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The Sacred Texts of Shaivism
The Agam represent on independent class of writing by very early seers, who had an inward experience and enlightenment from the Supreme Being. So far as Shaivism is concerned these seers were not men from the North. They were essentially representatives of All India and they reflected in their thoughts modes of meditation and worship, and in their writing, the inherent Theism of the South, The Theism of the south or rather, the Shaivism of the Tamilians, was the growth of an unbroken tradition probably from the pre-historic past and this had three elements fused into it. These are worship of idols and images, both in the shrines throughout the land and in the devotees own houses, symbolism and the inward meditation and realization. These three were not separate compartments but basically one harmonious integrated whole.

When the Upanishad were added on to the Ved in the course of the later centuries, they could not fit in them because of the influence of the religion and philosophy flourishing around them. These naturally embody a considerable volume of the thought of the Aagamik scholars, because some of the early Agam were written earlier than these later Upanishad in point of time and the Agam were much more alive and vibrating with life and activity than the Upanishad, because Agam dealt with definite and concrete objects, while the Upanishad dealt only with abstract concepts. The very fact that some later Upanishad, came to be written shows that the followers of the original Upanishad had to take note of Aagamik thoughts and, to bring them also into a single common fold to adopted the device of writing further Upanishad, to embrace fresh thought on the same subject. The Shaiv Upanishad such as Brihad-jaabaal did certainly come into existence a long time after the Agam.

The Agam claim Vaidik authority for their doctrines. The Agam doctrines are indeed theistic and such theism is not foreign to the Upanishad. The following Aagamik passages may be seen to affirm the derivation of the Agam from the Ved the Siddhaant consists of the essence of the Ved '(Suprabhed Agam) ; his Tantra is of the essence of the Ved, This Siddhaant knowledge which is the significance of Vedaant is supremely good' (Mulzutu). It has been suggested that the Aagamik systems were developed out of the Braahman in the same way as the Upanishad, though at a much later stage, and that some of the later Upanishad like the Shwetaashwatar, which address the Supreme Being by a sectarian title and not as Param Brahm, as of yore, probably grew up under the shadow of the Agam.

The Agam are deemed to have scriptural authority and are often called the Ved and the Fifth Ved. As a matter of fact, although the Sanskrit Nighuntu names the Ved as the Nigam and the Tantra as the Agam, the Ved and the Agam both seem to have been denoted by the common term Shruti up to the XIth century, after which period the above distinction of Nigam and Agam seems to have been adopted. The Aagamik (Taantrik) texts, as we know them today, had for the most part preceded Buddhism and only the Aagamik cult had been able gradually to swallow up Buddhism on the Indian sub-continent, and ultimately to banish it altogether from the Indian soil, it was not the Upanishadik philosophy but the Aagamik cult that was responsible for the supplanting of Buddhism and for the fusion of the salient features into the core of the Hindu religion.

Several explanations have been offered for the term Agam. One is that because it emanated from God, it is called the Aagaman, means "that which came (from God)". Another is that the three letters a-ga-ma respectively denote Pati, Pashu and Paash (the self the soul and the bonds) and that the Agam deals with all these three entities and their relationship, and hence this name. A Sanskrit verse gives an interesting meaning for the three syllables a, ga and ma;

Agatams shiv vaktrebhyuhya katam cha girijaa mukhe,
Matam cha shivu bhaktanam aagamam cheti kafyate.

Agam are common to the three prominent schools and they are called Agam in Shaivism, Sanhitaa in Vaishnavism and Tantra in Shaktaism. Among these three Agam, the Shaiv Agam are the first. There are Pradhaan Agam and Up-agam. Some of the major Aga are - Achintya Agam, Ajit Agam, Anal Agam, Anshumaan Agam, Bimb Agam, Chandra Gyan Agam etc.

