Temple Lore

In the heart of Tamil Nadu, a famous temple dedicated to Sri Ranganatha houses a sanctum for a Mughal princess worshipped as the Lord’s consort. Do we know why? The description of the riches in the Arabian Nights was inspired by the loot from temples in South India. Do we know the combined wealth taken from three temples of South India accounted for 1200 tons in gold alone? The answers to these, and many more such questions are etched in the stone walls of these temples. The threads that spread out from their sanctum have cast a spider’s web connecting each of us to our roots by blending facts and faith in marvellous tales. Through the shifting sands of time, these stories have metamorphosed into fantastic oral narratives. Having grown up listening to such stories, I have often wondered how history will testify them. To uncover them is a monumental task, but not impossible. Through historical evidence based research I have tried to untangle these threads in this book. After years of tracing them systematically through the works of acclaimed historians, another desire arose-that future generations should know these stories through the eyes of history. This book is the product of that desire. I hope that these fifteen stories about temples in South India will be retold and explored more through the pages of history, for many years to come.