Hi, I was trying to collect location details about 275 tevara sthalangal. During which I had 2 questions related to Chola kings and their dedcation to Lord Shva. I asked those questions below. If you are interested to know how and why these questions were raised,you can read my post.
1. 208 out of 275 tevaram temples are in predominant chola territories. Does that mean Chola kings promoted Shavisim than any kings ruled present day Tamilnadu? 2. Teavara hymns were composed between 7th and 9 th century CE and Medieval Chola dynasty reestabilished by Vijalaya Chola was around 850 CE. It seems the temples in Chola kingdom must have been atleast enshrined before Medieval Chola period. But before Vijalaya Chola I, Chola kingdom was not in the power for 600 years. During that time either Kalabhras or Pallavas ruled the predominant chola kingdom. If that is the case, why more temples are in Chola territory?. Why not in Pandya territory? Except Kalabhras period(300 years), before Vijalaya Chola I, Pandya dynasty was there most of the time. If most of the tevaram hymns temples were built before Vijalaya, why not much temples were built in Pandya dynasty? Was Pandya kingdom not wealthy enough to build more Shiva temples? or Were Pandya kings not interested in building Shiva temples like Chola/Pallava kings did? or Was Lord Shiva showing favour to Chola kingdom over Pandya dynasty?
Hi devaram shrines are temples for which devaram has been found. that all hundreds of temples must have had devaram but not found
for example thiru votriyur and thiruvanmiyur are sung by appar but not mylapore when he must have crossed to go from one to another
but i for one beleive in the law of averages. so the proportion of devarams found must be same as those sung by the three. so yes chola land must have had a lot more than the rest together
Dear Mahesh - temples existed even in sangam period. Some of these temples are refered ( including 108 divyadesams) in Sangam, Silappadikaram.
Mudhal Azhwars are dated to 5th C - 200 years before Appar.
Thiruvenkadu mentioned in Valmiki Ramayanam itself.
There are equal number of Thevara Vaipputhalams. Also Lots of Thevarams were lost in time.
Hence coming to any conclussions will not be right. Also the cauvery deltahad much population right from the begining and hence more on the banks of cauvery. Out of 108 Vaishnava Divyadesams - 40 are onin Chola Nadu.
Hence Conclussions need to be something different. Pandyas and Pallavas started building stone tempels much before Cholas.
I agree that some of the temples might have sung by Tevara hymns but lost in time and Most of these temple existed in sangam period. It seems to me very odd to see most of the tevara hymns temple in Chola nadu, not in Pandya nadu, even though Pandya nadu was there during sangam period and Madurai/south tamilnadu has one of the oldest human settlement. If we consider the fact that Tevara hymns are lost, then losing only Pandya nady temples hymns do not make sense. Can some one throw some light on this topic?
There are many temples like Thirukkarikkarai ( Now Ramagiri) near Nagalapuram are mentioned as being visied and worshipped by Appar & Sambandar in Periya Puranam but the Thevaarams of those temples are missi Simillarly many temples for which we have thevarams of one saint is actually mentioned as being visited by one more or both the other in periyapuranam - Thirumanikkuzhi, Thiruvennainallur. Even if you take Periyapuranam ref - it is hard to believe that being a native of Thirunavalur - Sundarar has not sung Thirukkovalur or Thiruvannamalai and just mentions them in other thevaarams.
Hi the one girl who changed it all came from chola land. it is well documented in devaram. so her upbringing must have been in strong shaivaite environment. the temples may have been quite active in chola land. as for the numerous devara shrines in chola land the expensive construction as in stone and kal thiruppani started after the cholas- sembian madevi in particular. brick temples would have been maintained easily with local funds without depending on a king. also revenues would have been the highest in chola land as it had a fertile agrarian economy
Hi the romance of nedumaran and mangaiyarkarasi so well documented in sivakamiyin sabatham. kalki just gives us broad events on things to come. why did he not write about later day nedumaran and mangayarkarasi i always used to wonder. so many charecters in those days climax find place in the 63 nayanmars venketesh
I agree; if only Kalki had written one novel about Pandiyan dynasty, we will know more about the kings and their times. Had Kalki made notes for a future novel; was anything found in his papers? Sampath
1. Like Thevaara thalams - 108 divyadesams also have max on the banks of cauvery. A prosperous humna settlement and hence many temples. There is no doubt that they had max temples and max thevaarams/divyaprabandams. Here itself many temples like Lalgudi have lost their thevaarams. 2. If you refer Vaipputhalangal - Pandya country has many vaipputhalangals. Appar and Sambandar must have visited these temples. Even the avilable 14 of Pandya country: a. Appar visited Thirukkanapper alias Kalayarkoil., Tiruneleli, Kutralam .His thevaaram for those temples lost b. Sambandar visited Thirucchuzhi - his thevaaram lost to name a few. We have more thevaarams of Sambandar preserved but Appar - who lived long and visited more places - thevarams lost. 3. Another Reason - Sambandar needed to rush to pandya country since the temples had a problem there. Must have sung only the temples that were remaining. ( only my speculation) No such problems in chola country. 4. Then kings like " En Thool eesarkku ezhubadhu madam" - who built 70 Madakkovil along the banks of cauvery - Kocchenganan whose time is speculated around 5th C - have defenetly built more temples in cauvery delta.