Explain with examples what historians mean by the integration of cults.

Meaning of integration of cults:

(i)    From tenth to seventeenth century the most striking religious features is the increasing visibility of a wide range of god and goddess in sculpture as well as in religious books (texts) at one level, this indicates the continued and extended worship of major deities-Vishnu, Shiva and goddesses like Durga, Laxmi or Parvati-each of whom was visualised in a variety of forms.

(ii)    Historians who have tried to understand these developments suggest that there were at least two processes at work. One was a process of disseminating Brahmanical ideas. This is exemplified by the composition, compilation and preservation of Puranic texts in simple Sanskrit verse, explicitly meant to be accessible to women and Shudras, who were generally excluded from Vedic learning. At the same time, there was a second process at work - that of the Brahmanas accepting and reworking the beliefs and practices of these and other social categories. In fact, many beliefs and practices were shaped through a continuous dialogue between what sociologists have described as “great” Sanskritic Puranic traditions and “little” traditions throughout the land.

Example 1 : One of the most striking examples of this process is evident at Puri, Orissa, where the principal deity was identified, by the twelfth century, as Jagannatha (literally, the lord of the world), a form of Vishnu.

Example 2 : Through an instance we can say that a local deity whose image was continues to be made of wood by local tribal specialists, was recognised as a form of Vishnu. At the same time, Vishnu was visualised in a way that was very different from that in other parts of the country.

Such instances of integration are evident amongst goddess cults as well. Worship of the goddess, often simply in the form of a stone smeared with ochre, was evidently widespread.