The 36 Tattvas

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    The 36 Tattvas

    முப்பத்தாறு தத்துவங்கள்

    Saiva Siddhanta counts thirty-six (தத்துவங்கள்), from earth up to Siva tattva: the principles through which bodies, instruments and worlds are furnished for the soul. They come from under Siva's power. The Lord does not become them, and the soul is not made from them. Their purpose is to give the bound soul a field in which it can know, act and experience, until grace frees it from the obscuration that makes these instruments seem to be its own self.

    On the path: round 5 of 9, The doctrine

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    Explained in:Three realities · Why the soul is bound · How Siva helps

    Count
    Five Suddha, seven Vidya and twenty-four Atma tattvas
    Purpose
    Instruments and fields of experience for the soul
    Distinction
    The Lord and the soul are not products of the thirty-six

    The thirty-six belong to the soul's equipment and its field of experience; neither the soul nor the Lord is one more material item in the count.

    On this page

    நமசிவாய

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    At a glance

    Five pure principles, seven conditions of experience and twenty-four embodied instruments belong to Maya's ordered provision for souls.

    Why devotion needs this distinction

    “I saw”, “I thought”, “I wanted”: ordinary speech gathers many functions into one word, “I”. Siddhanta separates those functions so that the can be distinguished from what it uses. An eye receives one kind of object. Mind attends to it. Intellect reaches a decision. The soul knows through them, with the assistance of .

    Unmai Vilakkam 5–22 names the three groups as Atma, Vidya and Siva tattvas. Sivaprakasam also calls them twenty-four Asuddha, seven Suddhasuddha and five Suddha tattvas. Atma in the first group's name means that the principles serve the soul; it does not make them pieces of the soul.

    Five Suddha or Siva tattvas

    சுத்த தத்துவங்கள் · சிவ தத்துவங்கள்

    1. Material basis, the pure material field activated by Siva's power
    2. WorkThe pure provision through which divine knowledge and action govern and assist souls

    Seven Vidya tattvas

    வித்தியா தத்துவங்கள் · also Suddhasuddha, சுத்தாசுத்தம்

    1. Material basis; Purusha names the soul's conditioned relation to its instruments
    2. WorkTime, the ordering of consequences and the measured capacities for action, knowing and desire

    Twenty-four Atma tattvas

    ஆன்ம தத்துவங்கள் · also Asuddha, அசுத்தம்

    1. Material basis, derived within the impure Maya order
    2. WorkInner instruments, sensory and active faculties, subtle objects and gross elements
    Pati, the Lord · பதிBeyond all thirty-six. Not a tattva: His power sets Maya to work for the souls.

    5 pure tattvas · from Suddha Maya சுத்த மாயை

    Siva tattvaசிவம்Saktiசத்திSadasivaசாதாக்கியம்Isvaraஈசுரம்Suddhavidyaசுத்தவித்தை

    7 Vidya tattvas · from Asuddha Maya அசுத்த மாயை

    Kala, timeகாலம்NiyatiநியதிKala, actionகலைVidyaவித்தைRagaஅராகம்Purushaபுருடன்Mayaமாயை

    24 Atma tattvas · from Prakriti பிரகிருதி

    Inner instruments
    Manasமனம்Buddhiபுத்திAhamkaraஅகங்காரம்Cittaசித்தம்
    Organs of knowing
    HearingசெவிTouchமெய்Sightகண்TasteநாSmellமூக்கு
    Organs of action
    Speechவாக்குMovementகால்HandsகைExcretionபாயுGenerationஉபத்தம்
    Subtle objects
    SoundஓசைTouchஊறுFormஉருவம்TasteசுவைSmellநாற்றம்
    Elements
    Spaceவான்Airகாற்றுFireதீWaterநீர்Earthமண்

    Read upward from earth to Siva tattva: thirty-six in all.

    Thirty-six tattvas in three tiers, as the soul's provision. The Lord stands above and outside the count; the soul stands apart from it, knowing and acting through it.

    Maker, material and knower

    Maya is the insentient material cause. Siva's activates and orders it for souls. A soul is beginningless and conscious; it is not brought into existence when a body or a mind appears. obscures its knowing. The instruments make limited experience possible within that obscuration.

