[INDOLOGY] Siddha <->JIvanmukta

[Patrick Olivelle]

With regard to "siddha", there is interesting evidence from a tradition far different from the "religious", and that is Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra. There the term is used frequently with regard to monetary matters and bookkeeping, but within a religious context we have both siddha used alone and in the compound siddhatāpasa. In these usages, the reference is to a religious virtuoso who is capable of, or believed capable of, doing extraordinary things. See, for example, Arthaśāstra: 1.11.16; 1.12.22; 1.21.24; 4.3.13, 25, 44; 4.4.3; 5.1.3; 5.2.39, 41.

For jīvanmukta, from a Advaita and quasi-yoga perspective, see Vidyāraṇya's Jīvanmuktiviveda, newly edited and translated by Robert Gooding, available, I think, through the service that publishes dissertations.

Best,

Patrick



On Apr 12, 2015, at 3:38 PM, Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi at gmail.com> wrote:

> I agree with Prof. Mathew Kapstein.
>  
> The word Siddha has several meanings in several contexts.
>  
> The term JIvanmukta too has a huge shades of meaning and a wide varieties of discussion.
>  
> There are very small number of occasions the two terms can turn almost synonymous to each other.
>  
> Siddha : 1. The one who has achieved one of the ashTa siddhis. 2. One of the (usually seven) devata jatis. 3. A respectable member of the Tamil siddha tradition. 4. A guru of the Shaiva particularly Vira shaiva tradition 5. In the modern theosophical tradition, the one translated into English as a Master. The list goes on.
>  
> JIvanmukta : I shall continue in my next post.    
> 
> -- 
> Prof.Nagaraj Paturi
> Hyderabad-500044
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