Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/251

Rh did not find favor with the non-Aryan races. The Brahmins found it necessary therefore to adopt the gods of the alien races, to obtain influence over them. Siva and Kâli were the most popular deities of the non-Aryans, and they were first admitted into the Brahmin pantheon. Balarâma and Krishna who were the national heroes of the shepherd races were also worshipped by the Brahmins as incarnations of Vishnu. Similarly Muruga, the patron deity of the hunting tribes was adored as the son of Siva. In all the great temples served by Brahmins, in the Tamil country, images of the four gods Siva, Krishna, Balarâma and Muruga were set up. Siva was however considered the greatest of the four gods, and his temples were the most stately and august of the public edifices. Kâli was held to be a form of Pârvati, the consort of Siva. Indra, the king of the celestials, Kâma, the god of love, and celestial bodies, such as Surya the sun and Soma the moon had temples dedicated to them. With a view to impress upon the minds of the people, the distinctions of caste, the Brahmins introduced also the worship of four Bhootas or gigantic idols, which represented the four castes. The first was fair in colour like the moon, and was dressed like the Brahmins who keep the three sacred fires, and held in his hands the implements required for performing a Vedic sacrifice. The second, of a resy hue, attired like a king and armed with a lance, was accompanied by drums, hair-fans, banners, and an umbrella. The third was of a golden colour and carried in his hands a plough and a pair of scales, representing the mercantile and agricultural classes. The fourth, of dark complexion, wore clothes of black colour and had with him many musical instruments indicating the class of bards, actors, drummers and other musicians. The religious service in the Brahminic temples consisted in bathing and dressing the idols, in the morning, adorning them with jewels and flowers, and offering then fruits, sweets and cooked rice, two or three times in a day, and putting the idols to sleep at night, and repeating the names and praises of the deity a certain number of times on each occasion. The dazzling pomp of the service and its touching appeal to the senses, especially in the large temples, might have affected the imagination of the