A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c18.23

c18.23

The inscriptions contain accurate and detailed descriptions of numerous icons, some of which were cast in the form of complex groups of figures illustrating favourite themes from legends. They also contain an equally minute and complete account of the ornaments and jewels of the temple, and record periodical inquests into the management of temple affairs by officers of state, and sometimes even by the king himself—clear proof that the business side of the temple administration was properly controlled. All systems of public administration were not as efficient as the Chola system, and all temples were not so well off as that of Tanjore. As a matter of course, however, every temple held more or less the same position in relation to its neighbourhood that the Great Temple held in the Chola capital; the difference was only one of degree. And it is no exaggeration to say that the temple gathered round itself all that was best in the arts of civilized existence and regulated them with the humaneness born of the spirit of dharma. As an agency of social well-being the medieval Indian temple has few parallels.