Swaminarayan Sampradaya

The Swaminarayan Sampradaya, also called Swaminarayan Hinduism, is a Hindu Vaishnava tradition rooted in Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita philosophy, centered on the worship of its founder Sahajanand Swami, known as Swaminarayan, who lived from 1781 to 1830 and whom adherents regard as an avatar of Krishna or the supreme manifestation of God. Swaminarayan institutionalized the tradition during his lifetime through temple building, the writing of scripture and the creation of an organizational structure, establishing two hereditary dioceses in 1826, the Laxmi Narayan Dev Gadi at Vadtal and the Nar Narayan Dev Gadi at Ahmedabad. The tradition is based in Gujarat, India, with an estimated 5 million adherents as of 2001 and a now-global presence.