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Oldest form of Shaivism

Shaiva Siddhanta is a form of Shaivism popular in South India and Sri Lanka which propounds a devotional philosophy with the ultimate goal of experiencing union with Shiva. It draws primarily on the Tamil devotional hymns written by Shaiva saints from the 5th to the 9th century CE, known in their collected form as Tirumurai. Tirumular is considered to be the propounder of the term Siddhanta and its basic tenants. In the 12th century, Aghorasiva, the head of a branch monastery of the Amardaka order in Chidambaram, took up the task of formulating Shaiva Siddhanta. This is an earliest known Aghora Paddhati system of Shaiva Siddhanta of Adi Shaivas mathas in Kongu Nadu which rejects the Meykanda Shastras as a later addition. Meykandar (13th century) was the first systematic philosopher of the school. The normative rites, cosmology and theology of Shaiva Siddhanta draw upon a combination of Agamas and Vedic scriptures. This tradition is thought to have been once practiced all over India, but the Muslim subjugation of North India restricted Shaiva Siddhanta to the south where it was preserved with the Tamil Shaiva movement expressed in the bhakti poetry of the Nayanars. It is in this historical context that Shaiva Siddhanta is commonly considered a "southern" tradition, one that is still very much alive. form the scriptural canon of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta.

Monier Williams gives the meaning of siddhanta as 'any fixed or established or canonical text book or received scientific treatise on any subject as Brahma siddhanta ब्रह्म सिद्धान्त, Surya siddhanta, etc.' The name of the school could be translated as "the settled view of Shaiva doctrine" or "perfected Shaivism."

Shaiva Siddhanta's original form is uncertain. Some hold that it originated as a monistic doctrine, espoused by Kashmiri northern shaivites (date unknown). South India is another theorized location of origin, where it was most prevalent. It seems likely to others, however, that the early Śaiva Siddhānta may have developed somewhere in India, as a religion built around the notion of a ritual initiation that conferred liberation. Such a notion of liberatory initiation appears to have been borrowed from a Pashupata (pāśupata) tradition. At the time of the early development of the theology of the school, the question of monism or dualism, which became so central to later theological debates, had not yet emerged as an important issue.

Saiva Siddhanta is practiced widely among the Saivas of southern India and Sri Lanka, especially by members of the Adi Shaivas, Kongu Vellalar, It has over 5 million followers in Tamil Nadu, and is also prevalent among the Tamil diaspora around the world. It has thousands of active temples predominantly in Tamil Nadu and also in places around the world with significant Tamil population and also has numerous monastic and ascetic traditions, along with its own community of priests, the Adishaivas, who are qualified to perform Agama based Shaiva Temple rituals. Kumaragurupara Desikar, a Tamil Saivite poet says that Shaiva Siddhantha is the ripe fruit of the Vedanta tree. G. U. Pope, an Anglican Tamil Scholar, mentions that Shaiva Sidhantha is the best expression of Tamil knowledge.

The texts revered by the southern Saiva Siddhanta are the Vedas; the twenty eight dualist Hindu Agamas; Shaiva Puranas; the two Itihasas which form the ritual basis of the tradition; the twelve books of the Tamil Saiva canon called the Tirumurai, which contains the poetry of the Nayanars; the Aghora Paddhati, a codified form of all the above and additionally the Saiva Siddhanta Shastras for the Meykandar denomination.

Siddhas such as Sadyojyoti (c. 7th century) are credited with the systematization of the Siddhanta theology in Sanskrit. Sadyojyoti, initiated by the guru Ugrajyoti, propounded the Siddhanta philosophical views as found in the Rauravatantra and Svāyambhuvasūtrasaṅgraha. He may or may not have been from Kashmir, but the next thinkers whose works survive were those of a Kashmirian lineage active in the 10th century: Rāmakaṇṭha I, Vidyākaṇṭha I, Śrīkaṇṭha, Nārāyaṇakaṇṭha, Rāmakaṇṭha II, Vidyākaṇṭha II. Treatises by the last four of these survive. King Bhoja of Gujarat (c. 1018) condensed the massive body of Siddhanta scriptural texts into one concise metaphysical treatise called the Tattvaprakāśa.

The culmination of a long period of systematisation of its theology appears to have taken place in Kashmir in the 10th century, the exegetical works of the Kashmirian authors Bhatta Narayanakantha and Bhatta Ramakantha being the most sophisticated expressions of this school of thought. Their works were quoted and emulated in the works of 12th century South Indian authors, such as Aghorasiva and Trilocanasiva. The theology they expound is based on a canon of Tantric scriptures called Siddhantatantras or Shaiva Agamas. This canon is traditionally held to contain twenty eight scriptures, but the lists vary, and several doctrinally significant scriptures, such as the Mrgendra, are not listed. In the systematisation of the ritual of the Shaiva Siddhanta, the Kashmirian thinkers appear to have exercised less influence: the treatise that had the greatest impact on Shaiva ritual, and indeed on ritual outside the Shaiva sectarian domain, for we find traces of it in such works as the Agnipurana, is a ritual manual composed in North India in the late 11th century by a certain Somasambhu.

Three monastic orders were instrumental in Shaiva Siddhanta's diffusion through India; the Amardaka order, identified with one of Shaivism's holiest cities, Ujjain, the Mattamayura order, in the capital of the Chalukya dynasty, and the Madhumateya order of Central India. Each developed numerous sub orders. Siddhanta monastics used the influence of royal patrons to propagate the teachings in neighboring kingdoms, particularly in South India. From Mattamayura, they established monasteries in regions now in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra and Kerala. In today's Tamil Nadu, there are both the ancient grhasta Amardaka lineage Aghora Paddhati Adi Shaiva Maths and the sanyasi non Adi Shaiva Meykandar Sampradaya Adheenams (monastic) today. Adi Shaiva Maths numbering around 40 are usually centred in Kongu Nadu