The
Tamil Siddhas are a religious order of mystics found in
the southern part of India
Their
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 that 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."
