The Tamil philosophic tradition suffered a tremendous setback from the beginning of the 17th cent, the century of some great Siddhas and Saiva philosophers. The decline of the Cholas and the general pessimism that came to prevail made the Viddhantic ideas rather attractive, a drug of a kind to soothe the pains of continuous humiliation at the hands of foreigners.
But the seeds of Viddhantic development was laid by Kannudaya Vallal, who actually began as a strict Saiva Siddhanti but drifted away with his formulation of philosophical methodology as consisting that of Sruti, ukti and anubavam. For him the Sruti was the Hymns of Thirunjana Sambanthar and he argued that such sruties are authoritative, thereby undermining the pedagogic scientific character of genuine Saiva Siddhanta. He in fact coined the hybrid term Vedanta-siddhantam to distinguish his system from that of Meykandar. The 16th cent. Smartha Brahmins, Corubananthar and Tattuvarayar seized upon this opening and quickly displaced the Thirumurai as Sruti and emplaced the Upanisads especially the Mahavakkiyas.
The 16th cent Corubasaram, Corubavunthiyar and the numerous works of Tattuvarayar such as Tattuvamirtham, Amirthsaram and so forth and later Kaivalya Navaneetham of Tandavaraya Suvamikal signify the growth of the Viddhantic tradition going well beyond Athi Sankara himself in the subtlety of analysis.
In the 19th cent. it is works on the Viddhantic tradition that remain quite outstanding despite the attempts of Somasundara Nayakkar. Arumuga Navalar and many others to arrest this unhealthy development.. The Vivekacudamani of Sankara became the model and numerous texts, brilliant in many ways, such as Subanuva Rasayanam of Sundara Swamikal, the Vedanta Ilakanam of Caccithananthar, the Ilakkanavirutthi of an unknown author , the Motca Sathanam of Ramanatha Yogikal and numerous others were composed and studied avidly, submerging the Siddhantic tradition or at least weakening it considerably. Also Vedanta tradition ceases to be that of Smartha Bramins only- it became the main philosophy of leading Tamil thinkers.
The Decline Of Saiva Siddhanta Tradition
It can be seen that in all these Viddhantic texts the notions Sruti Ukti and Anubavam continue to be paraded as constituting the Logic of philosophical inquiries, however the choice of Sruti is not that of Thevaram as it was the case with Kannudaya Vallal but rather either the Upanisads or the writings of Sankara. Though towards the end of the 19th cent. such valiant individuals as Somasundara Nayakkar, Sundara Sivaccariyar, Arumuga Navalar, Pampan Swamikal and many others put up a battle to arrest the decline of Siddhanta and the rise of Viddhanta, it appears to have had no effect at all necessitating the frontal attack by Periyar in the early 20th. Century.
Recent developments in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere indicate that the hermeneutic scientific spirit of true Siddhanta tradition is dead and it is the authoritarian Viddhanta thinking that reigns supreme. Even the Atheenams meant to keep alive the scientific spirit of Saiva Siddhanta have failed in it miserably. The notion of TRADITION has now been raised to the level of an Authority so that such Atheenams demand compliance and submission, failing which the right to call oneself a civajnani is not conferred.
The attainment of Civajnanam is seen as a matter of undergoing certain diksas and the Atheeenams self-arrogating to itself a position of AUTHORITY through maintaining the rights over these diksas.
In such a decay and degeneration of Siddhanta tradition, the spirit of open ended and free inquiry i.e. the practice of Hermeneutic Sciences can never flourish. The literary productions become simplifications, which in fact effect dilutions, tedious and repetitious commentaries or empty eulogies. New depths are not accessed and if at all, the persons in authority , the Atheenams and others actively discourage their proliferations for fear of losing their own authoritative positions. The practical and urgent problems are bypassed or ignored as any active and meaningful analysis will lead to the birth of new ideas.
As it stands today the Siddhanta tradition has become a DEAD tradition, lacking in vitality and enterprise.
This is the situation in which we are right now and with which we cannot be complacent. Come what may we must dismiss all authorities except the authority of TRUTH and press our hermeneutic inquiries into areas untreated earlier. A tradition is alive only to the extent it is productive of new ideas.
We must also note a peculiarity about the Siddhantic Tradition – it is a tradition that detraditionalises an individual. It encourages freedom and autonomy so that in the end, an individual becomes totally autonomous like our Appar, unafraid of any earthly power. The Siddhantic tradition in being essentially pedagogic DEVELOPS educationally an individual so that he is emplaced in ThiruNeri after which Civa Himself takes over.
No man should aspire to be CIVA himself or to pretend to do what only CIVA can do viz. confer MUKTI.
Loganathan @ Ullaganar
Note : The Tamil world is fortunate to have a great soul like Dr Loga who has dedicated his whole life to recover the genuine hermeneutic essence of Saiva Siddhanta. He has written voluminous amount of writings, both in Tamil and English. It will be a great loss not only for the Tamil world, but for humanity as a whole if these great works are forgotten. A group of his students are working tirelessly to make them available to the world and for humanity to benefit.
( editing and re- paragraphing by his student )
( photo of Dr Loga and Dr Sivakumar )
GREAT SERVICE TO HUMANITY! OM NAMA SHIVAAYA!
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