Approaching the Divine: The Integration of Alvar Bhakti in Srivaisnavism

AUTHOR – Bharati Jagannathan

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INFORMATION

  • AUTHOR : Bharati Jagannathan
  • HB ISBN : 978-93-84082-13-0
  • EBOOK ISBN : 978-93-84092-07-8
  • Year : 2015
  • Extent : xviii + 344 pp.
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Approaching the Divine

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INFORMATION

  • AUTHOR – Bharati Jagannathan
  • ISBN – 978-93-84082-13-0
  • Year – 2015
  • Extent: 400 + 40 coloured illustrations
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  • Usually dispatched within 3 to 5 working days.

Approaching the Divine: The Integration of Alvar Bhakti in Srivaisnavism is situated in the context of the ongoing scholarly debate regarding the historical evolution of Tamil Srivaisnavism. This study spans the period from the second half of the first millennium, i.e. the bhakti period to the period of consolidation of the scriptural and sectarian tradition in the first half of the second millennium. Traditionally, the lives of the bhakti saints have been used to understand their hymns. Examination of these hagiographies through the lenses of theology, caste, sectarian conflict and popular legends, however, suggests that these life stories might themselves be constructs of the latter period, and are governed by socio-economic and political impulses as much as by spiritual ones. This work attempts to trace the process whereby a Sanskritic brahmanical tradition and a devotional Tamil folk tradition were knit together, arguing that the ways in which the saintpoets’ hymns were interpreted and integrated contained elements of both continuity and change.

The Author
Bharati Jagannathan teaches History at Miranda House, University of Delhi. She writes fiction and poetry, and has authored several children’s books.

Approaching the Divine: The Integration of Alvar Bhakti in Srivaisnavism is situated in the context of the ongoing scholarly debate regarding the historical evolution of Tamil Srivaisnavism. This study spans the period from the second half of the first millennium, i.e. the bhakti period to the period of consolidation of the scriptural and sectarian tradition in the first half of the second millennium. Traditionally, the lives of the bhakti saints have been used to understand their hymns. Examination of these hagiographies through the lenses of theology, caste, sectarian conflict and popular legends, however, suggests that these life stories might themselves be constructs of the latter period, and are governed by socio-economic and political impulses as much as by spiritual ones. This work attempts to trace the process whereby a Sanskritic brahmanical tradition and a devotional Tamil folk tradition were knit together, arguing that the ways in which the saintpoets’ hymns were interpreted and integrated contained elements of both continuity and change.

The Author
Bharati Jagannathan teaches History at Miranda House, University of Delhi. She writes fiction and poetry, and has authored several children’s books.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Ix-Xii
A Note On Transliteration And Footnotes Xiii-Xv
Abbreviations Xvii
Introduction 1-46
The Hagiographical Accounts 47-94
The Ardently Loving Lord: A Promise Of Salvation 95-126
Equal Before The Lord: Negotiating Caste 127-177
‘Whose God Is The Greatest Of All’? Engaging With Other Faiths 178-223
Bathing In Every Tirtha: Patterns Of Worship, Pilgrimage And The Saint-Poets 224-278
Appendices 281-294
Bibliography 295-327
Index 329-342