Imagining a Place for Buddhism: Literary Culture and Religious Community in Tamil-Speaking South India

by Anne E. Monius

Overview

While Tamil-speaking South India is celebrated for its preservation of Hindu tradition, other religious communities have played a significant role in shaping the region's religious history. Among these non-Hindu communities is that of the Buddhists, who are little-understood because of the scarcity of remnants of Tamil-speaking Buddhist culture. Here, focusing on the two Buddhist texts in Tamil that are complete (a sixth-century poetic narrative and an eleventh-century treatise on grammar and poetics), Monius sheds light on the role of literature and literary culture in the formation, articulation, and evolution of religious identity and community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195139990
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/06/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	9.74(w) x 6.30(h) x 0.95(d)
Lexile:	1840L (what's this?)

About the Author

University of Virginia

Editorial Reviews

"Anne Monius has produced a learned and detailed book on the insufficiently studied subject of Buddhism in South India, which greatly enriches our knowledge of the religious life of the early medieval Tamil-speaking region. . . . Monius's lucidly written book greatly broadens our understanding of early Tamil Buddhist identity formation and evolution. It is a very welcome and creative addition to Tamil scholarship that sets a high standard for future work in the field and deserves to be widely read."—The Journal of Religion

From the Publisher