Component-I (A) – Personal details:

Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy

Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati.

Dr. Rita Chaudhuri

Dept. of AIHC, University of Calcutta.

Dr.K.Mavali Rajan
Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan.

Dr. Rita Chaudhuri

Dept. of AIHC, University of Calcutta.
.

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Component-I (B) – Description of module:

Subject Name Indian Culture

Paper Name Social and Cultural History of India (From Earliest

to 1707 A.D.)

Module Name / Title Temples in India- Multi Faceted Functions

Module Id IC / SCHI / 36

Pre requisites Study the place of temple in society and its multi
faceted functions

Objectives To know about the significance of the Indian

temples and its multifarious functions in the day
today activities of the people. It was a centre of
religious and cultural activities, which is focus of
all aspects of the life of the community it serves.

Keywords Temple, Culture, Society, Bhakti, Patronage

E-text (Quadrant-I) :

1. Introduction

The place of temples in society is indeed pre-eminent. It played an important role in uniting
people through the various ritual activities. All the social activities of villages in India
centered round temple. Besides the resident of deity and place of worship, temples are the
repositories of our tradition, centres of education (padasala), charitable institutions,
hospitals, centres of preservation of the fine arts and historical records, governing body of
local self-government, place of entertainment, meeting place and place of Justice. The
temples were also the place of peaceful assembly of the society and resting place of arts
like, vastu, silpa, natya, and other similar fine arts. Temples are also responsible for the
origin and growth and preservation of many traditional arts like kuttu (dance drama), kummi,
music and other performing arts.

Konark Sun Temple of Odisha

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2. Emergence of Temple Culture

The temple came to be more important in the lives of Indian people since early period. The
temples of India recognized as centuries old, and that each of the thousands of temples has
a separate past. Burton Stein in his work “South Indian Temples: An Analytical
Reconstruction” attest that the past of the temple begins with its being one sacred place
(tirtha) among numerous others, a place of sacred performances, vows (vratas) and
supplications for local people as well as, in many cases, for persons of distant places of
those sacred places, some seized the interest of a powerful local patronage with the
resources to build a modest or even magnificent shelter or place for the deity of the people.

N. Venkata Ramanayya’s work “An Essay on the Origin of the Southern Temple” emphasis
that “the south Indian temple had, at the beginning, no connection with worship of any deity.
The various gods and goddesses whom the indigenous population of the south India
worshipped was not accustomed to dwell in the secluded atmosphere of the temple; they
loved the life in the open air”. The early society worshipped nature, and later started making
images of deities and worshipped them, placed them in a beautiful and picturesque
atmosphere like river and pool banks, fertile groves, tree shadows, caves and other places.
The people also worshipped trees, symbols, animals and other forms which they believed
that the nature protect them from the evils. Initially only nature worship was existed, there
was no image worship in south India. In course of time, they raised the building to the divine
images.

The typical deity or image worship of the south Indian village emerged through the worship
of gramadevada or the village god or deity, who generally lodged in a small shrine
construction on a primitive pattern. The shrine, however, marks a late stage in the
development of cult of the gramadevada. In a large number of villages, gramadevada have
no temples at all, they are lodged in the open air in the shadow of a big tree. In many of
villages only tree is considered as the embodiment of the deity, which is considered sacred
and it receives all acts of worship which are meant for the deity.

The beginning of the temple construction in south India is attributed to the Pallavas, who
ruled the Tamil country during the 6th and 7th century C.E. The Hindus and Jains of south
India adopted the stone medium and started erecting rock-cut cave temples and rock-cut
monolithic temple forms. From the Pallava times temple building in both rock-cut and
structural forms began to flourish. During the Chola period massive yet artistically ornate and
elegant structures were developed. Under the Vijayanagar and Nayak rule enormous
temples with attractive mandapas, huge pillars, soaring towers (gopura) and large temple
tanks (teppakulam) continued to be built.

