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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... relation between sources of wealth and political authority that has been a major thread running through the history of Sri Lanka – a social relation between landed wealth and trade. Shaped in the circumstances of colonialism and ...
... relations whose reality lies elsewhere, rather they constitute nodal points in the articulation of these relations ... relation between power and potentiality as an aspect of the sacred. Here, the sacred is not to be seen as something ...
... relations in order to demonstrate that worship is not reducible to any one of these. 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 ...
... relationship between Ambal and Kali as the energy of action and practice in the world. The Navaratri, not unlike the three other Navaratri festivals Munnesvaram celebrates, is not a popular festival with Sinhala Buddhists. Instead, it ...
... relationship between the Hindu temple and its world, a world of complex social relations not simply reducible to a sense of a singular system. Temples and festivals, I argue, are vital elements in the dynamism of South Asian life. Their ...
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 |