SHAKTISM IN SOUTH INDIA

South India has had a long heritage of goddess worship. The Shakta traditions that hail the divine feminine has been in vogue since time immemorial. She is the only deity worshipped in the three modes of Hindu ritual of Mantra or the chanted word, Tantra or the coded ritual and Yantra or advanced esoteric geometrical diagrams that connect energy lines.

Across the landscape of South, you find ancient temples dedicated to the goddess in one of these three forms. In addition to these are the numerous artistic tributes to the Devi. In poetry, sculpture, temple architecture and classical music and dance, the goddess has been worshipped since undated times.

In fact, through all these artistic ventures one can trace back the history of human evolution in South India. While it is impossible to enumerate all the spaces and their details in South India, we take a look at some of the most significant artistic odes to the Devi in sculpture, poetry and architecture. There are many temples of Goddess in south India such as Parvati temples, Saraswati temples, Mariamman temple and Kabbalama temple. The kabbalu deity temple is located in kanakapura and one of the most important temple in the region. For more information you can visit here Kabbalama temple kanakapura .

Starting from the famous cave temples of Mahabalipuram constructed during the rule of the Pallava king Narasimha Varman 630-70 AD. Here we see Devi as Mahishasura Mardhini or the slayer of demon Mahisha. This is a common motif of representing the Devi from the Devi Bhagawatam. You can find this in several other heritage sites across the country.

Devi is shown with eight arms and riding a lion. She is equipped with all the weapons and can be seen pulling the bowstring all the way to her ear. The demon Mahisha is seen with a club in his hands standing in a position of combat observing the Devi. Around these two main characters are Ganas and Yoginis who are witnessing this war. This is one of the finest representations of plastic art for students of arts studies. Across Tamil Nadu you will find some of the biggest temples dedicated to the Devi. She is worshipped as Meenakshi in Madurai, Kamakshi in Kanchipuram and in many more forms.

From there to Kerala, the land of the famous 8th century philosopher and revivalist of Sanathana Dharma Adi Shankara. In his short lifespan of three and half decades, Shankara wrote some of the most seminal works of Vedic philosophy. He traveled extensively and toured the country end to end. Every sacred space or Kshetra he visited, he composed a new song with the inspiration he derived from the respective deity of that Kshetra.

Adi Shankara began traveling at a very young age. As he crossed the borders of what is current day Kerala into parts of Karnataka, he visited the ancient temple of Sharada Devi in Sringeri. Sringeri was known as Rushyasringapuram and became famous as the place where sage Rushyasrunga performed his penance to bring in rains. For getting such stories you can visit here

Looking at the richness of foliage in the western ghats even now, you feel it could be the fruits of that penance that continue till date. Shankara decided to establish the first of his monastic schools or Peethams in Sringeri. He appointed his disciple Sureshwaracharya as the head of this school. This is the only monastic school of Shankara that has had an unbroken lineage from that time till now.

In Sringeri, the Devi is worshipped as Sharada, the goddess of knowledge, an incarnation of goddess Saraswati. Originally it was a small shrine with the central idol of Sharada made of sandalwood, installed over a Sri Chakra Yantra that Sri Adi Shankara carved on a rock. Subsequently the Acharyas built a temple in Kerala style, with timber and tiled roof. Later the original idol was substituted with the present golden idol. Lakhs of pilgrims throng to Sringeri to seek the blessings of the goddess all throughout the year.