Hindu Temple Ritual

This monograph is the Ph.D dissertation which Saskia Kersenboom defended (cum laude) on May 18, 1984 at Utrecht University, Dept. of Oriental Studies. As an early example of interdisciplinary research this work brings together primary textual data in Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, fieldwork in and around temples in Tamil Nadu and artistic apprenticeship in South Indian music and dance as performed by DEVADASIS in temples and royal courts until the middle of the XX-th century.
The main hypothesis "Nityasumangali" the 'ever auspicious female' that applies to hereditary ritual specialists holds until today and continues to inspire contemporary research. It was one of the first works to extricate Devadasi matriarchal culture from the (post-)colonial binary question whether these professional, independent females operating in the public sphere should be considered as secular "prostitutes" or as "nuns" dedicated to ritual service in Hindu temples.
NITYASUMANGALI the PhD dissertation has been edited integrally by Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, as 'Nityasumangali Devadasi Tradition in South India', first in 1987 and subsequently reprinted in 1998, 2002 , 2011 and 2016. Currently, it is a prescribed textbook in Dance Studies, both academic and applied. 
During the period 1984 and 1987 this PhD Dissertation has entered both academic and popular scientific publications in India and abroad. It has been heavily plagiarised  both in academic and popular writing. The central hypothesis Nityasumangali has fired public imagination into dance, drama and film projects for which I as an author am not responsible and which I deeply regret if not despise.
I  open my original PhD manuscript up to the general public in order to offer a corrective  antecedent to all later use of this popular epithet.

For ongoing research see under Projects 'MURAI - the Right to Perform' www.academia.edu/11226255

See also the ways in which the author proposes to share her fieldwork and research with a younger generation through' YATRA Residency in Tamil Nadu': https://vimeo.com/140105118 and www.academia.edu/15392636

BHOGAM Research Seminar (June 21-July 5, 2019) in Legend, Hungary is a continuation of BHOGAM Residency (January, 2018) in Tiru Miyaccur, Tamil Nadu (www.academdia.edu/37151138 // www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni5qY3gedms  )
Info:https://www.paramparai.eu / info@paramparai.eu

BHOGAM Residency (2018) integrates the Essay BHOGA SHAKTI - the Silent Witness of the Life of Devadasis (2018) with fieldwork on Agamic ritual by applying former Devadasi ritual repertoire 'Paddhati' on the Brahmotsava held  in the Shri Lalitambal temple Tirumiyaccur.


This  Devadasi Paddhati from Tiruttani Smt.P.Ranganayaki (Tiruttani,1914-2005)  continues to be taught in Paramparai Arts, Legend, Hungary as 'Training Intensive'.
https://www.paramparai.eu // info@paramparai.eu

Fieldwork Residency on Devadasi performing arts of  music and dance  in Hindu temples and royal courts of Tamil Nadu. .
YATRA Residency revisits the fieldwork underlying 'NITYASUMANGALI - devadasi tradition of South India' (1984 onw.). The subsequent, ongoing research project 'MURAI - the Right to Perform' connects with the living inheritors of this Intangible Cultural Heritage who continue to reclaim their legitimate position in the contemporary field of performing arts in temples, courtly settings and society at large.

This Essay by the late T.Sankaran (1906-2000) gives an overview of the Nagaswara Tradition of Tamilnadu: the instrument and the systematisation of the repertoire by Ramasvami Diskhitar in the Tyagarajasvami temple of Tiruvarur, father of the famous composer Muttusvami Dikshitar (1785-1835 CE).  This format spread through the entire Delta of the Kaveri River, and is followed in part even today.
The present Esay was given to me by the Musicologist Shri T. Sankaran, grandson of the legendary Veena artiste Veena T.Dhanammal  (1867-1938) without mention of its date and place of publication.  However, I suggest that this text was printed in 1990, in: Studies in Indian Music and Allied Arts, Vol.5, eds. Leela Omchary and Deepti Omchary Bhalla, Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan. 
The Genaeology Charts of twelve known Tiruvarur Bari Nagasvaram Players until today have been added by me.
A link to the documentary 'The Smile of Tyagaraja'  by Anine Singh-de Grood (2003, https://vimeo.com/107884166 ) shows her Dance Residency with me in and around Tiruvarur Tyagarajasvami Temple. The (abbreviated) documentary brings this local Nagasvara family closer to the reader as well shows their heritage as a shared Intangible Cultural heritage of Melakkaran music and dance performed by temple  musicians and devadasi dancers. (cf, also the Essay 'Ritual Differs' at: www.academia.edu/22182492 )