Tamil South India Research Articles

Social Progress and the Dravidian “Race” in Tamil Social Thought

In the closing decades of the 19th century, a wide range of Tamil authors and public speakers in colonial India became acutely interested in the notion of a Dravidian “race”. This conception of a Dravidian race, rooted in European racial and philological scholarship on the peoples of South India, became an important symbol of Tamil cultural, religious, and social autonomy in colonial and post-colonial Tamil thought, art, politics, and literature. European racial thought depicted Dravidians as a savage race that had been subjugated or displaced by the superior Aryan race in ancient Indic history. Using several key works of colonial scholarship, non-Brahmin Tamil authors reversed and reconfigured this idea to ground their own broad-reaching critiques of Brahmin political and social dominance, Brahmanical Hinduism, and Indian nationalism. Whereas European scholarship largely presented Dravidians as the inferiors of Aryans, non-Brahmin Tamil thinkers argued that the ancient, Dravidian identity of the Tamil people could stand alone without Aryan interference. This symbolic contrast between Dravidian (Tamil, non-Brahmin, South Indian) and Aryan (Sanskritic, Brahmin, North Indian) is a central component of 20th- and 21st-century Tamil public discourse on caste, gender, and cultural autonomy. Tamil authors, speakers, activists, and politicians used and continue to use the symbolic frame of Dravidian racial history to advocate for many different political, cultural, and social causes. While not all of these “Dravidian” discourses are meaningfully politically or socially progressive, the long history of Dravidian-centered, anti-Brahmanical discourse in Tamil South India has helped Tamil Nadu largely rebuff the advances of Hindu nationalist politics, which have become dominant in other cultural regions of present-day India. This piece presents a background on the emergence of the term “Dravidian” in socially critical Tamil thought, as well as its reversal and reconfiguration by Tamil social thinkers, orators, and activists in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. The piece begins with a brief history of the terms “Dravidian” and “Aryan” in Western racial thought. The piece then charts the evolution of this discourse in Tamil public thought by discussing several important examples of Tamil social and political movements that incorporate the conceptual poles of “Dravidian” and “Aryan” into their own platforms.

Bringing the Dead Home: Hindu Invitation Rituals in Tamil South India

AbstractDrawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Tamil-speaking South India, this article presents one Hindu invitation ritual to return dead relatives known as pūvāṭaikkāri to the world of the living and install them as household deities. This two-day ceremony demonstrates that prevailing scholarly perceptions of death and what follows it in Hindu traditions have constrained our ability to appreciate other models for ritual relationships between the living and the dead. These vernacular rituals call the dead back into the world, convince them to possess a human host, and persuade them to be permanently installed in the family’s domestic shrine so they may protect and sustain living kin. Rather than aiming to irrevocably separate the dead from the living, these rites are instead oriented toward eventual conjunction with the dead and therefore reveal a fundamentally different picture than that articulated in the majority of Hinduism’s sacred texts and scholarly accounts.

The Song of Non-Contradiction: Vīraśaivas in Late-Precolonial Tamil South India

Scholarship often identifies Tamil Śaiva intellectual culture with the theological system known as Śaiva Siddhānta. Yet, the textual record from late-precolonial South India suggests much greater internal diversity than such an equation implies. This essay explores one of these ‘other’ voices, that of the Vīraśaivas, through a detailed examination of two especially noteworthy texts. The first of these is ‘The Song in the Unti Form on Non-Contradiction’ (Avirōtavuntiyār), a short theological poem on the need to transcend sectarian partisanship and adopt as doctrine only that upon which all religions concur. The second is a commentary on the first that illuminates ‘non-contradiction’ by quoting from works affiliated with disparate religious traditions. This article contextualises the universalist and eclectic tendencies of these two works and attempts to bring out their significance for Tamil religious history.

Temple Guardians and ‘Folk Hinduism’ in Tamil South India

Temple Guardians and ‘Folk Hinduism’ in Tamil South India

The Light of Knowledge: Literacy Activism and the Politics of Writing in South India by Francis Cody (review)

Francis Cody, The of Knowledge: Literacy Activism and the Politics of Writing in South India. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013. 272 pp.Studies of literacy since the 1980s have drawn attention to the idea that literacy does not simply consist of the ability to decode written language by making three critical points. The first is that reading and writing are not neutral practices, but they are always embedded within language ideologies and structures of power and subjectification. The second point is that reading and writing, while often imagined as purely mental or intellectual activities, are in fact fully embodied practices into which people must be socialized. The third point, following from these other two, is that literacy is not a universally applicable technology that can be packaged and transported anywhere; reading and writing may consist of different kinds of practices and may have different kinds of meanings, uses, and effects in different places.In his beautifully written and ethnographically rich study of the Arivoli Iyakkam-literally the Light of Knowledge movement-in Tamil South India, Francis Cody advances these insights by offering a sensitive portrait of the interactions between activists and learners. Targeting rural poor Dalit women, the Arivoli Iyakkam has sought to educate and thereby empower a group of people who are doubly marginalized by structures of caste and gender. Considered to be one of the most successful mass literacy movements in recent history, the Arivoli Iyakkam began as a volunteer movement in the late 1980s run by academics and scientists. In 1990, it became part of a joint NGO-state initiative administered by the National Literacy Mission of India and operated as such until 2009, when state funding was discontinued; however, the efforts continued through organizations such as the Tamil Nadu Science Forum and the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association.The Arivoli Iyakkam, Cody argues, was not just a development program, but a social movement whose power lay in its capacity to generate new forms of social relation and sociality that conformed neither to traditional society nor to the enlightened society envisioned by the literacy activists. The movement, in fact, mobilized large numbers of rural women through logics that often pushed against the very Enlightenment rationality they hoped to foster, and the results of their efforts were often unanticipated (6). In a series of ethnographically vivid and theoretically wide-ranging chapters, Cody focuses on moments when the planned literacy lessons failed and activists were forced to rethink their strategy. Grounded in ethnographic accounts of literacy lessons, interactions with activists, and analysis of the writings of activists and members of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Association, these chapters argue for the unpredictability of the encounter between activists and learners, and it is this space of unpredictability, or underdetermination, that emerges as most compelling. It is the unintended effects of these encounters, recognized and cultivated by sensitive activists, that, Cody argues, hold out the greatest potential for positive change.As an example of this, we could look at the difference between the way the movement sought to mobilize women in rural Tamil Nadu and the way that mobilization actually occurred (the story of Cody's second chapter). The Arivoli Iyakkam developed materials for use in literacy lessons that relied on two strategies: 1) the idea of cultivating in learners a societal perspective in which they place the issues they confront in their daily lives into more general categories, and 2) the use of traditional South Indian notions of female power to convince learners that they already possessed the rationality and discipline that literate subjects need to cultivate. Cody takes us through the lessons and logics of these primers, but in turning to the learners' perspective, he finds that they had little to say about the content of the lessons. …

Unravelling Roman mosaic meander patterns: a simple algorithm for their generation

A geometrical analysis of the meander decorative patterns on a Roman pavement mosaic found at the Roman villa in Chedworth, UK, is presented. The analysis reveals that the intricate swastika meander pattern consisting of four closed curves could easily have been constructed using a very simple hypothesized algorithm. The algorithm also explains the design of Roman swastika meanders found throughout the Roman Empire. Connections are indicated between these patterns and the sona traditional art of Angola as well as the kolam traditional art of Tamil South India. The analysis and algorithm described have applications to the classification of geometric mosaic patterns, the design of new patterns and the reconstruction of mosaics that have been partially destroyed by the ravages of time.

‘Kinship burns!’: kinship discourses and gender in Tamil South India*

‘Kinship burns!’: kinship discourses and gender in Tamil South India*

Revolutionary family life and the Self Respect movement in Tamil south India, 1926–49

During the second quarter of the 20th century, the Self Respect movement (cuyamariyatai iyakkam) introduced a programme of non-Brahmin uplift in Tamil south India that consisted of a radical critique of social, political and economic relations. By following the coverage of family and marriage in the Self Respect popular press (the weekly newspaper Kudi Arasu in particular), and through interviews with Self Respecters who lived through the period 1926–49, this article attempts to sketch out how and why the family was interpolated both as an object of criticism and as a site of struggle. That is to say, Self Respect was not only a set of arguments, but also a set of practical strategies for transforming everyday and ritual life into revolutionary propaganda through choice of dress, names, home décor and domestic ritual, as well as through attending public meetings and reading newspapers. In particular, ‘modern, Self Respecting Tamil couples’ were projected as a resolution to what the Self Respect movement high-lighted as the social, political and economic problems perpetuated by the traditional joint family. Yet, over the course of the 20th century in the Tamil south, marriage and family proved to be unstable vehicles for the revolutionary transformation of socio-political domains.

The 'Music Boom' in Tamil South India: Gramophone, radio and the making of mass culture

(2002). The 'Music Boom' in Tamil South India: Gramophone, radio and the making of mass culture. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television: Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 445-473.

Motifs, Metaphors and Mythomoteurs: Some Reflections on Medieval South Asian Ethnicity

Abstract. This article takes account of medieval literary sources in Sinhala Sri Lanka and Tamil South India to describe the existence of notions of ethnic loyalty and ethnic categorisation in premodern societies. Literary tropes such as metaphors and motifs in the two cultural areas are discussed in detail and placed in the context of sociological concepts such as lateral and vertical ethnie. In doing so the argument is made that there have been forms of politicised ethnic solidarity in the past, and that these forms are parallel to modem nationalism.

Making the Past Past: Objects and the Spatialization of Time in Tamilnadu

This article is a preliminary analysis of the relations among time, space, and action in Tamil South India. Unlike common historiographical notions of time which presuppose a clean break between past and present, at least one mode of Tamil temporal thinking presupposes intertwined continuity between past and present, where past acts are understood to endure as material realities that stick (ottu) to actors' bodies, pass on to their descendants, and sometimes inhibit capacity for action. In order to make acts finally past, persons dispose of their material traces in a two-part process: they transfer the enduring action trace from their body to an object, then they send that object to an exterior (veliye or puram) place. This spatial removal of the material traces of past actions achieves at the same time a temporal removal. Hence, temporal distinctions are made through spatial operations, and time, space, and human action are shown to be mutually implicated.

Dancing the Goddess: Possession and Class in Tamil South India

Religion in India has always been profoundly politicized, which is why it has remained of enduring importance, instead of ‘withering away’ as in the West. Though its presence is somewhat hidden in parties that profess a secular view, it is of vital importance, at the local village level, as a focus for the organization of political factions. More precisely, even if local political parties in Tamilnadu do not organizearoundreligion, theyusereligion and ritual events for their political purposes, in their struggles to dominate local politics. The fact that this politicization of religious ritual is implicit, not explicit, only testifies to the fact that power-relationships—and struggles—exist in all aspects of life (as Foucault often noted), including apparently ‘innocent’ rites such as religious possession.

The Divine Couple's Relationship in a South Indian Temple: Mīnākṣī and Sundareśvara at Madurai

