VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKA TEMPLE INDIA

Acknowledgements 2. Acharya’s Call, Madras

Discourses, by Sri K. Neelakantan, Publrs.:
B.G. Paul & Co., Madras.

I
3. The Transformation of Nature in
t is hoped that this Kendra Patrika
Art, by K. Ananda Coomaraswamy.
on ‘Temple India’ will be cherished by
Publishers: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers
all those who possesses a copy of it. The
Pvt Ltd., New Delhi.
title “Temple India” may be rather
We are very thankful to Sri Srikant, Sri R.
misleading in the sense that many would
Jayabalan, Sri Haralingam, and Sri
have expected us to talk about individual
V.R.Satyanarayanan who have helped us
temples in the volume. Of course, a few
with their transparencies or colour prints.
important temples have been talked about
We are also thankful to M/s.Rajsri Printers
in the volume. But, in order to give
a new approach to the theme,
more articles were invited on
topics related to the various other
aspects of the temple cult like,
the origin and significance of
temples, the place of temples in
society, the Agamas governing the
construction of temples and
temple rituals etc. It is hoped that
the volume will help people
understand the more significant
and subtler aspects of our temple
cult. Most of the articles in this
volume are original contributions
for their neat handling of the work.
made by distinguished scholars and
While every care has been taken to see
academicians.
that no party is left out in our
Without their support and enthusiasm, the
acknowledgement for their meritorious
present volume would not have become
assistance and co-operation, we earnestly
such a picturesque and worth-cherishing
solicit forgiveness for any mistake of
one. We are indeed very grateful to all the
omission or commission which, of course,
contributors who have extended their help
has not been deliberate.
and co-operation in response to our
All the photographs belong to the stone
request. We are also thankful to the
sculptures from various temples in
publishers who promptly granted us the
India.
necessary permission to reproduce relevant
portions from the following books:-
1.The Parsis, by Piloo Anavutty-Publishers:
National Book Trust, India, New Delhi.

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 EDITORIAL

VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKA TEMPLE INDIA

T he Hindu temple is an institution of

immemorial antiquity which has played
a notable part not merely in the religious
and idol worship.
Hinduism has always tolerated many
approaches to God. There is no reason why
life of the people, but also in their social, the way of sacrifices and that of idol
cultural and economic history. In the worship should not have flourished side by
millennia that span India’s past, it has had, side. It can even be shown that while the
like so many other things in our life, a Vedas could be studied and sacrifices
chequered history, now prosperous, now performed by select castes, temples were
persecuted, now neglected and now universal institutions in which all classes
revived. and both the sexes worshipped freely. The
The temple, of course, is not unique to rise of temples is part of the liberal tradition
India. It was once a world-wide institution in Hinduism, stressing the easy accessibility
until the rise of universal religions like of God to all.
Christianity and Islam when many of its That they are earlier than the Christian
functions were taken over by the church era is beyond doubt.
and the mosque. But in India a unique A Besnagar inscription of the 2nd century
continuity has prevailed, many ancient B. C. refers to a shrine of Vasudeva. Panini,
temples still surviving and serving their centuries earlier, refers to worshippers of
primary purpose as places of worship. God as Vaasudeva. Our two great epics of
Western scholars are reluctant to assign uncertain dates have references to
an early date to the Hindu temple, which temples. It is not outside the range of
they would fain derive from Greek or possibility that Vedic invocations to gods
Buddhist models. No doubt, a Greco-Indian and offering them seats, homage, and
school of sculpture and architecture oblations could have inspired with
flourished at Gandhara at one time. But analogous invocations of the divine
that does not necessarily mean that it presence in diagrams like mandalas,
ante-dates the Hindu temple. The argument yantras and in idols. However that may
is that Vedic religion is polytheistic and be, it should not be forgotten that the
oriented towards fire-sacrifices, where Vedas are not without descriptions of gods
temples have to lay stress on monotheism and these must have helped sculptural

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VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKA TEMPLE INDIA
representations. procedures in temple and domestic worship.
The supposed contradictions between the They represent the liberal tradition in
polytheism of the Vedas and the orthodoxy which has always sought the
monotheism of the Agamas on which temple spiritual welfare of the masses without
worship is based, is largely a creation of degrading higher philosophy or antagonising
Western bias. Indian opinion has never held the elite.
the Vedas to be polytheistic. The Rigveda But, after all is said and done, the origin
proclaims that what exists is one, though and early history of temples in India is a
sages call it by various names. The highly speculative subject. We know as a
Upanishads stress the concept of a Single matter of fact that they have served
Power manifesting itself as the universe, important cultural and spiritual interests
and they are an integral part of the Vedas almost since the beginnings of history in
according to Hindu tradition. Exegetical India. That they still continue to do so in
principles show how God is called by various some measure is a tribute to the sense of
names in various contexts in the Vedas. continuity that has marked Indian history
Moreover, the Aagamas were not anti- during its march over thousands of years.
Vedic. They prescribed Vedic mantras, Patronised by the royalty, the aristocracy
and the wealthier classes and
popular with the masses, the temples
grew in number, size and influence,
and the roles they played in society
multiplied. The cults of Vishnu, Siva
and Sakti developed side by side and
almost on parallel lines. Differences
in philosophical tenets among them,
and between them and Vedanta were
there, but they did not affect the
acceptability of the temples. In the
rituals and festivals conducted by
them, there were striking
resemblances among the different
cults. Worship in the temples became
a common spiritual exercise in India
long ago, and has remained so ever
since. Fashions in celebrating temple
festivals may have changed in minor
matters, but in essentials they have
remained true to their original
purpose and continued to be an
expression of spiritual fervour. The
iconoclastic zeal of Islam and

