AN OVERVIEW OF "THE SVĀYAMBHUVĀGAMA" WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ŚAIVASIDDHĀNTA PHILOSOPHY

Abstract

Among the great scriptures of the Hindus, the Āgama (also known as the Tantra) and the Nigama, a synonym of Veda, (and the etymology is NigamyateanenaitiNigamaḥ) are considered to be the most sacred and reliable. Among them the earlier, Āgama, is basically a sādhanaśastra, the Science of Self-realization. Both Āgama and Nigama have their own divisions and sub-divisions. Like other branches of knowledge, the Agama tradition, itself, is vast, complex, divided into several schools and sub-schools in all the three streams of Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava and ŚāktaĀgamas. The Śaiva literature is extensively known by its familiar division of Kashmir Śaivism and ŚaivaSiddhānta. The Svāyambhuvāgma belongs to the ŚaivaSiddhānta stream and is the 13th major text among the 28 Mūlāgama-s. Here in this paper, I wish to explore the ideas and interesting information found in the Svāyambhuvāgama.

Keywords

• śaivism
• śaivasiddhānta
• svāyambhuvāgama
• sādhanaśāstra
• padārthapaṭala