SACRED LANDSCAPES OF  TAMIL NADU

India is a culturally diverse country and its religious diversity is
clearly visible through the different typologies of cultural sites and structures. Tamil Nadu is one such state known for its music, dance, literature, theatre, cuisine, other art forms and architecture.The state has many temples in the Dravidian style of architecture whose size ranges from modest sized temples to very large ones. There are around 32,000 temples, which are a mix of historic and contemporary temples that are being maintained by the Government of Tamil Nadu.
The temple towns of Tamil Nadu form a unique class of urban settlement owing to their rich cultural history and religious lineage. These temples have gone through a long process of evolution from the Sangam age, to the late medieval times and to the contemporary times.
Medieval temple towns of Tamil Nadu originated and evolved under the predominant influence of religion during the bakthi movement. This genotype of Hindu sacred space has been replicated in most towns ruled by the Dravidian rulers, where the temple town is circumscribed by designed settlement around which the town developed organically.
Most of these temple towns have transformed into urban centres with the temple located in the heart of the city. These temples are thriving places of worship, centres for ritual and festivals. They are the hubs for the economy, tourism and pilgrimage. These factors have resulted in the overall transformation of the centres. Therefore a study was initiated to understand the sacred landscape of Tamil Nadu, through people’s perspective, with a knowledge system approach. The projected aimed at understanding the various perceptions, oral history and memories of Sacred Landscapes and to understand the spatial manifestation of sacredness in Sacred Landscapes of Tamil Nadu.