The Agamas are the scriptures of the Shaiva, Vaishnava and Shakta traditions that teach how a temple is built and its images consecrated, how worship is offered, and the knowledge and conduct that go with it. Their name means that which has come down, a teaching passed on in tradition. The Shaiva Agamas are counted as twenty-eight, from the Kamika to the Vatula. The Vaishnava Agamas belong to two schools: the Pancharatra, whose tradition counts one hundred and eight samhitas, and the Vaikhanasa, held to have been taught by Sage Vikhanasa. The Shakta Agamas, also called Tantras, are traditionally counted as sixty-four.
Each Agama is traditionally set out in four parts: knowledge, yoga, ritual action and conduct. The part on action, the kriya pada, lays down how a temple is built and how its images are shaped, carved and consecrated; the part on conduct, the charya pada, covers worship, observances and festivals. The Shiva Sutras and the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, also on this shelf, belong to the Agamic and Tantric Shaivism of Kashmir.
In Tamil Nadu, Shiva temples are still built by Agamic rules, and the Kamika Agama is authoritative for their worship. The Shaiva Agamas set the place of the images around the sanctum: Dakshinamurti, usually on the south wall, and in the wall behind Shiva the Lingodbhava, Shiva emerging from a pillar of fire. In this collection, Venkateswara at Tirumala is worshipped in the Vaikhanasa tradition. At Srirangam the worship of Ranganatha follows the Paramesvara Samhita of the Pancharatra, and at the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram it follows the Jayakhya Samhita.