The religious history of India has expressed itself in terms of what has come to be known as the Great Tradition and the Little Tradition. It is the synthesis of these two traditions that has given rise, through the process of evolution, to the present-day Hinduism. It is with this absorptive spirit of Hinduism with which this book deals by pointing out as to how Saivism, though belonging to the Little Tradition, has evolved as part and parcel of Brahmanism. While being absorbed by Brahmanism, Saivism at the same time has maintained its personal identity in terms of its scriptures and spiritual practices.
Although a part of Brahmanism, yet Saivism itself has so evolved in terms of metaphysical thought as to parallel the larger pattern of metaphysical thought of Hinduism in general. Thus the Saivite thought, while following the metaphysical footprints of Brahamanism, ultimately has climaxed in the non-dualistic recognitive philosophy of the Trika.