Kierownik projektu: dr David Pierdominici Leao
Data rozpoczęcia realizacji projektu: 2019-11-15
Termin zakończenia: 2022-11-14

SONATINA NCN

The project is centred on the concept of “Pāṇḍyaness”, understood as belonging to the Tamil Pāṇḍya kingdom which dominated areas of South India from the 4th to the 17th century CE.

The Pāṇḍya phenomenon will be analysed thanks to relevant examples from the available testimonies, which will allow to examine the process of development of Pāṇḍya auto-perception conceptualised by two dynamics: the “Tamilness”, intended as belonging to the indigenous characteristics of the dynasty, and the “Pan-Indianess”, as sanctioned within the mainstream of the “Sanskrit Cosmopolis”.

The project will start from an overview on Tamil texts belonging to the Caṅkam era (5th century BCE-3rd century CE), which will help to create a descriptive catalogue of the recurrent ways of the portraiture of kingship at an early stage. The analysis will be implemented by the study of different  medieval inscriptions and their genealogical sections, underlining the simultaneous presence of regional and cosmopolitan elements.

The next part will be centred on the study of the Tamil “Sacred games of Śiva in Madurai” (13th century CE) and on observation how Pāṇḍya kings are there portrayed. The step will be linked to the analysis of a Sanskrit mahākāvya, the Pāṇḍyakulodaya (ca. 16th century CE), which created a new idiom of royalty of the Pāṇḍya kingdom, through the first divinisation of the sovereign in South India. The last step of the research will be devoted to the study of the “Later Pāṇḍya” inscriptions, observing the final phase of the dynastic identity and how the monarchs perceived their royal past.