THE BEGINNINGS AND EARLY TEMPLES

THE   BEGINNINGS AND EARLY TEMPLES

          The cult of worship  of  objects or  phenomena  considered superhuman in a specified   manner and in  specified places  has been one of the traits of mankind from very remote time.  The  early form of such practices can only be   deduced  from literary evidences,  traditions and material relics that  have come down to us in the course  of  the  centuries .A fairly vivid  picture of life  and organized worship in the ancient  Tamilakam,  the  country  of the Tamils, in the southermost  part of the peninsula  that included what is now Kerala also, is supplied by the earliest available  literature in Tamil, dating from the commencement of the christian era, if not before it . 

KALYANASUNDARAM STHAPATI
OUR  PROJECTS

https://www.indiamart.com/srinidhi-temple-architects/


The extant portion of this vast  literature embodies  in itself  earlier and contemporary traditions,  many of which  still persist. The material evidence  would  be the  numerous  megalithic   monuments  of  diverse variety  and shape  that have survived.  These  monuments which are funerary  or  sepulchral in character  are,by far, the largest  group  of extant  early  monuments in the south  and are very widely  distributed all over the  area  south of the Vindhyas. These   monuments, characterized by  the association  of  large stones, reveal by their character and content a  highly evolved material culture, as can also  be deduced from the  sangam epoch and later. Here is mention of the erection and veneration with accompanying ritual of the  monuments raised in honour  of the dead,  for example, the  nadukal  or  'stone-erection'.  This culture  which   had  its   beginnings  somewhere in the middle of the first millennium BC, if not earlier, prevailed in the south till the middle of the first  millennium AD and continued  in some  modified or  restricted  form  for centuries thereafter.      In the  same body of literature we also get  glimpses of other  gods and  spirits  workshipped  by the common  people, as also  their  religious  practices  prevalent,  perhaps , much before  the  advent  of the great  proselytizing  religions of  Hinduism, Jainism  and  Buddhism ,  not  to  mention  another  important religion, that  of Ajivikas.  The worship of  local gods and rive  the animistic worship  of  spirits inhabiting   trees, rivers and  hills ,  or  of the  guardians  of  villages, cities,  cross-roads, sea-shores, and  river  ports or ghats,  lakes and  tanks  were  similar in essence to  what obtained in north  india (yakshas,bhudas  and devatas),  where  we  have  the    classic  instance  of  the  infant   Buddha  being   taken soon  after  birth  to  the  shiren  of yaksha,sakya  vardhana.