A New House for the God in Tenkasi: Divine Dreams and Kings in 15th–16th-century Pāṇṭiya Inscriptions and Sanskrit Courtly Production

Abstract

This paper is devoted to a parallel study of the 15th-century Tamil inscriptions from the Kāśīviśvanātha temple in Tenkasi (Tamil Nadu), describing the circumstances and building phases of this shrine, together with a modified retelling of the same episode by a 16th-century mahākāvya, the Pāṇḍyakulodaya. The comparative study of these passages aims to highlight significant changes in the traditional institution of Indian royal patronage. It will also enable considerations on the revolutionary transition in the description of the Pāṇṭiya kingship in the 16th century, marked by the rise of a new ideological idiom expressed by the Pāṇḍyakulodaya.