An analysis of history of Tamil religion/Part:20 [END]


The Dravidian system of worship was  idolatry, i.e., puja (Poo –sai – Neri) to a concrete religious symbol that enables an average man to love, perceive and comprehend his God. The Dravidians used to worship God with water, leaves and flowers. The Aryan system of worship was ‘yagna’, the imageless worship. The Aryans lit fire and threw animals into it to propitiate their God. They believed that the fire was the messenger who carried their message to their God. This is the fundamental difference between the religions of the Aryans and the Dravidians.The Himalayas with its splendid, dazzling, magnificent and awe-inspiring aura, overwhelmed the hearts of the Dravidians of the pre-historic age to a great extent that they revered it as the abode of their God.During their day-to-day prayers and festivals, they used to prepare the image of the abode of their God for their worship. That image depicted the plain land, the mountain over it and the river that flowed from the mountain over the plain. As everyone was permitted (in sharp contrast to the way the Brahmins had  later appropriated to themselves the right of access to the deity) to prepare such an image for one’s own worship, and given the fact that all the people were not sculptors, the image, in due course, took the present form in  which it is installed and worshipped in the Siva temples.Such transformation in shape had taken place in the Indus Civilisation period itself.It is worthwhile to mention here that the practice of preparing such an image, though not in accurate shape, with turmeric paste or cow-dung, is still prevalent among us,during festival occasions. The origin of this practice can be traced only to the aforesaid  worship of Lord Siva of pre-historic origin.(That the image is now called as Pillaiyar does not contradict the fact, as this story  of Pillaiyar was due
to the later-day evolution of modern Hinduism which even then held that the said Pillaiyar belonged to the same Saivite cosmic family of Lord Siva).Besides, the Dravidian custom of regarding and respecting the mountains as the abode of their God is still held in high esteem in the tamil land or south India that it gave birth to the adage, “Kundram Irukkumidam  Kumaran Irukkumidam” (Kumaran, the Lord Muruhan, being another deity of the same cosmic family) This belief of Tamils in venerating the mountains as the abode of God can also be traced only to  the concept of the Kayilai of Lord Siva.The tradition of the Dravidians to visualsze their God to be at the highest place, even in the material sense is, therefore, of pre-historic origin. Their religion was Siva-ism, the Saivism. And, the seals found in the Indus Valley include the Mother Goddess, the Siva form, and a male God seated in yogic posture. It, therefore, becomes crystal clear that Siva worship, in its present form, had been practiced during the pre-Aryan Indus Civilisation period itself.The earliest reference to the people who worshipped Siva in this material form is found in the Rig Veda. But, these Rig Vedic references were only in the context of deriding the symbol and not in the context of expounding its concept,Here,The Lord Siva is derided as ‘Sisnadevata’ in Rig Veda.
  
Given the fact that these two peoples,Diravidians and Aryans, were so ill-disposed towards each other, such derisive remarks against the religion of the Dravidians by the Vedic Aryans are understandable.An analysis of the world history shows that the antagonism of the Vedic Aryans towards the religious symbols of the Dravidians is matched only by the antagonism displayed by the Aryans of Germany towards the religious symbols of the Jews.The abominable manner in which the Germans desecrated them  is of recent history. ‘Sisna’ in Vedic language meant the private part of the males. The words ‘linga’ also means the same thing. In English it came to be called as ‘phallus’. The Vedic Aryans were  the first people in the recorded history of the world to offend the feelings of the other religious group in such a repulsive manner which is a crime under the present day Indian Penal Code Section 125.The Vedic religion which had thus derided the Siva-cult originally, absorbed it into its fold only during the period of Upanishads [600 B.C]. But, even then, the Vedic religion did not become idolatrous. Idolatry gained ground in Vedic religion only during the post-Upanishadic period. However, because of the absorption of Lord Siva into its fold, the Vedic religion was made a composite one. As the references in the Rig Veda against the Siva worship as ‘Sisnadevas’  and ‘Sisnadevata’
could not be erased overnight, the Vedic Aryans sought to justify it by floating various theories of  “Naadha Vindhu Kalaadhi”. The Vedic Aryans had no other choice for  their survival through easy means. the tribal deities being equated to standard Brahmin gods, or new Brahmin scriptures written for making unassimilable gods respectable”The pro-Siva group of Aryans, took over the title ‘Iyer’ and have occupied the Siva temples and driven Tamil out and introduced their Sanskrit as the language for the mantras. They told the Dravidians that the latter was nor required to know what we utter as mantras. The Dravidians believed whatever the Aryans said Over the years, it became a tradition and Tamil lost its place in temples

