Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Note on transliteration
- Introduction
- 1 The South Indian temple: cultural model and historical problem
- 2 Kings, sects, and temples: South Indian Śrī 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
- Appendix A Rules and regulations of 1800
- Appendix B Justice Hutchins's scheme of 1885
- Appendix C Final judicial scheme of management, 1925
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - Rethinking the present: some contextual implications
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Note on transliteration
- Introduction
- 1 The South Indian temple: cultural model and historical problem
- 2 Kings, sects, and temples: South Indian Śrī 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
- Appendix A Rules and regulations of 1800
- Appendix B Justice Hutchins's scheme of 1885
- Appendix C Final judicial scheme of management, 1925
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This conclusion is divided into three sections. The first section reconsiders and refines the argument concerning continuity and change, which was briefly previewed in the Introduction. The second section places the findings of this study in relation to some important new work in the political history of colonial South India. The last section concerns the implications of this case study for certain issues in South Asian anthropology as well as in the wider context of the anthropology of colonialism.
Authority, continuity, and change
It was suggested in the Introduction to this study that the temple is best defined as a combination of three attributes: spatial, processual, and symbolic. The five substantive chapters that followed suggested the following review and refinement of this definition. Both the architecture of the temple and the ritual dramas that occur within it suggest that the last two centuries have not altered the indigenous conception of the temple as a royal abode (kōyil), enshrining a paradigmatic sovereign. The temple, therefore, continues to be conceived as a “sacred” space for many of the same reasons as it was in the Vijayanagara period. Second, the redistributive process of the temple has undergone no formal change: Its core is still the ongoing relationship of exchange, in which goods and services are gifted to the deity, transformed in the process of worship, and reallocated to the worshippers in the form of shares, which are culturally demarcated by publicly received honors.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Worship and Conflict under Colonial RuleA South Indian Case, pp. 212 - 228Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1981