In the south, leaving aside the plethora of village gods and goddesses, the most popular deities are Siva, Vishnu, Murugan and Sakti (the goddess)
Siva is the wild god, creator and destroyer. He has many affinities in his attributes and temperament with the Greek Dionysus, a god of ecstasy and abandon, androgyne and aescetic. Of Siva’s many aspects, those mentioned in this book are these: Ardhanari (half-man, half-woman); Bairava (a terrible form: the protector of the universe); Bhikshatanamurti (the enchanting mendicant); Dakshinamurti (lord of the south; the teacher of knowledge) and Nataraja (lord of the. dance). Nataraja’s main cult centre is in Chidambaram: but the seven different phases of the dance also have separate shrines across Tamil Nadu. In the Saivite holy family Siva and his wife Parvati have two sons, Ganesh and Murugan. The jolly elephant-headed Ganesh (Vinayaka to Tamils) is loved all over India and is especially invoked at the start of any enterprise. Murugan is perhaps the most popular god in Tamil Nadu and is often described as the god of the Tamils. He has his own independent cult, including the six famous ‘abodes’, the three most important of which appear in this story. Saivites, incidentally, wear horizontal stripes of white ash on the forehead, often combined with the red dot of the goddess.
The second of the big three is Vishnu. He is the necessary balance to Siva’s essence. Where Siva has many frightening aspects and is the lord of destruction, Vishnu is benign: he represents the principle of duration, the power that holds the universe together. He has had various animal and human incarnations, when he came to the world to punish the wicked; the most famous are Krishna and Rama; some would add Buddha. In addition, Vishnu has local forms, in the south Venkateswara (Balaji) of Tirupati, the richest shrine in the world, and Ranganatha on the island of Srirangam in the Cavery river, which is probably the largest temple in the world. Vaishnavites wear vertical stripes of sandal and vermilion.
The goddess, Sakti, is popular all over India but especially so in the south; she is held to symbolize the all-pervading energy, the creative force of life. Her most important aspect is as the wife of Siva: she chiefly appears here as Kali (the frightening one) and Parvati (the benign wife and mother). She also has important local incarnations such as Sivakami in Chidambaram; Minakshi in Madurai; Katnakshi in Kanchi; and Mariamman everywhere in the villages. Sakti worshippers wear a red dot on the forehead. In the Middle Ages Saiva cults arose which made great play on Sakti worship. They said that god is manifest through the world only through the medium of Sakti, the goddess. According to them she is the agent and the material cause of creation. The universe is Sakti, unconscious matter, and all material objects as well as conscious souls are nothing but limited manifestations of her. Siva only has his power through Sakti, and the effort of all spiritual quest (for such Saivites) is to find Sakti and attain union with it/her. There are still sects, known as tantric, which follow this path.