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Denominations

Smartism

Hinduism

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Origin 700 to 900 CE

A liberal and orthodox tradition of Hinduism grounded in the Smriti and the Vedic heritage, followed especially by many Brahmins and shaped by the great philosopher Shankara. Its distinctive practice is the panchayatana puja, the worship together of five deities, Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, Ganesha, and Surya, honored as equal forms of the one supreme reality, so that the devotee may choose a preferred deity without denying the rest. Behind this stands the nondual philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, which teaches that the individual soul and the ultimate Brahman are finally one and that the many gods are aspects of a single formless absolute. Smartas hold to the authority of the Vedas and the classical texts and follow a broad, inclusive orthodoxy rather than exclusive devotion to one god. More philosophical and less sectarian than Vaishnavism, Shaivism, or Shaktism, Smartism offers a unifying and tolerant vision within Hinduism.

Facts
Organisation
Governance
Authority in monastic seats (mathas) and their heads 1
The mathas ascribed to Shankara, whose heads bear the title Shankaracharya.
Ordination
Restricted to men 1
Ordination
Office passes by descent 1
Practice
Liturgical Language
Sanskrit 1
Identity
Also Known As
Smarta 1
Origins
Origin Period
700 to 900 CE 1
Place of Origin
South India, and the Advaita mathas 1
Founder
The tradition is associated with Shankara and the mathas ascribed to him 1
Status
Status Today
Living tradition, practised today 1
History
Separation or Divergence
No schism 1
Separation or Divergence
The smarta tradition holds the five deities to be forms of one Brahman and so does not define itself against a rival cult 1
Belief
Defining Doctrinal Position
Advaita: the self and Brahman are not different 1Tradition: Hinduism
Defining Doctrinal Position
Five deities worshipped as forms of one Brahman 1Tradition: Hinduism
Learn More
An Orthodoxy Rather Than a Sect

Smartism is the odd one out among the four, and calling it a denomination is the least accurate of the four uses of that word.

The other three are defined by whom they worship. Smartas are defined by what they accept as authoritative: the smriti, the remembered literature (the epics, the Puranas, the dharma texts), held alongside the Vedas, and read within the framework of Advaita Vedanta, which teaches that the individual self and the ultimate reality are finally not two. Smartism is therefore closer to a Brahminical orthodoxy, a way of holding the whole inheritance together, than to a devotional movement with its own god.

Its characteristic practice is the panchayatana puja, the worship of five deities together (Vishnu, Shiva, the Goddess, Ganesha and Surya), arranged around a chosen one. The point is doctrinal rather than diplomatic. If the ultimate reality is nirguna, without attributes, then the gods are forms it takes for the sake of the worshipper, and choosing one implies nothing whatever about the others. A Smarta can worship Shiva on one day and Vishnu on the next without inconsistency, because on this account neither is finally what is being worshipped.

The tradition attributes both the philosophy and the practice to Adi Shankara. The attribution of the philosophy is fair. The attribution of the five-deity worship is not: arrangements of five shrines are attested archaeologically from the Kushan period, well before Shankara on any dating of him, so the practice was received rather than invented.

Shankara, the Mathas, and a Category With Soft Edges

Shankara is the figure the tradition organises itself around, and almost everything about him is harder than the received account.

His dates are conventionally given as 788 to 820, and those dates are disputed among scholars rather than established. His achievement is not in dispute. He argued Advaita Vedanta into the dominant philosophical position in Hinduism, wrote commentaries on the Brahma Sutras, the principal Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita that remain the base texts of the school, and did it, by the traditional account, before he was thirty-three.

Tradition credits him with founding four mathas, monastic seats at the cardinal points of India (Sringeri in Karnataka, Dwarka in Gujarat, Jyotirmath in the Himalaya and Govardhana at Puri), each assigned a Veda and a great saying, each headed by a Shankaracharya. These are real institutions with real authority in the Smarta community, and their heads are among the most influential religious figures in India. Whether Shankara founded all four is a traditional claim rather than a documented one, and the succession at one of them has been the subject of protracted litigation.

The wider difficulty is that Smarta identity has soft edges by design. It is largely, though not exclusively, a Brahmin identity; it shades into Shaiva and Vaishnava practice at every point; and a great many Hindus whose practice is functionally Smarta have never encountered the word. That is why it does not appear in the demographic compilations that give figures for the other three. No credible estimate of the number of Smartas exists, and one should not be manufactured for the sake of symmetry.

Where It Is Now

Smartism has no adherent figure, and the absence is not an oversight. The databases that estimate Vaishnava, Shaiva and Shakta populations carry no Smarta line at all, because the category is not one that survey respondents use about themselves and not one with a membership to count. Any number offered here would be invented.

