The 18 siddhas

Siddhars are saints in India,mostly of the Saivaite denomination in Tamil Nadu,who professed and practised an unorthodox type of Sadhana,or spiritual practice,to attain liberation.Yogic powers called Siddhis are acquired by constant practice of certain yogic disciplines.Those who acquire these Siddhis are called Siddha.Siddhars are people who are believed to control and transcend the barriers of time and space by meditation (Yoga),after the use of substances called Rasayanas that transform the body to make it potentially deathless,and a particular breathing-practice,a type of Pranayama.Through their practices they are believed to have reached stages of insight which enabled them to tune into the powers hidden in various material substances and practices,useful for suffering and ignorant mankind.Typically Siddhars were saints,doctors,alchemists and mysticists all at once.They wrote their findings,in the form of poems in Tamil language,on palm leaf which are collected and stored in what are known today as Palm leaf manuscript,today still owned by private families in Tamil Nadu and handed down through the generations.

Siddhas dedicate themselves for the materialistic benefits and also for the spiritual upliftment of the ordinary people.

Siddhas are 'jeevan muktas' – immortals. After reaching the very top in self realisation they take their knowledge to the people at the grass-root level for their liberation. They are masters in yoga, masters in the use of mantra or medicine and possess physic powers. But they always strive hard in helping the common people, so that the standard of their life can improve both matericalistically and spiritually.

To get a glimpse of Rishis and Munis is beyond the realm of imagination of the common because these great souls segregate themselves from the crowds. The siddhas, though well versed- in medicine, mantra, yoga and know the secrets of the universe, are not beyond the reach of the ordinary folk.

Siddhas are experts in physiology and can dispense herbal medicines and can heal with mantras as well. They can attain 'kaya siddhi' and also can teach kayasiddhi to their deciples. One may ask why do they need 'kaya siddhi?' It is the rule of nature that anything and everything found in the universe will have to go- disappear one day. Nobody can escape the cycle of births and deaths. No one can achieve liberation and escape this cycle in one single birth.

Let us consider the life of a devotee who prays for mukti, and is likely to attain his aim at the age of 120 years. What happenes if he dies at 80? In his rebirth, would he remember and pursue the same goal he had in his previous birth? No guarantee. That was why Appar prayed "in my rebirths also I must keep remembering you".

Thus it becomes unaviodable for a devotee to get an ademantine body if he expects to get mukti. Indestructable materials are required for the restructuring of the normal body and attain kaya siddhi. The siddhas know of such ingredients, by the use of which kaya siddhi can be achieved.

Siddhas consider mercury, gold, honey and 'varagu' as indestructable items. These things have the quality to retain their original characterisitics for many centuries. They have 'jeeva sakti" in them. It is an axiom that those who consume varagu rice as a routine attain the body made of 'vajra'. With these four articles the siddhas formulated a way to convert the normal human body to obtain kaya siddhi.

In this way Siddhars developed,among other branches of a vast knowledge-system,what is now known as Siddha medicine,practised mainly in Tamil Nadu as Traditional native medicine. A rustic form of healing that is similar to Siddha medicine has since been practised by experienced elderly in the villages of Tamil Nadu.They are also founders of Varmam - a martial art for self-defence and medical treatment at the same time.Varmams are specific points located in the human body which when pressed in different ways can give various results,such as disabling an attacker in self-defence,or balancing a physical condition as an easy first-aid medical treatment.

Tamil Siddhars were the first to develop pulse-reading ("naadi paarththal" in Tamil)to identify the origin of diseases.This method was later copied and used in ayurvedha.Siddhars have also written many religious poems.It is believed that most of them have lived for ages,in a mystic mountain called Sathuragiri,near Thanipparai village in Tamil Nadu.

One of the best-known Siddhars was Agasthyar or Agasthya, who is believed to be the founding father of Siddha culture.

1. Sri Pathanjali Siddhar

2. Sri Agasthiar Siddhar

3. Sri Kamalamuni Siddhar

4. Sri Thirumoolar Siddhar

5. Sri Kuthambai Siddhar

6. Sri Korakkar Siddhar

7. Sri Thanvandri Siddhar

8. Sri Sundaranandar Siddhar

9. Sri Konganar Siddhar

10. Sri Sattamuni Siddhar

11. Sri Vanmeegar Siddhar

12. Sri Ramadevar Siddhar

13. Sri Nandeeswarar Siddhar

14. Sri Edaikkadar Siddhar

15. Sri Machamuni Siddhar

16. Sri Karuvoorar Siddhar

17. Sri Bogar Siddhar

18. Sri Pambatti Siddhar.

The individual details of the 18 siddhas have been given below. you please go through one by one in order to know about them, by just clicking the links or the highlighted portions.

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