Siddha: Encyclopedia - Siddha

Siddha

The Sanskrit word Siddha means a person who has achieved a Siddhi, a supernatural power.

Siddha - Tamil Nadu Tradition of Siddhahood

In South India, a Siddha reffers to a being who has achieved physical as well as spiritual perfection or enlightenment. The ultimate demonstration of this is that Siddhas alledgedly attained physical immortality. Thus Siddha, like Siddhar or Cittar (indigenisation of Sanskrit terms 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 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 reduces the number of breaths taken by them considerably.

Due to the obscurity of the art and practice of becoming a Siddha, many false prophets of this art have arisen. A general sign of genuinity of a Siddha is the fact that he does not advertise himself, but is going into hiding. Generally Siddhas are continually itinerant, and do not gather a following. Most practitioners of Siddha medicine are not Siddhas themselves, but use some of the remedies described by Siddhas.

See also

• Varmam
• Agastyar
• Tirumular
• Siddha Yoga

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Siddha", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki