Catholic Literary Practices in Eighteenth-Century South Indiaглава из книги
Аннотация: In the early decades of the eighteenth century, the Jesuit missionary Costanzo Giuseppe Beschi (1680-1747) and his local catechists would often travel the muddy roads of the Kaveri delta to preach and convert in the overwhelmingly Śaiva towns and villages of South India.They spent a good part of the 1730s on such missionary tours, tēcacañcāram or "circumambulations of the land" in Tamil.Once, for instance, they set off from their residence at Ēlākkuṟicci, walked without interruption for two days, and reached Vaittīsvaraṉkōyil, a small but important Śaiva village not far away from the more famous Chidambaram.Exhausted by the long walk, they decided to rest there for the night.While the sun was quickly setting on the horizon, and shadows and candlelight were finally offering some respite from the day's heat, they began to explore the alleys of the village.Almost immediately, Beschi noticed the great number of people flocking to the local temple with sumptuous offerings.Intrigued by their fervor, he approached a group of yogis who were standing separate from the crowd, and asked them about the temple.The yogis explained that it was dedicated to Viṉaitīrttāṉ, a form of Śiva as the remover of afflictions.Anyone plagued by disease, they added, like hunchbacks, the blind, and lame people, could come and pray there, and their ailment would vanish like darkness in front of the sun.Upon hearing their explanation, the missionary smirked, and replied right away with the following verse: vātakkālān tamakku maittuṉaṟku nīriḻivām pōtapperuvayiṟām puttiraṟku-mātaraiyil vantaviṉai tīrkka marunt' aṟiyāṉ vēḷūrāṉ entaviṉai tīrttāṉ ivaṉ?1 1 I follow the version of this verse recorded in the Tamil biography of Beschi by A. Muttucāmi Piḷḷai, Vīramāmuṉivar carittiram, in Appāvuppiḷḷai (ed.) Vīramāmuṉivar aruḷicceyta tirukkāvalūrkalampakamum aṉṉaiyaḻuṅkalantātiyum tēmpāvaṇiṟ cilapāṭalum vaṇṇamum vāmaṉ carittiramum puttakappeyaraṭṭavaṇaiyum ceṉṉaikkalviccaṅkattu mānēcar ākiya a. muttuccāmi piḷḷai yavarkaḷāl ceyyappaṭṭa vīramāmuṉivarcarittiramum (Tañcainakaram:
Год издания: 2022
Авторы: Margherita Trento
Издательство: Brill
Источник: BRILL eBooks
Ключевые слова: Reformation and Early Modern Christianity, Historical and Linguistic Studies
Открытый доступ: hybrid
Страницы: 1–41