Shaivism holds Shiva as the supreme rather than as the destroyer in a triad — and the character of that supremacy is what distinguishes it: Shiva is the ascetic on the mountain, smeared with ash, dancing the cosmos into and out of existence, at home in cremation grounds. The tradition is philosophically diverse, ranging from the non-dual Kashmir Shaivism to the dualist Shaiva Siddhanta of the Tamil south, and it has always been friendlier to renunciates and outsiders than the temple mainstream.