Origin

The origin of Siddha System is attributed to Lord Siva himself. Lord Siva is considered as the first Siddha. He has preached to his consort Parvathi and in turn she handed down to Nandhi and he to the Siddhas. He taught Sage Agathiya and Agasthya to Pulathiyar, Bogar, Theraiyar and others of Pothigai Hills.

In Siva temples at various parts of Tamil Nadu, the Lord is named as Vaideeswaran, Marundeeswaran. The different cultural traditions in the world had profounded their medical system to cater to the needs of their society suitably like Greek, Chinese, Arabic and Indian. In India we had two distinct cultures one is vedic and the other one is tantric.

The sages of south India, who practised tantrism contributed and established a medical system to serve the humanity in general and their own society in particular. Those sages were called as Siddhars and the medical system profounded by them is called as Siddha system of medicine.

Though the creation of this system is ascribed to Lord Siva, the creator of the universe, the sage Agasthiya is considered as a father figure of this medical system. He is also considered to be the father figure to the Tamil language and culture.

Even today, Lord Siva is named as Vaitheeswaran, Maruntheeswarar. You all know that Tamil is one of the oldest languages in the world, which has got greater antiquity. It was nurtured and developed at different points of time by three Tamil academies (Tamil Sangam) of which the First Tamil Sangam dates back 3000 BC.

The oldest Tamil book ‘Tholkappiam’ is also considered to be written in 3000 BC. As RSH Risely rightly puts, ‘Decon itself is one of the ancient geological formations in the world’ and the great Tamil scholar K. A. Appadurai states that the culture of the Tamils is the cradle of civilisation.

The third Tamil Academy (Kadai Sangam) was established in 2000 BC. The books like “Thirukkural” and others are the monumental evidences to evince their antiquity. The philosophy and the medicine are like two sides of the coin.

The great philosophers like Aristotle, Galen were the great philosophers and also physicians. The siddhars were also the great philosophers and physicians. Some of the treatises in Tamil have been named after medicines like Thirikadugam (Three pungent) and Elathy (Cardamom), though there is no connection with the medicine.

It is an indisputable truth that the rich Tamil heritage, the culture and the medical system have got greater antiquity. Siddha medicine has a background of mythology and genealogy.