ar (1785) and his disciple Kachiyappar: also by the
poems of Rama-linga. Sivaism in Madras and other parts of southern
India is still a vigorous and progressive Church which does not
neglect European methods. Its principal organ is an interesting
magazine called Siddhanta-Dipika or the Light of Truth. In northern
India the Sivaites are less distinct as a body and have less
organization, but temples to Siva are numerous and perhaps the
majority of Brahmans and ascetics regard him as their special deity
and read Sivaite rather than Vishnuite texts. But it is probably also
true that they are not sectarian in the same sense as the worshippers
of Krishna.

It is not easy to estimate the relative numbers of Sivaites and
Vishnuites in south India, and good authorities hold opposite views.
The Sivaites are more united than the Vishnuites (whose many divisions
and conspicuous sectarian marks attract attention) and are found
chiefly among the upper classes and among ascetics, but perhaps there
is much truth in an opinion which I once heard expressed by a Tamil
Brahman, that the real division is not between the worshippers of Siva
and of Vishnu, but between Smartas, those who follow more or less
strictly the ancient ritual observances and those who seek for
salvation by devotion and in practice neglect the Sanskrit scriptures.
There is little hostility. The worship of both gods is sometimes
performed in the same building as at Chidambaram or in neighbouring
shrines, as at Srirangam. In south Kanara and Travancore it is
generally held that the two deities are of equal greatness and in many
places are found images representing them united in one figure. But
the great temples at Madura, Tinnevelly and Tanjore are all dedicated
to Siva or members of his family. If in the philosophical literature
of the Siddhanta the purity of the theism taught is noticeable, in
these buildings it is rather the rich symbolism surrounding the god
which attracts attention. In his company are worshipped Parvati,
Ganesa, Subrahmanya, the bull Nandi and minor attendants: he is
shown leaping in the ecstacy of the dance and on temple walls are
often depicted his sixty-four sports or miracles (lila). For the
imagination of the Dravidians he is a great rhythmic force, throbbing
and exulting in all the works of nature and exhibiting in kindly
playfulness a thousand antics and a thousand shapes.

4

Another school of Sivaite philosophy flourished in Kashm