musings 83

If we go through the history of religious activities at least in India, the temples have often played vital role in maintaining social balance..

Many of the Kings who were staunch followers of one sect like Shaivism, Vaishanavism, or even Samana path ( Jainisam) Budhisam etc would not be kindly disposed towards the followers of other faiths,

and such followers when they were the ordinary people were not getting jobs etc under the royal patronage..

But the temples, Viharas and such institutions went beyond the strict controls of the king, even if they belonged to dissenting faiths..

And pilgrimmage for devotees from various other sovereign kingdoms were never restricted..

In fact the rulers never interfered seriously with the operation and activities of dissident religious faiths or sects..

This meant that the people belonging to the dissident sects could survive on the patronage of the huge temple administrations, mutts and Viharas which were more or less independent..

In this view of the matter, the deities and religious heads were centres for social succour, albeit all inter se disputes..

India retains a uniform structure in social interactions at least partially based on the prevalence of the temples and deities, though, at times there may be pronounced disputes and disparities among the sects..

The Mother Goddess Durga for example has her Shakthi Sthals in one hundred or more places spread all over India and even in parts of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal..

One can remain an atheist or agnostic, but the cultural heritage based on the deities of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and even Christianity and Islam in some parts cannot be forgotten..

Of course charity based on religion and charity by non believers, all mean the same for the persons who receive the bounty..

Rice and dhal served at a temple, mosque, church or in some secular place all go to mitigate hunger.. neither of them taste better or worse just because of the location..

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Various lore like Puranas and local stories mention Shakthi sthals in different ways.. Some Lists do overlap.. and some may not..

We can see references of 108 Shiva Sthalas and 108 Shakti Stalas with variations in the list in Shiva, Skanda etc and other puranas stessing on Lord Shiva..

Markandeya Puranam, Brahamanda puranam, Devi Bhagavatham etc stressing on the mother Goddes list the major places in common but each list will contain different names..

In the long passage of History of at least three to four millenniums, we may not be able to put every important place in every Puranam..

And even a very minute analysis of each puranam for such geographic nuances may be difficult, because each such book contains tens of thousands of verses, and have many versions based on geography and time..

But the Fifty two peethas ( especially sacred for Saktha Wroshippers) could safely find place in other lists too.. because these temples are very famous..

The story of Shakthi or Sati immolating herself and the angry Shiva Carrying Her body from north to South and Vishnu just running behind and cutting off parts of the body at various Sthals.. this storyline available in various puranas with minor variation.. as a sequel to the Yanjna of Dakshaprajapati..

The Daksha episode and the self immolation of Sati the Daakshaayani are found even in Bhagavatham, a Vaishnavik Purana and Harivamsam, said to be the part of Mahabharatham.. in addition to the predominantly Shaivic and Shakthic Purnanas.

So we cannot find uniformity on this issue.