The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2062 page)

 
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aiva Siddh
nta
.

A dualistic school of
aivism
prevalent in S. India. The canon of this school is made up of the twenty-eight
dualist
aiva-
gamas
and Up
gamas, though, unlike in
Kashmir
aivism
, the authority of the
Vedas
is also acknowledged. Two currents can be discerned in the school, the one gnostic, the other devotional.
The gnostic tradition emphasized knowledge (
jñ
na
) and used Skt. as its medium of expression. Its dualist theology is summarized in the Tattvaprak
a (Light on the Tattvas) of Bhojadeva (
c.
11th cent.) and expounded in Aghorasiva's commentaries on dualist
gamas.
The devotional tradition, which used Tamil as a medium of expression, emphasized
bhakti
and surrender to the Lord
iva
. It revered the twenty-eight dualist
gamas, but equally important if not more so was the devotional Tamil poetry of the
N
ya
m
rs