Knitting hamlets together with shared legends
South Indian region is fairly crowded with temples , big and small, Tamil Nadu being especially rich in such built heritage - almost one temple cropping up every two or three kilometers as one traverses its roads. Each settlement preserves its oral traditions about its origin as a shared memory ; often a defining episode of some local significance . Sthala Puranas , though primarily of Puranic content , borrow lots of elements from such local traditions too. Hence each local purana is unique though the over all template can be common with many others . For instance , the most famous template is the story of The Cow voluntarily letting out her milk over a mound that eventually reveals a hidden lingam . Who the cow belonged to, how the ablution was discovered and who raised the temple over the found lingam are variables unique to each different place. Another common motif in Sthala Puranas , is The Dream , in which Gods reveal themselves and ask for a temple to be raised . Th