After aryans migrated towards India from central Asia & conquered  the dravidians, causes changes to ancient dravidian's religion as well.Many of the ancient tamil deities assumed fresh characteristics and were equated with similar deities or gods of ancient  Aryan, like MuruganSkanda or Subrahmanya, SivaRudra, MayonVishnu, KotravaiParvathi...........ie Murugan,a Tamil god, son of the wild goddess Kotravai, became identified with Skanda,& become son of paramasivan & parvathy by Aryans.Aryans who invaded India and destroyed the existing Dravidian Civilization,successfully used common tactics/Strategy of Conquerors over the conquered races[ Dravidians/Tamils] by integrating cultures such as equating ancient tamil deities with their similar vedic deities by giving new characters,Introducing varnas[cast system/social classes] etc.Also these deities assumed Sanskrit names.Murugan and Skanda or subramanya seem to be identical but different deities who were later merged into one as said above. Murugan is always associated with youth and wisdom.His consort is Valli (Devayani,was a later addition..when he was associated with Skandha]. Naturally Murugan was both the deity of those who desired wisdom as well the deity of those who were warriors.Tamils still call their kurinchi land division deity as Murugan , but ariyanised Kerala & Kannada people call him as Subramanya
Swamy.Even Tamil hindus do not understand that murugan & Skandha or Subramanya are in fact different.The Integration of Dravidian Murugan and Aryan Skanda has taken place when Pallavas came to Tamil Nadu.The Brahmins have spearheaded this integration.The Aryan god had a father but no mother and Dravidian god has mother but no father.The Dravidian mother Korravai was identified with Kali,Durga or Amman as early as Sangam age.Since Kali /Durga were identified with Parvati the consort of Shiva, Murugan was identified as son of Shiva.The myth also was made up to represent two kind of marriage, Kalavu – love marriage (a Tamil/Dravidian tradition- Valli and Murugan) and Karpu – arranged marriage (Brahmin tradition- Theivanai and Murugan).There after,they introduced relationships among god as elder brother,younger brother,sister,cousin etc so that common people could understand easily.Now Pillair & Murugan are children of Siva,Thirumal cousin of Siva,...Korravai was the sanga period ancient
tamil's  victory  goddess.The real connection between Indus valley mother goddess & sanga period's Korravai was not clear,but we can assumed that there should be a possible close connection between them.This ancient tamils Korravai ,may be tranformed in to  goddess sakthi or siva's sakthi in Saiva Siddhanta.many tamil literatures shows murugan as maternal diravidan god as it indicates only the relationship by the mother's side such as: "வெற்றி வெல்போர்க் கொற்றவை சிறுவ", "மலைமகள் மகனே","இழையணி சிறப்பிற் பழையோள் குழவி"There is no mention in the earlier Sangam poems of Murukan being a son of Sivan,But it says only that he is a son of Korravai.It clearly shows that sangam tamils had a society that are matriarchal.[a society in which females, especially mothers, have the central roles ],now mostly lost after the aryan inversion & we are now mostly paternal society.when you analyse the lives of sangam period based on close connection or relationship  between the people & deities,we can come to the conclusion that siva did not had enough influence like other deities such as Korravai as the goddess of victory or velan [or Murugan] as the God of the hillock,During the Sangam Age,Buddhism and Jainism also flourished together, but were subordinate to the Brahmanical Vedic religion. The Tamils of the Sangam Age were aware of certain spiritual and philosophical truths, such as concepts of body and soul, superiority of destiny, dying for a noble cause and so on.


