The following incident in connection with a sālagrāma stone is narrated by Yule and Burnell[98]:—“In May, 1883, a sālagrāma was the ostensible cause of great popular excitement among the Hindus of Calcutta. During the proceedings in a family suit before the High Court, a question arose regarding the identity of a sālagrāma, regarded as a household god. Counsel on both sides suggested that the thing should be brought into court. Mr. Justice Morris hesitated to give this order till he had taken advice. The attorneys on both sides, Hindus, said there could be no objection; the Court interpreter, a high-caste Brāhman, said it could not be brought into Court because of the coir matting, but it might with perfect propriety be brought into the corridor for inspection; which was done. This took place during the excitement about the ‘Ilbert Bill,’ giving natives magisterial authority in the provinces over Europeans; and there followed most violent and offensive articles in several native newspapers reviling Mr. Justice Morris, who was believed to be hostile to the Bill. The Editor of the Bengallee newspaper, an educated man, and formerly a member of the Covenanted Civil Service, the author of one of the most unscrupulous and violent articles, was summoned for contempt of court. He made an apology and complete retraction, but was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment.”

The sacred chank, conch, or sankhu, which has been referred to in connection with ceremonial observance, is the shell of the gastropod mollusc Turbinella rapa. This is secured, in Southern India, by divers from Tuticorin in the vicinity of the pearl banks. The chank shell, which one sees suspended on the forehead and round the neck of bullocks, is not only used by Hindus for offering libations, and as a musical instrument in temples, but is also cut into armlets, bracelets, and other ornaments. Writing in the sixteenth century, Garcia says:—“This chanco is a ware for the Bengal trade, and formerly produced more profit than now ... and there was formerly a custom in Bengal that no virgin in honour and esteem could be corrupted unless it were by placing bracelets of chanco on her arms; but, since the Patāns came in, this usage has more or less ceased.” “The conch shell,” Captain C. R. Day writes,[99] “is not in secular use as a musical instrument, but is found in every temple, and is sounded during religious ceremonials, in processions, and before the shrines of Hindu deities. In Southern India, the sankhu is employed in the ministration of a class of temple servers called Dāsari. No tune, so to speak, can of course be played upon it, but still the tone is capable of much modulation by the lips, and its clear mellow notes are not without a certain charm. A rather striking effect is produced when it is used in the temple ritual as a sort of rhythmical accompaniment, when it plays the part of kannagōlu or tālavinyāsa.” In a petition from two natives of the city of Madras in 1734, in connection with the expenses for erecting a town called Chintadrepettah, the following occurs[100]:—“Expended towards digging a foundation, where chanks was buried with accustomary ceremonies.” A right-handed chank (i.e., one which has its spiral opening to the right), which was found off the coast of Ceylon at Jaffna in 1887, was sold for Rs. 700. Such a chank is said to have been sometimes priced at a lakh of rupees; and, writing in 1813, Milburn says[100] that a chank opening to the right hand is greatly valued, and always sells for its weight in gold. Further, Baldæus narrates the legend that Garroude flew in all haste to Brahma, and brought to Kistna the chianko or kinkhorn twisted to the right. The chank appears as a symbol on coins of the Chālukyan and Pāndyan dynasties of Southern India, and on the modern coins of the Mahārājas of Travancore.

Temple worship is entirely based on Āgamas. As Brāhmans take part only in the worship of Siva and Vishnu, temples dedicated to these gods are largely frequented by them. The duties connected with the actual worship of the idol are carried out by Gurukkals in Siva temples, and by Pāncharatra or Vaikhānasa Archakas in Vishnu temples. The cooking of the food for the daily offering is done by Brāhmans called Parchārakas. At the time of worship, some Brāhmans, called Adhyāpakas, recite the Vēdas. Some stanzas from Thiruvāimozhi or Thēvāram are also repeated, the former by Brāhmans at Vishnu temples, and the latter by Pandārams (Ōduvar) at Siva temples. In a typical temple there are usually two idols, one of stone (mūla vigraha) and the other of metal (utsava vigraha). The mūla vigraha is permanently fixed within the inner shrine or garbagraha, and the utsava vigraha is intended to be carried in procession. The mūla vigrahas of Vishnu temples are generally in human form, either in a standing posture, or, as in the case of Ranganātha, Padmanābha, and Govindarājaswāmi, in a reclining posture, on Ādisēsha. Ordinarily, three idols constitute the mūla vigraha. These are Vishnu, Sridēvi (Lakshmi), and Bhudēvi (earth goddess). In temples dedicated to Sri Rāma, Lakshmana is found instead of Bhudēvi. Sridēvi and Bhudēvi are also associated with Vishnu in the utsava vigraha. In all the larger temples, there is a separate building in the temple precincts dedicated to Lakshmi, and within the garbagraha thereof, called thāyar or nāchiyar sannadhi, is a mūla vigraha of Lakshmi. There may also be one or more shrines dedicated to the Ālvars (Vaishnava saints) and the Āchāryas—Dēsikar and Manavāla Mahāmunigal. The sect mark is put on the faces of the mūla and utsava vigrahas. The mūla vigraha in Siva temples is a lingam (phallic emblem). In Siva temples, there is within the garbagraha only one lamp burning, which emits a very feeble light. Hence arise the common sayings “As dim as the light burning in Siva’s temple,” or “Like the lamp in Siva’s temple.” The utsava vigraha is in the human forms of Siva and Parvathi. In all important Saivite temples, Parvathi is housed in a separate building, as Lakshmi is in Vishnu temples. Vignēswara, Subramanya, and the important Nāyanmars also have separate shrines in the temple precincts.

