Tag: festivals of tamilnadu

Festivals involve a lot of labour, sometimes extending over many days beforehand, as in the case of Dipavali and Sarasvati Puja, and a lot of expenditure in money and food resources. Most of the labour devolves on the women folk. Yet they do not seem to grudge it. They always engage themselves in these activities with great enthusiasm. Even people not so well placed do not appear to mind the additional expenditure involved. These festive activities bring out the creative talents in women and children, and so naturally these are sources and occasions for joy. The joy is all the greater for women, because the activity is mostly for the children’s sake and naturally this affords satisfaction to the- mothers in the work. Children enjoy the festive food no doubt, but they also enjoy the creative activities equally well. It is this enjoyment that is reflected in the women folk, and for them these occasions are thus a source of double enjoyment. 

Festivals are always a great source of joy for the children of the house. They give them enough activity, and give them more to eat also. All festoons with mango leaves are made by them. Their competition with other children in this work gives them ample scope for their creative activity to express itself. Long hours they spend over this and they also learn by copying the hand work of children more clever than themselves. The expectation of good and sufficient things to eat whets their eagerness to do a good decoration. Besides decoration, they do other work such as casting the image of Ganesa for Ganesa Chaturthi, arranging books and dolls for Sarasvati puja, cleaning the house of cobwebs etc. for every festival, and so on. Naturally they get plenty of good things to eat – sweets on New Year’s Day, Chitra Annam or Adipperukku, varieties of Kolukkattai, Jambu fruit, wood apple etc. on Vinayaka Chaturthi day, a number of dishes every day on the ten days of Dasarah, a large number of sweets at Dipavali time, sugarcane and plantain fruits for Pongal and so on. The gaudy dresses and visits to the Neighbours houses on the occasions of the Dasarah and Dipavali add an extra zest to the little girls. 

Decoration – Festoons 

The stringing of festoons in the house on festive occasions is part of the decoration programme. The entrance to the house is hung with festoons and they are hung around the place of the puja. The modern fashion is to purchase coloured tissue piper, cut it into pretty figures and string them. But up to the end of the first quarter of this century, paper festoons had no part in the festivities. People did very artistic decorations. but without cost. The tender coconut leaf shoots and palmyrah leaf shoots were used to prepare festoons. There was no need for the investment of any money on these. They were all had in any villager’s garden. The people cut one or two leaves, took out each bit separately, cut it to the required length with a sharp knife and plaited them into the required forms in a very artistic manner. The tender shoots were all white in colour and alternating with the dark green mango leaves, they presented a pleasing colour contrast to the eye. The coconut festoons dried and withered in about two days, but the palmyrah shoots never withered. They remained fresh for any length of time. So, after one occasion they were taken out carefully and stored, to be used for the next occasion. 

Kolam 

Kolam is an artistic symmetric design worked on the floor, done with fine white rice flour by dribbling it between the thumb and the forefinger, or by squeezing evenly through a piece of cloth staked in a solution of rice ground with water. The designs are intricate and elaborately done by the dexterous fingers of the women folk. There are countless numbers of such design’s done by the older women. Dots are placed evenly and symmetrically to weave round the outline of the design, and lines are drawn round them to achieve the desired result. Not only floral designs but others such as a temple car, a flower pot etc. are also woven. Those who are not nimble with their fingers use a small perforated tin cylinder and by rolling the cylinder the desired pattern is laid on the floor by the flour in the cylinder dribbling out through the perforation. In the earthern floors of the past, the wet flour design stayed for a number of days, but with the cement and the mosaic floors, it comes off immediately and the decoration does not have any great impact. 

White rice flour was the only article used for kolam on all auspicious days in Tamil Nādu in the past. But now many colours are employed, by wider contact with North India, where rangoli or colour decoration patterns on the floor have been popular from long past Coloured rice flour and other material are used to add to the effect of the flour kolam of the olden days. Red earth, charcoal powder, dried green leaf p owder, yellow turmeric powder etc. are some of the natural coloring materials used. 

We shall not say here anything about the urban practice of drawing kolams in what is called makku – mavu, which is just the mortar taken from buildings pulled down and powdered. This contains a large quantity of time and when drawn on a cement floor constantly it leaves a white discolouration. This is quite against the principle of the rice flour kolam,.which besides having the first purpose of decoration and beautification, has a secondary purpose of feeding other creation like the ants, squirrel and the crow. This expresses a concern for other life. While lime kolams (makku mavu) cannot. 

