Workshop on Vaiṣṇava material culture (in South India)
(8—10 December 2021, virtually held per zoom)
Organisers: Suganya Anandakichenin, Elisa Freschi, Naresh Keerthi, Srilata Raman
(Photo by Suganya Anandakichenin)
Please register (with an email stating your interests and affiliation) by December the 1st at this address: elisa.freschi@utoronto.ca (places are limited, apologies in advance if your request cannot be accommodated)
Program:
| 8.12 (vegetable and edible substances) | 9.12 (ritual emblemes) | 10.12 (new lives of texts) | |
| 8:15—8:30 | welcoming address (Srilata) | welcoming address (N+S) | welcoming address (E) |
| 8:30—9:00 | practical demo (Srinivasa Rajan Swami: “A look at the Araiyar’s outfit”) | practical demo (M.A.V. Madhusudanan Svāmī on śaṭharī) | practical demo (Thillaisthanam Parthasarathy: “From traditional to contemporary: Srivaisnava wedding cards”) |
| 9:00—9:45 | Srilata Raman “From Pāyasam to Puḷiyōtarai – Food in Śrīvaiṣṇava Domestic Culture” | Borayin Larios (The Divine Thief and the Solidification of Dairy: Kṛṣṇa’s Butterball in Mahabalipuram) | Ilanit Loewy Shacham “The commentary in the hand of the ācārya” |
| 9:45—10:30 | Andrea Gutiérrez “Feeding Aranganathar “Feeding Devotees: Recovering Recipes from Medieval Temple Inscriptions at Srirangam” | Suganya Anandakichenin “The worship of the Ācārya’s pādukās among the Śrīvaiṣṇavas” | Harshita Mruthinti Kamath “Temple Poems on Copperplates: The Material Life of Annamayya’s Telugu Padams” |
| coffee break | |||
| 10:45—11:30 | Naresh Keerthi “Goddess in a Flowerpot — Towards a Theobotanical Account of Tulasī” | Ute Huesken “A god’s second life: Āti Atti Varatar Vaipavam” | Jonathan Peterson (“Branding the Sensuous Body: Taptamudrā and Material Practice in Early Modern South Asia”) |
| 11:30—12:15 | Vasudha Narayanan “Food for thought, Food for Body and Soul: Srivaishnava Temple Prasada” | Marzenna Czerniak-Drożdżowicz “Material body of god’s representations – how to establish it and how to mend it” | final round table |
| lunch break | |||
| 12:30—13:15 | James Mc Hugh “Preliminary Thoughts on Betel (pān) in Hindu Vaiṣṇava Worship” | practical demo (T.A.Chari and Malini Chari: “Gifting Rāmānuja’s vigraha”) |
Discussants: Anusha Rao, Jesse Pruitt, Mirela Stosic, Manasicha Akepiyapornchai, Sathvik Rayala, Janani Mandayam Comar, Prathik Murali, Giulia Buriola
Is the time in the program IST?
Are the proceedings are recorded for later listening by those who have schedules that conflict with this event,
No, all the times are in EST (Toronto time). No, we will not record them, because it is a workshop, meant to share ideas and work on them together, not a conference where already well developed ideas are presented. Thanks for your interest!
Tthere is folk Vaishanvism (little tradition?), which is oral; there is Acharya driven Vaishnavim, practiced by Brahmins and is based on Sanskrit texts; and there is Azhvar driven Vaishnavim in the middle drawn on by non-Brahmins /Shudras as devotees as well as by Brahmins but only by interpreting them as Tamil Veda.
The conference in Vaishnavite material is about only one of the three.
Annamalai
We looked at sources in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telegu and discussed living traditions. Yet, we are aware that this is only a beginning. Let me know if you know of workshops on the material culture of what you called folk Vaishnavism.
Bery nice
thank you!