continue.........remaining part ........
As per as the social role of temple is
concerned, they were the centre of activity as
assemblies and schools. Caste consciousness had
become a marked feature with the society divided
vertically between the Brahmanas and the non-
Brahmanas. The medium of education in the
temples was sanskrit. Debates were held in
various mathas and colleges regarding
philophical aspects of Hindu theology.
Sankaracharya’s ideas continued to be developer
and improved upon and theories and
philosophies of other teachers were also
discussed. It is to be noted that Ramanuja, the
famous Vaishnava philosopher, spent a
favourable part of his life teaching at the famous
temple of Shrirangam.
Thus, temples in medieval India, specially in
south India, had developed some sort of tourist
industry lide in modern times. Pilgrims flocked
to temples during the festivals (which were quite
frequent) in huge numbers, and hence, these
necessitated employment to guilds, priests, innkeepers,
food-shelters etc. In effect, they become
miniature towns.
North
1. In the north, a shikhara rises above the
chief room. The shikhara has a global
bulge in the middle and tapers to a point
at the top.
2. Temples lack gateway (gopuram).
3. Temples are mostly of brick solid and
mortar.
4. Temples are smaller in size.
5. Temple were mainly centres of religious
activity.
South
1. A pyramidal tower (vemana) story up
on storey, above the garbhagriha (chief
deity room)
2. Temples have very lofty and site
gateways called gopurams.
3. Temples are made mostly of rocks.
4. Temples are generally bigger and more
airy.
5. Temples were not only centres religious
activity but also social and economical
activities.
Sankaracharya
Sankaracharya was a Nambudiri Brahman
born in Kaladi, Malabar. He was originally a
worshiper of Seva. He gave an entirely new turn
to the Hindu revival movement by providing it
with a solid philosophical background through
the reinterpretation of ancient Indian scriptures,
particularly the Upanishads. Sankaracharya
advocated the philosophy of “Advaita” the
monism of the Vedanta by giving a brilliant
exposition to the entire range of the Vedic
religions and spiritual thought. Having lost his
father in his childhood, Sankaracharya become
a sanyasi, while in his teens and began to roam
about in search of true knowledge and wisdom.
A genius by birth and intensely religious by
outlook and social heritage, he received
instruction in religious scriptures and philosophy
at Kashi. Sankaracharya renewed and
systematised Vedanta philosophy by stressing on
its main principle of monism (advaita or absolute
non-dualism). Sankaracharya started a vigorous
campaign for the revial of Hinduism based on
the solid foundation of Vedic philosophy and
ancient Indian cultural tradition in order to
check the growth of Buddhism and Jainism. He
recognised the ascetic order of sanyasis on the
pattern of Buddhist sangha and launched a
campaign for the popularisation of Hinduism.
He composed extensive commentaries on the
Brahmasutra and chief upanishad and traveled
all around India to highlight the cultural unity
of India. The mathas also began propagating the
centre of Vedic religion. The mathas, among
many, included Jaganathpuri in the east, Sringeri
in the South, Dwarka in the west and Badrinath
in the north.
Sankaracharya was an orthodox Brahmin
for whom the Vedic literature was sacred and
unquestionably true. In order to harmonise the
many paradoxes of Vedic tradition, that had to
trade recourse to a philosophy of “double
standard of truth” (already known in
Buddhism). It meant that on the every day level
of truth, the world was preduce by Brahma, and
it went through an evolutionary process similar
to that taught by the Sankhya school of
philosophy. But on the highest level of truth, the
whole universe including the God was unreal,
i.e., the world in maya, an illusion and figment
of imagination. Therefore, Shankarcharya
believed that ultimately the only reality was the
Brahman, the impersonal world soul of the
Upanishads with which the individual soul was
identical