Kanchipuram Kailasanathar Temple

Rights from the Pallava period onwards these temples tended to became centres of political
power, having a share in local administrations. The early cave temple of Tamil Nadu is

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Mandagapattu, belonging to the reign of Mahendravarman I, the Pallava ruler. The earliest
structural temples in south India are those at Mahabalipuram in the Chingleput district which
are generally known as the ‘Seven Pagodas’. Many of the great temples that are observed in
south India had their origin after the Bhakti cult had attained its importance in the Hindu
religion.

Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram

During the emergence of Bhakti movement in south India, construction of temples and
temple related institutions, propagation of religious ideas became prominent. Particularly the
temple constructions became very spirited during the Chola, Pandya and Vijayanagar
periods. The number of temples increased day by day and it attained pinnacle during the
Chola period; which is highly significant period both for its witness to religious developments
and for its extraordinary artistic production that shaped the Saivism and Vaishnavism of later
times. Mostly temples were built as acts of devotion, to mark significant victories, to
commemorate the ancestors, and above all for the fulfillment of the desires of the people. An
inscription of the early medieval period mentions that king causes the temple to be made for
the fulfillment of the desires of subjects.

3. Temple as an Abode of God and Worship

The temple held a place of supreme importance in the socio-religious life of the people. It
continued to be the main centre of public worship among the Hindus. Deities worshipped in
them were Puranic gods like Siva, Vishnu, Brahma and goddess like Parvathi, Saraswathi,
Lakshmi and Durga. Lord Indra, Kaman, Sun, Moon, etc. were some of the important gods,
worshipped in the Hindu temples. Saivism and Vaisnavism stressed the devotional aspect
much and visits to the temple, recitation of the hymns and also worshipping the image were
the major pre-occupation of the devotees.

The Saivism is recognized as the most ancient form of worship, traces of which have been
found in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro culture. The earliest form of Saivism was nature
worship. Later on this nature worship developed into sakti-puja which called for observance
of numerous tantric rites. Tantrism called for harnessing hidden powers of nature by uplifting
mind, soul and body. The principal deity of Saivism Lord Siva was later occupied as part of
trinity by the Puranic writers.

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 Khajuraho Temple, Madhya Pradesh

The Vaishnavism refers to the form of worship associated with Vishnu as the main deity.
From the later Vedic period, Vishnu’s position in the Hindu pan theology became prominent
with each passing age. This is documented in the Aitereya Brahmana, which has accorded
him the highest place. Later on, in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna was recognized as an
incarnation of Vishnu. The Vaishnavism believes in the doctrine of incarnation or avatarvad.
Vishnu is believed to have manifested himself through ten avatars (dasavataram).
Vaishnavism believed that salvation could be attained through Bhakti or devotion to one’s
personal god.

Puri Jagannath Temple, Odisha

Worship of village gods, ancestral worship and a number of primitive religious cults should
have been prevalent in those times. Kalamuka and Pasupatha cults were the continuation of
primitive religious sects. The Bhakti movement succeeded in merging with it some of these
primitive cults and the little tradition. But the merger was partial and even today the primitive
cults survive with strength.

The direct worship of gods and goddess (devapuja) forms the focal point of the religious
activities embraced by the Hindu temples. The various rituals of worship permitted an
identification of the worshipper and the place and means of worship with the godhead.
Those who are able to achieve a unity of self and godhead ritual gain merit and access to
the path that leads to ultimate liberation.

Practice of temple worship originated before the principal Hindu cults had become
differentiated, and rituals performed in temples dedicated to the cults of different deities
follow more or less a basic pattern. Worship is conceived as an evocation, reception and
entertainment with the divine. There is also the belief, which has been popular in India, that

5
the ruler’s power is an extension of the divine law. The practices of temple worship are
strictly laid down in a series of texts devoted to ritual, some of which may be traced back to
the Puranas and earlier.

Temple ritual for an ordinary day consists of four celebrations which take place at Sun rise,
noon, Sunset and midnight. The ceremonies usually begin with the reverential opening of the
door of sanctuary, or ‘womb-chamber’, in which the image of the deity is housed. The
powers guarding over the door are saluted and there is the sounding of the bell to the ward
any unwanted spirits and to attract the attention of the god or goddess. The priest then
expresses his intention of worship and asks the divinity for consent. Hymns are recited to
persuade the deity to take visible form by inhabiting the image or symbol and once this takes
place the priest is able to converse with the divine.

