friends, i humbly present a point here. the saivism or the siddhantha saivam that is popular among a small elite in tamil speaking regions has a fundamental difference with the vaishnavism.
the vaishnavites in tamil country advocate a vedantha philosophy. they beleive in vedhantha. whereas the saivam is a siddhantham.
1.vedhantham is a cosmocentric philosophy( that is "cosmic power" is prime) siddhantham is ontogenic philosophy( this is giving "the being" importance)
2.vedhantham is subjective idealism siddhantham is objective realism
3.vedhantham is an outward religion( debatable and not accepted by all) siddhantham is an inward religion
4.vedhantham has vedas as origin siddhantham claims agama as its origin
5.vadhantham has more importance to rituals( debatable) siddhantham has more imortance to the actions(debatable)
6. both of them eventually become a monistic philosophy in its later themes, but saivism is more monistic than vedantham.
recently we had world sava conference in chidambaram and these points were discussed. however the heads of the important ADHEENAMS have advocated for a unity between vedantham and siddhantham. they also expressed a desire for sanskrit-tamil cordiality.
while siddhantham is wrongly portrayed as a tamil-southern religion the vedantham is also wrongly portrayed as a sanskrit -northern faith.
vishnu or siva images have their importance only from the puranic period in north india( say: gupta period). prior to this there were only philosophical differences. common people do not understand the metaphysical arguments.
1. Advaita Vaishnavam - Jeevatma and Paramatma are the same. The Paramatma Brahman takes many forms. The Paramatham Brahman has 6 supreme forms - Siva, Vishnu, Shakthi, Murugn, Ganesa and Soorya. A person can worship any of the one but with the knowledge that the moorti he worships is also a manifestation of Brahman.
Followed in Kerala - temples like Guruvayur
2. Vishitadvaida Vaishnavam - Jeevatma and Paramatma are different but can become one. The supreme is Vishnu - Majoity of Vaishnavas come under this category
This has 2 subdivisions - Vaikanasam and Pancharatram ie Vadakalai and Thenkalai
3, Dwaida Vaishnavam - Jeevatma and Paramatma are always different and cannot become one. Siva and Vishnu are main moortis but Vishnu is first among the equals. Places like Udupi follow this.
4. Vallabha Siddanta Vaishnava - Jeevatma and Paramatma relationship is exactly same as Advaita. But Brahman is lord Krishna himself. - Gujrat, gaudiya mutts follw thi principle.
Saivam -
1. Advaita Saivam - practised in Kerala,daily worship ofKanchim Sringeri mutts, Chidambaram temple, Thirugnana Sambandar are all in this category. 2. Sivadvaidam - here the Jeevatma paramatma relationship is same a advaita and the brahman is Siva himself. - Tirumoolar, Thayumanavar
3. Siddantha Saivam:The Tamil compendium of devotional songs known as Tirumurai, along with the Vedas, the Shaiva Agamas and "Meykanda" or "Siddhanta" Shastras,[6] form the scriptural canon of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta.
thnk you, no denial sir, but the siva siddhantha scholars proposed these differences in the WSC meetings. even the ADHEENAMS did not object such an attitude. actually i left one more difference that is: MAYA is internal in siddhantham whereas it is external in vedantham.
one can appreciate these differences only if they go deeper with metaphysics. many can not go to this level simply because of lack of interest. those who are obsessed with them do this and they are popular godmen in the society or lay metaphicians in universities.