Full Description
Although temples have been important in South Indian society and history, there have been few attempts to study them within an integrated anthropological framework. Professor Appadurai develops such a framework in this ethnohistorical case study, in which he interprets the politics of worship in the Sri Partasarati Svami Temple, a famous ancient Sri Vaisnava shrine in India. The author uses the methods and concepts of both cultural anthropology and social history to construct a model of institutional change in South Asia under colonial rule. Focusing on the problem of authority as a cultural concept and as a managerial reality, Professor Appadurai considers some classic problems of South Asian anthropology: problems of deference, sumptuary symbolism, and religious organization. In addition, he addresses such issues as the nature of conflict under a hybrid colonial legal system, the political implications of sumptuary disputes, and the structure of relations between polity and religion in pre-modern South Asia. These aspects of the study should interest a broad range of scholars.
Contents
Preface; Note on transliteration; Introduction; 1. The South Indian temple: cultural model and historical problem; 2. Kings, sects, and temples: South Indian Sri Vaisnavism, 1350-1700; 3. British rule and temple politics, 1700-1826; 4. From bureaucracy to judiciary, 1826-1878; 5. Litigation and the politics of sectarian control, 1878-1925; 6. Rethinking the present: some contextual implications; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.
