ous tone and allowed in that condition to prolong their feeble existence for upwards of ten centuries from about the seventh. Their sphere of exercise was transferred from the house to the temple.[1] The Saiva and Vaishnava hymns forming the Devaram and the Nalayira Prabandam, were collected and set to Dravidian music and sung in Hindu temples. During festivals and processions of gods, dancing was encouraged and plays were acted to draw large crowds of devotees. Hundreds of dancing girls or gandharvis were attached to every important temple. This was the origin of the institution of singing by Oduvans and Araiyans, and the public representation of natakas, pallus and kuravanjis in Hindu temples. Of these the first alone now survives. The same institution was carried to the West Coast, and it now survives in the Chakkiyar kuttu. The persons concerned in this institution were, as given in the inscriptions of Raja-raja Chola, நாடகமய்யன், சாக்கை, கானபாடி, பிடாரன், காமரப்பேரையன், வாத்தியமாராயன், ஆரியம்பாடுவார், காந்தர்வி, &c. It was only during the eighteenth century that drama and music began to revive ; and Arunachala Kavi (A.D. 1712-1779) the famous author of Rama Natakam may be justly called the fainer of modern dramatic literature, and under the Mahratta Rajahs of Tanjore
- ↑ It is said that the Hindu drama, like that of the Greeks, was derived from, and formed part of, their religious ceremonies. Lassen considers the Indian drama to be of native growth, while Weber thinks it was influenced by the Greek dramas performed at the court of Greek (Bactrian) kings.
