New philosophies

The centuries between 500 and 300BCE were ones of great change in thinking and the development of philosophy. Hellenistic thinkers in Greece were laying down systems of ethics and government. The various Aryan tribes of North India had by this time coalesced into sixteen major states, both kingdoms and republics and there was a flowering of intellectual and religious knowledge and belief. The hierarchical structures of Hinduism, already well developed since Vedic times, were being questioned by the growth of the two major philosophies of the age, Jainism and Buddhism. 

Jain temple, Sultan Batthery

The origins of Jain philosophy can be traced to Mahavira who was a contemporary of the Buddha and the last of a line of gurus. The belief in an infinite universe where gods can exist, but without one overarching deity allowed for the conventions of the Vedas to be incorporated into the philosophy as the Jains gained political power, and the concentration on the soul gave more emphasis to the actions of the individual. Monastic traditions developed by ascetic Jains allowed the beliefs to spread across the continent, aided by a period of stability and relative prosperity. For many of the succeeding centuries the influence of the Jains pervaded many areas of South India.
Over many hundreds of years the Jain temples grew to be some of the most harmonious and beautiful of all India’s great architecture. Few remain the South, but vestiges can be seen in temples now
dedicated to Shiva, in the early rock-cut temples and in the small, abandoned temples of Wyanad, the greatest and last stronghold of the Jains in the South West.

The prohibition on harming living creatures meant that occupations for followers of the Jain religion were limited; even farmers harmed small animals when they pulled crops from the ground, so a prosperous merchant group evolved in the Jain population.  Under attack from the Budddhist principles of Ashoka and the later, severe threats from the Hindu priests, Jainism eventually declined or was assimilated into new cults. The high plateau of Wayanad in the North of Kerala became one of the last strongholds in the South and there are several beautiful ruins of temples around Sulthan Battery.

The followers of the Buddha were evangelistic and sent missionaries along the trade routes as far as China. Their message was a popular one, the belief that it is not essential to suffer to achieve spiritual progress and in individual responsibility taking hold over the early Hindu caste system.  Many relics of Buddhist temples have been found in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, especially in the area round Alleppey and Trichur. Today little remains. Buddhist shrines were turned into Hindu temples as the religion declined. Controversially the huge pilgrim temple of Sabrimala has archaeological foundations which suggest that it was once a Buddhist shrine, and some of the rites associated with the annual pilgrimage speak persuasively of Buddhist practices. Ancient statues are reclaimed from tanks and ditches where they were discarded. Possibly the most famous is the black statue which sits in a very unremarkable stupa in a field on a backwater between Alleppey and

Kollam, deep into the Kuttenad region. It has lost some of its torso and one arm, its features are crumbled, but still serene and its legs are very small. The statue probably dates from the 9th Century, and sits forlornly in a very plain, concrete structure, open to the elements and half-buried in the field. It usually has offerings and incense burning near it, and is anointed with turmeric for good fortune by the local villagers. The locals believe that the statue lost its arm when it was trampled by an elephant. The stupa was donated by the Dalai Lhama.

These relics of the old faith are unsung across the South. There is another in the Krishnapuram Palace, about 40 miles South of Alleppey. This palace houses an interesting museum and the larger 10th Century statue sits in a peaceful garden. It is one of four dug out of wells and tanks in the area and relics are still coming to light. Another sits at Buddha Junction in a grubby shrine, still visited daily by a lone resident. Those with a keen eye will see other images which might, or might not, be the Buddha in shrines and temples in the area, integrated into the Hindu pantheon, lacking the necessary serenity but still relics of the long, historical journeys of faith taken by the people of South India. The life of the Buddha might have been consigned to the dustbin of history as little was heard of it for two hundred years or so, a localised sect in the kingdom of Maghada, but the West was spreading its influence Eastwards and routes were opening up by commerce and conquest..