In addition to these daily ceremonies there are also opportunities for private worship in the
temple by individuals who make offerings to the deity, recite prayers and perform suitable
circumambulations. Such private worship usually takes place between the regular
ceremonies when the god or goddess gives ‘audience’ to the priest. Private worship may be
undertaken with the hope of securing divine assistance in a time of trouble, danger, pain or
sickness.

4. Temple Patronage

The temple as a religious institution was patronized by the state as well as other owning
groups in different ways. Mostly lands were donated to temples for their maintenance. We
find frequent references to land endowments in inscriptions. As a result of numerous land
endowments made to the temple on various occasions, the temple became a landed
magnate of the early medieval time and acquired the central place in the realm of the
agrarian economy and socio-religious life. These donated lands to the temple were placed
under the charge of temple administrators who were virtually enjoying the proprietary rights
on it. A large number of residents, who made dependent on the temple as functionaries and
tenant cultivators of the temple land.

Land were given to temple officials as remuneration for their services directly by the donor or
provided for their subsistence in the donation itself. Temple also enjoyed lot of revenue
from the land owned and controlled by it. These revenues reached the temple by way of
dues exacted for the protection, it offered to the local people (raksabhoga), it imposed on the
defaulters (dandam) and other ways. The economic strength of the temple was
commendable enough to easily organize the local society into a stable system of institutions,
groups, caste and communities and relations suitable for better production and management
of temples.

The land endowments of the temple included crown land held by the ruling aristocracy, land
owned by the Brahmins, land occupied by merchants and the leases held the temple
functionaries. Most of the land was endowed to the temple permanently and with absolute
rights. The temple lands were called as devadana. Being an institution, it was not possible
for the temple to manage various forms of ownership except by redistributing them among
the members of the temple corporation. The land rights transferred as endowments or
securities were the ownership from the donor to the temple, the rights to cultivate from the
latter to the tenants and from the tenants, the right of occupation to artisans, craftsmen and
finally to the tillers of the soil.

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5. Multi-faceted Functions of Temples

Temple is an active centre of religious life in villages and township besides being an
important social institution. The temples were the custodians of religious beliefs and
exercised almost complete control over their devotees. They were the centres of the socio-
cultural and educational activities of the people. The temple was closely associated with the
territorial and communal bodies in the administration of the local area. It was landlord as it
owned property which was always tax-free. It was an employer as it employed a large
bureaucracy of servants for running the day to day functions of the temple. It served as a
bank since it received deposits in its treasury and lent money to the people. It also
contributed much to the promotion of rural industries and handicrafts. They also served as
the centres for the propagation of the religious values. In all these directions, the Indian
temple contributed much to the social life of the common population.

5.1. Social Role of Hindu Temples

The temple is the focus for all aspects of everyday life in the Hindu community- religious,
cultural, educational and social. The temple is also the place where one can transcend the
world of man. Kesavan Veluthat in his work “The Early Medieval in South India” has
highlighted the socio-economic role of the temples. According to him the temple served as
an agency for easier and more efficient extraction of surplus from the peasants in the
agrarian economy and this contributed to the extension of agriculture. In the course of such
extension the temples speed up the process of disintegration of tribal society and its
reorganization as a caste society.

In the newly formed caste society, the temple served as an integrating player linking the high
and low in service. The temples maintained the morality of the society and religious faith of
the people. Burton Stein holds the views that the temples serve the moral order of medieval
and modern south Indian Society. The temple, as a religious institution, was destined to
become the centre of social activity. It also contributed to its economy and in turn by the
benevolence of the spiritual society.

M. G. S. Narayanan and Kesavan Veluthat in their study summarized the role of the
temples in the society.

 The temple served as an agency for easier and more efficient extraction of surplus
from the peasants in the agrarian economy and this contributed to the extension of
agriculture in the tribal areas and the consolidation of the landlord domination.

