Some Contributions Of South India To Indian Culture | by S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Any estimate of the contributions made by South India to Indian culture involves, as a necessary preliminary, an elaborate study of the history of India as a whole, in all its cultural aspects. An attempt at such a study in a systematic way has but recently been inaugurated in the University of Calcutta by the institution of a Master's Degree in "Indian Culture" with provision for teaching the subject as a part of the scheme for post-graduate teaching at the University. It is a happy sign of the times that the need has been recognised in Calcutta, but Calcutta will need the co-operation of the other Indian Universities to study the subject in all its vast and varied ramifications...
| Title | Some Contributions Of South India To Indian Culture |
| Author | S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar |
| Publisher | The University Of Calcutta |
| Year | 1923 |
| Copyright | 1923, The University Of Calcutta |
| Amazon | Some Contributions of South India to Indian Culture |
By S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ma. Ph.D., Professor Of Indian History And Archaeology, University Of Madras, Honorary Correspondent Of The Archaeological Department Of The Government Of India, Fellow Of The Royal Asiatic Society Of Great Britain And Ireland, Fellow Of The Royal Historical Society, Fellow Of The University Of Madras, Fellow Of The Mysore University, Author of 'ancient india', 'beginnings of south indian history', 'south india and her muhammadan invaders' etc.
Inscribed As a mark of personal regard and esteem to The Hon'ble Justice Sir Asutosh Mookerjee, Kt, C.S.I., Sarasvati, Sastra-Vachaspati, Sambuddhagama- Chakravarti, Vice-Chancellor, Calcutta University, President of the Council of Post-Graduate Teaching, Calcutta University.
Calcutta University Readership Lectures
Preface- The following pages contain the substance of the Readership Lectures that I originally intended to deliver at the Calcutta University early in 1920. The honour of a Readership at the University was be...
- Preface. Part 2
- Even in this latter transformation India south of the Vindhyas bore an important part, but it does not appear to be the Tamil country, or South India proper, that really played the most important part...
- Preface. Part 3
- The first of these questions has assumed great prominence, as it naturally should, in the data provided in a poem included in one of the ancient collections, called Paripadal, generally regarded as a ...
- Preface. Part 4
- He seems merely to be projecting in the poem such a position for the planets, etc., as would be propitious for a copious rainfall. The month of Simha seems therefore necessary to be postulated in that...
- Preface. Part 5
- Apart from these considerations it is open to doubt whether the week originated from the astronomical considerations that are held to have brought the week day into existence. It is generally taken th...
- Chapter I. The Beginnings Of South Indian History
- History begins for India, with the coming of the Aryans into the country. It may be said with almost equal truth that the history of South India, of India south of the Krishna-Tunga-bhadra frontier, b...
- Knowledge Of South India In Sanskrit And Pali Literature
- Looking from the other side it is a well known fact that the grammarian Panini has little or nothing to say about South India. We have to come to the time of Katyayana for some knowledge of places in ...
- Evidence Of Epigraphy
- Coming to inscriptions there are no South Indian inscriptions, as far as is known at present, anterior to the Christian era excepting copies of the Asoka edicts that have been found in two localities,...
- The Mauryan Period
- From what has been said above it is clear that any definite knowledge of South India does not reach back beyond the Mauryan period. What we do learn from the scanty sources of information accessible t...
- Its Character And Chronology
- The bulk of this body of works in Tamil partakes of the character of heroic pieces celebrating incidents in the lives of particular patrons, or illustrative of various modes of composition according t...
- Glimpses Or Mauryan Invasion In It
- In this mass of literature we get some allusions to the Mauryas and Mauryan invasions of South India which throw a new light upon this particular period of history. Among the number of poets whose wor...
- Vadukar
- Of these two sections of people referred to, the term Vadukar is used for those that lived across the Tamil frontier on the north for which Pulikat on the one side and the northern frontier of Nannan'...
- Malavar
- Another tribe of people are described almost in the same terms as these Vadukar. They are called Malavar in Tamil, who suffered a defeat at the hands of Neduvel Avi at Podini (Palnis).1 They were habi...
