Place · Shaiva Siddhanta matha · India
Thiruvāvaduthurai Ādhīnam
Also known as Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam, Tiruvavaduturai, Thiruvavaduthurai
A Śaiva Siddhānta ādhīnam on the Kāveri near Mayiladuthurai, and the most important centre of Tamil scholarship of the nineteenth century: U. V. Swaminatha Iyer learned Tamil here before going on to recover the Sangam corpus from palm-leaf manuscripts that were being thrown away.
- Date
- from about 1500
- Function
- Religious institution & practice
- Tradition
- Shaiva Siddhanta tradition; Tamil manuscript scholarship
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 11.030, 79.640
Worth knowing
The ādhīnam also sustained the Tamil musical tradition of the Tēvāram ōduvārs, the hereditary singers who perform the Śaiva hymns in temples. Its head, the Guru Mahā Sannidhānam, is one of the few religious offices in Tamil Nadu whose authority is recognised across the state's temple administration.
Connections (2)
- Teaching lineageKāshī / Vārānasī / Banāras
Thiruvāvaduthurai trained the Tamil scholarship of the nineteenth century, and the Tamil Śaiva presence at Kāshī belongs to the same network: mathas, chattrams and temples in the Hanumān Ghāt and Kedār Ghāt quarter, staffed and taught from the delta. The ādhīnams supply the people; the endowments come from elsewhere; and the quarter has kept Tamil as a spoken language on the Ganges for several centuries as a result.
- Pilgrimage order ofŚaiva Siddhānta
The ādhīnams are what Śaiva Siddhānta has instead of a church: monastic corporations that own land, run Tamil and Sanskrit colleges, administer groups of temples, and train and post the priests and the ōduvār singers who staff them. Thiruvāvaduthurai and Dharmapuram are the two largest, both on the Kāveri within a few kilometres of each other, and their authority over ritual practice is recognised across Tamil Nadu's temple administration.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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