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Book: The History of the Holy Servants of the Lord Siva
Author: Alastair McGlashan

My book was launched at an Anglo-Tamil event in the Sivayogam Hall, Tooting, South London, on 6th December, 2006, before an invited audience of about a hundred guests. The most striking item on the evening’s programme was a representation of one of the stories contained in the book through the medium of classical South Indian dance. Sales were brisk on that occasion, and have continued among the expatriate Tamil community in the UK, Europe and North America.

Since then, I have been invited to speak at a number of Tamil cultural and religious events, in London and beyond. At these events I have been awarded honorific titles such as “Servant of Cekkilar”, and “Ambassador of Saiva Tamil”, in accordance with Tamil cultural convention. The grandest of these occasions was the meeting of the World Saiva Conference in Zurich in May 2007, where they conferred on me the title “Servant of Siva”. These honours reflect the appreciation felt by the Tamil community for my having translated into English one of their revered religious texts which has never before been published in the West.

Four academic journals have accepted copies of the book for review in their pages, viz. the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (London), the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (London), the International Journal of Hindu Studies (USA) and the Journal of the American Oriental Society (USA). When these reviews appear, I hope that sales may take off in the world of South Asian studies and comparative religion. In addition, negotiations have reached an advanced stage for the publication of an Indian edition, involving a respected Indian publishing house. This would be printed in India, and would bring the book within the price range of an Indian readership.

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