தமிழ்மாமணி நந்திவர்மன் மீது தமிழ்மாமணி துரை மாலிறையனார் பாமாலை

THE TAMIL SIDDHAS : SYMPOSIUM ON WORLD RELIGIONS : UNIVERSITY OF UTAH 1997 :LAYNE LITTLE

An Introduction to the Tamil Siddhas:
Their Tantric Roots, Alchemy, Poetry,
and the True Nature of their Heresy
Within the Context of South Indian Shaivite Society

by Layne Little

anjaneya@ix.netcom.com

(Please Note: This paper was originally presented at a symposium on world religions at the University of Utah in the spring of '97. It was haphazardly strung together almost overnight. Unfortunately, I failed to carefully list my sources and footnote their contributions. I have tried to list the most significant references at the tail of this article, but it is by no means complete. Nor to I give them proper credit in the body of the work. I apologize profusely for this oversight, and welcome comments and criticism on this or any other issues. I must especially acknowledge how much Dr. David Gordon White and Dr. Kamil Zvelebil have contributed to this raggle-taggle introduction to Siddha tradition. Thanks!)
Back to Indian alchemy.

---

The Tamil Siddhas are a religious order of mystics found in the southern part of India, who's 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 which 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."

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.

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 14^th 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.

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 9^th 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!

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 19^th 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. ???

 [ AMONG THE REFERENCES GIVEN BY ME IN MY 5 MONTH ONLY VISITING RESEARCHER assignment in TAMIL DEPARTMENT OF PONDICHERRY , this would be somewhere hidden. I DID NOT TRANSLATE IN TAMIL AND GAVE PARTIALLY TAMIL PART ENGLISH REPORTS BECAUSE IF WE GIVE IN CD IN TAMIL IN PAST IT DID NOT APPEAR AS MY CHAPTER IN THE REPORT .SOMEONE ELSE WILL PUT THEIR NAMES }

SACRIFICES OF TAMIL MARTYRS MUST NOT BE LOST

Remembering the 1965 Anti Hindi  Struggle

Kellapaluvur Chinnasamy, Kodambakkam Sivalingam

And Veerukkambakkam Aranganathan

'Thannai Velvan Tharani Velvan'

27 January 2008

"It is claimed that Hindi should be common language because it is spoken by the majority. Why should we then claim the tiger as our national animal instead of the rat which is so much more numerous? Or the peacock as our national bird when the crow is ubiquitous? ...A man had two dogs - a big one and a small one. He wanted his dogs to go in and out of the house freely without him having to keep the house door open all the time. So he built two "trap doors" - one big trap door for the big dog and one small for the small dog. Neighbors who saw these two doors laughed at him and called him an idiot. Why put a big door and a small door? All that was needed was the big door. Both the big and the small dog could use it! Indian government's arguments for making Hindi the official or link language of India is as ridiculous as the need for a big door and a small door for the big dog and the small dog. Indian government agrees that English is needed for communication with the world, and every school in India teaches English after the fifth grade. Then the Indian government says that all of us should know Hindi also in order to communicate amongst ourselves within India. I ask, "Since every school in India teaches English, why it can’t be our link language? Why do Tamils have to study English for communication with the world and Hindi for communications within India? Do we need a big door for the big dog and a small door for the small dog? I say, let the small dog use the big door too!"  C N Annadurai, 1962

 Passions of the Tongue: Language Devotion in Tamil India, 1891-1970 Sumathi Ramaswamy - It was a quiet, cool January dawn in the South-Indian city of Tiruchirapalli in the year 1964. A can in his hand, a man named Chinnasami left his home—leaving behind his aging mother, young wife, and infant daughter—and walked to the city’s railway station. On reaching there, he doused himself with its contents and set himself on fire, shouting out aloud, “inti olika! tamiḻ vālka!” (Death to Hindi! May Tamil flourish!). Chinnasami’s example was not lost. A year later, to the date, history repeated itself but not necessarily as farce: five other men burned themselves alive “at the altar of Tamil.” Three others died just as painfully—not in a raging blaze, but by swallowing insecticide—also for the sake of Tamil, they declared in their own last words...]

I am enclosing in pdf format a Digital Banner which Dravida Peravai party men in Coimbatore, Sivagangai and other Districts are planning to display in Karaikal on 25 January 2008.

