Dissertation Research: Pilgrimage and Power: Temple Districts at Vijayanagara

在Charles Redman博士的指导下，Alexandra Mack女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她的工作目标是了解社会和政治组织的形式，这些形式产生了早期的国家一级社会，并允许在相对简单的技术约束下整合大量个人。为了实现这一目标，她将把重点放在位于印度南部卡纳塔克邦的维贾耶那加拉考古遗址上。维查耶那加拉是公元14世纪到16世纪繁荣昌盛的帝国的首都。它建于1336年左右，尽管在该地区已有数百年的定居历史，但维查耶那加拉是该地区的第一个城市。1565年，帝国在战争中被北方各州的联盟击败后，它被遗弃了，该地区基本上没有人口。因此，由于其相对短暂的占领和缺乏令人困惑的考古材料，它提供了一个保存完好的首都快照。相关文字和碑文提供了宝贵的补充资料。维查耶那加拉是一个朝圣中心，除了作为世俗权力中心的纪念性建筑外，还有几个大型寺庙区。根据印度其他地区的比较数据，世俗和宗教当局之间可能存在持续的紧张关系，Mack女士计划研究它们之间的相互作用。有几种方法可以实现这一目标。首先，她将分析列出主要寺庙建筑群捐助者的铭文，从而确定每个人所代表的选区。其次，Vijayanagara是一个有计划的城市，这里和其他地方的工作表明，社会和政治秩序的基本方面反映在连接和分离它们的地区、建筑、道路和墙壁的安排上。麦克女士已经开始并将继续对这种模式进行GIS分析。朝圣是传统宗教生活的重要组成部分，麦克将试图重建大量朝圣者融入城市宗教和社会生活的方式。她将通过收集和分析表面陶瓷，特别是服务容器来完成这项工作，因为这将有可能确定哪些是用于公共目的，哪些是用于私人目的。通过这种方式，她可以深入了解空间模式。这项工作将通过对现代朝圣地点的研究和档案研究来补充。这个项目将为早期国家的崛起和运作提供新的见解。它将把现代印度置于更广阔的历史背景中，并帮助培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

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.