Integration of cults

The essentials

Historians who have tried to understand religious developments in this period suggest that there were at least two processes at work. One was a process of disseminating Brahmanical ideas, through the composition, compilation and preservation of Puranic texts in simple Sanskrit verses, explicitly meant to be accessible to women and Shudras, who were generally excluded from Vedic learning. At the same time there was a second process: Brahmanas accepted and reworked the beliefs and practices of these and other social categories.

Many beliefs and practices were shaped through a continuous dialogue between what sociologists have described as "great" Sanskritic Puranic traditions and "little" traditions throughout the land.

Key points

• A striking example is at Puri, Orissa, where the principal deity was identified, by the twelfth century, as Jagannatha (literally, lord of the world), a form of Vishnu. The deity has been made by local tribal specialists, which suggests that it was originally a local deity later identified with Vishnu.
• Similarly, local goddesses, often worshipped as stones smeared with ochre, were incorporated into the Puranic framework by identifying them as wives of the main male deities: as Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, or as Parvati, the wife of Shiva.
• Tantric practices were widespread; they were open to women and men and often ignored differences of caste and class within ritual contexts. These ideas influenced Shaivism and Buddhism.
• There were sometimes tensions between those who followed Vedic traditions (sacrifices, chanting mantras) and those who valued Tantric practices or bhakti.
• The term "great tradition" and "little tradition" was coined by sociologist Robert Redfield.

Common mistakes

• Assuming "little" tradition means unimportant; it refers to local, non-textual practices.