MEYKAṆṬĀR (thirteenth century CE), Tamil Śaiva Siddhānta author and theologian. Meykaṇṭār ("he who saw the truth") was the first of the four santāna ācāryas ("hereditary teachers," here referring to four successive theologians) of the Tamil Śaiva Siddhānta school of philosophy-theology. Originally called Svētaraṉam, Meykaṇṭār, who lived in Tiruveṇṇainallūr, received the name by which posterity recognizes him from his guru Parañcōti Muṉivar. Meykaṇṭār's prominence rests almost entirely on his composition of a single work, the Civañāṉapōtam (Skt., Śivajñānabodha, The understanding of the knowledge of Śiva). The Civañāṉapōtam, written in the early thirteen century, is held to be the mutaṉūl ("primary treatise") of the fourteen theological texts that have canonical status in Tamil Śaivism. These...