Text and Tradition in South India

508 Pages·2018·8.04 MB·English

by  Velcheru Narayana Rao

Text and Tradition in
South India
SUNY series in Hindu Studies
WENDY DONIGER, EDITOR
VELCHERU NARAYANA RAO
Text and Tradition in
South India
With an Introduction by
SANJAY SUBRAHMANYAM
Text and Tradition in South India by Velcheru Narayana Rao was first
published by Permanent Black D-28 Oxford Apts, 11 IP Extension, Delhi
110092 INDIA, for the territory of SOUTH ASIA.
Not for sale in South Asia
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
Copyright 2016 Velcheru Narayana Rao
Introduction Copyright 2016 Sanjay Subrahmanyam
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Narayana Rao, Velcheru, author
Title: Text and Tradition in South India
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2017] | Series: SUNY
series in Hindu Studies | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: ISBN 9781438467757 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438467771
(e-book)
Further information is available at the Library of Congress.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
for
Paruchuri Sreenivas
Stronger, even, than the bond
that comes from having the same mother
are the bonds we make
by sharing words.
Ma]diki Si<ngana, Sakala-n$ûti-sammatamu,
fifteenth century

Contents
Sources of Publication ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Sanjay Subrahmanyam: VNR—Some Introductory
Remarks 1
1 Multiple Literary Cultures in Telugu: Court, Temple,
and Public 27
2 Notes on Political Thought in Medieval and
Early Modern South India 94
3 Pur"a]na as Brahminic Ideology 134
4 Coconut and Honey: Sanskrit and Telugu in
Medieval Andhra 152
 5 Multiple Lives of a Text: The Sumati ®Satakamu
in Colonial Andhra 175
6 When Does S$ûta Cease to be S$ûta: Notes Toward
a Cultural Grammar of Indian Narratives 210
 7 A R"am"aya]na of Their Own: Women’s Oral Tradition
in Telugu 240
8 The Politics of Telugu Ramayanas: Colonialism,
Print Culture, and Literary Movements 270
9 Epics and Ideologies: Six Telugu Folk Epics 301
10 Texture and Authority: Telugu Riddles and Enigmas 337
8 text and tradition in south india
11 Buddhism in Modern Andhra:
Literary Representations from Telugu 361
12 The Indigenous Modernity of Gurajada Apparao
and Fakir Mohan Senapati 397
13 Pur"a]na 418
14 A Day in the Life of a Housewife: “Sita Locked Out” 450
15 Urmila Sleeps: A Ramayana Song that Women in 462
Andhra Sing
Sources of
First Publication
 1  Multiple Literary Cultures in Telugu: Court, Temple,
  and Public. In Sheldon Pollock, ed., Literary Cultures in
History: Reconstructions from South Asia (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 2003).
 2  Notes on Political Thought in Medieval and Early Modern 
South India. In Modern Asian Studies, 2008, pp. 1–36
(coauthored with Sanjay Subrahmanyam)
3  Pur"a]na as Brahminic Ideology. In Wendy Doniger, ed., Purana
Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina
Texts (NY: SUNNY Press, 1993).
4  Coconut and Honey: Sanskrit and Telugu in Medieval 
Andhra. In Social Scientist, vol. 23, no. 10/12 (Oct.–Dec., 1995),
pp. 24–40
 5  Multiple Lives of a Text: The Sumati ®Satakamu in Colonial 
Andhra. In Michael Bergunder, Heiko Frese, and Ulrike
Schr"oder, eds, Ritual, Caste and Religion in Colonial South India
(Halle: Verlag der Frankeschen Stiftungen, 2010).
6  When Does Sita Cease to be Sita: Notes Toward 
  a Cultural Grammar of Indian Narratives. In Mandrakanta
Bose, ed., The Ramayana Revisited (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004).
 7  A Ramayana of Their Own: Women’s Oral Tradition
  in Telugu. In Paula Richman, ed., Many Ramayanas.