AbstractsPhilosophy & Theology

The Pudu Mandapam is one of the best known monuments from the Nayaka period of the mid-sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries. It was built in the 1630s as a major addition to the Minakshi-Sundaresvara temple complex in Madurai, Tamilnadu under the patronage of Tirumala Nayaka, Madurai's ruler from 1623 to 1659. The massive granite pillars of this large rectangular hall contain images of gods and mythological figures as well as fully-modeled portrait statues of the Nayaka royal lineage arranged in chronological order with Tirumala, the sponsor of the project, at the end. This living temple becomes the locus through which to explore the materiality of sovereignty from the early modern period to the present. The dissertation is divided into three parts addressing how the built form was conceived, received, and experienced. The methodology centers on using temple architecture to map cultural change from the site's inauguration to the current day by examining temple manuscripts, the accounts of visiting travelers, artists, draftsmen, and photographers, and its contemporary ritual use. To date, little if any research has been done to study extensively this (or any other) important south Indian temple component.This dissertation argues that utilizing an interdisciplinary approach to writing history of the Pudu Mandapam through a close study of philology, art history, visual culture, gender studies, and religion is a significant way of understanding the political and cultural history of south India from the Nayaka period to modernity.