|
Your Health
Dentists
Doctors
General
Lifestyle
Whats New
Contact Us
|
The Tamil Siddhas are a religious order of mystics found in the southern part of India
Their origins can be traced back to the eighth century. They form a distinctive part of a larger movement which spread
throughout South Asia, from Sri Lanka in the South to Tibet in the north,
between the seventh and eleventh centuries. Siddhas everywhere share common
practices, cosmology, and symbols derived from Tantrism whether the practitioner
is Hindu, Buddhist, or Jain. All are part of a "pan-Indian tantric yoga
movement" which Eliade described as formulating over a five hundred year
period, between the 7th and the 11th centuries, but fully flowering only after
the 12th century.
Excluding perhaps the Buddhist Siddhas, all such groups are considered radical,
if not dangerous, by the orthodoxy.
An intriguing aspect of the Tamil Siddha cult is that it shares with the
orthodox Saiva Siddhanta sect a common text that defines the philosophy of both
groups. Since each sect emphasized different aspects of the teaching they
quickly became widely divergent, with the two orders often at odds. The Siddhas
would be scoffing at temple worship, reliance upon Brahminical authority, and
proclaiming the injustice of caste; while the Saiva Siddhantins would berate the
Siddhas much as M. Srinivasa Iyangar did in 1914 when he wrote that the Siddhas
are "mostly plagiarists and impostors" and in addition, "Being
eaters of opium & dwellers in the land of dreams, their conceit knew no
bounds".
At times the Siddhantins have even engaged in an organized effort to eliminate
the Siddhar faction. For example, one movement, observed in the latter half of
the nineteenth century, systematically sought out any copy of the writings of
the heretical Siddha-poet Sivavakkiyar, and promptly destroyed them.
The rift between the two orders has been sharply polarized by the fact that some
Saiva Siddhantins, who mostly worship their God Shiva as the Lingam or sacred
Phallus, have had a difficult time accepting the Siddhas tendency to emphasize
the Goddess. To the Tamil Siddhas, Shiva is the unqualified and ultimate reality
beyond form or comprehension, but Shakti, the Goddess, is immanent and
accessible as the divine force abiding within the body itself. There she can be
coaxed & subdued, manipulated & directed. As the serpent power Kundalini,
flowing through the subtle body, she can propel the consciousness of the Siddhar
into union with the Absolute. Though the orthodox Saiva Siddhantin may content
himself with the worship of Shiva in the temple through the rituals of the
priest, the Siddha placates the goddess to intercede on his behalf and expand
the consciousness of the Siddha beyond all limitation, where he may become Shiva
himself. Notions, such as this, being fundamental to the Tamil Siddha, has
struck the Shaivite orthodoxy as heretical.
Within the context of Hindu myth the name Siddha originally denoted one
of the eighteen categories of celestial beings. These beings of semi-divine
status were said to be of great purity and their dwelling was thought to be in
the sky between the earth and the sun. Later they became associated with a class
of more adept human being, often an accomplished yogi. The term had been derived
from the Sanskrit root sidh meaning "fulfillment" or
"achievement," so the noun came to refer to one who had attained
perfection. Because the Tamil language lacks the aspirated consonants of
Sanskrit the word has been written and pronounced by the Tamils as cittar.
This has lead the Tamils to associate the word more with the Sanskrit term chit,
meaning "consciousness."
UP
BACK To Main Page
This appellation is evident even in the Shaivite devotionals known as the
Tevaram hymns of the 6th & 7th centuries that would later become part of the
Saiva Siddhanta canon. There the term is applied not only to one of the 18
categories of divine beings but also to God Shiva himself, who is a cittar
because the very nature of God is consciousness. Likewise, it describes the
devotee as also being a cittar since his consciousness is always immersed
in the Divine presence. By the 12th-13th century the term has taken on new
meaning as we learn from the writings of Perumparrapuliyur Nambi who describes
the God Shiva as the cittar alchemist who is working strange miracles in
the city of Madurai.
