Articles
Hymns of Tamil Bhakti Poets and Their Audience: the Text and Its Context
Maria Pavlova
Vostok/Oriens '2014, №2
The religious movement of Tamil Bhakti flourished in South India during early medieval period. This movement gave birth to the two literary traditions – of Nаyaзаr (adepts of Hindu god Śiva) and Àжvаr (adepts of Hindu god Viшнu). The hymns of Nаyaзаr poets, glorifying god Śiva, formed a sacred canonical corpus of texts called Tirumuâai. An important characteristic of the Nаyaзаr’s poetry (especially of the hymns belonging to the authors of the famous collection of hymns Tåvàram) is that it was openly aimed at shaping the collective religious consciousness of its audience. This article presents a brief research in the religious-cultural context of the Nаyaзаr’s hymns in the process of communication between the poets and their audience. The religious hymn is analyzed as not only poetical text but as a “verbal event” including the “communicative situation” of the poet, his audience and god Śiva. Hymns of the famous Nаyaзаr poet Sambandar (Campantàr) are analyzed with using the linguistic-poetical method of the verbal event including its six primary functions formulated by Roman Yakobson.
Keywords: India, Shivaism, Tamil Bhakti, nayanar, communicative and pragmatic method of poetic analysis
Pages: С. 64–71