- Kosar
- Passing on to the Kosar they are referred to as entering the country of Tulu by defeating Nannan and killing his state elephant.1 Nannan's territory included in it both Tulu2 and Konkan (Konkanam).3 T...
- Asoka's Southern Limit Of Empire
- Turning to the inscriptions of Asoka the southernmost limit reached by them is in the north-east corner of the Chitaldroog district of Mysore where Brahmagiri, Siddhapura and 1 That the Kosar were kn...
- Buddhist Propaganda Stopped Short Of The Tamil Land
- This political southern limit of Asoka's empire marks also the limits of active Buddhist propaganda reflected in the last sentence quoted above from rock edict XIII. The meaning of this statement in t...
- The Northern Limit Of Tamil Land
- In the previous sections the limits of Tamil land were marked by a belt of country beginning with Pulikat on the east coast and terminating with the Kalyanpuri river, the northern limit of Kanara on t...
- Chapter II. Brahmanism In The Tamil Land
- Tamil tradition of comparatively late age describes the Tamil country as mainly composed of forests and practically uninhabited till Agastya came from the far north. In a solemn conclave on the Himala...
- Brahmanism In The Tamil Land. Part 2
- 1 Padirrupaattu, Poem 24, 11. 6 to 8. 2 Porul, Sutra,75. 1 Canto XXIII, 11. 62 to 80. 2 See Arthasastra. 3 Canto XIII. The Pre-Buddhistic Character of Brahmanism in the Tamil Country. We have alr...
- Brahmanism In The Tamil Land. Part 3
- 1 This is also interpreted as the 21 methods of logic, or the 21 ways of interpretation. A great Chera - the younger brother of the Chera of the Himalayan boundary and uncle of the Red-Chera celeb...
- Tamil Opposition To Buddhism On Behalf On Brahmanism
- We have noticed above already that Asoka's propaganda in favour of Buddhism stopped short of the Tamil country. That it did not get into the Tamil country is clearly in evidence in the fact that no im...
- The Continuity Of Hindu Culture In The South. A Special Feature Of Its History
- It is this state of things, of which we gain a direct glimpse only from Tamil literature, that gives character to South Indian History - for the earliest period of the history of the Tamil country. Br...
- Its Connection With The North
- This special development in the south of the orthodox systems of Brahmanism of the north apparently took form with the rise of the Sungas to power in northern India. Pushya-mitra's was perhaps the fir...
- The Kharavela Inscription
- The famous Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela which has been recently read and re-read and published by Mr. K. P. Jayaswal in the Bihar and Orissa Research Society's Journal, and the controversy ove...
- The Dawn Of The Christian Era
- The country south of the Krishna was divided among 'the three crowned Kings' and seven chieftains, with an eighth coming somewhat later. There were a host of minor chieftains of lesser dignity. It is ...
- Chapter III. Connection With Ceylon, Generally One Of Hostility
- Ceylon was known to the ancients perhaps as early as South India itself, and Tamil literature contains a few references earlier than that in Buddhist tradition, which associate the island with the sto...
- Connection With Ceylon, Generally One Of Hostility. Part 2
- Southern India asking for the hand of a princess, daughter of the Pandya, who agreed and sent along with the princess a number of young women of the noble families and of the 18 guilds to go and colon...
- Connection With Ceylon, Generally One Of Hostility. Part 3
- 1 Canto. 23, 11. 138-158. 2 Canto. 26. 11. 15-25. Patalipura had some knowledge even of distant Madura. It is in connection with Vijaya that the Pandya country first comes in contact with the history...
- Connection With Ceylon, Generally One Of Hostility. Part 4
- The next time that Ceylon comes into connection with the Tamils is under the rule of Vattagamani about 44 B.C. In his reign there was a rebellion set up by a Brahman by name Tissa, who according to t...
- Connection With Ceylon, Generally One Of Hostility. Part 5
- 1 Silappadhikaram, Canto 30, 11. 151-164. This is in a way confirmed by a statement prefixed to the work either by the author him-felf or more likely by the author's friend or preceptor or disciple, ...
- Connection With Ceylon, Generally One Of Hostility. Part 6
- The ministers informed the king of Soli of the devastation of the city thus being made. Thereupon he inquired of Gajaba, is the Sinhalese host come to destroy this city. 1 Yalpanapattanam, or Jaff...