Essentially though, the term Siddha or Cittar has the same connotations as it
does when referring to the 84 Siddhas of Vajrayana Buddhism, the Natha Siddhas
of North India, or the medieval alchemists known as the Rasa Siddhas. It is a
movement born of a synthesis of Vajrayana Buddhism, Shaivite Tantrism, Indian
Alchemy, magic, and the hatha yoga and pranayama disciplines as expounded by the
ascetic saint Goraknath. Although, in the present era, the term is often applied
to any form of unorthodox mystic or saint.
All of the writings of the Tamil Siddhas, whether defining philosophical
viewpoints, yogic practices, or presenting alchemical recipes for herbal
tinctures and base metal amalgams were presented in poetic form, often employing
the more difficult meters that harkened back to the ancient Tamil Sangam Age.
These works are also riddled with tantric imagery, references to Kundalini, and
clues to control the dangerous feminine power through breathing practices or the
recitation of the Goddess's secret names. Because of the enigmatic nature of the
Siddha imagery, and their philosophy structured in direct defiance of human
logic, few scholars have ventured to address the Tamil Siddhas and then often
only as mere curiosities. Needless to say, the vast majority of the Tamil Siddha
works have never been translated, as has been the case with some of the verses
presented here.
One of the most basic characteristics of Tamil composition, and one that is
particularly relevant to Siddha poetry, is the tendency to layer the work so
that each word or image builds upon the last. Because each component image is
presented so as to be viewed autonomously and in relationship both sequentially
and to the totality of the verse, the images of the poem may seem slightly
disjointed and contradictory. Though this may at first seem to undermine the
aesthetic quality and over-complicate the simple act of enjoying poetry, the
Tamil Siddha compositions pattern the imagery to expound the subtle complexity
of their philosophical concepts or to map out the terrain of the inner landscape
which is dominated by the dormant serpent energy.
Though most of the Indian Siddha schools did not come into their own until the
12th century, we find that the southern variant, the Tamil Siddha school, had a
fully defined system in the eighth century itself. It was at this time that
Tirumular, himself one of the 64 canonized Shaivite saints or Nayanars of
the Saiva Siddhanta sect, authored the Tirumantiram which fully defined
the nature of the Tamil Siddha cult up until the present era. The text also
became the 10th book of the Saiva Siddhanta canon, which is referred to as the
Tirumurai. Though it was the one work outlining the philosophy of the Saiva
Siddhanta cult, the orthodox followers within the Saiva Siddhanta sect have
always had a difficult time fully accepting the many passages which discuss the
worship of the Goddess and the Kundalini Yoga practices so characteristic of
Tantrism. On the other hand, the Siddhas have viewed these same passages as the
most critical in formulating their esoteric doctrines on the arousal of the
serpent energy.
UP
BACK To Main Page
As we can see in verse 730, the Siddhantins were confronted with the tantric
orientation of their philosopher Tirumular, when he relates that it is the human
body itself that is the temple of the Goddess Shakti...
In Shakti's temple
if you control
the left & the right
you can hear a lute
in the center of your face.
And Shiva will come out
dancing sweetly.
I swear upon Sada Nandi
we have spoken the truth.
Here Tirumular discusses the basis of Kundalini Yoga whereby the breath,
carrying one of the vital airs known as prana, flows into the solar and
lunar currents which run from the right and left nostrils down to the base of
the spine and are there brought into union. The point of this union is at the
root chakra Muladhara, the first of six chakras or nerve plexuses through which
the Kundalini energy will flow. This energy is moved by the solar and lunar
streams of vital breath that have entered the central current at Muladhara and
will ascend upwards through the six chakras, each corresponding to a higher and
more expansive state of consciousness. The individual awareness is sublimated
into divine union at the crown of the head. It is a kind of inner journey
towards the infinitude of the Divine, but begins only after the two streams flow
into the central current as we learn from verse 801 of the Tirumantiram...
