סמינר מחלקתי מזרח אסיה - Prof. Archana Venkatesan

סמינר מחלקתי- Disordered Time, Disruptive Narratives: The Maṭṭaiyaṭi Utsavam at the Nanguneri Temple, Tirunelvelie

This talk discusses the Maṭṭaiyaṭi Utsavam (Quarrel Drama) that is celebrated in the month of Mārkaḻi (December-January) at several Viṣṇu temples in the Tirunelveli area of Tamil Nadu. This drama, which unfolds on the penultimate day of the twenty-one day Festival of Recitation, enacts a quarrel between Viṣṇu and his consorts. Over the course of this extend-ed two-day drama, Viṣṇu initiates a recalcitrant devotee, goes in search of a lost jewel, is locked out of his temple home by his angry wives, and eventually is reconciled with them through the timely intervention of this same devotee. In this illustrated talk, I explore the theme of order and disorder by examining the Maṭṭaiyaṭi Festival at the Vāṉamāmalai Pe-rumāḷ Temple, Nanguneri, along two intersecting vectors: the first tracing the ways in which the drama reorders time and rearranges narrative, while the second follows the un-predictable trajectory of capricious love and transformative grace.

ההרצאה תתנהל באנגלית ותחל בשעה 12:15 בדיוק. 

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