The Domain of Constant Excess: Plural Worship at the Munnesvaram Temples in Sri LankaThe Sri Lankan ethnic conflict that has occurred largely between Sinhala Buddhists and Tamil Hindus is marked by a degree of religious tolerance that sees both communities worshiping together. This study describes one important site of such worship, the ancient Hindu temple complex of Munnesvaram. Standing adjacent to one of Sri Lanka's historical western ports, the fortunes of the Munnesvaram temples have waxed and waned through the years of turbulence, violence and social change that have been the country's lot since the advent of European colonialism in the Indian Ocean. Bastin recounts the story of these temples and analyses how the Hindu temple is reproduced as a center of worship amidst conflict and competition. |
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Page 5
... developed the linga temple deteriorated. The two events are not completely concomitant but they do bear upon each other as expressions of a broader process affecting the Munnesvaram temples as a whole: a process shaping religious ...
... developed the linga temple deteriorated. The two events are not completely concomitant but they do bear upon each other as expressions of a broader process affecting the Munnesvaram temples as a whole: a process shaping religious ...
Page 8
... develop general points about the south Indian temple. My primary aim is to convey a sense of the uniqueness of Munnesvaram – a Tamil Saivite temple with a predominantly Sinhala Buddhist patronage in a period of ethnic violence between ...
... develop general points about the south Indian temple. My primary aim is to convey a sense of the uniqueness of Munnesvaram – a Tamil Saivite temple with a predominantly Sinhala Buddhist patronage in a period of ethnic violence between ...
Page 13
... develop understandings of power, status, kingship, sacrifice and transaction, as well as caste, ethnicity, class and gender. Above all, temples are about divinity, righteous action and demons. They confront the issue of action as the ...
... develop understandings of power, status, kingship, sacrifice and transaction, as well as caste, ethnicity, class and gender. Above all, temples are about divinity, righteous action and demons. They confront the issue of action as the ...
Page 18
... developed. Casie Chitty also writes of the town of Madampe, to the south of Chilaw, which was the regional centre from which a vassal of the Sinhalese king (based at Kotte near Colombo) ruled the Chilaw and Munnesvaram area from at ...
... developed. Casie Chitty also writes of the town of Madampe, to the south of Chilaw, which was the regional centre from which a vassal of the Sinhalese king (based at Kotte near Colombo) ruled the Chilaw and Munnesvaram area from at ...
Page 30
... developed the plantations. Strikingly, these entrepreneurial planters hailed, for the most part, from the south of the island and remained largely as absentee landlords for whom Chilaw District provided an investment opportunity for ...
... developed the plantations. Strikingly, these entrepreneurial planters hailed, for the most part, from the south of the island and remained largely as absentee landlords for whom Chilaw District provided an investment opportunity for ...
Contents
| 1 | |
| 15 | |
Chapter 3 Myths and Marginality | 43 |
Chapter 4 Ritual Practices and Religious Identity | 59 |
Chapter 5 The Saivite Temple as a Monumental Architecture | 89 |
Puja and Arccanai | 117 |
Chapter 7 The Presence of Sakti | 133 |
Chapter 8 Guardians Games and the Formation of Power | 145 |
Chapter 9 The World Inside Out | 163 |
Chapter 10 The Domain of Excess | 183 |
Divine Kings and Regal Gods Temples in Society and History | 195 |
References | 213 |
Index | 227 |
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The Domain of Constant Excess: Plural Worship at the Munnesvaram Temples in ... Rohan Bastin No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
according action active aesthetic Ambal annual associated attend bathing becomes Bhadrakali temple body Brahmins called caste central century Chapter Chilaw closely coconut complex condition deities demonic described developed devotees discussion divine especially ethnic example existence expression festival Figure flag front goddess ground guardian hall Hindu human important Indian inside involves Jaffna Kali Kataragama king lamp land marked meaning movement Munnesvaram temple myth nature Navaratri noted Obeyesekere offerings origin Pattini pattuva performed Pillaiyar popular possibility potency potentiality practice presence priests procession puja regard region relation religious remains reveals rite ritual Saivite temple sense shrine simply Sinh Sinhala Buddhist Sinhalese situation Siva social sorcery space specific Sri Lanka statue stress symbolic takes Tamil Saivite temple’s theme traditions tree village worship