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。她工作的目标是了解社会和政治组织的形式，这些组织产生了早期的国家级社会，并允许大量个人在相对简单的技术的限制下融合。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Vijayanagara考古遗址。维贾亚纳加拉是一个帝国的首都，从公元14世纪到16世纪蓬勃发展。它建立于1336年左右，尽管该地区已有数百年的定居点，但维贾亚纳加拉是该地区的第一座城市。1565年帝国在战争中被北方各州的邦联击败后，它被放弃了，该地区的人口在很大程度上仍然减少。因此，由于其占用时间相对较短，缺乏令人困惑的考古资料，它提供了一个保存完好的首都快照。相关文字文献和题字提供了宝贵的补充资料。Vijayanagara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域。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，麦晋桁计划研究它们之间的互动。有几种方法可以实现这一目标。首先，她将分析碑文，其中列出了主要寺庙建筑群的捐赠者，从而确定每个人代表的选区。其次，维贾亚纳加拉是一个规划城市，这里和其他地点的工作表明，社会和政治秩序的基本方面反映在连接和分隔它们的地区、建筑物和道路和围墙的安排中。麦晋桁已经开始并将继续对这种模式进行地理信息系统分析。朝圣是传统宗教生活的重要组成部分，麦晋桁将尝试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现场的表面陶瓷，特别是正在使用的器皿，来做到这一点，因为这将有可能确定哪些用于公共目的，哪些用于私人目的。通过这种方式，她可以洞察空间图案。这项工作将通过对现代朝圣遗址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泛的历史背景中，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.