Shaiva Siddhanta

Part of a series on
Shaivism
Deities Parameshvara (Supreme being) Shiva Sadasiva Bhairava Rudra Virabhadra Shakti Parvati Sati Durga Kali Ganesha Kartikeya Forms of Shiva Others
Scriptures and texts Vedas Agama-Tantras Shivasutras Tirumurai Vachanas Svetasvatara
Philosophy Three Components Pati Pashu Pasam Three bondages Anava Karma Maya other aspects 36 Tattvas Yoga Satkaryavada Abhasavada Svatantrya Aham
Practices Vibhuti Rudraksha Panchakshara Bilva Maha Shivaratri Yamas-Niyamas Guru-Linga-Jangam
Schools Ati marga Pashupata Kalamukha Kapalika Mantra marga Saiddhantika Siddhantism Non - Saiddhantika Kashmir Shaivism Pratyabhijna Vama Dakshina Kaula: Trika-Yamala-Kubjika-Netra Others Nath Inchegeri Veerashaivism/Lingayats Siddharism Sroutaism Aghori Indonesian
Scholars Lakulisha Abhinavagupta Vasugupta Utpaladeva Nayanars Manikkavacakar Meykandar Nirartha Basava Sharana Srikantha Appayya Navnath
Related Nandi Tantrism Bhakti Jyotirlinga Shiva Temples
Hinduism portal
v t e

Part of a series on
Hindu philosophy
Orthodox
Samkhya Yoga Nyaya Vaisheshika Mīmāṃsā Vedanta
Heterodox
Charvaka Ājīvika Buddhism Jainism Ajñana
Sub-schools Smartist Advaita Vaishnavite Bhedabheda Vishishtadvaita Dvaita Shuddhadvaita Achintya Bheda Abheda Svabhavika Bhedabheda Mahanubhava Ekasarana Dharma Akshar Purushottam Darshan Shaivite Shaiva Siddhanta Pratyabhijna Panchartika Pramanavada Shakti Vishishtadvaita Shiva Bhedabeda Shiva Advaita Neo-Vedanta Integral yoga
Teachers (Acharyas) Nyaya Akṣapāda Gotama Jayanta Bhatta Raghunatha Siromani Mīmāṃsā Jaimini Kumārila Bhaṭṭa Prabhākara Advaita (Mayavada) Gaudapada Vāchaspati Misra Adi Shankara Vishishtadvaita Ramanuja Vedanta Desika Dvaita (Tattvavada) Madhvacharya Jayatirtha Vyasatirtha Shuddhadvaita Vallabha Achintya Bheda Abheda Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Svabhavika Bhedabheda Nimbarka Srinivasacharya Purushottam Keshav Kashmiri Harivyas devacharya Mahanubhava Chakradhara Ekasarana Dharma Sankardev Akshar Purushottam Darshan Swaminarayan Tantra Shakta Abhinavagupta Nigamananda Paramahansa Ramprasad Sen Bamakhepa Kamalakanta Bhattacharya Anandamayi Ma Neo-Vedanta Vivekananda Aurobindo Radhakrishnan Others Samkhya Kapila Yoga Patanjali Vaisheshika Kaṇāda, Prashastapada Secular Valluvar
Major texts Śruti Smṛti Vedas Rigveda Yajurveda Samaveda Atharvaveda Upanishads Principal Upanishads Minor Upanishads Other scriptures Bhagavad Gita Agama (Hinduism) Vachanamrut Shastras and Sutras Brahma Sutras Samkhya Sutras Mimamsa Sutras Nyāya Sūtras Vaiśeṣika Sūtra Yoga Sutras Pramana Sutras Puranas Dharmaśāstra Arthashastra Kama Sutra Naalayira Divya Prabandham Tirumurai Shiva Samhita Secular ethics Kural
Hinduism Other Indian philosophies
v t e

Shaiva Siddhanta (IAST: Śaiva-siddhānta)^[1][2] is a form of Shaivism popular in a pristine form in Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka and in a Tantrayana syncretised form in Vietnam and Indonesia (as Siwa Siddhanta^[3]). It 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, an aide of the prime Sangam age Vedic rishi Agastya, is considered to be the propounder of the term Siddhanta and its basic tenets in his magnum opus. 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. The Brahma Sutra Bhashya of Śrīkaṇṭhācārya Śivācārya is a further Agamic philosophical foundation of the philosophy in a Srauta Vedic Vedantic Shiva advaita perspective.^[4] Meykandar (13th century) was the first systematic philosopher of the school in a dualistic dvaita Vedantic perspective.^[5]

The normative rites, cosmology and theology of Shaiva Siddhanta draw upon a combination of Tamil Agamas scriptures.^[6] In the Sri Lankan Sinhalese society, king Rajasinha I of Sitawaka converted to Saiva Siddhantism, and made it the official religion during his reign,^[7] 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)^[8] 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.^[9] 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^[10] and later Islam filled the role of philosophical Shaiva Siddhanta.^[11]

Meanwhile in Tamil Nadu, after the Kalabhra interregnum, the Tamil states of the Pandyas and Pallavas reemerged, reviving the Saivite and Vaishnavite native religions. Further, the Saivite saint Thirugnanasambandar theologically defeated 8000 Sramanas with Buddhist names among them. When they started an insurrection, they were impaled by Koon Pandiyan at Samanatham near Madurai. Mahendravarma Pallava under Appar, a revert Saivite saint retrieved and reclaimed the Sramana encroached monuments and wrote Mattavilasaprahasana, a comic play on the heretical (non Vedic) sects of the time including Buddhism. Bhagavadajjukam by Baudhayana of the same reign ridiculed the Sramana sects within Hinduism, the sannyasins. These events are considered to be the ushering in of the Bhakti era in India which resulted in the routing of the nastika religion Buddhism and the near decimation of Jainism in India.

This tradition is thought to have been once practiced all over Greater India,^[12] but the Jain, Buddhist and consequent Muslim subjugation of North India restricted Shaiva Siddhanta to the south^[13] where it was preserved with the Tamil Shaiva movement expressed in the bhakti poetry of the Nayanars which was the first reaction against the nastika philosophies.^[14] It is in this historical context that Shaiva Siddhanta is commonly considered a "southern" tradition, one that is still very much alive.^[14] The Tamil compendium of devotional songs known as Tirumurai, the Shaiva Agamas and "Meykanda" or "Siddhanta" Shastras,^[15] form the scriptural canon of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta.