AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TAMIL SIDDHAS:

TANTRA, ALCHEMY, POETICS AND HERESY

WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF WIDER TAMIL SHAIVA WORLD

Layne Little

Layne Little is a Fulbright scholar and doctoral candidate in the movement that spread throughout South Asia, from
South Asian Studies Department at the University of California, Sri Lanka in the South to Tibet in the north, between
Berkeley. The author can be contacted at [email protected] the seventh and eleventh centuries. Hindu,
Buddhist, and Jain Siddhas everywhere share certain
commonalties mostly in the realm of “(subtle) body

P
image,” transmutational wonder tales, and physical
rint culture and oral temple tales of the past and mental manipulations of yogic savvy. All of
century have largely been responsible for them are part of a “pan-Indian tantric yoga
shifting the Siddhas from the most peripheral movement” which Eliade described as formulating
crevices of Tamil religious imagination into the over a five hundred year period (between seventh
limelight of a nationalistic religious awareness.1 and eleventh centuries), but fully flowering only
Local television programming offers the convenience after twelfth century.2
of a daily consultation with Tamil Siddha doctors in Within the South Asian literary context the name
the comfort of one’s living room. A growing number Siddha originally denoted one of the eighteen
of temples now seem to have taken on their token categories of celestial beings. These beings of semi-
Siddha tomb to celebrate the ever-imminent return of divine status were said to be of great purity and their
the deathless ones. In the modern imagination the dwelling was thought to be in the sky between the
Siddhas offer an ancient spiritual science for a earth and the sun. Later they became associated with
modern secular world, a technology of the ancestors a class of more adept human being, often an
to surpass that offered on the neo-colonial global accomplished yogi. The term had been derived from
market. But is there some coherent theocratic the Sanskrit root sidh meaning “fulfilment” or
integration beyond the vogue of pop-parlor speech “achievement,” so the noun came to refer to one
and name-dropping the words “Tamil Siddha” as a who had attained perfection. Because the Tamil
kind of magic invocation of cultural authenticity?
The Tamil Siddhas have no central authority or
unifying doctrine. Though there are innumerable
texts claiming to represent some nebulous Tamil
Siddha “tradition,” there is no single philosophical
orientation propounded in their works. Rather,
innumerable philosophical threads are stretched,
interwoven and unwoven again in a phantasmagoric
tapestry of subjectivities, as all the while tantra
looms large in the background as the loom on which
the tapestry is woven. So while frustrating all
Courtesy: http://palani.org

attempts to attribute to them a cogent cosmological

theory, there is a kind of buoyant, free-floating
quality to their processes of relating to life and the
greater universe. This takes the form of an
unapologetic celebration of the immediacy of
subjective experience and the fluid application of a
Bhogar instructs Siddhars
variety of mutually exclusive philosophical
viewpoints all simultaneously arrayed before the language lacks the aspirated consonants of Sanskrit
reader. so the word has been written and pronounced by
This brief introduction presents, an albeit, the Tamils as cittar. This has led the Tamils to
simplistic survey of some of the major thematic associate the word more with the Sanskrit term cit,
elements that the Tamil Siddhas emphasise and meaning “consciousness.”3
invariably reinscribe with their own unique visionary This appellation is evident even in the Shaivite
exegesis. It is in this context that this paper touches devotionals known as the Tevaram hymns of the sixth
upon the irreconcilable social conflict that has raged and seventh centuries that would later become part
outside the Tamil Siddhas and the perpetual role of the Saiva Siddhanta canon. Here the term is
their imaginative process takes in reconciling the applied not only to one of the 18 categories of divine
conflict the rages within. beings but also to God Shiva himself, who is a
The Tamil Siddhas remain an ill-defined, “cittar” because the very nature of God is
incongruous body of religious specialists found in consciousness. Likewise, it describes the devotee as
the southern part of India whose origins can be only also being a “cittar” since his consciousness is always
tenuously traced back to the seventh or eighth immersed in the divine presence. By the twelfth to
century. Here they form a distinctive part of a larger thirteenth century the term has taken on new

