Sivaachaaryas

[ravi chandrasekhara]

Namaskar to all:

Yesterday on a flight from Houston to Dallas, I met
Shri Manica Sundari Bhattar, one of the purohits at
the Meenakshi Temple of Houston. He is a Sivacharya.
He also described the their creation of Shiva.
Sivacharyas are Brahmins and have their gotras and
pravaras are like other Brahmins in India. It is
interesting to note that Chitpavan Konkanastha
Brahmins of Brahmins of Maharashtra claim they were
created by Parashurama and similar gotras as other
Brahmins.  What does this mean ?, is it perhaps Shiva
and Parashurama requested the Brahmin rishis belonging
to the gotras to take birth among "these created
Brahmins " Many western scholars would say these are
non-Brahmins imitating gotras of Brahmins, which
doesnt appear to have truth behind it.

It also appears in south India there are functional
differences among Brahmins such as: vaidika, laukika,
and temple priests.  Most Iyers are vaidika Brahmins
and do not work as temple priests except Dikshitars
subgroup of Chidambaram and the Gurrukal subgroup.  In
fact many Iyers do not conduct weddings in temples and
the purohits performing their weddings are not temple
priests but rather vaidika Brahmins (often belonging
to within the same subgroup of the marital party,
possibly even a relative.  Does such functional
difference occurs among other Brahmins in India, e.g.,
Gujarat, Bengal, Punjab, Kashmir, Maharashtra, and
North India ?

Pranam, Ravi Chandraaekhara MD

--- BGS <sivabgs at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
> On Wed, 24 Oct 2001 10:32:40 -0700, vidya S
> Jayaraman <paanini at YAHOO.COM>
> wrote:
>
> >Some scholars opine that Sivacharyas were settlers
> >from North India and Rajendra I who conquered
> Western
> >Bengal and North India.
> >V.S.Pathak Says in his Book,"Saivism in Early
> >mediaeval India as known from archaeological
> sources :
> >Rajendra Chola saw the best of the Saivas in
> Northern
> >India when he came to take a bath in the Ganges and
> >carried them to settle in his own country in Kanchi
> >and elsewhere in the chola land."
> >
> >Jnanasambandhar is said to have been a brhamin from
> >the Kaundinya gotra.
> >Again Tirumular is said to come from the North and
> he
> >was said to an associate of Agastya.He is
> conversant
> >with the teachings of Kashmiri Saivism.
> >
> >It would be interesting if someone posts some info
> abt
> >ArulNandi ,Umapati sivam and meikandar who were the
> >codifiers.
> >
>
> Mahesvara (Anadisaiva) created  five major saiva
> groups, namely, Adisaiva,
> Mahasaiva, Anusaiva, Avantarasaiva and Parasaiva.
> Adisaivas are also called
> as Sivabrahmanas/sivadvijas/Gurukkal. They belong to
> Atreya,
> Goutama,Bharadwaja, Kasyapa and Kausika Gotras and
> Bhodayana Sutra. Some
> may include Agastya Gotra in this list instead of
> Atreya Gotra. An Adisaiva
> becomes a Sivacarya  after the Acarya abhishekam
> ceremony.
>
> Rajaraja – I and the later Kings were given diksha
> by the Madhya Gouda desa
> Sivacaryas (Adisaivagurus - originally immigrants
> from Kashmir). Rajaraja’s
> Guru Isanasivadeva donated the swarna kalasam to Sri
> Brihadeeswara temple,
> Tanjore. He is also known as Karuvur Devar.
> Srikantasiva was the Guru of
> Vikarama Chola. He wrote the famous Saiva Bhashya on
> the Sutras of
> Badarayana. Isvarasiva, author of
> Siddhantaratnakaram was the Rajaguru of
> Kulotunga III.
>
> The Acaryas of the various ati-margas like,
> Kapalika, Lakukisa- Pasupata,
> Somasiddhanta and  Kalamukha were also called as
> Sivacaryas.
>
> Mahasaivas (other Brahmanas - Smartas..) were also
> given the Acarya status.
> (Aghora Sivacarya, Arulnandi, Umapati …)
>
>
> 1. The Dikshitas of Cidambaram are not Adisaivas.
>
> 2. Tirugnanasambandar in his Pazuvur Tevaram refers
> to the “Malayala
> Andanar’s  pooja”  (Pazuvur is situated near
> Airyalur, in the Trichy
> District).
>
> 3. The Kuram Copper Plate of  Paramesvara Varman - I
> (675 – 685 A.D)
> mentions about the grants made to  one Ananta
> Sivacarya (not a
> Sivabrahmana)   for performing navakarmam and
> devakaramam in the
> Vidyavinita Pallavesvaram Temple.
>
> “..tasya bhagavata: paramEshtina: pinAkapanE: pUjA
> stapana kusuma gandha
> dUpa dIpa havirupahAra bhalis.ankha patahAdi
> pravartanArtham..”
> (Plate V –Lines 51 and 52)
>
> 4. The vElUrpAlayam copper plate of Nandi Varaman –
> III (840-865 A.D)
> refers to one yagnabhatta @ pappabhattAraka,  a
> priest,  in the
> yagnesvara mahAdevar  Temple at  srikAttupalli
> (tirukkAttuppalli).
>
> 5. A record of 988 A.D., in the Kiranur
> Sivalokanathaswamy Temple states
> that one Vaikanasan Goutaman Vishnu Bhattan
> Venkatavan was performing the
> daily poojas in the Durga Bhattaraki shrine.
> (Vaikanasa – Sutra, Goutama –
> Gotra).
>
> BGS


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