The Tamil Language as More Central than Even the Gods: The Movie Thiruvilayadal (IN 1965) Is an Outlier as a Devotional Film
The narrow genre of devotional films in India follows a regular template - a combination of theophanic interventions, bhakti (devotional) worship and didactic narratives. Thiruvilayadal (The Divine Play, Akkamappettai Paramasivan Nagarajan, IN 1965), a film in Tamil (a language spoken across South a...
| Subtitles: | "Here Be Dragons. East Asian Film and Religion" |
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| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Institut f. Fundamentaltheologie
2023
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| In: |
Journal for religion, film and media
Year: 2023, Volume: 9, Issue: 2, Pages: 127-142 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Thiruvilayadal (Film)
/ Tamil language
/ Dravidians
/ Identity
/ Śiva
/ Darshan
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion BK Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism KBM Asia TK Recent history |
| Further subjects: | B
Religious Films
B Dravidianism B Shaivism B Tamil Language B Darshanic Gaze |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The narrow genre of devotional films in India follows a regular template - a combination of theophanic interventions, bhakti (devotional) worship and didactic narratives. Thiruvilayadal (The Divine Play, Akkamappettai Paramasivan Nagarajan, IN 1965), a film in Tamil (a language spoken across South and East Asia by a large diaspora), was long considered a devotional movie that celebrated the God Shiva. However, a close analysis shows that the movie subverts the darshan concept (viewing) in a Hindu devotional film. Though it may appear to be a film about Puranic (mythic) Hindu gods, the subtle subtext reduces heavenly entities to supplicatory positions in relation to a cornerstone of identity in the post-independence Dravidianist Tamil State - Tamil language. This understanding of Thiruvilayadal is all the more relevant in light of the increasing rigidity of Hindu religious beliefs in contemporary India. |
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| ISSN: | 2617-3697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for religion, film and media
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.25364/05.9:2023.2.7 |