Color of Skin

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

On Fri, 16 May 1997 GANESANS at cl.uh.edu wrote:

[..]

> Adhisaiva Sivacharyar priests in tamil nadu is another case in
> point. They are ancient Tamils, preservers of the Agama tradition.
> There is a fifth century Tirumantiram that says
> "If brahmins do archana at Siva temples, King will die,
> famine will result, Diseases will multiply". Old  commentaries
> say this Tirumantiram specifically stipulates that
> only Adhisaivas should perform pujas at Siva temples, not just
> any brahmin. Helene Brunner discusses
> the origins of the Adisaiva brahmin lineages and speculates that they may
> represent an indigenous non-brahmin priestly group who successfully
> claimed brahmin status.  Her article, in French, is "Les categories
> sociales vediques dans le Sivaisme du sud," Journal asiatique 252 (1964):
> 452-72.  Richard Davis discussed the Adisaivas of Tamilnad in an article,
> Aghorasiva's Background, Journal of Oriental Research (Dr. S. S. Janaki
> Felicitation Volume) 56-62 (1992):367-78.

See also C. J. Fuller's "Servants of the Goddess," on the Adisaiva priests
at the Madurai Meenakshi-Sundareswarar temple, published by the Cambridge
University Press. 

Are the Chidambaram Dikshitars considered to be Adisaivas? They seem to
form a separate group by themselves. 

S. Vidyasankar