Thiruvacakam, the 8th of the 12 Saiva Tamil Thirumurai corpus is the outpouring of supreme śivabhakti in all its vastness and depth by Manikkavacakar, the 9th century śivabhakta par-excellence. Blessed by Śiva who appeared in the form of a human Guru, Manikkavacakar, expresses his revelling in the ocean of highest śivabhakti, his longing to be with Śiva forever and laments his separation from Śiva in his Thiruvacakam.
Events Centers: SHAIVA STUDIES (CSS)
Centre for Shaiva Studies is presenting the 1st Anniversary Lectures on following topics
- The importance of Saiva Agamas by Sri Karttikeya Sivam
- Kashmir Shaivism by Dr. Mark Dyczkowski
The Tevaram is one of the ancient Tamil devotional poetic corpus of high prominence. Three of the greatest shivabhaktas—Tirujnanasambandhar, Tirunavukkaracar and Sundaramurti—known as the Nayanmars have sung these devotional songs at more than 250 Shaiva holy places situated in the region comprising the modern-day Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
The Centre for Shaiva Studies has already held multiple lectures by prominent speakers focussing on the first six books of the Tevaram. In this lecture, the speaker will focus on the various Shaiva concepts and devotional themes expressed in the 7th book of the Tevaram, hymns sung by the great Shaiva saint Sundaramurthi Nayanar (c. 9th CE) also widely known as Sundarar.
The Tevaram is one of the ancient Tamil devotional poetic corpus of high prominence. Three of the greatest shivabhaktas—Tirujnanasambandhar, Tirunavukkaracar and Sundaramurti—known as the Nayanmars have sung these devotional songs at more than 250 Shaiva holy places situated in the region comprising the modern-day Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Tevaram is infused with expressions of pure bhakti to Shiva containing multiple references to the number of ways God Shiva blesses his devotees, the many devotional acts of a shivabhakta and the many forms of devotional relationships that a shivabhakta has towards his beloved God Shiva.
In this lecture, the speaker will focus on the various Shaiva concepts and devotional themes expressed in the 4th, 5th and 6th books of the Tevaram, hymns sung by the great Saiva saint Thirunavukkaracar (c. 7th CE) also widely known as Appar.
Date & Time : 25, February, 2023 | 04:45PM
Venue: Centre for Shaiva Studies, 24-A, Aurobindo Street, Heritage Town, Pondicherry
This lecture is part of the monthly series of lecture organized at the Centre for Shaiva Studies. The talk will be delivered by Sri Muthu Manikkam. The lecture will focus on the various Shaiva concepts and devotional themes expressed in the first 3 books of the Tevaram hymns sung by the great child-saint Thirujnanasambandar (c. 7th CE). The lecture will detail the emotional and passionate devotion to Shiva in Thirujnanasambandar’s poems and the subsequent impact of his poems in the later Tamil devotional literature.
The Dharmaputrikā and Śivadharma Corpus
The NR Bhatt Memorial Lecture Series
This lecture will detail some of the new research on texts belonging to the ‘Śivadharma corpus’, with a special focus on Dharmaputrikā. The Dharmaputrikā is a text that topicalizes Yoga, which is not purely Śaiva in nature. In this text, we encounter plenty of evidence of ‘outside’ influence, e.g. via Buddhist vocabulary, showing that it was composed in a milieu of religious interchange and borrowing. What is evident is that the collection of texts that has become known as the ‘Śivadharma corpus’, does not consist of purely Śaiva teachings. In this lecture, the speaker will argue that the case of the Dharmaputrikā breaches so far supposed concept of ‘Śivadharma corpus’ by modern scholarship.
The Tevaram is one of the ancient Tamil devotional poetic corpus of high prominence. Three of the greatest Shivabhaktas—Tirujnanasambandhar, Tirunavukkaracar and Sundaramurti—known as Nayanmars have sung these devotional songs at more than 250 Shaiva holy places situated in the region comprising the modern-day Tamilnadu, Andhrapradesh and Kerala. Tevaram is infused with expressions of pure bhakti to Shiva containing multiple references to the number of ways God Shiva blesses his devotees, the many devotional acts of a shivabhakta and the many forms of devotional relationships that a shivabhakta has towards his beloved God Shiva.
In this lecture, the speaker will explicate the devotional and philosophical aspects of Tevaram in Tamil.
