Conceptualizing South Indian Temples as Living Sacred Spaces

The session introduces the lecture series “Sacred Spaces, Living Traditions: Visual and Oral Cultures of South Indian Temples”. The central assumption of the lecture series is that the study of anonymous mythological texts such as South Indian Hindu temples legends ([sthala]māhātmya, talapurāṇam) transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries and therefore necessitates an transdisciplinary approach. Temple legends are not merely static, written accounts but exist as a dynamic, interconnected phenomenon encompassing textual, visual, oral, and performative forms. To fully comprehend this material, a mix of methodologies that integrates philology, art history, anthropology, and digital scholarship is essential.

A central theme woven throughout the series is the multiple nature of the Hindu temple. On the one hand, the temple is a monument, understood as a symbolic representation of the Hindu cosmos, a macrocosm condensed into a microcosm. On the other, a temple is a living, breathing social space that extends beyond its religious functions to serve as a hub for community celebrations, artistic performances, economic activities, political agitation, as a place of learning, a venue for social gatherings, and much more. Different media of transmission reflect this multivocality, constituting temple culture in concert. 

This introductory lecture will lay out the concept of the lecture series using examples from the South Indian temple town Kanchipuram.

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