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Shaiva Siddhanta (IAST: Śaiva-siddhānta)[1][2] is a form of Shaivism popular in a pristine form in South India and Sri Lanka and in a Tantrayana syncretised form in Indonesia (as Siwa Siddhanta[3]) propounds a devotional philosophy with the ultimate goal of experiencing union with Shiva. The former draws primarily on the Tamil devotional hymns written by Shaiva saints from the 5th to the 9th century CE, known in their collected form as Tirumurai. Tirumular is considered to be the propounder of the term Siddhanta and its basic tenets. In the 12th century, Aghorasiva, the head of a branch monastery of the Amardaka order in Chidambaram, took up the task of formulating Shaiva Siddhanta. This is an earliest known Aghora Paddhati system of Shaiva Siddhanta of Adi Shaivas mathas in Kongu Nadu. Meykandar (13th century) was the first systematic philosopher of the school.[4]
The normative rites, cosmology and theology of Shaiva Siddhanta draw upon a combination of Agamas and Vedic scriptures.[5] In the Sri Lankan Sinhalese society, king Rajasinha I of Sitawaka converted to Saiva Siddhantism, and made it the official religion during his reign,[6] after a prolonged domination of Theravada Buddhism following the conversion of king Devanampiya Tissa. This Sinhalese Saiva Siddhanta led to the decline of Buddhism for the next two centuries until being revived by South East Asian orders aided by Europeans, but left vestiges in the Sinhalese society. In the continental south East Asian Ramayanas, Phra Isuan (from Tamilised Sanskrit Isuwaran)[7] is considered the highest of gods, while Theravada Buddhism is the dominant philosophical religion. Here Shaiva Siddhanta is the practical religion while Theravada Buddhism is the philosophical overarch. In the Nusantaran Siwa Siddhanta, Siwa is syncretised with the Buddha in a Tantrayanic form called Siwa-Buda.[3] A similar form is observed in the Chams of Vietnam where the community has diverged into the Shaiva Siddhantic Balamons and the tantrayanic acharyas (Cham: Acars) becoming the Bani Cham Muslims.[8] This is due to the fact that the Indian Bhakti era philosophical and the subsequent royal Shaiva Siddhanta reaction against Buddhism failed to reach south east asia in which Theravada Buddhism, Tantrayana Buddhism[9] and later Islam filled the role of philosophical Shaiva Siddhanta.[10]
This tradition is thought to have been once practiced all over Greater India,[11] but the Muslim subjugation of North India restricted Shaiva Siddhanta to the south[12] where it was preserved with the Tamil Shaiva movement expressed in the bhakti poetry of the Nayanars.[13] It is in this historical context that Shaiva Siddhanta is commonly considered a "southern" tradition, one that is still very much alive.[13] The Tamil compendium of devotional songs known as Tirumurai, the Shaiva Agamas and "Meykanda" or "Siddhanta" Shastras,[14] form the scriptural canon of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta.
- ^ Xavier Irudayaraj,"Saiva Siddanta," in the St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, Ed. George Menachery, Vol.III, 2010, pp.10 ff.
- ^ Xavier Irudayaraj, "Self Understanding of Saiva Siddanta Scriptures" in the St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, Ed. George Menachery, Vol.III, 2010, pp.14 ff.
- ^ a b Suastika, I Made; Puspawat, Luh Putu (November 2023). "The Actualization Of Bairawa –Tantric Values In Indonesia" (PDF). International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR). 7 (11). Bowling Green, Kentucky: 269–276. ISSN 2643-9670. OCLC 1102647543.
- ^ "Shaiva-siddhanta | Hindu philosophy". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
- ^ Flood, Gavin. D. 2006. The Tantric Body. P.120
- ^ "ගණින්නාන්සේලා කියවිය යුතු සංඝරජ වැලවිට සරණංකර චරිතය". Archived from the original on 20 January 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
- ^ Singaravelu, S (March 1982). "The Rama Story in the Thai Cultural Tradition" (PDF). Journal of the Siam Society. 70. Bankok, Thailand: Siam Society: 50–70. ISSN 2651-1851. OCLC 969730045. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 April 2024.
- ^ Dokras, Dr Uday (1 January 2022). "Shaivite landscapes of "India" and South East Asian Countries and the conflict between the followers of Shiva and Vishnu". INAC.
- ^ Alexis Sanderson (2009). The Śaiva Age— The Rise and Dominance of Śaivism During the Early Medieval Period.
- ^ Sanderson, Alexis (2003). "The Śaiva Religion among the Khmers (Part I)". Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient. 90: 349–462. doi:10.3406/befeo.2003.3617.
- ^ Schomerus, Hilko Wiardo (2000). Śaiva Siddhānta: An Indian School of Mystical Thought : Presented as a System and Documented from the Original Tamil Sources (Reprint ed.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. pp. 5–7. ISBN 978-81-208-1569-8.
- ^ Flood, Gavin. D. 2006. The Tantric Body. P.34
- ^ a b Flood, Gavin. D. 1996. An Introduction to Hinduism. P.168
- ^ S. Arulsamy, Saivism - A Perspective of Grace, Sterling Publishers Private Limited, New Delhi, 1987, pp.1