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This book presents an edition and French translation of the Sanskrit Śivayogaratna. Its author, a śudra born in Shalivati (Sri Lanka) in the 16th century, first travelled to Cidambaram, then to Bengal where he took lessons from a Brahmin teaching Vedānta. Put to the test by his guru, he surprised the latter by his intelligence and became his disciple. Returning to the South, he was initiated into the āgamas and became a sannyāsin. He is the author of one of the six old Tamil commentaries on the Civañān̠acittiyar, itself a 13th-century commentary on the Śivajñanabodha of Meykaṇḍār. The author’s interpretation differs from the Śaivasiddhānta that had become orthodox in Tamil literature: he believes in the soul’s becoming identical to Śiva in a state of Liberation, a position that he calls Śuddhādvaita (pure non-dualism). His Yoga aims at “identity” (sāyujya), which he holds to be a form of Knowledge (jñāna) that is aided by the techniques of classical Yoga.

Né au XVIe siècle à Shalivati (Ceylan), l’auteur, de caste śudra, se rendit à Cidambaram, puis au Bengale, où il assista aux cours d’un brahmane enseignant notamment le Vedānta. Mis à l’épreuve par son guru, il étonna celui-ci par son intelligence et devint son disciple. De retour au Sud, il fut initié aux āgama et se vit conférer le sannyāsin. Il est l’auteur de l’un des six commentaires anciens (en tamoul) du Civañān̠acittiyar, ample commentaire composé au XIIIe siècle sur le Śivajñanabodha de Meykaṇḍār. Son interprétation s’écarte du Śaivasiddhānta devenu l’orthodoxie dans la littérature tamoule: il professe la complète identification de l’ātman à Siva dans l’état de Libération, position qu’il appelle Śuddhādvaita, «pur Non-dualisme». Son Yoga vise à l’«identification» (sāyujya) à Siva, c’est une Connaissance (jñāna) secondée par les techniques du Yoga classique.