14 INDIAN FOLKLIFE VOLUME 2 SERIAL NO. 13 ISSUE 4 APRIL-JUNE 2003

meaning as we learn from the writings of temple through the rituals of the priest, the Siddha
Perumparrapuliyar Nambi who describes the God placates the goddess to intercede on his behalf and
Shiva as the cittar alchemist who is working strange expand the consciousness of the Siddha beyond all
miracles in the city of Madurai.4 limitation, where he may become Shiva himself.
Essentially though, the term “siddha” or “cittar” Notions, such as this, being fundamental to the
has the same connotations as it does when referring Tamil Siddha, may have struck the Shaivite
to the 84 Siddhas of Vajrayana Buddhism, the Natha orthodoxy as heretical. But one should not overlook
Siddhas of North India, or the medieval alchemists caste conflict and more terrestrial political dynamics.
known as the Rasa Siddhas. It is a movement born Many of the Tamil Siddha compositions whether
of a synthesis of Vajrayana Buddhism, Shaivite defining philosophical viewpoints, yogic practices, or
Tantrism, Indian Alchemy, magic, and the Hatha presenting alchemical recipes for herbal tinctures and
Yoga and Pranayama disciplines expounded by the base metal amalgams are
ascetic saint Goraknath. Although, in the present riddled with tantric
era, the term is often applied to any form of imagery, references to
unorthodox mystic or saint. And certainly the term Kundalini, and clues to
has a newfound currency amongst (usually non- control the dangerous
Brahmin) Tamil religious organisations and temple feminine power through

Courtesy: http://www.himalayanacademy.com
institutions, as well as the pop-culture yoga breath manipulation or the
institutions flourishing in the west. recitation of the Goddess’s
A perplexing aspect of the Tamil Siddha cult is secret names. Because of
that the text which is identified as the root text of its the enigmatic nature of the
tradition had been also amended to the orthodox Siddha imagery, and their
Saiva Siddhanta canon (Tirumurai) to give the philosophy often being
Siddhantins a philosophical orientation that could structured in direct
hold up against the Sri Vaisnavas’ Vashishtadvaita defiance of human logic,
doctrine of Ramanuja. Though difficult to measure few scholars have ventured
the full extent of interpolation that the text has to address the Tamil
undergone to make it more form-fitting for the Siddhas and then only as
conservative
th
sectarian context, the Tirumantiram (7 - Thirumular mere curiosities. But it
8 century AD) maintains a significant number of seems that the stylistic
references that are unmistakably well rooted in this inconsistencies of the Siddha authors may also have
wider South Asian Tantra/Siddha complex. steered scholars away from these works. There are
Both sectarian groups emphasized different vibrant jewels shining in the rough but even the
aspects of the teaching and could spin a theological more popular siddha works are riddled with endless
line that became more and more widely divergent. repetition, nonsense words that clumsily maintain
The Siddhas would be scoffing at temple worship, the rhyme scheme, and jarring incongruities in the
reliance upon Brahminical authority, and narrative portions of the texts.
proclaiming the injustice of caste; while the Saiva One of the most basic characteristics of Tamil
Siddhantins would berate the Siddhas much as composition, and one that is also relevant to Siddha
M. Srinivasa Iyangar did in 1914 when he wrote that poetry, is the tendency to layer the work so that
the Siddhas are “mostly plagiarists and impostors” each word or image builds upon the last. Because
and in addition, “Being eaters of opium & dwellers each component image is presented so as to be
in the land of dreams, their conceit knew no viewed autonomously and in relationship both
bounds”. At times the Siddhantins have even sequentially and to the totality of the verse, the
engaged in an organised effort to eliminate the images of the poem may appear to some as being
Siddhar faction. For example, one movement, slightly disjointed and contradictory. Though this
observed in the latter half of the nineteenth century, seems to undermine the aesthetic quality and over-
systematically sought out any copy of the writings of complicate the simple act of enjoying poetry, the
the heretical Siddha-poet Sivavakkiyar, and promptly Tamil Siddha compositions pattern this imagery to
destroyed them. expound the subtle complexity of their shifting
The rift between the two orders may have been viewpoint or to map out the terrain of the inner
rooted in the Saiva/Shakta dichotomy that conflated landscape which is dominated by the dormant
gender conflict to cosmic proportions. Many of the serpent energy.
Siddhas propitiate Shakti or the creative potency of While much of the recent explosion of interest in
the primordial essence while Shiva is elevated to a the Siddhas centres around modern invented
(“no-where”) position of absolute abstraction, as he traditions offering tenuous ties to the older
is worshipped as vetta veli or “vast space.” The established Siddha orders, many of these
th
groups did
goddess alone is envisioned in her manifestations5 not come into their own until the 12 century. And
hidden both within the shifting tides of external though the image of a unified succession of Tamil
forms as well as abiding within the body itself. Here Siddha sages is particularly tenuous, Tirumular is
she can be coaxed and subdued, manipulated and pervasively revered in the diverse literary world of
directed. As the serpent power Kundalini, flowing the Tamil Siddhas. The Saiva Siddhantins had
through the subtle body, she can propel the included him as one of the 63 canonised saints or
consciousness of the Siddhar into union with the nayanmars, and his work, the Tirumantiram was
Absolute. Though the orthodox Saiva Siddhantin posthumously represented by them as fully defining
may content himself with the worship of Shiva in the the Tamil Saiva tradition of the time. This text also

