HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SITUATIONS DURING THE COMPOSITION OF SASTRA TEXTS OF SAIVA SIDDHANTHA:
The period between 3rd BCE and 3rd
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 5th 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
6th century. Saivism replaced
most other religions by force during the period from 6th 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 6th to 8th century CE Pallavas (பல்லவர்)ruled cholamandalam.
The imperial
cholas ruled most of the tamilagam from
9TH till 13TH 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 11th
century. Thiruvasagam written by manikavasakar was added to this list.
Last thirumurai
was Periapuranam by Sekkizhar of 13th 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
5-6th centuries itself, they were not elevated to a sanctified
status till 12-13th centuries. Let us see this now.
In the end of 13th 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 14th 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 19th
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.
[i]
K.A.N. Sastri, A History of South India,
OxfordUniversityPress (1955)
[ii]
Nilakanta Sastri,
K.A. (1984). The Colas. Madras: University of Madras.
[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.
