Hindu Temples of Culture
Temples have not only preserved the Hindu religion but through their patronage they have also kept alive India’s cultural heritage. Temple towns like Madurai or Kashi have always been great centers of scholarship and were the universities of ancient India. Gurus had ashrams and students came from all over the land to study here. At these gurukulas the students not only imbibed the ancient Hindu texts from the Vedas to the Upanishads but also specialised in various fields like mathematics, logic, astronomy, grammar and medicine. Initially Hindu scholarship was an oral tradition with students memorizing everything. The Vedas, which are the first literary creation of the Aryans were composed between 1500 to 900 BC. These four Vedas are the oldest literary composition in the world, and of these four, the earliest is the Rig Veda, which is a collection of 1028 hymns addressed to the gods. The Sama Veda is a collection of ritual incantations, the mantras. The Yajur Veda has sacred invocations and the Atharva Veda hymns and chants.
For centuries the Vedic texts were taught through recitation by the gurus. As the Vedas were considered to be divine, great emphasis was laid on correct pronunciation, even when the meaning of the ancient Sanskrit text was obscure. If these ancient texts have survived and are almost intact it is because of the dedication of countless priests and scholars at these temples and gurukulas. Even after three thousand year these hymns and ritual incantations can be recited in exactly the same way by priests in places as far apart as Kerala and Kashmir.
With the patronage of kings and rich citizens came grants of land and gifts of gold and jewels and important temples became extremely wealthy institutions. Temples were big landowners and the popular ones ere transformed into corporate bodies employing a large number of people from priests and scribes to accountants and farmers. In many ways a temple was more intimately connected to the life of the people than even the king and his administration.
The Temples also became centers of the social life of a town. Spiritual leaders gave sermons in the halls of the temples where dance and music recitals and huge sacrificial ceremonies were also held. Temples fed people, ran schools and refuges for the poor and the priests were influential members of the community. Great poets received the patronage of temples, for instance the Tamil devotional poetry of the Nayanmars dedicated to Shiva and the Alvars to Vishnu are still sung in the temples of the South and the poets are themselves worshipped.
Traditionally the deity had to be entertained, which is why temples welcomed musicians and dancers. A team of temple dancers performed before the deity during the puja and festivals. These dancers, the devadasis or handmaidens to the god, were employed by the temples and with them came the singers, players of musical instruments and poets who composed hymns. All the classical dances from Bharatanatyam to Odissi have their origins in temples. In later centuries this tradition of devadasis became highly decadent and lost its cultural moorings and it is only in this century that the dances have been restored and once again presented in their pristine, classical form.
Important treatises on the systems of architecture and sculpture like the Shilpa Shastra and Vastu Shastra were written because of the many temples being built by kings. Religious architecture became a symbol of power and kings built temples to gain punya, merit with the gods and also as monuments of their greatness. Dynasties vied with each other to build more magnificent structures, to be patrons of great scholars and artists. They gathered the best craftsmen, sculptors, architects and painters to build these temples.
Ancient Hindu temples, especially those that survived in the South were created as a form of sculpture and the finest work of these anonymous artists can be seen on the walls, pillars and the towering gopurams which depict a magical world of gods, goddesses, celestial nymphs, prancing horses and mythical lions. The interiors were embellished with paintings and the ceilings and walls glittered with murals in jewel like colours. One of the greatest art traditions that has survived till the present is of Chola vronzes, exquisite free standing icons that were first presented to temples by the Chola kings.
Religion has always been good for business and even today temple towns are great commercial centers. Take the silk weavers of Kashi and Kanchipuram. They were first employed by the temples to provide this purest of fabrics for the deities and priests and then for the devadasis. Today these two cities are leading producers of silk with a huge population of weavers. Big markets flourish at all temple towns to meet the requirements of pilgrims besides providing a livelihood for the people. Important temple hold regular festivals like the ratha yatras when thousand gather to watch the chariot of the deity move through the town.
The stone carver in Mamallapuram who created the first lion pillar or the architect who carved out a temple from a rockside at Ellora. The sculptor who poured his soul into the Maheswara image at Elephanta and the painter of a ceiling at the Brihadoshwara temple in Thanjavur. The temples of India are monuments to the creative spirit and dedication of generations of anonymous artists.
Our lives have been enriched in so many varied ways by our temples. Every time we savour the subtleties of the abhinaya of a Bharatanatyam dancer or sway to the voice of a singer singing an ancient raga, we are enjouing the gifts of these temples. Even wearing a Kanchipuram or Banaras silk sari or decorating our walls with a Tanjore painting links us to these great religious institutions.
