Dissertation Research: Pilgrimage and Power: Temple Districts at Vijayanagara

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Under the direction of Dr. Charles Redman, MS Alexandra Mack will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. The goal of her work is to understand the forms of social and political organization which gave rise to early state level societies and allowed the integration of large numbers of individuals within the constraints of a relatively simple technology. To accomplish this goal she will focus on the archaeological site of Vijayanagara which is located in Karnataka, southern India. Vijayanagara was the capital of an empire which flourished from the 14th to 16th centuries AD. It was established around 1336 and although there had been settlement in the area for hundreds of years, Vijayanagara was the first city at that location. It was abandoned in 1565 after the empire was defeated in war by a confederacy of northern states and the area has remained largely depopulated. Thus, because of its relatively brief occupation and lack of confounding archaeological material, it provides a well preserved snapshot of a capital city. Relevant written documents and inscriptions provide valuable supplementary data. Vijayanagara was a pilgrimage center and has several large temple districts in addition to monumental buildings which served as the center of secular power. Based on comparative data from other regions of India, it is likely that an ongoing tension existed between the secular and religious authorities and MS Mack plans to examine the interactions among them. There are several ways to achieve this goal. First she will analyze inscriptions which list the donors to major temple complexes and thus determine the constituencies each represented. Secondly, Vijayanagara was a planned city and work both here and at other sites suggests that the basic aspects of social and political order are reflected in the arrangement of districts, buildings and roads and walls which connect and separate them. MS Mack has begun and will continue a GIS analysis of this patterning. Pilgrimages form an important component of traditional religious life and MS Mack will attempt to reconstruct the ways large numbers of pilgrims were incorporated into the religious and social life of the city. She will do this through the collection and analysis of surface ceramics, especially serving vessels, at the site since it will be possible to determine which were used for public vs. private purposes. In this way she can gain insight into spatial patterning. This work will be supplemented by study of modern day pilgrimage sites as well as archival research.This project will provide new insight into the rise and functioning of early states. It will set modern India into a broader historical context and assist in training a promising young scientist.