The temples are so numerous that it is difficult to arrive at the total number of Temples in India.
Thiruvarur Thiagaraja temple by Night,Tamil Nadu.
(The government list of temples) is as follows:
Tamil Nadu—34,000 temples
Andhra Pradesh—43,000 temples
Karnataka—34, 000 temples
Kerala—28,000 Bagavathy temples (Travancore and Cochin Devaswam Board –TCDB-alone has 1800 temple)
(Four South Indian States alone total over 108,000 temples!!!)
Maharashtra—45,000 temples
Mathura Brindhavan area—5000 temples
Himachal Pradesh—over 2000 temples and sacred places
India has 29 States and seven Union Territories. all unified by One culture..
Along the banks of 1500 mile long Holy Ganges, thousands of sacred places! And along the 1500 mile long Himalayas every foot is considered sacred place. No need to mention about Badrinath, Kedarnath and Kailash.
Kanchipuram near Chennai alone has 108 temples. Madurai in Tamil Nadu has 50 temples.
On the banks of Cauvery we have innumerable temples built by the Tamil Kings,.
We have down south other temples by Hoysalas, Kakatiyas,
These do not include rock temples and village deity Temples.Chalukyas ,Nayakas….
Parashurama built 108 Shiva Temples.
In Kerala you find Bhagavathi Temple in every Village.
And we have modern temples, like Hare Krishna movement and in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka one can see virtually every street has a Temple in some form or the other.
In Tamil Nadu, every Peepal tree has a Vinayaga/Ganesha Idol.
I would venture to guess that there might be between 7 and 8 Lakh temples in India.
I have been researching into the origins of Shiva worship in the South.
I have been referring to, apart from Sanskrit texts, Tamil Texts,Temple architecture and Temple histories of south and north India.
In this search,I have noticed that there were at least two tsunamis mentioned in the Tamil Classics.
The great Flood is present in almost all the civilizations of the world.
And there are more interesting nuggets of information.
1.The Sanatna Dharma spread in South East Asia and Westwards of India seem to have been from the South.
2.Rama’s ancestor Satyavrata Manu migrated from the South to the North and his son Ikshvaku founded the Ikshvaku Dynasty.
3.The South Asian spread of Santana Dharma seems to have preceded the spread int he west.
4.The remains of Tamil Culture is found in all the Asian countries , New Zealand and Australia.
5.The Incas whose ancestors were Tamils and they came later than the Africans.
6.The ancestors of the Africans, the Olmecs’ ancestors were Tamils from Godavari Kumtis.
7.This leads to the discrepancy in dating the Tamils and these Cultures.
8. Once we are able to distinguish between the Two Floods, we can see some light in this search.
The Southern part of India, below the Deccan Plateau/ Vindhya/Satpura Mountains seems to have separated from the landmass of India twice, one each at each Flood.
The earliest one formed the Kumari Kandam, which has been referred to by the Tamil Classics.
This spread was east wards towards reaching to Australia.
Later came the Lemuria, which had the Atlantis a part of it.
I have been trying to find the connection between the Mu Civilization and the Tamils.
Detailed Post on this follows shortly.
In the meantime I stumbled on some information I thought worth sharing.
The theory of the Lost Civilization of Mus was floated by James Churchward, a patented inventor, engineer.
‘he had found evidence of a lost civilisation: Mu. Mu was said to have been the Pacific equivalent of Atlantis, though Churchward said it was a colony of Mu. The first man to write about Mu was Augustus LePlongeon, who in archaeological circles has the distinction of being the first to make a photographic record of the ruins of Chichen Itza. In his books “Sacred Mysteries Among the Mayans and Quiches” (1886) and “Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx” (1896), LePlongeon related his decipherment of the so-called “Troano Codex”, which he claimed showed that the Maya were the ancestors of the Ancient Egyptians. The Mayans had originated from a lost civilization, Mu, which was on par with Atlantis, and which had been destroyed by a volcanic eruption. He added that Queen Moo – clearly linked with Mu – had travelled from this continent to Egypt, where she had gone down into the history books under her new name of Isis. Unfortunately, when the Mayan language was deciphered several decades later, it was learned that LePlongeon’s interpretation of this document was completely erroneous, sometimes even using letters that were in fact no such thing. Jack Churchward, a descendent of James Churchward, states that LePlongeon relied on the translation of Brasseur de Bourbourg. Jack Churchward received an email from one of de Bourbourg’s descendants, who stated that the translation was done by channelling a spirit, which explains why LePlongeon erred so much when he interpreted the document based on this translation.
