Worshipper of god 'Shiva is called a Shaiva and preference given to the worship of this God may be called Shavism. The term commonly used for a sect is Sampradaya' signifying a tradition, a body or group of person who believe in a traditionary doctrine originated by a teacher and handed down from generation to generation —sects are named after the deity worshipped Shaivite after Shiva.

Shiva — Sadashiva, Shankara, Shamby — the eternal reproductive power of nature, perpetually restoring and reproducing itself after dissolution, under which mysterious character he is often identified with the eternal creative essence and even with the great eternal Supreme Being, as the one God (Mahadeva) and Supreme Lord he is rather represented by a symbol (The Linga).

It is generally worshipped in the form of a stone image, and is sometimes represented by danda or staff carried by certain Shavite orders.

By the seventh century the sect known as the Shaiva Siddhantas rose to prominence, and its followers were responsible for a profuse literature.

Shaiva Siddhanta as the most elaborate, influential and undoubtedly the most valuable of all the religions of India.