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Dear murugappan.

In this letter I will take you to the political back ground in tamilakam that led to the growth saiva tenets.

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 . the history of cholas gave tremendous boost to saivite studies and on these aspects you can read from the famous book by   Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. “ The Colas”  published by  University of Madras.

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 .

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    Bartholomeus Ziegan Palk  and G.U.Pope. Thus this region had an unique opportunity for preserving the saivite heritage continuosly for two millenia.

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

The religios 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.  Now these saiva traditions need scientific interpretations in the light of modern developments in neuro-science and psychology.

I will be eager to get your reply and doubts from this correspondence at the earliest.

Affectionately

Gandhibabu