In this innovative study, Gita V. Pai traces the history of the Pudu Mandapam (Tamil, 'new hall') – a Hindu temple structure in Madurai – through the rise and fall of empires in south India from the seventeenth century to the present. This wide-ranging work illustrates how south Indian temples became entangled in broader conflicts over sovereignty, from early modern Nayaka kings, to British colonial rule, to the post-independence government today. Drawing from methodologies in anthropology, religious studies, and art and architectural history, the author argues that the small temple site provides profound insight into the relationship between aesthetics, sovereignty, and religion in modern South Asia.

‘Architecture of Sovereignty is a refreshing new examination of the south Indian Minaksi-Sundaresvara temple. Focusing on the temple’s Pudu Mandapam, Pai expertly engages methodologies from history, art history, religious studies, and architecture to produce a rigorous diachronic biography and reception history of this prominent site from the 1630s through the present day. In doing so, the author adds important new chapters to the history of this celebrated temple and, more broadly, demonstrates how religious spaces—both grand and small—can serve as sites for the contestation of sovereignty, power, and governance as they are reconceived again and again throughout their histories.’

Caleb Simmons - The University of Arizona

‘In this work of critical and historical geography, Gita Pai tracks the Pudu Mandapam, a south Indian ritual hall constructed in the 1630s, through nearly four centuries of transformations. Richly documented with historical drawings, photographs, travel accounts, and court documents, this deep study situates the hall within the changing authority systems of late medieval Hindu kingship, British colonial rule, and the postcolonial Indian nation-state within a globalized economy, while remaining alive to the many divergent perspectives that have made up the complex identity of the Mandapam.’

Richard H. Davis - Bard College

‘Gita Pai’s rich and meticulously researched book draws us into a dynamic diorama of Madurai’s New Hall and provides us with insightful models of authority and dominance. Held by pillars of power, the Pudu Mandapam is inhabited by royal and divine actors, colonial rulers, and thronging multitudes. A veritable tour de force, Pai’s Architecture of Sovereignty ambitiously, yet assuredly, moves through several registers of deities and devotees as well as economic and aesthetic structures in the pre-colonial, colonial, and postcolonial states, as we walk through the contested spaces of the bustling capacious stone pavilion and the areas near Madurai. Its vision and interdisciplinarity are commanding; architecture, festivals, rulership, and intrigue are drawn together elegantly in this breathtaking volume. This book should be read by not just scholars of South Asia but all those interested in structures of divine kingship and colonialism.’

Vasudha Narayanan - University of Florida