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. |
From inside the book
... take place. Importantly, the priests establish the conditions for the trance activity, but they do not expect it, nor do they really want it. In 1994, nearly a decade after my first Munnesvaram festival, the spontaneous trance was even ...
... take to the aesthetic of Munnesvaram as both form and practice, I include as central to my argument the place of Munnesvaram in Sri Lankan history, politics and cultural heritage. The contemporary Munnesvaram temple is built on the site ...
... take the form of re-origination and the irruption into existence of a powerful assemblage of forces that are not not-profane. In this sense, the sacred is not cosmos where the profane is chaos. It is not limited by notions of order and ...
... takes the meaning of anklet. Of the pearling, the trading and the fishing, only the fishing survives as an activity of the small port towns of the western littoral of Sri Lanka. Chilaw has become a fairly sleepy fishing town with little ...
... take over Chilaw in the late fifteenth century (Rajavaliya 1954: 62). Some time after his death, Taniyavala became one of the Sinhala Buddhist bandara or custodian deities with a very popular shrine at the edge of Madampe town (Bell ...
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 |