What can be described is influence. Advaita Vedanta, the philosophy Smartism carries, became in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the form in which Hinduism was presented to the world: by Vivekananda at Chicago in 1893, by Radhakrishnan, and by the neo-Vedanta movements that followed. When a general audience is told that Hinduism holds all religions to be paths to one reality and the many gods to be faces of a formless absolute, it is being told the Smarta position, and being told it as though it were the Hindu position. It is not. Dualist Vaishnava theologians reject it explicitly, and have done so for eight hundred years.

Institutionally the tradition is concentrated in the south (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra), in the Brahmin communities of those regions and in their very substantial professional diaspora. The Shankaracharyas of the four seats retain real authority, and are consulted and quoted on questions well beyond their own community.

The panchayatana arrangement, meanwhile, has quietly become the ordinary furniture of the Hindu domestic shrine, in a great many households that would not identify as Smarta at all.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Belongs to Tradition

Hinduism, Religions

Branch Of

Hinduism, Religions

Holds Element

Brahmin, Religious Roles & Titles

The Smarta tradition is brahminical in the strictest sense, its authority resting on the Veda and its practice carried by brahmin households.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Dashanami Sampradaya, Organizations

The ten-named renunciate order and the Smarta tradition both trace themselves to Shankara, and the heads of its four monasteries are the tradition's recognised authorities.

Gayatri Hymn, Hymns & Liturgical Texts

One verse of a longer sukta, held as a hymn and as a mantra at once, which is why the atlas refuses to make it choose.

Gayatri Mantra, Mantras

Recited at the junctures of the day, and the discipline a Smarta householder's observance is built around.

Ghanapatha, Sacred Sound

The most demanding of the recitation styles, and the one a reciter is examined on.

Source Tradition of Vedic Chanting, UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of HumanityUNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha, Mantras

Smarta worship of the five deities begins with Ganesha, so this is the mantra with which the rite opens.

Vedic Patha System (Recitation Styles), Sacred Sound

The graduated recitation styles are the discipline by which a household transmits its branch of the Veda across generations with no written text.

Source Tradition of Vedic Chanting, UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of HumanityUNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
Vedic Shakhas (Recensions), Sacred Sound

A family holds one branch of one Veda, and which branch it holds decides what it recites and how.

Source Tradition of Vedic Chanting, UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of HumanityUNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
Yajnopavita, Religious Dress & Vestments

The thread is given at the upanayana and worn across the left shoulder for life, marking the wearer as twice born and entitled to Vedic recitation.

Source Hindu Samskaras: Socio-Religious Study of the Hindu SacramentsRajbali Pandey

Held Differently

Murti, Sacred Objects & Ritual Items

Smarta practice sets five deities together in one rite and holds them equal, so no single image is the sole object and the worshipper may take any of the five as the one nearest at hand.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood

Objects and Practices of This Tradition

Acharya, Religious Roles & Titles

Acharya is the title behind Shankaracharya, the head of each of the monastic mathas Adi Shankara is traditionally credited with founding, the paradigmatic office of Smarta Advaita authority.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Advaita Vedanta (nondualism), Beliefs & Restrictions
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Atman, Doctrines

Smartism holds Atman, the individual self, to be identical with Brahman, per the non-dualism of Advaita Vedanta.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Brahma Sutras, Scriptures & Texts

The Brahma Sutras, read through Shankara's Advaita commentary, are the philosophical anchor of Smarta practice and doctrine.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Brahman, Doctrines

Smartism follows Advaita Vedanta's identification of ultimate reality as Brahman, the ground beneath every one of the panchayatana's five deities.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Ishta-Devata, Doctrines

Smartism holds that choosing an ishta-devata among the five sanctioned deities is personal temperament, not doctrine, since all five lead equally to Brahman.

Source A Survey of HinduismKlaus K. Klostermaier
Karma: action determines future rebirth, Beliefs & Restrictions
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Maya, Doctrines

Smartism holds Shankara's Advaita teaching that the world's apparent separateness from Brahman is Maya, an appearance dispelled by liberating knowledge.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Moksha: liberation from rebirth, Beliefs & Restrictions
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Panchayatana Puja, Doctrines

Panchayatana puja, worship of five deities as equal manifestations of one Brahman, is Smartism's defining, denomination-naming practice.

Source A Survey of HinduismKlaus K. Klostermaier
Puja (daily worship), Practices

Smarta households keep the panchayatana puja, worshipping Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, Ganesha and Surya together as five equal forms of one reality, so a preferred deity may be chosen without denying the rest.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Reincarnation (samsara), Beliefs & Restrictions
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Srimad Guru Adi Shankaracharya (Raja Ravi Varma / Ravi Varma Press), Sacred Art & Iconography

Depicts Adi Shankara, the organizer of Panchayatana worship whose teaching underlies Smartism, together with the four disciples the tradition credits with founding its four cardinal monastic centers.