Flour kolams are drawn not only on the floor but on all seat planks etc. , where any deity is to be invoked. They are drawn also on the ceremonial plank seats where the bride and bride groom are to be seated. There is no festival, ritual or ceremony without 

Lamps 

The lighted lamp is the first item not only in all auspicious rituals but also in all inauspicious rituals. Not only for wedding but also for funeral ceremonies, the lamp is the first thing to be installed. 

Many of our festivals are festivals of light. Everyone will remember the Dipavali, the row of lights with its crackers, and the Karttikai when hundreds of lamps are lit in every home and placed in every nook and corner including the cattle pen and other unused sheds. Light is also a symbol of joy and the joy is reflected on all these occasions. Parents even today take it as a matter of great privilege and joy to supply their daughters with ghee and wicks for lighting lamps on the Pongal day in their homes. Daughters living in very distant places get these by post well in advance. The Karttikai Dipam not only in Tiru Annamalai but in every small temple and in every small home is an occasion for lighting the heart. God is the supreme light that leads us from the unreal to the Real., from the evanescent to the Eternal, and from darkness to Light. No wonder the little lamp, which dispels, in however small a measure the darkness around is considered as a symbol of God, the eternal Light. 

The lighting of a lamp in the soul was the occasion for the Mudalalvar – Poyhaiyar, Bhutattar and Peyar – to have a vision of Lord Vishnu in a dark corridor at Tiruk-Kovalur. A similar lamp is lit by Nakkirar on a later day to have a vision of Siva at Kailas. In modern times, Ramalingar tried to introduce the worship of the Joti the lighted lamp as the universal symbol of the Eternal Light. 

In ordinary parlance, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity; will enter only a bright home, and so there is the custom of placing a lighted lamp in the evening at the entrance to a house in token of welcome to Lakshmi. The new bride entering the place of wedding, in agricultural families, carried with her a lighted lamp placed on a measureful of paddy, nirai- nazhi, in token of joy and plenty. During aratis waved before newlyweds to ward off the evil eye, a lighted camphor is placed on the saffron coloured water before waving. 

The lamp in some form seems to be a symbol of God or be used as an invocation to God. The Christians use a candle which is nothing but a lamp of solidified oil. On their All-Soul’s Day, they light candles in churches and in graveyards to all souls and saints. The Japanese, the Parsis and even the Muslims have their own day of the festival of Lights.  

Flowers 

Tiru-atti (bauhinia), konrai (cassia) and tumbai (leucas) are again special to Siva, while the kadambu (the common cademba) and xetchi (ixora coccinea) are favourites of Muruha. Generally Siva is worshipped with white flowers 

Red flowers are favourites of Sakti, and particularly sentbaratti, called jabakusam in Bengal is considered to be a special favourite of Sakti. The lotus is an important Slower for worship of all the deities. The white lotus is considered as the abode of Sarasvati, the goddess of Learning, while the red lotus is considered the abode of Lakshmi, the goddess of Prosperity or wealth. Talai ( pandanus) though fragrant, is taboo for Siva on account of a legend of Thiru Annamalai where talai gave false evidence to support Brahma. The margosa blooms and leaves perform various functions in the worship of Mariyamman and other similar deities of a lower order. Most of the flowers mentioned are available both in the cultivated and in the wild state. As insignificant flower named kanakambaram (barleria) is the raging fashion of urban areas, because it does not fade for many days. Where people do not bathe for days together, they are content with a flower which does not fade for days together. This is an orange colour and has many hybrid varieties. 

The lime fruit is a symbol of auspiciousness and anyone visiting a ruler, a child or women, a guru or an official, if he cannot take any other present, is enjoined to take at least one lime fruit. The wood apple and the jarabu are favourites with Ganesa There is of course the mango festival. The jack is the sthala vriksha in Tirukutralam (Courtalam); Saint Tirugnana Sambandharhas sung a separate song on it as well as on the white jambu (Vennaval) which is the sthala vriksha at Tiru Araikka. 

Of equal importance is the coconut offering. Along with the fruit, the coconut also is considered an essential food offering. Be it the temple or the home, the coconut is invariably present, with betels when the floral archana is over. When the food offering takes place, along with food (or in its place the banana fruit) the coconut is offered; it is broken in the middle, the water inside is poured out, and the two broken parts offered. 

