Tracing the Growth of Shaivaism in Jammu

Within the larger pantheon of Hinduism, Shaivism is one of the major religious sects that worship Shiva as the Supreme Being. It is the one of the old religions of the east and is also known as one of the prominent religious cults of India. The doctrine which centers on the philosophical aspect of Rudra Shiva goes back through ages and it developed and flourished with time. Shaivism is not a single cult but a mixture of different cults. From prehistoric times down to the early centuries of the Christian era the annals of this cult was unluckily not prominent. The history of this cult may be traced to the beginnings of human civilization on earth, like the cult of mother Goddess. Both emerged from the fertility cult. The earliest historical record to the worship of Shiva was given by Megasthenes, a Greek ambassador, at Pataliputra about 300B.C. Dionysus and Herakles, two deities generally identified with Siva and Krishna respectively were described by him. In the Mahabhashya, Patanjali gave the reference to the Shiva bhagavatas and also describes the images of Shiva and Skanda being sold by Mauryas to raise money in the time of crisis during second century B.C. This shows the popularity of this cult. In this paper we would try to understand the evolution of Shaiva religion in the ambits of Jammu region. Kuljeet Singh "Tracing the Growth of Shaivaism in Jammu" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-6 , October 2021, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd47536.pdf Paper URL : https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/history/47536/tracing-the-growth-of-shaivaism-in-jammu/kuljeet-singh