Abstract
The Tirumantiram, believed to have been written in midfirst millennium CE, is regarded as the tenth of the twelve volumes of the Śaiva Tamil canon Paṇṇiru Tirumuṟai used in worship in Śiva temples all over Tamilnadu. The Tirumantiram is a collection of approximately 3100 verses in lucid Tamil written by Tirumūlar, regarded variously as a Śaiva Siddhānta yogi, a nātha yogi, and a tāntric. Tirumūlar’s verses form the basis of the Tamil Śaiva Siddhānta philosophy; they also deal with tantra and yoga. Unlike other Śaiva Siddhānta texts, the Tirumantiram elaborates on aṣṭāṅga yoga like in the yoga sūtras of Patañjali; it further goes on to describe several āsanas and prāṇāyāma in elaborate detail. Acknowledging that classical and modern scholarship on yoga have paid scant attention to the work of Tirumūlar, this essay provides an insight into Tirumūlar’s legacy. It compares the aṣṭāṇga yoga of Tirumūlar framed in the context of Śaiva Siddhānta with the approach of Patañjali. It also shows the continuity of the Tirumūlar tradition in the framework of bhakti literature and in the context of the earlier Tamil approach to āsanas. It establishes that no narrative on yoga is complete without acknowledging the enduring contribution of Tirumūlar.
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Notes
In addition to modern day discourses in Tamil by Swami Omkarananda, Theni, Tamilnadu.
Powell, Seth (Harvard University), “The Roots of Postural Yoga” Lecture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZMdU_JRmn0
Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali: A Biography (2014).
“..Yoga as it is practiced today is a medieval rather than ancient hotchpotch of Buddhism, Śaivism with even Islamic influence and non-Hindu tribal asceticism’ (p 774); further ‘many poses of today despite their Sanskrit names do not even occur in the medieval tāntric texts where haṭha yoga is elaborated..” (Godrej F, 2017).
“..modern postural yoga has borrowed key movements, rhythms and sequences from the Western traditions of body-building, gymnastics, drills and dances…. Modern yoga was, of course, put together in India, by Indians, but with a whole lot of Western input. So let us not be so touchy and such purists about its Vedic-Hindu origins. Let us enjoy the mongrel that this thing called modern Yoga is…” (Nanda,M 2011).
Malinson’s work on the roots of yoga considers a comprehensive range of sources such as Avadhi romance, Buddhist canonical, Buddhist Tantra, various Haṭha Yogic sources, Jain, Śaiva and Vaishṇava tantra, Persian, and other sources. Although Tirumantiram is one of the works considered here, it finds just a mere mention in the context of its possible date.
David Gordon White’s, The Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali—A Biography published in 2014 has no reference to Tirumūlar or the Tirumantiram; this work talks about the various eclectic inputs into yoga, but there is not mention of the thriving culture of yoga in Śaiva Siddhānta in south India..
3047 verses in the translation published by the Himalayan Academy.
Āgamas refer to non-Vedic sacred text specific to the deity being worshipped; the words Āgama and tantra may be used interchangeably. (Martin, J.).
From the English translation of Tirumantiram — the Tamil Spiritual Classic by Tirumūlar. Himalayan Academy.
Patañjali adds in III.4 that dhāraṇa, dhyāna, and samādhi practiced in regard to one object lead to samyama and that when samyama is practiced, all powers come within one’s control.
Aṭiyārkku nallār refers to earlier works while offering his commentary on the nine seated postures. An analysis of the time period of Aṭiyārkku nallār is beyond the scope of this paper.
Translated here from the original commentary in Tamil.
The silent mantra.
This dance is enacted several times during the year at the Tyagarāja temples in Tiruvanmiyur, Tiruvorriyur and Tirukkaccur near Chennai as well.
‘Rāja yoga denotes the yoga of eight progressive stages of removal from the mundane world through meditation, in contrast with haṭha yoga which is the yoga of physical exercises, or mantrayoga the yoga of mystic syllables…. ‘yoga rudha-nāma rūpa’ asserts that Śiva’s yogic activity is the creative force behind the apparent reality..’ (Powers, H.).
Second century BCE (Younger, Paul).
“contemporaneous with or a little later than those of the Dattatreyayogasastra (Mallinson and Singleton, 2017. p 20).
The said reference to tavayoga in the Tirumantiram is not provided by Mallinson. In TM 122, right in the first tantra, Tirumūlar states Siva Yoga is to know the cit and the acit, enter a state of tapas (tava yoga), enter undeviating — the domain of Śiva as granted by Nandi, the Lord of the nine yogas. Tirumūlar does not refer to hatha yoga as tava yoga. His discourse on aṣṭāṅga yoga is not presented until tantra 3.
Although it is true that (a) all of the āsanas mentioned by Tirumūlar are seen in the HYP and that that (b) every āsana that is described in the Tirumantiram is described with a śloka in the HYP, and (c) four of the most important āsanas padmāsana, siddhāsana, svastikāsana (sukhāsana), and virāsana outlined in the HYP feature among the ones listed in the Tirumantiram, it is also true that references to Tamil names such as cuvattikam in the Tirumantiram are seen in the first millennium works; an investigation of the continuity of the Tamil tradition of irukkai is imperative before attempting to comment definitively on Tirumūlar’s time period.
Based on the Tirumantiram’s reference to Kalacakra tantra which he dates to the eleventh century; he also postulates a later date for the Tirumular based on his inferences on the Tirumantiram’s parallels with the Matsyendrasamhita.
Natarajan, B. Tirumantiram, English Translation of the Tamil Spiritual Classic by Tirumūlar. Himalayan Academy.
“… in a skillful appropriation of the venerated medieval Tamil Saint Tirumular” Venkatachalapathi, AR.. http://www.arignaranna.net/parattuhal38_fr.htm
“.. strong elements of classical yoga and Upaniṣadic metaphysics found their way into the bhakti corpora of Tamil almost from the start..”; “.. a yoga-oriented universalistic ethic was part of the Tamil Cittar (mystics)..”.
“Siddha medicine is one of the major surviving indigenous schools of South Indian medical learning and practice.”.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the contemporary resurrection of yoga in the West was begun by T. Krishnamacharya, a person of Tamil origin (inspired by an earlier Tamil Saint from the deep South) and some of the best teachers who taught in the modern era were also of Tamil origin.
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Kannikeswaran, K. Tirumūlar and the Tamil Yoga Connection. DHARM 4, 241–260 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42240-021-00103-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42240-021-00103-4