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TAMIL SIDDHAS 15

 th
became the 10 book of the Saiva Siddhanta canon,
the Tirumurai. Though it was the one work outlining
the philosophy of the Siddhantins, the sect has
always had a difficult time fully integrating the many
passages which discuss the worship of the Goddess
and the Kundalini Yoga practices so characteristic of
Tantrism. On the other hand, the Siddhas have
viewed these same passages as the most critical in
formulating their esoteric doctrines on the arousal of
the serpent energy.
As we can see in verse 730, the Siddhantins were

Courtesy: http://palani.org
confronted with the tantric orientation of their
philosopher Tirumular, when he relates that it is the
human body itself that is the temple of the Goddess
Shakti...
In Shakti’s temple
if you control
the left and the right Kalangi Nathar teaches Bhogar Siddhar
you can hear a lute
in the centre of your face. is equally viable in that Ganesha, the elephant-
And Shiva will come out headed god of gateways and new beginnings, is said
dancing sweetly.
to reside in the body at the base of the spine, at the
I swear upon Sada Nandi
root chakra Muladhara where the two currents flow
we have spoken the truth.
together and enter central current Shashumna.
Here Tirumular discusses the basis of Kundalini Shashumna is sometimes envisioned as the trunk of
Yoga whereby the breath, carrying one of the vital Ganesha raised aloft and holding the full-blown lotus
airs known as prana, flows into the solar and lunar of enlightenment, Sahasrara, at the crown of the
currents which run from the right and left nostrils head. What is eaten is amrita, conceived of as both
down to the base of the spine and are there brought the nectar of spiritual ecstasy and the elixir of
into union. The point of this union is at the root immortality.
chakra Muladhara, the first of six chakras or nerve Tantra appears in its more seminal form around
plexuses through which the Kundalini energy will th
the 4 century, but its real beginnings seem to reach
flow. This energy is moved by the union of these back much earlier.6 Elements of tantric thought had
solar and lunar streams of vital breath that have already pervaded the south by the time of Tirumular,
entered the central current at Muladhara and will as they had seeped into yogic theory and practice at
ascend upwards through the six chakras, each some antecedent time and even impacted temple
corresponding to a higher and more expansive state ritual and the budding bhakti cults. Tantra was more
of consciousness. The individual awareness is deeply rooted in a fluid set of symbolic constructs
sublimated into divine union at the crown of the than a static enunciation of doctrine. It represents a
head. It is a kind of inner journey towards the profound refinement of the symbol systems of
infinitude of the Divine, but begins only after the Hindu-Buddhist South Asia. It’s emphasis on the
two streams flow into the central current as we learn experiential aspects of the individual’s religious
from verse 801 of the Tirumantiram... experience collided with the Shaivite orthodoxy like
Left hand the Gnostic heresy did with the early Christian
Right hand Church as it sought to establish an internal self-
Both hands... policing system of sanctioning only those subjective
Change!
He who eats experiences that towed the orthodox line.
with the hand of worship In an effort to demonstrate that the macrocosm is
need not be depleted. reflected within the microcosm, Tantra began to
The conscious ones emphasise that the universe, in all its totality, is
capable of abandoning sleep contained within the body of the individual. It
need not die... superimposed universal symbols over the human
they can live forever. body to help demonstrate this relationship. The
Kundalini Yoga
The term used spine, along which the shashumna or central
to denote the channel ran, became the cosmic axis. All the Gods
‘hand of worship’ that oversaw the mechanism that is this universe
is Tutikkai. Tuti is a were hidden in the lotus centres of the body’s
chakras, like blossoms flowering on the vine of the
Courtesy: Victor M. Fic’s The Tantra (2003)

verb meaning “to

worship,” kai is spine. But it was the portly god Ganesha, who
the noun meaning guarded the gate to the inner world. He became a
“hand”. Together, patron of Kundalini yoga in the South and was
as Tutikkai, the invoked by the female Siddhath
mendicant Auvaiyar,
expression also in this excerpt from her 14 century work Vinayagar
means the Agaval. Here she relates how the elephant-headed
“elephant’s trunk.” god has reconciled the dualistic nature of the
This interpretation universe as the various manifestations of Shiva were

