பக்கம்:திருவாசகம்-ஆங்கில மொழிபெயர்ப்பு-1.pdf/351

2. The Note of Rev. Pope Rev.G.U. Pope (1900) in his note XI of Appendix to his English Translation of Thiruvaachakam says, “Caivism is the old prehistoric religion of South India essentially existing from pre-Aryan times and holds sway over the hearts of the Tamil people. But this great attempt to solve the problems of God, the soul, human nature, evil, suffering and the unseen world has never been fully expounded in English. Its text books (probably its sources) exist in Tamil only and in high Tamil verse which is often made of set purpose obscure and difficult. In a period quite antecedent to all historic data the native Dravidian religion was a kind of Caivism”. This religion Caivism (Caivam in Tamil) owes its name to God, Civan Whom it holds as supreme deity. There is a vast literature which kind of treasure is not found in any of the other languages of the world. They can be tabulated into two categories: 1. Devotional poems and 2. Metaphysical treatises of Caivism. Caivism is but one of the two major cults of Hindu religion. The other major cult is called Vaishnavism in which the name of God is Vishnu (Thirumaal in Tamil). It is believed that the supreme deity of Vaishnavism appeared in this world in the human form of Sri. Rama and Sr.Krishna in different millenia to put down evil and safe-guard the devotees. 334