entranceways at each site. The temple, further, became a cen-
ter for economic exchange, storage of land and goods, and
social interaction, as well as a symbol of political liaison be-
tween kings, sectarian leaders, and landowners. A consider-
able literature known as Talapura ̄n:as, purporting to relate to
the mythic history of temple sites, began to develop.
Another religious institution emerging to prominence
in the Co ̄
̄
la period was the mat:am (Skt., mat:ha) or monastic
center. The mat:am became a center of spiritual learning espe-
cially for non-brahmans, though it often assumed economic
and political power as well. The brahmadeya or brahman set-
tlement continued to be the locus of much Sanskritic learn-
ing, radiating Brahmanic influence throughout the region.
Systematization in textual form continued in both
S ́aivism and Vais:n:avism. This was expressed in the contin-
ued formalization of ritual texts—the S ́aiva ̄gamas for S ́aiva
sects and the Pa ̄ñcara ̄tra ̄gamas and Vaikha ̄nasa ̄gamas for
Vais:n:avism—and in philosophical treatises. S ́aiva Siddha ̄nta
proved to be the philosophical systematization of the S ́aiva
religious experience. It was formally expressed in forty terse
Tamil verses by the thirteenth-century poet Meykan:t:a ̄r
(Meykan:t:a Te ̄var), and was known as the S ́ivajña ̄nabodham
(Civaña ̄n
̄
apo ̄tam). A verse commentary, known as the
S ́ivajña ̄nasiddhiya ̄r, was written by his disciple Arun:anti
S ́iva ̄cariyar. S ́aiva Siddha ̄nta speaks of three realities—the
lord (pati), the human soul (pacu; Skt., pa ́su), and the three
bonds of human existence (pa ̄ca; Skt., pa ́sa). In S ́aiva
Siddha ̄nta the soul was to be freed from the bonds of karman
(the law of cause and effect), ma ̄ya ̄ (the over-valuing of the
phenomenal world), and a ̄n:ava (self-orientation) in order to
become permanently attached to (and hence share the quali-
ty of) the lord S ́iva.
Vais:n:ava speculation, meanwhile, reached new heights
during this period thanks largely to the work and thought
of Ya ̄muna (918–1038), Ra ̄ma ̄nuja (1017–1137), and Mad-
hva (1199–1278). A central concern of these a ̄ca ̄ryas, or pre-
ceptors, was that of affording a philosophical foundation for
the devotional experience and hence in describing the rela-
tionship between the deity and the devotee, primarily in the
form of surrender (prapatti). Ya ̄muna extolled the greatness
of the lord and described the abject need of the devotee;
Ra ̄ma ̄nuja affirmed this theme but went on to argue for the
“qualified” nature of supreme existence (vi ́sis:t:a ̄dvaita) in
contradistinction to S ́an ̇ kara’s more radical monism. Madh-
va, in contrast to the exponents of S ́an ̇ kara’s system, argued
for the reality and plurality of the world and the difference
between the self and brahman. For each of these thinkers,
brahman was perceived in terms of a personal deity.
The twelfth century was the period in which perhaps the
greatest Tamil poet lived. Kampan
̄
, the “imperial poet,” mas-
ter of style and form, is best known for his transcreation of
Va ̄lm ̄ıki’s Ra ̄ma ̄yan:a. While borrowing extensively from the
content and style of the Sanskrit epic, Kampan
̄
’s version,
nonetheless, creatively adapts the finest of Tamil poetics, and
locates the story in a distinctively Tamil landscape.
It was during the Co ̄
̄la period that the influence of
Hindu (and especially S ́aiva) thought, which had started
spreading into Southeast Asia under the Pallavas and Guptas,
became more pronounced. Brahmans, now perceived as
skilled and versatile advisers to kings, were to be found in
such city-states as Polonna ̄ruva (Sri Lanka), Pagan (Burma),
Ayutthaya ̄ (Thailand), Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom
(Cambodia) and Madjapahit (Java). These brahmans and
other Hindu immigrants transported notions of divine king-
ship and cosmology; thus the architecture of capital cities,
palaces, temples, and even the biers of dead kings, as well as
some of the rituals in the courts of Southeast Asia, came to
reflect motifs canonized in S ́aiva ̄gama texts of the Co ̄
̄la
period.The Vijayanagar period. With the decline of the Co ̄
̄la
line and the rise of the Vijayanagar hegemony, whose capital
was in Andhra Pradesh, shifts occurred in the character of
religion in Tamil India. While the Vijayanagars, through po-
litical alliances, succeeded in keeping the expanding Islamic
empire from making major political inroads in the South,
there were nonetheless increasing Muslim influences. From
the tenth century onward pockets of Muslims settled into
small communities along the Tamil and Malabar coasts and
radiated influence outward from these centers, and by the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries occasional military expedi-
tions had led to brief periods of Muslim rule in several por-
tions of Tamil country.
Another important political development of the Vijaya-
nagar period, due in part to the increase in military capabili-
ty, was the rise of local and supralocal rulers known as
na ̄yakkas, who sustained pockets of political stability under
suzerainty of the Telugu Vijayanagars. These na ̄yakka do-
mains often led to the patronage of local Hindu institutions
and the enhancement of local temples and festivals. The rise
of the na ̄yakka system in Tamil country also led to change
in the role of brahmans and temples in the region. The brah-
madeya declined in power and brahmans were no longer
given gifts to the degree that had been true in the Co ̄
̄la peri-
od. Yet brahmans, especially Telugu brahmans, became im-
portant consultants in military and ritual affairs, and the
temples, their deities, and their festivals came increasingly to
express the reciprocities, including gift giving and the ex-
change of honors, that had been a part of the Co ̄
̄la socio-
political order.
The Co ̄
̄la period was a time for the formalization and
institutionalization of religion, especially of S ́aivism, into
temples and literary texts written primarily in Sanskrit. In the
post-Co ̄
̄la period the vernacular once again became the chief
medium for religious expression, and thus the more popular
forms of Hinduism found expression across the Tamil re-
gion. Tamil Hinduism during the Vijayanagar period thus
was characterized by resurgent devotionalism and increased
participation in temple rituals and festivals by a broader spec-
trum of people. One might speak of this new era as the “silver
age” of Tamil bhakti.8976 TAMIL RELIGIONS