Adhvas are the steps by which an aspiring individual being has to climb the ladder of perfection in the Saiva Siddhanta tradition. These are six in number known as mantiram, padam, varnam, bhuvanam, tattvam and kala. The world, which is the product of maya, the material cause, has been divided into the world of speech (shabda prapancha) and the world of objects (artha prapancha).
The world of speech is further divided into four kinds of speech – subtle, visible in mental or intuitive perception, efforts to utter the word through speech organs and clearly articulated word.
These four kinds of utterances are also called mantiram (sentence), padam (word) and varnam (letter). All these are the functions of shuddha maya (pure maya). Saiva Siddhanta makes a distinction between pure and impure mayas.
The world of objects consists of tattvas (philosophical categories) and bhuvanas (material worlds). They exist both in Shuddha Maya and impure Maya.
According to Shaivagamas, philosophical categories are thirty six and kalais are five. Artha-prapancha (the world of objects) arises from the principle called kalai. The kalai is five-fold – nivritti, pratistha, vidya, sant and santyatita.
These five exhaust all the sacred names and syllables concerning the various forms of Shiva and also the entire world of objects.