Temples are not merely a physical
structure or a monument but a wonderful focal point that have remained focal
points for several millennia. Temples
have been a bond for people of all communities and castes and have been a
conduit for channelizing charitable efforts.
Most of the temples were built by
rulers of yester centuries as their life time achievements. For many rulers building
a temple were the very purpose of existence for more than one reason:
·
Sense of achievement
·
A structure that would keep one’s name flag
flying high
·
More importantly socio-economic reasons
o
Temple serves as the sole social (security) alleviating
measure when there are natural calamities like rains, floods, earthquake,
Tsunami, as the temple is a quake resistant, flood resitant structure that can
easily accommodate thousands of people, provide them shelter, food & amenities
like bathing.
o
People might hesitate to donate for charity, but
were always willing to donate to the temples, due to which temple granaries
were always full.
o
Employment creation: Building a temple, churns
the economy as many citizens are employed for several years at a time.
The temples were built as a
self-sustaining mechanism with contributions in the form of lands, donations
from the rulers and the citizens alike, that the temple will be a ‘Going
concern’, with perpetual existence and unending resources.
Though all the Indian states had
lot of temples, the temples in the four (present day) southern states of India
are noteworthy. Actually, when they were built the land masses were divided as
empires and the concept of states based on languages did not exist.
Some of the temples that are popular
today have witnessed all the four Yugas (we are in the fourth Yuga, viz., Kali).
Four yugas together are mentioned as one Chatur yuga and the duration of the
Chatur Yuga is a paltry 43,20,000 years. Though it would be difficult to
believe how temples would have existed 43 lakh years back, we must note that Lord
may have existed but the temple structure would have undergone several changes,
destruction and reconstruction consistent with the prevailing architecture.
If one were to know more about the treasures called Temples,
where should he start. There is no simple answer….it is like blind leading the
blind. How do I know that my outlook of important temples is the correct one !
Acknowledging that there is no single
tool with which one can make a beginning or pick& choose, I am listing
below a method by which the ‘tip of the iceberg’ could be sighted.
Broadly Jainism and Hinduism and
to some extent Buddhism have believed in building hallmark temples for the
Almighty (though Jainism does not identify the ‘God” they keep their Gurus at
that level). Jain temples are a ocean by themselves and I would talk about them
at a later point of time. For now let us restrict ourselves to the temples of
the other Ocean ‘Hindusim’.
Hinduism can broadly be divided
in to Saivism and Vaishnavism, though Adi Shankara recorded that six divisions
existed (Shanmatha – Saivism, Vaishnavism, Saaktham, Kaumaram, Sauram and Gaanapathyam).
The divide between Saivite and Vaishnavite forms are negligible in most of the
states of India, barring probably Tamil Nadu.
For a beginner with roots in
Tamil Nadu I would restrict details to the four southern states, with odd temples
of North, Western and Eastern India.
I am no expert but I would go by time
tested experts…..
1. For
Tamil Nadu temples: Great saints of Saivite and Vaishnavite orders have
documented temples in their literary/ religious works. For example, the 63
Nayanmars and Four Saivite greats have documented many temples of Lord Shiva.
The Twelve Azhwars have documented Vaishnavite temples. Arunagirinatha has
documented Muruga temples. They have identified the benchmarks and if we follow
the temples mentioned by them we would have covered a little more than 80% of
noteworthy temples . For example landmark
temples like , Rajagopalaswamy temple, Mannargudi or the Guruvayurappan temple have
not been documented in the canonical works; but does not mean that these
temples are less important.
a.
Saivite temples: The Saivite greats (Naalvar) have
sung in praise of Lords and incidentally several temples. These temples, 276 of
them, are listed as “Paadal Petra
sthalams’
i. Link
to 276 Padal
Petra sthalams
b.
Vaishnavite temples: The twelve Azhvars have eulogized
the Lord and consequently great temples and they are listed as “Divya Desams”…..
108 of them.
c.
Subrahmanya temples: Temples sung in praise by Arunagirinatha are listed
as “Thiruppugazh sthalams”
2. For
Kerala temples:
a.
Parashurama, one of the incarnations of Lord
Vishnu, has built several temples in Kerala. He has instituted 108 temples of
Lord Shiva, popularly known as “Parashurama kshetrams”.
i. Link
to Parashurama Kshetrams
b.
There are also minor classifications as The
Pancha Pandava Temples
c.
There may be other classifications of Vaishnavite
temples of Kerala, but I am not aware of them, unfortunately at this point in
time. I will attempt to update soonest.
For the benefit of users, an
excel table has been created with which one can update the temples visited and
to be visited.
