Saivism - a product of evolution

Five streams of thought and practices seem to have gone into the making of today's Saivism. They are 1 Ancestor worship 2 Indus Valley worship of Mahayogi 3 Heroic Stone worship 4 Phallic worship 5 Vedic influence

Ancestor worship

From time immemorial, man has wondered about death and believed that death was another phase or continuation of life. So he buried the dead with foodstuffs etc. so that the departed soul could use them for the next life. That was the case with the people of Tamilnadu also. Urns for burying the dead used in the iron age have been excavated in several parts of Tamilnadu. They contained the corpses and foodstuffs. The urn has a hole on the top. The corpse was placed inside the urn facing the hole and it was buried in such way that the hole always faced the east. The present custom of worshipping at the tomb of the ancestor should have been practised in the distant past also considering the honours with which they packed the dead. Then they began to conceive that the dead spirits were controlled by a leader and it was enough to worship him alone. Perhaps the growing number of ancestors to be worshipped necessitated such a change. Naturally the abode of the leader of spirits was the graveyard or cremation ground. We see in the hymns of Karaikal Ammaiyar that the Lord was dancing in the cremation ground accompanied by spirits.

Mahayogi worship

The seals of the Indus Valley Civilisation show a male in yogic posture. The hood on his head has two horns. One seal shows him surrounded by animls. These features must have been purposely intended to differentiate their god from ordinary man. The modern day Saivism has a somewhat similar figure, called Dakshinamurthy and it is one of the forms of Siva. One of his legs is touching the ground and the other is folded like the Mahayogi. Instead of the animals, he is surrounded by sages. This figure could have been evolved from the Indus valley figure. Though the Mahayogi's background is not depicted in the seals, in the Sangam age, he was described as sitting under a banyan tree and his name was the god sitting under the banyan tree. In Ammaiyar's time, that is 3rd century A.D. the same god is conceived to be dancing in a banyan grove near the cremation ground. That the left leg of both Dakshinamurthy and the dancing god does not touch the ground is to be noted. Considering the similarity of the banyan tree also, it can be safely assumed that the same Dakshinamurthy became the dancer.

Vedic influence-phase I

Of the numerous gods adored by the Vedas, Rudra is one. The hymn dedicated to him is called Rudram. In the beginning of the hymn, Rudra is identified with the sun. As it proceeds, every person or thing is considered a form of Rudra. From the leader of the armies down to the thief, every one is considered Rudra and is saluted. Rudram ends with a salutation to Yama, the god of death, thus making no distinction between Rudra and Yama. Perhaps due to the influence of this, the

In Ammaiyar's hymns, the Dancing God was called by various names each representing a particular attribute of his. But He was not called Siva. The Sangam literature does not either use the name Siva.

Heroic Stone Worship

The temple in Tamilnadu is referred to by the Tamil word KOIL. The word means the home of the king. Considering the practice of erecting stones on the graves of warriors killed in battles, it can be safely assumed that such stones on the tombs of Kings were given special treatment with a roof and an enclosure and they were worshipped. Adhering to the traditional practice of burying the dead facing east, the stone was erected facing east. It was given all honours like bathing and feeding as was done to a living king. (This practice continues even today. Siva Lingam is particularly said to be fond of bathing several times a day. ) Thus this place came to be called KOIL. Perhaps the stone was polished and made cylindrical. This must have later evolved into the Lingam (phallus) of later times.

Phallic Worship

The worship of the union of sexual organs as a sign of fertility had been in vogue in all countries. When and how the heroic stone of Tamilnadu got converted into Lingam is not known. But it is certain that the Lingam of Tamilnadu was heroic stone first and only later the idea of phallus was imposed on it. In today's Saivism, the Lingam is considered as the formless form of Siva. (Dakshinamurthy, Nataraja and other figures are his expressed forms. The void is considered to be his hidden nature. The Lingam is the combination of the two.)

