Saiva sampradayas

[Arcanum]

namaste
What is difference between saiva sampradayas? As far as I know there are Vira Shaivam, Kashmiri Shaivism and Saiva Sidhantham sampradayas. Are there any more lineages?

om namah shivaya

[Agnideva]

Namaste Arcanum,

Please take a look at the chapter on Six Schools of Saivism from Dancing with Siva by Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. This chapter summarizes the six "formal" schools of Shaivism, their similarities and differences. Apart from the six schools there are many lineages of Shaivite ascetics also.

In addition to all these, there is a significant contingent of Advaita Vedanta followers who are also Shiva worshippers, but may not necessarily consider themselves "Shaivites".

What unites them all is the five-syllabled Yajurvedic mantra: na-ma-shi-vA-ya.

Aum Namah Shivaya,
A.