Body, Self and Consciousness according to Tirumūlar’s Tirumandiram: A comparative study with Kashmir ?aivism

摘要

Tirumular’s Tirumandiram is the earliest known Tamil treatise on yoga. This text is considered to be both, a devotional work as well as a tantric text. Unlike other major Siddha compositions, Tirumandiram does not contain any section on medicinal preparations or alchemy. It is the only Tamil text where the sections are named tan?iram . In contrast to the popular pluralistic ?aiva Siddhānta, Tirumandiram , one of the twelve Saiva cannons ( tirumurai ), is monistic in its philosophy. This study, while elaborating on the metaphysics of the text Tirumandiram , also examines the shared philosophical thoughts between the monistic Kashmir ?aivism and Tamil Siddha mystics.