Internal lineage · sampradāya
Kashmiri Śaivism (Trika)
कश्मीर शैवKāśmīra ŚaivaFounder / origin — Vasugupta and Abhinavagupta (9th–11th c. CE)
Non-dual Śaivism — the whole universe is a vibration (spanda) of a single, self-luminous Śiva-consciousness.
Kashmiri Śaivism, or Trika, is a non-dual tantric philosophy of pure recognition (pratyabhijñā). Śiva alone exists; the world is His self-representation, a spontaneous vibration of consciousness (spanda). Abhinavagupta's Tantrāloka synthesises the tradition's aesthetic, ritual, and philosophical wings — a rare fusion of tantra, poetics, and non-dual Vedāntic reasoning.
Related essays
Essay · Vocabulary
What is Dharma — and what is a Hindu?
The words Dharma, Sanātana and Hindu — where they come from, what they actually mean, and how the four great sampradāyas (Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism, Śāktism, Smārtism) scale the same spiritual mountain from different sides.
Essay · Cosmogony
Trimūrti — Scriptural Origins
A comparative study of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva — Vedic antecedents, Upanishadic identifications, Purāṇic narratives, and the non-dual paradigm of Kashmiri Trika Shaivism.
Essay · Śaiva Cosmology
The Infinite Forms of the Formless — Śiva's descents and cosmic purpose
Unlike Viṣṇu's ten physical Dashāvatāras, Śiva's descents are Anśāvatāras and Rudras — instantaneous manifestations that dissolve ego, transmit Yoga, and restore Dharma. A tour of the 19 Primary Avatars, the 11 Rudras, the 28 Yogeśvaras, the Pañchabrahma, and the Śaiva-Vaiṣṇava synthesis of Hanumān as the 11th Rudra — anchored to the Mathurā Pillar Inscription of 380 CE.
Essay · Temple architecture
Echoes, shadows and sacred geometry — 11 architectural marvels of the Hindu dynasties
Ancient and medieval Hindu builders treated stone as an instrument of optics, acoustics, geology and celestial alignment. Eleven wonders — from a solar sundial of zodiac pillars at Sringeri to a mountain chiselled from the top down at Ellora, musical monoliths at Hampi, a shadowless Chola apex, a hanging pillar at Lepakshi and an inverted stepwell in Patan.
