Introduction to Civavakkiyam

Introduction:

Before we start enjoying Civavakkiyam, let us learn a little about Civavakkiyar (also spelled as Sivavakkiyar), his life and his teachings.  In the several lists of Tamil Siddhas the name Sivavakkiyar is not to be found.  Dr. T.N.Ganapathy opines that it may be because Sivavakkiyar was considered a “rebel” as his poems remonstrated almost everything held sacred in his time.  Dr. Ganapathy calls him “a pious rebel” whose poems have an element of bluntness.  Their forceful clarity may shock us sometimes but one cannot deny the ideas put forth in them. 

About his life:

One cannot find any authentic information on when and where Civavakkiyar was born, who his parents were and where he lived.   Some claim that he was born of a Brahmin father and a harijan mother, that he lived in a place called paaychalur, (some say that he lived in Kasi) and that he attained siddhi at Kumbakonam.  All these are nothing but conjectures without any trustworthy basis.  Abithana Cintamani says that Sivavakkiyar acquired his name because he came into this world uttering the name “Siva”.  There is a view that Sivavakkiyar and Tirumalisai Alwar may be one and the same person as several verses of Civavakkiyam are similar to Tirucchanda Viruttam.  We can safely sum up and say that as is the case with several Siddhas we cannot be really sure of Sivavakkiyar’s biography.  What he said is more important to us than where he said it, where he was born etc.

Sivavakkiyar’s teachings:

The Tamil Siddhas emerged as a movement against the accepted tradition of the orthodox thinkers.  It is wrong to call them as atheists or antisocial beings.  They were against mere rituals and showy religiosity.  Siva was not a person for them but an impersonal concept.  Sivavakkiyar denounces people who attach great significance to images of God, visits to sacred places and waters, rituals without understanding their significance and to caste-based and gender-based discrimination. 

We can conclude our brief sojourn into the life of Sivavakkiyar with the thought that the Philosophy of Sivavakkiyar and other Tamil Siddhas is a Philosophy of the Spirit, not confined to any notion, nation, religion or community.  It is for the betterment of the entire human race.