Together, Ram and Krishna created a balanced political theology. Ram gave structure to power. Krishna made power lovable.

Illustration/Devdutt Pattanaik

Most of the tall gopurams we see in South India today were built by Nayaka kings of Telugu origin. Most are three to four centuries old, built during and after the Vijayangar period. Nayaka rulers reimagined Ram and Krishna as political and theological answers to the Islamic and Indo-Persian imperial culture that shaped North and Deccan India. They did this not only through stories, but through massive temple building. The gopuram became their grand statement.

By the time the Nayakas came to power, Indians had already experienced centuries of sultanate and Mughal rule. Islamic kingship had introduced new court rituals, military systems, taxation models, city planning, and monumental architecture. The Nayakas did not ignore these changes. They absorbed them and reshaped them within a Hindu framework. Ram and Krishna became the........

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