There are generally 5 major sects in Hinduism based on chief deity of worship. Unfortunately, Saura and Ganapatya is close to extinction now. They generally employ the process of worship based on their resective Agama.
Vaishnava
Vishnu is treated as the Supreme Godhead. He is said to be the sthiti-karaka, the eternal and the cause of all states of existence and the pervader. Vishnu is a Vedic deity. Vaishnavas are almost purely smartas, and the agamas they regard are Vaikhanasa and Pancaratras. The Vaishnava concept of bhakti is most famous. They describe five kinds of devotee-God relations, or five forms of devotion to God. They are santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhura. In order, they are calm devotion, being a servant to God, being a friend of God, treating God as a child and treating God as husband. Though these in varying degrees are practiced by all religions they are explicitly categorized by the Vaishnavas. There are also five different forms in which the Godhead manifests according to Vaishnavas - Para, Arca, Vibhava, Vyuha and Antaryami.
There are many different schools in Vishnu-worship or Vaishnava: Smarta (Bhagavata mata) Sri Vaishnava (followers of Ramanujacarya - Visistadvaitins) Sad-Vaishnava (followers of Madhvacarya - Dvaita) Gaudiya Vaishnava (Bhedabheda) Vallabha Sampradaya (Shuddhadvaita) Nimbarka Sampradaya (Dvaitadvaita)
Saiva
Siva is treated as the Supreme Godhead. He is said to be the eternal, and the first cause of existence. Siva is a Vedic deity. There are many forms of Siva-worship, in smarta as well as Tantra. The smartas who are worshippers of Siva are usually advaitins. There are dvaita versions of Saiva too. There are many sects in Saiva, such as Bhairavas, Kapalikas, Veera Saivas. These are worship modes and worships of different forms of Siva and not different spiritual philosophies. The Saiva Agamas are twenty eight in number. There are two kinds of Saiva Agamas, Kashmira and Siddhanta. The former are followed in north and latter in south India.
Sakta
Sakti, the Mother-Godess is treated as the Supreme Godhead. She is said to be the primal rhythmic energy, and the cause of all manifestation and action. Sakti could be found in multiple forms in the Veda, like Durga, Gauri, Saraswati, Dakshina, Bharati and Sri. There are both smarta and Tantric forms of Sakti-worship. The Sakti worshippers are usually advaitins.
There are ten forms in which Sakti is worshipped, Ganga, Bhavani, Gayatri Kali, Laksmi, Sarasvati, Rajarajesvari, Bala, Syamala and Lalita.
There are ten forms knowledge of Sakti or Mahavidyas, namely Kali, Tara, Chinnamasta, Bhuvaneshwari, Bagala, Dhumavati, Kamala, Matangi, Sodasi and Bhairavi. They include the philosophy, methods of worship with mantra, Yantra and Tantra.
The worship and knowledge of Sakti, is called Sri Vidya. There are schools like Pancadasi and Sodasi, which expound the philosophy of Sri Vidya. While Pancadasi is purely smarta, sodasi being a Mahavidya includes Tantric part too. The Sri Chakra or Sri Yantra is the one used in Sri Vidya. The devata is called Tripurasundari again called with names like Lalita and Bala.
Sakti is worshipped in three major forms, as a child or maiden (Bala), as the consort of Siva (Parvati/Uma) and as Kali. Because of this, many schools worship Siva and Sakti together.
Saura
Surya is treated as the Supreme Godhead. He is said to be the giver of life, and the soul of all beings. Surya/Aditya/Savitr is a Vedic deity. Saura is a comparatively less practiced religion, but was more in practice a few centuries ago. There are few famous temples of Surya, like the ones in Konark (Orissa) and Arasavalli (Andhra Pradesh).
Though Saura as an exclusive religion is not very famous, worship of Surya (as Savitr devata) is done by every practicing Brahmin in his Sandhya vandana thrice a day. Savitri is the sakti associated. She is said to be in three forms, Gayatri, Savitri and Saraswati (in the three parts of the day).
Ganapatya
Ganapathi is treated as the Supreme Godhead. He is the leader of all the forces or the pramadha ganas. In addition, Ganapati is the deity of obstacles and is to be worshipped before beginning any major work. He is said to reside and rule the muladhara or the base of energy centers. This is in fact the reason why He should be worshipped first, before any other deity. Thus, Ganapati is also said to be all the four forms of vak or word (para-pasyanti-madhyama-vaikhari). Ganapati is found as Brahmanaspati in the Veda.
Though worshiped all over, exclusive Ganapati worship is found more in Maharasthra and Karnataka. There are variedly eight, sixteen and thirty two forms in which Ganapati is worshipped.
Besides, there are many Tantric forms of worship of Ganapati, like Lakshmiganapati, Pingalaganapati, Uchchishtaganapati and Urdhvaganapati.
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