- Connection With Ceylon, Generally One Of Hostility. Part 7
- Tamil country. He returned from there at the head of a Tamil army and overthrowing his brother ruled as monarch. He was succeeded on his death by his elder brother's son who ruled for another two year...
- Chapter IV. South India, The Seat Of Orthodox Hinduism
- This brings us to the year A. B. 808 to 835 equal to A. D. 325-352 according to the Geiger scheme or 60 years less on the basis of 543 for A. B. 1. So up to the commencement of the fourth century the ...
- South India, The Seat Of Orthodox Hinduism. Continued
- 1 The Mahavamsa has a reference to reading on particular occasions, of what is called Arya-Vamsa, i. e., a sort of an Acharya-Farampara which was being publicly read on stated occasions. Learning got...
- Chapter V. The School Of Bhakti
- A theistic system of Bhakti consists in the worship of a personal God who is the Creator and Lord of the Universe. Devotion to him by unremitting service is the best way to the attainment of salvation...
- South India, Its Special Home, Though Not Its Origin
- This idea of Bhakti or devotion to a personal god is traceable in the earliest extant pieces of Tamil literature. Some of the oldest poems contain references to theistic gods both Vaish-nava and Saiva...
- The Aryan Character Of Its Literature
- This makes it clear that the literature of the the South taking into consideration only the literature extant, is essentially Aryan in character, exhibiting, no doubt, occasional features other than A...
- Chapter VI. The Kural: A Characteristically Tamil Classic
- Among the number of works and collections that have come down to us from this remote period, most of which have a character of their own, the Kural of Tiruvajluvar stands easily preeminent as a peculi...
- Strong Infusion Of Sanskrit Culture; Ethical And Political
- We have already pointed out that the peculiar feature in the Kural of dealing with only the first three of the four objects of life is not altogether so peculiar, having regard to the notion exhibited...
- Chapter VII. The Rise Of The Pallavas
- The question who the Pallavas were is one which can hardly be described as being out of the stage of discussion yet. The theory that held the field till recently almost unchallenged was that they were...
- The Rise Of The Pallavas. Part 2
- In the region which these later inscriptions indicate as peculiarly the Pallava Province we find in the days of the Satavahanas certain records which called it peculiarly the district of the Satavahan...
- The Rise Of The Pallavas. Part 3
- Pallavas: Patrons of Northern Culture. We find in the earliest known inscription of the Satavahanas that they were votaries of the well-known Hindu Gods - Visnnu and Siva. The Nanaghaut inscription r...
- Chapter VIII. Early History Of The Pallavas
- What was said of the origin of the Pallavas in the previous sections would have made it clear that they were in all probability a family of feudatories of the Satavahanas of the Dak-han. These feudato...
- An Interregnum In The Period Of The Pallavas
- The question of this interregnum is so closely connected with the question of the origin of the Pallavas that the one cannot be separated from the other for any clear understanding of the early histor...
- Evidence of Tamil Literature
- The validity of evidence from Tamil literature would be admissible only if the chronology of the latter could be fixed with some degree of certainty. If with 21 Mr. Venkayya we should believe that Ka...
- Evidence of Tamil Literature. Continued
- Satya Sena. His son would be Rudrasena as well. Names ending in Sena are not unknown among the rulers of this dynasty. The date of this Satyasena would be sometime anterior to A.D. 388. If Skandasishy...
- Chapter IX. The History Of These Pallavas
- Having arranged the various genealogies in the Sanskrit charters of these Pallavas in a consolidated table, we might now turn to enquire what exactly it is possible for us to know of the Pallavas from...
- Decadence Of The Andhra Powe
- The state of things foreshadowed in the previous section is confirmed by the history of the decadence of the power of the Andhras who held sway for more than three centuries in the whole of the Dakhan...
- Light From Kadamba Inscriptions
- According to the tradition as we find it recorded in the inscription of Kakustha Varman, it was a Brahman by name Mayura-Sarman who went to complete his Vedic studies to the Brahman settlement, (Gha...
