although the I ̄ss ́a ̄nas ́ivagurudeva-paddhati is concerned with possession and
exorcism, most of the text is devoted to the more usual concerns of the S ́aiva
Siddha ̄nta, its temple ritual and deities.
The Southern S ́aiva Siddha ̄nta
By the eleventh century S ́aiva Siddha ̄nta had faded in Kashmir but developed in
Tamilnadu, where it exists to the present time. Here in the south the dualist tra-
dition merged with the Tamil devotionalism of the 63 S ́aiva saints, the Na ̄yan
̄
ars.
S ́aivism took on a distinctive flavor and the Sanskritic ritualism and theology
of the northern tradition combined with Tamil poetry and devotion to produce
a distinctively southern S ́aiva religious imaginaire. This devotional poetry is
still sung in temples throughout South India. It was in the south that S ́aivism
had royal patronage in the Co ̄l
̄
a dynasty (ca. 870–1280 ad), with the great
S ́aiva temples at Cidamabaram, Tanjvur, Darasuram, and Gangaikondacolapu-
ram thriving, and the famous Co ̄l
̄
a bronzes developed. At Cidamabram, for
example, wealthy donors’ inscriptions made in the temple walls show how the
temple supported and legitimized royal power in the region (Younger 1995:
125–58). This power was not centralized as in a modern state, but pervaded
through a segmented hierarchy, whose basic unit was the locality or na ̄t.u(Stein
1980). But even here where S ́aivism became aligned with an ideology of royal
power and the king was thought to embody the power (s ́akti) of the Lord, S ́aivism
not only upheld vedic norms, but simultaneously undermined them in a devo-
tionalism where the devotee transcends his birth to fall in love with his Lord.
It is these two aspects of S ́aiva Siddha ̄nta in the south that I wish to briefly
examine.
Tamilnadu developed an extensive temple culture in which large, regional
temples became not only places of worship, but centers of political power and
also great centers of learning. In Tamilnadu a distinctive sense of the sacredness
of place and temple buildings develops (Shulman 1980). Perhaps this is nowhere
seen more vividly than in the temple city of Cidambaram, the “sky of con-
sciousness,” where S ́iva is installed, not as in all other S ́iva temples in the ani-
conic form of the lin.ga, but as the dancing S ́iva (Nat.ara ̄ja). Here he is installed
along with a bronze icon of his consort S ́ivaka ̄masundarı ̄, and in contrast to
fixed icons, is paraded on festival occasions (Smith 1996: 10). Like other S ́aiva
temples, Cidambaram had a group of texts associated with it, extolling its virtues
and narrating its mythology, namely the twelfth-century Cidambara Maha ̄tmya
along with four sthalapura ̄n.as, a Tamil translation of the former text and Uma ̄pati
S ́iva ̄ca ̄rya’s hymn of praise to Nat.ara ̄ja (Smith 1996: 8–9). Through these texts
and the popular imagination, Cidambaram became incorporated into the sacred
geography of Tamilnadu.
Although the S ́aiva Siddha ̄nta has been the predominant form of theology
and ritual in southern S ́aivism, and Cidambaram was an important center
the s ́aiva traditions 217