Religions · sampradāyas · darśanas
Traditions
सम्प्रदायSanātana Dharma is not a single church. It is a family of traditions — some grew into distinct religions of their own, others remained internal sampradāyas and philosophical schools. Both share the same soil.
Sanātana-rooted religions
Distinct religions that share the śramaṇa and Vedic ferment of ancient Bhārata — Jain, Bauddha, Sikh, Ārya Samāj and Brahmo Samāj.
24 Tīrthaṅkaras · last: Mahāvīra (6th c. BCE)
Non-violence (ahiṃsā), non-absolutism (anekāntavāda), non-possession (aparigraha); liberation through right faith, knowledge, and conduct.
Siddhārtha Gautama, the Buddha (5th c. BCE)
The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path; dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda); non-self (anātman) and nirvāṇa.
Guru Nānak Dev (1469–1539) and the ten Gurus
One formless God (Ik Onkar); devotion (nām simran); honest work; sharing with the community; equality of all humans.
Swāmī Dayānanda Saraswatī (1875)
Return to Vedic authority; monotheism; rejection of image-worship, caste rigidity, and later ritual accretions.
Rājā Rām Mohan Roy (1828)
Formless, one Brahman; rational-ethical monotheism; rejection of ritualism, caste, and social ills.
Internal lineages & schools
Philosophical sampradāyas within the Sanātana fold — the Vedāntic schools, tantric traditions, and devotional lineages.
Ādi Śaṅkarācārya (8th c. CE)
Non-dualism — Brahman alone is real; the world is māyā; ātman is Brahman.
Rāmānujācārya (1017–1137 CE)
Qualified non-dualism — Brahman is Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa with the world and selves as His inseparable body.
Madhvācārya (1238–1317 CE)
Strict dualism — Brahman (Viṣṇu), selves, and matter are eternally distinct.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu (1486–1534 CE)
Acintya-bheda-abheda — inconceivable oneness and difference; devotion to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa through kīrtan.
Vasugupta and Abhinavagupta (9th–11th c. CE)
Non-dual Śaivism — the whole universe is a vibration (spanda) of a single, self-luminous Śiva-consciousness.
Basavaṇṇa (12th c. CE)
Devotion to Śiva as iṣṭaliṅga worn on the body; radical social egalitarianism; work as worship (kāyaka).
Matsyendranātha and Gorakṣanātha (c. 9th–12th c. CE)
Tantric yoga tradition centred on haṭha and rāja yoga; the body as vehicle of realisation.
Bhagwān Swāminārāyaṇ (1781–1830)
Devotion to Puruṣottama Nārāyaṇa; strict ethical discipline; service and community-building.