Applying Folklore Sources in the Historiography of Tiruppadai Temples – A Study

திருப்படைக் கோயில்களின் வரலாற்று வரைபில் நாட்டார் வழக்கியல் மூலங்களின் பிரயோகம் - ஓர் ஆய்வு

  • V Gunapalasingam Head & Senior Lecturer, Department of Hindu Civilization, Eastern University, Sri Lanka
Keywords: Architecture, Tiruppadai temples, folklore, history, Sri Lanka, Murugan worship, poetry, Eastern Sri lanka

Abstract

Muruga worship is a unique worship system of the worship systems existing in Sri Lanka and this uniqueness is intensively revealed in the Tiruppadai temples of Eastern region of Sri Lanka. The antiquity of these temples could be known by folklore sources which are chief sources for knowing the old tradition of the temples. The folklore sources could be classified and viewed into formulae, poetry, tales, paththasi and koothu. Infect, earlier, there was a method or tradition among intellectuals to create history based on literature, inscription, copperplates, coins, and other archeological pieces of evidence and instead, 19th& 20th centuries, a new method was introduced to make historiography based on the sources of folklore and the folklore sources have created new dimensions in the historiography of the societies which preserve customs and beliefs. Applying the above theory in matters related to the history of Tiruppadai Temples of Eastern region, it could be observed that history of a regional society emerges to exist.

Published
2021-10-01
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