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Divine Couple's Relationship in a South Indian Temple: Mīnākṣī and Sundareśvara at MaduraiC. J. FullerC. J. Fuller Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by History of Religions Volume 19, Number 4May, 1980 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/462855 Views: 7Total views on this site Citations: 16Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1980 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Amanda Randhawa Greenbaum A Goddess and a Pañcāyat President: Narrative, Sanctity, and Authority in Rural Tamil Nadu, International Journal of Hindu Studies 23, no.33 (Dec 2019): 283–308.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-019-09265-0Anastasia Piliavsky Patronage and community in a society of thieves, Contributions to Indian Sociology 49, no.22 (Jun 2015): 135–161.https://doi.org/10.1177/0069966715578046R.K.K. Kesava Rajarajan Pañcanṛtyasabhās: Dancing Halls Five, Religions of South Asia 8, no.22 (Nov 2014).https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v8i2.197Suzanne Chazan-Gillig, Pavitranand Ramhota 15. Transformation des cultes populaires indiens kalimaïs dans la mondialisation à l’île Maurice, (Apr 2011): 311–337.https://doi.org/10.3917/kart.raja.2011.01.0311Markus Vink From Port-City to World-System: Spatial Constructs of Dutch Indian Ocean Studies, 1500-1800, Itinerario 28, no.22 (Jun 2011): 45–116.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0165115300019483Anthony Good Multiple meanings in South Indian temple worship, Culture and Religion 2, no.22 (Sep 2001): 239–260.https://doi.org/10.1080/01438300108567177Pnina Werbner Stamping the Earth with the Name of Allah: Zikr and the Sacralizing of Space among British Muslims, Cultural Anthropology 11, no.33 (Aug 1996): 309–338.https://doi.org/10.1525/can.1996.11.3.02a00020Karin Kapadia Dancing the Goddess: Possession and Class in Tamil South India, Modern Asian Studies 30, no.22 (Nov 2008): 423–445.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X00016528Filippo Osella, Caroline Osella Articulation of physical and social bodies in Kerala, Contributions to Indian Sociology 30, no.11 (Jul 2016): 37–68.https://doi.org/10.1177/006996679603000102C. J. FULLER The ‘Holy Family’ of Shiva in a south Indian temple*, Social Anthropology 3, no.33 (Jan 2007): 205–217.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8676.1995.tb00303.xC. J. Fuller `Only Śiva can Worship Śiva': Ritual Mistakes and their Correction in a South Indian Temple, Contributions to Indian Sociology 27, no.22 (Jul 2016): 169–189.https://doi.org/10.1177/006996693027002001William Harman Sacred marriage in the study of religion: A perspective from India on a concept that grew out of the ancient near east, Religion 19, no.44 (Oct 1989): 353–376.https://doi.org/10.1016/0048-721X(89)90051-1Rosie Thomas Sanctity and scandal: The mythologization of mother India, Quarterly Review of Film and Video 11, no.33 (Oct 1989): 11–30.https://doi.org/10.1080/10509208909361312 Don Handelman Myths of Murugan: Asymmetry and Hierarchy in a South Indian Puranic Cosmology, History of Religions 27, no.22 (Oct 2015): 133–170.https://doi.org/10.1086/463110Glenn Yocum Brahmin, King, Sannyasi, and the Goddess in a Cage: Reflections on the `Conceptual Order of Hinduism' at a Tamil ?aiva Temple, Contributions to Indian Sociology 20, no.11 (Jul 2016): 15–39.https://doi.org/10.1177/006996686020001002Anthony Good A Symbolic Type and Its Transformations: The Case of South Indian Ponkal, Contributions to Indian Sociology 17, no.22 (Jul 1983): 223–244.https://doi.org/10.1177/0069966783017002005

Caste, Religion and Ritual in Ceylon

in the separation of ritual functions and their performance by different groups. This quest for origins is however entirely speculative. A close analysis of the caste structure, religion, and ritual in a given community will establish the linkage between religion and ritual on the one hand and the caste structure on the other. It is such an analysis that is attempted here of a culturally homogeneous community, the Ceylon Tamils, inhabiting the Northern peninsula of the island of Ceylon, (Ryan 1952) the part called Jaffna.' They are Hindus in religion and speak Tamil as their native language, related, as they are to the Tamils of South India, and being composed of immigrants from there in historic and prehistoric times. In fact the social institutions of the Ceylon Tamils can be considered an extension of that of Tamil South India with regional variations, which are nonetheless important. The Tamils of Ceylon still look to South India for cultural sustenance; they claim common interests in the spheres of literature, 1 The data used in this analysis were never collected as such. The author is a member of the culture and social system described and one can say that he literally grew up in the system. There is scarcely a practice described that has not been actively participated in by the author. Hence the method used may well be called-to distinguish it from cross-cultural participant observation of short duration-total participant research. The concept of an ideal village where the different elements of the caste structure and ritual structure were made to operate was used by the force of two circumstancs. (1) All the important castes do not live in each and every village. Some villages will operate without the presence of a few castes by making appropriate alterations in the ritual structure. For example, a village without Nalawas will arrange the sequence of festivals at the temple without assigning a day to them. (2) Recent changes in the direction of secularization have so altered the picture that it is not possible to see any village in which the pristine form of ritual structure operates.