saivasiddhantham: a hermeneutic and psychoanalytic interpretation

IMPORTANT PHASES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SAIVA SIDDHANTHA :

I.VEDIC PHASE(BCE)வேதகாலம்

The early works are called Vedas. They are rig,yajur,sama and adharvana. They are categorized into the samhitha,brahmanaha, aranyaha and Upanishads. The Upanishads have the highest metaphysical contents and there are about 12 principal Upanishads like isha,kena,katho,mandukya…etc.

II.AGAMIC PHASE(BCE)ஆகமங்கள்

Later phase the agamas which are 28 in numbers. They were followed by some 240 upa-agamas. Most of them are in Sanskrit only. Some are in Tamil like the SIVATHARUMOTHARAM written in 16^th century.

III.PURANIC PHASE(BCE-CE),புராணங்கள்

There are about 7-8 Siva puranas. Notable amongst them are the SIVAPURANAM AND LINGA PURANAM. They were written in the 4-5^th century CE. Thiruvilayadal puranam and periya puranam are Tamil puranams written in 11^th -12^thcentury.

IV.THIRUMURAI PHASE(5^TH CE-13^TH CE),திருமுறை

The thiru murais were written between 5^th century and 12^th century. They are classified into 12.

1. sambandhar thevaram-first 3 murais

2. appar thevaram –second 3 murais

3. sundaramoorthy thevaram –third 1 murai

4.manickavasagar thiruvasagam-8^th thirumurai

5.thiruvisaipa and thirupallandu-9^th murai

6.thirumoolar thirumandhram-10^th murai

7. prabandhams by various authors like karaikal ammayar, poets from Madurai like nakeerar,kabilar,baranar and patinathar..etc-11^th murai

8. sekizhar periya puranam-12^th murai

V.SASTRA PHASE (13^TH CE 14^TH CE):சாத்திரங்கள்

THE SANDHANA TEXTS:

The sandhana sastras[i] were written between 13^th century and 14^th century. The authors are called sandhanacharyas. They are six among them.

1. MEYKANDAR: sivagnanabodham

2. ARULNANDHI: sivaprakasam, thruvarutpayan, vinavenba, potripahrodai,kodikavi, nenjuviduthoodhu,Unmainerivilakam,sangarpanirakaranam.

3. UMAPATHISIVAM: sivagnanasiddhiyar, irupa irupadhu

4. THIRUKADVOOR UYYAVANDHA THEVAR: thirukalitrupadiyar

5. THIRUVIYALOOR UYYAVANDHA DHEVAR: thiruvundhiyar

6. THIRUVADHIKAI MANAVASAGANKADANTHAR:unmai vilakam

They have written together the 14 books of the sandhana tradition.

VI.ADHEENAM PHASE( 14^TH CE-18^TH CE):ஆதீனங்கள்

PANDARA SASTRAS(OF THIRU-AVADUTHURAI): பண்டாரசாத்திரங்கள்

The thiru-avaduthurai adheenam was established in the middle of 14^th century by Gurunamasiyayar at thiruvaduthurai near the temple Gomuktheeswarar. This is exactly the temple thirumoolar had hidden his sadhasiva-agamam (thirumandhiram) in the 5^th century fearing the jain persecution. These books were retrieved later in 7^th century by sambandhar near the Nandi mandapam of the temple. The adheenam is a monastery that holds the highest traditions and core concepts of the agama doctrines. It has a library that has seven centuries of existence. Some of the books written by the pontiffs of the adheenams are categorized and are called thiruvaduthurai pandara sastrams. They were written between 14^th century and 17^th century. They are,

i.AMBALAVANA DHESIKAR:

1.SANMARGASIDDHIYAR

2.DHASAKARIAM

3.SIVASRAMA THELIVU

4.SIDDHANTHA PAHRODAI

5.SIDDHANTHA SIGAMANI

6.UBAYANITAI VENBA

7.NITAI VILAKAM

8.UBADHESA VENBA

9.ADHISAYA MALAI

10.NAMASIVAYA MALAI

ii.DHAKSHINA MOORTHY DHESIKAR:

11.UBADHESA PAHRODAI

12.DHASAKARIYAM

iii.SWAMINADHA DHESIKAR:

13.DHASAKARIYAM

iv.PEROOR VELAPA DHESIKAR:

14.PANCHAKRA PAHRODAI

VII.PADIYAM PHASE(பாடியங்கள்)(BASHYAM WORKS: 9^TH CE-19^TH CE):

These are notes and explanations to the original texts mentioned above. They can be called as secondary literatures. They are too many. Notable amongst them are[ii],

1.ASHTA PRAHRANAM-written in 9-10 century in Sanskrit

2.SIVAGNANA MAPADIYAM-written by sivagnana mamunivar middle 18^th century. A versatile person has written 32 books ranging from siddhantha,grammar and purana.

3.ARUMUGA NAVALAR-19^TH century- his work are many and are very detailed. He also came with a syllabus and a course for school students in saiva siddhantham. The institution was called as saiva prakasa vidhyasalai in Chidambaram 150 years ago.

VIII.CONTEMPORARY PHASE:

Books are written in prose and in English. Many encyclopedias have come. Some of them are actively published in the cyberspace, like in the TAMIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION and PROJECT MADURAI. www.shaivam.org , www.thevaaram.org are important websites that is making all the saiva texts online. www.himalayanacademy.org is an important website maintained by Kauai adheenam from Hawaii (USA). They have an independent direction and their works have a lot of heuristic value.

The following chapter deals with the field of hermenutics with reference to its authors and its relationship to psycho-analysis and saivism.