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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For example, all are elements of the relations between the priests of the Munnesvaram temple, who are Tamil Saivite Brahmins, and the villagers of the surrounding area who are mostly Sinhala Buddhists. Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict does, ...
Notwithstanding the differences between Sri Lankan Tamil Saivism and that of south India (where, for example, the Saiva/Vaisnava (Visnu-centred) distinction obtains more strongly and there is a markedly greater presence of Brahmin ...
Victor Turner's classic study of the Ndembu (1996), for example, is one where the concepts of social drama and extended case method reveal the force of structural contradiction that lies beneath the surface appearance of crisis.
These brief examples illustrate how the area around Munnesvaram displays a history of shifting political fortunes and alliances that have linked the area at different times to different kingdoms. The proximity of Panduvasnuwara situates ...
Many Tamils, for example, have survived murderous Sinhalese mobs during ethnic riots because the rioters could not guess their ethnicity.23 The combination of these very loose ethnic markers with the style of behaviour in the temple ...
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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 |