801
Left hand
Right hand
Both hands...
Change!!!
He who eats
with the hand of worship
need not be depleted.
The conscious ones
capable of abandoning sleep
need not die...
they can live forever.
The term used to denote the 'hand of worship' is Tutikai. Tuti
is a verb meaning "to worship," kai is the noun meaning
"hand". Together, as Tutikai, the expression also means the
"elephant's trunk." This interpretation is equally viable in that
Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of gateways and new beginnings is said to
reside in the body at the base of the spine, at the root chakra Muladhara where
the two currents flow together and enter central current Shashumna. Shashumna is
sometimes envisioned as the trunk of Ganesha raised aloft and holding the full
blown lotus of enlightenment, Sahasrara, at the crown of the head. What is eaten
is amrita, conceived of as both the nectar of spiritual ecstasy and the elixir
of immortality.
Tantra appears in its definitive form around the 4th century, but its beginnings
seem to reach back much earlier. Elements of tantric thought had already
pervaded the south by the time of Tirumular, as they had seeped into yogic
theory and practice at some antecedent time and even impacted temple ritual and
the budding bhakti cults. Tantra was more deeply rooted in a fluid set of
symbolic constructs than a static enunciation of doctrine. It represents a
profound refinement of the symbol system of Hindu-Buddhist South Asia. It's
emphasis on the experiential aspects of the individual's religious experience
collided with the Shaivite orthodoxy like the Gnostic heresy did with the early
Christian Church.
In an effort to demonstrate that the macrocosm is reflected within the
microcosm, Tantra began to emphasize that the universe, in all its totality, is
contained within the body of the individual. It superimposed universal symbols
over the human body to help demonstrate this relationship. The spine, along
which the Shashumna or central channel ran, became the cosmic axis. All the Gods
that oversaw the mechanism that is this universe we-re hidden in the lotus
centers of the body's chakras, like blossoms flowering on the vine of the spine.
But it was the portly god Ganesha, who guarded the gate to the inner world. He
became a patron of Kundalini yoga in the South and was invoked by the female
Siddha mendicant Avaiyar, in this excerpt from her 14th century work Vinayagar
Agaval. Here she relates how the elephant-headed god has reconciled the
dualistic nature of the universe as the various manifestations of Shiva were
taught to be part of her inner savoring.
He has concentrated my mind,
clarified my intellect,
and said,
"Light & Darkness
share a common place."
He presses me down
into the grace giving ecstasy.
In my ear
he renders limitless bliss.
He has revealed Sada Shiva
within the sound.
He has revealed the Shiva Lingam
within the mind.
And he has revealed that...
The smaller than the smallest,
The larger that the largest,
stands within...
like ripe sugarcane.
In about 1661, as Aurangzeb set about to expand his kingdom throughout the
subcontinent and free the land of heretics, he was at the same time extending
his protection to an obscure Hindu monastery in the Punjab. At the time in
question Aanand Nath, the abbot of the monastery and a Natha Siddha alchemist,
was providing history's great persecutor of Hinduism a regular supply of treated
mercury which promised to confer longevity. At the same time in the deep south,
the Tamil Siddha alchemist Bhogar, who had supposedly migrated from China along
with his guru Kalangi Nathar, was establishing a shrine to the God Murugan on
the top of Palani Hill. It was there that he composed his 7000 verses on
Kundalini Yoga, alchemy, and Siddha medicine. By medieval times Indian alchemy
had come into vogue much like tantra had done almost a millennium earlier. And
though the Indian alchemists also sought to develop the chemical processes of
transforming base metals into gold as in Europe & the Middle East, they
often emphasized the pursuit of bodily perfection and the preparation of the
elixir of immortality as the Chinese alchemists had sought. They often viewed
their experience of the inner processes of Kundalini Yoga as mirroring the
chemical process of the alchemical work.
