Shaiva Siddhanta
oldest form of Shaivism
Shaiva Siddhanta (IAST: Śaiva-siddhānta)[1][2] (Tamil: சைவ சித்தாந்தம் "Caiva cittāntam") is a form of Shaivism popular in South India and Srilanka which propounds a devotional philosophy with the ultimate goal of experiencing union with Shiva.
Quotes
edit- Dravidianist scholars have tried to position Saiva Siddhantha as something unique to Tamil spirituality and not linked to Hinduism. Although the traditional works on Saiva Siddhantha cite the Vedas as their authority, this is circumvented by conjuring up a separate Tamil spirituality from a distant past. For G.U. Pope and other evangelists, Saiva Siddhantha is seen as an approximation to, but not an equal of, Christianity. Thus, it is to be used as an indirect and diluted form of Christianity that works as a stepping stone towards direct, pure Christianity. Once people are convinced that for many centuries they have practiced a corrupted version of Christianity, it would be easy to upgrade them to the accepted or contemporary Christianity.
- Malhotra, R., Nīlakantan, A. (Princeton, N.J.). (2011). Breaking India: Western interventions in Dravidian and Dalit faultlines
- All the terms and forms we use are derived from Sanskrit: and the bulk of literature in Tamil dwindles to insignificance when compared with the vast 'Agama' Literatre in Sanskrit. Our Tamil acharyas were also great Sanskritists . . . Our author states expressly . . . how this precious religion and philosophy is based on the Vedas and Agamas.
- J. M. Nallaswami Pillai (1864–1920) Quoted from Malhotra, R., Nīlakantan, A. (Princeton, N.J.). (2011). Breaking India: Western interventions in Dravidian and Dalit faultlines
