Architecture of Sovereignty

In this innovative study, Gita V. Pai traces the history of the Pudu Mandapam (Tamil, 'new hall') - a Hindu temple structure in Madurai - through the rise and fall of empires in south India from the seventeenth century to the present. This wide-ranging work illustrates how south Indian temples became entangled in broader conflicts over sovereignty, from early modern Nayaka kings, to British colonial rule, to the post-independence government today. Drawing from methodologies in anthropology, religious studies, and art and architectural history, the author argues that the small temple site provides profound insight into the relationship between aesthetics, sovereignty, and religion in modern South Asia.

'Architecture of Sovereignty is a refreshing new examination of the south Indian Minaksi-Sundaresvara temple. Focusing on the temple's Pudu Mandapam, Pai expertly engages methodologies from history, art history, religious studies, and architecture to produce a rigorous diachronic biography and reception history of this prominent site from the 1630s through the present day. In doing so, the author adds important new chapters to the history of this celebrated temple and, more broadly, demonstrates how religious spaces-both grand and small-can serve as sites for the contestation of sovereignty, power, and governance as they are reconceived again and again throughout their histories.' Caleb Simmons, The University of Arizona

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