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VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKA TEMPLE INDIA
Christianity had only a marginal effect on is the omega of sculpture and architecture.
the Hindu attitude to temples, in spite of Apart from being a beautiful creation of
the rise of sects like the Brahmo Samaj art and a place of worship, the temple came
and Arya Samaj which abandoned idol to assume and fulfill many other roles in
worship, in spite of the spread of course of time. In the hey-day of its glory,
skepticism, agnosticism and atheism. it was the centre of village or community
In the golden age of Hinduism and even in life. It served as the town-hall where public
the Middle Ages, the temple became a assemblies could be held, the headquarters
remarkable and unique institution. Often it of the local government, the registry of
would have been the creation of dedicated documents of public importance, the
architects and sculptors of genius, lecture-hall, the stage, the court-hall
satisfying the aesthetic taste of even during the visits of kings, the school, the
connoisseurs. Today we have marvels of college, the forum for academic and
artistic achievement scattered all over philosophical discussions by learned men,
India. Fergusson, in the last century, the library, the art-gallery, the social club,
naturally biased in favour of Greek art, was the licensing authority for dramatic
still obliged to entertain what would be in performances, the dispensary, the patron
Europe regarded as an almost blasphemous of hostels and hospitals, the source of a
thought-to rank the temples at Belur and certain amount of free or cheap food to
Halebid as equaling in their own way the the poor section of the community, and
Parthenon of Greece. If one represented much more besides. It stood out as the
perfection in severe, austere, classical art, concrete symbol of the Hindu Welfare State.
the other stood for equal excellence in the Every one of these roles is proved by
ornate style. If one is the alpha, the other epigraphical inscriptions over the centuries.
In Tamilnadu, we
are familiar with
how the forgotten
works of the
Tevaram hymnists
were recovered
from the
Chidambaram
temple by Nambi
Aandaar Nambi.
There is a reference
to a lost Tamil
translation of the
Mahabharata in a
twelfth century
inscription at
Thiruvaalangaadu.

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VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKA TEMPLE INDIA
The Vishnu temple at Thirumukudal near architecture and some temples of all-India
Kanchipuram was running a school, a hostel importance. They are sure to whet the
and a hospital (aaturasaalaa) with fifteen appetite for more information, and some
beds. Provision was made in many temples of them will show what we are missing by
for the study of different subjects and routine or mechanical visits to temples or
exposition of sacred texts in the pilgrimages of a similar kind. These may
Vyaakhyaanamantapa. The temple treasury make for spiritual edification, but the spirit
often received endowments and arranged will be even more thoroughly satisfied by
for their upkeep. The shore temple at the many ways in which the temple helps
Mamallapuram has an inscription giving fulfillment.
details of a contract among villagers about We thank all our contributors for kindly
the division of land and dues of land cess. responding to our requests in spite of the
The temple sometimes acted as the heavy demands of their time and also. The
confessional and helped its devotees to publishers and authors for giving us
expiate sins like that of accidentally killing permission to reproduce copyright material.
a man during a hunting expedition. The Imperfections and inadequacies are
Ulagalandaperumal temple at Kanchipuram regretted, but they seem inevitable in an
testifies to 48000 residents of the city undertaking of this kind.
undertaking to supervise the management
of the temple according to custom and
usage. At Srirangam, we have an inscription
about the citizens taking away the
management of the temple from certain
temple servants who had been misusing
their authority and entrusting it to others.
These few examples serve to show what
important public services were being
rendered by the temple in the past. Other
agencies have taken over many of these.
But it still remains a thing of beauty, a
hallowed home of praise and prayer, a
source of spiritual consolation, an incentive
to moral effort, and in the opinion of the
devout, a store house of Divine Power
easily accessible to all. .
Obviously, the subject taken up in this issue
is encyclopedic in range, and we have
limited ourselves to dealing with some
prominent aspects only. They include with
other things accounts of cults, rituals,
festivals, art-treasures, styles of