Minor Majesties eBook

Minor Majesties studies the small ancient kingdom of PaluvA r, a town located on the northern bank of the KA vA"ri river, about 30 kilometers north of Tanjavur. Between the ninth and the eleventh centuries C.E., PaluvA r was the capital of the dynasty of the PaluvA"a'-a'-araiyars, a minor dynasty of "little kings" who swore allegiance to the CA la dynasty. Today, PaluvA r is divided in two distinct villages, KA lappaluvA r and MA"lappaluvA r, and four temples dedicated to the god Asiva built during the reign of the little kings remain standing. In Minor Majesties, author ValA(c)rie Gillet surveys, translates, and analyzes 136 Tamil transcriptions spread across these temples, scrutinizing in depth each one's materiality, location, and epigraphy for the first time. Through these analyses, Gillet brings forth a better understanding of the functioning of the minor dynasty of the PaluvA"a'-a'-araiyars whose little kings often appear in the inscriptions of the temples, as well as the interactions between the temples and their patronizing communities. The small size of PaluvA r with its hub of still-standing monuments permits an exceptionally clear overview of the possible relations between distinct temples, allowing readers to unpick complexities related to temple sponsorship, organisation, and functioning. The study of PaluvA r also reveals how these religious monuments-accruing wealth but, in exchange, enabling donors to accrue merit and power-became a place for the fabrication of political discourses and powers, specific social configurations, and religious practices.A