The Siddhas...

Who are the Tamil Siddhas?


The term 'Tamil Siddhas' is used to refer to a special group of yogis who lived in the southernmost province of India known as Tamil Nadu. They were spiritual and social rebels and iconoclasts of the highest order. They built no organization, refused to adhere to religious and social norms of their day, and defied classification -- which, ironically, is what we are attempting here ! While they span several thousand years of history, they do exhibit certain common characteristics which enable us to study them as a group.


In doing so, however, we are faced with a number of problems. Indian spirituality has never bothered to keep accurate history because it has pointedly emphasized the message over the messenger. This is even truer of Tamil Siddhas, who were loners who roamed the forests and mountains of Tamil Nadu, unaffiliated, and unmindful of public recognition or rejection. If they had real names, no one knew them ! Many are known by their popular names, e.g., azukaNNi siddhar (one with ecstatic, weeping eyes), kaDuveLi siddhar ('severe void'), etc.


Even allowing for the generally murky nature of Indian history and the tendency of followers to embellish the exploits and exaggerate the ancience of their sages, the Tamil Siddhas present unique problems to a student. When historical 'facts' collide, e.g., when facts reveal the presence of a person in two places at the same time or in two different centuries, it can usually be considered an inconsistency. But traversing time and space are two of the essential 'powers' (siddhis) of a siddha and cannot be considered, ipso facto, inconsistencies !


Distinguishing Characteristics of Tamil Siddhas


There is a fair amount of confusion as to who is a Tamil Siddha and who is not. Every Tamil saint is not a Tamil Siddha. Traditionally, the Tamil Siddhas are thought to begin with tirumUlar in 5th or 6th century CE (although there have been many siddhas in southern India prior to tirumUlar, such as agastiyar and tiruvaLLuvar). From tirumUlar, two philosophical lineages developed: one was the official, establishment religion called Saiva siddhAnta. This consisted of a monastic order: you have an Adheenam, you have monks, you have a spiritual head, you have property, rituals, power, money, socio-political activities in addition to religious – in short, a part of the society. Although tirumUlar was a yogi with a primarily nondual philosophy, Saiva siddhAnta grew to become primarily bhakti-oriented, and from 11th century onwards (after meykanDAr), very dualistic.


In contrast, the Tamil Siddhas were the “unofficial” (and, according to some, “illegitimate”) descendants of tirumUlar’s wisdom. They were anti-establishment revolutionaries, living outside the society while helping the society in a number of ways. They formed no order, recognized no official lineage. They were true “socialists” (not the mere political kind) and took on the status quo. Fearlessly, they attacked the “empty” ritualism of the pUrvameemAmsakas (who were of the brahmin caste) as well as Saiva siddhantis (who were generally not brahmins).


The Tamil Siddhas were for the little guy, the common man and woman. They helped people not only in the latter's spiritual quest, but also in their daily lives with their unique medical knowledge. They believed in spiritual egalitarianism and said realization was available to every person, not just those who shaved their heads, worshipped personal gods, or were learned in scriptures. For this reason, they distilled the essence of their wisdom into songs in simple, easy, understandable Tamil. No wonder the religious establishment was mad at them and vilified them. In fact, about 120 years ago, the head of a major Adheenam sent his personal emissaries to scour the villages of Tamil Nadu, in a futile effort to locate every published copy of Sivavakkiyar’s songs, buy it from the owner, and burn it! But, due to the genius of the Tamil Siddhas who made their compositions rhythmic and tuneful, the songs did not need printed pages; they survived on the lips of housewives when they cooked, mothers when they sang lullabies, and young girls when they skipped and played pANDi in the streets!


Following are some of the distinguishing features of the Tamil Siddha philosophy:


1. They followed Kundalini Yogic path, not the Bhakti path.
Accordingly, they never wrote in praise of any personal god. (For them Siva was consciousness, Sakti, His consort, was energy – as per tirumUlar’s metaphysics. The names that they usually use to refer to the ultimate reality -- nAgainAthar, vAlaipeN, etc. -- are pointed references to Kundalini). Thus, they never went around from town to town, singing praise of the local version of Siva (which is what great Siva devotees such as the nAyanmArs of Tamil Nadu did. This is also the reason that most lists of Tamil Siddhas don’t include the great paTTinathAr, who used to sing in praise of local deities -- although he was a siddha in every other respect. Of course, the paTTinathAr issue is a little more complicated; there may have been three different paTTinathArs! The name simply means "the guy from the city!").