16 INDIAN FOLKLIFE VOLUME 2 SERIAL NO. 13 ISSUE 4 APRIL-JUNE 2003

 taught to be part of her inner savouring. for the appropriate chakra.
He has concentrated my mind, If the basis of Muladhara
clarified my intellect, is perfected...
and said, You can go anywhere,
“Light and Darkness wandering freely
share a common place.” throughout the three worlds.
He presses me down The dull-hued body
into the grace giving ecstasy. will mellow
In my ear and shine.
he renders limitless bliss. All impurities
He has revealed Sada Shiva will be removed
within the sound. and the six chakras
He has revealed the Shiva Lingam will become visible
within the mind. to the eye.
And he has revealed that... The gold-coloured alchemy
The smaller than the smallest, will heed your every word.
The larger that the largest, In the Sleepless Sleep
stands within... all subtlety
like ripe sugarcane. can be perceived.
In about 1661, as Aurangzeb set about to expand Look and see.
his kingdom throughout the subcontinent and free In a particularly odd verse of Bhogar, we find
the land of heretics, he was at the same time him describing a visionary experience involving the
extending his protection to an obscure Hindu ingestion of an unidentified substance and the
monastery in the Punjab. At the time in question wearing of mercurial amalgams.
Anand Nath, the abbot of the monastery and a 80 Bhogar’s Leap Into the Universe
Natha Siddha alchemist, was providing “the greatest As the Principle of Intelligence itself
Mogal persecutor of I leapt into the cosmos.
Hinduism in history” a Shiva clearly elucidated
regular supply of treated the nature of this universe.
Courtesy: Victor M. Fic’s The Tantra (2003, New Delhi: Abhinav Publications)

mercury which promised For the sake of all beings

to confer longevity.7 there is a path
that becomes a vehicle
Simultaneously in the for the five senses.
deep south the Tamil The universe that appeared before me
Siddha alchemist Bhogar, was arranged in layers.
who had supposedly Grandfather (Tirumular) said,
migrated from China8 “Enter the tenth one.”
along with his guru I took what was given me10
Kalangi Nathar, was and put it in my mouth.
purportedly establishing a And a bunch
shrine to the God of mercurial amalgams
Murugan on the top of I tied onto my wrist.
Palani Hill.9 It was here Off I went.
that he is thought to have Entering the universe
composed his 7000 verses of fire and light.
on Kundalini Yoga, Consciousness was seen to ride the vehicle of
The Serpent Power Kundalini
alchemy, and Siddha breath into union with the absolute in the Sahasrara
medicine. By medieval times Indian alchemy had Chakra at the top of the head. The Siddha could,
come into vogue much like tantra had done almost a through the intercession of the Goddess, placated by
millennium earlier. And though the Indian manipulation of the breath, expand consciousness to
alchemists also sought to develop the chemical the point where it becomes what is called the Maha
processes of transforming base metals into gold as in Citta or “Great Awareness” which is the God Shiva
Europe and the Middle East, they often emphasised himself. Here is one of the closing verses of Bhogar’s
the pursuit of bodily perfection and the preparation discussion of Kundalini Yoga…
of the elixir of immortality as the Chinese alchemists 94
had sought. They often viewed their experience of Invite the breath,
the outer space,
the inner processes of Kundalini Yoga as mirroring to come within your house.
the chemical process of the alchemical work.
Nearly a thousand years after Tirumular, Bhogar If you are unwavering,
placing it there
is still wrestling with the serpent energy, even in the as though you were
midst of his alchemical operations. Though now, the putting oil in a lamp,...
Kundalini is personified as the consort of Ganesha, They shall meet.
the Goddess Vallabai... Breath and God
9 becoming one.
The green-hued Vallabai Like wind becoming breath
will become subservient there is no individual intelligence.
and bow down. The Great Awareness becomes Siva.
She’ll tell you He and breath
the appropriate time merge into one.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TAMIL SIDDHAS 17

