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Initiation
Temple festivals

Kāmākṣī temple
Ekāmbareśvara temple
Varadarāja temple

• Project Description
• State of Research
• Main Issues of Research
  • Religion-State and Ritual Competence
  • Text and Performance
  • Synchronous and Diachronous Perspectives

Project Description

The South Indian city of Kāñcipuram is an old religious center of South India. From the 3rd century BC on it played a major role in the political and cultural history of the region and under the dynasty of the Pallavas it became the state's capital. Since the 7th century Kāñci is a place of religous pluralism and attracted scolars, ritual experts, ascetics, gurus and monks of different faiths such as Buddhists, Jainas, Vaiṣṇavas and Śaivas. Today Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Śāktism are of major relevance to the ritual topography of the city.

The project focusses on rituals (initiation rituals, priestly ordination rituals and temple festivals) in the three largest temples: the tāntric-śāktic temple of the goddess Kāmākṣī, the tāntric-śaivite Ekāmbareśvara temple and the Varadarāja temple of the vaiṣṇavite Pāñcarātra.

On the basis of intensive field research and textual studies for the first time a comprehensive picture of the historical, institutional and cultural factors of the interplay between the ritual traditions of a South Indian city will be drawn.

State of Research

Very few monographs about South Indian ritual traditions have been published. Most of these works follow the common pattern of dealing with temple rituals starting from detailed textual studies followed by a normative description of the execution of these rituals according to the texts. None of these studies describe the rituals how they are actually performed in their actual setting or try to relate the texts to actual performances. Further, few authors try to analyze the temple rituals within a wider theoretical framework.

In regard to its temple rituals the vaiṣṇavite Varadarāja temple follows the Pāñcarātra tradition. The major part of this tradition's medieval Sanskrit literature on ritual has already been well described, but so far there are few translations of the primary sources and few studies that research ritual aspects of this tradition. The Varadarāja temple of Kāñcipuram is subject matter of one single monograph, mainly concerned with the temple’s architectural history (Raman 1975).

The research on śākti devotion in Kāñci and especially on the ritual praxis of the Kāmākṣī temple is still in its infancy. Brooks (1992) wrote a study on the sources of the śāktic Tāntrism. It includes the teachings of Śrīvidyā as well, but he did not relate the prescriptive texts to the contemporary ritual praxis. Part of the ritualistic and mythological literature which is significant for the temple is the ritual text Saubhāgya Cintāmaṇi ascribed to the Ṛṣi Durvasa. Other important primary sources are the Devīmāhātmya and the Lalitopākhyāna of the Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa, the Sanatkumārasaṃhitā of the Skandapurāṇa and the Kāmākṣīvilāsa.

The śaivite Ekāmbareśvara temple belongs to the ritual tradition of the tāntric Śaiva Siddhānta. As textual foundations serve the sections on ritual (kriyāpāda) of the canonical relevation literature (āgamas or tāntras) of this school produced between the 7th and the 10th centuries AD and ritual handbooks (paddhati) composed between the 11th and 14th centuries. For researching this ritual tradition and its actors in Kāñcipuram predominantly Hélène Brunner's edition and translation of the saivite ritual handbook Somaśambhupaddhati (11th century) and her studies of the same can be taken as a starting point. Regarding śaivite initiation rituals Surdam’s (1984) translation of the sections on dīkṣā in Aghoraśivācārya's Kriyākramadyotikā and Fuller’s (1985) short description of the course of action of śaivite initiation and consecration can be referred to. Further it can be reverted to the work by Reiniche and L'Hernault (1989-1999) on the śaivite temple city Tiruvannamalai.

Main Issues of Research

Religion-State and Ritual Competence

The impacts of societal change on the acquisition of ritual competence is one of the subject matters of this research project. Here we will mention some of the developments in modern times. The changing relationship between state and religion in colonial and postcolonial times led to a growing professionalisation of priesthood and the redefinition of ritual competence. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th there were fundamental changes in the administration of South Indian Tamil temples. Since then most temples are under control of the provincial governments and most employees receive low salaries that are not sufficient to support a family. From ancient times up to the present day the profession of the temple priest has involved a minor religious status – nowadays in most cases it is financially unattractive as well. A decreasing number of males from families that are connected to the temples since generations are ready to exercise this familial profession. This fact, coupled with a periodically emerging hostility against Brahmins and Sanskrit in Tamil Nadu, led to an attempt to turn the priesthood into a occupational choice. In this context "āgamic schools" developed, offering a structured education and certifying priests. This part of the research project will illuminate the impacts of the institutionalization of temple priesthood on the sacral dimensions of ritual competence and agency.

Text and Performance

The investigation into the historical, experiential and socio-dynamic aspects of the relation between two media for passing down traditions – namely text and performance – is at the centre of attention. One aspect is the detection and analysis of the texts relating to the rituals under investigation. The textual studies require at first the collection of the relevant medieval sources of the ritual traditions and those texts that have not been discovered or accessed yet (new ritual handbooks, family-related records). Moreover, temple documents, court documents and inscriptions have to be studied. Regarding this part of the project it remains to be seen which recent texts are discovered in the course of the research. Texts that are certainly to be analysed are

• in matters of the Kāmākṣī temple: the Saubhāgya Cintāmaṇi ascribed to the Ṛṣi Durvasa, the Devīmāhātmya, the Lalitopākhyāna of the Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa, the Sanatkumārasaṃhitā of the Skandapurāṇa and the Kāmākṣīvilāsa
• in matters of the Varadarāja temple: the Jayākhyāsaṃhitā, the Pādmasaṃhitā, the Varadarājastava, the Varadarājapañcāṣaṭ and the Kriyākairavacandrikā
• in matters of the Ekāmbareśvara temple: the Kriyākramadyotikā, the Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati, the Periyapurāṇa and the Kāñcīpurāṇa.

In a next step, the relation of these texts to actual ritual practise is investigated.

Synchronous and Diachronous Perspectives

The data and findings emerging from field research and textual analysis will be examined from diachronous and synchronous perspectives. The diachronous perspective shall be accomplished by an ongoing documentation of the performative ritual complex over the whole course of the project and its juxtaposition with the traditional texts. The synchronous perspective comprises the simultaneous comparative study of the ritual complexes of all three religious currents. The development of general assumptions about the dynamics of public temple rituals and the relevant initiation rituals in regard to existing ritual theories is one major aim in this. Further, the comparison of the chain of ritual action with normative texts will allow for the observation of typical performative patterns and provide insights into the regularity of ritual acts. Moreover, it is hoped that the character of ritual action can be comprehended through the study of mythological textual sources and oral traditions. The variability of rituals in diachronous perspective raises questions regarding the dynamic relations between the religious communities in the changing socio-cultural contexts of the temple city. Moreover, for all issues the ritual performances' creative power of body language and media are of vital importance and hence to be determined and described.