Padmanābha Swāmi.

So far as ordinary daily worship is concerned, there is not much difference in the mode of worship between temple and domestic worship. Every item is done on a large scale, and certain special Āgamic or Tantric rites are added to the sixteen Upachāras already mentioned. At the present time, there are, especially in the case of Vishnu temples, two forms of temple worship, called Pāncharatra and Vaikhānasa. In the former, which is like domestic worship in all essential points, any Brāhman may officiate as temple priest. In the latter, only Vaikhānasa Archakas may officiate.

All big temples are generally well endowed, and some temples receive from Government annual grants of money, called tasdik. The management of the temple affairs rests with the Dharmakarthas (trustees), who practically have absolute control over the temple funds. All the temple servants, such as Archakas, Parchārakas, and Adhyāpakas, and the non-Brāhman servants (sweepers, flower-gatherers, musicians and dancing-girls) are subject to the authority of the Dharmakartha. For their services in the temple, these people are paid partly in money, and partly in kind. The cooked food, which is offered daily to the god, is distributed among the temple servants. On ordinary days, the offerings of cooked food made by the Archakas, and the fruits brought by those who come to worship, are offered only to the mūla vigraha, whereas, on festival days, they are offered to the utsava vigrahas.

For worship in Vishnu temples, flowers and tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) are used. In Siva temples, bilva (bael: Ægle Marmelos) leaves are substituted for tulsi. At the close of the worship, the Archaka gives to those present thīrtham (holy water), tulsi or bilva leaves, and vibhūthi (sacred ashes) according to the nature of the temple. At Vishnu temples, immediately after the giving of thīrtham, an inverted bowl, bearing on it the feet of Vishnu (satāri or sadagōpam), is placed by the Archaka first on the head, and then on the right shoulder, and again on the head, in the case of grown up and married males, and only on the head in the case of females and young people. The bowl is always kept near the mūla vigraha, and, on festival days, when the god is taken in procession through the streets, it is carried along with the utsava vigraha. On festival days, such as Dhipāvali, Vaikunta Ekādasi, Dwādasi, etc., the god of the temple is taken in procession through the main streets of the town or village. The idol, thus borne in procession, is not the stone figure, but the portable one made of metal (utsava vigraha), which is usually kept in the temple in front of the Mūla idol. At almost every important temple, an annual festival called Brahmōtsavam, which usually lasts ten days, is celebrated. Every night during this festival, the god is seated on the clay, wooden or metal figure of some animal as a vehicle, e.g., Garuda, horse, elephant, bull, Hanumān, peacock, yāli, etc., and taken in procession, accompanied by a crowd of Brāhmans chanting the Vēdas and Tamil Nālayara Prapandhams, if the temple is an important one. Of the vehicles or vahānams, Hanumān and Garuda are special to Vishnu, and the bull (Nandi) and tiger to Siva. The others are common to both deities. During the month of May, the festival of the god Varadarāja takes place annually. On one of the ten days of this festival, the idol, which has gone through a regular marriage ceremony, is placed on an elaborately decorated car (ratha), and dragged through the main streets. The car frequently bears a number of carved images of a very obscene nature, the object of which, it is said, is to avert the evil eye. Various castes, besides Brāhmans, take part in temple worship, at which the saints of both Siva and Vishnu—Nāyanmar and Ālvars—are worshipped. The Brāhmans do not entirely ignore the worship of the lower deities, such as Māriamma, Munēswara, Kodamanitaya, etc. At Udipi in South Canara, the centre of the Mādhva cult, where Mādhva preached his Dvaitic philosophy, and where there are several mutts presided over by celibate priests, the Brāhmans often make a vow to the Bhūthas (devils) of the Paravas and Nalkes. Quite recently, we saw an orthodox Shivalli Brāhman, employed under the priest of one of the Udipi mutts, celebrating the nēma (festival) of a bhūtha named Panjurli, in fulfilment of a vow made when his son was ill. The Nalke devil-dancers were sent for, and the dance took place in the courtyard of the Brāhman’s house. During the leaf festival at Periyapalayam near Madras, Brāhman males and females may be seen wearing leafy twigs of margosa (Melia Azadirachta), and going round the Māriamma shrine.

I pass on to a detailed consideration of the various classes of Brāhmans met with in Southern India. Of these, the Tamil Brāhmans, or Drāvidas proper, are most numerous in the southern districts. They are divided into the following sections:—