Papers by David Pierdominici Leão
Cracow Indological Studies, 2024
Among the extensive repertoire of Pāṇḍya dynastic themes, the motif of clash between a Pāṇḍya sov... more Among the extensive repertoire of Pāṇḍya dynastic themes, the motif of clash between a Pāṇḍya sovereign and Indra is ubiquitous. This topos which supposedly originated around middle of the 5th century CE, can be traced to Cilapattikāram XI, 17–30, which celebrates a Pāṇḍya monarch wearing Indra’s garland, capturing the clouds, and breaking the god’s crown. The narrative was later employed in the Tiruviḷaiyāṭaṟpurāṇam (late 13th century) and its Sanskrit rendering, the Hālāsyamāhātmya (14th–15th centuries), where the actions of the Pāṇḍya kings were inserted in the narratives about the divine līlās of Śiva in Madurai. Since the early phase of the dynasty, this mytheme was employed as a tool of political display in the South. After a survey of the motif in the first phase of the imperial documents, the paper will focus on the reemployment of the category of royal violence in the Teṅkāśi dynastic period (14th–18th centuries CE), using the lens of the official copper plates of the late Pāṇḍya chancery and the previous Sanskrit literary production.
Liminal Spaces, and Identity Transformations in South Asian Literatures and Arts : Essays in Honour of Professor Alexander Dubyanskiy , 2023
The paper discusses the possible applications of the concept of liminality in the realm of the cl... more The paper discusses the possible applications of the concept of liminality in the realm of the classical Sanskrit literary production of South India, exemplified by the mahākāvya Pāṇḍyakulodaya (15 th-16 th centuries CE). Transcending from the ritual connotation ascribed to the anthropological category since van Gennep's theories, the modern application of liminality to broader historical and cultural changes will be taken into account. The close study of selected stanzas from this epic poem will show how the description of a military campaign seems to be permeated by liminal elements, which also appear in the portrayal of royal power. The new conceptualisation of kingship in the Pāṇḍyakulodaya, interpreted as the new institutional paradigm after the transitional period investing the Pāṇḍya dynasty and its weakened political influence, will be analysed in the frame of the general categorisation of cultural reaction.
Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia 34, 2021
this paper is devoted to a parallel study of the 15th-century tamil inscriptions from the kāśīviś... more this paper is devoted to a parallel study of the 15th-century tamil inscriptions from the kāśīviśvanātha temple in tenkasi (tamil nadu), describing the circumstances and building phases of this shrine, together with a modified retelling of the same episode by a 16th-century mahākāvya, the Pāṇḍyakulodaya. The comparative study of these passages aims to highlight significant changes in the traditional institution of Indian royal patronage. It will also enable considerations on the revolutionary transition in the description of the Pāṇṭiya kingship in the 16th century, marked by the rise of a new ideological idiom expressed by the Pāṇḍyakulodaya.
Cracow Indological Studies, vol.22, no.2, 2020
Utprekṣā or 'ascription' is one of the foremost devices in classical Sanskrit literature, with im... more Utprekṣā or 'ascription' is one of the foremost devices in classical Sanskrit literature, with importance secondary only to upamā and rūpaka. In contrast to other figures extensively analysed by the theoretical treatises over centuries, it was characterised by a surprising uniformity in regard to its definition as offered by the ālaṃkārikas. The paper provides a brief overview of this device and its practical application in a 16 th century mahākāvya, the Pāṇḍyakulodaya.
Cracow Indological Studies, vol. XXI, no.2 (part I), 2019
Journeys and Travellers in Indian Literature and Art, 2018
Cracow Indological Studies, 2017
Mattavilāsa-prahasana: new perspectives of study
The Somavallīyogānanda of Aruṇagirinātha Diṇḍima is one of the many unpublished prahasanas, dated... more The Somavallīyogānanda of Aruṇagirinātha Diṇḍima is one of the many unpublished prahasanas, dated approximately to the 15th century CE. Although it cannot be considered a dignified example of the comic genre compared to the first testimonies, this work presents many elements of lively interest. After an examination of the details connected with Diṇḍima, an almost unknown author of theatre and poetry, the paper will offer first impressions after a preliminary reading of some verses. The few examined portions concern the representation of the dawn at the beginning of the farce; an analysis of several natural images will be presented, their contents and structure, from which some considerations about Aruṇagirinātha's poetry and his descriptive skills will be offered.
Projects by David Pierdominici Leão
“The Fish on Mount Meru”: regionalism and Sanskrit cosmopolis in the Pāṇḍya identity and dynastic auto-perception from the Caṅkam era to the 17th century
Books by David Pierdominici Leão
Breaking the Crown of Indra: The Pāṇḍyas and Their Dynastic Identity in the South Indian Context
Brill (Brill's Indological Library 61), 2025
From the first years of our era up to the 18th century, in between wars, conquests, defeats and s... more From the first years of our era up to the 18th century, in between wars, conquests, defeats and stellar political risings: Breaking the Crown of Indra takes you through a long and engaging quest to answer the apparently simple question “Who were the Pāṇḍyas?” With the help of epigraphic evidence, literary texts, and temple chronicles never translated before, David Pierdominici Leão reconstructs the evolution of the Pāṇḍya royal perception through the different periods of this Tamil kingdom. His study investigates the so-called phenomenon of the “Pāṇḍyaness”, a concept enriched by different dynastic identities, mythical narratives of deeds and divinised sovereigns.
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Papers by David Pierdominici Leão
Projects by David Pierdominici Leão
Books by David Pierdominici Leão