Friday, April 17, 2020

Are there any temples in India which survived all the foreign invasions?

 Majority of the temples in Tamil country managed to survive all the foreign invasions.

Persian Invasions:

The following are the methods adopted by them.

1.First major invasion took place in 1318 by Malik Kapur and he took away all treasures and destroyed temples in Kanchi, Tiruchi, Madurai. Over 14000 vaishnavas killed in Sri Rangam battle. An Empire which ruled over thousands years at Madurai, Pandya dynasty lost for the last, ofcourse due to brothers infight to the throne.

2.A Hindu empire, called Vijaya Nagara Empire, was formed by erstwhile defeated Kakatia Empire commanders, headquarted from present day Hampi, Karnataka.

3.This empire defeated and ended Sultan rule in Madurai in 1348. Rebuilt all the temples, through its feaudatories at Chenji, Tanjore and Madurai.

4. This kingdom ruled west coast to east coast at some point in time, making it as a barrier for persian invasions for over 3 centuries. But little you will find the greatness of this 300 year ruled empire in our History books. After the defeat in 1547 Talikotta war, this empire managed to survive till 1660 and its feudatories, then independent lasted till 1757 in Madurai and the 72 Madurai Polygars and Kandy lasted till 1810. British has to fight 3 wars lasting over 10 years to end Kingless Madurai. They hung few polygars in Tamarind tree in presence of public.

European & Other Invasions in later Period:

  1. Naicker Kings of Chenji, Tanjore, Madurai created local forces to defend temples based on 14th century invasion memiry. For example, Sri Rangam was well defended in 18th Century when Tipu Sultan tried to seize it.
  2. After 1660 in Seema region, 1750 in Madras region, there were chaos due to too many wars between too many players. English, French, Nizams, Nawabs, Marathas, Dutch, Portugese and Polygars.
  3. Portuguese in 16th century planned to loot treasures in Tirupati Temple. When portuguese troup went to the temple, Aliya Rama Raya of Vijayanagara was there with his hugr army , Portuguese surrendered.
  4. Fortification of temples and looting of temples were a common thing with European traders and invaders when the king is engaged in war elsewhere. The temples recovered from them, once the king is back. Tiruchendur temple invasion by Dutch in 17th century is another example. They fortified the temple, looted, set fire and had taken away the idol to Sri Lanka and demanded money. Thirumalai Naicker recovered it by warning and further warning from Kandy Naickers in ceylon.
  5. Temples along the Kaveri and Tamirabharani river basins, there are plenty, were well defended by Local Polygars. In 18th century, British and French fortified few temples at some point in time. Example: Aththi Varadhar rising.
  6. Princely States protected their temples.
  7. Some polypats are created and their main duty is to safeguard Temple, - one example is Sethu Patis of Rameswaram.
  8. Sacrifices
    1. Today, in TN itself, there are over 30000 temple gopurams of 300 to 5000 years old pointing to the sky.
    2. Because of sacrifices made by millions of our ancestors and their vision to safeguard these architectural marvels, the deities in these temples exist today.
    3. These temples show a tip of the wealth, the abundance, culture, tradition, food habits, language India had in ancient times before these European and Persian Invasions.

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