Kashmir Shaivism
nondualist Kashmiri Hindu tradition
Kashmir Shaivism is a 19th-century umbrella-term for a body of Sanskrit exegetical literature of non-dual Shaiva-Shakta tantric and monistic religious traditions from Kashmir, "principally the Trika and the Krama," both subschools of the Kaula-tradition. This exegetical tradition developed in Kashmir after 850 CE, as an adaptation to upper-class Hindu norms of 'wild' tantric Kaula traditions, replacing Shaiva Siddhanta as the dominant form of Saivism. It includes the Spanda ('Divine vibration') teachings, and the "Philosophy of Recognition" (Pratyabhijñā) of the Kashmir Trika-school. The term "Kashmir Shaivism" is often used synonymously for the Kashmir Trika-school and its pratyabhijñā philosophy.
The Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta (9th c. CE) and the Spanda Karika (9th c. CE) are the central texts of the Spanda system, interpreting Shakti as spanda, "cosmic pulsation" or "divine vibration", the active and creative energy of Shiva.
Defining features of the Trika tradition are the use of several triads in its philosophy, including the three goddesses Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā; and its idealistic and monistic teaching of pratyabhijna ("direct knowledge of one's self," "recognition") philosophical system, propounded by Utpaladeva (c. 925–975 CE) and Abhinavagupta (c. 975–1025 CE).
“Kashmir Shaivism” enters the record as nondualist Kashmiri Hindu tradition. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Kashmir, Shaivism and nondualist can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1734884. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1025.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kashmir Shaivism” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.