1. Kamika_English_Intro

சுவாப-ல்ஸுவாபிசெகந் மோத்வவாசிண-ப்யஃ | உசதாபிவெகநாயெகவிஃ வித்யாஸ்வீயிஷசி ||

I am writing this Foreword advisedly in English to attract the attention of modern scholars to the necessity for preserving the heritage of the Agamas as much as the Vedas and to encourage the custodians and interpreters thereof in cherishing and maintaining it.

ஓ(செவராஜம் கஶவத்வாயாதிதம் கதஃ வநாடு | நீத்ருகெளிதகுராயாதித-மேவதிஷ்டிகம் ||

Vedāgama samrakṣaṇa is the duty principally of all professing Hindus. For, both the Vedas and Agamas are śruti—they are apaurshaya and nitya—and they are spoken of as such in the same breath by Puranas and later Sastraic literature and great religious teachers from ancient times.

களித்தாநாம் வ சாஸ்த்ரீம் ல்ஸுடித-க்கஶ-வ்யாநகடு | வம்சேஃத்ரா.குஷாதம் உ பத்வம் உ கதிச் வாயு ||

While the Upanishads known as Vedanta and the jnana-pada of the Agamas known as Agamanta (or Siddhanta) are well known, the Agama texts themselves were not easily accessible and could not be got yet by Western scholars to the same extent as Vedic texts.

போண ஹ்ரு காயத்ரீயவ்யு ஓடிஷா வாஷ-வலாம்ஸ்வ.போஃ | வாமஸா உக்ஷணம் இஷ்வராஸ்ருவாதி(க)ணம் ||

Except for the sporadic and much handicapped efforts at the beginning of this century of scholars like L. D. Barnett and R. W. Frazer, the Saivāgamas were less fortunate than Śāktā and Pāñcarātra texts at the hands of Arthur Avalon and Schroeder.

துர்நிஷ்டுர்விஷ்டா உ ல்ஸாவதம் நூத்ந-ஒகிஷ்நஃ | வொரோஸ்நதஸ்வு அநாத்ய-ஒள மெளிவாநொவெரிணஃ ||

Yet the practical and living religion of the Hindus to whatever denomination they may belong, is governed, as pointed out by Swami Vivekananda, from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, by the Agamas only.

இத்ரேஷ உவ்யுகிஷா உ உக்ஷிண-ஒகி ஸ்ருஷ்டி | இக்ஷாட்பவஸ்வு க்ருஹ-ஒளமேத்ய் வாந-மவதஹ்யு ||

The vastness of *Saivagamas (28 mūlāgāmas and 207 upāgamas)—their slokas reckoned traditionally at many lakhs—and the fact that even the extant texts were the close preserve of Sivāchāryas were a deterrant to their publication.

த்ரி-உமாராயெளநாமெண்யாநாவாநஃ உ | த்ரிஜுஹ்வாநாயாநாம் உ வஸித்மாஸவ்யிஷநா ||

However an attempt was made at the beginning of this century to publish a few atleast of the powerful agamas by Kouraimanagaram Shanmugasundara Mudaliar and later by his nephew Alagappa Mudaliar of Madras and this breakthrough was meritorious as it helped the Sivacharyas themselves and others yearning to know about the Agamas.

அயஹ்ஸ்யு ஸ்ருஷ்நாநாம் உ உக்ஷணம் லேஒவுகேஃ உ | உயைநாஸொ ராஜராஸ்ருவா உஷ-ம்வ ப்ருஜாவ்யிஷநா ||

Later, the Saivāgama Paripālana Sangam Pudukkottai printed a few upāgamas and prakaraṇas.

ஸ்ரீகீர்த்திபஜனம் வாஹ்ரா மிஷெ(கு)ம வ்யபநுகுட் | வேத-உரீக்ஷாஸ்ருவாயி காநாராவ்யாநகடு ||

Currently the French-Indological Institute, Pondicherry, under the

ஹிராண்யமஹாத்நாம் உ தீர்மவத்-கஷாநகடு | வ்ஸாவண-இக்ஷிடாநாம் உ சஹ உபர்கஷ்வாநகடு ||

• Some of them were in Tamil and Prakrit languages.

