Dravidian folk religion

Dravidian folk deity Ayyanar with two wives

The early Dravidian religion constituted a non-Vedic, pre-Indo-Aryan, indigenous religion practiced by Dravidian peoples in the Indian subcontinent that they were either historically or are at present Āgamic. The Agamas are non-Vedic in origin,[1] and have been dated either as post-Vedic texts,[2] or as pre-Vedic compositions.[3] The Agamas are a collection of Tamil and Sanskrit scriptures chiefly constituting the methods of temple construction and creation of murti, worship means of deities, philosophical doctrines, meditative practices, attainment of sixfold desires and four kinds of yoga.[4] The worship of tutelary deities and sacred flora and fauna in Hinduism is also recognized as a survival of the pre-Vedic Dravidian religion.[5] Dravidian linguistic influence on early Vedic religion is evident; many of these features are already present in the oldest known Indo-Aryan language, the language of the Rigveda (c. 1500 BCE), which also includes over a dozen words borrowed from Dravidian. The linguistic evidence for Dravidian impact grows increasingly strong as one moves from the Samhitas down through the later Vedic works and into the classical post-Vedic literature.[6] This represents an early religious and cultural fusion[7][note 1] or synthesis[9] between ancient Dravidians and Indo-Aryans that went on to influence Indian civilisation.[8][10][11][12]

  1. ^ Mudumby Narasimhachary (ed.) (1976). "Āgamaprāmāṇya of Yāmunācārya". Gaekwad's Oriental Series 160. Oriental Institute, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.
  2. ^ Tripath, S. M. (2001). Psycho-Religious Studies Of Man, Mind And Nature. Global Vision. ISBN 9788187746041.
  3. ^ Nagalingam, Pathmarajah (2009). The Religion of the Agamas. Siddhanta Publications.
  4. ^ Grimes, John A. (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. State University of New York Press. ISBN 9780791430682. LCCN 96-12383.
  5. ^ The Modern Review. Vol. 28. Prabasi. 1920.
  6. ^ Krishnamurti (2003), p. 6.
  7. ^ a b Lockard 2007, p. 50.
  8. ^ a b Lockard 2007, p. 52.
  9. ^ Hiltebeitel 2007, p. 12.
  10. ^ Tiwari 2002, p. v.
  11. ^ Zimmer 1951, p. 218-219.
  12. ^ Larson 1995, p. 81.


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).