Vedic Wisdom - Shaiva Siddhantha

Vedic Wisdom

Shaiva Siddhantha

The Shaiva Siddhanta School is one of the most ancient schools of Shaivism. It has a history of more than 2000 years. Its roots can be traced back to both Kashmir and Southern India. It gained popularity in the South and established itself as a dominant sect of Shaivism.

In the past it had sizeable following in other parts of the Indian subcontinent. It is the most popular school in the entire South. Lord Shiva is the most adored Lord in the Entire country , more particularly in South.

The Shaiva Siddhanta tradition draws its authority from the 28 Shaiva Agamas, the devotional works of several saints of Shaivism, and the writings of several thinkers and scholars. The first known guru of Shaiva Siddhanta tradition was Nandinatha.

The next prominent personality of this tradition was Tirumular, who composed Tirumandiram in Tamil and introduced the Nandinatha tradition of this school to the people of Southern India.

He was instrumental in making Shaivism popular in the South by emphasizing the devotional aspect. So important was his contribution to Shaivism that the Nandinatha tradition remains popular in the South even today.

His work was carried forward by subsequent generations of devotional saints such as Appar, Sundarar, Sambandar, whose works are preserved in Tevaram. These saints moved from place to place and temple to temple, singing the glory of Shiva and making Shaivism a popular movement in the face of strong opposition from Jainism and Buddhism.

Manikkavachakar, who came after these great saints, also contributed substantially to the popularity of Shaiva Siddhanta school in the South. His work is preserved in the collection of poems known as Tiruvasakam.

The works of these four great Shaiva saints were compiled into a single collection of verses named Tirumurai by Nambi Andar Nambi. Shiva-jnyana-bodham by Meikandar is another important work on Shaiva Siddhanta.

The Shiva-jnyana-bodham laid emphasis on Shivam, jnyanam and bodham declaring Shivam as the primordial power, jnyanam as the knowledge of Shivam and bodham as the process of experiencing and realizing such knowledge.Other important works of the Shaiva Siddhanta school include: Shiva-jnyana-suddhiya of Arulnandi; Shivaprakasam and Tiru-varut-prayam of Umapati and A commentary on the Vedanta-sutras by Nilakantha.

Nilakantha’s commentary on the Vedantasutras was an attempt to reconcile the differences between the Vedanta (the end parts of the Vedas) and the Agamanta (the end parts of the Agamas). This idea was shared earlier by Tirumular who declared that wise men considered them to be not different.This is the reason why the saivite temples follow the system of ‘Veda-Agamas’.

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This article is a snippet from the Book Vedic Wisdom, Authored by Pandit Sri Rama Sharma. Vedic Wisdom is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.