navagraha worshipped as deities

[C.R. Selvakumar]

@
@As far as I am aware, there has still been no posting with information
@about the worship of the planets in `agamic' sources.  Here are just
@3 references.
@
@Among the few surviving demonstrably early (i.e. known to writers of
@the lineage of the 10th-century Kashmirian commentator Raamaka.n.tha II)
@Tantras of the "Saiva Siddhaanta, the Kira.natantra (the earliest
@MS of which is dated to 924 AD) devotes a brief chapter (15 verses) to
@the topic: pa.tala 29.  In the Devakottai edition of 1932 this is
@given the title grahayaagavidhi and appears as the 17th chapter of the
@Kriyaapaada.
@
@A South Indian Saiddhaantika anthology of quotations culled from
@Siddhaantatantras and Saiddhaantika paddhatis called the
@Sakalaagama[saara]sa"ngraha devotes ten verses (411--422b) to
@navagrahapuujaa, attributing them to the Kira.na.  The verses in
@question are not found in the Kira.na.  (The
@Sakalaagama[saara]sa"ngraha is transmitted with considerable
@variation---as are a few other works of the same and similar
@titles---in a number of South Indian MSS.  The numeration I give is
@that of the version published from Madras in 1974 by the South Indian
@Archaka Sangham.)
@
@The eclectic Saiddhaantika Tantra[saara]paddhati of (the supposedly
@Keralan) Ii"saana"sivagurudeva gives `dhyaana"slokas' for all 9 grahas
@in verses 7--15 of pa.tala 12 of its Kriyaapaada.
@
@Doubtless other accounts could be found in other tantric sources,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@particularly in relatively late Siddhaantas transmitted
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@in the Tamil-speaking South, but since many are not published, and
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   I've a few questions:

   (1) What are the oldest sources(texts) of 'Kashmiri Saivism' ?
   (2) What are the oldest 'north indian' saiva siddhaanta sources ?
   (3) Are any of these source material available in english in libraries
       in north america ?
   (4) What exactly is meant by your words 'in relatively late Siddhaantas
       transmitted in the Tamil-speaking South' ? I'm interested in
       knowing what this 'relatively late' means in this context and
       what is meant by 'Tamil-speaking South'. Are you merely referring to
       a region or referring to Sanskrit and other non-tamil
       texts authored by people living in
       Tamil-speaking lands or  Tamil texts which are supposed to be
       derived or translated from other languages or other traditions
       (north indian) and transmitted?
       [ I'm sure there are better ways of formulating my questions  :-) ]


  Many thanks

  selvaa
  ______________________
  C.R.(Selva) Selvakumar
  Waterloo, Ontario, Canada


@since even those published have appeared only in relatively
@inaccessible South Indian editions, probably the only place to find
@them all would be the French Institute in Pondicherry, which houses a
@vast collection of manuscripts and books of the "Saiva Siddhaanta.
@Dominic Goodall.
@