 It is this light becoming breath In this poem Ramalingar praises Manikkavasagar and
that redeems the soul. weaves his verse with a complex echoing of sound as
Surely this is the truth he speaks again and again of the sweetness of his
of Siva Yoga! mystic absorption experienced when hearing the
In the last century the poet-saint Ramaligar had poetry of the saint. This fervent merging, savoured
much to do with bridging the Siddha-Saiva gap and by the ecstatic Ramalingar is described with the
making the Siddhas more palatable to the adverbial participle kalantha, from the verb root kala
mainstream Tamil religious world.11 Ramalingar was meaning “to flow together”, “to make as one”, as it
born in 1823 near Chidambaram, arguably the also denotes a sexual union.
greatest of all Saivite temples. Naturally, the One with sky Manikkavasagar,
heretical nature of his teaching and the growing your words...
number of his disciples caused the protest of temple One with me when I sing
officials and a variety of Saiva Siddhanta institutions Nectar of sugarcane
throughout the region. Eventually they were forced One with honey
to call in Arumuga Navalar from Jaffna to put an end One with milk
to Ramalingar. As a Tamil scholar and Saivite and one with the sweetness
of the fertile fruit
authority, the One with my flesh
orthodox religious One with my soul
leaders throughout Insatiable
the area, were is that sweetness!
confident that he
Although Ramalingar’s hymns were penned in
could expose the
praise of the God Siva, they were often addressed to
Courtesy: http://members.tripod.com

fallacy of a feminine audience with unqualified personal

Ramalingar’s teaching
designations such as ‘Amma’ or ‘Akka’, ‘Mother’ or
and defrock the
‘Sister’. Perhaps indicating that the hymn was meant
heretical saint. for an internal, intimate and distinctly feminine force
Arumuga quickly set
that could propel the invocation along the proper
about organising
channels of the inner cosmos, towards Siva’s secret
public meetings to abode.
provide a platform on
The fact that his songs began to be sung in the
which to abuse
Pambatti Siddhar schools, villages and even the temples of 19th century
Ramalingar and a Chennai, began to outrage the orthodox Saiva
horde of pamphlets were circulated issuing public
Siddhantins in the area. He, as with many
warning about this dangerous little man. Eventually
outspoken Tamil Siddhas, was somewhat
though, Arumuga was forced to take legal action and iconoclastic, not adequately deferential to temple or
filed a suit against the saint. The gentle Ramalingar
Brahminical tradition. He did not perpetuate the
was dragged into court, but eloquently speaking in
traditional modes of linga worship. Forgoing the
his own defense, easily won the case. objectified image by capturing the subjective gaze
The nature of Ramalingar’s heresy is found to be
itself, he perpetrated the greatest of heresies by
all the more insidious when we learn that he also
blatantly revealing the true face of God veiled within
cherished and called his own the devotional hymns volumes of tantric lore. At the shrine he established
of Saiva Siddhanta saints other than Tirumular. One
at Vadalur, behind the curtain that housed the holy
of these, sometimes hailed as the 64th nayanmar, was
of holies, he established a single flame’s light to
Manikkavasagar, who had a profound influence on illuminate a mirror that would reflect the image of
Ramalingar and Siddha devotionalism in general.
the worshipper as the secret face of god and final
Manikkavasagar’s name thmeans “He who’s utterances
mystery of the Tamil Siddhas.
are rubies” and in the 9 century he beautifully
wrote this mini creation myth in flowing verse...
Becoming sky and earth,
Wind and light…
Becoming flesh and spirit,
All that truly is
and all that which is not
Becoming the Lord…
He makes those who say,
“I” and “mine”
Dance in the show.
Becoming sky,
and standing there...
How can I
Courtesy: http://palani.org

praise Him?
In this final work of Ramalingar, we see a
different side of the heretical Siddhas. Not the
enigmatic ramblings or harsh riddles of the ascetic,
but a tender ode, that views the Siddha’s experience
of union as the distilled essence of life’s sweetness. Bhogar Siddhar

