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Revision as of 12:46, 13 October 2004 by Raj2004 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Vaishnavism is the branch of Hinduism in which Vishnu or one of his avatars (i.e., incarnations) is worshipped as the supreme God.
Major branches of Vaishnavism include Srivaishnavism, (espoused by Ramanuja) who advocated the Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, Dvaita (espoused by Madhvacharya or Madhva] and Gaudiya Vaishnavism (espoused by Shri Chaityana.)
The Hare Krishna movement or ISKCON adheres to Gaudiya Vaishnavism school.
The distinction between this branch and others is made by those who study religion. However it may not always be clear to practising Hindus who often take freely from the practices of the different branches. It is likely that a majority (75-80%) of today's Hindus would consider themselves Vaishnava, if pressed to make a distinction. Of the remainder, most would probably consider themselves Saivites.
Vishnu and Shiva are sometimes visualized as a single divinity named Harihara.
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