Objective
Between the 15th and 18th centuries, Tamil South India underwent major transformations in religion, language, and caste. Yet when considering the formation of regional identity, this early modern moment has been overlooked in favour of colonial and postcolonial histories. This project investigates these shifts through the Vellalas, a caste that rose from medieval agrarian elites to dominant intellectual and religious actors by the 19th century. While their role in colonial society is well documented, the institutions, texts, and practices that enabled their earlier ascent remain understudied. From the 15th century onwards, historical sources reveal that Vellalas claimed religious authority and the right to teach the Shaiva religion in Tamil, which challenged Brahmanical control over religious education and the privilege of Sanskrit. The project’s central hypothesis is that this shift was made possible by Vellala investment in Shaiva monasteries, the adheenams, which functioned as centres of learning, ritual power, and patronage. These institutions anchored dense networks of pilgrimage, scholarship, and economic exchange at a moment when South India was shaped by interaction with new actors such as Telugu warlords, Arab traders, Sufi lineages, or Christian missionaries. By combining philology, history, material and digital analysis, the project will offer the first comprehensive account of how Vellalas mobilised religious institutions to link Shaivism with Tamil literature and reconfigure caste hierarchies. It will show how these developments gave rise to new forms of authority and belonging before colonialism, laying the foundations for the region’s modern identity.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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Keywords
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2026-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
75270 Paris
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.