are probably ancient.  In all this poetry there rings out a note of almost defiant monotheism, iconoclasm and antisacerdotalism.  It may be partly explained by the fact that in the south Brahmanism was preceded, or at least from early times accompanied, by Buddhism and Jainism.  These creeds did not make a conquest, for the Dravidian temperament obviously needed a god who could receive and reward passionate devotion, but they cleared the air and spread such ideas as the superiority of good deeds to rites and the uselessness of priests.  Even now verses expressing these thoughts are popular in the Madras Presidency, but the sect which produced them, known as the Sittars,[545] is entirely extinct.  Caldwell attributes its literature to the seventeenth century, but the evidence available is small and it is clear that this theistic anti-brahmanic school had a long life.  As in other cases, the Brahmans did not suppress so much as adapt it.  The collection which goes by the name of Siva-vakyam contains poems of different ages and styles.  Some are orthodox, others have no trace of Brahmanism except the use of Siva as the name of the deity.  Yet it would seem that the anthology as a whole has not fallen under sacerdotal censure.[546]

The important sect of the Lingayats should perhaps be regarded as an offshoot of this anti-brahmanic school, but before describing it, it may be well briefly to review the history of orthodox Sivaism in the south.

By this phrase is not meant the sect or school which had the support of Sankara but that which developed out of the poems mentioned above without parting company with Brahmanism.  Sankara disapproved of their doctrine that the Lord is the efficient cause of the world, nor would the substitution of vernacular for Sanskrit literature and temple ceremonies for Vedic sacrifices have found favour with him.  But these were evidently strong tendencies in popular religion.  An important portion of the Devaram and the Kanda Purana of Kachiyappar, a Tamil adaptation of the Skanda Purana, were probably written between 600 and 750 A.D.[547] About 1000 A.D. the Tirumurai (including the Devaram) was arranged as a collection in eleven parts, and about a century later Sekkilar composed the Periya Purana, a poetical hagiology, giving the legends of Sivaite saints and shrines.  Many important temples were dedicated to Siva during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

There followed a period of scholasticism in which the body of doctrine called the Saiva Siddhanta was elaborated by four Acaryas, namely Mey-Kanda-Devar[548] (1223), Arunandi, Marainana-Sambandhar and Umapati (1313).  It will thus be seen that the foundation of Sivaite philosophy in Tamil is later than Ramanuja and the first Vishnuite movements, and perhaps it was influenced by them but the methodical exposition of the Saiva-Siddhantam[549] does not differ materially from the more poetic utterances of the Tiruvacagam.  It recognizes the three entities, the Lord, the soul