A temple is what you want it to be. For the devotee it is the place where his god lives. For the connoisseur of art, the sculpture and painting makes a temple a living museum. For a dancer the figures carved on the walls are the foundation of her art. For a musician or poet the deity is both inspiration and the final audience. You don’t have to enter a temple to pray. You can go there to appreciate the many aspects of India’s rich and iridescent culture.
For centuries the Vedic texts were taught through recitation by the gurus. As the Vedas were considered to be divine, great emphasis was laid on correct pronunciation, even when the meaning of the ancient Sanskrit text was obscure. If these ancient texts have survived and are almost intact it is because of the dedication of countless priests and scholars at these temples and gurukulas. Even after three thousand year these hymns and ritual incantations can be recited in exactly the same way by priests in places as far apart as Kerala and Kashmir.
With the patronage of kings and rich citizens came grants of land and gifts of gold and jewels and important temples became extremely wealthy institutions. Temples were big landowners and the popular ones ere transformed into corporate bodies employing a large number of people from priests and scribes to accountants and farmers. In many ways a temple was more intimately connected to the life of the people than even the king and his administration.
The Temples also became centers of the social life of a town. Spiritual leaders gave sermons in the halls of the temples where dance and music recitals and huge sacrificial ceremonies were also held. Temples fed people, ran schools and refuges for the poor and the priests were influential members of the community. Great poets received the patronage of temples, for instance the Tamil devotional poetry of the Nayanmars dedicated to Shiva and the Alvars to Vishnu are still sung in the temples of the South and the poets are themselves worshipped.
Traditionally the deity had to be entertained, which is why temples welcomed musicians and dancers. A team of temple dancers performed before the deity during the puja and festivals. These dancers, the devadasis or handmaidens to the god, were employed by the temples and with them came the singers, players of musical instruments and poets who composed hymns. All the classical dances from Bharatanatyam to Odissi have their origins in temples. In later centuries this tradition of devadasis became highly decadent and lost its cultural moorings and it is only in this century that the dances have been restored and once again presented in their pristine, classical form.
Important treatises on the systems of architecture and sculpture like the Shilpa Shastra and Vastu Shastra were written because of the many temples being built by kings. Religious architecture became a symbol of power and kings built temples to gain punya, merit with the gods and also as monuments of their greatness. Dynasties vied with each other to build more magnificent structures, to be patrons of great scholars and artists. They gathered the best craftsmen, sculptors, architects and painters to build these temples.
Ancient Hindu temples, especially those that survived in the South were created as a form of sculpture and the finest work of these anonymous artists can be seen on the walls, pillars and the towering gopurams which depict a magical world of gods, goddesses, celestial nymphs, prancing horses and mythical lions. The interiors were embellished with paintings and the ceilings and walls glittered with murals in jewel like colours. One of the greatest art traditions that has survived till the present is of Chola vronzes, exquisite free standing icons that were first presented to temples by the Chola kings.
Religion has always been good for business and even today temple towns are great commercial centers. Take the silk weavers of Kashi and Kanchipuram. They were first employed by the temples to provide this purest of fabrics for the deities and priests and then for the devadasis. Today these two cities are leading producers of silk with a huge population of weavers. Big markets flourish at all temple towns to meet the requirements of pilgrims besides providing a livelihood for the people. Important temple hold regular festivals like the ratha yatras when thousand gather to watch the chariot of the deity move through the town.
The stone carver in Mamallapuram who created the first lion pillar or the architect who carved out a temple from a rockside at Ellora. The sculptor who poured his soul into the Maheswara image at Elephanta and the painter of a ceiling at the Brihadoshwara temple in Thanjavur. The temples of India are monuments to the creative spirit and dedication of generations of anonymous artists.
Our lives have been enriched in so many varied ways by our temples. Every time we savour the subtleties of the abhinaya of a Bharatanatyam dancer or sway to the voice of a singer singing an ancient raga, we are enjouing the gifts of these temples. Even wearing a Kanchipuram or Banaras silk sari or decorating our walls with a Tanjore painting links us to these great religious institutions.
A temple is what you want it to be. For the devotee it is the place where his god lives. For the connoisseur of art, the sculpture and painting makes a temple a living museum. For a dancer the figures carved on the walls are the foundation of her art. For a musician or poet the deity is both inspiration and the final audience. You don’t have to enter a temple to pray. You can go there to appreciate the many aspects of India’s rich and iridescent culture.
