From Texts to Local Tradition: A Study of Sthalapurāṇas in Konkan

Kale, Durga

From Texts to Local Tradition: A Study of Sthalapurāṇas in Konkan

dc.contributor.advisor	Framarin, Christopher
dc.contributor.author	Kale, Durga
dc.contributor.committeemember	Adamek, Wendi
dc.contributor.committeemember	Banerjee, Pallavi
dc.contributor.committeemember	Grewal, Harjeet
dc.contributor.committeemember	Feldhaus, Anne
dc.date	2023-11
dc.date.accessioned	2023-09-26T20:07:56Z
dc.date.available	2023-09-26T20:07:56Z
dc.date.issued	2023-09-15
dc.description.abstract	Purāṇa genre of South-Asian texts with regional narratives, often transcend the boundaries of religious and social commentary. On these lines, people in Western India consider the site-specific texts or the Sthalapurāṇas to be the manuals of socio-religious commentary. Some of the literary narratives extend into the social relations and performance of religious practices in public space. The current project aims at querying the agency of the texts in Konkan, the region along the western coast of India. The study examines the network of social and ritual action that gets explained through the medieval Sthalapurāṇa stories as its narrative core. Three texts examined for this thesis describe the region in the modern districts of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg as a part of the landmass created by a mythological character, Paraśurāma. While the narratives utilize literary strategies from the established templates of the Hindu and Jain texts, this study highlights the metanarratives in the texts that make for a dedicated discussion. An ethnographic study of the oral narratives in the region has been indispensable in mapping the shared religious meanings from the texts tied to the locale. Furthermore, the thesis follows Paraśurāma narrative to explore the relationship between the local landscape and various social groups. This project will highlight the trajectory of narrativization of the landscape from the premodern to modern times. With this inquiry, the project aims to lay bare the claim on the landscape extended through storytelling and oral narratives, which are often examples of curated narratives and selective memorialization. In that sense, the discussion segues into exploring the emotional geographies superimposed on the physical land. Paraśurāma’s role in creation of the land and populating the land with select individuals for the spread of religion, thus becomes the focus of storytelling in Konkan. The tripartite approach to examine the literary, oral, and archaeological data offers a lens to describe the landscape with rich, layered ascribed meanings through the years. This study will offer case-studies from a relatively understudied geographical area.
dc.identifier.citation	Kale, D. (2023). From texts to local tradition: a study of Sthalapurāṇas in Konkan (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/117134
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	vernacular religion
dc.subject	landscape
dc.subject	narrative
dc.subject	South Asia
dc.subject.classification	Education--Sociology of
dc.subject.classification	Education--Religious
dc.subject.classification	Literature--Asian
dc.subject.classification	Anthropology
dc.title	From Texts to Local Tradition: A Study of Sthalapurāṇas in Konkan
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Religious Studies
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I require a thesis withhold – I need to delay the release of my thesis due to a patent application, and other reasons outlined in the link above. I have/will need to submit a thesis withhold application.