மண்ருஷாநாம் வளவண-ஒக்யநாஹ்யு(னு)நாநகடு | தீபெநாஸவஹ்ஸ்வாம் உ மவாம் ஸாபவஸ கட் ||

கத்ருஆநாம் ஹ்ருஸ்நொக்ஷாம் உ மஹிஷாநகடு | தொஷபவாயஷம் தெவய-வ்ஸவ-த்நொதநாம் தயா ||

உக்ஷிஷ்நாம் ஷணைவத்யு பெடி-ஒரி காளிவொக்ஷண ||

guidance of Prof. Jean Filliozat is engaged in the stupendou task of collecting and publishing the available Agamas one by one, but the editing is in French. As important and valuable as all these are, the efforts of the SouthIndian Archakar Sangam,

to reprint and publish some of the Agamas for the benefit of the Archakars and the public are praiseworthy. The Sangam has already made some progress inspite of heavy odds. It is a pity that although the secular control of temples have been under Government for over 50 years now, the reprinting of the Agamas, even with temple funds, has not been given serious attention to upto this date. The Agamas are encyclopaedic in their contents, covering rituals and philosophy, and are the store- house of temple arts, architecture, music and dance which are of fascinating interest to many.

Many have only vague notions about the Agamas as even books on Indian Philosophy and Religions pay very scant atten- tion to them (except perhaps Dr. S. N. Dasgupta's book History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. V). For the information of the ignorant and the biased it has to be explained here that in point of chronology the Agamas are as ancient as the Vedas and they are both acknowledged as Divine Revalation from from the mouth of God. They are both sabda pramana and lead to avabodha jnana (self-luminiuos knowledge). All theistic religious like Saivism and Vaisnavism (including the Madhva Vaisnavism) respect the Agamas and base their theolo- gical doctrines on them. The monistic Advaita relied only on the Upanishads with monistic trends for its metaphysics. The jnanapada of Agamas, are more explicit and indeed Svetars- vatara upanished is sometimes called Agamic upanishad. The difference and distinction between the Vedas. and the Agamas are that while the Vedas spoke of many Gods and of one Brahman, the Agamas are out and out monotheistic and their ontology. is no less profound. Sankara Samhita of Skanda Purana speaks of the relation of the Vedas and Agamas thus : Vedas are in the middle of the mouth, the Aksharas are

the teeth and the Agamas are from the very tongue of Siva (" Aasya madhyē sthitha veda devadevasya bhasura, aksharam tu dautam jihvayam tu Sivjnana "). Later Saints like Tirumular in his Tirumandram which is considered to be the essence of the Agamas and Manikavachagar and Nammalvar (both Saiva and Vaisnava) and scholiasts like Haradatta, Srikantha, Sivā- grayogin Sivajnānaswami and Appaya Dikshita have looked upon Vēdas as common and the Agamas as specific as the latter are for all irrespective of caste and sex that yearn for the descent of the Grace of Siva (saktinipada). The Agamas are synthetic–mantra, tantrā and siddhanta, and embrace charya, kriya, yoga and jnana pādas. What is more, they provide for the sacrament of diksa, ordinary and special, besides the gāyatri for svārtha and pārārtha puja, No one without Agamic diksa can perform any puja at home or in the temple. Hence a knowledge of the Agamas is necessary to all alike if they wish to take the sacrament of diksa for a divine office or for self - salvation..

The present publication of Kāmikāgama, Pūrvabhagā, Part I, by the South Indian Archakar Sangam, Madras (which has within its fold both Saiva and Vaisnava archakas) is to be welcomed and encouraged. This volume gives the Agama text in grantha script together with tātparya (gist) in Tamil for the benefit of all. One patala alone has been transliterated in Tamil but not others. (The Sangam has already published the entire Pūrvabhaga in Devanagari script). The contents of the present volume are briefly given in its preface. The Tantrāvatara patala gives the origin of the Agamas. The Mantrāvatāra patala gives an account of the mantras. The rest of the patalas give a detailed account of the various rituals and their significance.

Kāmikagama is one of the longest Agamas and most of the temples in South India follow it only. It is looked up on as the feet of Siva. It deals with all the rituals from karshana

(turning the sod) to pratiṣṭa (installation) of deities. The uttarabhāga deals with dikṣā, festivals etc. So this is a complete Manual for priests and laymen and for the inquisitive scholar who wants to know the details and symbolism of Agamic worship, private and public. Indeed there is currently a great interest in the information from other religionists and Western scholar. This publication would therefore serve a felt need by the Hindus and non-Hindus and place the Agamas before a world view.

The South Indian Archakar Association is to be congratulated on this programme of reprinting the Agamas. It deserves State support as well as the support of the professors of the faith, The Secretary of the Sangam, Sivasri C. Swaminatha Gurukkal deserves the thanks of the public for his labours even at his old age, particularly when the present cost of production of books has increased enormously. The only recompense that the Sangam would most need is the quick purchase of this Part so that the remaining Parts could be taken quickly.