Though nine hundred years after Tirumular, Bhogar is still wrestling with the
serpent energy, even in the midst of his alchemical operations. Though now, the
Kundalini is personified as the consort of Ganesha, the Goddess Vallabai...
9 The green-hued Vallabai
will become subservient
and bow down.
She'll tell you
the appropriate time
for the appropriate chakra.
If the basis of Muladhara
is perfected...
You can go anywhere,
wandering freely
throughout the three worlds.
The dull-hued body
will mellow
and shine.
All impurities
will be removed
and the six chakras
will become visible
to the eye.
The gold-colored alchemy
will heed your every word.
In the Sleepless Sleep
all subtlety
can be perceived.
Look and see.
In a particularly odd verse of Bhogar, we find him describing a visionary
experience involving the ingestion of an unidentified substance and the wearing
of mercurial amalgams.
80 Bhogar's Leap Into the Universe
As the Principle of Intelligence itself
I leapt into the cosmos.
Shiva clearly elucidated
the nature of this universe.
For the sake of all beings
there is a path
that becomes a vehicle
for the five senses.
The universe that appeared before me
was arranged in layers.
Grandfather (Tirumular) said,
"Enter the tenth one."
I took what was given me
and put it in my mouth.
And a bunch
of mercurial amalgams
I tied onto my wrist.
Off I went.
Entering the universe
of fire and light.
UP
BACK To Main Page
In 1293, on his way back from China, Marco Polo got a taste of South India
when he stopped along the Malabar Coast. He records a meeting he had with a
group of yogi alchemists who, by preparing a tincture of mercury and sulfur,
were afforded a lifespan of 150-200 years. Mercury was viewed as the seminal
seed of Shiva. It formed a part of the alchemical triad of mercury sulfur and
air, corresponding to the trinity of moon sun, and wind. Breath controlled
through the practices of Pranayama, transformed the body's winds into a
spiritual mediator that could unify the solar and lunar currents within the
body. Much like the alchemical process applied air to mercury and sulfur to form
the amalgam that brought the work to completion.
Consciousness was seen to ride the vehicle of breath into union with the
absolute in the Sahasrara chakra at the top of the head. The Siddha could,
through the intercession of the Goddess, placated by manipulation of the breath,
expand consciousness to the point where it becomes what is called the Maha
Chitta or "Great Awareness" which is the God Shiva himself. Here is
one of the closing verses of Bhogar's discussion of Kundalini Yoga..
94
Invite the breath,
the outer space,
to come within your house.
If you are unwavering,
placing it there
as though you were
putting oil in a lamp,...
They shall meet.
Breath and God
becoming one.
Like wind becoming breath
there is no individual intelligence.
The Great Awareness becomes Siva.
He and breath
merge into one.
It is this light becoming breath
that redeems the soul.
Surely this is the truth
of Siva Yoga!
In the modern era, the Siddhas have had a profound influence on contemporary
Tamil society because of the impact of a single poet who lived in the last
century. Ramalingar was born in 1823 near Chidambaram, the greatest of all
Shaivite temples. Naturally, the heretical nature of his teaching and the
growing number of his disciples caused the protest of temple officials and a
variety of Saiva Siddhanta institutions throughout the region. Eventually they
were forced to call in Arumuga Naalavar from Jaffna to put an end to Ramalingar.
As a Tamil scholar and Shaivite authority, the orthodox religious leaders
throughout the area, were confident that he could expose the fallacy of
Ramalingar's teaching and defrock the heretical saint. Arumuga quickly set about
organizing public meetings to provide a platform on which to abuse Ramalingar
and a horde of pamphlets were circulated issuing public warning about this
dangerous little man. Eventually though, Arumuga was forced to take legal action
and filed a suit against the saint. The gentle Ramalingar was dragged into
court, but eloquently speaking in his own defense, easily won the case.
