Non-Brahman scholarship on Advaita Vedanta in the Tamil language in the 19th century and its eclipse by the Saiva Siddhanta revival

Abstract

It is generally assumed that non-Brahman Tamil scholarship was predominantly shaped by Saiva Siddhanta, whereas Advaita Vedanta remained the domain of Smarta Brahmans. Indeed, by the late 19th  century, Tamil sources reflect a clear divergence between these two  intellectual traditions. However, this distinction was far less pronounced before the 1880s, when Advaita Vedanta and Saiva Siddhanta were not yet rigidly separated in Tamil scholarly discourse. This paper examines the transformation that took place during the 1860s and 1870s, shedding light on the processes that led to the increasing differentiation of these traditions and the eventual eclipse of  Tamil- language Advaita scholarship by the Saiva Siddhanta revival.