Temples in and around Madurantakam
by B. Mekala | 2016 | 71,416 words
This essay studies the Temples found around Madurantakam, a town and municipality in Kancheepuram (Kanchipuram) District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Madurantakam is one of the sacred holy places visited by Saint Ramanuja. It is also a region blessed with many renowned temples which, even though dating to at least the 10th century, yet they c...
Bhakti Movement
Bhakti was a crucial element in the evolution and spread of Puranic religion, which emerged by the sixth century A.D., as a universal and formal system in the Indian subcontinent as a whole.[1] In the Tamil region, the expansion of Vedic religion was intrinsically linked with local and popular traditions and their interaction with Brahmanical religion was a two way process. It was a synchronic, and at times a diachronic evolution. It would be too simplistic or facile to explain it as an interaction between the ‘Great’ and ‘Little’ traditions.[2]
The major impact of Bhakti ideology was more significant and it led to the expansion of the role of the temple in restructuring society and economy. The temple based Bhakti was capable of developing into a transcendental norm and hence acquired a centrality providing a focus for the achievement of uniformity among various sects given their differences. Several non-conformist elements and religious sects that observed extreme forms of rites could also be integrated through Bhakti ideology.
The Bhakti movement spearheaded by the Tamil Alvars (Vaishnavite saints) and Nayanmars (Saivate saints) marks the beginning of the ascendancy of the Brahmanical socio-religious order, that is, the dominance of the Puranic Vaishnava and Saiva sects, and the decline of the Sramanic religions Jainism and Buddhism. The socio-economic and political contexts in which the conflict between the Brahmanical religions and the Sramanic religions need to be situated is the general decline of inland trade and maritime trade from about the Third Century A.D., and the emergence of land as the economic resource through a land grant system to the temple.[3]
Thus the change from the early historical to the early medieval period was one in which Brahmanical religions assumed the position of the main stream tradition. The revival was more a transformation of society and religious systems through new institutional forces.
Footnotes and references:
[3]:
Champakalakshmi, R., op.cit., p. 438.