The Karaikal Union Territory Struggle Group will hold meetings to recall the sacrifices of numerous Tamil scholars, DMK cadres and leaders, Union Ministers of Congress including C.Subramanian and O.V.Alagesan who resigned in protest, and the brave youth who committed self immolation in the Anti Hindi Struggle of January 1965.

The hunt for collecting pictures of all martyrs proved to be a daunting task. In the whole world LTTE alone sets a trend of honouring all its martyrs.

 Even in the Indian freedom struggle such nobility which impels us to accord due recognition to all martyrs seems to be absent. The victory was laid at the doors of Mahatma Gandhi. Though they played a greater role, there is no equal recognition of the sacrifices of Indian National Army led by Nethaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

The 562 princely states were welded into an Union by the Iron Man of India Sardar Vallababhai Patel, whose services too were not given due recognition in the hurry to focus limelight on Lord Mountbatten backed Premier Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, whom Aringnar Anna used to call as the last democrat in Congress party.

If even that last democrat did not give due recognition to many leaders like Nethaji or VOC, this is not the time to compile a list. It is simply to point out the significance of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam paying homage to all its martyrs in Maaveerar Thuyilimidangal. There are monuments to the Unknown soldiers of Second World War and Kargil War, but these are nowhere like the memorials established by the LTTE where every live sacrificed is recognized.

Given all this, I was moved to recall the sacrifices of the martyrs of the 1965 Anti Hindi Agitation in an appropriate banner.

I asked a painter to prepare a portrait of Sinnasamy, Sivilingam and Aranganathan, the three of those who sacrificed their lives in the pictures I got from my old collection of Murasoli papers. The others were Ayyampalayam Veerappan, Keranoor Muthu, Mayavaram Sarangapani and Satyamangalam Muthu.

From the book Struggle for Freedom of Languages in India written by former Vice Chancellor of Alagappa University and released by Dr.Kalaignar M.Karunanithi just few months before he last became Chief Minister, I obtained the photographs of all the 6 martyrs who committed self immolation. Their pictures are in the top of the banner.

All the pictures of the student leaders who led the struggle including L.Ganesan, P.Srinivasan who defeated Kamaraj, Kalimuthu, Durai Murugan, Sasikala's husband M.Nadarajan and I with others are also in the banner. Poet Perumchithranar, Peraringnar Deveneya Pavanar, K.A.P.Viswanatham, and some of such scholars are in the banner though Maraimalaiadigal and others are left out. Kalaignar was imprisoned under National Security Act and put in solitary confinement at Palayamkottai prison. Aringnar Anna who visited his cell saw writing in the wall of the entrance which read Thannai Velvan Tharani Velvan. Anna wrote his letter to Thambikku with that phrase as title.

Dravida Peravai had broken away from DMK in 1994 on the Eelam issue, at the same time as when Vaiko parted company. But we will not forget Kalaignar's sacrifices, that is why we have put the photograph of his struggle to rename Dalmiapuram back to its original Tamil name Kallakidi.

On 9 January1965, Professor C.Ilakuvanar who was to have started Thamizh Urimai Perunadai, a marathon walk to Chennai to press for Tamil medium of instruction, was arrested under National Security Act and lost his job. I should have accompanied him, but due to his arrest I had to cancel before I could start to Madurai.

After DMK came to power there was a delay in his reinstatement. At the 1968 Anti Hindi Conference organized at Kodaikanal by Raja Mohammad and Sedapatti Muthiah,  students trying to pass a resolution condemning the Tamil Nadu Government. Aringnar Anna, the Chief Minister who came to address the conference asked for the proposed resolutions and while reading searched for a pen, which I gave since I was sitting in the back. Anna wrote something. While he spoke what he wrote was revealed. He said "Thambis have forgotten that he is annan, that is why on the Ilakuvanar issue they are going to pass a resolution. But before coming to Kodaikanal orders to reinstate Professor Ilakuvanar had already been issued". At Anna's announcement there was thunderous applause.

That Professor Ilakuvanar's picture is in the banner. Scientist G.D.Naidu organized Non Hindi States Conference at Coimbatore on 25-26 January 1969 where I also spoke in my capacity as Student DMK leader from Puducherry State.

In one banner we have tried to bring all these historical events. Having said everything I must point out that in the banner I have referred to UNESCO recognition of the Bangladeshi struggle and celebrating world mother languages day on that day. The failure of Tamils to tell the world about the sacrifices in the Anti Hindi 1965 struggle led to Tamil losing that honour.

