Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

A "VERY BRIEF STUDY"
ON THE EVOLUTION OF SAIVAISM
AND ITS EARLY DEVELOPMENTS IN TAMIL NADU

The Saivaism, also known as the Saiva religion and as Saiva Samayam
in Tamil, is the main branch of the Hindu Religion of today. It
acclaims the worship of the "God almighty" - "who has not even a
name or a form" - as enlightened by the Tamil Saiva Saint
Maanikkavaasakar as "Oru naamam oor uruvam, ontrum illaarkku" in his
religious text Thiruvaasakam (in Tamil).

The Tamil Saiva Saint Kaaraikkaal Ammaiyaar too asks the God himself
– "what shall I say to those who ask which is the form of your
God, tell me which is your form" - as "Ev uruvoan num piran enbaar
hatkku en uraihen, Ev uruvo nin uruvam eathu" in her religious text
Atputhath Thiruvanthathi (in Tamil), being quite uncertain of his
real form.

In Saivaism, the "God almighty" who is invisible to all - human
beings and the other living beings - has been given the name as "God
Siva" and a form as human, and held supreme of the universe. He is
known to have given vision to those who have reached a very high
state of spiritual maturity in the very forms he was worshiped by
them - either in human forms or in symbolic forms, with different
names for each of these forms.

The origin of the worship of "God almighty" as "God Siva" is
still not clear, but in all probability the religion Saivaism
professing the worship of "God Siva", originated among a very early
civilisation (unknown to us) in the Tibetian region adjacent to the
present northern -Nepal and Uttar Pradesh of India.

It is here the Mount Kailash, also known to the Indians as Mount Meru
of the vast and breath taking heights of the Himalayan mountain range
is situated, and the river Bahirathi originating as a tributary from
the Mount Nanda Devi - also of this range about 100 miles south-west
of Mount Kailash, joins with another tributary known as Alaknanda at
a point known as Gangoththri to form the great river Ganges.

This early civilisation of this region in all probability conceived
the original form of "God Siva" as a human masculine, having - a lock
of hair (kontrai) on his head bearing the crest moon and the river
Gangai flowing from it, a third eye in his forehead and a blue mark
around his neck, holding a trident in one hand and dressed in tiger
skins with cobra snakes around his neck and arms, with "Goddess
Sakthi" - deemed as his inherent energy - on his left side as a human
feminine, and both having the bull as their vehicle, and with the
snow capped Mount Kailash of the Himalayan mountain range as their
abode.

The period when this form of the "God almighty" as "Siva" and his
worship - took shape, among this civilisation in the vicinity of
Mount Kailash in the Tibetian region, could be taken as the time of
inception of the Saiva religion.

The Saivaism over a period of time gradually spread all over India,
including the regions in its north-west among the Indus Valley
civilisations, and in the remote south upto Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka,
where the sage Agastiya and king Ravana respectively became the
ardent devotees of God Siva.

Thus the original Saiva religious concept of God, and the related
forms of worship that reached various parts of India from the
Tibetian region, continued to be practised in their original forms,
and over a period of time in some regions the original Saivaism
underwent further developments evolved by the Sages and Saints of
those regions, independently with their own "new" - God forms
of "Siva" and "Sakthi", religious philosophies, modes of worship, and
religious texts - greatly influenced by the language, culture and
traditions of those regions, and integrated with the practises of the
original Saivaism.

During the early period of Tamil Nadu too, the original form of
Saivaism with the "God almighty" represented in the form of "Siva &
Sakthi", and the forms of their worship as evolved in the Tibetian
region, were well known.

With the passage of time the original Saivaism gradually underwent
further developments in Tamil Nadu - with the evolution of new
religious concepts on the special attributes and glories of "God
Siva" & "Goddess Sakthi", and new forms of their representation in
relation to these special attributes and glories too came forth - as
Lingothbavamoorthy (God Siva represented in the form of Lingam,)
Arthanaadeeswaremoorthy, Thetchanamoorthy, Kalyanasunderamoorthy, Uma-
Maheswaramoorthy, Somaskandamoorthy, and as Nadarajamoorthy.

Likewise new – holy religious texts, modes of worship and
religious practices - too took shape, influenced and blended with the
culture and traditions of Tamil Nadu that existed during this early
period.

New concepts of God Siva's being represented in five element
forms of the universe too developed in Tamil Nadu as fire, water,
air, earth, and space, and represented in his symbolic form as
Panchalingams (five Lingams) with each Lingam representing an
element. Further concepts, that these five elements are associated
with five important Temple Shrines of Tamil Nadu too developed, and
were known as Panchabootha Thalams (shrines).

New concepts of God Siva's eight deeds with mythological stories
relating to them too developed in Tamil Nadu, and these deeds were
associated with further Siva-Temple shrines which were all within
Tamil Nadu, and were known as Atta Viratta Thalams.

These developments in Tamil Nadu undoubtedly would have been the
reason that made the great Tamil Saint Maanickavaasakar praise "God
Siva" as "Then naadudaiya Sivane potri, en naattavarkkum Iraivaa
potri" in his Thiruvaasakam, claiming him specifically as the God
of the southern country the Tamil Nadu where he evolved in new -
human, symbolic and element forms of the universe, having their
associated temple shrines "all being within TamilNadu itself".

This could be also the reason why the poet Kallaadanar who wrote the
Saivite religious work known as "Kallaadam" mentioned God Siva
as "then Thamil Kadavul"

During the early period of Saivaism in Tamil Nadu, the Saiva
religious texts that evolved from this region were called the
Agamams. Saivaism apparently was the first known religion of Tamil
Nadu, and the Agamams were the original holy texts of Saivaism of
this region.

Agamams means religious texts, and was a general term used to specify
the Saiva religious texts that evolved and developed in the early
Tamil Nadu. However during the later periods with the coming of the
Vaishnava, Saktha and Jain religious texts, to differentiate the
Saiva religious texts from the others, it was