The Five Prime Deities: Vishnu (God of Protection), Shiva (Supreme Being), Brahma (God of Creation), Ganesha (Remover of Obstacles) and Shakti (The divine energy) are all treated as equal in the Smarta tradition.
The revived Smarta Tradition attempted to integrate varied and conflicting devotional practices, with its ideas of nondual experience of Atman (self, soul) as Brahman. The rapprochement included the practice of pancayatana-puja (five shrine worship), wherein a Hindu could focus on any saguna deity of choice (istadevata) such as Vishnu, Shiva, Durga, Surya or Ganesha, as an interim step towards realizing the nirguna Brahman. The growth of this Smarta Tradition began in the Gupta period (4th-5th century CE), and likely was dominated by Dvija classes, in particular the Brahmins, of the early medieval Indian society. This Smarta Tradition competed with other major traditions of Hinduism such as Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and Shaktism.
The ideas of Smarta Tradition were historically influential, creative with concepts such as of Harihara (half Shiva, half Vishnu deity) and Ardhanarishvara (half woman, half man deity), and many of the major scholars of Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Bhakti movement came out of the Smarta Tradition.
According to Murray Milner Jr., a professor of Sociology, the Smarta tradition refers to "Hindus who tend toward Brahmanical orthodoxy in both thought and behavior". Smartas are usually committed to a "relatively unified Hinduism" and they reject extreme forms of sectarian isolationism, reminiscent of the European discourse about church and Christian sects. The tradition, states Milner, has roots that emerged sometime between 3rd century BCE and 3rd century CE, likely in response to the growth of Jainism and Buddhism. It reflected a Hindu synthesis of four philosophical strands: Mimamsa, Advaita, Yoga and theism.
Smarta tradition emerged initially as a synthesis movement to unify Hinduism into a nonsectarian form based on the Vedic heritage. It accepted varnasrama-dharma, states Bruce Sullivan, which reflected an acceptance of Varna (caste/class) and ashrama (four stages of human life) as a form of social and religious duty. In the later second half of the 1st millennium, Adi Shankara reformed and brought ideas to the movement in the form of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy. Smarta as a tradition emphasized all gods as equal and different ways of perceiving the all-pervasive metaphysical impersonal Brahman.
Category: Polytheism
Religion: Hinduism
Tutelary Deities: Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Ganesha and Shakti
Advantage: Smarta emphasizes all gods as equal and different ways of perceiving the all-pervasive metaphysical impersonal Brahman.
Disadvantage: The Divine Presence is abandoned by the fully enlightened once he or she realizes the identity of their own soul with that of the "Highest Brahman".