Since the banner is meant to be carried if I go abroad, the names in English scanned from the English book remains in English.

It is my appeal to all Tamils to add whatever they know and use this banner editing it according to their taste and inputs in their hand, and the ultimate aim of all of us should be to honour the memory of the Tamil martyrs in the 1965 anti Hindi imperialism Struggle

http://www.tamilnation.org/forum/nandivarman/080127hindi.htm

MODEL MOU FOR SIDDHA CLINICAL TRIALS

SIDDHA CLINICAL TRIALS THROUGH JIPMER
ALMOST READY MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

[ First party absconded so  looking for Fresh Qualified Doctors to Pursue from where it got struck up ]             N.Nandhivarman

            This Memorandum of Understanding is executed on this day, ------ of ------2016 BY and BETWEEN……………………………….. (hereinafter referred to as the First Parry) on the one part,

            And the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry represented by its Medical Superintendent (hereinafter referred to as the Second Party) on the other, witnesseth as under.

            WHEREAS, the ………………. research in Bio Nano Science, Nano drug design, Nano drug delivery for Cancer.

            WHEREAS, Jawaharlal Institute for Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry (Second Party) is an Institution providing Medical Education and has Department of Pediatrics and Obstetrics & Gynecology along with maternity ward facilities,

            WHEREAS, the ……………………………….. undertaken to initiate Breast Cancer clinical trials at the premises of the Second Party to accomplish the objectives of the AYUSH Ministry national Program on Breast Cancer Cure and Control.

            WHEREAS, to ensure smooth clinical trial for breast cancer at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, both the First Party and the Second Party have at an understanding and have resolved to reduce in writing the broad outlines thereof, NOW THEREFORE, this Memorandum of Understanding witnesseth as here under.

1.      The Second Party may provide adequate patients and space to carry out the clinical trials and the minimum required facility in this regard shall be under.

a)     One Room measuring 15’ ×10’ feet for early diagnosis with sound treated facility based room near maternity ward

b)     One 10’ × 10’ feet electrically isolated room for Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR)

2.      The First Party  shall recruit two posts – Siddha Physician (1 No.) and Siddha Pharmacist (1 NO.) on contract basis to work at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry.  Salary would be paid to those staff from (First Party) on submission of monthly attendance statement in the prescribed format duly signed by the NBS-Coordinator of the Second Party.

3.      First Party) shall procure the equipments like OAE Screener, AEP equipment, Immittance meter, Sound field audiometer (on each) and other tools / equipment required for the New Born Screening Programme and arrange to deliver the same to Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry.

4.      The First Party shall also make available funds for the Second Party for purchase of furniture, spare & accessories, stationary / consumable materials and to meet other expenditure of NBS programme by allocation and release of grant-in-aid required in a financial year,

5.      The Second Party may nominate / designate one of the regular staff members to supervise and monitor the screening activities by maintaining good rapport with the Coordinator designated by the First Party.

6.      The Second Party may maintain and open a separate bank account for accounting the receipt of grants released / and other funds received and payments made / expenditure incurred in connection with the screening activities and shall also make available the related account books, vouchers, files etc., for inspection either by the First Party or Ministry of AYUSH Govt. of India.  The bank account so opened shall be operated by any two among Dean & Director, NBS – Coordinator and any other, officer appointed or / nominated by the First Party / Second Party.

7.      The Second Party may maintain the stock registers in respect of equipments procured by the First Party and furniture, spare and accessories, stationery and other materials purchased by Second Party for carrying out the screening activities and produce for verification, as and when required.

8.      The Second Party may make a regular employee responsible / in-charge for maintenance of the stock registers by entering the details and conduct and annual physical stock verification of such equipments and send the report to ………………

9.       The Second Party may submit periodically statement of accounts along with Utilization Certificate in the prescribed format for the funds released by the First Party, as and when required.

10.  The Second Party may abide by any other guidelines / directions / instructions that may be given by the First Party from time to time for efficient and smooth implementation of Breast Cancer Clinical Trials.

11.  All the disputes arising out of the said agreement will be settled in accordance with the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1996 and failing which the matter shall be taken up to the appropriate courts within the jurisdiction of Pondicherry.

