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Tattuva-Kattalei

SECTION – I : The Thirty-Six Primary Tattuvam

THESE are divided into three classes, denominated Attuma-Tattuvam; VittiyaTattuvam; Siva-Tattuvam.

I. Attuma-Tattuvam (அத்துமா-தத்துவம்), The Proper Tattuvam (or peculiar properties) of souls.

NOTE – The term attuma is the adjective form of the noun attumam (அத்துமம்), meaning soul, or, as a noun of multitude, souls.

These Tattuvam are also called Asutta-Tattuvam (அசுத்த-தத்துவம்), the Impure Tattuvam; and Pokkiya-Kandam (போக்கிய-காண்டம்), the Instruments of pleasure. They are twenty four in number, divided as follows.

  1. The five Putham (புதம்), Elements, viz.,
    • piruthuvi (பிருதுவி), earth;
    • appu (அப்பு), water;
    • teyu (தேயு) fire;
    • vayu (வாயு ), air;
    • akasam (ஆகாசம்), ether.
  2. The five Gnanentiriyam (ஞானேந்திரியம்), Perceptive Organs (or senses). These are
    • sottiram (சொற்றிறம்), ears;
    • tokku (தொக்கு), skin;
    • sadchu (சட்சு), eyes;
    • singnguvei (சிங்ஙுவை), tongue;
    • akkiranam (அக்கிராணம்), nose.
      • NOTE – Though these Tattuvam are thus denominated; yet they do not mean the visible ears, skin, etc. Skin, flesh, bones, etc., are distinguished from these organs, and are classed under Subordinate Tattuvam. The terms here mean those subtle, yet material, organisms, or invisible mechanisms, which possess the functions implied.
  3. The five Tanmattirei (தன்மாத்திரை), Rudimental Elements, viz:
    • sattam (சத்தம்), sound;
    • parisam (பரிசம்) touch;
    • rupam (உரூபம்), form;
    • rasam (இரசம்), taste;
    • kantam (கந்தம்), smell.
      • NOTE – These Tattuvam are imperceptible, except to the gods, and to the illuminated sense of the Gnani, or Wise Man. Yet they are substantial, and from them the grosser Elements, named above, are developed. They are the subjects, or recipients, of the archetypes of sound, tangibility, form or color, flavor, and odor-one of which is supposed to be present in every act of sensation. These archetypes are something more than mere qualities. They are a sort of “corporeal effluvia,” or “exuvious images of bodies,” as Empedocles and Democritus would call them.
  4. The Five Kanmentiriyam (கன்மேந்திரியம்), Organs of Action, viz:
    • vakku (வாக்கு), mouth;
    • patham (பாதம்) feet;
    • pani (பாணி), hands;
    • payuru (பாயுறு), excretory organs;
    • upattam (உபத்தம்), genital organs.
      • NOTE – These, like the perceptive Tattuvam, are the inner, or imperceptible, organic structures, in which the implied operative powers, or functions, respectively in here.
  5. The four Antakaranam (அந்தக்கரணம்), Intellectual Organic Faculties, viz:
    • manam (மனம்), the understanding;
    • putti (புத்தி), the judgment;
    • akangkaram (அகங்காரம்), the individuality;
    • sittam (சித்தம்), the will.
      • NOTE – These are corporeal organs or faculties, and have no life, or power of acting, independent of the soul. Independent of them, the soul has no intellectual life or action. Hence, they are intellectual senses, holding a similar relation to reflection, which the five senses do to perception. These Tattuvam will be further explained below.

II. Vittiya-Tattuvam (வித்தியாதத்துவம்).

These are seven in number, viz:

  1. kalam (காலம்), time;
  2. niyathi (நியதி), fate;
  3. kalei (கலை), continence (self-government);
  4. vittei (வித்தை), thought;
  5. rakam (இராகம்), desire;
  6. purushan (புருஷன்), life;
  7. mayei (மாயை), delusion.

These are otherwise denominated Asutta-Tattuvam (அசுத்த-தத்துவம்), the Impure Tattuvam; and Pokkiya-Kandam (போக்கிய-காண்டம்), the Instruments of Pleasure.

NOTE -These seven Tattuvam are essential to man in his state of probation; while the Attuma Tattuvam are essential to his animal and intellectual existence. The Vittiya are the higher order or Tattuvam, and act as prompters and directors to the soul in its animal organism. As they lead the soul through evil as well as good actions, and secure to it painful as well as pleasurable experience, they are sometimes called, like the first class of Tattuvam, which are the instruments in these courses of action and experience, Impure Tattuvam, and Instruments of Pleasure. They are designated Vittiya, from vittei, signifying knowledge, examination, etc., because they are essential to the proper thought, or consciousness, of the soul, in its disciplinary state.

III. Siva-Tattuvam (சிவா தத்துவம்), the Divine Tattuvam [or the developments of Deity].

These, five in number, are otherwise denominated Pirera-Kandam (பிரேர காண்டம்), the Operative [or effective] instruments and Sutta-Tattuvam (சுத்த  தத்துவம்), the Pure Tattuvam. These are

  1. Sutta-Vittei (சுத்த வித்தை);
  2. Ichchuram (ஈச்சுரன்);
  3. Sathakkiyam (சாதாக்கியம்);
  4. Satti (சத்தி); and
  5. Sivam (சிவம்).

These complete the thirty-six Primary Tattuvam.

NOTE – The order in which these divine powers are developed, is the reverse of that in which they are here given. Sivam is the Male Energy of Deity developed in a material organism. Satti is the Female Energy of Deity thus developed and organized. Sathakkiyam is the highest form, or organism, in which the two Energies are developed. Ichchuram is the organism through which the obscuring agency of Deity is exerted. Sutta-Vittei is the power of destruction and reproduction; and when further developed, appears in the forms, of Ruttiran or Sivan, Vishnu, and Brahma. The relations and functions of these will be further explained below.