Dhyānaratnāvalī, a Śaiva stotra of about 202 verses, most of them in anuṣṭubh metre, contains a ... more Dhyānaratnāvalī, a Śaiva stotra of about 202 verses, most of them in anuṣṭubh metre, contains a detailed prescription of the worship of Sadāśiva with his five retinues. There are other such śaiva stotras known, such as Aghoraśivācārya’s Pañcāvaranastava and Jñānaśambhu’s Śivapūjāstava, which also contain a detailed visualisation of Sadāśiva and his retinue. Like the other stotras of its kind, the Dhyānaratnāvalī does “... not treat the execution of external ritual at all; what it does is to present all that is done with the mind in the course of the daily obligatory worship of Sadāśiva and his retinue (yāga) by an initiate to the śaiva siddhānta. It takes the form of instructions for mental worship (dhyāna or, in modern parlance, dhyānaśloka) formulated as expressions of praise. At high-points it is ornamented with doctrinal statements that are similarly formulated. What we have then are the visualisations of all the divinities of the worship given in the order required in obligatory daily worship (nityapūjā), beginning with the worship of Śiva as sun, the veneration of the deities on the doorway and of Brahmā as protector of the site (vāstupa), the visualisation of the throne worship, and finally of Sadāśiva enthroned and encircled by the five circuts (āvarana).” Even though Trilocanaśivācārya, author of the Dhyānaratnāvalī, does not indicate, either in the introduction or in the colophon, whether his text is a stotra or stava, we assume that he might have written this text on the same pattern as the Pañcāvaranastava of Aghoraśivācārya, since they are both extremely close in spirit and content.
Felicitation Volume of Prof. C. S. Radhakrishnan - Viśvabhāratī, National Journal for Sanskrit Studies, Department of Sankrit, Pondicherry, pp. 176-181, 2019
Dhyānaratnāvalī, a Śaiva stotra of about 202 verses, most of them in anuṣṭubh metre, contains a ... more Dhyānaratnāvalī, a Śaiva stotra of about 202 verses, most of them in anuṣṭubh metre, contains a detailed prescription of the worship of Sadāśiva with his five retinues. There are other such śaiva stotras known, such as Aghoraśivācārya’s Pañcāvaranastava and Jñānaśambhu’s Śivapūjāstava, which also contain a detailed visualisation of Sadāśiva and his retinue. Like the other stotras of its kind, the Dhyānaratnāvalī does “... not treat the execution of external ritual at all; what it does is to present all that is done with the mind in the course of the daily obligatory worship of Sadāśiva and his retinue (yāga) by an initiate to the śaiva siddhānta. It takes the form of instructions for mental worship (dhyāna or, in modern parlance, dhyānaśloka) formulated as expressions of praise. At high-points it is ornamented with doctrinal statements that are similarly formulated. What we have then are the visualisations of all the divinities of the worship given in the order required in obligatory daily worship (nityapūjā), beginning with the worship of Śiva as sun, the veneration of the deities on the doorway and of Brahmā as protector of the site (vāstupa), the visualisation of the throne worship, and finally of Sadāśiva enthroned and encircled by the five circuts (āvarana).” Even though Trilocanaśivācārya, author of the Dhyānaratnāvalī, does not indicate, either in the introduction or in the colophon, whether his text is a stotra or stava, we assume that he might have written this text on the same pattern as the Pañcāvaranastava of Aghoraśivācārya, since they are both extremely close in spirit and content.
Felicitation Volume of Prof. C. S. Radhakrishnan - Viśvabhāratī, National Journal for Sanskrit Studies, Department of Sankrit, Pondicherry, pp. 176-181, 2019
Vēṭṭaykkorumakan is considered to be the son of Śiva and Pārvatī, born when they had assumed the ... more Vēṭṭaykkorumakan is considered to be the son of Śiva and Pārvatī, born when they had assumed the form of a hunter and huntress. Although Vēṭṭaykkorumakan is considered as an incarnation, according to the narratives that are written in the local vernacular Malayalam, and known in the Malabar area of Kerala, he is considered to be only a hero too. Beside the tantric rituals that are usually performed for the deities, Vēṭṭaykkorumakan is venerated through two distinct rituals in Kerala, namely the Kaḷameḻuttuṃ Pāṭṭuṃ ritual in the southern part of Kerala, and the Teyyam ritual in northern Kerala. This article will discuss these two rituals in detail to examine how they are closely linked with theatre. Traces of the story of Śiva and Pārvatī assuming the form of a hunter and huntress in the Mahābhārata, and its influence in Sanskrit Literature and on other art forms, are briefly discussed also.
