Imperialistic Influence over Temples

The royal temples of the early medieval rulers are to be understood as a statement of political power. They have proved to be institutions of enduring importance, as symbols of authority and political power. The temples, royal projects in the capital cities were designed in such a way as to symbolize power or authority, drawing upon cosmic symbolism, and equating the king or monarch with the deity and the temple as cosmos or territory. The creation of the ruler’s image as a protector, controller of his domain and also the royal upholder of dharma was similarly reinforced by the image of the god as the protector and upholder of dharma.

Temple is a monument which stands as the most powerful expression of the political authority of its royal patron.^[1] At the apex of the centralized administration and the political control over harnessing and mobilizing the resources for government, was the authoritative position enjoyed by the rulers, the creators of the temples. This was based on Bhakti ideology that was consciously fostered by the rulers, the creators of the temples. This was the Bhakti ideology that was consciously fostered by the Cholas to make the temple the focus of the underlying socio-cultural process of an art tradition, which reached its maturity in the highly stylized visual and verbal representation of the dominant image of the god or king. They built up this political imagery and consolidated their power and thereby they transcended micro level monarchical systems integrating the whole of Tamil region into a cohesive politico-cultural region with a puranic world view and vernacular idiom of Bhakti as ideology.^[2]