This does not mean that the Tamil Siddhas were unemotional, dry-as-dust, cerebral yogis -- as evidenced by the ecstatic overflow of azukaNNi siddhar, the sarcastic rage of Sivavakkiyar, the piteous wailing of bhadragiriyar, and the bouncy, joyous alliterations of kongaNa nAyanAr.


2. They were interested in achieving their goal of self-realization, not philosophizing! Thus, we don’t find extensive metaphysical treatment in their songs. Their approach is technical, namely, Kundalini yoga. But the philosophy underlying their approach is clearly advaitic, i.e., reality is nondual. tirumUlar’s tirumantiram is clearly advaitic, too. But, the Saiva siddhanta order was given a strong dual character in 11th and 12th centuries by aghOraSiva and meykaNDAr. In my personal opinion, the Tamil Siddhas felt that they were the true guardians of tirumUlar’s pure yogic vision, which is why they were so hard on the ritualists.


3. A unique feature of the Tamil Siddha philosophy is the immortality of the body, not just the spirit. Thus, to them, making the body immortal was a natural step in achieving the ultimate goal.
In experimenting with this aspect, they arrived at various powers (siddhis). In this quest, they used a lot of medicinal substances, too; a byproduct of their efforts in this respect is the Siddha medicine, which uses not only herbs but also oxides of metals, particularly mercury. While they used their medical knowledge to the benefit of the society, the real purpose of their alchemy was to transmute the mortal physical body into an immortal subtle body.


As a corollary, it is held that a siddha won’t die, he will simply sublimate into light. This is a pervasive belief in the religious thought of Tamil Nadu. Of course, many great saints who were not siddhas are said to have dissolved into light, too. (nandanAr, sambandhar, sundaramUrti nayanar). The most recent instance of such sublimation involves rAmalinga aDikaL in the nineteenth century. This case is interesting because the local British authorities (who then ruled India) investigated and verified his disappearance from within a locked room.


4. Another major characteristic of the Tamil Siddhas is their universalism – the belief that all religions lead to the same reality. This is an ancient Tamil tradition and the Tamil Siddhas are the rightful guardians of this view. Many examples exist, such as tiruvaLLuvar, tirumUlar, tAyumAnavar (who says “I have researched all religions of the world; they all end in the very same silence”), and most recently, vaLLalAr rAmalinga aDikaL.



Some Tamil Siddhas


The following are some of the better known and relatively influential Tamil Siddhas. It is, by no means, a complete list.


1. tirumUlar


2. bhOgar


3. SivavAkkiyar


4. kAkabhuSunDar
(also referred to as kAkapusunDar or kAgabujanDar)
5. paTTiNathAr
(some would not count him as a Tamil Siddha)
6. pAmbATTi siddhar


7. kaDuveLi siddhar


8. azukaNNi siddhar


9. kongaNa nAyanAr


10. bhadragiriyAr


11. kudambai siddhar


12. rAmalinga aDikaL


The inclusion of many other famous names can be argued for or against. We can obviously include agastiyar and tiruvaLLuvar. On the other hand, the famous nAyanmArs (appar, sundarar, mAnikkavAchagar, jnAnasambandhar) were primarily bhaktas, not yogis. The great tayumAnavar was (like ramaNa maharshi) primarily a jnani, not a yogi. Legitimate siddhas like sadaSiva brahmEndra, who lived in Tamil Nadu, are not categorized as Tamil Siddhas because they composed their works in Sanskrit, not Tamil. In any case, it is important to understand that we are classifying these individuals for the sake of convenience and clarity; such classification has only limited, local utility. To truly define these people would be like "trying to grab a beam of light !"