12.  The Contract can be terminated by either party by giving one month notice.

13.  The agreement once entered is subject to approval of the GB/IB of the Institute.

14.  The Second Party (JIPMER) may intimate any time that is inability to comply the directions of providing manpower, resource support.  The first party has to abide by the information and provide the alternative.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, both the parties have set their hands to this Memorandum of Understanding at Puducherry onthis  2015 in the presence of under mentioned witnesses..

Tantra and Tantric Rituals of Saivism and Buddhism

Master Thesis Proposal         

Author:	Ravi Devaraj	guide:	Mr.N.Nandhivarman
E-mail:	ravivararo@gmail.com	E-mail:	nandhivarman@gmail.com
Phone:	+919884942966	Phone:	+919244445508
Specialization:	Linguistic, Mythology, History	Period:	Aug  2021

 Proposed Topic:  Tantra and Tantric Rituals of Saivism and Buddhism

(Transformations and Transfer of Tantra in India and Beyond)

Topic Characteristics:

My thesis will focus on Tantra and Tantric rituals and its role in Saivism and Buddhism. Tantra is a esoteric principle that holds an important place in both Hinduism as well as Buddhism. The spread of Buddhism to East Asia and Southeast Asia gave rise to the introduction and evolvement of tantra in these regions of the world as well. Tantra is a esoteric principle that holds an important place in both Hinduism as well as Buddhism. The spread of Buddhism to East Asia and Southeast Asia gave rise to the introduction and devolvement of tantra in these regions of the world as well.

The aim of Tantra is to guide aspirants to realise both the supreme end of liberation and the secondary ends of wealth, sense-pleasure, and righteousness, according to their inner evolution and desires. It therefore lays down an endless variety of rituals suited to different times, places, and individual competencies. Usually a Tantric ritual consists in the assigning of the different parts of the body to different deities, the purifying of the elements of the body, breath-control, meditation, imparting of life to the image, and mental and physical worship.

The regular rituals in Tantrism include poojas or prayers being offered, making use of Mantras, Yantras and Mandalas. Both Hindu and Buddhist yoga traditions make use of these tools for prayers. Tantric Buddhism, also known as Vajrayana Buddhism, is an ancient and a highly complicated system of Buddhist philosophy. Because of usage of language, structure and rules, Vajrayana is complicated one. Vajrayana branched mainly from Hinduism and hence, the rituals need to be analyzed more before embarking on a research on the subject. Pooja is an ancient and powerful Tantric system of worship consisting of mantra, mudra, visualization, ritual action, meditation and offerings. There are layers of symbolic, philosophical, mystic and devotional meanings in each practice. What follows is a simple introduction to some of the technical aspect of puja based on the Tantric scriptures and oral tradition.

Tantric texts employ twilight language, which is purposely coded in order to keep it complex and sacred. This script relies on the use of symbolisms, metaphors, synonyms and associated words, thereby making it very difficult to decode its many niceties.

The Tamil Siddhas are a religious order of mystics. 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. Siddhas everywhere share common practices, cosmology, and symbols in Tantrism whether the practitioner is Hindu, Buddhist, or Jain. All are part of a "pan-Indian tantric institution.

Tirumandiram (or Thirumandiram) written by the Yoga Siddhar Tirumular (or Thirumoolar) in Tamil, in more than three thousand verses, probably between the 4th and 6th centuries A.D., is the oldest and most important text of Yoga from south India, It is a work of Yoga, tantra, mysticism, mantra, kundalini and monistic theism. The 12th century philosophical school of Saiva Siddhantha traces its origins to it.

 Four major components of (broadly-defined) Tantrism:

1.    sources relating to shamanic and yogic beliefs/practices

2.    Sakta worship - particularly worship of the matrikas and fierce goddesses

3.    sources relating to the particular schools of tantra

4.    'Tantric' texts themselves

Tirumular - Saivaite - was aware of the SriVidya system, and incorporated elements of it into the Tirumantiram (a text comprising of three thousand verses. Brooks sees this as evidence for a 'pan-Indian' Sakta Tantrism in early medieval India, and also suggests that elements of Sakta Tantrism may have been transmitted orally at least two centuries prior to them appearing as Sanskrit texts.