 In the course of such extension, the temple accelerated the process of the
disintegration of tribal society and its reorganization as a caste society.

 In the newly formed caste society, the temple served as an integrating factor linking
the high and low in service and drawing towards itself as clients the different castes
and sub-castes.

 Such integrated role paved the way for Brahmin-inspired and Brahmin supported
state power in the regional monarchies of south India. The temple put its imprimatur
of legitimacy on the new polity and this in turn guaranteed state patronage for the
temple.

 In this process, the Brahmanical Varnashrama ideology strengthened its grip on

society, its latest weapon being the Bhakhti movement for which the temple served
as an institutional base.

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  In course of time, the prosperous temple, which was a landed magnate from the
beginning, also developed into a storehouse of gold and silver and precious jewels
as well as the regular place of assembly for the ruling elite.

 This produced the need for exclusiveness and protection leading eventually to the
development of the temple to fortress like proportions with several circles of streets
within streets, bazaars and armed forces.

 Finally, the temple acted as the agent for developing, consolidating, transmitting and
conserving the legacy of culture.

The temple sometimes started hospitals, in addition to educational institutions. Some

temples had also hospitals attached to them. And the function of the hospitals and in the
maintenance of physicians attached to them in village assemblies actively assisted and
cooperated with the donor.

5.2. Temple as a Place of Assembly

Temple served often as the town-hall, where people assembled to consider local affairs or to
hear the exposition of sacred literature. Marriages were celebrated in temples. They were
also the meeting grounds for the learned and Vedic scholars. Important religious texts,
treaties, and epic covering various aspects of human life and mythology ranging from
education and art to renunciation and god realization were discussed here by the specialists
in the fields. The kings and nobles in those days used to meet the citizens in temples and
even coronations and victory celebrations of king were performed in temples. Whatever
deed people considered noble and sacred, they used to execute it in the presence of god.

Temples were also the centers of service activities. Hospitals were often located in the
temple precincts. The maṭhas or monasteries attached to temple were almost canters of
selfless service. The monks fed the poor, tended the sick and the suffering, consoled the
afflicted and set up schools for educating children and young people.

Sometimes temples were used as place of judgment. The kings gave judgments in temple
hall or mandapa. Several disputes among the people of the society were also settled in the
temples, which were acted as a court of law. During the war period, people used to take
shelter in the temples. The temple was used a pilgrimage centre for priest and devotees.

The temple festivals were marked by wrestling matches, cock and ram flights, sports and
pastimes and every other form of popular entertainment for all class of people. In short the
Indian temple not only served as a place of worship, but also the venue, where the very
socio-cultural life was reflected. In a word the temple was the nucleus of the village or town
life.

5.3. Economic Function of Temples

The Indian temples has recognized as a main economic centre of the state. Historians of
south India has been commented the varied economic functions of the temples. Renowned
historian K.A.Nilakata Sastri speaks of temples as having the renewing economic function as
land holder, employer, provider of law, consumer of goods and educational services, bank
and place of entertainment. The temple has holding number of land as the property of the
temples. The temple as an employer of large number of persons may be seen in the
medieval Tamil inscriptions from the temples of Tanjavur and Madurai regions. For instance
in the Chola temple of Tanjavur 609 temple servants are listed including the teachers and
principal spiritual and secular officials. Similar to the above fact an inscription of the
Vijayanagara period referred to a smallest temple with 370 temple servants.

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 Tanjavur Raja Rajeseswaram Temple

Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple

Temples were also major consumers of local products which were regularly purchased and
used for the performance of rituals and sacrifices. The temple granaries were used to feed
the hungry and those unable to earn their livelihood due to disease and irregularity.

