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
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... Tamil Saivite temple with a predominantly Sinhala Buddhist patronage in a period of ethnic violence between Tamils and Sinhalese. I am also concerned to show how Munnesvaram survives and thrives in such a situation as a Hindu temple. In ...
... Tamil Saivism and Sinhala Buddhism – interacting at a major centre of religious practice in the circumstances of hostility and violence between the two ethnic groups. Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict is a sordid and bloody business that has ...
... Tamil Saivite Brahmins, and the villagers of the surrounding area who are mostly Sinhala Buddhists. Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict does, at times, pervade these relations, but in accordance with several social scientists writing on the ...
... Tamil Saivite site, and also for the way in which the promotion of Tamil Saivite goddesses by Sinhala Buddhists reaches a point of celebration upon which it stops and retreats. Sinhala Buddhists worship and entreat Ambal and Kali, but ...
... Tamil Hinduism is more accurately called Saivism. Put simply, Saivism specifies the centrality of the god Siva, his ... Saivite doctrines such as the Kashmiri, and so merits the label 'Tamil Saivism'. Notwithstanding the differences ...
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 |