Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who worships Shiva.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A votary of Siva.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One of an important religious sect in India which regards Siva with peculiar veneration.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Hinduism A worshiper of Siva or practicer of Shaivism.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Sanskrit śaiva-, belonging to Shiva, from Śivaḥ, Shiva.]

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Examples

  • The Tamil classical tradition consists of two great components: an ethical treatise called Thirukural abbreviated Kural, authored by the great sage Thiruvalluvar, and a sophisticated Vedanta philosophical system called Saiva Siddhanta, which traces its origins to the Vedas and was nurtured by many Tamil savants over the centuries.

    Rajiv Malhotra: How Evangelists Invented 'Dravidian Christianity' Rajiv Malhotra 2011

  • The Tamil classical tradition consists of two great components: an ethical treatise called Thirukural abbreviated Kural, authored by the great sage Thiruvalluvar, and a sophisticated Vedanta philosophical system called Saiva Siddhanta, which traces its origins to the Vedas and was nurtured by many Tamil savants over the centuries.

    Rajiv Malhotra: How Evangelists Invented 'Dravidian Christianity' Rajiv Malhotra 2011

  • It records the erection of a Saiva temple and sectarian hostel.

    c. 870-88 2001

  • The Chalukya ruler, Jayasimha Siddharaja, a patron of letters, although himself a Saiva, organized disputations on philosophy and religion, and favored a Jain monk, Hemachandra, who converted and dominated Kumarapala.

    3. South Asia, 1000-1500 2001

  • As viceroy before accession, he was converted from Jainism to Vishnu by Ramanuja, at that time a refugee from Saiva persecution by the Cholas.

    1076-1147 2001

  • A successful invasion of Ceylon permitted assignment of Singhalese revenues to the Saiva great pagoda of Rajarajesvara, which Rajaraja I built at Tanjore, the masterpiece of baroque Dravidian architecture.

    c. South India 2001

  • He also built (c. 1169) a new edifice about the Saiva temple of Somanatha, which had been reconstructed by Bhimadeva I (1022–62) after destruction by the Moslems.

    3. South Asia, 1000-1500 2001

  • Ajayapala, a Saiva reactionary, ordered the massacre of Jains and the sacking of their temples, until he was assassinated.

    3. South Asia, 1000-1500 2001

  • The south, however, placed its own impress on what it received and developed linga-worship, bhakti devotion to Vishnu and Siva, organization of Saiva monasteries and laymen, occasional violent religious intolerance, especially between adherents of Vishnu and Siva, and municipal and corporate life with a sacrificial spirit of personal loyalty.

    c. South India 2001

  • So too the Saiva and Vaishnava sculptures of the Das Avatara cave-temple at Ellora.

    c. South India 2001

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