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
Results 1-5 of 34
... Aesthetic of Piling Down The Progression of Puja Lamps The Sri Cakra Spatial Arrangement of Female Divinity at Munnesvaram The Maradankulam Aiyanar Temple Map of Munnesvaram Showing Processions Arrangement of Deities for the Processions ...
... aesthetic style and ritual practice of the south Indian Hindu and specifically Saivite temple.3 The worshippers, though, are drawn from all over Sri Lanka and are predominantly Buddhist and Sinhalese – an ethnic community with a ...
... aesthetic of ritual. I am interested in what is 'dramatic' or critical about Munnesvaram as an aspect of the temples' popularity.6 The thesis I pursue is that the religious appeal of a complex like Munnesvaram continually emerges from ...
... aesthetic style of his shrine with its painted statue is more routinely Sinhala Buddhist, and its priest on the day ... aesthetics that become instrumental themselves in furthering the process of change.10 Haskam or Marvellous ...
... aesthetic that this book explores. Crucially, the temple aesthetic is, in my analysis, the fundamental expression of divinity and not simply its representational signification. In the broad approach I take to the aesthetic of ...
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 |
Other editions - View all
The Domain of Constant Excess: Plural Worship at the Munnesvaram Temples in ... Rohan Bastin No preview available - 2002 |