Translocal Identities. The Śivadharma and the Making of Regional Religious Traditions in Premodern South Asia

Project Information

SHIVADHARMA

Grant agreement ID: 803624

DOI

10.3030/803624

Project closed

EC signature date 9 October 2018

Start date 1 December 2018

End date 30 November 2025

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 499 348,75

EU contribution

€ 1 499 348,75

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI L'ORIENTALE
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - SHIVADHARMA (Translocal Identities. The Śivadharma and the Making of Regional Religious Traditions in Premodern South Asia)

Reporting period: 2023-06-01 to 2024-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This project aims at examining the impact of the spread of the Śaiva religion on the formation of regional religious identities in South Asia from the Middle Ages to modern times. In order to tackle this issue, the Principal Investigator and her team examine the historical evidence connected with a still little studied but highly influential tradition of Sanskrit texts collectively called “Śivadharma” (= “Śaiva Religion”), which have been transmitted in some of the most representative regions of South Asia to exhibit the continuing influence of Śavisim. The impact of this literature can be traced in multiple literary, epigraphical and iconographic sources, making it particularly suitable for a multidisciplinary study in which the analysis and edition of texts goes hand in hand with that of the inscriptions and archaeological context. The regions that will be considered for this project are: Nepal, the Deccan area (with connections to the Andhra coast), the northeastern area of the Bay of Bengal (present-day West Bengal and Odisha), Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The Śivadharma texts, composed around the 6th to 7th century, are mostly related to the institutional and cultural facets of lay religion, thus offering access to information on the material and practical aspects of Śaivism at a time corresponding to its rise to monarchical patronage in South and Southeast Asia. The main focus of the team’s research is on the process of how these texts were adapted to the different regional contexts in which they are transmitted, as well as the assessment of the impact that their knowledge had on the formation of local Śaivism. We thus study the manuscript transmission of the texts, along with the texts themselves in their regional variants; translations and commentaries on the texts in Sanskrit and Dravidian languages; and the inscriptions and icons of religious centers that are linked to the texts and the religious current sponsoring them.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The scientific work of the Śivadharma Project has been organized in four main sub-projects/work-packages. During its first reporting period, the PI has succeeded in setting up a team of scholars with expertise in Sanskrit studies, Tamil studies, codicology, history, history of art, epigraphy, and digital humanities. Team members are distributed between the Host Institution (University of Naples, L’Orientale), where all the four WP are active, and two minor beneficiaries: the University of Bologna, which contributes with research on Digital Humanities and Southern manuscripts, and the EFEO centre of Pondicherry, India, contributing to the study of our Tamil sources and for the edition of Sanskrit texts.

The achievements attained during phase 1 of the reporting period have been the result of constant cooperation between team members, attained thanks to regular group reading sessions that have taken place since the beginning of the project, and through the organization of workshops and lecture series that have expanded our views on our research topics. An updated record of our workshops, lectures, scholarly activities and expeditions can be found at our public website: shivadharmaproject.com.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

During the first reporting period, Shivadharma Project team members have been editing, translating and interpreting textual sources that were completely unpublished and very little known, in spite of their importance. Our work is thus providing new sources for reconstructing both the history of the Śaiva religion, and that of the regional communities that adopted these texts and adapted them to their local contexts. Our work on primary materials is shedding light on historical phenomena such as the hybridization of traditions, cultural translations and regional adaptations covering a time-span of circa 12 centuries.
On the basis of the results of the first reporting period, the following years will be devoted to complete the work that we have done so far by including more chapters and textual sources, and launch a more thorough study of inscriptions. The latter is an important component of our project, but its study has been slowed down by the current impossibility of conducting field work. However, the project has received a 12-month extension due to Covid, which we hope will allow us more time to catch up with our archival research and field work in South Asia. Another milestone to reach in the second reporting period will be the publication of our Shivadharma Database, in which all our research materials, including critical editions, translations, and annotations, will be made available online to a wider audience.

Reading session during the Pondicherry Workshop, January 2020

Trento's presentation at the Convegno dell'Associazione Italiana di Studi Sanscriti, 2019

Goodall, Franceschini and De Simini at the Kickoff Workshop in Naples, October 2019

Team members at the Pondicherry Workshop, January 2020

T. Rajarethinam presents during the Pondicherry Workshop, January 2020

Tamil manuscripts of the Civatarumottaram at the Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam, February 2020

Florinda De Simini and Giulia Buriola work in on manuscripts in the Adyar Library, February 2020

Screenshot from one of the zoom talks of the Shivadharma Seminars —Spring 2021