These Agam are said to have been originated from the five faces of Shiv (Sadyojaat, Vaamdev, Aghor, Tatpurush and Eeshaan), fell on the ears of Paraa-Shakti, and spread in the world as the Mat (path) of the Shiv Bhakt. The Agam take their name from the first letters of the words Aagatam (originated) Gaturn (fell) and Matam (religion). The common noun Agam simply means coming or acquisition. But in the Shaiv school a special root meaning is indicated for the term. It is given as a = knowledge, ga = liberation and ma = removal of the bonds. So the Agam came to be called as such, since a study and adherence to its codes liberates the soul from bondage, causes realization of the Supreme, and ultimately confers Eternal Bliss. All Agam follow the standard pattern of Gyaan Paad, Yog Paad, Kriyaa Paad and Kaarya Paad. They are very much part of the Vaidik tradition.

The Agam had not been quite popular in North India for the simple reason that they were all written in palm leaf manuscript in the Granth characters which were unknown in the north, their script was the Devanaagaree. However the Sivagama Paripalana Sangham of Devakottai published some Up-Agam in the Devanaagaree script. The French Institute of lndology in Pondicherry is now publishing a series of Agam in the Devanaagaree script.

The Agam have the greatest currency in the Tamil country. The great Professor S. N. Dassgupta has stated that not a single manuscript of importance is available in Banaras considered the greatest seat of Sanskrit culture. It therefore goes without saying that the Shaiv Agam have been a rare and special preserve of the Shivachasya in Tamilnaadu. All temple worships festivals installation, consecration etc, are here done according to the Agam. The thousands of temples in this country are standing monuments to the prevalence of the Aagamic cult from the ages past down to the present day.

Each Agam has a number of subsidiary Agam, called Up-Agam and their number is 207. Among the Up-Agam the Paushkaru and the Mrigendra are well known. The principal Agam being with Kaamikaa and end with Vatulaa. Each Agam has the four parts or Pad called Vidyaa, Kriyaa, Yog and Charyaa. The Vidyaa Pad is the philosophical part, while the Kriyaa Pad is the ritualistic part. The other two parts are generally very short. The Kriyaa Pad of the Kaamikaa Agam has been the most well known part in Tamilnaadu. This is one of the largest of the known Agam. It is said to represent the Feet of Shiv. Its Kriyaa Pad alone has been printed, in two parts, in 1901. The total number of verses in it is 12,000 made up is as follows: Poorv 5166, Uttar 6477; lost verses 357. The term Kaamikaa means "the object desired" the term Kaamik Agam is said to signify the Book which grants the desired object to the souls and helps them to final release through severance of bonds. The Kaamikaa is the Agam which is widely in use today. Shivaachaarya say that its authority derives from the fact that it always prescribes the rules very definitely, saying 'this and not that’.

The Poorv Kaamikaa - the first part was published with a Tamil translation translated by Visveswara Sastri of Tiruvottiyur. It has four sections dealing with the revelation of the Agam, rules for daily observance and worship, rules for the construction of temples and houses and for performance of rituals and rules for the installation of the deities.

Divisions of Agam
Agam are specific and they hail the God as Lord Shiv. These are revealed through many sages. There are 28 Shaiv Agam and they could be classified into two classes: Shiv Bhed Agam and Rudra Bhed Agam.

The Shiv Bhed Agam - (1) Kaamikaa, (2) Yogajaa, (3) Chintya, (4) Karan,  (5) Ajitaa, (6) Deept, (7) Sookshm, (8) Sahastrak, (9) Anshumat and (10) Suprabhed.

The Rudra Bhed Agam - (1) Vijaya, (2) Nihshwaas, (3) Swaayambhuv, (4) Anal, (5) Veer (Bhadra), (6) Raurav, (7) Makuta, (8) Vimal, (9) Chandra Gyaan (or Chandrahaas) , (10) Mukh Bimba (or Bimba), (11) Prodgeet (or Udgeet), (12) Lalitaa, (13) Siddh, (14) Santana, (15) Sarvokt (Narasinh), (16) Parameshwar, (17) Kiran and (18) Vatula (or Para-hit).

Further, the 28 Agam are classified into four classes: Kapaal, Kaala Mukh, Pashupat and Shaiv. The Shaiv is further classified into two subclasses – Kashmeer Shaiv and Siddhaant Shaiv. Kashmeer Shaiv is in vogue in the North and Siddhaant Shaiv in South India.

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