THE SAIVA SIDDHANTA PHILOSOPHY - INTRODUCTION

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

THE SAIVA SIDDHANTA PHILOSOPHY
INTRODUCTION
In the books which treat of Saivism, there is a reference to four schools, viz., the
Nakulisapasupata, the Saiva, the Pratyabhijna and the Rasesvara.
Saiva Siddhanta is the philosophy of Southern Saivism. It owes its origin to no single
author. It is midway between Sankara’s Advaita and Ramanuja’s Visishtadvaita. Its literature
consists chiefly of: (i) the twenty-eight Saivite Agamas, (ii) the collection of Saivite hymns known
as Tirumurai,*** (iii) the collection of the lives of the Saivite saints, known as Periyapuranam, (iv)
Meykandar’s Sivajnanabodham, (v) Arulnandi’s Siva-jnanasiddhiar, and (vi) the works of
Umapati. Tirumular’s work ‘Tirumantiram’ is the foundation upon which the later structure of
Saiva Siddhanta philosophy was built.
The central doctrine of the Saiva Siddhanta philosophy is that Siva is the Supreme Reality,
and that the Jiva or the individual soul is of the same essence as Siva, but not identical. Pati (God),

The Saiva Siddhanta system is the distilled essence of the Vedanta. It prevailed in Southern
India even before the Christian era. Tirunelveli and Madurai are the centres of the Saiva Siddhanta
school. Even now, Saivism is a very popular creed in South India. It is a rival school of
Vaishnavism