Food Arrangements for Festivals 

There is an interesting association of food arrangements connected with many festivals. They have all been noted upon under their respective heads. Generally, on all festive days there is a sumptuous feast consisting of many vegetable dishes, vadai and payasam and banana fruits. Even in the case of vratas involving fasting, there is also a feast or festive food after the vrata is over. A further general note may be given here. 

The year begins with the New Year Day, on which the use of the margosa blooms either in rasam or in pachadi has been considered important. The mango is of course the object of celebration in the mango festival which is confined to the Karaikkal region. 

Next, we may think of the Adip-perukku festival when we have the kapparisi, rice soaked in water and mixed with jaggery and coconut chips distributed at the water front. For lunch on this day there is always a chitrannam, half a dozen varieties of specially prepared rice dishes., such as sarkkaraippongal, ven- Pongal, puliyardoia ellorai, tenkai sadam, elumicham sadam and dadyodanam, besides the modern vegetable pulav. Adip-puram has sprouted pulses. 

The kolukkattai and modakam on the occasion of Vinayaka Chaturthi are something very special, along with a sundal, which are not repeated on any other day. The jambu fruits and vila fruits (wood apple) which are in season at this time of the year are also special offerings on this day. Puttu is the important dish for Avani Mulam and hard confectionaries like seedai and tengulal for Krishna Jayanti. The dasarah festival admits of all varieties of confectionaries. Dipavali has its own attraction in food, being, an occasion when as many sweets and salted dishes as the resources and time of the family permit, are prepared. The estables of this   occasion are a source of delight for the children for atleast a week after the Dipavali. Karttikaip-pon, puffed rice mixed with treacle is the important item in the next month on the (Jay of the annual Kartikai festival. The two festivals, Vaikuntha Ekadeshi for the Vaishnavas and the Ardra Darsanam for the Saivas are the important festivals in Marhali and each has a speciality in food. Cooking the sesbania leaves as a dish is important for the meal on the Dvadasi day which breaks the fast of the Ekadasi. Similarly, Tiruvadiraik-kali, broken rice cooked with pulses and jaggery and coconut peels is important for the Ardra. 

The Pongal food prepared with newly harvested rice on the occasion of Makara sankranti along with the rich fare of sugarcane and banana fruits is the most important among all the festivals, equalled probably only by the Dipavali sweets; Lastly there is the karadai for the Savitri nonbu. 

So, this is a brief survey of the food traditions and the food preparations for the festivals of the year. 

The Ritual of the Puja 

Most festivals are attended with a kind of puja in the home? The puja prescribes a course of discipline, which may be elaborate in some cases, but basically the following are the chief features of the ritual. The members of the house have an early morning bath on the day (bath for most purposes means also bathing the head, not bathing up to the neck only as seems to be the practice in urban localities today}, a general cleaning up of the house, particularly the front and the puja area or yard, then a decoration with festoons and kolam. Festoons do not mean paper festoons; the rural economy being always a self-contained one, it does not admit expense on celebrations for available items. Festoons are prepared with mango leaves and artistically plaited tender white coconut leaves, which cost no money, while paper festoons involve expense. 

Ingredients for puja are the same for all the festivals lamps with oil or ghee, flowers, fruits (chiefly plaintain), camphor and sandal, with betels; a bell and a plain seat (asana). Sugarcane when in season is added as in the case of Pongal. There is generally a cooked food offering which varies with the occasion. The object of worship is generally invoked on a pinch of vandal or turmeric etc. In some cases, a pot of water with mango leaves at the mouth with a coconut on top and with a cotton yarn woven round the pot is also placed for worship. This is called a puma kumbha (a filled pot). The ceremonial lamp in Hindu households is the oil (or ghee) lamps not the kerosene, gas or electric lamp, nor candle. The lamp is lit and the puja commences. 

There is first an achamana, ceremonial sipping of water, then pranayama control of the breath; then Sankalpa or a resolution that I am going to perform this puja. A flower is placed first on the dipa (lamp) conceived as Dipa Lakshmi; then another flower is placed on the pedestal, asana; on the bell; then in all cases a Vignesvara puja (puja to Ganesa), invoked on a pinch of ground turmeric, with flowers and akshata and aruhu, Archana (flowers) aruliu (grass), patra (leaf) or askshata (rice mixed with 6andal or turmeric) is placed on the head and feet of the invoked deity; waving of dhupa (incense) and dipa. Then neivedya showing the food offerings including fruits, coconut and betels with a spoonful of water; and argya in token of His having accepted it. Dipa and karpura (camphor) aradana; then a suitable prarthana or prayer and pradakshina or circumambulation. People prostrate before the invoked deify and the sacred ash or Tulsai tirttam is taken as prasadam. Ganesa, or whoever it is, is now just moved a little to the right in token of the completion of the puja and the departing of the Being from this limited state to his or her all pervasive state. Then the people of the house have their food. Until the puja is completed the people are usually without food for the day. 