- Chapter X. The Pallavas And The Gangas
- It has already been shown above that the Pallava overlordship of the territory associated with the Kadambas indicates that the Pallavas succeeded to the whole of the southern portion of the Andhra Emp...
- The Theory Of Interregnum Baseless
- After all this theory of a Chola interregnum in the fifth century rests upon the flimsy foundation of the eleventh century information that a Trilochana Pallava reclaimed the forest country of the ced...
- The Chronological Datum In The Lokavibhaga
- The Archaeological Department of Mysore discovered a manuscript of a Digambara Jaina work named Lokavibhaga of which an account is given in their report for 1909-10. The subject treated of is Jaina co...
- The Rise Of The Chalukyas
- In the meanwhile changes of a momentous character had taken place to the west of the Pallava territory. The region of the Naga chieftains, cousins of the ruling Satavahanas, had been taken either in t...
- Chapter XI. Kanchi, The Centre Of The Pallavas
- During the whole period of their history extending from about A.D. 200 to the end of the 9th century the Pallava power centred round Kanchi, which became definitely associated with them, at any rate f...
- Patrons Of Religion And Art
- They seem to have been great patrons as well, of religion and art. With the accession to power of the great dynasty of the Pallavas beginning with Simhavarman and his son Simhavishnu they extended the...
- Sanskrit Literature During The Period
- Among the finds of manuscripts brought to light by the search-parties sent out by the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library are two works ascribed to Dandin, the author of the Kavyadarsa. This last ...
- Great Religious Ferment In The Country
- This period must also have been one of great religious activity. Many of the existing temples came into existence during this period and most of them in Kanchi and the surrounding locality received en...
- Influence Of The Gupta Culture
- How much of this development may be due to any direct Gupta influence we are not in a position to. trace in detail yet. It is impossible that there should not have been that kind of influence, but the...
- Temple Building In The South
- If this happens to be the age during which the great majority of temples in the south came into existence the explanation is here ready. It was an age when the people were anxious to bring themselves ...
- Clear Evidence Of Hindu Expansion In The East
- It is to the earlier portion of this period that Dr. Vogel refers the sacrificial inscription discovered at Koetei in East Borneo. The language of the inscription is Sanskrit, the character is Pallava...
- Chapter XII. Saivism
- Among the two principal schools of Bhakti cult prevalent in South India, Saivism comes in for a large clientele. Saivism consists in the recognition of Siva as the supreme beneficent deity. Siva is be...
- The Nayanmars
- Among the Siva Bhaktas a certain number stand out as pre-eminently the devotees of Siva. They attained to this distinction by various kinds of service extending from the simplest to the most exacting....
- Kannappa Nayanar
- We have already seen that the peculiar form of service rendered to Siva by Ko-Chengan consisted in the building of temples to him. There are others who devoted themselves to rendering some kind of bod...
- Kannappa Nayanar. Continued
- In the cult of bhakti the first feature to be taken note of is, unalloyed affection for God, and this affection springs from the notion that God looks after man with an affectionate interest superior ...
- Jainism In The South
- According to Jain tradition as preserved in the various Pattavalies there was a schism and the Jains divided into two sections. This split is said to have taken place in the reign of the Maurya Empero...
- Chapter XIII. Literature Of Saivism
- Nayanmars in the Age of the Pallavas It was already pointed out that practically all the sixty-three devotees must have lived in the period which for convenience may be called the age of the Pallavas...
- Manikkavasakar
- The eighth of the twelve sections of the Saiva canonical collection consists of Manikkavasakar's Tiruvasakam and Tirukkovaiyar. Manikkavasakar was, like Sambandar and Sundaramurti before, a Brahman by...
- The Sastras Of The Saivas
- The Saivas claim fourteen treatises which are named either after the author or from some characteristic of the work itself. All of these were composed in the age immediately following that of Sekkila...
- Chapter XIV. Vira Saivism
- The course of development of what might for convenience be called orthodox Saivism of the Tamil land was described in the last two chapters. Along with this there were other forms of Saiva worship pre...
- Vira Saivism. Continued
- It will thus be clear that the course of development of this particular section of the school of bhakti which for the Aryan or the northern part of it might reach back to the Svetasvatara and Atharvas...
