The religious studies of

Ayyavazhi Ayyavazhi (, ''Ayyāvaḻi'' , ) is a Hinduism, Hindu denomination that originated in South India during the 19th century.Tha. Krishna Nathan, ''Ayyaa vaikuNdarin vaazvum sinthanaiyum'', p. 62: "" (The day at which Vaikundar is given rebirth co ...

are based primarily on the Ayyavazhi scriptures. Though there is enough knowledge there for a common worshiper to understand Ayyavazhi theology, it needs the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and at some times the

scriptures Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...

of other religions (including

abrahamic The term Abrahamic religions is used to group together monotheistic religions revering the Biblical figure Abraham, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The religions share doctrinal, historical, and geographic overlap that contrasts them wit ...

) to be referred to undergo a detailed religious study on Akilam. Because Akilam maintains a unique type of relation with the other scriptures. On one hand it rejects

Hindu scriptures Hindu texts or Hindu scriptures are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. Some of the major Hindu texts include the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Itihasa. Scholars ...

by saying that they have lost their divinity by the activities of

Kali Kali (; , ), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who p ...

, but on the other many of the

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

mythical Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

as well as

philosophical Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

terms and concepts from

are adopted directly and indirectly. However it's unavoidable to refer

to find more details about the ideology of Akilam.

Mythology

It was considered that one should have a basic knowledge about the

and its concepts to get into the philosophical study of

. Almost all the God-heads either lesser or higher in power found in Akilam with only a least and undetailed introduction on their how and whereabouts. They just plays their part to the long

story-line of the

Ayyavazhi mythology Ayyavazhi mythology is the mythology of the South Indian religious faith known as Ayyavazhi, which is officially considered a Hindu sect. The main source of Ayyavazhi mythology is the Ayyavazhi scripture, Akilathirattu Ammanai, and its suppl ...

. But to understand the core philosophy of that event and the reason behind the involvement of that God-head to that event one should have already known the details about that particular God-head, which was not found in Akilam. Also only there a least possibility to know the relationship between several mythical figures other than the higher God-heads. And for all these details including their story-background, origin etc. Regarding mythology The

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

, Kantha Purana,

Vishnu Purana The Vishnu Purana () is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus. The manuscripts of ''Vishnu Purana'' have survived into ...

, etc. all found place with limited details in Akilam. Akilam provides all these collectively with a mutual relation with each other in an overall story line which makes it unique. But to understand the whole knowledge for example

Treta Yuga ''Treta Yuga'' (IAST: ''Tretā-yuga'') (Devanagari: त्रेतायुग), in Hinduism, is the second and second-best of the four '' yugas'' (world ages) in a '' Yuga Cycle'', preceded by '' Krita (Satya) Yuga'' and followed by '' Dvapara ...

, the scripture which includes those events in detail should needed to be referred. Though the event related to the same Treta Yuga is found in Akilam, it includes only the main events which are directly related to the maintained story-line. Same in the matter of

and kantha Purana. Apart from these many mythical events are found in brief Akilam which is found in detail in Siva purana, ''Santror purana'' etc. Overall, all the Pre-

Kali Yuga ''Kali Yuga'' (Devanagari: कलियुग), in Hinduism, is the fourth, shortest, and worst of the four '' yugas'' (world ages) in a '' Yuga cycle'', preceded by '' Dvapara Yuga'' and followed by the next cycle's '' Krita (Satya) Yuga''. I ...

events are mentioned briefly in Akilam and more details about them which is essential to undergo a religious study on Akilam may be collected from the

Hindu texts Hindu texts or Hindu scriptures are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. Some of the major Hindus, Hindu texts include the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Itihasa. ...

. However Akilam includes more details about the events in

than that of the previous and further more from the incarnation of Vaikundar. But on the other hand, it again needs a good knowledge about the Hindu concepts such as Nirguna and

Saguna Brahman ''Saguna brahman'' ( 'The Absolute with qualities'; from Sanskrit ' 'with qualities', ''guṇa'' 'quality', and ''Brahman'' 'the Absolute') is a concept of ultimate reality in Hinduism, close to the concept of immanence, the manifested divine ...

, rather than

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

for one who wants to know about the supremacy of Vaikundar.

Theology

The Akilam-based theology is not a constant one since it deals with the whole events right from the creation to the end. It undergoes different theologies from

polytheism Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, or whet ...

monotheism Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...

and

monism Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...

