शिवज्ञानबोध (मेय्कण्डार - शैव सिद्धान्त का आधारभूत दार्शनिक सूत्र ग्रन्थ)

NOTE ON THE AUTHOR. xiii
Vedas and Agamas, and hence called Sakala Agama Pundit.
He, with his disciples, came on a visit to Thiruvennainallur ;
and while there, his disciples became attracted by the teaching of
Meikanda Deva and gradually began to desert their former
teacher. Arulnanthi Sivachariar came to know of the cause of
the desertion of his pupils and went to meet and vanquish
Meikanda Deva, face to face. He went there, and the moment the
eye of Grace of Meikanda Deva fell on him, he felt his
Ahankara or Agnana leave him and feeling vanquished fell at
his feet and sought his grace and from thence became his
most prominent and devoted disciple. Here a fact has to
be noted. Meikanda Deva was a Vellalah; at least his foster
parents were so, and yet Arulnanthi Sivachariar occupying
the highest position even among Brahmans did not scruple
to become his disciple. Under Meikanda Deva's inspiration
Arulnanthi Sivachariar composed a philosophical treatise called
Irupa Irupakthu (இருபா இருபஃது). Under his direction again,
Arulnanthi Sivachariar composed Sivagnana Siddhi, as an autho-
rized commentary on Sivagnana Botham, two works which have
been rarely parallelled even in Sanskrit. If the genius of Thiru-
valluvar gave to the Tamil language all the teachings to be found
in the Vedas, Agamas, Upanishads and Dharma Sastras, on the
first three Purusharthams, Dharma, Artha and Kamia or Aram,
Porul and Inbam, in a thoroughly systematized form, the genius
of Meikanda Deva and Arulnanthi Sivacharyar gave to the Tamil
language, all the teachings of these books on the last Purushartha
namely, Moksha or Veedu, in a similarly condensed and systema-
tized form. The plan of the first work is this. The twelve
Sutras are divided into 2 Chapters of 6 Sutras each, general and
special. These chapters are divided into two 'Iyals' each,
making a total division of the book into four, of three Sutras each.
I have, however, divided the work into four chapters, indicating at
the same time whether each belongs to the general or the special
division.