Katherine Young: Constant movement, across time and space: establishing and destabilizing notions of culture and identity. Circulation of people, ideas, and goods
The Peripatetic in Tamilnadu: Cankam, Bhakti, and Sectarian Perspectives
This paper examines continuities and discontinuities of the cankam genre of arrupatai (a bard informing another bard how to find a generous patron and in the process describing the five characteristic regions of Tamilnadu), the epic concept of bhupradakshina, the Vaisnava bhakti genre of wandering to the places where the supreme God Visnu exists, and the development of the concept of 108 beloved places in Srivaisnavism. In the process, it shows how Tamil concepts of territory are praised to maintain continuity for Tamil identity but indirectly expanded to reach the Himalayas and even the cosmos, thereby paving the way for emerging pan-Indian and Hindu concepts of space. Through this case study, the paper argues that poetic rhetoric and intellectual commentary contribute to circulation of people, concepts of space, and integration of north Indian spatial and sectarian identities. More generally, it argues that Tamil religion supports the idea that Hinduism is not only a peripatetic religion but also an acephalic one that operates much like the modern academic convention where scholars and community people gather, exchange ideas, and carry the results back to their home environments.
Biographical Statement:
Katherine Young is Professor of Hinduism at McGill University. Her research interests are Hinduism, religions of Tamil Nadu, Hindu ethics, and gender and religion. Her major publications include, “The Image- incarnation: Religion, Philosophy, and Sectarian Politics in the Evolution of Srivaisnavism” Studies in Hinduism, vol. 4 (forthcoming), “Om, the Vedas, and the Status of Women with Special Reference to Srivaisnavism” in Jewels of Authority: Women and Textual Tradition in Hindu India (2002), “The Spirit and the Bride say Come: Continuing a Hindu-Christian Dialogue,” Journal of Vaisnava Studies 6:5 (1998), “Theology Does Help Women’s Liberation: Srivaisnavism, a Case Study,” Journal of Vaisnava Studies 3 (1995), and “The Meeting of Two Great Traditions: Migration into Tamil Nadu (500-900 C.E.),” in Ethnicity, Identity, Migration: The South Asian Context (1993).
