the trees, garlands of hanging flowers swayed back in return.

The tender shoots of green, the mouth-like acquatic flowers of purple, the finger-like petals of the gloriosa superba, the bunches of veenkai blooms and the natural festoons of blooms pendent on the branches of other trees, their multi-coloured variety and profusion on the grove-clad hill made the entire view equal the variety of colour seen in the eastern sky at sunrise.

The crowds were immense on certain festive occasions. The thousands of heads crowned with wreaths all along the highway from Maturai gave the impression to one on the hill of one long garland stretched along the road. When the Paaṇṭiya sovereign came with his retinue to go up the holy hill, the elephants and horses and chariots and their attendants at the foot of the hill gave the impression of a military encampment.

Murukan, even in puranic development, retains his character as a Nature-god. Among the many functions attributed to his hands which are twelve, he lessens the heat of the sun with one of the hands and bestows rain with another.⁹

In akam poetry, Murukan, as god of the hill region, is appealed to when young maids fall ill. Deliverance from ailments was thought to be attained by the offerings made by the priest and his frenzied dance. Dances formed an integral part of early ritual. The real sickness of the maids in akam poetry is love-sickness, and therefore, the maids laugh within their sleeves when taken to the temple or tree of Murukan. To obtain the husbands of their choice, or the grace of motherhood, women had recourse also to Murukan.¹⁰ He was worshipped with tears, and prayed to for rain as well as for the gifts of children.¹¹

When a portion of the Tamil people moved from the montane to the pastoral region, they took with them their belief in a Supreme God. In the pastoral region they became shepherds; they found Nature was quite different from what it was among the mountains. The pastures were green and

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   ⁹P. T. SRINIVAS IYENGAR, O.C, p. 23: “Murukan has throughout the ages remained essentially a god enshrined on hill-tops, notwithstanding later affiliations with post-vedic mythology.”