South Indian Temples: Nodal Points in Webs of Connections

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Ute Hüsken
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 465153064

The project “South Indian Temples: Nodal Points in Webs of Connections” consists of five subprojects conducted in close cooperation by a German and a Polish team. All subprojects investigate Hindu temples as nodal points within webs of connections between sacred sites in South India, facilitating a new understanding of South Indian temples as participating in relationships with each other, rather than stand-alone monuments. These temple networks will be investigated in their transregional, regional, and local dimensions. Since the subprojects’ networks overlap with each other, and since individual temples are embedded in multiple temple networks, the project team will be able to view them from different perspectives.Firmly based in the mythological narratives of the textual genre of temple legends (māhātmyas/sthalapurāṇas) in Sanskrit and in South Indian languages as primary source material, the project includes also the analysis of the same narratives’ ritual performances, and material and artistic expressions, such as murals in temples, reliefs, or statues. Conceptually, the project will look into these narratives applying spatial theories common for literary and cultural studies, e.g. literary cartography which is based on the idea of a “mapping narrative”, as well as using methods of ethno-Indology, which integrates philology, anthropology and ritual studies.The main questions that the project seeks to answer are: Do the networks laid out in the texts inform pilgrimage practice or, conversely, are observable pilgrimage circuits, which connect temples, reflected by textual sources? How are these links articulated in various media (texts, iconography, rituals? What is the relationship between temples at the center, and temples at the periphery within such networks? How do these aspects differ from region to region in South India (Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala) and how are these strategies differently articulated in various languages (Sanskrit, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu)? By focusing on the dynamics between Hindu temples and sacred sites, the project will contribute to a new understanding of the role of mythological narratives as “mapping space” in the South Asian context.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Poland
• Partner Organisation: Narodowe Centrum Nauki (NCN)
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Dr. Marzenna Czerniak-Drozdzowicz