the temple of Ammon in Egypt. The terra cotta figurines of the mother goddess in Crete are similar to those in Mohenjo Daro. Aiyyayi1 was the tribal goddess of ancient primitive South Indian tribes. She is now the Kƒ˜i or Bhadrakƒ˜i or Bhagavati of Kerala. Associated with early temple worship was dedicating girls to shrines. These are called Devaradiyƒ˜ in our country. Strangely enough the Sangam works make no mention of this institution though Parattaiyar or dancing girls are referred to. This practice of dedicating girls has been in existence in the phoenecian colony of Sicca on the North African coast, at Heliopolis in Syria, and in Armenia, Lydia and Corinth. It persisted in Asia Minor to the second century A.D. Another peculiarly South Indian practice connected with the temple worship was the marriage of female votaries to god prevalent in Mesopotamia. But the practice has unfortunately led to sacred prostitution in Mesopotamia. It is said that female votaries of Marduk and Sun god Shamash married these gods but had human children.

     “We may call attention to another practice, of offering the hair. Lucian mentions a temple at Byblus in Phoenicia where a woman shaved her head and offered her hair to the deity enshrined. Very strangely the temple was dedicated to the Fish from the waist downwards. Attached to it was a sacred pond of fish. This reminds one of the Matsyƒvatƒr legend in India. Add to this the Mesopotamian legend of flood where m…na (fish) is mentioned. If we bring back to memory the legend of Oannes to which I have already referred, all these show the profound Indian influence in the religious systems of the ancient world. The fish cult was once popular in India and the emigrants from India took this cult with them to foreign lands. Turning back to our subject, there is an account of hair offering by Argive girls to there before marriage. Offering one's hair to a deity in fulfilment of a vow is characteristically a South Indian practice even now observed in big shrines like Tirupati, Swamimalai, Vaithisvarankoil and other places. In India maidens, married women, male children - all undertake this vow.