Minor Majesties

The Paluvēṭṭaraiyars and Their South Indian Kingdom of Paluvūr, 9th-11th Centuries A.D.
Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-0-19-775771-0
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 408 Seiten, Format (B × H): 163 mm x 237 mm, Gewicht: 712 g

Reihe: South Asia Research

Minor Majesties studies the small ancient kingdom of Paluvur, a town located on the northern bank of the Kaveri river, about 30 kilometers north of Tanjavur. Between the ninth and the eleventh centuries C.E., Paluvur was the capital of the dynasty of the Paluvettaraiyars, a minor dynasty of "little kings" who swore allegiance to the Cola dynasty. Today, Paluvur is divided in two distinct villages, Kilappaluvur and Melappaluvur, and four temples dedicated to the god Siva built during the reign of the little kings remain standing. In Minor Majesties, author Valérie Gillet surveys, translates, and analyzes 136 Tamil transcriptions spread across these temples, scrutinizing in depth each one's materiality, location, and epigraphy for the first time.

Through these analyses, Gillet brings forth a better understanding of the functioning of the minor dynasty of the Paluvettaraiyars whose little kings often appear in the inscriptions of the temples, as well as the interactions between the temples and their patronizing communities. The small size of Paluvur with its hub of still-standing monuments permits an exceptionally clear overview of the possible relations between distinct temples, allowing readers to unpick complexities related to temple sponsorship, organisation, and functioning. The study of Paluvur also reveals how these religious monuments-accruing wealth but, in exchange, enabling donors to accrue merit and power-became a place for the fabrication of political discourses and powers, specific social configurations, and religious practices.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gillet, Valérie

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Buddhismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religion & Politik, Religionsfreiheit
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte

Über Autor(innen)

Valérie Gillet is a specialist on South India. In 2007, she joined the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO); she was posted in the Pondicherry Centre of the EFEO between 2007 and 2016, and has been based in Paris since 2017. Gillet works primarily with material culture and Tamil epigraphy of the first millennium found on the territories of Pandya and Pallava dynasties, covering almost the entire Tamil-speaking South.