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Rh of the Upanishads were far too abstruse to make Saivism a popular cult in ancient India, so it was not until after many centuries, when the Vedic religious teaching had penetrated deeply into the mind of the Indian masses, that the genius of a Sankarācharya could make this exclusive cult of Brahmanism appeal to the popular religious sense. Until about the seventh century one finds no architectural evidence of a popular temple service devoted to Saivism, though the image and symbols of Siva appear on some of the early Indian coins. But this absence of Saiva temples does not prove that Saivism had no influence as a school of religious thought, for the esoteric Vedic doctrine was always jealously guarded from the vulgar ear by a select body of intellectuals who despised the ignorant superstitions of the masses, and looked upon temple service as unworthy of their high calling.

Saiva temples, built of fine masonry, which evidence the growing popularity of the cult, first began to appear in Southern India about the seventh century, by which time Indo-Aryan culture had taken deep root among the Dravidian or non-Aryan races. It is often assumed that Saivism was an aboriginal superstition adopted by the Brahmans in order to strengthen their influence with the ignorant masses, but the architectural evidence does not support this view. Popular Saivism of the present day has certainly identified itself with a great deal of primitive Indian superstitions, but the esoteric teaching of the cult and the form of its architectural expression are both as purely Indo-Aryan as the Vedas themselves. The simplest form in which the Saiva temple first appears, about the sixth century, is shown in the little monolithic Dūrgā shrine