Also.the sangam literature like Tholkappiyam,ettuthogai,paththu paaddu ..and  silappathikaram & manimekalai  does not have any direct reference to word "Siva" or "saivam",There were many  indirect reference to "Siva " . even though we  had many evidences about Siva  & sakthi  worship  in Sumeria & Indus valley ,Well  before  aryans ,Saiva Siddhanta, as a system of philosophy, first assumes a palpable form only in 5th century AD.

Despite the multiplicity of godheads one encounters in Hindu mythology, a closer study of the Thevaram poems would indicate that, in fact, the reverse was true. All the saints were stressing the oneness of the Supreme in no uncertain terms. Manikkavachakar's  pleads in his Thiruthellenam(திருத்தெள்ளேணம்) , "For One who does not have any name or any form, why not we give thousand different names and hail His greatness"?(ஒரு நாமம், ஓர் உருவம், ஒன்றும் இல்லாற்கு, ஆயிரம் திருநாமம் பாடி, நாம் தெள்ளேணம் கொட்டாமோ!).Also,Saiva  philosophy neither advise nor create any caste system .The basic principle of  saiva  philosophy is "One race & one God"Hence any principle which is contradict to this is not a saiva principle.Please note that the caste system and untouchability by Brahminism designed to undermine and destroy Tamil culture just like the old apartheid system of South Africa.Our Saints Appar and Sambanthar fought against the imposition of Sanskrit and the caste system.Saints Appar Said:Why the meaningless chatter about the scriptures? What do you really gain by the meaningless castes and lineages?["sathiram pala pesum salakkarghaal, kothiramum kulamum kondhu en seiveer?/
சாத்திரம் பல பேசும் சழக்கர்காள் / கோத்திரமும் குலமும் கொண்டு என்செய்வீர்?"],Why bathe in Ganges’ stream, or Kaviri? Why go to Comori in Kongu’s land? Why seek the waters of the surrounding sea?will not do any good if they do not think that Civa[GOD] is omnipresent.["Gangai   aadilen   kaviri   aadilen  ? engum yeesan enaathavarkku illaye?/கங்கை யாடிலென் காவிரி யாடிலென்,கொங்கு தண்கும ரித்துறை யாடிலென்,ஒங்கு மாகட லோதநீ ராடிலென்,எங்கு மீச னெனாதவர்க் கில்லையே."]  A religion should be based on justice, love, humanity and equal rights & as well as religion should satisfy human nature and does not discriminate between his creations whether white or black, high and low, rich and poor, and so on."Where there is love there is life."Only after the 5th century that the indigenous Dravidian religion completely fused with Vedic religion.The word Samayam[Religion] seems to have entered common usage in the later period only.For long it was 'Dharuma vazhi' or 'ara vazhi'[Righteous way/ a way of just] only.Disastrously, The Sanskrit sources also contributed another element for this religion. ie  the Vedas,Sanskrit puranas and epics & these  were presented to the Tamil people as Tamil religions This was made possible by religious synchronism.murukan becomes identified with Skanda and karttikeja and related to Siva as a son, korravi becomes identified with uma, Siva's consort and as murukan s mother, and majon becomes identified with Vishnu etc. Saivam,which is now part of the Hinduism become a popular religion of Tamils today.However The type of worship found during the bhakti[devotional ]period ,along with equality  & worship in Tamil  are missing now.Hence,there is a gap between Tamils & saivam .If  Thirumoolar write Thirumanthiram today Will he say :"The Lord made me, my task assigned,In sanskrit His Glory to expound." instead of sweetest Tamil ?? 

[ஆக்கம்:கந்தையா தில்லைவிநாயகலிங்கம்/By:Kandiah Thillaivinayagalingam]

முடிவுற்றது/Ended

பி கு/NB:இணைத்த படங்கள்/Pictures attached:korravai's son[வெற்றி வெல்போர்க் கொற்றவை சிறுவ], Remains of Murugan Temple of Sangam period ,Sculpture of the god Murugan,chola temple,Bronze Statue of Shiva,building temple and worshippers



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