Vedic influence-phase II

Ascendency of Rudra over Yama

Thirukkadaiyur is one of the holy places of Saivism today. There is a legend woven around this place. Yama tried to snatch the life of a devotee of Siva, who protected the devotee and destroyed Yama. It is possible that there was a conflict between the worship of Yama and the newly emerging brahminised form of the Lord and the latter sect won. Interstingly, the temple has an appelation as Mayanam which means a burning ghat.

Nataraja worship

Now another place came into prominence. This was Thillai or modern Chidambaram. Here the bronze image of the dancing Lord was placed under a roof and called Nataraja, the King of dancers. (Stone sculpting got a fillip only during the rule of the Great Pallavas in the 7th century and it spread to other regions of Tamilnadu only after that. Moreover the Chola region had no rocks or mountains and it was only later that powerful Chola kings brought stones from far-off places. Hence they had to use only bronze images.) Even today Chidambaram continues to be the holiest place for Nataraja worship and the temple is closely held by a group of brahmins known as Deekshitars. They maintain their ethnic purity till date and Nataraja is considered their exclusive property. They have a peculiar way of wearing their tufts. They belong to a group called Cholia among brahmins. (The tuft of the Cholia brahmins has become proverbial.) Cholia means belonging to Chola country and they were the aborigines of the land as distinguished from the other brahmin - groups. These Deekshitars caused a very big change in Saivism by shifting the abode of the Lord from the cremation ground. Hindus traditionally consider the burial and cremation ground as an unclean place and now the the god has been shifted away from there, the ferociousness attached to him softened. His looks were pleasing and the religion became refined. They used Vedic hymns for the worship of Nataraja and like the Lingam of the Koils, this bronze image was also given all honours

Vedic influence-phase III

Waves of brahmin migration into Tamilnadu took place after the time of Ammaiyar. The first group was called Vadama which means, in Tamil, the people from the north. Perhaps they came from Maharashtra. Three evidences could be cited. They wear the holy ash on their foreheads which is a custom peculiar to Maharashtra. In their daily prayers, they pray to the river Narmada, a river of Maharashtra. The prevalence of the worship of Ganapathi in Maharashtra and Tamilnadu prominently may suggest that these brahmins brought this custom also with them to Tamilnadu. Subsequently, more groups of brahmins came from the north. Perhaps to distinguish themselves from the newer settlers, the Vadamas gave them names in Sanskrit such as Brihacharanam (the big footed), Vathima (a corrupt form of Upadhyaya meaning a teacher), Ashta Sahasram (the eight thousand that came at the time of Rajendra Chola), Swarna Kesiya (the golden haired). While the other groups were settled in 18 villages each, the first settlers, the Vadamas spread throughout Tamilnadu and were more numerous than all the other groups put together. They might have come on the invitation of Chola Kings who were known for their patronage to Vedic religion.

Reforms brought about by Vadamas

These Vadamas could have taken a liking to the cult of Nataraja worship since it was nearer to their Vedic practices and could have spread it to all other parts of Tamilnadu, since the original founders of the Nataraja worship, the Deekshitars did not move out of Chidambaram. Perhaps by their insistence, Nataraja was given priority of worship over the Lingam in the KOILs and this practice continues till todate.

Conversion of Adhi Saivas

The priests of the KOILs, known as Adhi Saivas, are a separate class by themselves. Though they are called as brahmins by others, they do not regard themselves as such. The nomenclature of the cook and assistant in Siva temples as Brahmana Pillai, meaning a brahmin youth, shows that the Adhi Saivas were not brahmins. In those days of strict compartmentalisation of society and taboos on eating food touched by others, the new settlers could have refused to take the food prepared by the Adhi Saivas and appointed one of their own group in each temple for this purpose.

The Adhi Saivas were initiated into brahminism with the wearing of the sacred thread like the brahmins. They were also taught a few portions of the Vedas, like Rudram and Chamakam, for reciting during the worship of Siva. Even today, the Adhi Saivas learn only these hymns and not the entire Vedas.

