shaivism. So Vaishnavism is less popular among masses.
Also, many people in Tamil Nadu frequent Tirupati and worship Venkateshwara swamy.
Subrahmanya as Murugan is the predominant God. Shakti worship is quite common in Kanchi Kanyakumari and Madhurai surrounding areas
Karnataka
It is safe to assume Vaishnavisam is very popular in Karnataka. The land where Ramanuja and Madhwacharya propagated their Vaishnavisam. Apart from Dwaita and Vishishtadwaita, Haridaas who are predominantly Vaishnava are very popular. Udupi, Srirangapatnam, Gokarna, etc are few temples.
Lingayats are Shaivas whose sect is dominant in Karnataka. Shringeri is the Shankaracharya peetham which is a Shaiva or Smartha sect.
Apart from this Shakti worship in terms of Chamunda devi, Shringeri Sharada matha, Mangaladevi, Mukambika devi, is very popular.
In Western and Southern Karnataka especially Kodagu and surronding regions folk Hinduism worship is popular as it has large tribal belts. Subrahmanya worship at Kuku Subrahmanyam is very popular sect. Also Renuka-Yellamma is a popular goddess.
So in general, Vaishnavism is a popular sect in Karnataka. But Lingayat, Smarta, Shakta and Folk worship is also not less common.
AP and Telangana
In Telangana, Shaktism in terms of Grama devata (village goddess) worship is the dominant sect of Hinduism in Telangana.
Worship of Goddess Renuka-Yellamma (mother of Parashurama) or Ekaveera devi, Mahankali, Bhadrakali, Peddammatalli, Pochamma, Maisamma, Batukamma, is very popular. Bonalu and Bathukamma during Dasara are the dominant festivals. Most of these are based on local worship and village legends. Saraswati is also popular with temples in Wargal and Basara.
Northern Teangana is predominantly tribal settlements historically.
The most popular deity in Vishnu avatars Hinduism is "Narasimha", the 5th avatar of Vishnu. Yadagiri, Dharmapuri, Nachagiri, Mattapalli, Vemulakonda are famous temples of Narasimha.
Apart from Him, Venkateshwara, is very popular.
In Southern Telangana, Rama is very popular, centered around the Bhadrachalam Seeta Ramaswamy temple, and the Panchavati near Godavari.
But, most of the devotees do not subscribe to Vaishnavism as such. Mainly because, most of the Narasimha worship started around local tribes and village legends or stala puranams. So a staunch sect which pronounces Vaishnavism cannot be seen.
Even Bhadrachalam is largely surrounded by tribal settlements, who traditionally worshiped Rama in their own non Vedic way. In fact the idols were first found by a tribal woman named Dammakka. Nevertheless there is a considerable Vaishnava population in those regions.
In Andhra Pradesh, especially in Rayalaseema region, two main temples dominate. Tirupati Venkateshwara swamy (Vishnu) temple and Srisailam Mallikarjuna Swamy (Shiva) temple.
The popularity of Tirumala is well known. Irrespective of what sect they are, it is safe to assume almost all Hindus from the 2 states go to this temple every year as an annual pilgrimage.
There is a large Vaishnava population in these districts of Chittor and Kadapa.
Mantralayam is also a very famous temple town. There are lot of Raghavendra swamy devotees in AP. Technically they are followers of Madhwacharya, the founder of Sri Vaishnavism.
Apart from this grama devata worship is also very popular.
In Coastal Andhra and Uttarandhra, too Rama and Venkateshwara are very popular. Shaivism is popular in Godavari and Krishna districts along with Durga worship. So it is a good mix of both. Subrahmanya worship is also popular.
In conclusion, the brahmins of AP and Telangana are Smartas predominantly. So, even though there is a very wide presence of Vishnu worship in various avatars, the Sri Vaishnavisam identity is very limited. So even among other communities this is not emphasized.
Kerala
Kerala Hindus mainly subscribe to Naga worship and Vaishnavism centered around Padmanabhaswamy temple, Guruvayur Krishna temple etc.
As common everywhere Village deities are also very popular.
Apart from this, Ayyappa is the predominant God.
Shaivism is also common. But as Ayappa is the symbolism of Shaiva Vaishnava unity, the dvaita and vishistadvaita schools may not be so connected to masses. Most people either adher to Naga worship, Vishnu in different forms, Ayappa, Shakti or Murugan worship.