18 INDIAN FOLKLIFE VOLUME 2 SERIAL NO. 13 ISSUE 4 APRIL-JUNE 2003

Notes 9. Bhogar makes no mention of Palani in his 7000 and
has always been associated in the Tamil Siddha literature
1. This introduction to the Tamil Siddhas was written with Sathuragiri mountain. Further, the Palanitalapuranam
nearly ten years ago and reflects many of the (the Mythic History of Palani) makes no mention of its
misconceptions surrounding the siddhas that were popular supposed founder (though it does make passing reference
at the time. Also its circulation on the internet surely to Gorakhnath).
added to over simplifying the subject with faults that are 10. Presumably he is referring to one of his gulikais, a
entirely my own. I’ve tried to briefly rectify the overtly pill often made of treaded mercury in solid form.
erroneous statements that I had made and have attempted 11. Another notable entry into the modern literary
to elaborate on some of the more reductionistic portions of sphere comes when freedom-fighting poet, Subramaniya
this work. Bharathi, called himself a “cittar,” invoking a religious-
2. Most of the Tamil Siddha works popular today were revolutionary persona that was intrinsically “Tamil.”
written only in the last two centuries. A significant
percentage of works purported to be “rediscovered” are
modern forgeries. References
3. R. Venkataraman, 1990: 1, 2. Eliade, Mircea, 1969. Yoga: Immortality and Freedom.
4. Ibid.: 3. See the Tiruvilaiyadal sections 13, 42 & 45. Princeton: Bollingen.
5. As Manonmani, Valai, Vallabai, Parai, Parapparai, etc. Francis, T. Dayanandan, 1990. The Mission and Message of
6. Some see the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad as containing Ramalinga Swamy. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
enough of the key elements of tantric cosmology to represent Little, Layne, 1994. Shaking the Tree: Kundalini Yoga,
the earliest strain of a definitive Tantric tradition complete Spiritual Alchemy, and the Mysteries of the Breath in
with the hitta functioning as a proto- shashumna nadi, Bhogar’s 7000. Available also at http://www.levity.com/
anticipating the more elaborate kundalini system to come. alchemy/...
7. David Gordon White, 1996: 1, 9. Venkataraman, R., 1990. A History of the Tamil Siddha Cult.
8. Bhogar’s 7000 tells of his repeated visits to China but Madurai: Ennes Publications.
does not provide even a single cultural detail that White, David Gordon, 1996.The Alchemical Body: Siddha
demonstrates he has any first hand knowledge of the Traditions in Medieval India. Chicago: University of
region, it’s customs, etc. Now in popular secondary Chicago Press.
sources on the Tamil Siddhas the China origin of Bhogar is Zvelebil, Kamil V., 1973. The Poets of the Powers. London:
strongly refuted with the characteristic nationalistic fervour Rider.
of the present day. ——1975. Tamil Literature. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

FOLK MEDICINAL WISDOM OF

CHITTOOR DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH
S. Vedavathy

S.Vedavathy is President of Herbal Folklore Research Centre at the affected parts also. This therapy is called as mandhu
Tirupati. The author can be contacted at [email protected] noone and the Gesthampalli village is famous for it.
Medicine for Emukalu virigithe - Bone fracture

S
Every village in the Chittoor district has one medicine man
ome of the folk medicinal treasures found in who knows the treatment for dislocated and broken bones.
Chittoor district in Andhra Pradhesh are given The two centres in the district, one at Puttur and another
here: at Kalluru, have become famous because of the devoted
families. The people in these centres are service oriented
Tagubothulaku Natu Mandu (Psidium gujava) -
and they do not accept money for their service.
Myrtaceae (Medicine for alcohol addicts)
Leaf juice is secretly added with alcohol and given to the
Jatamansi - (Nardostachys jatamansi) -
person who is addicted to alcohol. The person starts vomiting Valerianaceae
and feels irritation. If the therapy is repeated two or three (Gundello nemmu -
times, the person develops a sort of aversion towards alcohol. Pneumonia)
(For willing patients who want to give up alcohol different Decoction of the root powder
therapy is administered ) is given two or three times a
Vavili (Vitex negundo) and Allamu (Zingeber day and it is continued until
oficinale) (Onti Talanoppi - Migraine) the fever subsides. Wheat
powder mixed in Calotropis
Juice extracted from the leaves of vavili and rhizome of leaf juice is applied on the
allamu is mixed in equal proportions and few drops of the chest to prevent pleurisy
Photo by the Author

juice are instilled into the nostrils to cure migraine.

Saraswathi aku (Centella
Kanuga (Pongamia pinnata) – Fabaceae asiatica) - Apiaceae
(Keella noppulu & Ollu noppulu - Arthritis and Body Pains) (Teliviki - Brain Tonic)
The root bark boiled in gingely oil is stored in earthen pot Dried plant is powdered along
and given to patients suffering from chronic body pain and with Piper nigrum seeds in 10:1 Saramma, an expert in curing
arthritis. The oil is given both internally and applied on ratio and a mixture of 2 to 3 dog bite & snake bite

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TAMIL SIDDHAS 19