- Ekantada Ramayya
- Early epigraphical records however seem to lend support to another tradition which ascribes the origin of this form of Vira Saivism to a certain Brahman called Ekantada Ramayya, and this story is foun...
- Chapter XV. Vaishnavism In South India
- We have already shown under the section bhakti that the rudiments of Vaishnavism in the ordinary form and in the agamaic are traceable in the classical literature of Tamil. This form of bhakti had a c...
- Vaishnava Literature
- The literature pertaining to this school falls into two classes also, similar in character to that of the Saivas of the Siddhanta school. The Vaishnavas have their saints and their teachers. They coun...
- The Age Of The Alvars
- The first of this group of saints, Poygaialvar has for good reasons been connected with the early Tondaman chieftain of Kanchi by the name Tondaman Ilam-Tiraiyan who must have lived in the same genera...
- The Age Of The Alvars. Part 2
- 1 Stanzas 8 and 9 of the poem ascribed to Madhurakavi. It was already pointed out that to the Vaish-navas Nam-Alvar is the type of Alvars and stands pre-eminently as the representative of the whole g...
- The Age Of The Alvars. Part 3
- The Acharyas of the Vaishnavas - Nathmtjni. Nathamuni was the fifth ancestor of Rama-nuja and from the known age of Ramanuja calculating backwards, Nathamuni ought to have flourished in the first hal...
- Yamunacharya Or Alavandar
- The mantle of the leadership of the Vaishnavas fell by common consent upon the shoulders of this teacher, who was a married man and led the life of a householder. He lived in the age of the early grea...
- Ramanuja
- Ramanuja was the son of a grand-daughter of Alavandar. One of the grandsons of Alavandar obtained his permission to go and live at Tirupati, and took along with him his father and two sisters, who wer...
- Ramanuja. Continued
- The great temples of South India, which came into existence, at any rate the great majority of them, in the age of the Pallavas beginning from the time of the early Chola Ko-Chengan, received consider...
- Chapter XVI. Mahammadan Invasions
- It is well-known that the Mahammadan irruption this side of the Vindhyas commenced in the last years of the thirteenth century, under the Khilji ruler Alau-d-din, and that it began as a mere raid for ...
- Chapter XVII. The Character And Significance Of The Vijayanagar Empire
- Coming into existence from out of the ashes of the last powerful Southern kingdom, that of the Hoysalas, Vijnyanagar stood out for all that was worth preserving in Hindu religion and culture. As a nec...
- Social And Political Reconstruction
- When the first struggles for the dislodgment of the Mahammadan garrisons from the south were over and the hostile Mahaminadans from the north had been successfully driven out from their strongholds in...
- Religion Under Vijayanagar
- The Sanskrit epic poem Kamparaya Charitam of Ganga Devi, wife of Kumara Kampana, who conquered, for his father, both Tondamandalam and the Madura country from the Sultans of Madura makes the goddess o...
- Religion Under Vijayanagar. Continued
- Vedanta Desika pursued his life quietly and unostentatiously, and gave in many respects the final shape to the Vaishnavism of South India following closely the teachings of Ramanuja, explaining and su...
- Overland Communication Of Northern India
- India falls geographically into two divisions in respect of her communication with the outside world. In spite of the mountain barriers on the north, north-west and north-east, there is a volume of ev...
- Overseas Communication Of South India
- Such communication as South India had with the rest of the world, must of necessity have been across the ocean. The early navigators of the Indian Ocean seem to have been many, and the history of this...
- Indian Trade With Western Asia
- In respect of Indian trade with western Asia, the matter seems to rest on a somewhat better footing. The earliest definite reference that we can get is a commercial expedition sent out by 1 India and...
- Indian Names Of Imported Articles
- Taking the other articles, almug wood is no other than sandal. It occurs in Greek as santalan, and could have come from Tamil sandana or Sanskrit chandana, the pure Tamil word for it is aram. This is ...
- The Situatio Of Ophir
- In respect of the question as to the situation of Ophir, whether it was somewhere in southern Arabia or whether we should look for it on the continent of India or the Malay peninsula, the decisive fac...
