ABSTRACT
Religious feelings have run deep and steady in South India from time immemorial to the present day, and South Indians have expressed these feelings in a variety of musical forms and styles. Every neighborhood or village has its aged shrine or temple, its saint’s burial place (samādhi), and its holy site, such as a tree with stone carvings near its trunk. Housewives keep little altars in their kitchens and teach their children the songs of saints. Hindu religious traditions, including rituals, customs, sacred images, and stories, pervade everyday life and all the arts. On every street and lane, Hindus sing in worship of the goddess in her many forms and in praise of the deities Shiva and Murugan, and offer flowers to incarnations of Vishnu such as Rama and Krishna. About three-quarters of India’s people are Hindu, though Hindu is an umbrella term that covers a rich variety of identities.
