From Cholas to British, governing India tied to temple religion

A long time ago in India, kings and temples worked very closely together.

People believed the god in a temple was like a king, so temples treated the god with royal honors.

Chola kings and queens gave temples lots of gifts, like land, jewelry, and statues.

Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi gave statues of the dancing god Nataraja to almost 3,000 temples.

Her son, King Uttama Chola, let temples lend money to weavers, and the interest paid for temple festivals.

Temples also taught people and housed travelers, so they were very important to communities.

Later, the British East India Company took charge of temple money and lands.

In 1817, they made a rule to make sure temple gifts were used the way the givers wanted.

This shows that religion and ruling were connected in India for hundreds of years.