The Kalasa or Purna Kumbha 

The deity worshipped is invoked in most cases on a pinch of sand or sandal, turmeric or even cow dung at the time of worship. Rarely as in the case of the Vinayaka Chaturthi is the deity invoked on a clay image of the real form, made for the occasion. In some cases, like Varalakshmi, the deity is invoked on a kalasa {kumbha) or pot of water. The kalasa  or even ghata figures prominently in all pujas like Kumbhabhisekha for temple puja for shashti abda purtti and so on. Water is one of the five elements and is also one of the eight forms of Siva ( ashta murtta) and invocation of God on a pot of water seems to be a favourite mode of worship. For all yagasala puja we have the ghata (pot). The ghata is conceived of as the body of God. It is wound round on the outside with white cotton yarn which is said to symbolize the nerves of the body. It is filled with water., preferably river water, all rivers (running streams) being conceived of as the sacred Ganga. Small quantities of fragrant spices are dropped into the water. Coins, gold and gems (where people can afford these) are also dropped in to the pot. The pot is filled nearly to the brim with water and purified by the incantation of powerful mantras. A bunch of mango leaves is placed on its mouth, on which a coconut with husk removed, retaining its tuft alone is placed, with its tuft pointing up. It is decked with turmeric, sandal, Kumkum and darbha grass tied into a knot (kurcham), and flowers. Usually, paddy or rice is spread on a plaintain leaf and the pot is placed on its midst. Some akshata (rice mixed with sandal, and flowers) is spilled on the head of the coconut at the top of the pot. 

All the usual pujas are done, offerings are made to the kalasa and after the puja, the water in the pot is sprinkled with the mango leaves over the worshippers and their families or on the places sought to be purified (as in the case of a graha pra- vesa or a punyahavachana ceremony). The mantras offered to the kalasa by the duly qualified priest are considered to effect the purification. When this kalasa is taken and presented as a token of welcome to a distinguished visitor or acharya, it is called a puma- kumbha reception. 

In Saivism, Siva can be worshipped only on three forms-the Sivalinga , the various Murtis such as Nataraja, Chandrasekhara, Somaskanda etc., and the kalasa’, these three also known as the sthamba, bimba and the kumbha. No picture or yantra is generally permitted. 

The Kumbha is known by various names as purana kalasa, purana ghata, mangala kalasa, ghata etc. This is an artistic symbolism which goes back to  the Rig Veda. The purana kalasa is symbolic of the human body which overflows by the Grace of God with all kinds of bounty. It is also symbolic of the pot of nectar (amirta ghata) which contained the nectar, obtained according to the ancient legends, by the churning of the ocean to milk. It is significant that Siva enshihed at Tirukkadavur in the Kaven delta is known as Amirta ghastesvara and at Kumbhakonam, He is known as Kumbhesvara. 

Light and Sound 

The Karttikai-pori by its very nature yet continues to be a great village celebration and it is hardly likely its ingenuity and charm can ever migrate into the city. Fireworks, even apart from Dipavali seem to have come to stay. They provide both light and sound and enliven the midnight hours by their display of the rainbow colours .They play a large part today in all temple festivities and the temple procession at night and seem to steal all the show. Large amounts are spent thereon in every temple. There are some experts in every locality who specialize in fireworks, and they are given the responsibility of putting up a bright and noisy show. This temple show has also invaded private homes, when marriage processions also indulge in variegated and costly though attractive, firework displays Political parties also are vying with one another in fireworks display. Not only children but even grown-ups indulge in this and a, pear to take immense delight therefrom. This trend is to be deplored. Our opinion is that all this has been overdone and needs to be put an end to or at least curbed. There is no great harm in mild fireworks display in temple processions but otherwise this has to be stopped altogether. 

