Culture And Religion In South India (800 to 1200 AD)
Temple Architecture
Temple architecture, particularly the Dravida or south Indian style of architecture, reached the pinnacle of glory under the Cholas. The chief feature of a Chola temple is the vimana or the pyramidal tower, which was later eclipsed by the richly ornamented gopuram or gateway. Under the Cholas, temples became the centres of social life, particularly in the rural areas. The village assembly invariably held its meetings in the temple mandapa.
Most important among them is undoubtedly the Vijayalaya Cholesvara temple at Narthamalai. The best example is, however, the Siva (or the Brihadesvara or the Rajarajesvara) temple, built-in 1009 by Rajaraja-I, at Tanjore which marks the zenith of Chola architecture. Apart from being the tallest of all Indian temples of the medieval period, it is a masterpiece of South Indian architecture The temple of Gangaikonda Cholapuram (also dedicated to Siva), the creation of Rajendra-I though excellent, was a poor imitation of the Brihadeswara temple.
Sculpture
The Chola period also witnessed great strides in the field of sculpture. The classes of Chola sculpture are portraits, icons and decorative sculpture.
The Siva temple at Tiruvalisvaram is a veritable museum of superb early Chola iconography. The walls of the Brihadesvara temples at Tanjore and Gangaikonda Cholapuram contain numerous icons of large size and fine execution. The Chola bronze sculptures, particularly the Nataraja (bronze statues of Nataraja or the dancing Siva) were the masterpieces of this medium of art. The best example is the Nataraja image in the Nagesvara temple at Kumbhakonam. These bronze statues were popular in south-east Asia and a large number were even exported to the region.
Paintings
Chola wall paintings are to be found on the walls of the Vijayalaya Cholesvara and Rajarajesvara temples. On the walls of the Vijayalaya Cholesvara temple, large painted figures of Mahakala, Devi and Siva are still visible. In the Rajarajesvara temple scenes representing Siva in his abode of Kailasa as Nataraja and Tripurantaka are painted on the walls, which are similar to the classical Ajanta paintings..
Literature and Education
Education based on the epics and the Puranas was imparted during this time through discourses in temples. There were colleges and other institutions for higher education. The period was marked by the growth of Tamil classics such as Sibakasindamani, Kamban’s Ramayana, etc. Very few books were composed in Sanskrit.
Religion
Cholas were mostly devotees of Siva, though a few worshipped Vishnu and the Buddha. Jainism witnessed a decline. A peculiarity of the Chola religion was that greater stress was laid on dana (gift) than on yajna (sacrifice).
Social Divisions
The industrial population of the country was broadly divided into the valangai (Right-Hand) and idangai (Left-Hand) divisions. The quarrel between these two divisions often erupted in the Chola kingdom and caused law and order problems.
RELIGION IN SOUTH INDIA
This period (800 – 1200 AD) witnessed the transformation of the Brahmanical religion into Hinduism. It was marked by the emergence of many philosophical systems which made Hinduism a simple religion. On the other hand, the same period produced the great popular movements of the bhakti cults which often explicitly rejected Brahmin orthodoxy and monist philosophy and aimed at salvation by means of pure devotion to a personal god.
There were six classical philosophical systems. But the most influential of these systems was undoubtedly Vedanta (end of the Vedas) which has often been regarded as the very essence of Indian philosophy. It was Sankaracharya (788-820) who renewed and systematised Vedanta philosophy by stressing its main principle of monism (Kevala Advaita or Absolute Non-dualism). Born in Kalady in modern Kerala, he composed his main work, the commentary on the Brahmasutras at Varanasi and travelled throughout India preaching his philosophy. It was during the course of these travels that he defeated various Buddhist scholars in arguments and this spelt doom for Buddhism in India. Besides, he is credited with establishing four maths in the four corners of India at Dwaraka, Badrinath, Puri and Sringeri.
Sankara laid emphasis on jnana (knowledge) as the means for salvation and besides writing the commentaries on Brahmasutras, he wrote similar commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads to put forward his view. He also composed the famous hymn Bhaja Govindam. Another school of thought was one propounded by Ramanuja called Visishtadvaita or qualified monism and the means for salvation was bhakti or selfless devotion. He wrote Sribhashya and Gitabhasya, two commentaries on Vedanta. Similarly, Madhva Charya put forward the doctrine of Dvaitavada or dualism, and Nimbarkacharya, the doctrine of Dvaitadvaita or dualistic monism. All these widened the scope of Hinduism and strengthened its roots in India.