The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago c19.12

c19.12

Among the higher classes of the Tamils the favorite deity was Siva. He is represented as a man of fair colour with tangled locks of red hair. He has three eyes, wears a tiger's skin, and armed with a battle-axe rides on a bullock. His appearance, except as regards the three eyes, corresponds exactly with that of a primitive inhabitant of the Himalayan region. The people of this region are fair in color and have red hair and ride on bullocks when travelling in the mountainous country. His abode was the snow-capped Mount Kâilas situated north of the Himalayas, near the sources of the great rivers, Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra. His greatest feat was the destruction of Tripura or "the three castles" which were the strongholds of Asuras, who had caused much annoyance to the celestials. He married Pârvati the daughter of the king of mountains.