5.3.1. Tempe as a Landlord

The temple became a landed magnet and acquired the central place in the realm of the
agrarian economy and socio-religious life. It enjoyed a lot of revenue from the land owned
and controlled by it. The temples were endowed liberally by those who constructed them
and by kings, nobles, rich merchants and land owners with grants of lands either wet or dry
or both and of villages, whose rents and produce were devoted to the upkeep of religious
institutions. Temple lands are known as devadana which are commonly extended from all
kinds of taxes otherwise called sarvamanya. In some cases nominal taxes were collected.

The cultivators of devadana lands had the right of enjoyment of the land under cultivation
only. They had no right to alienate their holdings by mortgage or sale. Such high handed
actions were severely dealt with. It was obligatory on the part of the temple land holders to
do service, or to do personal work or to supply the required materials for which the land was
intended. It is also on record that cultivators could cultivate the lands according to their
convenience with any type of grain. But the only condition is that he must abide by the
stipulated norms and measure out the specified quantity of grain or anything as laid down in
the record without fail.

The temple lands were mostly leased and either on permanent tenures or on short tenures.
The tenant was to pay the specified annual rent on a mutually agreed basis according to the
nature of crops raised. It is evident that before transferring a land on lease, detailed
agreements were entered into between parties concerned regarding the type of crop to be
raised and the share to be paid to the temple. The lease of lands on a permanent basis
might have been of much use to the temples.

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The temple’s relation with the society was fundamentally the same as that of a landed chief
to his landed intermediaries, other subordinates, and tillers. The localization of agrarian
activities under the institutional supervision of the temple resulted in the establishment of an
elaborate agrarian order and in an unprecedented expansion of agriculture. Through its land
control the temple harnessed landed intermediaries, lease holders and actual tillers into an
integrated whole. The parts of the whole can be grouped as Brahmin and the non- Brahmin
orders. The formation of devadanam made the temple as an important landlord over the
villages and initiated many types of economic exchanges.

5.3.2. Temple as an Employer

The temples of India had been a great strengthening factor in keeping the people united.
The temples have given employment to a lot of people, as they needed people for the
construction, maintenance and day to day function. They also employed the architects for
the construction of temples, the artisans for the art and craft activities, sculptors and many
servants for the engaging in various activities of the temple.

To attest that A. Appadorai writes that “the position of the temple as an employer providing
work and means of livelihood for a large number of people is the most striking thing in this
connection”. According to D. Dayalan, the temple played an important role in the socio-
economic life as an institution providing ample employment opportunity to a large number of
people. Thus the temple became a major source of employment for the people, next only to
the state.

Virupaksha Temple, Hampi, Karnataka

The construction of temple and its maintenance offered employment to a number of

architects and craftsmen who vied with each other in bold planning and skilful execution.
Generally the big temples gave constant employment to a number of priests, choristers,
musicians, dancing girls, cooks and many other classes of servants. As a wealthy institution
and as the owner of vast landed properties the temple was a large employer. Economic
activities involving stone – masonry (especially after the advent of the new idea of the ‘stone
temple’) carpentry, jewellary, goldsmith, icon-making, garland making, special textiles and
numerous other ancillary industrial activities centered round the temple. These industries
gave employment to a variety of people in the village or township. The making of
icons/idols, which were noted for their high state of efficiency, must have given constant and
profitable employment for the skilled artisans. The making of ornaments and jewels to adorn
the images must have given great employment to goldsmiths. Every segment of the society
had something to do with the temple.

As temple provided work and the means of livelihood for a large number of persons, they
were able to exert great influence upon the economic life of the community. Even small
temples needed the services of priests, garland makers and suppliers of clarified butter, milk
and oil. The authorities of the temple entered into contracts with individuals or groups who
undertook to supply specified goods and services at stated periods. Clarified butter for

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burning lamps, the number vastly increasing with the ever-growing endowments of devotees,
flowers for garlands, rice for offer and for the feeding of Brahmin, vegetables and fruits,
sandal-paste and incense. Securities were demanded and penalties enforced on defaulters.