    The distinction between pure and impure Maya concerns their different provisions for souls, not the transformation of the Lord into matter. Siva remains beyond all thirty-six while present to their operation.

    Unmai Vilakkam gives the compact account. Sivagnana Siddhiyar unfolds its causal arguments. Tirumantiram places the distinctions of Lord, soul and bond within the life of devotion and yoga.

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    The five pure tattvas

    The pure tattvas are products of Suddha Maya through which Siva's knowledge and action operate; Siva tattva is not Pati Himself.

    The order in Unmai Vilakkam

    Verse 21 names the five from Suddhavidya upward to Siva tattva. Verse 22 describes them by the relation of knowledge, jnana (ஞானம்), and action, kriya (கிரியை).

    Five Suddha tattvas

    சுத்த தத்துவங்கள் · the upward teaching order

    1. Suddhavidya · சுத்தவித்தைPure knowledge: knowledge predominates over action
    2. Isvara · ஈசுரம்Divine action: action predominates over knowledge
    3. Sadasiva or Sadakhya · சதாசிவம் · சாதாக்கியம்Knowledge and action are balanced
    4. Sakti tattva · சத்தி தத்துவம்The pure support of action
    5. Siva tattva · சிவ தத்துவம்The pure support of knowledge; the highest of the thirty-six
    Unmai Vilakkam, verse 21
    வித்தியா தத்துவங்கள் ஏழும் விளம்பினோம்சுத்தமாம் தத்துவங்கள் சொல்லக்கேள் நித்தமாம்சுத்தவித்தை ஈசுரம்பின் சொல்லும் சதாசிவம்நல்சத்திசிவம் காண் அவைகள் தாம்

    Rendering: We have explained the seven Vidya tattvas. Listen now to the pure principles: Suddhavidya, Isvara, then Sadasiva, the good Sakti and Siva. Know these as the five.

    A divine name does not remove the distinction

    is a tattva of Suddha Maya. Pati, Siva the Lord, is beyond the entire tattva order. Likewise, Sakti tattva is the pure material support of His action; it is not identical with His inseparable power, Sakti.

    Sivaprakasam's account of Suddha Maya's products gives the names Nada (நாதம்) and Bindu (விந்து) before Sadasiva, Isvara and Suddhavidya. The Unmai Vilakkam exposition associates Nada with Siva tattva and Bindu with Sakti tattva. These describe the pure provision for divine operation, not five stages in which the Lord loses His nature.

    Arrange in order

    The five pure tattvas, in the order of Unmai Vilakkam 21

    Tap them in order, from the first to the last.

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      The seven Vidya tattvas

      These principles enable measured experience under bondage; Purusha names the soul joined to those conditions, not a soul manufactured by Maya.

      Conditions that enable as well as limit

      Unmai Vilakkam 19 gives the following order. This is an order of explanation; it is not a claim that time produces Niyati, which produces Kalai, and so on.

      Seven Vidya tattvas

      வித்தியா தத்துவங்கள்

      1. Kala, time · காலம்Marks the duration and succession in which the soul meets experience
      2. Niyati · நியதிOrders the soul's meeting with the fruits of its own deeds
      3. Kala, capacity for action · கலைEnables the obscured soul to act within a limited field
      4. Vidya · வித்தைEnables limited knowing through the instruments
      5. Raga · அராகம் · இராகம்Awakens desire towards experience
      6. Purusha · புருடன் · புருடம்The soul considered as an experiencer joined to these five conditions
      7. Maya · மாயைThe insentient material basis of this order
      Unmai Vilakkam, verse 19
      காலம்நியதி கருதும் கலைவித்தைஏல இராகம் புருடனே மாயை மால் அறவேசொன்னோம் அடைவாகச் சொன்ன இவை தம் உண்மைஉன்னி உரைக்க நாம் உற்று

      Rendering: Time, Niyati, Kalai, Viddhai, Raga, Purusha and Maya: we have named them in order to remove confusion. Attend as we explain their nature.

      The Sanskrit kāla, time, is காலம்; kalā, measured capacity for action, is கலை. They are different principles. The first five are called the , pancha kanchuka (பஞ்ச கஞ்சுகம்). For the soul obscured by Anavam, their operation permits the limited activity through which experience takes place.

