Although it is difficult to separate the myth from the history of the Siddhas, P.Karthigayan by defining them tries to sieve the myth from history. He defines the former as "unconventional information about age-old history which survived as folklores and mystified as mythology" while the latter were accounts "substantiated by relics and records of archeological discoveries." I strongly recommend that readers purchase his book the "History of Medical and Spiritual Sciences of Siddhas of Tamil Nadu", Notion Press, 2016. It is an excellent well-researched book that sheds much light on the Siddhas.
P.Karthigayan writes that modern science accepts that the human species started some 2 million years ago. The period has its equivalent calculated to be 165,000 years into the Thredha Yuga. He says that the Siddhas have implied that human inception started much earlier in the Kredha Yuga and began to flourished and spread in groups as civilizations and societies in the Thredha Yuga. He confirms a story often told by my mother that the Gods did walk the face of the earth and lived with mortals like us. P.Karthigayan writes, "According to ancient literary records of the Tamils, the Sangam 1 was an organization of 4449 poets in total: of whom Gods (Siva, Kumaran, Kubera), immortals (Agathiyar, Mudinaagaraayar) and mortals (kings, poets, and prominent people) were 549 in number, and the rests of them were members of their literary assembly."
Siva is said to have laid the rules of justice that were: rules for a just ruler (aram); rules for the accumulation of wealth (porul); rules for the enjoyment of pleasure (inbam); and finally having had tasted all these fleeting forms of desires, and come to a realization that life is impermanent, Siva introduces us to the rules for attaining salvation (veedu). As Isaikavi Ramanan in one of his talks says that Siva only knows how to give, P.Karthigayan says that Siva gave boons even to the asuras. Since they had undertaken extreme austerities, in appreciation of the spiritual excellence he gave them boons. But Siva did conquer them eventually to save his people.
Kumaran is said to have led the Tamils to war against the Avunas (who the author classifies as the present-day Chinese) led by Soorabanman. Thus Kumaran became a savior of the Tamils. He helped them improve their commerce bringing prosperity to their society. He helped redefine their lifestyle and imparted wisdom. Kumaran then chose to observe penance at Siva's Nandhi monastery. He picked up yoga and finally, in his words, claims "I saw and experienced the breathless place - mounam." He too went through the painful process of transforming his body into "a fumelike aural body" writes P.Karthigayan. "I attained the air like body". "Depriving the physical components that can lead one to death through the process of aging he regained his youth." Kumaran remained a youth often appearing to many in his youthful form till this day. I was surprised many a time during my pilgrimage to several temples and abodes of Lord Murugan, where a young lad would stand out prominently among the senior priests and acknowledge us. Just before we departed he would come up to us and would either gift us the unexpected or would have something to tell us. Palani, Othimalai, Tiruvanaikaval, and places closer to home at Batu Caves and the Sungai Siput Caves were such pilgrim spots where Kumaran brushed past us in a split moment either delivering his message or giving his darshan.
P.Karthigayan writes that Kumaran after the battle, and now known as Subramaniyar shared this secret to youthfulness with Siva. Besides that he shared the secrets about the cosmos and the art of achieving the light or luminous body or oli deham. Siva who himself had attained longevity through other means cited in the Rig Veda, attained the luminous body too. Siva then adopted Kumaran as his offspring. Could these secrets have possibly be parted to Siva during the said upadesam or imparting of the meaning of the Pranavam "AUM" to Lord Shiva by Lord Murugan at Swamimalai?
What was the contribution of the immortals to society then? P.Karthigayan writes that the immortals guided the kings on uplifting their subjects. The Siddhas thrived to elevate the human species to that of the nature of the Gods. Agathiyar presented the 5 tenets to mankind at the Tamil Sangam, so that mankind shall gain salvation. This is true of them for till this day they have never given up on us although we tend to give up on them in the face of adversities.
Agathiyar is said to have initiated human societies of that era into the age-old cultural order known as the Siddhar Neri. He imparted wisdom to its people and passed on the knowledge of medicine to many. P.Karthigayan points out that the Siddhas could achieve much during their times as they were bestowed with the gift of "performing spiritual, medical, and scientific marvels". "They claimed their presence in all locations, interacting with people over various periods of time", made possible due to their long life spans, and a result of attaining immortality. P.Karthigayan says that the Gods, immortals, and long-lived kings, and scholars "had chiseled and shaped the society then." We now understand Agathiyar's disappointment on seeing the present society and lamenting to us that no one follows the Siddha way of living.
P.Karthigayan says "The immortals formed the folklore, while the long-lived preserved them in the form of stones, clay tablets, papyrus, palm leaves, and these later were rewritten in modern scripts by bards and priests, as literature and epics, that became a history of the respective civilizations. The Gods, immortals, and long-lived were in due course included in religions of their respective societies." This tradition of documentation seems to have been continued by the Chola king who reigned from 985–1014 ce where he had numerous sacred texts collected and compiled and kept them away save for generations to come.
Rajaraja, an able administrator, also built the great Brihadisvara Temple at the Chola capital Thanjavur. During his reign, the texts of the Tamil poets Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar were collected and edited into one compilation called Thirumurai. Rajaraja embarked on a mission to recover the hymns after hearing short excerpts of Thevaram in his court. He sought the help of Nambi Andar Nambi. It is believed that by divine intervention Nambi found the presence of scripts, in the form of cadijam leaves half eaten by white ants in a chamber inside the second precinct in Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram. Thus far Shiva temples only had images of god forms, but after the advent of Rajaraja, the images of the Nayanmar saints were also placed inside the temple. Nambi arranged the hymns of three saint poets Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar as the first seven books, Manickavasagar's Tirukovayar and Tiruvacakam as the 8th book, the 28 hymns of nine other saints as the 9th book, the Tirumandiram of Tirumular as the 10th book, 40 hymns by 12 other poets as the 10th book, Tirutotanar Tiruvanthathi - the sacred anthathi of the labours of the 63 nayanar saints and added his own hymns as the 11th book. The first seven books were later called as Tevaram, and the whole Saiva canon, to which was added, as the 12th book, Sekkizhar's Periya Puranam (1135) is wholly known as Tirumurai, the holy book. Thus Saiva literature which covers about 600 years of religious, philosophical and literary development.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajaraja_I)
The movie "Tiruarutchelvar" depicts the lives of some of these saint poets or Nayanmar.
The long-lived whom P.Karthigayan mentions were kings who reigned in these periods. He writes, "King Nediyon who pioneered the Sangam Era was said to have lived for 24000 years. All ancient histories speak about their kings who were either sons of Gods or long-lived ones who had done great service to the development of their respective societies." Sundara Pandiyan and Keethipooshana Pandiyan are said to have reigned for 60000 years respectively while Ugrakumaran Pandiyan another 40,000 years. These kings lived during the Thredha yuga and Dwapara yuga.
In recent times, Jeganatha Swamigal who attained samadhi at Tapah, Perak, Malaysia is said to have lived 145 years. P.Karthigayan shared the following video clip of a Yogi Devraha Baba who is supposedly have lived some 900 years on his Fb.
If we know of only 4 yugas or aeons, Karuvoorar, Agathiyar, and Supramaniyar speak about there being 18. Just like the Gods, we cannot state the age or life-span of the immortals or Siddhas for they continue to live in our presence till this day, either in their samadhis, in the subtle form, as energies, as a star in the skies, as a particle in the universe, or as "Light". We at AVM are blessed that Siva, Ma, Kumaran, Agathiyar, Ramalinga Adigal, and the other Siddhas of the past keep appearing before us, showering their blessings and grace even in present times.