This is the inaugural talk at the Centre given by the Centre’s Director, Dr T.Ganesan, titled “The Profundity of Śaiva Philosophy”. The talk will touch upon the greatness of God Śiva mentioned in the Vedic literature, from the Ṛgveda to the Upaniṣads such as the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, Atharvaśiras, and how the philosophical building blocks of Śaiva Philosophy has its origins in the Vedic literature. From the Vedic literature, the talk will detail about Śaivism in the Purāṇas and the role of these texts in popularizing the stories, temple sites, philosophy and rituals related to the Śaiva traditions. Then the finale of the talk would be the Āgamic literature which had spread far and wide across India and beyond, and where the Śaiva tradition finds its highest philosophical expression. The talk will also touch upon the role of Śaivism in the development of the yoga and contemplative tradition.
Venue : 24-A, Aurobindo Street (1st Floor), Opposite to Calve College, Puducherry
INDICA Presents
from 9.30am to 3.10 pm on 07 May 2022
Guest Lecture 1 – 9.30am to 10.00am
* | Dr. Koenraad Elst | Adiyogi for Export – Rudra Becomes Woden and Poseidon |
Session 1 – Shaiva Rituals and Pilgrimage – 10.00am to 11.00am
1 | Dr. T. S. Shanmukha Sivacharyar | Who is an Ādiśaiva – Exploring the Role of Śaivācārya-s in the Temple Ecosystem |
2 | Snehā Nagarkar | Śaivism and the Sthala Mahātmyas of Mathurā |
Guest Lecture 2 – 11.00am to 11.30 am
* | Dr. Divay Gupta | Sacred Landscape for Shiva Bhakti at Koh Ker the Ancient Lingapura of Cambodia |
Session 2 – Shiva Siddhanta – 11.30am to 11.50pm
1 | Arvind Kaushik | Is Shiva Siddhanta a Tamil National Religion? |
Session 3 – Pashupata Shaivism – 11.50pm to 12.10pm
1 | Pratishtha Mukherjee | A Study of Pasupata Saivism in Gujarat |
Session 4 – Shaiva in Art, Dance and Literature – 12.10pm to 1.30pm
1 | Piyal Bhattacharya & Shreetama Chowdhury | A Comparative Study of Sakala and Niśkala Vādya of the Lost Tradition of Ālāpini Vīn̟ā (One-String Stick Zither) Within the Scope of Śaiva Iconography and Metaphysics by Parśvadeva (13th Century) |
2 | Subramanian Chidambaran | The Unique Tradition of Worshipping Śiva through Music: Reflections on the Tevāram Hymns of Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar |
3 | Sumit Vyas | Shaiv in Ramcharitmanas |
Lunch Break – 1.00pm-2.00pm
Session 4 – Shaiva in Art, Dance and Literature Continues – 2.00pm to 2.40pm
4 | Christian de Vietri | The Goddess Parā |
5 | Deepa Kiran | Siva and Apasmara: Trajectory of Knowledge Acquisition |
Chief Guest Lecture by His Excellency Sri Akhilesh Mishra, Ambassador of India to Ireland on Contemporary Relevance of Shaivism – 2.40pm to 3.10pm
INDICA Presents
Conference on Shaivism
Bharatiya Adhyayana Kendra, BHU, Varanasi
Day 01: 29th April 2022
Inaugural Session – 9.00am to 9.45am
1 | Prof. Kamlesh Dutta Tripathi, Chancellor, MGAHU, Wardha, Maharashtra | Lightening of Lamp & Inauguration |
2 | Prof.Sadashiv Kr Dwivedi, Coordinater, BAK, BHU, Varanasi | Welcome Address |
3 | Dr. Nagaraj Paturi, Senior Director & Chief Curator, INDICA | Concept of the Conference |
4 | Prof. Malini Awasthi, Centenary Chair Professor, BAK, BHU, Varanasi | Distinguised Speech |
Key Note Address by Dr.T. Ganesan – 9.45 to 10.15am
Distinguished Guest Lecture 1 by Prof. Kamlesh Jha, Dean, SVDV, BHU, Varanasi – 10.15am – 10.45am
Guest Lecture 2 by Prof. Vijay Shankar Shukla, Regional Director, IGNCA, Varanasi – 10.45am – 11.15am
