Akilathirattu Ammanai, also called Thiru Edu, is the main religious text of the Tamil belief system Ayyavazhi. The title is often abbreviated to Akilam or Akilathirattu.
The following outline is provided as an overview and topic guide to Ayyavazhi:
Ayyavazhi rituals are the religious practices prevalent among the followers of Ayyavazhi. Most of them are connected with Akilam and Arul Nool and a few, though not associated with the holy books, are practiced for over a century right from the beginning of Ayyavazhi. Some practices are unique for Pathis and some others are common for all worship centres.
Ayyavazhi theology is the theology of a South Indian religious Faith and officially a sect of Hinduism known as Ayyavazhi. Several fundamental theological beliefs distinguish the Ayyavazhi tradition from Hinduism.
The Ayyavazhi includes a corpus of teachings of its initiator Ayya Vaikundar in the form of instructions and slogans found in the religious book Akilattirattu.
Payyan dynasty is the family which manage and administer Swamithope pathi, the temple of Ayyavazhi.
The Ayyavazhi symbolism deals with the symbols which are used in or used to represent Ayyavazhi. Though Akilam the scripture of Ayyavazhi does not point out any symbol directly, there are a few symbols which are used for representing Ayyavazhi which came into practice gradually.
The History of Ayyavazhi traces the religious history of Ayyavazhi, a belief-system originated in the mid-19th century in Southern India. Ayyavazhi came to be noticed by the large number of people gathering to worship Ayya Vaikundar in the middle of the 19th century. The majority of the followers of Ayyavazhi were from marginalised and poor sections of society.
Neetham (Tamil:நீதம்) are the primary virtues to be followed according to the Akilam the holy text of Ayyavazhi. They are found in Akilam one, which is the first section of the Akilattirattu Ammanai, and in the middle of the meta-narrative events of the eight yugas. This shows that the society, its people, and the ruling king once lived in absolute harmony with nature, placing the power of God in all their works, deeds, and activities during early ages.
The purpose of this chronology is to give a detailed account of Ayyavazhi from the beginning of the incarnational events of Vaikundar to the present time. Question marks on dates indicate approximate dates. A star (*) indicates the mentioning of that particular date in Akilam or Arul Nool. All dates but a few are found in the Tamil calendar and so doesn't coincide exactly with the months of the Gregorian calendar. The dates may span over any halves of the two consecutive months (Gregorian).
The Inclusiveness and exclusivity in Ayyavazhi is the inclusive and exclusive ideology of Ayyavazhi scriptures over other religions. The formula of inclusivism and exclusivism was applied in the religio-cultural universe of Ayyavazhi is one that is not found anywhere else in the world. Though there are separate verses towards inclusivism and exclusivism as central themes in Akilam, the mixture of both is unique. The inclusivistic theory of accepting the views of different religions for a certain period of time and from then onwards exclusivistically rejecting all of them by narrating that all the previous had lost their substances is a mythical as well as religious break-through.
The ethics of Ayyavazhi are found scattered throughout the primary scripture, Akilattirattu Ammanai. They are also integrated with the meta-narrative mythography. However, regarding ethics, Arul Nool is considered as an accumulation and prophecy of the core concepts found in Akilam. In Akilam, the ethical abstracts are pointed out as "told by God" at several places at different situations to lesser god-heads, devas, saints etc. when asked by them.
Shamanism is in practice in Ayyavazhi right from the period of Vaikundar. At present certain people who are considered to be posed by the divine power use to perform shamanism in many Ayyavazhi worship centers. Though a whole acceptance from the followers in not there for this practise, several followers accept this. They claim that this practise was based on quotes on scriptures such as "to convey certain messages to the ordinary folk." Some also believe that through the words of these possessed persons one could be able to know what God tells about him or herself or their activities.
The Akilattirattu Ammanai and Arul Nool are the scriptures of Ayyavazhi. While Akilathirattu Ammnai is the primary holy text, Arul Nool is considered the secondary regarding the religious importance. The Akilam is further scheduled into seventeen sections and the Arul Nool into eleven.
Ayyavazhi beliefs are those associated with the South Indian religious faith known as Ayyavazhi. Some of the beliefs of Ayyavazhi are shared with that of Hinduism, and others are unique to Ayyavazhi.
Vivekanandan Version is one among the release versions of Akilam. It was the only version released so far which includes the original source-text as well as the interpretations combainingly. It was named after the publication Vivekananada Pathippakam.
Vaikundar Thirukkudumbam Version (VTV) is one among the released versions of Akilam, the scripture of Ayyavazhi. It was named after the socio-religious welfare organisation Ayya Vaikundar Thirukkudumbam, which released it.