Festivals in the Temple and in the Home 

Although temple festivals appear to be only religious, they are not mere temple celebrations but do involve some social values. For example, the Ardra darsan is specifically a temple festival, although ere worships Nataraja in the home also. But yet it is also a social celebration in this seme that in every household the Tiruvadiraikkali forms the unique and indispensable factor. 

Festivals like Vinayaka Chaturthi and Sarasvati puja are of course both temple celebrations and home celebrations. The above instances are given to illustrate how a temple festival is inducted in to the home. 

Festivals are fountains of joy for all. They exist in all countries, in all levels of society, in all races, and had been existing through all the ages. If man has been described as a social animal, festivals are the occasions for a close joyous coming together for the members of the social group, and they give full expression to the social instinct. 

Festivals seem to be universal. They have been natural to man at all climes, in the past and in the present. Joy is inherent in the human being and only when there is an impediment in its fulfillment and experience, does sorrow arise. Sorrow is not inherent in man. The expression of joy is rejoicing and rejoicing means not one but many, means society. Sorrow becomes less and less oppressive when shared with others, while joy increases by sharing with others. This is the reason why sorrows like death, and rejoicing as at a wedding, are all social events the world over. 

The expression of the greatest joy and the occasion therefor is called a festival. The best of any nation can be seen only in its feasts and festivals. These in turn imply a comradeship, fellow feeling and sharing; in short it is in a sense the expression of some of the best traits in man. The primitive man or the civilised man, each has loved festivals and rejoicing. Hunger has made man no doubt inventive but this inherent joy in group festivities and rejoicing have made man cultured and civilised. 

The Tamil word for festival is Vizha (vizhavu); this arises from the root, vizhai , to desire and to love; the noun means the thing desired, the object celebrated. So when the narrow love expands, it expresses itself in the form of festivals and celebrations. The Sanskrit word is utsava (festival, jubilee) which is derived from a root meaning to rise upwards; so this is going upward, getting elevated. In the English language also the two words feast (joyful religious anniversary) and festival (celebration) are very much the same. All these have the general connotation of a celebration. Vizha is called also Kondattam, which word has the additional element of dance in it. 

It is not possible to go into the question of what causes man to celebrate a thing and what gives him joy. The very getting together draws forth spontaneous joy. We may not probe into it further and try to see the reason behind a celebration. Whatever gives joy, man continues to do, and thus festivals have taken root – joyous occasions and occasions for festivity no doubt like child-birth, marriage and so on. Tamil literature would point out instances where even wars had been occasions for festivity. 

Death is by its very nature the opposite of joy and so we may believe that it was only an occasion of mourning. But in fact, it is not so. Mourning is confined to a period of 15 days; then mourning stops and festivity commences. The reasons are not far to seek. It is that no one should be allowed to be steeped in mourning for long. One should get out of it and become normal, enjoying the pleasures of life. Hence in every case of death, there is a ceremony on a particular day (10, 15, or 16th) after which there is no mourning. The second reason is our faith in the indestructibility of the soul. The soul inhabiting this body has now given it up, to take up some other body. Why then need we grieve for long? 

So the festivals go on. Men in the ancient agrarian society, always went out for work and so festivities became the chief concern of the women folk who stayed behind. Women in the past, till the liberation movement, had been of a self-sacrificing nature, always working and keeping the home warm and delightful both for their husbands and for their children. Kural would say that the duty of the house holder (grhasta, illarattan) was to take care of the five – the manes (dwelling in the southern regions), the deities, the guest, the kin and the family. This duty was rightly fulfilled by the women folk. That is also the secret of the continuity of the heritage of the festivals and their success. 

Now every important occasion in the life of an individual from birth to death is a domestic festival or ritual. As a matter of fact, these rituals begin even before birth. During pregnancy, there is the Valaiyal kappu, known also as poo-chututal, {a kind of Raksha bandhanam). Then in due time, the birth, namakarana or naming of the child, perhaps along with the first placing on the crib, ear-boring and the celebration of the first anniversary of the child’s birth. The annap-prasana or the day of feeding of rice to the baby, then the upakarma among brahmins, placing the child in the school, and lastly the wedding. These are a total of sixteen and each is in some measure, large or small; a domestic festival. 

The cycles of natural events are themselves great events. Sunrise and sunset call for special prayers, Sandhyavandana ; so also the new moon and full moon days call for special tarppana. We shall see later the part played by the full moon days etc. in the matter of festivals. So also the equinoxes or ayanas, and eclipses. All these call for special baths in a river or the sea. Eclipses; though recognised as mere natural phenomena by astrologers and calendar makers in the past, have yet been the source of many romantic legends. Many occasions symbolise the rejoicings in the family, such as the Pongal, which really celebrate agricultural operations. Adipperukku is also similar, denoting the commencement of agriculture while the other, pongal, celebrates its culmination. 

