following is stated re Muruka worship in Tamilnadu ::
" The Murukan of the early Tamil society before the age of Sanskritisation was primitive tribal god conceived as a demon who possessed people or hunter.
The characterization of the earliest Tamil Murukan is in complete accord with his descent from the Harappan skeletal deity with similar traits revealed through pictorial depiction of early myths and Dravidian linguistics ! "
MURUKA WAS TRIBAL GOD - CONCEIVED AS A D-E-M-O-N WHO POSSESSED PEOPLE OR HUNTER !!
Will be grateful for your kind observations w.r.t. Sangam works.
Spirt as in 'rathri veliya pogatha Kathu karupu adichirum'...
Karupu regarded as gaurdian deity is also feared ..if you do any crime will haunt you...
Similarly Spirit worship of Muruga didnt exactly mean Deamon worship..but it meant a violent god who would punish immediately like that of Amman worship in villages...
Spirit worship still can be found in villages ...
Will soon post details of Balarama worship - I am busy with one other past for last two weeks...will update the group soon
" 1.9 The skeletal figure appears to be a symbolic representation of the dead, or rather, the spirit of the dead, or the manes (souls of the `Fathers') or a demonic deity, suggesting some form of ancestor-worship.
cf. Skt. bhuta(lit., `who was'): a spirit, the ghost of a deceased person, a demon, imp, goblin.
preta (lit., 'the departed'): the spirit of a dead person (especially before the obsequial rites are performed), a ghost, an evil being.
Pali peta: dead, departed, the departed spirit; the Buddhist peta signifies both the manes as well as the ghosts.
Pkt. pe(y)a: a class of gods, the dead.
Ta. pey: devil, goblin, fiend. (DEDR 4438)17 "
It is this portion of the paper - which is under discussion.
varalaaru.com LALITHA responded to this only - as referred by our dear Gokul.
1.10 The second characteristic shared by Signs 47 & 48, of being seated, denotes dignity or divinity (as in the Egyptian ideograms). The sitting posture has close parallels from the anthropomorphic sculptures found at Mohenjodaro (Pl.I).18 The bent, contracted posture serves as a linguistic clue which will be discussed in Section III.
I am sure we have well extracted details to handle on this subject.
Will revert soon on these.
Thank you very much for your wonderful works - considering the fact that you have very limited access to acquire these details from the USA. Hearty congrats.