The temple and the state in medieval South India

This article brings out certain aspects of the ways in which the temple and the state were related in the early medieval period. Arriving in South India almost simultaneously, both derived support from each other. While the state patronised the temple, the latter lent considerable legitimacy to the former. The temple gradually started appropriating the role of the state in numerous ways, assuming administrative, judicial and fiscal functions. In many cases it was now in a position even to challenge the local political authorities. </jats:p

Use of ‘Hindu’ Idioms in Christian Worship and Propaganda in Kerala

This article looks at the way in which the Christians of Kerala adopted idioms typical of ‘Hindu’ Brāhmanical religion for worship and later for purposes of propaganda. Taken up for detailed study are the works by Rev. John Ernest Hanxledon (1681–1732), a German Jesuit who worked in Kerala in the first three decades of the eighteenth century. Items such as the use of popular Malayalam metres, figures of speech, other literary tropes, the employment of the linguistic technique of social distancing, etc. make for a good study. These have been studied in contrast with the experience of Rev. Roberto de Nobili a century ago. </jats:p

The rise and fall of the kāvya project

The Rāmāyana of Vālmīki is said to be the ‘first kāvya’ (poem) in Sanskrit, but the age of its compilation is uncertain. The Junagarh inscription of the Śaka ruler Rudradāman, ad 150, is the first datable Sanskrit poem belonging to the category of praśastis. Praśastis became increasingly common subsequently as a tool of flattery and means of monarchical legitimisation. In time it became normal for every sovereign to have a praśasti composed for himself, so that inscriptions carrying praśastis tended to become more and more numerous. The Harṣacarita of Bāṇa shows how long texts could carry this form of literature, which, in turn, would influence the style and similes of subsequently inscribed praśastis. The Palam Baoli inscription (1,276) shows how a praśasti could now be compiled without the court of the ruler (in this case Sultan Balban) being aware of it. Obviously, praśastis lost their political utility. Although subsequently too praśastis were composed, their legitimising role seems to have been over now. This boded ill for the kāvya form as well. </jats:p

Making the Best of a Bad Bargain

This article rejoins the issues raised in Professor R.S. Sharma’s landmark paper on references to Kaliyuga as indicating a major social crisis and shows that all was not as dark as has been represented in his writings. It shows that the same texts shows the other, brighter side of Kaliyuga and argues that even this is in an attempt to promote the ideology of the upper sections of society, where bhakti or devotion to a personalised god was found most successful.</jats:p

Book review: Manu V. Devadevan, The ‘Early Medieval’ Origins of India

Manu V. Devadevan, The ‘Early Medieval’ Origins of India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 2020, 516 + xii pp., ₹850 (pb). </jats:p