PART-5:PSYCHOANALYTIC
ASPECTS:
5.1 INFLUENCE OF TEMPLES IN THE CAUVERY DELTA REGION:
The agama schools from
this outset are a social theory. It emphasizes
a temple based society. The temple is central to the agama schools were
everything revolves around it.
The agama philosophy is
well embedded in south India especially the Cauvery delta. Here we can see the
temples forming the central part of the towns. The entire social, political, commercial,
administrative, economic , cultural and civic life is closely associated with
the temples. The life begins here for every citizen in these places. This
temple culture continues even today in Cauvery delta in this 21st
century. The region has largest
concentration of temples in india.
Each has a special
mystical power. Like the thiru-kadavoor for longevity, thiru-karugavoor for
fertility, thiru-pull-iruku-vell-ur for(திருப்புள்ளிருக்குவேளூர்- here the jadayu/pull,brahma/iruku,murugan/vell and
sun/ur worship siva who is in the form of vaidhyanathar) cure of diseases.The
temples have a style for each sub region. There is a central temple at the heart
of the delta that is the thiru-idai-marudhur திருவிடைமருதூர்( the central shrine). All the other temples radiate
in all directions from here. The entire delta is about 80 kilometers in radius
and the temples in all the directions
form a citadel of protection to the people. Some of the very large temples are
found in all directions from thiruvidaimarudhoor. Chidambaram, thiruvarur,
kumbakonam, sirkazhi, nagapatnam, mannarkudi, tanjavore, trichirapalli,
gangaikondacholapuram, vridhachalam, vedaranyam, avudayarkoil…etc. some of them
had been the capital towns of cholans. The Gangai konda cholapuram had been the
capital of the entire peninsular india and large parts of southeast asia for about 50 years.
The temples had a large
influence in every way of life of the people. There is a by-annual car
festival. There are several days of rituals to be observed as per a common
calendar. The preists have a higher social status. Large land and gold
endowments have been given to them by various regimes in the past.
Everyone has a name
that denotes lord siva, parvathi or murugan. People can be seen with their fore
head completely smeared with sacred ash. In fact nothing can survive that is
unconnected with these temples. That is
the power of saiva schools in this region.
Every town has a siva
with a unique name and a sakthi. These particular two, are the father and
mother of the town. For example it is adhimoolar and umaiyambal in Chidambaram,
If you take vriddhachalam( pazhamalai) the father is pazhamalainathar and
mother is balambiga,If you take tanjore it is peruvudayar and peryiyanayagi
respectively, for seerkazhi it is brahmapureeswarar and sthira- sundharari, for
thiruvidaimarudhoor it is mahadevar and thirumulai nayagi and for
thiruvannamalai it is annamalayar and unnamulai (அண்ணாமலையார், உண்ணாமுலைநாயகி), like that it continues. Each citizen is a son of
these divine parents. The father mother
and child concept is well entrenched. Thus all the citizens have a common
spiritual brotherhood.
The temples have the
entire saiva philosophy sculpted in stone. All the various stages of creation
have their image in the perimeter of the temple complex. The each stage of soul
is represented inside as icons. Like vignakalar, pralayakalar or sakalar. Their
name will be there as for example prlayakaleswarar and it will be as a lingam.
The philosophical
aspects were made into small stories and are compiled into puranas like siva
puranam or linga puranam. The themes were made into storyline. The events are
painted on the walls like the thirupura thaganam, churning of the ocean of
milk…etc in tanjore big temple. The themes may be made into stereotyped stone
images sculpted all over the temple. Some of the popular images are, the
gajasamhara panel, pitchadanar panel, annamalaiyar panel, dhkshinamoorthy
panel, sarabeswarar panel,somaskandhar panel….etc.
Every part and nook or
corner of the saiva temples is arranged in a grammatical precision that follows
the saiva doctrines. The Nandi, pali peedam, the flag post, the shrines of
lingam and the sakthi, the navagraha complex, the gopuram, the pond and every
small detail has a meaning which is rooted in the agama phase of the saivism.
Thus it is a continuing
tradition which has its beginnings in Sumerian or Indus or Ganges but that
continues in its glorious form in the land of Cauvery (ponni=gold). These
cultural aspects are well praised by the oxford historian MICHAEL WOOD in his
BBC project “story of India” in its fourth part as “ages of gold[i]”.
The temples has been the
guiding fource for the people in both psychological and temporal matters. The
siddhanthists have been helping the people from the temple. Even to day we can
see the temples as a place for religious discources, astrology, talk forums, classical
music and dance…etc. They have been the treasuries of hindu traditions and
thoughts. They are the storehouses of saiva philosophy and has guarded it for
two millennia.
Here the secrets of the
psychotherapy traditions are preserved. Every agamic temple is a de facto mental health institute . We
shall see their basic principles and how they are delivered to the people in
the following chapters.
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