LePlongeon did put the lost civilization of Mu on the books, but left it to Theosophist Helena Blavatsky to popularize the lost continent, claiming it was the mystical birthplace of occult traditions. But the man who brought Mu from theory and speculation to reality was James Churchward, who claimed to have found hard physical evidence for the continent’s existence, when he was shown a secret library in India…
Chruchward reported that he found manuscripts signifying the connection between the Tamils and the Mus ina secret chamber in Ekambareswarar Temple, Kanchipuram,Tamil Nadu.
He had found some Tablets too.
‘Churchward’s discovery became famous when a major article on it appeared on November 10, 1924 in the “New York American” newspaper. In it, the central framework of Churchward’s claims about Mu was put forward. The civilisation was labelled “Empire of the Sun”. It was once a civilisation that had 64 million inhabitants, known as the Naacals, the priestly brotherhood, keepers of the sacred wisdom, who lived 50,000 years ago. All known ancient civilisations – India, Egypt and the Mayas – were decayed remnants of its many colonies.
In 1926, at the age of 75, Churchward published “The Lost Continent of Mu: Motherland of Man”. Where was Mu? It extended from north of Hawaii to the Fijis and Easter Island. Geologists find it hard to imagine dry land here, as the area is crossed by the so-called Andesite Line, making it geologically unlikely there was a landmass here. As Churchward never produced any evidence for his visit to the Naacal Library, several people treat his claims with scepticism.
So was Churchward a liar, or someone with genuine experiences? To understand the man better, it is noted that some aspects of the Mu legend are original to Churchward, some aren’t. It was LePlongeon who had first written about the “Nacaal”, in 1896, where he identifies them as Maya adepts and missionaries, with the word Naacal meaning “the exalted”. But LePlongeon therefore identified their homeland as Central America, not Mu in the Pacific Ocean, which was specific to Churchward.
What about his relationship with Blavatsky? They both claimed that in India, they had been exposed to “lost knowledge”. In the case of Blavatsky, her source of lost knowledge was the “Book of Dzyan”, supposedly written in Atlantis and presented to her by the Indian Mahatmas.
Indeed, though it could be argued that Churchward merely copied from the likes of Blavatsky and LePlongeon in his exploit of Mu, at the same time, it could be said that his story is totally true and that it confirms Blavatsky’s assertions and that Churchward spent several decades cementing his case before he went public and wrote his series of books on the subject.
Churchward was living in India in the 1880s, before he moved to the United States in 1889. It is during his time in India when he allegedly made contact with these Indian adepts – allowing for a period of roughly a decade where he could befriend, learn and study the language – more than sufficient time. Churchward said he studied the language which was said to be Mankind’s original language, which had labelled “Naga-Maya”, for more than two years
After having read the Naacal documents, he continued his searches for further information. In Burma, he visited an ancient Buddhist temple in search of the missing records, carrying letters of introduction from the Indian high priests with whom he studied…
‘His story truly hinges on whether or not he acquainted an Indian priest and saw numerous rare tablets. As a result, for years, the story of Churchward therefore remained a legend, while his books were reprinted. But never, anything new was found that might change the status quo. That changed when the German independent researcher, author and travel agency manager Thomas Ritter claimed he had entered a “secret library” underneath Sri Ekambaranatha temple in Kanchipuram, India in which he has found evidence of the lost civilisation of Mu.
He claims that on July 23, 2010, he was contacted by one Pachayappa, who invited him to enter the underground complex – and even allowed him to photograph some of its contents! Ritter states how “at chamber no. 4 the priest only allowed me to take pictures from two tablets, not from all this books there. The two tablets he showed me, are a little bit damaged. But you can see clearly the inscriptions.”
