he doctrine of the five kancukas[505]
or envelopes which limit the soul. Spirit in itself is free: it is
timeless and knows no restrictions of space, enjoyment, knowledge and
power. But when spirit is contracted to individual experience, it can
apprehend the universe only as a series of changes in time and place:
its enjoyment, knowledge and power are cramped and curtailed by the
limits of personality. The terminology of the Saivas is original but
the theory appears to be an elaboration of the Pancaratra thesis that
the soul is surrounded by the sheath of Maya.

The early literature of the worshippers of Siva (corresponding to the
Samhitas of the Pancaratras) appears to have consisted of
twenty-eight works composed in Sanskrit and called Agamas.[506] There
is fairly good evidence for their antiquity. Tirumular, one of the
earliest Tamil poets who is believed to have lived in the first
centuries of our era, speaks of them with enthusiasm and the Buddhist
Sanskrit works called Agamas (corresponding to the Pali Nikayas)
cannot be later than that period. It is highly probable that the same
word was in use among both Hindus and Buddhists at the same time. And
since the Mahabharata mentions the Pasupatam, there is no difficulty
in supposing that expositions of Sivaite doctrine were current in the
first century A.D. or even B.C. But unless more texts of the Agamas
come to light the question of their age has little practical
importance, for it is said by native scholars that of the twenty-eight
primary books there survive only fragments of twenty, which treat of
ritual, besides the verses which form the text expounded at length in
the Sivananabotham.[507] There are also said to be 120 Upagamas of
which only two or three have been preserved entire. Of these two have
been printed in part, the Mrigendra and Paushkara.[508] The former is
cited in the Sarva-darsana-sangraha (about 1330) but does not show
any signs of great antiquity. It is thus clear that the Agamas are not
much studied by modern Sivaites but it is unhesitatingly stated that
they are a revelation direct from Siva and equal to the Veda[509] and
this affirmation is important, even though the texts so praised are
little known, for it testifies to the general feeling that there are
other revelations than the Veda. But the Vedas, and the Vedanta Sutras
are not ignored. The latter are read in the light of Nilakantha's[510]
commentary which is considered by south Indian Pa