HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SITUATIONS DURING THE COMPOSITION OF SASTRA TEXTS OF SAIVA SIDDHANTHA:

The period between 3^rd BCE and 3^rd CE  is known as the sangam age. The sangam age did not have an exclusive saivite activity. Saivam was one of the several religions like Jainism, Buddhism, vaisnavism,  saktham, kaumaram, animism, and many primitive cults.

After this there was a Jain rule in tamilagam. The rulers were  called as “kalabrahs”. They ruled up to the late 5^th century CE. Some of the sangam  and kalabrah age artifacts and structures  still survive in the coastal village poompuhar  (nagapatnam district)  today. It was a Jain phase of tamilagam.

There was a definite jain-buddhist deconstruction that took place in tamilagam (present day tamilnadu, Kerala and northern srilanka)in 6^th century.  Saivism replaced most other religions by force during the period from 6^th century CE.. Jain monasteries were destroyed.  There was hegemony of saivam, patronized by the rulers. It caused a lot of hatred among other sects towards saivam. The period from the 6^th   to 8^th century CE  Pallavas (பல்லவர்)ruled cholamandalam.

 The imperial cholas ruled most of the tamilagam  from 9^TH  till 13^TH  century CE. It was the age of Saiva devotional hymns and the thirumurai (Saiva renaissance period). This period saw the elevation of saivam as a dominant sect in tamilagam[i].

Thirumanthiram, which is a work based on Siva agama was written in 5th century. It contains many of the earliest rituals and its practice. The Thevaram sung by appar, sambandhar and sundhararar were  compiled by Nambiyandar Nambi in 11^th century. Thiruvasagam written by manikavasakar was added to this list.

Last thirumurai  was Periapuranam by Sekkizhar of 13^th  century. The twelve thirumurais  were anthologized at this period . The 63 nayanmars  and 9 thogai-adiyars (தொகையடியார்)(community of saints) were  canonized. Temple constructions achieved its peak during this period.

PAUCITY OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE THIRUMURAIS:

The thirumurais were by and large used for the propagation of saivism . They do have  philosophical insights into saivism. But  much of the content of the core metaphysical issues of gnana kandam of the agamas are exclusively studied in the siddhantha sastras only. The periya puranam is the life stories of 63 nayanmars and 9 groups of adiyars. Even though the metaphysical aspects have not fully blossomed in the thirumurais, the thirumandhiram contains most of the  reflective aspects of siddantham -among the thirumurai texts.

 Any general onlooker of siddhantham would be first charmed by the sheer number of verses in the thirumurais (more than 10,000).  Almost all the murai texts are (samhithas)prayer songs.   To see the reflective aspects one has to go to the sastra texts. The development of sastra texts even though happened in 5-6^th centuries itself, they were not elevated to a sanctified status till 12-13^th centuries. Let us see this now.

In the end of 13^th  century the cholamandalam (Cauvery delta) was beginning to see the decline of IMPERIAL CHOLAS(சோழர்). The advent  of Pandyas  from Madurai led to complete fall of cholans.  This period saw the  forming monasteries in the Cauvery delta in order to preserve the theological literature and schools of thought.

The Saiva savants acquired liberal land and temple administrative rights from the rulers.The philosophical  tenets have become adequate and Saiva religion was firmly  established in south India and northern srilanka. This was the period when most of upper India was in instability. But in southern India  it was an era of growth and consolidation of Hinduism. Scholars worked to compile the “metaphysical treatises” into a formal anthology[ii].

Meykandar of pennagadam settled in Chidambaram, finalized his seminal work SIVAGNANABODHAM.(சிவஞானபோதம்). His disciples Umapathi, Maraignanam and Arulnandhi namely in succession followed his mission. The 14 sastra texts were canonized into “Meikanda sandana texts”. (மெய்கண்ட சந்தானங்கள்).

The Thiruvaduthurai adheenam was first established after this period, and it was followed by the other Saiva monasteries along the Cauvery river banks like the dharumapuram adheenam and the panandhal kasi madam.

Subsequent political changes lead to power vacuum for about a century.  The Vijayanagar Empire occupied cholamandalam in 14^th  century. They had appointed nayakars (governors) to rule their territories in southindia. Tanjore was one such nayak. They were telugu-vaishnavites. However the monasteries continued to get patronage. The fall of nayakars led to a brief Marathi interlude in the 17th century. This  did not disturb savite traditions and siddhantha works. Temple constructions and siddhantha philosophy were encouraged by this Hindu rulers.

They were followed till  the  European missionaries  came to  Tanjore  by 1700AD.  There were a few noteworthu Christian scholars who admired saiva texts and religion like                           Bartholomaus Ziegan Palk[iii] and G.U.Pope.Thus this region had an unique oppurtunity for preserving the saivite heritage continuously for two milleniam.

Hence forth from 19^th century we find a decline in orthodox saivite studies and religion. There were more liberal and humanistic schools[iv] like the one started by Ramalinga vallalar are seen (SAMARASA SATHYA SUDDHA SANMARGAM) சமரச சத்திய சுத்த சன்மார்க்கம்.

The religious practice was hugely influenced by the developments in the world as a whole. But the saiva tradition is nowhere well guarded in the world than in tanjore district[v]. Now these saiva traditions need scientific interpretations in the light of modern developments in neuro-science and psychology.

 

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[i] K.A.N. Sastri, A History of South India, OxfordUniversityPress (1955)

[ii]  Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1984). The Colas. Madras: University of Madras.

[iii]  "The prehistory of Orientalism: colonialism and the textual basis for Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg's account of Hinduism" by Will Sweetman ;

"Heathenism, idolatry and rational monotheism among the Hindus: Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg's "Akkiyanam" (1713) and other works addressed to Tamil Hindus" by Will Sweetman

[iv] Humanism is a group of philosophies and ethical perspectives which emphasize the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers individual thought and evidence (rationalism, empiricism), over established doctrine or faith (fideism). The term humanism can be ambiguously diverse, and there has been a persistent confusion between several related uses of the term because different intellectual movements have identified with it over time. In philosophy and social science, humanism refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of a "human nature" (contrasted with anti-humanism). In modern times, many humanist movements have become strongly aligned with secularism, with the term Humanism often used as a byword for non-theistic beliefs about ideas such as meaning and purpose. Nicolas Walter's Humanism – What's in the Word (London: Rationalist Press Association, 1997 ISBN 0-301-97001-7).

[v] Michael wood, documentary:story of india(part –iv:ages of gold) BBC  productions, London.