I commenced this volume to the attention of all who wish to get an insight into the contents of the Agamas without which Hinduism would not be a living religion and no research on Indian philosophy would be completed.

"ஆராதி கற்பகம்," தியாகராயநகர், மதராஸ்-17. 1ஆம் பெப். 1977

"Arasadi Karpagam," Thyagarayanagar, Madras-17. 1st Feb. 1977

அரசாங்கத்திற்குரிய செயலர் மற்றும் சைவ சித்தாந்த மகா சமாசம் முதலியவற்றின் சிலகால புரவலர், என். முருகேச முதலியார்

N. MURUGESA MUDALIAR, Retd. Secretary to Govt. and Special Adviser, sometime Patron, Saiva Siddhanta Maha Samajam, etc.

INTRODUCTION

The Saiva Agamas are some of the earliest books in the Sanskrit language on the Saiva religion and philosophy, written over a period of several centuries before the Christian era. The Agamas represent on independent class of writing by very early seers, who had an inward experience and enlightenment from the Supreme Being, and who were also perhaps influenced by the Vedas in their original form. They had realised in their lives and thoughts the general truths taught by the early Upanisads. So far as Saivism is concerned, these seers were not men from the North. They were essentially representatives of All India and they reflected in their thoughts, modes of meditation and worship, and in their writing, the inherent Theism of the South. The Theism of the south or rather, the Saivism of the Tamilians, was the growth of an unbroken tradition probably from the pre-historic past and this had three elements fused into it. These are worship of idols and images, both in the shrines throughout the land and in the devotees' own houses, symbolism, and the inward meditation and realisation. These three were not separate compartments, but basically one harmonious integrated whole. When the Upanisads were added on to the Vedas in the course of the later centuries, they could not but be influenced by the religion and philosophy flourishing around them. These naturally embody a considerable volume of the thought of the agamic scholars, because some of the early Agamas were

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earlier than these later Upanisads in point of time, and the Agamas were much more alive and vibrating with life and activity than the Upanisads, because they dealt with definite and concrete objects, while the others dealt only with abstract concepts. The very fact that some later Upanisads came to be written shows that the followers of the original Upanisads had to take note of agamic thoughts and, to bring them also into a single common fold, adopted the device of writing further Upanisads, to embrace fresh thought on the same subject. The Saiva Upanisads such as Brhadjabala did certainly come into existence a long time after the Agamas.

The Agamas claim Vedic authority for their doctrines. The agama doctrines are indeed theistic and such theism is not foreign to the Upanisads. The following agamic passages may be seen to affirm the derivation of the Agamas from the Vedas 'The siddhanta consists of the essence of the Veda' (Suprabhedagama) ; 'This tantra is of the essence of the vedas ' ; 'This siddhanta knowledge which is the significance of Vedanta is supremely good ' (Makuta). It has been suggested that the agamic systems were developed out of the Brahmanas in the same way as the Upanisads, though at a much later stage, and that some of the later Upanisads like the Svetasvatara, which address the Supreme Being by a sectarian title and not as Param Brahman, as of yore, probably grew up under the shadow of the Agamas. The agamic cult which was that of the generality of the people, and the Vedic cult, which was that of the priestly

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classes, officiating for themselves or for others, were both indigenous ; they existed and grew up side by side from the earliest times without any extraneous influence ; the distinction between the two was in no sense racial. The Agamas are deemed to have scriptural authority and are often called the Veda and the Fifth Veda. As a matter of fact, although the Sanskrit Nighantu names the Veda as the Nigama and the Tantra as the Agama, the Veda and the Agama both seem to have been denoted by the common term sruti up to the XI century, after which period the above distinction of Nigama and Agama seems to have been adopted. The agamic (tantric) texts, as we know them today, had for the most part preceded Buddhism, and only the agamic cult had been able gradually to swallow up Buddhism on the Indian sub-continent, and ultimately to banish it altogether from the Indian soil ; it was not the Upanisadic philosophy but the agamic cult that was responsible for the supplanting of Buddhism and for the fusion of the salient features into the core of the Hindu religion.

Several explanations have been offered for the term agama. One is that because it emanated from God, it is called the Agama, that which came (from God). Another is that the three letters a-ga-ma respectively denote pati, pasu and pasa (the self, the soul and the bonds) and that the agama deals with all these three entities and their relationship, and hence this name.

A Sanskrit verse gives an interesting meaning for the three syllables a, ga and ma :

Agatam siva vaktrebhyah, gatam ca girija mukhe, Matam ca siva bhaktanam, agamam cheti katyate.