Tantra, which in its earliest written form was a distinctly iconoclastic, private, and esoteric practice, evolved into a number of respected, exoteric orders (sampradaya). It is convenient, although somewhat false, to group the orders into two categories: left-handed and right-handed. Left-handed tantras (vaama marg) incorporate five sacraments (pancamakarapuja) of fish, meat, parched grain, wine and sexual intercourse into ritual practice. Right-handed tantras, on the other hand, advocate the visualization of these antinomian practices.

Tantra exists in Vaisnava, Shaiva, and Shakta forms, among others. Extolled as a short-cut to self-realization and spiritual enlightenment by some, left-hand tantric rites are often rejected as dangerous by most orthodox Hindus

A 'union' could mean the actual act of sexual intercourse, ritual uniting of concepts through chanting and sacrifice, or realisation of one's true self in the cosmic joining of the divine principles of Shiva and Shakti in Para Shiva.

Mantra and Yantra: As in all of Hindu and Buddhist yogas, mantras play an important part in Tantra for focusing the mind, often through the conduit of specific Hindu gods like Shiva,  Kali (mother Kali, another form of Shakti) and even Ganesh , the elephant-headed god of wisdom (refer to the Ganesha Upanishad). Similarly, puja will often involve concentrating on a yantra or mandala.

Tantra, being a development of early Hindu-Vedic thought, embraced the Hindu gods and goddesses, especially Shiva and Shakti, along the Advaita (nondualist Vedic) philosophy that each represents an aspect of the ultimate Para Shiva, or Brahman. These deities may be worshipped externally (with flowers, incense etc.) but, more importantly, are used as objects of meditation, where the practitioner imagines him- or herself to be experiencing the darshan or 'vision' of the deity in question.

Tantras prescribe a strict regimen of penance, meditation, sensory control, cleansing the self of negative thoughts and seeking truth and justice before an individual can hope to transcend from her or his natural state. However Tantra is used now as a general term which relates to sexual practice as a spiritual evolutionary scheme.

In traditional pockets of Tantric practice in India, such as in Assam near the venerated Hindu temple of Kali, Kammakha, in parts of West Bengal, in Siddhanta temples of South India, and in Kasmiri Shiva temples up north, Tantra has retained its true form.

Tibetan Tantrics emphasize the true Mahayana ideal of rapidly gaining the enlightenment that characterizes a Buddha entirely dedicated to the purpose of relieving the suffering of others.

Tantra may be divided into practices based on Hinduism and Buddhism and needs to be studied in depth.

Hypothesis:

1.    TANTRA is an encyclopedic literature.

2.    TANTRA has contributed much towards Ayurveda,  Alchemy , Symbolic Science , Yoga, History , Literature, Philosophy , Religion.

3.    Where Theravada urges us to reflect on the repulsiveness of the body, Tantric Buddhism tells us to revere it as a temple and to indulge its most sensual impulses. Theravada preaches the renunciation of all desires: Tantric Buddhism their over-fulfillment.

4.    Tantra is not a technique, but love; a prayer.

5.    Tantra is neither philosophy, nor religion in the rigid sense, and yet it doesn’t oppose either of them.

Methodology:

Concerning the Tantric literature in the first part of the thesis, I am going to employ the qualitative literature review methodology, using research tools like interviews, surveys, and Observations.   I am going to use especially the classical models of Structural Anthropology, by Claude Lévi-Strauss.

Outline:

1.    Introduction

2.    Theoretical background and the review of Tantra

3.    An Analysis of Tantra

a.       Philosophical Significance

b.      Tantra in Saivism, Indo-Tibet and Thai Buddhism-Religious Significance

c.       Literary Analysis

d.      Historical Cultural analysis

4.    The Ritualistic Tradition of Tantra

a.       Erotic Rituals

b.      Non erotic rituals

5.    The Sacred Secrets of Tantra

6.    Tamil Siddhas and Tantra

7.    Conclusions

8.    References / Bibliography

References / Bibliography:

·         Thirumandiram, Thirumoolar.

·         Tantra Sastra

·         Secret of the Vajra World: The Tantric Buddhism of Tibet; Reginald A. Ray

·         Uttaratantra Shastra,

·         Tantric Temples: Eros and Magic in Java, Peter Levenda – 2011

·         Tantra and Dharma Teachers from Kashmir in Nepal, by Michael Witzel

 Author            D.RAVI DEVARAJ                                                 Guide N.NANDHIVARMAN