Guest guest Posted September 1, 2005 Report Share Posted September 1, 2005 Can anybody please tell me why is the form of worship in kerala temples different from other parts of India.Why is more significance attached to tantric rituals in temples.Could it be that all parts of India during ancient times had a similar system followed by kerala temples but it changed due to continuous invasions. Is it also true that many temples of kerala were jain and buddhist temples but later converted into hindu temples by shankaracharya. Sreeram ________ India Matrimony: Find your partner online. Go to http://.shaadi.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 1, 2005 Report Share Posted September 1, 2005 Mr. Sreeram doubts whether many temples in Kerala in olden times were Jain and Buddhist temples. It is true that there were Jain and other temples not only in Kerala but also in other parts of the country; but there is no evidence to show that all of them or most of them belonged to them. Th ritual pattern followed in the temples are not the same in a particular area because they were changing from one tradition to another in the course of history. There were the Paashupatas who from the beginning of the 1st millennium were widespread in most part of India; they also had temples under their control and were patronised by many royal dynasties. In most of them Vedic mantra-s were followed as well as their own form of Agama which are a special kind of revealed scriptures. Due to historical changes Saivasiddhanta Agama-s became prominent and spread throughout India under the auspices of ancient monastic lineages and great acharya-s; they also have their own revealed scriptures called Agama-s which are even now extant (some having been published and others in manuscripts). In the case of Kerala, we can approximately fix that upto 12th-13th centuries it was the Saivasiddhanta tradition (and before that the Pashupata system) mostly followed in temples for which we have the most well known evidence of the Ritual paddhati by one Ravi of the 12th century which is called Prayogamanjari that has been published and for which there is an unpublished ? commentary. This text had been very authoritataive and had been cited with approval by later commenattaors on Saivasiddhanta texts. The Tantrasamuccaya and Seshasamuccaya are 15th-16th century compilations based on Saiva and Vaishnava Agama-s and that has somehow (for which the historical reasons and other factors are to be researched) superceded all the earlier traditions and ritual texts. As far as we know there is no strong historical evidence to support that Shankaracharya converted many temples into Hindu ones or any such thing either in Kerala or in other part of India. The bare Historical fact is that he was an advaita philosopher commenating on the Upanishads and Brahmasutra-s to establish the Advaita mode of approach and thinking about ultimate reality. He is totally and absolutely innocent of any reform whatsoever either in the domestic ritual or in temple rituals. Going by the Vedanta commenatries that he authored there is no evidence at all to show or prove that he reformed or modified or interfered in the existing rituals of his times. To state the truth (which I am sure will offend many ) it is totally a myth to ascribe to Shankaracharya reforms in religious practice, temple construction or conversion or establishment of Srichakra at so many places, etc. for which there is no historical evidence in the form of either texts or epigraphy. On the contrary, we have so many epigraphical records and some texts of authentic history (unfortunately many of them are unpublished) that very clearly show the existence of Saiva monasteries-be it Pashupata (Kalamukha-s) or Saivasiddhanta most of which patronised by royal dynasties; in these records we have the clear lineages of preceptor and disciples and the places of their origin in quite a few of them. It ias also a travesty and mockery of truth taht these ancient and strong records are either ignored or uncared and some texts of dubious authority and uncertain and late origin are propagated and a sort of religious history is concocted. A History of Major religions of India based on texts of philosophy and rituals and epigraphy is a desideratum to clearly underatand and establish the spread and change of religious practices especially in temples. With the best wishes, Ganesan Dr.T.GanesanChargé de Recherches Senior Researcher in SaivasiddhantaFrench Institute11, St. Louis StreetPONDICHERRY-605001INDIA Tel: +91 - 413 - 233 4168 ext. 123E mail: ganesan (AT) ifpindia (DOT) orgWeb: www.ifpindia.org - Sreeram Warrier vediculture Thursday, September 01, 2005 3:41 PM [world-vedic] Temples of Kerala different Can anybody please tell me why is the form of worshipin kerala temples different from other parts ofIndia.Why is more significance attached to tantricrituals in temples.Could it be that all parts of Indiaduring ancient times had a similar system followedby kerala temples but it changed due to continuousinvasions.Is it also true that many temples of kerala were jainand buddhist temples but later converted into hindutemples by shankaracharya.Sreeram ________ India Matrimony: Find your partner online. Go to http://.shaadi.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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