Programme
Maithili Thayanithy
Graduate Student
Department and Centre for the Study of Religion
University of Toronto
E/ m.thayanithy@utoronto.ca
Siddha as Rebel: Dissent and Complicity in the Tamil Siddha Tradition
The Tamil Siddha tradition dates back to the tenth century, and maintains an uneven but continuous history. In the eyes of orthodox Hindus, Tamil Siddhas are religious panchamars (outcastes) challenging the very foundation of Hinduism. In the twentieth century the Siddha literature was used by socio-political movements in their anti-brahmanical campaigns. I would, however, argue for a more complex and ambivalent reading of the Siddha tradition. Focussing specifically on the Tamil tradition, I would argue that Tamil Siddhas, who hail mostly from the lower strata of the society and speak the idiom of the masses, incorporate in themselves both the rejection of orthodox religious values and practices, while drawing on the epistemology of orthodox traditions in order to assert their own.
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Ms. Thayanithy is a doctoral candidate at the Centre for the Study of Religion,
University of Toronto. She is currently working on the doctrine of living
liberation embodied in the Medieval Tamil text Tirumantiram. Her
research interests are Tamil Śaivism, Medieval Tamil Bhakti literature and Tamil
Siddha poetry.