Siva worship: exclusively Dravidian

Topic started by vohsendhan (@ 202.88.133.66) on Sat Aug 17 08:40:45 .
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Siva Worship

Exclusively Dravidian


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 and visualized the river Ganges that originated from it as His wife. 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 Civilization period itself. The base representing the plains was not always circular but was also a square, as could be seen from the famous cave No.16 of the Ellora. Building tall towers with rectangular base for the entrance of the temples were also meant to signify the Himalayas which was the abode of the Lord and the plains. The Kudamuzhukku, the Thirukkudaneerattu vizha was and is essentially and exclusively Dravidian in origin representing the river Ganges that originated from the Himalayas and flowed over and through it towards the plains.

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 in the South, 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 South 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 visualize 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 Civilization period itself.

They ridiculed the Siva worship
The widely held theory that the Siva symbol represented the "Nadha Vindhu Kalaadhi" concept does not have any historical or mythological authentication. 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. The Vedic religion, which entered the sub-continent c.1500 BC, approved only the imageless nature worship, the yagna. On the other hand, the religion of the native Dravidians whom the Vedic people confronted was an idolatrous one as is seen from the texts of the Rig Veda itself. The Rig Vedic people are found to be condemning the worshippers of Siva as "Sisnadeva"s and Indra's intercession is sought against them.(VII - 21.5: X - 99.3 of the Rig Veda). The Lord Siva is derided as 'Sisnadevata'.

" Their practices are all different
They are not men!
O! Destroyer of Foes!
Kill them, destroy the Dasa race."
- Rig Veda I - 1008
Is it not ridiculous ,in such circumstances, to expect the concept of the Siva statues to be expounded by such a Rig Veda which nurtures so much animosity?

Given the fact that these two peoples were so ill-disposed towards each other, such derisive remarks against the religion of the Dravidians by the Vedic Aryans are understandable. But one must not sheepishly accept the propaganda of the present day Brahmins who persist in the Nadha Vindhu Kalaadhi theory, by citing this Vedic authority. If anything, these references authenticate only the fact that there was no connection between the disgraceful, shocking, contemptible and despicable interpretation given by the Aryans and the real concept of the Siva statue. That the derision of the Aryans was the offshoot of their irrepressible antagonism and jealousy is easily perceivable. 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. It does not, therefore, make sense in expecting an alien Vedic religion to interpret the concept of the religious symbol of the native Dravidian religion, especially when both these religions were in a collision course.

'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.
Alien's derogatory comments
- not authentic expositions
It follows that the Rig Vedic references are, therefore, no authority to expound the concept of the Siva statue, as the Rig Vedic people were non-idolatrous and did not consider Lord Siva as their God. Calling the Siva symbol as 'linga' or 'phallus' is, therefore, outrageous, to say the least. Saivism is in need of renaissance and the least the devotees of Lord Siva could do is to shut the mouth of the propagandists who continue with the ignominious 'Nadha Vindhu Kalaadhi' theory.

The Vedic religion which had thus derided the Siva-cult originally, absorbed it into its fold only during the period of Upanishads (Svetasvatara Upanishad of c.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.Because of the onslaught of Buddhism, "The Vedic yagna rites remained supreme only in theory, but were progressively neglected in practice. Occasionally, some king might perform, say, the horse sacrifice: but this was much too rare to be reliable source of income even for the king's own high priests. The new ritual could become paying only if it served the householder class of agrarian trading society. This service was done by the Brahmins regardless of caste, but always for a suitable fee on condition that due respect was offered to Brahmin institutions in general."… "The Brahmins gradually penetrated whatever tribes and guild castes remained;"…. "The exclusive nature of tribal ritual and tribal cults was modified, the tribal deities being equated to standard Brahmin gods, or new Brahmin scriptures written for making unassimilable gods respectable".- (Pages168 -173 The Culture and Civilisation of ANCIENT INDIA in Historical Outline- D.D.Kosambi- Vikas Publishing House Pvt.Ltd.-1964). Although the Vedic Aryans had despised the Siva worship all along, they had to assuage the feelings of the native Saivite Dravidians by writing new cock and bull stories with the 'Naadha Vindhu Kalaadhi' fictions. After all, survival through any means was their only aim.

