The first significant Tantric-related records date back to the time of the Siddhas. Siddha is a Sanskrit term that refers to someone who had attained the status of a “grand master.” In parts of India, a Siddha was believed to be an individual who had attained both spiritual and physical perfection, to the point where he had become immortal. There was a broad Siddha movement involving Hindu and Buddhist people that occurred as part of an era known as the “Pan-Indian Tantric Yoga Movement” beginning around the seventh century and continuing until around the eleventh century. The Tamil Siddhas were a specific religious group within that movement which originated in the southern region of India sometime around the eighth century. You might say the Tamil Siddhas were a rebel group. They were viewed by more conservative religious orders to be heretics, because the Tamil Siddhas practiced beliefs that were considered unorthodox and controversial for that time.

But the important thing from a historical viewpoint is that the Tamil Siddhas were among the first to put Tantric texts down on paper. However, they did not make their writings easy to understand. They used a lot of poetic verse, often in an ancient style, and also employed a lot of imagery and symbolism.