- The Evidence Of Classical Geographers
- The classical geographers, the author of the Periplus and Ptolemy the geographer, that date respectively about A. D. 80 and A. D, 150, exhibit knowledge of a division of the country that we derive fro...
- The Evidence Of Classical Geographers. Continued
- (1) The Kuttuvan king of the beautiful garland dropping honey like water, gives away in head-loads, to those that go to him, the sandal from the hill and the pearl from the sea, along with the gold br...
- Tamil Knowledge Of The Eastern Archipelago
- It was already pointed out in a previous section that the Malabar coast got into touch with the western world, Egypt, Western Asia, and across as far as the western extremity of Europe. The Hebrew ref...
- Evidence From Tamil Literature
- The Eastern Archipelago was a region with which the Tamils were much more familiar apparently, and their commercial efforts seem to have gone on as far as the comparatively distant coast even of China...
- Other Confirmatory Evidence
- There are various pieces of evidence of a somewhat indefinite character which would lead to the inference that there were a large number of settlements of the Tamils in this region and that the southe...
- The Character Of This Period Of South Indian History
- The period with which we are concerned in this portion of South Indian History is coeval with the position of the dominance of the Andhras in the Dakhan and over the empire of the Mauryas. The questio...
- The Industrial Arts Of South India
- Passing on from the political to the industrial condition of India, we have already described the principal sea-ports, both on the western and eastern seaboard. If, as has been pointed out, there were...
- Exports And Imports
- The chief exports from the country, as the author of the Periplus says, were these; the produce of the soil like pepper, great quantities of the best pearl are likewise purchased here, ivory, silk in...
- Sources Of Information
- I now proceed to consider the sources of the information which are the classical writers, Indian literature, Tamil and Sanskrit, and the 1 Pattinappalai, 134-6, Silappadhikaram, Canto. VI, 11 2-39. ...
- Sources Of Information. Part 2
- From an examination of the second class of my sources of information alone, we find that there was a period when South India was under great rulers, who gave the country peace and thus provided the in...
- Sources Of Information. Part 3
- 1 The Manimekhalai knew the story as the Kasmirian Somadeva knew it, referring to the imprisonment of Udayana, the Vatsaraja, in Ujjain, and the stratagem by which Yaugandharayana brought about his es...
- Sources Of Information. Part 4
- During the period extending from the first quarter of the seventh century onwards, a new influence began to be felt in the rise and expansion of Islam in Arabia. The fall of Persia as a result of the ...
- Sources Of Information. Part 5
- 1 Rajendra, the Gangaigonda Chola in the Sir Asutoah Commemoration Volumes: Vol. Ill, Calcutta University. 1 Translated by Dr. Hirth in J. R. A. S., 1896, p. 489. Republished in book form in 1912 by ...
- Chapter XIX. Administrative Evolution In South India
- As a result of recent research work, chiefly epigraphical, it is now generally agreed that South India, particularly the Tamil country, had developed a good and thorough-going system of local administ...
- Administrative Evolution In South India. Part 2
- 1 This tradition finds reference in the Tevaram of Sundara, early ninth century A.D. Tiruvada-Muliuivayil 10. 1 There is a village of the name Vipparla about 12 miles west of Amaravati. This gives u...
- Administrative Evolution In South India. Part 3
- The minister must be a man fully informed in the knowledge of the duties of a king, equipped with learning by means of which to enforce those duties upon all about, and possessed of the skill and judg...
- Administrative Evolution In South India. Part 4
- Disputes about holdings, or about incidences of revenue, etc., were settled by the assembly, and if it was a question of graver matter in regard to these, assemblies from the neighbourhood were made t...
- Administrative Evolution In South India. Part 5
- The Cholas dating from the time of the ancient Karikala were remarkable for their works of irrigation. The Hindus of South India are credited with the discovery of the device of controlling the water ...
- Administrative Evolution In South India. Part 6
- 1 See Sources of Vijayanagar History, Publication by the Madras University. 2 To Mr. A. Rangaswami Sarasvati, University Research Student, now Assistant Epigraphist belongs the credit of collecting a...
- Errata
- Page 45 For Vidavengadam read Nadavengadam. 136 Darmida Dramida 188 Vayalur plates Vayalur pillar inscr...
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