THE HISTORY OP MANIKKA-VACAGAR. 141 



century came from Behar and taught the existence of a personal deity in 

 opposition to the Buddhists. His disciple was the very celebrated sage 

 i^anJcara Achdrya, who is the father of religious philosophy in the Soutli. 

 Vai'ious sects claim him as their founder, but he certainly was a Caiva, 

 and is regarded as an incarnation of ^ivan himself. 



The great revival and spread however of (^aivism is due to certain 

 saints or devotees who were men of great devotion, unwearied activit}',^ 

 and remarkable power. The first of these was Manikka Vagagar, whose 

 date is uncertain, but may reasonably be assigned to the tenth century 

 A.D. Probably about a century later arose Kana Sambandhar and the 

 various lesser devotees whose legends are collected, amplified, and idealized 

 in the Periya Puranam. Some notice of these is essential to a clear view 

 of our subject. The next stage in the history is the rise of the great 

 philosophical school called the ^aiva Siddhanta system. These sages 

 were fourteen in number, and are called the SantCina Ourus. (Succession 

 of teachers.) The only date which appears to be reliable is that given 

 by one of these in a polemical treatise. He wrote in 1313. Thvis the 

 early fourteenth century was remarkable for the existence of a most able 

 and zealous band of philosophical ^aivites, whose influence still pervades 

 the land. This system is called the Pati-pagu-pagam system. Here Pati 

 is the Lord or Supreme Being, Pagu is the soul, and Pagam is the bond ;, 

 and on the interpretation of these three words everytliing depends. 

 The Lord of course is Civa, and the attributes with which he is in- 

 vested are very remarkable. In the Caivite catechism the question 

 occurs, What is Pati 1 and the answer is, ' He is the eternal, all-pervading, 

 all-wise, eternally blessed, absolutely independent Creator of all, who is 

 fi'om all eternitv free from taint of evil.' 



NOTE XIl. 



The Three Categories {paddrtha). 



In the first quatrain of his greatest work, Umapati, the ablest of tlie 

 Caiva schoolmen, throws down the gauntlet and challenges the teache]s 

 of all the Hindu schools, declaring that the real and only intention of 

 all the Vedas and other sacred writings is summed up in the thi-ee mystic 

 words Pati (the Lord), Paqu (the flock), and Paqam (the bond). These 

 are the three categories of the ^aiva Siddhanta system. Though this 

 system received its final development some centui-ies after our sage, 



