India is well-reputed for its literature and grammar from very early times both in Tamil and Sanskrit. In the north there is mount Kalias where Lord Shiva is supposed to reside permanently with His spouse, Uma, the divine wisdom personified. In the South there is what is called Podiyil, the abode of Agastiyar the Tamil sage, who is the very equal of Lord Siva because of his union with Him.
There lived some two hundred years ago, in a small town named Vikrama Singapuram, in Pandi nadu in the South, a happy couple of the names Ananada-k-kuttar and Mayilammaiyar of the Saiva Vellar community. The place is very near the well known sacred town Pavanasam, on the slopes of podiyil. The family of the couple is reported to be blessed with a boon from the sage Agastiyar that it will have, belonging to it, scholars gifted with a child, Mukkalalinga, so that the Saiva Religious tradition might flourish as a result of the penance and meritorious deeds of Tamil land.
The dutiful parents paid utmost care in rearing the child, healthy, wealthy and wise. When the child was five years of age, he was sent to the traditional school. One day when the child was returning home for midday meal, he sighted some Tampirans of Tiruvavaduturai math who were clad in brownish red cloths, and invited them to his house to have their meals. At that time his father was absent. But the mother appreciated the religious feelings of her child and treated the monks with due veneration and sent them back on their pilgrimage. Ananda-k-kuttar on knowing the religious wisdom of his young son, appreciated him. The child expressed a desire to accompany monks, and the parents respected the feelings of the child, and were glad to send Mukkalalingar along with the monks of the Adhinam. His intention was that he should learn the spiritual wisdom by joining the religious order of the Saiva-adhinam and be of service to the religious community of the South. It should be imagined how the religious parents would have felt being caught up between the horns of dilemma and how their religious sense of duty got the upper hand.
The Tampirans, along with the young disciple, Mukkalalingar went to Sucindram, where there is a branch of Tiruvavaduturai Adhinam math, presided over by a teacher named Pinvelappa desikar, who received the young disciple who came along with the aged Tampirans. He initiated him and took care of his learning, spiritual and secular, both in Tamil as well as Sanskrit. After some years closely observing his behaviour and good conduct and faultless learning, the head of the math gave him Saiva Sannyasa and the wisdom initiation which is known as Nirvana diksa along with the name Sivajnanam.
Sivajnana munivar was a scholar, poet, grammarian, logician, linguist and in short a versatile genius. He widely travelled throughout the length and breadth of the Tamil Nadu and when he laid his mortal remains at Tiruvavaduturai on 20-4-1785, he was only 32 and he had the following twenty nine works to his credit.
Works of Sivajnana Munivar
Relgious and Philosophical works
1. Sivajnana Mapadiam.
2. A paraphrase of Sivajnana bodham with grammatical notes.
3. Paraphrase of Sivajnana Siddhi.
4. Siddhanta prakasika (a Tamil Translation of Sanskrit work by Sarvatma sambhu)
5. A refutation of a commentary on Sivajnana siddhi by Gnanaprakasar.
6. Refutation of the interpretation of stanza beginning with 'Ennai ippavattil'.
7. A protection like a mailcoat on the meaning of the word 'Eduttu'.
8. Translation of five Slokas of Haradatta.
9. Siva tattva vivekam (translation of the work of Appaiyadiksita)
10. Refutation of the refutation of a work on the tradition of Siddhanta.
On Tamil Grammar
1. A commentary of the introductory stanza and the first aphorism of Tolkappiyam.
2. Ilakkana vilakka-c-curavali.
3. Corrections on the commentary on Nannul by Sankara Namaccivayar.
Poetics (literary)
1. Kanchi-p-purana -I canto
2. Somesar mutumozhi venpa
3. Kulattur pattirru ppattu andadi
4. Ilacai-p-patirru ppattu andadi
5. Kalaicai-p-patirru ppattu andadi
6. A decad on Ananda rudresar of Kanchi
7. Ananda Kalippu of Tiruvekambar
8. Pillai-t-tamizh on Senkazhunir Vinayakar of Kalaicai
9. Pillai-t-tamizh on Amutambikai of Kulattur
10. A decad on Akilandesvari of Rajavalli puram
11. Andadi on Tiruvekampar
12. Andadi on Tirumullaivayil
13. A series of names of Tiruttondar
14. A garland on Pancakkara desikar
15. Answer to possible doubts on the first stanza of Kambaramayana