The "Digital Tevaram" is a multi-feature CD-Rom edition of a collection of 800 Tamil hy... more The "Digital Tevaram" is a multi-feature CD-Rom edition of a collection of 800 Tamil hymns to Siva, possibly dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries, attributed to three authors (Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar), traditionally called Tevaram, and constituting the initial part of the Tamil Saiva Scriptures. This electronic edition of the Tamil text, furnished with many maps, MP3 audio files anda complete English rendering by the late V.M. Subrahmanya Ayyar (1906-1981) combines the features of the two traditional book-forms of Tevaram : 1. Arrangement according to musical modes (pan-s), as in panmurai editions of Tevaram, and 2. arrangement according to sites (stalam-s), as in talamurai editions. It incorporates a concordance, and can be used as a dictionary of Tevaram.
Āgniveśyagṛhyaprayogamālā is a ritual manual of the Āgniveśyagṛhyasūtra by Abhirāma, a brahmin be... more Āgniveśyagṛhyaprayogamālā is a ritual manual of the Āgniveśyagṛhyasūtra by Abhirāma, a brahmin belonging to the Avudaiyar Kovil area, Tamil Nadu. It is rather difficult to date this manual since the author has not dated his work, but through the inscriptions of the Avudaiyar Kovil it is possible to determine the existence of brahmins in the Avudaiyar Kovil area from the 12th ce onwards. It is also known that the followers of Āgniveśyagṛhyasūtra are to be found only in the Avudaiyar Kovil area and there are in fact only eleven such families at present.
It was generally believed that apart from the Gṛhyasūtra of Āgniveśya no other texts were known to belong to the Āgniveśya school. But two years ago, while I was engaged in the study of the brahmin settlement in the Avudaiyar Kovil area, I discovered two ritual manuals of the Āgniveśyagṛhyasūtra, one by Abhirāma and the other by Bhāskara. In this paper I will discuss the ritual manual of Abhirāma.
The Āgniveśyagṛhyaprayogamālā written entirely in prose, follows the same order as that of the Āgniveśyagṛhyasūtra, but many rituals that are either missing in the Gṛhyasūtra or just indicated in the Gṛhyasūtra, are dealt with in detail. Apart from discussing the general features of this ritual manual and its manuscript sources, the paper will also focus on some of the customs described in the ritual manual, customs that are not mentioned in the Gṛhyasūtra.
It has already been established by scholars that there are several common features shared by the Vādhūlagṛhyasūtra and Āgniveśyagṛhyasūtra and it is observed that the Vādhūlas and Āgniveśyas are derived from one and the same school. There are some known ritual manuals of the Vādhūlagṛhyasūtra too, and this paper will also compare these manuals with the Āgniveśyagṛhyaprayogamālā.
Digital Tevaram with the complete English gloss of the late V. M. Subramanya Ayyar (IFP) accompan... more Digital Tevaram with the complete English gloss of the late V. M. Subramanya Ayyar (IFP) accompanied by 6 hours of MP3 audio recordings, various maps and other related material. Co-edition. IFP/EFEO, Pondicherry, 2007.
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It was generally believed that apart from the Gṛhyasūtra of Āgniveśya no other texts were known to belong to the Āgniveśya school. But two years ago, while I was engaged in the study of the brahmin settlement in the Avudaiyar Kovil area, I discovered two ritual manuals of the Āgniveśyagṛhyasūtra, one by Abhirāma and the other by Bhāskara. In this paper I will discuss the ritual manual of Abhirāma.
The Āgniveśyagṛhyaprayogamālā written entirely in prose, follows the same order as that of the Āgniveśyagṛhyasūtra, but many rituals that are either missing in the Gṛhyasūtra or just indicated in the Gṛhyasūtra, are dealt with in detail. Apart from discussing the general features of this ritual manual and its manuscript sources, the paper will also focus on some of the customs described in the ritual manual, customs that are not mentioned in the Gṛhyasūtra.
It has already been established by scholars that there are several common features shared by the Vādhūlagṛhyasūtra and Āgniveśyagṛhyasūtra and it is observed that the Vādhūlas and Āgniveśyas are derived from one and the same school. There are some known ritual manuals of the Vādhūlagṛhyasūtra too, and this paper will also compare these manuals with the Āgniveśyagṛhyaprayogamālā.