These two tablets are the so-called Naacal tablets, which James Churchward claimed to have seen many decades before. When Ritter published the material, there was immediately a torrent of disbelief, not helped by the realization that what Ritter apparently showed was a tablet unearthed in Byblos (Lebanon), discovered by French archaeologist Maurice Dunand. Because of the small amount of writing on the tablets, they have so far not been deciphered, though the script is identified – Proto-Byblian – and therefore not related to India. Indeed, the tablet presented by Ritter is in the Beirut Museum (Cat. 16598) and not a secret library in India.
Ritter claims that in July 2010, he was not welcomed by the usual young priest Narjan, whom he knew well, but an elder man, Pachayappa, who unlike Narjan, did not speak English. Pachayappa took him down into the underground structures of the temple complex. Ritter states: “Before an iron-bound door he stopped and pointed with some gesture to the bottom: ‘Rishi place!’” Then he opened the door, behind which the Nacaal library was located.
Whether Ritter is lying or not, he has at least specifically identified a temple as the location of the library: the Sri Ekambaranatha Temple in Kanchipuram, in the state of Tamil (India). The gate of the temple complex measures more than sixty metres tall, making it the largest temple tower in Southern India, and is made from granite, decorated with the images of gods, goddesses and heroes. The complex is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and is one of the five major Shiva temples, each of which representing a natural element. The Sri Ekambaranatha Temple represents the element earth. The temple’s history dates back to at least 600 AD, though could be older and is notorious for its “hallway with a thousand pillars”, as the temple’s inner walls are decorated with an array of 1,008 Shiva lingams, a symbol of the male energy.
But Ritter has drawn attention to the subterranean system of this complex, where he claims there are ten chambers. In nine of these chambers, they stored the tablets. Each room measured 25 meters long and 15 meters wide, with the ceiling quite low – he could touch it when he stretched his arm out. Pachayappa claimed that the inscriptions detailed the Rishi Puranas, the lives of the culture bringers of Ancient India. Inside were black granite tables, and there were tens of thousands of stone tablets. Ritter notes that “both sides of such postcard-sized stone tablets engraved with tiny lines were narrow characters covered in an unfamiliar script. Other plates showed fine geometric patterns on running, technical drawings, maps and astronomical images.” When he asked what they contained, he said it was the legacy of the Seven Sages.
In the first three chambers, the tablets are made from black granite, in the next three from gold. Each golden tablet was fourteen by ten centimeters, and about two to three milimeters thick and were bound like a book.
In the final three rooms, he found silver and bronze tablets that were hard to read, so Ritter used a handkerchief to polish the tablet, restoring it to its original state.
Ritter claims he was only allowed to photograph two tablets. All of these chambers have inscriptions, describing the lives and deeds of the rishis, and has produced photographs of these inscriptions.
The tenth room was located at the end of the corridor. In the middle of the room rose a column of about 1.50 m high from a solid black material, and according to Pachayappa, the material was not stone. Behind the lingam were statues of the Seven Rishis, placed in a semi-circle, and were made from a shimmering metal, which Ritter thought could be gold or silver-plated. One of them he was able to identify as Aghasthiya, who is always depicted as a dwarf.’
I have written quite a few posts describing the approach Of Hinduism towards God.
God as The Reality, on the one hand is treated as A principle without Attributes, on the other it reveals God is closer to Man if one approaches Him with Devotion,Love.
Lord Krishna declares in the Bhagavad Gita that He would appear to the Devotee in the Form He wishes and prays and Grant him His wishes in the Form of the God He worships.
And in the Path of Devotion in Hinduism, God , can and was approached in the Form of a Relative,
Mother,Father,Son,Child,Friend……..in as many as forms as there are relationships.
God has also been approached as a Lover!
And He responded!
There is yet another instance that many, who do not know Tamil, may be unaware of.
That Sundarar, a Devotee of Lord Shiva, asked the Lord to go and mediate on behalf him to his paramour!
And The Lord obliged!
Shiva had earlier stopped Sunadarar’s marriage claiming that Sundara was Shiva’s Slave, as per the document executed by Sundarar’s ancestor and Shiva had documents to support it!
And in a Court, Panchayat, Shiva proved it.
