ABSTRACT
Shifting attention away from the hitherto well-known “big actors” in the formation of Modern Śaivism, this chapter points to significant others whose lifespan stretched from the last decades of the 19th century to well into the 20th century, who were part of the many Śaiva publics, including the traditional Śaiva maṭhas in the semi-urban areas and small towns of the Tamil region. They participated vigorously in the transformation of Śaivite religion in the period under consideration but have been either forgotten or relegated to the sidelines in mainstream Tamil religious historiography. One such figure is Ñāṉiyār Aṭikaḷ (1873–1942), who, through his own charismatic qualities, erudition, as well as his dynamic intervention in the reformulating of Śaivism in the early decades of the 20th century, was able to catapult himself and his institution into prominence by participating vigorously in the emerging discourses of Modern Śaivism. An excursus into his life and works is the focus of this chapter.