      Purusha is not another soul inside the soul

      names the soul in this equipped condition. The conscious soul is not an effect of Maya. The five conditions are supplied to it; their conjunction makes it an experiencer in the tattva order. Siddhiyar, Supakkam 146, describes the soul as Purusha when will, knowledge and action have been enabled in this way.

      Thus the conventional thirty-six count includes a relational designation. It does not assert that every named item, including the conscious soul, is a newly produced material substance. The soul remains Pasu; the conditions belong to Pasam.

      Arrange in order

      The seven Vidya tattvas, in the order of Unmai Vilakkam 19

      Tap them in order, from the first to the last.

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        The twenty-four Atma tattvas

        The twenty-four furnish embodied experience; Prakriti and its Gunam condition explain the inner instruments without adding extra items to the count.

        The four instruments and four sets of five

        Unmai Vilakkam moves from the gross elements to subtle objects, sensory faculties, active faculties and the four . In that order, its twenty-four are:

        Five gross elements

        Mahabhutas · மாபூதங்கள்

        1. Prithivi · பிருதிவி · மண்Earth: solidity and support
        2. Ap · அப்பு · நீர்Water: fluidity and cohesion
        3. Tejas · தேயு · தீFire: heat and transformation
        4. Vayu · வாயு · காற்றுAir: movement
        5. Akasa · ஆகாசம் · வான்Space: room for the other elements

        Five subtle objects

        · தன்மாத்திரைகள்

        1. Sabda · சத்தம் · ஓசைSound
        2. Sparsa · பரிசம் · ஊறுTouch
        3. Rupa · ரூபம் · உருவம்Visible form
        4. Rasa · இரசம் · சுவைTaste
        5. Gandha · கந்தம் · நாற்றம்Smell

        Five faculties of knowing

        Jnanendriyas · ஞானேந்திரியங்கள்

        1. Srotra · சுரோத்திரம் · செவிHearing
        2. Tvak · துவக்கு · மெய்Touch through the skin
        3. Caksus · சட்சு · கண்Sight
        4. Jihva · சிகுவை · நாTaste
        5. Ghrana · ஆக்கிராணம் · மூக்குSmell

        Five faculties of action

        Karmendriyas · கன்மேந்திரியங்கள்

        1. Vak · வாக்குSpeech
        2. Pada · பாதம் · கால்Locomotion
        3. Pani · பாணி · கைTaking and giving
        4. Payu · பாயு · குதம்Excretion
        5. Upastha · உபத்தம்Reproduction and sexual enjoyment

        Four inner instruments

        Antahkarana · அந்தக்கரணம்

        1. Manas · மனம்Attends to and considers an object
        2. Buddhi · புத்திDetermines what it is
        3. Ahamkara · அகங்காரம் · ஆங்காரம்Asserts the limited I in knowing and acting
        4. Citta · சித்தம் · சிந்தைDwells upon what is apprehended

        The gross element is not the subtle object: sound is not the ear, and the ear is not space. Nor is a sensory faculty simply its visible bodily organ. The names distinguish what is encountered, the capacity through which it is encountered and the material body in which that capacity operates.

        Arrange in order

        The twenty-four Atma tattvas, in the page's order

        Tap them in order, from the first to the last.

          Where Prakriti and Gunam belong

          (பிரகிருதி), the material basis of this embodied order, arises within the Asuddha Maya sequence. Its three (குணங்கள்) are sattva (சத்துவம்), rajas (இராசதம்) and tamas (தாமதம்). These are qualities of the material instruments, not qualities from which the conscious soul is made.

          Siddhiyar, Supakkam 147–148, moves from root Prakriti and its gunas to Avyakta (அவ்வியத்தம்), identified with Chittam, and then to Buddhi. T. N. Ramachandran's explanation calls the manifest equilibrium of the three qualities Guna tattva and identifies this with Chittam. Unmai Vilakkam 17 gives the four instruments directly.