During the course of the altercation on this issue, Sundara called Shiva as a Lunatic.Pitha(Tamil)
Later when Shiva asked Sundarar to compose Hymns on Him(after Sundarar realized the Man who visited him was none other than Shiva), Sundarar was at a loss and asked the Lord ‘
‘How can I sing on You, The Lord,whom I called as a Lunatic’
Shiva replied,
Start with the term thou have addressed Me, Pitha, Lunatic’, the first song of his Thevaram, the songs in praise of Shiva.
Translation:
Oh mad! Oh Peruman with a crescent, Oh Graceful one, I am thinking about you without forgetting. Oh God of Thiru vennai nalloor in the southern bank of the river Pennai, how can I say I am not your slave?
Sundharar did not want to put his leg in the holy town of thiruvadhikai where Thirunaavukkarasar was born. So he stayed in the outskirts – sidhdhavada madam. In the night when he was sleeping, the God appeared as an old man and put His legs many times on Sundharar ‘s head. Sundharar shouted at Him. He disappeared from there. Realizing that the old man was God Himself, Sundharar sang this song…
Not only this, Sundarar asked Lord Shiva to mediate between him and his Paramour!
Shiva did!
Sundarar , Shiva altercation.
‘
while Sundarar was being married, the service was interrupted by an old ascetic who asked for Sundarar as his servant, making a name sake claim that Sundarar’s “grandfather pledged him” according to an ancient palm leaf manuscript in his possession. Sundarar and those assembled at the wedding were outraged and called the old man a madman (piththaan: Tamil). But a court of Vedic scholars concluded that the palm leaf was legally valid. Crestfallen, Sundarar resigned himself to servitude in the old man’s household and, following him to Thiruvennainallur village, was led to the Thiruvarutturai Shiva temple.
The old man was said to be Shiva (Lord Thiagaraja) himself, who told him: ” That the document shown was only a name sake reason and he wanted sundarar to be reminded of his actual form as alalasundarar a servitor in lord’s kailasam, who had to be born in earth both due to moments of worldly thoughts that overcame him as well as due to the fact that the southern tamil region that had done great thavam during kali age need be blessed with an account on lives of great nayanmars called tiru thondar thokai.You will henceforth be known as Vanthondan, the argumentative devotee. Did you not call me a mad man just a short while ago? Begin your hymn addressing me ‘O mad man!’”.Lord sivan had also advised vanthondar to” while on earth sing of us in words of Tamil”…
‘
Sundarar prayed to the Lord for His help in pacifying Paravayar. The Lord disguised Himself as Sundarar’s messenger, a Brahmin priest, and went to Paravayar’s house. The Brahmin pleaded Sundarar’s cause, but Paravai refused and sent them back. Yet she was grief-stricken at the separation from Sundarar.
When the Lord informed Sundarar of all that had happened, Sundarar was inconsolable and blamed that Shiva’s going there in the form of a messenger and not in His true form was the cause for the failure of the mission. The Lord once set out to go to the second time.
In the mean time, the devout Paravayar had understood that the Brahmin was no other than the Lord Himself and was suffering from terrible anguish for not recognizing Shiva. The Lord again went to her house: and this time He appeared before her in His real form. Paravayar at once prostrated before Siva and agree to obey his commands.
The Lord then informed Sundarar that He had pacified Paravayar and that Sundarar could now return to her. In the mean time, Paravayar had decorated her house beautifully and was eagerly waiting for her Lord. Sundarar, with his devotees, entered the house. Paravayar fell at Sundarar’s feet. Thus, they were re-united after a long separation.
Because of his adamant attitude to even the Lord, Shiva Called Sundarar as Vanthondar, One who is argumentative , prone to violence!
A word about the evidence of this incident
Sundarar is unique among the Nayanars in that both of his parents are also recognised as Nayanars. He was born into an adi saiva, temple priest Brahmin group.His original name was Nambi aroorar. The ruler of the local kingdom (Thirumunaipadi-Nadu), Narasingamunaiarayar a chieftain, adopted him and brought up as his own son, attracted by the beauty of the child he saw playing in the street. Sundarar was a contemporary of great Pallava emperor Rajasimha who was also a nayanmar saint and also author of many devotional hymn works in tamil.A temple inscription in tiruvarur says that sundarar’s father sadayan also a nayanmar saint belonged to the gotram or lineage of sage bharadwaja and his mother isaignani also a nayanmar saint belonged to the gotram or lineage of sage gautama. From epigraphs it is also inferred that a Sanskrit hagiography on sundarar namely sva swami mitra prabhandam translated as travelogues of he who became friend of lord is now not available.’
