Written by London Swaminathan

Date: 1^st September 2016

Time uploaded in London: 13-55

Post No.3111

Pictures are taken by london swaminathan

From the book

India – Its Life and Thought by John P.Jones D.D., The Macmillan Company, New York, 1908.

Page 32 to 34

“It will be convenient start upon our tour from Madura, the missionary home of the writer. It is a large, wide-awake centre of of enthusiastic Hinduism in the extreme south of the peninsula. In the heart of this town, of more than a hundred thousand people, stands its great temple, dedicated to Siva. The principal monuments of South India are its temples. They are the largest temples in the world. The Madura temple is only the third in size; but in s upkeep and architectural beauty it far surpasses the other two, which are larger. It covers an area of fifteen acres, and its many gopuras or towers, furnish the land mark of the country for miles around. It is erected almost entirely of granite blocks, some of which are sixty feet long. Its monolithic carving is exquisitely fine, and its most abundant and elaborate. Hinduism may be moribund; but this temple gives only intimation of life and prosperity as one gazes upon its elaborate ritual, and sees the thousands passing daily into its shrine for worship. It represents the highest form of Hindu architecture, and like almost all else that is Hindu, its history carries us to the dim distance of the past. But the great Tirumalai Nayak, the king of two and a half centuries ago, spent more in its elaboration than anyone else. And it was he who built, half a mile away, the great palace, which though much reduced, still stands as the noblest edifice of its kind south of a line drawn from Bombay to Calcutta.

In this same temple, we find,transformed, another cult. It is called the Temple of Meenatchi, afer its presiding Goddess, “The Fish Eyed One”. When Brahmanism reached Madura, many centuries ago, Meenatchi was the principal demoness worshipped by the people, who were all devil worshippers. As was their wont, the Brahmans did not antagonize the old faith of the people, but absorbed it by marrying the Meenatchi to their chief god Siva, and thus incorporated the primitive devil worship into the Brahmanical religion. Thus the Hinduism of Madura and of all South India is Brahmanism plus devil-worship. And the people are today much more absorbed in pacifying the devils which infest every village than they are in worshipping purely Hindu deities. The prevailing faith of the Dravidians, therefore is demonolatry; and the myriad shrines in the villages and hamlets, and the daily rites conducted in them, attest the universal prevalence of this belief and the great place it has in the life of these so-called Hindus.”

Page 206

“4.Another marked feature of modern Hinduism is its devil worship. This is peculiarly manifest in South India. In the Madras Presidency, whose fifty million population is mostly Dravidian, nine tenths of the people follow the faith of their ancestors, which is Demonolatry (Demon Worship.

When Brahmanism came to South India, many centuries ago, it found entrenched among the people, everywhere and universally, this ancient cult. The Brahmans, recognizing this, did what they have already done; they said to the people: “We have not come to destroy your religion; we will take your demons and demonesses, marry them to our gods, and give them shrines and worship in our temples. Come with them and be a part of our religion. We will give to you the privileges, and confer upon you the dignity and blessing, of our great religion.” The people were impressed by this offer, accepted the situation, and were absorbed, with their religion, into the Brahmanical faith. From that time forward they have been recognised as Hindus, and have, after a fashion, been loyal members of the faith.

But let it not be supposed they, by becoming Hindus, they have deserted their ancestral religion, and have ceased to be devil worshippers. Far from it, Hinduism proper is to them a mere plaything, or a festival pastime. On special Hindu holidays, and perhaps on occasions of pilgrimage, they will visit these Hindu temples and bring their offering to the deities of Brahmanism. But their chief concern and their daily religious occupation is found in the appeasing of the many devils whose abode is supposed to be in their countless village shrines and under well-known trees in their hamlets. They have not abated one jot of their belief in the supremacy of these devils in their life affairs; and they always stand in fear of them, and do what they can do to satisfy their bloody demands.

Thus at least nine tenths of the people of South India, are first of all, demonolater, and secondly, but a long way behind, are Hindus. And yet a great many people in the West think of these people as the pure worshippers of the highest type of Brahminical faith”.

My Comments:

1.This is a very good piece to show how

the foreign invaders divided the Hindus

2.This shows that even after living in Madurai for thirty years or so, this Christian preacher did not know the Tamil History or pretended to not to know the history. All the forefathers of Goddess Meenakshi are from North India and Meenkashi’s father was Malaydwaja Pandya and Mother Knachanamala. All the name linked to the history Meenakshi are in Sanskrit.

3.Two thousand year old Sangam literature and the oldest Tamil book are full of Hindu rites and Hindu Gods.

4.Most of the famous Kings of Tamil Nadu did Aswameda or Rajasuya Yajnas.

5.Brahmins contributed one third of the Sangam literature

6.When J P Jones wrote this book Indus Valley sites were not excavated. After their excavation, scholars found all the symbols of Hindu Gods there.

7.Attacking all the Dravidians as Devil worshippers in one place and provoking them to fight against the “injustice: done to them by Aryans in another place is their usual tactics.

Foreigners knew that Hindus never read their literature in full and so they thought they can fool anyone by writing in English. But now we have fooled them and all their hope of changing  India into a Christendom failed miserably.

Ganesh/ Ganapathy/ Pillayar picture from Madurai

Please read my previous posts on the same subject:

The Wonder that is Madurai Meenakshi Temple, posted on 14 Oct 2011.

Acoustic Marvel of Madurai Temple, posted on 12 May 2013

Musical Pillars in Hindu Temples, posted on 12 May 2013

Madurai Temple Photos,31 May 2013

21 லிட்டர் கொழுக்கட்டை எதற்காக?, posted on 30 May 2013

–Subham–