[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929) › c19.36 # The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c19.36 The Pāṇḍyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c19.36 - **Language:** English ### [c19.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c19.36) The part played by the temple in the general life of every village is very largely attested by our epigraphs. We have seen enough to realize that the most fruitful sources of our knowledge of the history of the country are stone inscriptions preserved in temples and copper-plate grants. Of these the stone records in temples are more numerous and varied in their interest. In addition to throwing light on matters like land-tenure, revenue administration and the administration of law and justice, these records enable us to reconstruct with some confidence the part of the temple in the general social economy of the time. It is clear that in the middle ages in South India the temple was much more than a place of common worship. ‘Temple worship is not so Important for the Hindus as church services for the Christian. They set more store on home ceremonies and on contemplation'.¹ And yet, every village had its temple, and every temple was the object of universal attention at the hands of the princes and the people of the land. The temple is historically more important as a social and economic entity than as a religious institution; the history of Hinduism, even in South India, is much more than the history of her temples. But the story of the social life of the country, of her common people, centres round the temple in a manner, that is perhaps equalled only in mediæval Europe, although with this vital difference, that in South India the villagers held the temple, while in Europe the church or the monastery held the village. - [Previous: c19.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c19.35) - [Next: c19.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c19.37) - [Up: c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c19) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c19.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1929.c19.36) · Pramāṇa