Toward a Better Understanding of Medieval Temple Food Practices: The View from Srirangam

Abstract

Vaishnava food offerings provide abundant evidence for material studies on both historical and modern-day ritual practice. The medieval Chola (9th–13th centuries) record of donative inscriptions offers us a wealth of details on the food cooked as naivedya or holy food offerings for temple deities. I present a range of ideas on material temple food and related food practices as gleaned from Tamil epigraphy and other Sanskrit sources, especially utilising evidence from the Srirangam temple dedicated to the reclining Vishnu, a main site of Vaishnava devotion. This article is a scholarly intervention on some key phenomena often misunderstood when considering South Indian food: controversies surrounding eating naivedya and food offerings, historical developments leading to the practice of eating temple prasad, the true ‘sambhar’ offered in Hindu temples, who cooked temple food, and where this happened. All aspects shed light on our understanding of Hindu religious practices involving food.