It is said that Agama descended from the faces of Siva, fell on the ears of Parvati and spread in the world as the mata of the Siva bhaktas.

The agamas originated from the faces of Siva, fell on the ears of Parasakti and spread in the world as the mata of the Siva bhaktas'. The agamas take their name from the first letters of the words agatam (originated), gatam (fell) and matam (religion).

The common noun agama simply means coming or acquisition.

But in the Saiva school, a special root meaning is indicated for the term.

It is given as a-knowledge, ga-liberation and ma-removal of the bonds. The agama came to be called as such, since a study and adherence to its codes liberates the soul from bondage, causes realisation of the Supreme, and ultimately confers Eternal Bliss.

Agamas are common to the three prominent schools and they are called Agama in Saivism, Samhita in Vaishnavism and Tantra in Saktism.

The agamas had not been quite popular in North India for the simple reason that they were all written in palm leaf manuscript in the grantha characters which were unknown in the north. Their script was the nagari, However, the Sivagama Paripalana Sangham of Devakottai published some Upagamas in the nagari script. The French Institute of Indology in Pondicherry are now publishing a series of agamas in the nagari script. They have so far published parts of the Ajitha, Raurvava and Mrgendra. Their Matanga is to be released soon. They have been able to secure 23 out of the 28 principal agamas.

The agamas have the greatest currency in the Tamil country. The great Prof. S. N. Dassgupta has stated that not a single manuscript of importance is available in Banaras, considered the greatest seat of Sanskrit culture. It therefore goes without saying that the Saivagamas have been a rare and special preserve of the Sivacharyas in Tamilnad. All temple worship, festivals, installation, consecration etc., are here done according to the agamas. The thousands of temples in this country are standing monuments to the prevalence of the agamic cult from the ages past down to the present day.

Each Agama has a number of subsidiary agamas called Upagamas and their number is 207. Among the Upagamas the Paushkara and the Mrgendra are well known. The principal agamas being with Kamika and end with Vatula. Each agamas has the four parts or padas called Vidya, Kriya, Yoga and Charya. The Vidyapada is the philosophical part while the Kriya pada is the ritualistic part. The other two parts are generally very short. The Kriyapada of the Kamika agama has been the most wellknown part in Tamilnad. This is one of the largest of the known agamas. It is said to represent the Feet of Siva. Its Kriyapada alone has been printed, in two parts, by the Sivajnananabodha press, in 1901. The total number of verses in it are 12.000, made up as follows : Purva-

5166, Uttara-6477 ; verses lost 357. The term Kamika means 'the object desired'; the term Kamikagama is said to signify 'the Book which grants the desired object to the souls and helps them to final release through severance of bonds'. The Kamika is the agama which is widely in use today. Sivacharyas say that its authority derives from the fact that it always prescribes the rules very definitely, saying 'this and not that'.

The Purva Kamika the first part was published with a Tamil translation done by Visveswara Sastri of Tiruvottiyur. It has four sections dealing with the revelation of the agamas, rules for daily observance and worship, rules for the construction of temples and houses and for performance of rituals and rules for the installation of the deities.

The Kamika published by Shanmugasundara Mudaliar had long been out of print and most of the present generation could never have set its eyes on it. The non-availability of this Kriyapada text was naturally a great handicaps to the earnest archaka who wanted really to study the scripture and follow it in the temple's rituals. The South Indian Archakar Association through its Secretary Shri C. Swaminatha Sivacharya published in February 1976 the Kriyapada text alone in the nagari script. This no doubt made the text available to Sanskrit scholars but the entire bulk of the Sivacharyas could not use it because they knew only the grantha script. Realising this, the association has now brought out a handsome volume of the Kriyapada, part I, in the

grantha script with a complete paraphrase in the Tamil language, chapter by chapter, in about 480 pages. The wealth of the information and guidance contained in this part cannot be brought out in a short introduction. Suffice it to say that an archaka who has not made every line in this book his own does not know his job. Archakas hereafter do not have any execuse to say that they do not know any ritual connected with Siva worship. The volume is an encyclopaedia which will reward even any Saiva for a careful scrutiny.

In these days of high paper prices and high labour charges Shri Swaminatha Gurukkal has done a great service to the cult of temple worship, and the archaka community by publishing this volume. It is the duty of the Hindu Religious Endowments Board to see that some copies are in the library of temples and to supply copies also to the Archakas immediate distribution of the book will give the necessary enthusiasm and encouragement to the aged Gurukkal to publish further volumes of agamas.

M. ARUNACHALAM.