Although temples have been important in South Indian society and history, there have been few attempts to study them within an integrated anthropological framework. Professor Appadurai develops such a framework in this ethnohistorical case study, in which he interprets the politics of worship in the Sri Partasarati Svami Temple, a famous ancient Sri Vaisnava shrine in India. The author uses the methods and concepts of both cultural anthropology and social history to construct a model of institutional change in South Asia under colonial rule. Focusing on the problem of authority as a cultural concept and as a managerial reality, Professor Appadurai considers some classic problems of South Asian anthropology: problems of deference, sumptuary symbolism, and religious organization. In addition, he addresses such issues as the nature of conflict under a hybrid colonial legal system, the political implications of sumptuary disputes, and the structure of relations between polity and religion in pre-modern South Asia. These aspects of the study should interest a broad range of scholars.
| ISBN | 0521053587 | | Weight (grammes) | 360 | | ISBN13 | 9780521053587
(What's this?) | | Published in | Cambridge | | Publisher | Cambridge University Press | | Series ISSN | 27 | | Imprint | Cambridge University Press | | Series title | Cambridge South Asian Studies | | Format | Paperback | | Previous ISBN | 9780521231220 | | Publication date | 03 Dec 2007 | | Height (mm) | 216 | | DEWEY | 306.60954 | | Width (mm) | 138 | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | | Spine width (mm) | 16 | | Pages | 280 | | Academic level | Professional / Scholarly | | Volumes | 1 | |
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Preface; Note on transliteration; Introduction; 1. The South Indian temple: cultural model and historical problem; 2. Kings, sects, and temples: South Indian Sri Vaisnavism, 1350-1700; 3. British rule and temple politics, 1700-1826; 4. From bureaucracy to judiciary, 1826-1878; 5. Litigation and the politics of sectarian control, 1878-1925; 6. Rethinking the present: some contextual implications; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.
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