          This explains why a causal account speaks of Prakriti and Gunam where a compact functional count names Chittam. Prakriti is the causal basis, its balanced gunas are the condition described, and Chittam is the instrument named in that reckoning. Adding Prakriti and Gunam beside all four inner instruments as further numbered items would change the twenty-four count.

          Unmai Vilakkam, verse 17
          அந்தக் கரணம் அடைவே உரைக்ககேள்அந்தமனம் புத்தியுடன் ஆங்காரம் சிந்தை இவைபற்றியது நிச்சயித்துப் பல்கால் எழுந்திருந்து அங்குஉற்றது சிந்திக்கும் உணர்

          Rendering: Listen to the inner instruments in their order: mind, intellect, ego and Chittam. They grasp, determine, repeatedly rise in self-assertion and reflect upon what has been encountered. Understand their work.

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          What the tattvas are for

          Experience through instruments helps the bound soul ripen; freedom comes through grace, not through sleep or the mere stopping of thought.

          Assistance within bondage

          Anavam obscures the soul's knowledge. Maya's instruments permit a measure of knowing and action; brings the consequences of action into its experience. The Lord orders this field for the soul's , malaparipakam (மலபரிபாகம்). Ripening concerns the weakening of the bond's hold, not the destruction of the soul.

          An instrument can therefore assist while belonging to the bond. A mind makes thought possible, yet the soul can mistake a thought for its own whole being. A body enables service, yet its changing condition can be claimed as “all that I am”. The movement towards freedom includes learning to use the instruments without identifying oneself with them.

          Unmai Vilakkam 26–27 compares the distinction with tasting: flavours do not taste themselves; someone encounters and distinguishes them.

          Unmai Vilakkam, verse 26
          தத்துவங்கள் ஆறாறும் தம்மைத்தாம் என்று அறியாஎத்தன்மை என்னில் இயம்பக்கேள் சுத்தமாம்ஆறு சுவையும் அறியாவே தம்மைத்தாம்கூறில் அவை இவை போல் கொள்

          Rendering: The thirty-six tattvas do not know themselves as themselves. If you ask how, listen: the six tastes do not know themselves. Understand these principles in the same way.

          Sivagnana Bodham, sutra 3, distinguishes the soul from body and senses; sutra 4 distinguishes it from the inner instruments. Unmai Vilakkam unfolds the equipment before asking who knows through it.

          Sleep and the five states

          The five , avasthas (அவத்தைகள்), distinguish changes in the soul's access to its instruments. The downward account under bondage runs through waking, Jagrat (சாக்கிரம், நனவு); dream, Svapna (சொப்பனம், கனவு); deep sleep, Sushupti (சுழுத்தி, உறக்கம்); Turiya (துரியம்); and Turiyatita (துரியாதீதம்).

          In waking, the outward faculties participate in experience. In dream, outward sensory engagement recedes while inner experience continues. Deep sleep involves a further withdrawal of the instruments of ordinary knowing. The two further states describe deeper contraction of their operation. Withdrawal is inactivity or loss of access, not the destruction of the instruments or of the soul.

          Anavam has not been removed merely because a person sleeps without dreams. Sivaprakasam places the changing operation of the instruments beside the larger distinctions of Kevala, Sakala and Suddha. The five changing states and those three broad conditions are related accounts, not interchangeable lists.

          From naming to relinquishing identification

          Unmai Neri Vilakkam, verse 1, begins the with tattva rupam (தத்துவ ரூபம்), recognising the principles; tattva darisanam (தத்துவ தரிசனம்), discerning their insentient nature; and tattva suddhi (தத்துவ சுத்தி), freedom through grace from identification with them.

          Unmai Neri Vilakkam, verse 1
          மண்முதற் சிவம தீறாய் வடிவுகாண் பதுவே ரூபம்மண்முதற் சிவம தீறாய் மலஞ்சட மென்றல் காட்சிமண்முதற் சிவம தீறாய் வகையதிற் றானி லாதுகண்ணுத லருளால் நீங்கல் சுத்தியாய்க் கருதலாமே

          Rendering: Recognising the forms from earth to Siva tattva is rupam. Discerning them as insentient bond is sight. Knowing that oneself is absent from their kinds, and withdrawing through the grace of the brow-eyed Lord, can be understood as purification.

