idols were there even in Vedic times to satisfy the spiritual needs of the common masses. However, the Vedas make no mention of temples.

Temples find mention in both Ramayana and Mahabharata. Also in both epics Siva has been mentioned as Mahadeva, the God of Gods. Sometime before the beginning of the Christian Era, the worship of both Siva and Vishnu might have become popular. All the Puranas have been written around this time. In the Tamil 'Thevarams'( which are songs about Siva temples ) by the Saivite saints Appar and Gnana Sambandhar which were composed between 600-650 A.D. the 18 Puranas have been mentioned. Also by that time there were hundreds of Siva temples and Vishnu temples in Tamilnadu.

The Siva Puranam which is one of the 18 main Puranas contains 24000 verses and is about one-fourth the size of the Mahabharata. When printed it is a book of about 2000 pages. It is in question and answer form. In it Lord Siva says "I created Rudra from my heart". It is Rudra who goes to Mount Kailas and makes it His permanent residence. In Rudram which is an important part of Yajur Veda, Rudra is blue throated and has long matted hair. His complexion is the colour of the rising Sun. All these are also attributes of Lord Siva. Mount Kailas finds no mention in Vedas. But in Puranas it is mentioned frequently.

How Lord Siva came to be represented by the Lingam is difficult to say. The Siva Puranam describes a fight between Brahma and Vishnu. To settle the quarrel, Lord Siva appears between them in the form of an infinite pillar of fire. He then appears within the pillar of fire. The Puranam says that the Lingam represents this pillar of fire. Some Western scholars are of the opinion that the Lingam represents some fertility cult. Swami Vivekananda has given a different explanation. In animal sacrifices in the Vedas, the decorated animal is tied to a wooden post called Yupam. Swami Vivekananda has said that the Lingam is a modification of the Yupam. My own opinion is different from all this. Pilgrims visiting Mount Kailas take bath in the Mansarovar Lake and go round Mount Kailas. One round is about 50 kilometres. Mount Kailas is in the territory which China captured from India during the Sino-Indian war in the early nineteen sixties. It is at a height of about 20000 ft in the Himalayas and the journey is one of the most difficult. The Chinese Government allows 550 pilgrims from India to visit Kailas during July-September every year. There is no temple on top of Mount Kailas. The Mountain itself is treated as Lord Siva. Aerial photos of the mountain show that it is in the shape of Lingam and Avudayar (Tamil word for the base on which the Lingam rests). It is possible that ancient pilgrims had noticed this and had made the Lingam in a shape similar to Mount Kailas. As Mount Kailas represents Lord Siva, the Lingam which is in the shape of Kailas represents Lord Siva.

No other state in India has given such an exalted status to the worship of Lord Siva as Tamilnadu.During the period 300-800 A.D. an enormous amount of literature was written by various people in Tamilnadu about Lord Siva. Out of this the most important are the Thevarams. These were composed by the Saints Appar (Tirunavukkarasar), Gnana Sambandhar and Sundarar. Appar and Gnana Sambandar were contemporaries and lived in the period 570-660 A.D. Sundarar lived around 800 A.D. At that time Buddhism and Jainism had spread . To strengthen Hinduism, they went from one Siva temple to another Siva temple and composed songs about these temples. These consist of more than 8000