The
Siddhars :The ancient Tamils in their quest for knowledge
for longevity developed two ways by which man can achieve
mastery over nature. One is the Yogic way and the other
is through medicines.
The people who dedicated themselves to this task were themselves
great yogis known as Siddhars. Hence the system of medicine
propounded by them came ot be known as Siddhars system of
Medicine. This system can be traced to the prevedic period.
Siddhar,
a Tamil word that is derived from its root ‘chit’
means perfection in life or heavenly bliss. It generally
refers to eight kinds of supernatural powers attainable
to man. The persons who had attained such miraculous powers
attainable to man.
The persons who had attained such miraculous powers in life
are known as Siddhars. They are men born with great talents
who lived thousands of years ago in Tamil country, who by
their devotion and search for truth, avhieved perfection
in their life time.
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In
old Tamil, "Siththu" means "of Siva",
thus Siththar refer to "the disciples of God Siva"
. In South India, a Siddha refers to a being who has achieved
physical as well as spiritual perfection or enlightenment.
The ultimate demonstration of this is that Siddhas allegedly
attained physical immortality.
Thus
Siddha, like Siddhar or Cittar (indigenisation of Sanskrit
terms in Tamil Nadu) refers to a person who has realised
the goal of a type of Sadhana and become a perfected being.
In Tamil Nadu, South India, where the Siddha tradition is
practiced, special individuals are recognized as and called
Siddhas, or Siddhars or Cittars, who are on the path to
that assumed perfection after they have taken special secret
Rasayanas to perfect their bodies, in order to be able to
sustain prolonged meditation along with a form of Pranayama
which reduces the number of breaths taken by them considerably.
Siddha
medicine is a form of medical treatment of diseases using
substances of all possible origins in a way that balances
the possible harmful effect of each substance. This form
of medicine was professed and practised by Siddhars who
wrote their recipes on palm-leaves for the use of future
generations. Siddha medicine was developed by outstanding
Dravidians (ancient Tamils), locally called Cittars.
Preparations are made mainly out of the parts of the plants
and trees such as leaves, bark, stem, root etc, but include
also mineral and some animal substances. This form of medicine
is still today well known in South India. The use of metals
like gold, silver and iron powders (Sanskrit bhasma) in
some preparations is a special feature of Siddha medicine,
which claims it can detoxify metals to enable them to be
used for stubborn diseases.
This claim is especially relevant in the case of mercury
which is relatively often used in the system; that means
medicine containing purified mercury should only be received
from a highly qualified practitioner of the art.
