Siddha - Siddha or Siddhar (Tamil Tradition )

Siddha or Siddhar (Tamil Tradition )

In Tamil Nadu,South India, a siddha (see Siddhar) refers to a being who has achieved a high degree of physical as well as spiritual perfection or enlightenment. The ultimate demonstration of this is that siddhas allegedly attained physical immortality. Thus siddha, like siddhar or cittar (indigenisation of Sanskrit term in Tamil Nadu) refers to a person who has realised the goal of a type of sadhana and become a perfected being. In Tamil Nadu, South India, where the siddha tradition is still practiced, special individuals are recognized as and called siddhas (or siddhars or cittars) who are on the path to that assumed perfection after they have taken special secret rasayanas to perfect their bodies, in order to be able to sustain prolonged meditation along with a form of pranayama which considerably reduces the number of breaths they take.

The well known 18 siddhars are listed below. The head of all siddhars is Sri Kagapujandar

1. Sri Patanjali Siddhar
2. Sri Agastya Siddhar
3. Sri Kamalamuni Siddhar
4. Sri Thirumoolar Siddhar
5. Sri Kuthambai Siddhar
6. Sri Korakkar Siddhar
7. Sri Thanvandri Siddhar
8. Sri Konganar Siddhar
9. Sri Sattamuni Siddhar
10. Sri Vanmeegar Siddhar
11. Sri Ramadevar Siddhar
12. Sri Nandeeswarar (Nandidevar) Siddhar
13. Sri Edaikkadar Siddhar
14. Sri Machamuni Siddhar
15. Sri Karuvoorar Siddhar
16. Sri Bogar Siddhar
17. Pambatti Siddhar
18. Sundarandandar