tenth century.  At a fairly early date there were influential Sivaite and Vishnuite sects, each with a devotional literature in the vernacular.  Somewhat later this literature takes a more philosophic and ecclesiastical tinge and both sects produce a succession of teachers.  Tamil Sivaism, though important for the south, has not spread much beyond its own province, but the Vishnuism associated with such eminent names as Ramanuja and Ramanand has influenced all India, and the latter teacher is the spiritual ancestor of the Kabirpanthis, Sikhs and various unorthodox sects.  Political circumstances too tended to increase the importance of the south in religion, for when nearly all the north was in Moslim hands the kingdom of Vijayanagar was for more than two centuries (c. 1330-1565) the bulwark of Hinduism.  But in filling up this outline the possibilities of error must be remembered.  The poems of Manikka-Vacagar have such individuality of thought and style that one would suppose them to mark a conspicuous religious movement.  Yet some authorities refer them to the third century and others to the eleventh, nor has any standard been formulated for distinguishing earlier and later varieties of Tamil.

I have already mentioned the view that the worship of Siva and the Linga is Dravidian in origin and borrowed by the Aryans.  There is no proof that this worship had its first home in the south and spread northwards, for the Vedic and epic literature provides a sufficient pedigree for Siva.  But this deity always collected round himself attributes and epithets which are not those of the Vedic gods but correspond with what we know of non-Aryan Indian mythology.  It is possible that these un-Aryan cults attained in Dravidian lands fuller and more independent development than in the countries colonized by the Aryans, so that the portrait of Siva, especially as drawn by Tamil writers, does retain the features of some old Dravidian deity, a deity who dances, who sports among men and bewilders them by his puzzling disguises and transformations.[522] But it is not proved that Siva was the chief god of the early Tamils.  An ancient poem, the Purra-Porul Venba-Malai,[523] which contains hardly any allusions to him mentions as the principal objects of worship the goddess Kottavai (Victorious) and her son Muruvan.  Popular legends[524] clearly indicate a former struggle between the old religion and Hinduism ending as usual in the recognition by the Brahmans of the ancient gods in a slightly modified form.

We have no records whatever of the introduction of Brahmanism into southern India but it may reasonably be supposed to have made its appearance there several centuries before our era, though in what form or with what strength we cannot say.  Tradition credits Agastya and Parasu-rama with having established colonies of Brahmans in the south at undated but remote epochs.  But whatever colonization occurred was not on a large scale.  An inscription found in Mysore[525] states