, though monism is the final and overall focus point for the present

yuga A ''yuga'', in Hinduism, is generally used to indicate an age of time. In the ''Rigveda'', a ''yuga'' refers to generations, a period of time (whether long or short), or a yoke (joining of two things). In the ''Mahabharata'', the words ''yuga' ...

. It is viewed closely to the

events that take place at various ages and so it changes often. Monism in the beginning ( creation), polytheism till the end of

Dvapara Yuga ''Dvapara Yuga'' (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Dvāpara-yuga'') (Devanagari: द्वापर युग), in Hinduism, is the third and third-best of the four ''yugas'' (world ages) in a ''Yuga Cycle'', preceded b ...

, then some sort of

henotheism Henotheism is the worship of a single, supreme god that does not deny the existence or possible existence of other deities that may be worshipped. Friedrich Schelling (1775–1854) coined the word, and Friedrich Welcker (1784–1868) ...

till the advent of Vaikundar; and then on monism again. All these changes are closely tied to the appropriate mythical events and so all stories related to these changes should be known in detail to understand the evolution of the philosophy of Akilam through the ages. Also since from the

incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It is the Conception (biology), conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic form of a god. It is used t ...

of Vaikundar all previous individual God-heads are surrendered and assembled within Vaikundar, then onwards he is the responsible one for the activities of all god-heads. All the works to be done by them will be performed by Vaikundar. So it is unavoidable to know about the nature, quality and powers of all those god-heads to understand the quality and power extension of Vaikundar. So again the details of those surrendered god-heads to be collected from the

. But if Akilam has any different ideas about any particular event or any origin of God-heads, mentioned elaborately in

, then it will be found in detail in Akilam. And so for that, Akilam forms the foremost source and need not be referred from previous Hindu texts.

Concepts

Many, almost all philosophical concepts from

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

are found in Akilam. Some of them are completely accepted, some are regenerated while some others are rejected by omitting. Most of the Hindu concepts are just found mention in Akilam with merely their name and the rest with their details left to be collected from the

. Some of them are regenerated by giving different ideas. It includes the concepts,

Yuga A ''yuga'', in Hinduism, is generally used to indicate an age of time. In the ''Rigveda'', a ''yuga'' refers to generations, a period of time (whether long or short), or a yoke (joining of two things). In the ''Mahabharata'', the words ''yuga' ...

evil Evil, as a concept, is usually defined as profoundly immoral behavior, and it is related to acts that cause unnecessary pain and suffering to others. Evil is commonly seen as the opposite, or sometimes absence, of good. It can be an extreme ...

Moksha ''Moksha'' (; , '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'', and ''mukti'', is a term in Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, liberation, '' nirvana'', or release. In its soteriological and eschatologic ...

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

(

) etc. Several other concepts such as Tatvas, Kosas,

Chakras A chakra (; ; ) is one of the various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, part of the inner traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. The concept of the chakra arose in Hinduism. B ...

Karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...

reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the Philosophy, philosophical or Religion, religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new lifespan (disambiguation), lifespan in a different physical ...

, Sariyai, Kiriyai,

Yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

etc. are accepted. However, Akilam maintains the rejection of all previous scriptures throughout but knowledge about several basic concepts from them are important to understand Akilam. So generally it was considered that, once a particular event or concept which is needed is not found well-described in Ayyavazhi scriptures such as Akilattirattu Ammanai or Arul Nool, (as detail as in

) and instead simply have quoted it with their names, then that particular conception is accepted as in

for religious studies. But when the idea of a particular notion of Akilam differs very much from Hindu scriptures, that particular thing is deeply described. However, in a particular thing if both Akilam and Hindu scriptures have different ideas, then that of Akilam only is accepted. There is also a view that Akilam is a guideline to follow the

References

* Tha. Krushnanathan, (2003), ''Ayya Vaikundar Vazhvum Sinthanaiyum'', Thinai Publications. * R. Shunmugam, (2000), ''Nadar Kulathi Narayanar Avataram'', Nadar Kuladeepam Publications. * Ari Sundara Mani, (2003), ''Akilathirattu Ammanai Parayana Urai'', Ayya Vaikundar Thirukudumbam Publications. * C. Thamizh, Raj, ''Ayya Thunai'' (Ayyavazhi Tamil Monthly), March 2003 Edition. * G. Patrick, (2003), ''Religion and Subaltern Agency'', University of Madras. * R. Ponnu, (2000), ''Sri Vaikunda Swamigal and the Struggle for Social Equality in South India'', Ram Publishers. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayyavazhi Religious Studies Ayyavazhi

Mythology

Theology

Concepts

See also

References