When we want to record the happenings today, we have them written in Newspapers, Text Books.
Now we have the electronic media and we have even digitalised our news , which would be History tomorrow.
If they question that the news was fabricated , then what?
If when the future looks at History and if these records we have created had been destroyed, is it that nothing has happened?
In the past the Kings were clever.
They created documents in the form of epigraph , built temples specifying the reasons for the temple and the Devotees like Sundarars’ Names are mentioned .
What more do we want?
That Shiva would come and testify?
He did ans He will.
I shall narrate that later.
Tiruvennainallur Temple, where Shiva revealed Himself to Sundarar -Basic information.
Moolavar
:
Krupapureeswarar – also Arutkonda Nathar, Aatkonda Nathar, Venupureeswarar
Urchavar
:
–
Amman / Thayar
:
Mangalambikai, Verkanni Amman
Thala Virutcham
:
Bamboo
Theertham
:
Pennai River, Neeli, Sivaganga, Kama, Arul Thurai, Dandu, (Sivnarkeni), Pandava, Vaikunda and Veda theerthams.
There are incidents in one’s Life which defy Logic.
We, those who have not experienced them, brush them aside , saying it is a coincidence,vivid imagination.
Full of Life, we make jest of such things.
But when one faces difficult circumstances, one tends to clutch even a straw.
The difference between Gnani and ordinary mortals is that the former learns and proceeds towards Realization; we ,though for a moment are moved, get on with our Lives as usual!
I have personal experience of such incidents,
I have narrated a couple of them as Posts.
I have a friend, who is running a Media Group in Tamil ,a Film producer,Political commentator and very much down to earth.
Though not an Atheist or an Agnostic, one can not say he is deeply religious.
I met him , on his personal invitation, (after reading my blog,) in Chennai in March 2015 for the first time.
I went to his office around 2 pm and we were discussing many things, mainly Politics, News till 10.30 pm.
As I informed my eldest sister-in-law and my wife that I would be back in about two hours, they were worried and kept on calling me.
Finally I returned home by about 11.30pm.
What did we discuss at length?
As we were discussing politics and other things, topic turned towards Philosophy and Religion.
In the course of our talks he narrated this incident.
Let me narrate it in his words.
‘By now, you know I am not strictly religious, though I Believe in God.
I have been associated with Kanchi Mutt very closely and now have distanced by self after the passing away of the Maha Periyava.
I was then running more Magazines , which were trend setters and I was kept busy .
During this period my wife fell ill and that too critically.
She was admitted to Apollo Hospitals ,Chennai.
She was on Oxygen and Doctors informed me that they had done their best and the rest is with God.
I was by her side for over eight days.
On the eighth day, I dozed off.
I had a vivid dream, where Goddess Abhirami bade me to come to Thirukkadavur.
I woke up.
I called my driver and proceeded towards Thirukkadavur.
It was Monson time in Tamil Nadu,July/August.
It was raining heavily.
With great difficulty we covered th distance in about ten hours and I reached the temple around 6 am.
The Sanctum had opened just then.
The Kurukkal, Archaka, was awaiting the arrival of Milk for morning Abhisheka.
Time wore by… 6.0..7… 7.30…
The archaka became restless as it was getting late and devotees have gathered and it was raining very heavily.
Then around 7.45 came a boy with an Aluminium Can of Milk.
The Archaka scolded him for being late.
The boy just smiled and went off saying that the Cows were sick.
The Abhishekam went on.
It was concluded by about 9 am.
Then came a man and asked the archaka for his forgiveness.
He stated that he could not provide the Milk that day as his cows were sick!
The archaka told him that a boy had come and delivered the Milk stating that the Cows were sick!
The man replied that he had no assistants!
..The Abhishekam over, Archanai began.
I started to offer details for the Archanai , but the Archaka kept on overlooking me and went on performing Archanai for the others.
I t was 9.30.