Source Adi Shankaracharya (Raja Ravi Varma and Ravi Varma Press), The Ganesh Shivaswamy Foundation on Google Arts and CultureThe Ganesh Shivaswamy Foundation, catalogue entry
Swami, Religious Offices
Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
Swami, Religious Roles & Titles

Swami is the standard monastic title of the Dashanami Sannyasa order, founded within the Advaita tradition Smartism follows.

Source Puja: A Study in Smarta RitualGudrun Buhnemann
The cow is sacred and not eaten, Beliefs & Restrictions
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
The Four Mahavakyas, Doctrines

The Upanishadic Mahavakyas, cornerstone texts of Shankara's non-dualism, are held as core teaching within Smartism's Advaita framework.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Worship of five deities as forms of one Brahman (panchayatana), Beliefs & Restrictions
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Originates in Language

Sanskrit, Languages
Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)

Position On

Ahimsa, Doctrines

Non-injury is held in Smartism, and vegetarian diet is the norm in its brahminical households.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Avidya, Doctrines

Ignorance is held in Smartism in the Advaita sense, as what conceals the identity of self and absolute.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Bhakti, Doctrines

Devotion is practised in Smartism, at the five-deity domestic shrine, and it is not held to be the means of liberation: it purifies the mind for the knowledge that is.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Dana, Doctrines

Giving is held in Smartism among the household duties.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Dharma, Doctrines

Dharma is central in Smartism, which takes its name from the remembered texts that set out household and ritual duty.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Guru Parampara, Doctrines

The teaching lineage is held in Smartism, and the monastic seats traced to Shankara are its institutional form.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Jnana Yoga, Doctrines

The path of knowledge is held in Smartism as the means of liberation, with household ritual and worship preparing the mind for it.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Karma, Doctrines

Karma is held in Smartism, and the tradition's domestic ritual calendar is organised around obligations that are held to matter.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Moksha, Doctrines

The Advaita account of liberation, held with the fivefold worship as its devotional setting.

Neti Neti, Doctrines

Negation is held in Smartism as the method of approach to the absolute, following the Advaita reading.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Nirvikalpa Samadhi, Doctrines

Absorption without distinction is held in Smartism, following the Advaita account of it.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Papa and Punya, Doctrines

Merit and demerit are held in Smartism.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Paramatman, Doctrines

The supreme self is held in Smartism, read as the absolute with qualities and non-different from the absolute without them.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Pralaya, Doctrines

Periodic dissolution is held in Smartism.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Samadhi, Doctrines

Collected absorption is held in Smartism.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Samsara, Doctrines

Transmigration is held in Smartism.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Samskara, Doctrines

Latent impressions are held in Smartism, and the household rites of passage the tradition maintains carry the same name.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Sat-Chit-Ananda, Doctrines

Being, consciousness and bliss are held in Smartism as the Advaita description of the absolute.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
The Three Gunas, Doctrines

The three strands are held in Smartism.

Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Turiya, Doctrines

The fourth state is held in Smartism, following the Advaita reading of the Mandukya.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)
Vedanta, Doctrines

Vedanta is held in Smartism in its Advaita form, which is the tradition's theology.

Source Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His PupilsKarl H. Potter (ed.)

Related To

The Founding of the Four Mathas, Religious Events
Sources
1. Encyclopedia of Hinduism
Denise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.), Routledge, 2008s.v. SmartaView the Source
Tradition of Vedic Chanting, UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, UNESCO, 2008View the Source
Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume III: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His Pupils
Karl H. Potter (ed.), Motilal Banarsidass, 1981View the Source
Hindu Samskaras: Socio-Religious Study of the Hindu Sacraments
Rajbali Pandey, Motilal Banarsidass, 1969View the Source
An Introduction to Hinduism
Gavin Flood, Cambridge University Press, 1996View the Source
The Principal Upanishads
Harper, 1953The texts of Shankara's commentaries
Quote, The texts of Shankara's commentaries
Advaita Vedanta is argued from the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras, which Smarta practice holds authoritative alongside the smriti.
View the Source
World Religion Database
Todd M. Johnson and Gina A. Zurlo (eds.)The absence of a Smarta line in the sect estimates
Quote, The absence of a Smarta line in the sect estimates
The compilations that estimate Vaishnava, Shaiva and Shakta populations carry no figure for Smartas. None should be manufactured for symmetry.
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