Among the regular employees the priests, Tiruppadiyam Paduvar, uvaccar, carpenter,
watchman, pancacarya, nattuvan, kaṇakkukaṇi, (accounts, etc.) were important. They were
all granted land for their maintenance. The tapasyas, devaradiyar and drummers who were
residing in the tirumadaivilagam of the temple also received lands from the temple for their
religious services. Besides the regular employees, the temple also provided job opportunity
to a large number of people indirectly.

The inhabitants of the villages were attached to the temple in various capacities. The
Brahmins as priests, peasants in cultivating the temple lands, the merchants in supplying
various commodities to the temple and artisans and others rendering various other works
and this apart, many persons were also hired by the temple temporarily or on part-time
basis in need.

Numerous inscriptions suggest that the employment of temple servants and assignment of
land for their maintenance, namely, for cleaning the temple floor, keeping the sanctuary lamp
alight, keeping the temple yard clean, persons who fetched water for bathing the deity,
cooking in the temple kitchen, tending the temple garden, drummers, conch-blower, stone-
masons, songsters, potters, carpenters, bhattars, Śivabrahmanas dancing girls, and
goldsmith, was very much in vogue in south India. Besides assigning lands to the temple
servants as wages for their services, temples also paid them in way of kind and money or
both. The appointment of the temple servants was generally hereditary.

5.3.3. As a Banker

As each temple had a treasury, it served the purpose of a bank. The large endowments in
the form of land, gold and money bestowed on temple by the various donors of the society
made the temples a richest institution. Particularly, many donors, from royal family to the
individuals, donated in gold and money to the temples. It is due to the availability of
enormous amount of money, the Indian temples delivered an economic function as a banker
which had really helped the agrarian society at the time. Regarding the economic function of
temples as a bank, B.K.Pandeya argues that the temples acted as a money lender but not a
bank. He further states, that “The temples of early period served not as a modern bank but a
prototype of it”.

 It lent money to private bodies and village assemblies with or without security.

 Cultivators borrowed money from the temple treasury whenever they needed money
for carrying on their cultivation.

 Money was also lent to private persons for important purposes. Borrowers from the
temple treasury, when unable to repay the loan, sold a part of their lands to wipe off
debts. Generally the loans were given by the temple in cash or some specified
items should be supplied to the temple in lieu of the interest. From the interest the
temples fulfilled the purpose for which the donations were made.

 Parents of girls anxious to marry off their daughters but who were in a distressed
and desperate condition borrowed sums to meet their daughters’ marriage
expenses. They got loans for other indefinite purpose also, and money was lent with
or without security.

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  The temple treasury helped the ryots in need by selling a portion of the temple land
and utilizing the amount for the repair of the village tanks whenever it breached.

 The funds for the maintenance of irrigation works were coming from different
agencies and as a quasi-private body the temples’ share in this regard was
obviously sizable. Affluent temples which had surplus funds and landed properties
undertook directly or indirectly, to repair or renovate tanks for the public good.

The temple’s practice of assigning donated livestock to the care of particular shepherd was
an investment by the temple authorities and this resulted in the prosperity of the agrarian
community. The shepherds were thus placed in a service relationship to the temple. Such
activities also served to redistribute economic resources in such a way as to alleviate
potentially disruptive inequities.

The Indian temples also extended their helping hand to the non-Brahmin village assemblies,
small peasants and individuals. Though in many cases the temples acquired the lands in lieu
of the money lent by them, the timely financial help rendered by the temples to the needy in
times of drought and famines and in the absence of any assistance forthcoming from the
state altogether cannot be ignored.

5.3.4. Barter System

Temple was functioning as a site of barter exchange in the local people, participating in the
transactions stipulating conditions for them and it standardized inter-commodity exchange
rates. Certain records refer to a stable gold – paddy exchange ratio too, which was owed to
the temple. The prevalence of regular inter-commodity exchange ratio of the time seems to
indicate the absence of monetization in the economic transactions of the temple used to
people.