          The beginning is knowledge of the instruments. Its fruit is a changed relation to them. The soul continues to be a soul; its fulfilment lies in and communion with Siva.

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          Thirty-six and ninety-six

          One Tamil Saiva reckoning expands thirty-six principles with sixty bodily and functional developments; it does not add sixty more divine principles above them.

          A fuller account of embodied life

          The count தொண்ணூற்றாறு தத்துவங்கள், ninety-six tattvas, is used for a more detailed account of the body and its operations. Siddhanta Gnana Ratnavali, chapter II, questions 45–47, gives a thirty-six-plus-sixty reckoning. Its sixty developments are grouped as follows:

          Sixty developments of embodied experience

          தாத்துவிகங்கள்

          1. Twenty-five associated with the elementsFive developments assigned to each gross element
          2. Ten vital airs · வாயுக்கள்The traditional account of bodily life-functions
          3. Ten channels · நாடிகள்The traditional account of the body's subtle channels
          4. Five functions of the active facultiesSpeech, movement, giving, discharge and sexual enjoyment
          5. Four modes of speech · வாக்குகள்Sukshma, Paisanti, Madhyama and Vaikhari; சூக்குமை, பைசந்தி, மத்திமை, வைகரி
          6. Three gunas · குணங்கள்Sattva, rajas and tamas
          7. Three desires · ஏடணைகள்For children, worldly standing and wealth

          The sixty total 25 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 3. These are developments and functions of the embodied apparatus already described. For example, a faculty of action and its activity can be counted separately in this expanded reckoning.

          This is the particular expansion given in Siddhanta Gnana Ratnavali: principles are distinguished from their developments and functions. The governing distinction remains: the conscious soul uses the apparatus and does not become its inventory.

          A way to bring the distinction into daily life

          When a sound draws attention, notice the sound, the hearing faculty, the mind's response and the desire that follows. When an angry thought arises, recognise it as a movement encountered through the inner instruments. That recognition leaves room to respond with care instead of treating every impulse as a command.

          This is an aid to attention, not the full attainment of tattva suddhi. Knowledge, conduct, worship and the teacher's instruction belong together. The instruments can be used for service while the soul learns its dependence on grace.

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          Read further

          Read the lists with their explanations, and then follow the texts from knowledge of instruments to knowledge of the soul.

          Tamil texts and Siddhanta exposition

          Continue with the related texts

          Unmai Vilakkam lets the questions lead from the tattvas to the soul. Sivagnana Bodham, sutras 3–4, gives the distinction its compact argument. Sivagnana Siddhiyar develops the reasons for an ordered field of experience. Sivaprakasam follows the instruments into the soul's states and ripening. Unmai Neri Vilakkam turns the distinction towards realisation. Tirumantiram keeps the body, devotion and the distinction of Lord, soul and bond in view together.

          Check your understanding3 questions on this teaching. Answer them to light its lamp on the hill.
          Question 1

          1. What are the thirty-six tattvas for?

          Question 2

          2. Why must Siva tattva be distinguished from Siva the Lord?

          Question 3

          3. Why is ordinary deep sleep not liberation?

          Next on the path · Round 5 · The doctrineThe ninety-six tattvas →

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          Elsewhere on this site

          The soul's journey to Siva: a guide to Saiva Siddhanta: the doctrine of Saiva Siddhanta explained step by step. Or return to all the texts.

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          Tamil verses are quoted from the classical text. English renderings are our own and follow the traditional commentaries; they are not copied from any published translation. “As a teacher might explain it” marks explanations added for this site. Suggest a correction

          Contents

          1. Cover
          2. At a glance
          3. The five pure tattvas
          4. The seven Vidya tattvas
          5. The twenty-four Atma tattvas
          6. What the tattvas are for
          7. Thirty-six and ninety-six
          8. Read further

          all the texts · Philosophy guide · · Suggest a correction

          The whole glossary ›

          Glossary

          Terms used on this page.

