dakSiNAmUrti stotra, and Tamil and Kashmir zaivisms

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

In a message dated 5/30/99 3:52:52 AM Central Daylight Time,
vsundaresan at HOTMAIL.COM writes:

>On the
>  other hand, I am inclined to think that the mAnasollAsa is simply referring
>  to the source texts on which the later school of abhinavagupta based
itself.
>  And it is entirely possible that some of these source texts being referred
>  to in the mAnasollAsa were entirely south Indian in origin and influence.

Do you have any specific texts in mind? As for Agamas, etc.,
uttarakAmikAgama, viSNudharmottara, pUrvakAraNAgama, amzumadbhedAgama,
zilparatna, ajitAgama, rauravAgama, and rauravottarAgama describe
dakSiNAmUrti according to S. Narayanasvamy (Daksihinamurti: Agamam and
Silpam, IInd Part, 1991). Regarding zaivAgamas L. J. N. Banerjea says,"As for
the zaivAgamas, Gopinath Rao is of opinion that the kAmikAgama is the oldest
among them; and as in many of the other ones, including the kAraNAgama,
reference to the devAram <sic> hymns composed by the nAyanmArs or the
zivabhaktas is to be found, they are to be dated later than the 9th century
A.D. The zAkta tantra works, as we have them at present and which contain
iconographic and iconometric data, are mostly much later in date than the 9th
or 10th century A.D." Some date viSNudharmottara to 5th-7th century A.D.

What is interesting is according to Narayanasvamy, kAraNAgama and
amzumadbhedAgama mention agastya as one of the sages. So, clearly these texts
were produced based on the Tamil tradition. uttarakAmikAgama mentions
aghorazivAcArya as one of the sages. According to K. C. Pandey,
aghorazivAcArya (c. 1158)  was from the Chola country. Thus texts dealing
with dakSiNAmUrti may be in Sanskrit. But there is a strong likelihood many
could have been produced in the Tamil/Malayalam region.

Of course, we have tirumUlar and mANikkavAcakar mentioning Agamas. tirumUlar
mentions 28 Agamas. mANikkavAcakar mentions makEntira malai as the place
where the Agamas were revealed. These may refer to texts older than 9th
century.

Regards
S. Palaniappan