6. Temple as Educational Institution

Temple served as an educational institution. Number of inscriptions and literary evidences

give us glimpses of educational services rendered by the temple. Besides the Buddhist and
Jaina monasteries, the Hindu temple also played vital role in promotion of education. These
temple institutions also played a prominent role is fostering the religious and cultural life of
the people. The pupils of the temple school (kovil padasala) learned spiritual education from
the religious gurus. Those who studied there were given both free food and education. In
early days there was a system of repeating stories like tiruvaymoli, tiruvenbavai, Puranas
like the Mahabharata and Ramayana and Bhakti literature like devaram, thiruvaasakam,
naalayiradivya prapandam within the temple precincts. Those who well versed in Vedic and
Puranic traditions were appointed as religious teacher in the temples and they looked after
pupils and transmitted the spiritual knowledge to them.

Lingaraja Temple, Odisha

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Generally the educational institutions run by the temple were known as temple school. Apart
from the repeating the stories of the Puranas and Itihasas the students of the temple school
studied the Vedas, Sastras and grammar. A hostel and hospital for the students were
attached to the school. The students were provided with food, bathing oil on Saturday and
lamps for all. Some temples had also a number of residential students in boarding schools
attached to them.

With the emergence of Bhakti movement and the spread of temple construction as its
consequence, the function of educational institutions too were carried out by most of the
temples of prominence. As no other public agency including the state had taken up the
responsibility of providing education, temple became the main educational agency. The
number of major temples provided adequate facilities to run educational institutions in their
own precincts. Such institutions attached with the temples were variously known as ghatikas,
salais, guhais, and mathas.

These institutions served as great residential colleges and provided facilities for the study of
religion, literature as well as various secular subjects. The chief aim of the ‘Hindu education
system was the training of the mind as an instrument of knowledge, and not simply to fill it
with the furniture of objective knowledge. Apart from the influence of the environment, the
real creative force in education came from the teacher (guru) as the master mind directing its
entire course. Sometimes his home was also the school. The school was thus a natural
formation and not an artificially created institution. Because of this reason, the concept of
educational institutions in the modern sense of term was not present in Hindu society.

The mention of the libraries is mostly found along with the matha and monasteries in the
south Indian regions. The royal as well as the religious institutions of the south India
supported the creation of a richly literate culture. The palaces also used to have their own
collection of famous literary works. Sacred texts and commentaries, plays and poems were
created by intelligentsia living in the capital or dependent on its patronage.

7. As Promoter of the Fine Arts

The temples were the promoters of fine arts. As a cultural centre, the temple witnessed the
evolution of different schools of art, architecture, painting, music and dance in different parts
of the country, which brought out a variety of systems in holistic and performing arts,
although all of them stemmed from the same spiritual stock. Cultural activities ranging from
music and bhajans to theatre and dramas have taken place in temple precincts. The temple
had also provided inspiration to a number of poets, composers and artists who have richly
contributed to Bhakti literature, music and dance.

Tirumala Venkateshwara Temple, Andhra

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The temple gave encouragement to the theatre and dancing. There was in bigger temples a
hall called the Ranga mandapa where usually dance performances were held. Provision was
made for maintenance of theatres also. Music and dancing theatrical presentations of
popular tales and legends formed part of the ordinary routine of the temple. On festive
occasions these received special attention. In temples Nataka salas (stage for drama and
dance performance) were specially constructed for this purpose.

The temples were also a place of religious conversation and musical discussions. All these
have facilitated the propagation of religion, music, dance and other fine arts in the society.
Temple is also acted as the agent for developing, consolidating, transmitting and conserving
the legacy of culture.

8. Summary

People in India especially in early medieval south India considered that a place without a
temple is not fit for human habitation. From the hoary past the land of south India had its
temple. Early literary texts of south India also bear witness to this fact. The temples of the
villages were the nerve-centre of Indian culture. Everywhere in homes, streets, villages we
can find temple. All most every village of south India has its temple, around which centres in
a very large measure the corporative civic life of the community which live in it. The
construction of temple is integral part of the social life of the people. These institutions linked
the people for the maintenance, festivals and poojas. Thus the temple of India played a very
important role going far beyond a mere religious institution. It had functions of a social,
economic, political and cultural nature and they were interrelated in a multi-faceted way.

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