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Symbols of Substance: Court and State in Nayaka Period Tamilnadu
The book looks at the three major Nayaka states--ruled from Senji, Tanjavur and Madurai, Tiruccirappalli--as well as at minor states located at their periphery. While these states had differing life-spans, developmental patterns, geo-ecological environments, and distinct forms of historical
experience, they also shared salient structural and cultural features. At their height, in the early seventeenth century, they encompassed the greater part of the Tamil country. Early chapters set out the fundamental tensions of the the social flux caused by the resurgence of certain
groups, which had either intruded into the area from the Telugu country, or entered the mainstream of Nayaka society from a marginal position. Related to this is the central paradox of Nayaka kingship-- the tension between inflated claims and the limited scale of kingship. Later sections set out
these themes in some detail, and also delineate how such states were founded, what their resource base was, and how this base was portrayed and managed. The book's ambit extends considerably beyond the economic and political, to consider how the social flux of the epoch also found its counterpart in
the central themes of Nayaka literature. Specifically, there is a focus on perceptions of the body and bodily mutilation and regeneration (here termed Nayaka anthropology), and on the parodic dialectic that underpins the rhetoric of kingship. Other chapters deal with contestation and war. The
final chapter looks to the post-Nayaka transition, focusing once again on the kingdom that appears most of all to epitomize the Nayaka Tanjavur. What is distinctive about the Nayakas? How do they fit into the wider realities of their time? From what do they derive? How can we understand
the emergence of new institutional patterns, of the striking artistic and especially literary creations at the Nayaka courts, of a novel historiography and culture? Supplementing standard sources by an imaginative use of Dutch, Portuguese, Tamil, Sanskrit, and Telugu sources, the authors show how
the Nayakas witnessed, and partly produced, a profound shift in the conceptual and institutional bases of South Indian civilization.
experience, they also shared salient structural and cultural features. At their height, in the early seventeenth century, they encompassed the greater part of the Tamil country. Early chapters set out the fundamental tensions of the the social flux caused by the resurgence of certain
groups, which had either intruded into the area from the Telugu country, or entered the mainstream of Nayaka society from a marginal position. Related to this is the central paradox of Nayaka kingship-- the tension between inflated claims and the limited scale of kingship. Later sections set out
these themes in some detail, and also delineate how such states were founded, what their resource base was, and how this base was portrayed and managed. The book's ambit extends considerably beyond the economic and political, to consider how the social flux of the epoch also found its counterpart in
the central themes of Nayaka literature. Specifically, there is a focus on perceptions of the body and bodily mutilation and regeneration (here termed Nayaka anthropology), and on the parodic dialectic that underpins the rhetoric of kingship. Other chapters deal with contestation and war. The
final chapter looks to the post-Nayaka transition, focusing once again on the kingdom that appears most of all to epitomize the Nayaka Tanjavur. What is distinctive about the Nayakas? How do they fit into the wider realities of their time? From what do they derive? How can we understand
the emergence of new institutional patterns, of the striking artistic and especially literary creations at the Nayaka courts, of a novel historiography and culture? Supplementing standard sources by an imaginative use of Dutch, Portuguese, Tamil, Sanskrit, and Telugu sources, the authors show how
the Nayakas witnessed, and partly produced, a profound shift in the conceptual and institutional bases of South Indian civilization.
370 pages, Hardcover
First published May 27, 1993
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About the author
Velcheru Narayana Rao
27 books10 followersVelcheru Narayana Rao is Visiting Distinguished Professor of South Asian Studies at Emory University.
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June 5, 2019
This book is strangely structured - one that could only be written by a bunch of mavericks. It begins with the study of two obscure books from the Tamil country of this time; both that survey and according to the authors give hints at the some key ideas of this time: such as the non-hesitant pride around Shudra-hood, the love for body and health of the king so much that he is the incarnate of God and more perfect than earlier incarnations, and even the coming of the 'white hunas'. These ideas the authors study meticulously: Subramanyam brings in his expertise with colonial sources, global history, and economics; Velcheru marshals his work in Telugu literature and culture (the Nayaka-ships were all Telugu in culture) and Shulman's love for Tamil (it was after all Tamil land). An overall image of a clear shift from earlier times emerges in this book: a shift towards individuality and subjectivity and away from pious legitimisation. And what more! You have a groundbreaking work. And to those who believe historians are bad writers, these people catch you by surprise. After all they studied the classical poet Chemakura Venkata Kavi. Something must have rubbed off on them.
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