The acharya lineage transmits a Vaishnava sampradaya's teaching from founder to founder, exemplified by Ramanuja for Sri Vaishnavism.
Source The Theology of Ramanuja: An Essay in Interreligious UnderstandingJohn B. Carman
Source The Princeton Dictionary of BuddhismRobert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
The Bhagavad Gita, Krishna's own teaching, holds uniquely central authority within Vaishnavism among Hinduism's shared scriptures.
Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
The central Purana of Vaishnavism, source of the extended Krishna narrative core to Vaishnava devotional theology.
Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Bhakti to Vishnu, grounded in the Bhagavad Gita and expanded by the Tamil Alvar poet-saints, is the primary path to liberation held by Vaishnavism.
Source Bhagavad GitaTraditionally attributed to Vyasa
Vaishnavism makes loving surrender to Vishnu and his avatars the whole of the path rather than one option among several, taught through Ramanuja's qualified nondualism in which the soul stays distinct from the God it depends on.
Source Bhagavad GitaTraditionally attributed to Vyasa
Vaishnavas repeat the divine names, most visibly the Hare Krishna mantra of the Gaudiya lineage, counted on tulsi beads and also sung collectively as kirtan to drum and cymbals, since the name is held to carry the deity's presence.
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Vaishnavas read the festival above all as Rama's return to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana, the lamps set out to light his way home, and worship Lakshmi, consort of Vishnu, for prosperity on the new moon night.
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Grace and self-effort in Vaishnavism, first articulated within Sri Vaishnavism, names a debate over divine grace that runs through Vaishnavism as a whole.
Source The Theology of Ramanuja: An Essay in Interreligious UnderstandingJohn B. Carman
Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
Vishnu, often approached through an avatar such as Krishna or Rama, is the ishta-devata of Vaishnavism, held as Para Brahman, supreme reality, not one god among equals.
Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Vaishnavas fast until midnight, the hour of Krishna's birth, then greet it with bells, singing and the rocking of an infant image in a cradle; for a tradition centred on Krishna this is the chief festival of the year.
Source Bhagavata PuranaAnonymous
A devotional cycle of eight plays on the life of Krishna, staged as worship at his own Guruvayur temple.
Source Krishnanattam (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Lila, Vishnu's playful, unconstrained activity in creation, is affirmed doctrine describing how the Vaishnava supreme deity acts in the world.
Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Mahapurusha, the supreme person, is affirmed doctrine identifying Vishnu as the ultimate reality of Vaishnavism, not merely its principal deity.
Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
Source Sankirtana, Ritual Singing, Drumming and Dancing of Manipur, UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of HumanityUNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
Vaishnava puja is offered to Vishnu or Krishna and their consorts, with tulsi leaves indispensable to the offering, and the food given must be vegetarian since what returns as prasad has been eaten by the deity first.
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source An Introduction to HinduismGavin Flood
A Vaishnava renunciate order in the line of Ramananda.
Source The Dasanami-Samnyasis: The Integration of Ascetic Lineages into an OrderMatthew James Clark
Source The Theology of Ramanuja: An Essay in Interreligious UnderstandingJohn B. Carman
Source Raslila (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source Encyclopedia of HinduismDenise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.)
Vaishnavas hold vegetarianism a condition of worship rather than a preference, since food is offered to the deity before it is eaten and only vegetarian food may be offered; the Gaudiya lineages also exclude onion and garlic.
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Yakshagana developed and was popularized during the Vaishnava Bhakti devotional movement.
Source Yakshagana (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors