Elements of Hindu Iconography v4.c30.3

v4.c30.3

THE deity Ārya, Śāsta or Hariharaputra, so well known to the Drāviḍas is not familiar to the inhabitants of Northern India; even in the Drāviḍa country he is the favourite only of the Malayāḷam people. The country of the latter possesses as large a number of temples of Śāsta as the Tamil country has of Subrahmaṇya and it is an invariable rule in the Malayāḷam country that in every temple, be it of Śiva or of Viṣṇu, there must be in its south-west corner a shrine for Śāsta. He is considered by them as the guardian of the land and as such eight mountain tops along the Western Ghaṭs are surmounted by eight temples in which are set up eight images of Śāsta to protect the country on the west of the mountain ranges, inhabited by the Malayāḷis, from all external evils and misfortunes. In this country he is better known as Śāsta than as Hariharaputra or Ārya. In the Tamil country he is known by the name Hariharaputra or more frequently Ayyanār (a modification of Ārya). That Śāsta should have been a very common name and the deity was perhaps once better known by that name in the Tamil country is deducible from the fact that in all examples in Grammars of declension, inflexion, etc., the subject of a sentence is Śāttan (Śāsta), just as the Sanskrit Grammarians usually employ the name of Dēvadatta. The name Śāsta or its corruption is not borne by men in the Tamil country, but one can meet with persons of that name by scores in the Malayāḷam country.