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Religion 340:
The Hindu Temple Dr. Tim Lubin 23 Newcomb / 458-8146 / LubinT@wlu.edu Spring 2003 Washington and Lee University |
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Focus for 2003: South Indian Shaivism
Temple sites: Dakshinamnaya Sri Sringeri Sarada Peetham Mahishamardini Temple, Kadiyali, Udupi Sri Siva Vishnu Temple, Maryland
Other Sites of Interest: Devi: The Great Goddess (Smithsonian website)
Topics:
An exploration of temples in Hinduism, their forms and place in the lives of Hindus. The course will have three broad points of focus: (1) the form and symbolism of the temple as sacred space, and meaning of its iconography; (2) modes and occasions of worship, including the functions of priests, possession and faith-healing, religious theater, votive ordeals (fire-walking, hook vows), and the devadasis (temple dancers "married" to the deity); and (3) the temple's place in its city and region, including legends of its foundation, patterns of patronage, association with local kings and castes, and its role in religious education and in politics. Examples will include major temple complexes as well as several smaller temples from diverse regions.
Course Format and Requirements:
Class time will be divided between lecture
and guided discussion, and will include slides and films.
1.
In order to make discussion productive, each student is required to come to
every class with a response paper including (i) a brief synopsis of the key ideas discussed in the assigned readings
for the day, along with (ii) two or three questions or problems that the readings
raise in the student's mind, with tentative answers. These ideas and questions need not be
presented in a very formal manner, but they should demonstrate careful reading
and reflection,
and should go beyond a mere enumeration of details (cumulatively 33% of
grade; participation in class discussion can raise the final grade substantially;
unnecessary absences from class will lower it). Any student may be asked to lead off discussion
by offering these thoughts to the class.
2. Students
will write two 1200-word essays on assigned topics (33% of
grade).
3. The class will make a Sunday- evening visit
to the Shantiniketan
Temple
in Roanoke; attendance there is required.
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Texts: The following books are available
for purchase:
Schedule of Classes: Week I: How Hindu Worship Works: Greeting God’s Bodies Tu: Th: |
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Week II: God’s Houses: Forms and Functions
Tu:
Blurton, chs. 2, 6.
* George Michell, The Hindu Temple, pp. 49-85.
Film: “Loving
Krishna”
Th:
Overview of on the Varkari Panth;
* G.
A. Deleury, The Cult of Vithoba (Pune, 1960; rep. 1994), chs. 3-4 ("Vithoba's
Temple"; "The Pilgrimage")
* Karve, Irawati, “On the Road: A Maharashtrian Pilgrimage,” in Eleanor
Zelliott and Maxine Berntsen,
eds., The Experience of Hinduism: Essays on Religion in Maharashtra
(Albany: SUNY Press, 1988 [essay orig. pub. 1955]), pp. 142-173.
Week III: Receiving
Divine Favors: Possession, Healing, and Vow Making at the Temple
Tu:
Collins, chs. 1-6.
Film: “An Indian
Pilgrimage: Ramdevra”
Th:
Collins, chs. 7-9.
* Alf Hiltebeitel, “Timiti, the Firewalk,” ch. 14 in The Cult of Draupadi,
vol. 2: On Hindu Ritual and
the Goddess (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1991), pp. 439-475.
Film: “Lady
of Gingee: South Indian Draupadi Festivals”
Week IV: The Temple in Politics
Tu:
* D. Shulman and V. Narayana Rao, "Marriage-broker for the God," in
Hans Bakker, ed., The Sacred Centre as the Focus of Political Interest (Groningen:
Egbert Forsten), pp. 179-203.
* C. J. Fuller, "The Political and Economic Position of the Minaksi Temple
Priests in the 1980s," in Bakker, pp. 205-218.
* G. Obeyesekere, "Myth and Political Legitimization at the Sacred Centre
in Kataragama, Sri Lanka," in Bakker, pp. 219-233.
Th:
* Peter van der Veer, Religious Nationalism (Berkeley: U. Calif. Pr.,
1994), pp. 1-12, 138-164..
Articles from The Week
(23 March 1003)
Richard Eaton, "Temple
Desecration in Pre-Modern India" and "Temple
Desecration and Indo-Muslim States" in Frontline, 17(25) and 17(26), 2000.
Film: "In the Name of God / Ram ke naam" (Anand Patwardhan)
Click
here for study guide for film
Special
Visitor: Dr. Walter Andersen, Johns Hopkins University, SAIS: "Temples and
Politics"
Week V: God and Devotee in the Shaiva-Siddhanta
Tu:
* Richard Davis, Ritual in an Oscillating Universe (Princeton UP, 1991), pp. 3-74.
Th:
* Richard Davis, Ritual in an Oscillating Universe, pp. 83-136.
Week VI: The Temple of Cidambaram and Its Traditions
Tu:
Smith, Introduction and chs. 1-4
* Norman Cutler, "Manikkavacakar"
and Appendix A in Songs of Experience
Film: “Wedding
of the Goddess”
Th:
Smith, chs. 6-10.
Film: “Given
to Dance”