I asked him to perform the Archana .
He told me that the next Abhishekam will start shortly and he will perform the Archana, afer the Abhshekam and the mandatory Kattali Abhishekam by some other party, which was scheduled for the day.
I waited.
The Abhishekam over , the Archanai began for the other party who had scheduled the Archana for the day.
I was totally dejected as my archanai was not being done as I felt it was a bad omen.
But I looked on.
The Archanai Sankalpam began.
The Nakshatra was Magha, my wife’ nakshatra!
The name was my wife’s.!
Then the daughter’s name and nakshatra were recited,
They were my daughter’s!
I had realized then,
It was Abhirami’s way of Blessing Me!…
I did not do the Archanai as It had already been done.
…Darshan over, I started for Chennai and it continued raining heavily.
The Driver found it difficult to drive.
In the meanwhile I was running a high fever and was shivering, feeling giddy.
I told the driver to park the Car in a safe place.
I was shivering with fever and was delirious.
The driver said that he would manage by driving carefully.
I had dozed off and after an hour I saw a small girl sitting in the front seat near the driver, talking to him.
She was wearing a Green Petticoat,( a dress worn by young girls in the south)
I was trying to shout at the driver not to pick up hitch hikers.
If he wanted more money I could give it to him.
But no words came!
I slept off.
As I woke up, the Driver was saying,
‘Sir, We are nearing Chennai, it is 5.30″
I asked him how it could be as I told him to wait and asked him.
‘Where is the girl whom you picked up?
He replied that the girl got down at the outskirts of Tirukkadavur saying that there would be no problem in reaching Chennai.
And that I and asked him to pick her up and was chatting with her!
He said he did not charge her.
We reached the Hospital.
My wife was looking normal and her oxygen had been removed.
She was able to talk and told me that some one who said he was close friend of mine gave her Kumkum prasadm from Thirukkadavur.
She asked me that who it was as she knew all my close friends.
I could not place him even after my wife’s description of him.
Then I remembered the Deity Abhiramai was wearing green Petticoat after the Abhishekam!
The history of Bhogar tells us that he made the Palani Dhandauthapani Idol in the Garbha Graha at a place called Thannasi
Appan Temple.
Bhogar is reported to have used Nine Minerals/Herbs/poisons to prepare the raw material for the Idol.
The term Paashaana means, Minerals, herbs, Poison.
He is reported to have made three Idols.
One has been installed at Palani garbha Gruha.
Bhogar in Nirvikalpa Samadhi .
Two Idols are reported to have been hidden by Bhogar in the Eastern Ghats and it is believed that they would surface at an appropriate moment.
The idol at Palani Garbha Gruha was found to be weak below the Neck and therefore the Abhishekams were stopped.
Now Abhishekams are performed for the Utsavar only.
The committee formed by the Government of Tamil Nadu to find out the status of the Idol found , by Atomic Test, that the material used for the construction of the Idol of Murugan is neither Granite, Nor Minerals.
Please read my Post on this, where I have provided the excerpt of the Report.
Thannasiappan Temple entrance.
‘Bogar is a Siddhar, he is considered as one of the 18 siddhars born in the world. According to epigraphical sources and his book Bogar Seven thousand his period is around 3000 B.C. Bogar born at India and visited China in search of truth of life, he gained knowledge in medicine, astrology, spritiuality, yoga etc.
Bogar anticipating that in due course of period, human beings will suffer from large number of disease. As an expert in medicine he used 4448 rare herbs and made 9 poisonous medicine, mixing these 9 poisons into one needs great knowledege and skill, to make a Master Medicine ( One medicine to cure all disease ). Thirumoolar also discuss one such Master Medicine in his book Thiru Mandiram. With the consultation of Agasthiar ( Father of Ayurvedic Medicine) and other siddhars Bogar mixed the 9 poisons ( Nava Bashanam ) and made the Master Medicine in the form of Lord Murugan which is currently worshiped at Palani Murugan temple. There is a place near Palani Hill called Thanasiappan Temple which is the place were Bogar mixed the Nava Bashanam and made the Murugan idol.’
Thiruvarur Thiagaraja temple by Night,Tamil Nadu.
You must be logged in to post a comment.