Temple Networks in Early Modern South India: Narratives, Rituals, and Material Culture

• Applicants: Dr. Jonas Buchholz; Professorin Dr. Ute Hüsken
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 428328143

• Final Report Year: 2023

Final Report Abstract

Mythological narratives pertaining to South Indian sacred sites are transmitted and transformed in a variety of media. As such, these temple legends constitute a rich cultural resource and a unique form of cultural heritage, which is material and intangible at the same time. In general, the close resemblances between the texts suggest a common pool of local mythologies on which the narratives are based. These narratives represent and give access to the complex relationship between textual precept and actual practice, between local ("folk”) and elite religiosity, and between oral, written and performative transmission. Even though the different Hindu sects have their own versions of temple legends relating to Kanchipuram, the success of the one or the other text does not necessarily reflect the authors’ sectarian affiliation as strictly as the reader might expect. Parallel and even competing narratives relating to a specific religiously significant place exist side by side, but the "success” of one narrative over the other is connected to many more factors. One of these factors is certainly the importance of so-called "folk” or "vernacular” local religiosity: sthalamāhātmya texts often reflect actual practices in a temple, which not always conform to Brahmanical norms, but give expression to local understandings and beliefs. The sthalamāhātmya texts are therefore evidence of the impact of the success of a specific and popular religiously significant place on the textual narratives. Surprisingly, even though the texts are not generally "read”, some texts have become today authoritative sources on not only the mythology, but also the practices of the sacred sites of Kanchipuram. A more detailed investigation of how the texts have contributed and continue to contribute to the shaping of Kanchipuram’s religious landscape has to be left to future investigations.

Publications

• "Eine Viṣṇu-Statue aus Indien.” In The Scholar’s Choice. Lieblingsstücke Heidelberger Wissenschaftler aus dem Völkerkundemuseum der J. und E. von Portheim-Stiftung (Katalog zur Ausstellung Völkerkundemuseum Portheim-Stiftung Heidelberg), ed. by Axel Michaels und Margareta Pavaloi, Heidelberg University Publishing, 2019, pp. 57-61
  Hüsken, Ute
  
• "Priesterinnen zwischen Tradition und Umbruch: Geschlechtergerechtigkeit im hinduistischen Indien." In Ruperto Carola Forschungsmagazin 14 (Juni 2019): pp. 26-35
  Hüsken, Ute
  
• „Der nackte Gott." Rhein-Neckar Zeitung Magazin, 22.6.2019
  Hüsken, Ute
  
• "South Asian Festival Culture.” In Routledge Handbook of South Asian Religions, ed. by Knut A. Jacobsen, Abingdon: Routledge, 2020, pp. 384-398
  Hüsken, Ute
  
• "The Urban Life of South Indian Gods.” In Prayer and the Ancient City: Influences of Urban Space, Maik Patzelt, Jörg Rüpke, and Annette Weissenrieder. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021, pp. 163-180
  Hüsken, Ute
  
• Limits of Creativity. Nine Nights of Power (2021, 10, 1), 93-112. American Geophysical Union (AGU).
  Hüsken, Ute
  
• "Introduction.” In Temples, Texts, and Networks: South Indian Perspectives, ed. by Malini Ambach, Jonas Buchholz, and Ute Hüsken. Heidelberg: HASP, 2022, pp. 1-10.
  Ambach, Malini; Jonas Buchholz & Ute Hüsken
  
• Sthalamāhātmyas and Talapurāṇams of Kanchipuram: A Network of Texts. In Temples, Texts, and Networks: South Indian Perspectives, ed. by Malini Ambach, Jonas Buchholz, and Ute Hüsken. Heidelberg: HASP, 2022, pp. 11-40.
  Buchholz, Jonas
  
• Temples, Texts, and Networks: South Indian Perspectives. Heidelberg: HASP.
  Ambach, Malini; Jonas Buchholz & Ute Hüsken (Eds.)
  
• Two Lizards in Kanchipuram’s Varadarāja Temple.” In Temples, Texts, and Networks: South Indian Perspectives, ed. by Malini Ambach, Jonas Buchholz, and Ute Hüsken. Heidelberg: HASP, 2022, pp. 159-214.
  Hüsken, Ute
  
• Same, same but different: The Tamil Kāñcippurāṇam and its Sanskrit source. Visions and Revisions in Sanskrit Narrative (2023, 11, 21), 387-416. American Geophysical Union (AGU).
  Buchholz, Jonas
  
• The Country and the City in the Kāñcippurāṇam. Cracow Indological Studies, 25(1), 41-77.
  Buchholz, Jonas