Minor Majesties - The Paluvettaraiyars and Their South Indian Kingdom of Paluvur, 9th-11th centuries A.D

Minor Majesties studies the small ancient kingdom of Paluvūr, active between the ninth and the eleventh centuries C.E. in the modern South-Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Author Valérie Gillet extensively surveys four temples dedicated to the god Śiva that were built during this period, combining in-depth analyses of their materiality, their location, and their epigraphy. Through these, Gillet provides a better understanding of the complexities related to temple sponsorship, organisation, and functioning as well as how these religious monuments became a place for the fabrication of political discourses and powers, specific social configurations, and religious practices.