Shaiva Siddhanta

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Considered normative tantric Saivism, Shaiva Siddhanta (Tamil: சைவ சித்தாந்தம்) provides the normative rites, cosmology and theological categories of tantric Saivism. Being a dualistic philosophy, the goal of Shaiva Siddhanta is to become an ontologically distinct Shiva (through Shiva's grace). This tradition was once practiced all over India. However the Muslim subjugation of north India restricted Shaiva Siddhanta to the south, where it merged with the Tamil Saiva cult expressed in the bhakti poetry of the Nayanars. It is in this historical context that Shaiva Siddhanta is commonly considered a southern tradition, one that is still very much alive. Shaiva Siddhanta encompasses tens of millions of adherents, predominantly in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka (see Hinduism in Sri Lanka). Today it has thousands of active temples there and a number of monastic/ascetic traditions, along with a special brahman subcaste, the Adisaivas, who are qualified to perform Shaiva Siddhantin temple rituals.