Heritage

Covering a span of over four thousand years witnessing the ascent, zenith and plunge of various dynasties and empires is what the history of Southern Region of India is built of. These dynastic successions and decline not only hold a great deal of importance for the Southern region but also for the entire Indian subcontinent, shaping its history since forever. The veteran dynasties namely include the great Satvahanas, Cholas, Cheras, Chalukyas, and Rashtrakutas etc. built various temples and architectural master pieces which even today, is a thing to be praised. Executing such master pieces on huge levels apart from all these commissions these dynasties constantly fought amongst each other and also with the external forces attacking them. Strength of army possessed by these states was so much so that for a very long period of time despite of various attempts the great conquerors ruling in North India were not able to annex the small in size southern regional dynasties. The Muslim rulers ruling North India for centuries now tries to invade the Vijayanagara empire in the 16th Century but was not successful in doing so for a very long period of time.

Dating back to Iron Age are south India states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu etc. Epigraphic evidences begin to appear from about the 5th Century BCE these are usually found in the form of Kannada- Brahmi and Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions also acting as an important source of evidence giving details of the spread of Buddhism as a religion and also the fact that the religion further embarks to the neighbouring country of Sri Lanka via South India itself. A melting pot for different religions but holding on to its unique traditions and culture the Southern Region of Indian is a place to be to understand what Heritage of the region indeed has to explore and experience. Acclaimed for its beautiful temple structures commissioned by the kings of famous dynasties like Cholas, Cheras, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas etc all having peculiar but brilliant style to themselves. These temples on the basis of style are categorized as Dravidian Temples made out of Sandstone making it easy to carve thus, what one sees are highly chiselled masterpieces on walls. All these temples are probation to labor intensive work of carving each and every stone possible hence, resulting into nothing less than a master piece. Each time you visit a south Indian temple be allured by the huge gateways locally called Gopurams, these are intricately carved ready to welcome you.

The Kings in the southern region were known as ‘the representatives of god on earth’ having “Koyil” as their abode literally meaning “residence of God”. The Cholas expanded their empire to the best level possible also occupying Sri Lanka and conquered the northern half of the island. Having comprehensive trade relations with other surrounding regions in terms of maritime trade provided to be a huge source of wealth and connection for the region to spread its cultural traditions to different parts of the world.