Research project ‘Hindu Temple Legends in South India’

The project ‘Hindu Temple Legends in South India’ explores the temple legends of the South Indian city of Kanchipuram in their different forms of transmission and makes them accessible in a digital environment. At the core of the project is the production of digital editions of the Sanskrit and Tamil texts. In a second step, these editions are linked with the documentation of the respective temple architecture and iconography as well as the related rituals and oral traditions. In this way, textual and non-textual forms of the temple legends are brought together in a consolidated digital corpus, creating a new understanding of this important cultural heritage both in its historical significance and as living practice.

The project was initiated in 2022 and is scheduled to run for sixteen years. Its main base is the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (HAdW), with a branch office functioning in Pondicherry, India, in cooperation with the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO).

For more information visit https://www.hadw-bw.de/en/research/research-center/hindu-temple-legends-south-india