One thing became clear after reading your mails. This aagamas, rituals, yogas etc. are way out of my reach.
Can you suggest a simple starting point for us?
May be these things can never be simple. I would guess, it would take a lot of struggle understand these concepts and philosophies.
As a tangential thought, " Do we have explicit indication of RRC and RJC taking diksha?". I agree that the name "Sivapaadhasekaran" stands totally apart from his other titles. It certainly reflects the 'other side' of RRC. But, it can't be denied that Rajasimha was a major inspiration on RRC. Rajasimha's title "SivachoodaamaNi" could have influenced him to chose this title too.
Is it circumstantial evidence that suggest that SPS and SCS are diksha names or does more explicit indication exist?
There is another thought that keeps bugging me. Today, Shankara is seen as one of the most influential personality in saivism (ior should I say Advaitha philosophy?). He is widely believed to be lived after 'Gnana sambandhar'. His quoting of 'dravida sisu' in 'soundharya lahari' is produced as a supporting evidence. If nayanmars were celebrated by our kings, if so many grants and icons were presented on spreading the fame and works of nayanmars, why don't we such a attitude displayed on shankara? Was he not as popular down south (as in TN). Did his philosophy pick up much later? Am i missing something here?
the lord is named panchavarneshwarar.( the same name as the lord in uraiyur- the earlier capital of the cholas.) nambiyandar nambis says of the appar incident as follows
"natravan nallur sivan thirupaatham than senni vaikka petravan"
other trivia about the temple is that the lingam which is a suyambu looks metalic and has many holes on it ( like insect boring) I was once told that this is how a natural meteorite looks.
there are many case histories across the continents where meteorites have been worshipped. there is reportedly one meteorite stuck onto the kaabaa at mecca