          Anavam (Anava mala)
          ஆணவம் · Sanskrit āṇava
          The innate impurity of 'I-ness' and 'mine-ness'. Beginningless; the first to cling and the last to be removed.
          Antahkaranam
          அந்தக்கரணம் · Sanskrit antaḥkaraṇa
          The inner instruments: mind, intellect, ego and chittam. They are not the soul; the soul knows through them.
          Arul
          அருள் · Sanskrit anugraha
          Grace. Also the knowledge of the Lord (pati-jnanam) that descends into the ripened soul.
          Asuddha Maya
          அசுத்த மாயை · Sanskrit aśuddha-māyā
          The impure Maya order that supplies the conditions and material apparatus of bound experience. Prakriti and its embodied instruments belong within this order; the conscious soul is not a product of it.
          Avattai (avastha)
          அவத்தை · Sanskrit avasthā
          A state of the soul's awareness. Sivagnana Bodham names five: waking, dream, deep sleep, the fourth (turiyam) and beyond the fourth (turiyatitam).
          Dasa karya
          தசகாரியம் · Sanskrit daśa-kārya
          The ten realisations described in Saiva Siddhanta: tattva rupam, darisanam and suddhi; atma rupam, darisanam and suddhi; and Siva rupam, darisanam, yogam and bhogam. They unfold recognition of the instruments, purification of the soul and its life in Siva through grace.
          Gunam
          குணம் · Sanskrit guṇa
          A quality of Prakriti: sattva, rajas or tamas. Guna tattva names the manifested equilibrium of these qualities in the causal account used by the Unmai Vilakkam exposition; that account relates it to Chittam.
          Kanchukam
          கஞ்சுகம் · Sanskrit kañcuka
          A covering or conditioning principle. Siddhanta’s five kanchukas are Kalam, Niyati, Kalai, Viddhai and Aragam: time, the ordering of consequences, and the measured capacities for action, knowing and desire.
          Kanmam (karma)
          கன்மம் · Sanskrit karma
          Merit and demerit produced by the soul's thoughts, words and deeds; it depends on Anavam.
          Malaparipakam
          மலபரிபாகம் · Sanskrit malaparipāka
          The ripening of the impurities, so that they are ready to be removed.
          Mayai (Maya)
          மாயை · Sanskrit māyā
          The material cause of the world. As an impurity it is also a remedy: it gives the soul body and experience that wear Anavam down.
          Pasam (Pasa)
          பாசம் · Sanskrit pāśa
          The bond or fetter: the three impurities that tie the soul to birth and rebirth. Insentient, yet with a strong pull.
          Pasu
          பசு · Sanskrit paśu
          The individual soul, 'the bound one'. Eternal and conscious, but limited and coloured by what it is joined to.
          Pati
          பதி · Sanskrit pati
          The Lord, Siva: all-knowing, all-powerful; pure being, awareness and bliss. Literally 'master', 'owner of the flock'.
          Prakriti
          பிரகிருதி · Sanskrit prakṛti
          The material basis of the twenty-four Atma tattvas within the Asuddha Maya order. Its three gunas underlie the inner instruments and the sensory, active and elemental apparatus; it does not produce the soul.
          Purusha tattva
          புருட தத்துவம் · Sanskrit puruṣa-tattva
          The conventional designation of the conscious soul as an experiencer joined to the five conditioning principles. It is not a new soul or conscious substance produced from Maya.
          Sakti
          சத்தி · Sanskrit śakti
          Siva's power, inseparable from Him; the instrumental cause and the only bridge between pure consciousness and matter.
          Siva tattva
          சிவ தத்துவம் · Sanskrit śiva-tattva
          The highest of the thirty-six tattvas, manifested from Suddha Maya as the pure support of divine knowledge. It is not Siva the Lord, Pati, who is beyond all thirty-six.
          Suddha Maya
          சுத்த மாயை · Sanskrit śuddha-māyā
          The pure, insentient material basis from which the five Suddha or Siva tattvas are manifested by Siva’s power. It is distinct from Pati, the Lord.
          Tanmatra
          தன்மாத்திரை · Sanskrit tanmātra
          A subtle principle of a sensory object: sound, touch, visible form, taste or smell. The five tanmatras are distinguished from sensory faculties and from the gross elements.
          Tattvam (tattva)
          தத்துவம் · Sanskrit tattva
          One of the 36 principles that make up body and cosmos, from Siva tattva down to earth.

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