History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s8.23

v3.c41.s8.23

It is unfortunate that these attempts at unifying Śaivism and Vaishṇavism did not catch and that Hinduism remained and remains split into two main schisms. It is not possible to ask Hinduism or Jainism to give up Ahimsā as it is but the logical outcome of their spiritual development. It is difficult also to decide whether monism is true or dualism and nothing is lost if people agree to differ on the question whether God and the world are one or are two. But surely, Hinduism can give up the controversy whether Śiva is greater or Vishṇu. Yet a Chola king persecuted people for believing that Vishṇu was greater and Adhirājendra called Krimikantha by the Vaishṇavas destroyed a Vaishṇava temple on the Chidambaram hill (I. A. 1912). Attempts were made by later thinkers like Tulasidas, in imitation of the plain attempt of the Mahābhārata, to reconcile the two worships, the animosity between which seems to be as old as the Mahābhārata, by showing that Śiva praises Vishṇu as the highest God and Vishṇu praises Śiva as the highest (see Upamanyu Ākhyāna in the Anuśāsana Parvan). But an attempt may also be made in the wake of Pradyumneśvara by combining the two gods in the same idol or like the idol of Vithoba in Pandharpur having a Śiva Linga on its head, a Śiva Linga may have an image of Vishṇu carved or fastened on its top. If such attempts at combining the two worships are systematically made, this split in Hinduism can be made up and one cause of weakness among the Hindus at least can be removed.