Tea Break – 11.15am to 11.30am
Session 1 – The Kashmir Shaiva Tradition – 11.30am to 12.30pm
1 | Giriratna Misra | काश्मीरीय शैवाद्वैत मत में क्रमकाली साधना का वैशिष्टय |
2 | Dr. Rajshekar Krishnan | Kashmir Shaivism in the Light of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s Philosophy of Existence |
3 | Swastik Banerjee | ‘Vācā karoti karmāṇi śāpānugrahakārakaḥ’: The Purpose of Occult in the Path of Self Realisation with Special Reference to Trika Philosohy |
Session 2 – Shaivism in the Himalayas – 12.30pm to 1.10pm
1 | Dr. Gharo Devi | Shaivism in Jammu: Revisiting Shivalayas in the Region |
2 | Sushant Bharti | Jageshwara: Ancient Devayatana of Shaivism in Kumaon |
Lunch Break – 1.10pm to 2.10pm
Guest Lecture 3 – 2.10pm-2.40pm:
Spatial Manifestation of Pilgrimage Circuits of Kashi: Archetypal Representation by Dr. Rana PB Singh
Session 3 – Shaivism in Eastern India – 2.40pm to 3.40pm
1 | Dr.Projit Kumar Palit | A Study on Saiva Cults in Tripura: With Special Reference to Devaraj Cult of South East Asia. |
2 | Dr. Dhurjjati Sarma | Localising the Saiva Cult in Assamese: Rudra Singha’s Siva Purana |
3 | Dr. Arghya Dipta Kar | Kālī’s Play with Mahākāla: Dialogic Ontological Accounts in the Tantras of Bengal Kālīkula |
Tea Break – 3.40pm to 4.00pm
Session 4 – Tamil Shaiva Tradition – 4.00pm to 5.30pm
1 | Dr. Kanagaraj Easwaran | Representation of Veda Agama and Shiva in Thevaram and Thiruvasagam |
2 | Dr. Sharda Narayanan | Manikkavacagar – The Saiva Saint |
3 | Nrithya Jagannathan |
“Yen Ulame Puguntha Athanāl” Thirujñānasambandar’s Kolarupathigam as a Complete Model of Saguṇa Dhyānam and Upadrava śamanam
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4 | Jataayu | Sambandhar’s Vaidika Saiva Mission and His Conflict with the Jainas: A study |
DAY 02: 30 April 2022
Guest Lecture 4 by Dr. Nihar Purohit – 9.30am to 10.00am
Session 5 – Shaiva Temple Tradition – 10.00am to 10.40am
1 | Sambhavi Shanmugam | Negotiating the Śaiva Sacred Space – The Role of Devotees in the Temple |
2 | Vibhushita Balakumar | Understanding Śaiva Temple Building Outside the Indian Subcontinent – Past and Present |
Tea Break – 10.40am to 11.00am
Session 6 – Shaiva Literary, Art, Ritual and Philosophical Traditions – 11.00am-12.40pm
1 | Arvind V Iyer | Śaiva Portrayals in 17th-Century Sanskrit Prose and Poetry: A Study of the Nīlakaṇṭhavijayacampū |
2 | Dr. Ramaratnam S. | Efficacy of the Sacred Ash in Shaivism |
3 | Deepa Kiran | Siva and Apasmara: Trajectory of Knowledge Acquisition |
4 | Indumati Raman | Saivism in Temples, Music, Dance |
5 | Dr. Deepa Duraiswamy | Who is Śiva – The Nature of Godhead in Śaiva Siddhānta Theology |
Session 7 – Shaivism and Folk Tradition – 12.40am to 1.20pm
1 | Dr. Bijoya Baruah | Saivism and Folk Tradition of Assam |
2 | Sri Prabhav Paturi | Folk-Shaivism Interface: The Case of Kuruma-Oggu Tradition of Telangana |
Lunch Break – 1.20pm to 2.20pm
Session 8 – Shaivism in Academia – 2.20pm to 3.00pm
1 | Megh Kalyanasundaram | Śiva in Text Before the Common Era: An Analysis in 2022 |
2 | Dennard H D’Souza | The Kannada Shiva Bhakti Movement: Continuity and Departure |
Valedictory Session – 3.00pm to 4.00pm
1 | Dr. Nagaraj Paturi, Senior Director & Chief Curator, INDICA | Valedictory Address |
2 | Manish Maheshwari, Co-curator, INDICA | Summary of the Conference |
3 | Dr. Amit Kumar Pandey, Centenary Visiting Fellow, BAK, BHU Varsnasi | Vote of Thanks |