The Colas c34.31

c34.31

Among doctrinal works, the *Śiva-Ñāna-Bōdam* of Meykaṇḍār, written in the first half of the thirteenth century A.D.,⁴² is the first attempt at a systematic statement of the tenets of Tamil Śaivism. This is a short treatise of a dozen aphorisms (*sūtras*) which seem to have been translated from a Sanskrit original;⁴³ the author has added *vārttikas* of his own which explain and illustrate the argument of each of the *sūtras* and fix their meanings. The name *Śivā-Ñāna-Bōdam* is explained thus. '*Śivam* is one; *Ñānam* is the knowledge of its true nature; *Bōdam* is the realisation of such knowledge.'⁴⁴ The scheme of the twelve *sūtras* is simple. The first three *sūtras* assert the existence of the three entities God (*pati*), bondage (*pāśa*) and soul (*paśu*); the three next define and explain their nature and interrelation; the next triad deals with the means (*sādhana*) of release, and the last part is devoted to the nature of release. The key position held by the work of Meykaṇḍār in the literature of Tamil Śaivism is brought out by a verse which says: 'The Veda is the cow; its milk is the true Āgama; the Tamil sung by the Four is the ghee extracted from it; and the virtue of the Tamil work of Meykaṇḍān of the celebrated (city of) Veṇṇai is the fine taste of the ghee.'⁴⁵