They hate - even now
That theory had to be believed not only by the common people but by the later day Saiva Saints themselves too. For, they did not have the access to the Vedas to verify the veracity of the theory and its source. The plain truth is that Vedic Aryans had nurtured a very strong hatred towards Siva worship and that hatred continues even now. The prominence given to the Pillaiyar cult, the Rama cult, the Hanuman cult,and the Ayyappa cult is aimed at suppressing the importance of the original Siva worship only. The laborious attempts made by them to cite the references to the term "Rudra" in the Rig Veda are meant only to cheat the gullible masses.

The Dravidian God Siva and the Rig Vedic personality Rudra have no connection whatsoever with each other. As per "one hymn of the Rig Veda, Rudra carries the bow and arrow and wears necklaces of all sorts and is followed by his hosts" (K A N Sastri).But the Indus seals show that there was trident on the head of the God, with head-dress proper which symbol of divinity survived in later times in the Trishula of Lord Siva.This Vedic Rudra who was wearing all ornaments had helped the creation of 'Vishnu' later to counter the Buddhist onslaught on yagna.


Accepted idolatry
- after Buddha's onslaught
The "phallic symbols in stone found in abundance" (Surendranath Dasgupta-Page 3- The Cultural Heritage of India - Vol III - published by the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture) in the Indus Valley prove that idolatry was in vogue during the pre-Vedic Indus civilization period, prior to 1500 BC. But, in the Vedic religion, "even in the age of Upanishads (600 BC), the conception of an impersonal God was the prevailing idea" (R.C. Majumdar-Page 35- ibid - Vol IV). The Svetasvatara Upanishad, in which we first meet with the theistic idea of Saivism (after the absorption of non -Aryan elements in Vedic religion), "identifies Him with eternal Absolute. There is no form for Him whose name is Supreme Celebrity" (K.A. Neelakanta Sastri- Page 63 -ibid. - Vol IV). K A N Sastri says that "the origins of Saivism are lost in obscurity".It is so ancient and had been in existence long long before the arrival of the Aryans. "The highly concrete conception of the deity and the intensely personal nature of the relation between Him and His devotees are the characteristics of Saivism", he says. In the Vedic pantheon, the Gods are impersonal. So, such a concrete conception of God as was adopted by the Dravidians in their idolatrous religion was foreign to the Vedic Aryans. "The cosmic religion of Vedic Aryans tended towards anthropomorphism, but it was not idolatrous" (R.N. Dandekar-The Cosmic order in the Vedic hymns - Page 7 -Records of Civilization-Sources of Indian Tradition- Oxford University Press).The substitution of a personal God called Hari in place of the abstract idea of a universal soul" (R C Majumdar) took place in the Bagavatha religion which was of the 6th century BC only. So, until 600 BC, the Vedic religion did not accept idolatry and only the simple form of nature worship was followed. Manu condemns as unfit for the Brahmins to practice the professions of temple-priests (III, 151-166) who classified the temple-priests alongwith liquor - vendors.

So, the Dravidians of the Indus Valley who followed an idolatrous religion were different from the Aryans who adopted idolatry later only from the 6th century onwards after forming a synthetic religion called Hinduism to acquire control over the Dravidian temples. It is significant to note that Aryans did not know and did not have temples for worship.
Thus, the Siva worship, which was in vogue before, during and also after the arrival of the Aryans on the Indian scene and which survives till date by withstanding the onslaught of the Vedic Aryans, itself proves that the Indus Valley Civilisation was non-Aryan, pre-Aryan and Dravidian , exclusively Dravidian.

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