The text presented here was in fact translated more than a decade ago when I undertook a serious study of Saiva classical texts themselves instead of depending on secondary texts of various kinds disappointing in many ways. I concentrated then on numerous monographs such as this one which were blissfully brief and in prose.

After a lapse of more ten years I can only touch up here and there to bring out the real meaning of the text. A complete re-translation , though desirable , unfortunately not possible under the pressing circumstances of the present. I hope to improve the translation later when the time permits. I venture to make this text available to the interested scholars mainly because I believe I have captured the essence and the translation conveys adequately the essentials though some improvements can be made here and there.

A word about the technical terms. I have tried to translate even these but could not all of them as quite a number of them are in the form of proper names. Some are so peculiar to the Saiva Siddhanta tradition that an adequate translation is not possible. The full connotations are difficult to capture as the English usages are quite different. Readers comments to improve further the quality of translation are most welcome.