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While numerous studies exist on major South-Asian temples, surprisingly little is known about ‘minor shrines’ and ‘lesser states’. Here fifty-five new documents, in a western-Himalayan script and language, and belonging to a small Siddha shrine, redress this remarkable gap in our knowledge. The documents cover a wide spectrum—from revenue grants to those dealing with ritual, pilgrimage, legality and temple-economy—thus building a picture of the relationship between state and shrine, and particularly so for the minor centres: their popularity and relationship with major temples; mundane matters; notices, petitions, and law-suits. It becomes clear how ‘lesser states’, despite their limited resources, patronized numerous small shrines, along with major temples; and the role played by the Nath-Siddha-ascetics in creating consent-to-rule, acculturation, and constructing hybridity between the Hindu and Tibetan-Buddhist traditions.
Price: $214.00
Pages: 400
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Brill's Indological Library
Publication Date:
24 June 2009
ISBN: 9789004176935
Format: Hardcover
"Sharma’s work is comprehensive in its treatment of this subject and his attention to detail meticulous and impressive. His careful annotations provide valuable insights and help us work toward a wider understanding of the complex social history of Chambā. The book, which is beautifully produced by Brill with good illustrations, sets a high standard for all those working on the later religious history of South Asia in general and the Indian Himālayas in particular." - Beatriz Cifuentes, University of Durham, in: The Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, March 2012
"In such a short space, I cannot do justice to the many fascinating questions that the book evokes. Giving a very detailed study in small-scale economic history of a Himalayan kingdom as well as general considerations on the part played by rituals in the construction of legitimacy, this book will appeal to a broad but demanding readership." - Véronique Bouillier, CNRS, Paris, in: The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 49, 3 (2012)
"In such a short space, I cannot do justice to the many fascinating questions that the book evokes. Giving a very detailed study in small-scale economic history of a Himalayan kingdom as well as general considerations on the part played by rituals in the construction of legitimacy, this book will appeal to a broad but demanding readership." - Véronique Bouillier, CNRS, Paris, in: The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 49, 3 (2012)
Mahesh Sharma, Fellow IIAS-Simla (1993-95) and Fulbright Senior Fellow (2007), teaches History at Panjab University, Chandigarh. He has published extensively on western-Himalayan religious and cultural history including The Realm of Faith: Subversion, Appropriation and Dominance in the Western Himalaya (2001).