Text and Tradition in South India

Contents
Sources of Publication
Preface and Acknowledgments
Sanjay Subrahmanyam: VNR—Some Introductory Remarks
	I
	II
	III
	Key Bibliographic Elements
	Notes
1 Multiple Literary Cultures in Telugu: Court, Temple, and Public
	Linguistic and Geographical Boundaries of Telugu Literary Cultures
	The First Poet and the Production of a Brahminical/Puranic Literary Culture
	The Literary Culture of Śaivabhakti
	Poetry for Pleasure: Kāvya Culture
	Court Poetry
	Poetry in the Temple
	Literature for the God-king in His Court-temple
	Literature in Public Space: The Cāṭu World
	The Question of Literary Language
	The Politics of Translation
	The Culture of Writing and the Propagation of Books
	Notes
	References
2 Notes on Political Thought in Medieval and Early Modern South India
	Introduction
	Some Ur-Texts
	Nīti and its Opponents during the Medieval Period
	An Imperial Interlude: Kṛṣṇadevarāya
	Early Modern Variations
	Nīti and Karaṇam Culture
	Conclusion
	Notes
3 Purāṇa as Brahminic Ideology
	The Five Distinguishing Marks
	Purāṇizing the Folk Tradition
	Purāṇa: What it is and What it is Not
	The Author/Speaker of the Purāṇas
	Purānạ and Orality
	What the Purāṇas Say
	What the Purāṇas do not Say
	The Change in the Nature of the Purāṇas
	Notes
4 Coconut and Honey: Sanskrit and Telugu in Medieval Andhra
	The Śaiva Protest
	Mārga and Deśi
	Separation of Styles
	The Late-Medieval Crystallization
	Notes
	References
5 Multiple Lives of a Text: The Sumati Śatakamu in Colonial Andhra
	From Nīti to Morals
	A Telugu Book on Nīti
	A Guide to Success
	Probable Readership of the SS
	Śataka Genre
	C.P. Brown and the SS
	Features of Oral Transmission
	The Metrics of Kandamu
	Features of the PSS
	Features of Literary Style
	Popularity of the SS
	Critical Editions of the SS and Authorship of the SS
	Bhīmana vs. Baddĕna
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
6 When Does Sīta Cease to be Sīta: Notes Toward a Cultural Grammar of Indian Narratives
	Sītā in Sundarakāṇḍa
	Problematics of Uttarakāṇḍa
	Sītā in Selected Non-Vālmīki Versions
	Sītā in the Twentieth Century
	An Ecology of Indian Narratives
	Notes
	References
7 A Rāmāyaṇa of Their Own: Women’s Oral Tradition in Telugu
	Some Background
	The Songs
	The Structure of the Songs
	Sītāyana
	Non-Brahmin Songs
	Conclusion
	Notes
8 The Politics of Telugu Ramayanas: Colonialism, Print Culture, and Literary Movements
	The Rāmāyaṇa Tradition and Vālmīki
	Bhakti-ization and Iconization of Rāma’s Story
	Change in the Status of Non-Brahmins
	Modernity and its Respondents
	Conclusion
	Notes
9 Epics and Ideologies: Six Telugu Folk Epics
	The Epic Stories
	Epic Communities
	Sex-Role Reversals
	Secondary Epic Formations
	Deified Virgin and Chaste Wife
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
10 Texture and Authority: Telugu Riddles and Enigmas
	Pŏḍupukatha
	Other Riddle Forms
	Literary Riddles
	Riddles with Stories
	The Enigma of the Future: A Telugu Nostradamus
	Vyāsa Deceives His Teacher Viśvakarma
	Vīra Brahmam Announces that he will Come as the Savior
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
11 Buddhism in Modern Andhra: Literary Representations from Telugu
	Colonial Backdrop: Buddhacaritramu by the Twin Poets
	English, the New Language of Power
	The Prabandha Genre in Telugu
	Brahmin Acceptance of Buddhist Non-violence
	Gandhian Buddhism: Saundaranandamu by Katuri and Pingali
	Modernist Critique of Buddhism: Buccibabu
	Brahminic Reaction: A Jātaka Tale by Viswanatha Satyanarayana
	Concluding Remarks
	Notes
	References
12 The Indigenous Modernity of Gurajada Apparao and Fakir Mohan Senapati
	Notes
	References
13 Purāṇa
	Indigenous Concepts of the Purāṇa
	What the Purāṇas Say about Themselves
	The Purāṇa as a Distinct Genre: Five Distinguishing Marks of a Purāṇa
	Purāṇic Time and Space
	The Number of Purāṇas and Their Classification
	Dialogical Structure of the Purāṇas: The Purāṇa Ethos
	Sūta: The Teller of Stories
	Purāṇas in the Popular Understanding of the Hindus
	Three Kinds of Purāṇas
	The Purāṇas and the Bhakti Tradition
	The Bhāgavata Purāṇa
	The Skanda Purāṇa
	The Other Purāṇas: Agni and Bhaviṣya
	Counter-Purāṇas
	Purāṇas from Below
	Colonial Scholarship of the Purāṇas
	Modern Scholarship on the Purāṇas
	Dating the Purāṇas
	The Absent Paurāṇika
	Notes
	References
14 A Day in the Life of a Housewife: “Sita Locked Out”
	A Day in the Life of a Housewife: A Second Look at “Sīta Locked Out”
	Notes
15 Urmila Sleeps: A Rāmāyaṇa Song that Women in Andhra Sing
	Notes
Index