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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... Siva temple, a temple whose renown is recorded at least as far back as the tenth century of the Common Era (C.E.). Although I have no firm inscriptional evidence, the temple's fame most likely extends beyond this. Of such inscriptions ...
... Siva, his consort and his children. Tamil Saivism is most profoundly influenced by the philosophy and doctrines of Saiva Siddhanta, by the Agama texts that elicit them and by temple worship. It differs in significant respects from other ...
... Siva temples, is a port-town temple whose fame and earlier grandeur convey the importance of these port-temples as nodal points in complex social fields articulating agriculture and commerce, political orders, localised caste orders and ...
... Siva temple counterparts in Sri Lanka, precisely because of its west coast location and proximity to the Sinhala Buddhist capitals of the medieval period. In addition to its proximity to Chilaw port, Munnesvaram occupies a place in a ...
... Siva, the 'First of the Sages' (Skt. muni). Munnesvaram is, in this sense, simply a Siva temple. Yet 'Munisvara' is also the name of a lower status village guardian deity in south India, known in northern Sri Lanka as Muniappan or ...
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 |