The Sacred Ash

Sacred ash came to be used as a sign of the renovated religion. It was not difficult for the Tamil people to accept this custom, since already they had conceived the Lord as smearing the ash of the cremation ground on his body while dancing. But the ash used in the temple was not the ash of the cremation ground but that of the burnt cow dung.

Other gods of Saivism

Ganapathi and Murugan worship

Ganapathi, brought from Maharashtra, came to be worshipped in the KOILs and gradually the worship of Murugan, the custom of the hilly region of Tamilnadu spread throughout the land.

Sakthi cult

There existed in Tamilnadu the worship of female goddesses and Kali was one of them. They were all ferocious and human sacrifices to them were common. The new Saivam began to refine this and the Sakthi cult was born. Goddess with benign and beautiful looks came to be regarded as Sakthi, the consort of Siva. Formerly, the dancing Lord was conceived to be having his wife in the left half of his body. Hence she was not separately worshipped. Now stone sculpting had become popular and separate shrines with stone images of Sakthi came to be erected within Siva temples. Some temples of the former ferocious goddesses were converted into Sakthi temples and Lingam was also erected in them. The legend that Sankara reduced the ferociousness of Akilandeswari in Thiruvanaikoil (near Trichy) by making some changes in her ornaments lends support to this.

Emergnce of the name 'Siva'

The Dancing Lord of the Ammaiyar's period who came to be called Nataraja later, was red in colour. Siva in Tamil means red. The Vadamas who combined the Nataraja worship and the Lingam worship searched for a similar word in the Vedas. They found that one of the 300 odd forms mentioned in Rudram was Siva, which meant benevolent. The word Siva was found to be bridging the two seccts and they popularised it. Thereafter the god came to be known as Siva and the religion Saivam. The Buddhist ahimsa principle had already spread considerably in the land. Saivism adopted it and avoided all animal sacrifices in the newly established form of worship. Hence vegetarianism came to be called Saivam in Tamilnadu.

Counter reformation

Far reaching changes in religion meet with stiff resistance everywhere . There should have been among the Cholias such people who opposed the installation of the image of the Lord of the burning ghat ( the worship of which was not sanctioned in the Vedas) in a temple and the use of Vedic hymns for its worship. They retaliated by installing an image of Vishnu close by. They did not accept the spread of Nataraja cult, the brahminisation of the Koils and the non -Vedic worship of the Lingam. Of course, the Veda censures the phallic worship. They wanted to maintain the purity of the Vedic religion and they became the Vaishnavas. They would not accept the custom of wearing the sacred ash. Some of the settlers from the north also joined them. Though these two groups were united in maintaining the purity of Vedic practices, their cultural backgrounds differed due to geographical reasons and they chose to remain independent of each other. Thus Vaishanvas were divided into Thenkalai (the Southern sect) and Vadakalai (the Northern sect). Nowhere else in India can we see the conflict of Saivism and Vaishnavism.

Consolidation

When Sankara began the great revival of Hinduism in the 8th century, he could not ignore the ground realities and accepted all the prevailing religious practices of the brahmins as Vedic. Thus was born his six-fold categorisation of Hinduism. They are 1 Saivam ( the worship of Siva), 2 Vaishnavam ( the worship of Vishnu), 3 Saktham (the worship of Sakthi), 4 Ganapathyam ( the worship of Ganapathi), 5 Koumaram ( the worship of Murugan), 6 Souram (the worship of the sun). To be fair, the last one was the true Vedic religion as the Vedas advocate prayer to the sun with its famous Gayathri Mantra . The other religious sects were products of Tamilnadu which came into existence just before his time.

Present day Saivism -Vaishnavism relations

The Vaishnavas would not accept Sankara's recognition of Saivam as a Vedic sect and they continued to remain secluded from the mainstream. There had been many conflicts between the two sects in the past. Even today the cold war between the two prominent sects of Tamilnadu continues to some extent.