A symbolic anthropological study on selected non-agamic amman temples in Batticaloa district, Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study sets its background in which depressed caste groups and high caste groups who maintain non-Agamic temples in their communities have been engaging in the process of Sanskritization. Overall objective of the study is to describe the tendencies of the process of Sanskritization followed by high and depressed caste communities and its implications on the religious situations. This descriptive study is based on ethnographic details collected from four non-Agamic Amman temples in Batticaloa district. Depressed caste community people did not want to change the non-Agamic rites in their temples though they changed the architecture of the shrines because other caste people came to their temples without considering untouchability and this tendency is seen by them as a reputation for their community people. The high caste communities wanted to emulate the agamic rituals than changing the architecture. Sanskritization of architecture in non-Agamic temples is intended to make meaningful changes in the perceptions of people and therefore, functions of the symbols are not depended on the whole system of the temple ritual; symbols can be understood separately from the entire temple system. Symbols in rituals bear certain meanings and it could be understood in relation to religious needs and the interpretation of the religious experience of the people. As the religious situations are formed and determined by the devotees, the symbolic meaning of their experiences is interpreted by them.