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My dear murugappan ,

You have asked me “what is meant by humanism ?” in your letter.  Nicolas Walter's Humanism – What's in the Word (London) says, 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.

The various aspect of vallalar and his contribution in furthering the saivite movement will be dealt later. Now I will tell you about the chronological arrangement of the saiva tradition below,

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 16th 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 4-5th century CE. Thiruvilayadal puranam and periya puranam are Tamil puranams written in 11th -12thcentury.

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

The thiru murais were written between 5th century and 12th 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-8th thirumurai

5.thiruvisaipa and thirupallandu-9th murai

6.thirumoolar thirumandhram-10th murai

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

8. sekizhar periya puranam-12th murai

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

THE SANDHANA TEXTS:

The sandhana sastras  were written between 13th century and 14th 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( 14TH CE-18TH CE):ஆதீனங்கள்

PANDARA SASTRAS(OF THIRU-AVADUTHURAI):  பண்டாரசாத்திரங்கள்

The thiru-avaduthurai adheenam was established in the middle of 14th century by Gurunamasiyayar at thiruvaduthurai near the temple Gomuktheeswarar. This is exactly the temple thirumoolar had hidden his sadhasiva-agamam (thirumandhiram) in the 5th century fearing the jain persecution. These books were retrieved later in 7th 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 14th century and 17th century. They are,

*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

*DHAKSHINA MOORTHY DHESIKAR:

11.UBADHESA PAHRODAI

12.DHASAKARIYAM

*SWAMINADHA DHESIKAR:

13.DHASAKARIYAM

*PEROOR VELAPA DHESIKAR:

14.PANCHAKRA PAHRODAI

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

.  சொக்கநாத வெண்பா

•  சொக்கநாத கலித்துறை

•  சிவபோக சாரம்

•  முத்தி நிச்சயம்

•  சோடசகலா பிராத ஷட்கம்

The other major works are

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

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

3.ARUMUGA NAVALAR-19TH century- his work are many and are very detailed. He came with a course for school students.

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 phases of saivism is never ending and it is truly” in the larger saiva consciousness the time travels”. I will write to you next about the ways of interpreting religious text-a process known as hermeneutics - after your detailed study of the recommended literature by me.

Affectionately

Gandhibabu