Dr. R.C. Misro

In the rural society of early Orissa, black-smiths seemed to be the most sought after artisans as they manufactured agricultural tools and implements, weapons of war and hunting, and other articles of domestic requirements.  In this paper, an att

Dr. G.J. Sudhakar and Mrs. Sudarsana Choudhury

On 30^th September 1996, the capital of Tamilnadu and one of the major cities of India, Madras was christened as Chennai. This sudden change of name of Madras, which has been in existing for the past three hundred and fifty-seven years certainly draws o

Chandra Bose Research Scholar, Centre for History, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli

Sadāśiva Brahmendra lived during the first half of the 18^th century A.D. and was a great sage thoroughly conversant with Hindu philosophy. He was a contemporary of Vijaya Raghunatha Raya Tondaiman (1730-1769 A.D.) of Pudukkottai an

Dr. Major. Syed Shahabuddeen Professor of History, Islamiah College, Vaniyambadi, Tamilnadu. Temples occupy a unique place in the socio-economic life of the ancient Tamils. To begin with, the word kovil was referred to only as the palace of a monarch, as Tamilians used to associate divinity, justness, and benevolence with the kings and went even to t

M.Amirthalingam It is one of the largest and most important temples of Kanchipuram town, the town of a thousand temples.  Kachabeswarar temple is located in the southern corner of Western Raja street at a distance of about one kilometre from the famous Ekambareshwara temple.  The presiding deity of the temple is Lord Shiva, also called Kachabeswarar.  His consort is Soundara

By M.Amirthalingam

Sacred mountains play a vital role in the conservation of local ecology and the environment. A variety of themes are often found within sacred mountain traditions. The beliefs demonstrate an important link between the community cultural identity and traditional patterns of land conservation. Sacred mountains are distinguished from other sacred sites as being exception

Bibhu Dev Misra The Gond tribes of Central India have been in the news lately because of their linguistic connections to the Indus Valley civilization. According to Gondi scholar Dr.Motiravan Kangale, the letters of the Gondi script, which can be found inscribed in the interiors of the Gotuls (youth dormitories) in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, resemble the Indus script

Prakriti or cosmic matter is made up of five great elements, each with its own life, form and location, but inter-dependent and connected. The five great elements are (according to their decreasing subtlety) space or aakasha; air or vayu; fire or agni; water or aapa; and earth or prithvi, according to several Upanishads.

In the South of India, there are five great temples of Shiva assoc

Tiruvannamalai hill spread over an extent of 24 acres is regarded as a sacred mountain. In fact the mountain is so sacred that nobody may walk on the hill, nor build on the hill nor even cut a tree. Of course, this rule is broken easily nowadays. On a physical level, the hill symbolises height or potential energy, and is the basis for retention and efficient distribution of life-giving water to

Dr. G. Balaji This set of nine temples dedicated to Vishnu are located in ancient Pandyanadu, now known as southern Tamilnadu. These beautiful shrines were built on the banks of the Tamaraparani river in Tirunelveli. These temples were classified among the 108 Divyadesams praised by the Alvars or Tamil Vaishnava saints. The hymns of the Alvars not only described the sanctity of