Religious Art of South India – temples and temple cult

Abstract:

Religious art is a subject treated not only in the technical manuals (vastu- and śilpaśàstras) dedicated to the descriptions of the construction of temples, creation of god’s representations etc., but  it is, to a large extent, a subject of a religious literature of India, especially connected with Tantric Hindu traditions (Jean Filliozat, great Indologist, pointed out that: “Un traité d’architecture religieuse est nécessairrement tantrique). For Tantric traditions the process of creating the place of worship and the object, an idol, which will be hosting god’s potencies are very important issues and the texts of these traditions constitute a necessary supplementation to the vastu- and śilpaśàstra texts.

The lecture is meant to present the main ideas behind the temple cult, which are articulated also by religious literature, for example, early Vaishnava sources connected with the Pancaratra tradition. It also concerns the main religious spots of South India and the most precious and interesting examples of temple architecture created there.

The lecture will be accompanied by some audio-visual presentations.