In between we have the days of great heroes and of forms of deities celebrated such at Ganesa, Sarasvati and Durga, Krishna, Muruha, Nataraja and Vishnu, and Siva and Rama. One thing however has to be clearly borne in mind. Although we have here the worship and festival for many forms of deities, it does not alter the basic concept of Hinduism; namely that there is only one God without a second. This book thus deals only with the Hindu festivals; Saiva and Vaishnava, besides a large number of non-religious or social festivals. These may of course be general to the whole of India but particular to Tamil Nadu. Unlike the others; Christian and Muslim, these had originated on the Indian soil and belong to India and to Tamilnadu. The families which had converted themselves to the other religions, may yet be found to celebrate some of these festivals like the Tamil New Year Day, Dipavali and Pongal.

It may be remembered that the two religions Jainism and Buddhism had some currency in Tamilnadu for a few centuries in the first millennium after Christ. Of the two religions, Jainism fad been the state religion for some time at Madurai the Pandiya capital and at Kanchi the Pallava capital. Because of this position that religion had been able to contribute to a slight extent to the art and culture of the period. The contribution to art took the form of sculpture, architecture and painting. But the Digambara Jainism in Tamilnadu was a religion which negated life and so possibly, although it had temples and temple festivals on a small scale, it could not have contributed in any appreciable manner to the joy of public life and its rejoicings and festivals, the occasions of rejoicing. Music was virtually taboo in the Jainism of Tamilnadu and women were kept under the thumb, since it was and ineluctable doctrine with the Jains, that women and music are to be put down because they were obstacles to one’s spiritual progress. Therefore though Jainism was the state religion for sometime, it did not leave any mark or have any impact on the life of the Tamil people in general There have been no festivals or rejoicings worth the name that had taken root in society because of the Jains. They might still be a force to reckon with in other part of India., but not in Tamilnad. Hence we do not have anything to say about Jain festivals in Tamilnad. 

The same is the case with Buddhism. It was never a state religion here and its mark on Hindu society was much less, We do not therefore have anything to say about the Buddha festivals. However the Indian Union has taken up the birthday of the Vaisaka suddha Poornima, as a national festival an its echoes are certainly heard in Tamilnad.

Among the festivals elaborately dealt with here, under the various, predominate. the Vinayaka, Saiva, Skanda, Sakti festivals can be brought under Saivism, while Krishna and Rama and others like Vaikuntha- Ekadasi and Kaisika Ekadasi will fall under Vaishnavism. Sarasvati, new year day and pongal belong to both. But all this in reality does not detract from the concept of One God in Hinduism. There is only one God without a second. Whatever is said in the various names as Ganapati, Muruha, Durga, Vishnu, Krishna, Nataraja, Surya or Siva – all goes to the One Supreme, of which these are all well understood to be simply manifest forms. 

There is a continuity in the festival celebrations and the festival culture of Tamilnadu which is hardly to be found elsewhere. Several factors have contributed to this continuity. The chief factor is the large number of temples which stud the country. Even small villages have large temples to Siva and Vishnu. All the temple festivals involve the entire society around, through daily aradhana, procession, music particularly the nagasvaram, singing of devotional songs, distribution of prasadams etc. The second factor is that foreign religions had not held any great sway over the Tamilnad. There was Jain rule in Madurai for some centuries which, historians call the dark age in Pandinad. Again there was also Muslim rule there for a short period of about half a century. But Cholanad, which was the custodian of the culture of the land, was ruled continuously by Hindu rulers. After the Cholas, the Vijayanagar empire, then the Nayaka the Mahrattas, Till the last Mahratta ruler gave up his land to the British. Then was no foreign religious oppression and this was an important factor in the continuity of the festivals. 

Besides, the songs of the Nayanmar and the Alvar in the temples was another integrating force of permanence. All these contributed to the retention of the great culture unbroken. 

Modern scientific advance has added a new dimension to the celebration of festivals and that is the abolition of distance. Means of communication like the radio, television and the news paper take u9 to festival centres in no time or bring the festivals to our very doors. Distance is thus bridged and we are given the means of understanding others in different climes and places.