The nature of Ramalingar's heresy is found to be all the more insidious when we
learn that he also cherished and called his own the devotional hymns of Saiva
Siddhanta saints other than Tirumular. One of these, the last of the canonized
64, was Manikkavasagar, who had a profound influence on Ramalingar and
Siddha devotionalism in general. Manikkavasagar's name means "He who's
utterances are rubies" and in the 9th century he beautifully
wrote this mini creation myth in flowing verse...
Becoming sky & earth
Wind & light
Becoming flesh & spirit
All that truly is
& all that which is not
Becoming the Lord,
He makes those who say,
"I" & "mine"
Dance in the show
Becoming sky
& standing there...
How can my words
praise Him?
In this final work of Ramalingar, we see a different side of the heretical
Siddhas. Not the enigmatic ramblings or harsh riddles of the ascetic, but a
tender ode, that views the Siddha's experience of union as the distilled essence
of life's sweetness. In this poem Ramalingar praises Saint Manikkavasagar, and
weaves his verse with a complex echoing of sound as he speaks again and again of
the sweetness of his mystic absorption experienced when hearing the poetry of
the saint. This fervent merging, savored by the ecstatic Ramalingar is described
with the Tamil word Kalantha, from the verb root Kala meaning
"to flow together", "to make as one", as it also denotes a
sexual union.
One with sky Manikkavasagar,
your words...
One with me when I sing
Nectar of sugarcane
One with honey
One with milk
and one with the sweetness
of the fertile fruit
One with my flesh
One with my soul
Insatiable
is that sweetness!
UP
BACK To Main Page
Although Ramalingar's hymns were penned in praise of the God Shiva, they were
often addressed to a feminine audience with unqualified personal designations
such as 'Amma' or 'Akka', 'Mother' or 'Sister'. Perhaps indicating that the hymn
was meant for an internal and distinctly feminine force that could propel the
invocation along the proper channels of the inner cosmos, towards Shiva's divine
abode.
The fact that his songs began to be sung in the schools, villages and even the
temples of 19th century Cennai, began to outrage the orthodox
Shaivites in the area. He, as all other Tamil Siddhas, was somewhat
iconoclastic, not adequately deferential to temple or Brahminical tradition. He
did not worship the linga. Forgoing all such images, he perpetrated the greatest
of heresies by blatantly revealing the true face of God veiled within volumes of
tantric lore. At the shrine he established at Vadalur, behind the curtain that
housed the holy of holy's, he established a single flame's light to illuminate a
mirror that would reflect the image of the worshipper as the secret face of god
and final mystery of the Tamil Siddha cult.
References:
Eliade, Mircea. Yoga: Immortality and Freedom. Princeton: Bollingen,
1969.
Francis, T. Dayanandan. The Mission and Message of Ramalinga Swamy.
Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1990.
Little, Layne. Shaking the Tree: Kundalini Yoga, Spiritual Alchemy, & the
Mysteries of the Breath in Bhogar's 7000. Unpublished, 1994.
Venkataraman, R. A History of the Tamil Siddha Cult. Madurai: Ennes
Publications, 1990.
White, David Gordon. The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval
India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. (By far the best work of
its kind. Its exploration of the North Indian schools is indepth and
unparralelled.)
Zvelebil, Kamil V. Tamil Literature. Leiden, 1975.
----The Poets of the Powers. London: Rider,1973.
----Tamil Lexicon. ???
UP
<< Prev Next >>
BACK To Main Page
|
More Articles
Siddha Medicine
Siddha Medicine: Origin and Fundamentals
Siddha system of medicine
Ancient Palm-leaf Manuscript preservation
Institute of Spirituo-Medical Sciences
Other Articles
Non Traditional Therapies
Alternative Medicine Information Resource
Reiki, The Healing Hand
Antibiotics can harm you
Your Child's Health
Articles
Ayurveda resource
Homeopathy Resource
Bhagwat Geeta
|