Force and Statecraft in Medieval South India and Sri Lanka
Synthesis
and Syncretism
David Carment
Ist edition 2002 pp 204+ X Rs 295 US$
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The two most important ordering principles for human society are the political and the religious. In some ways, the history of a society might be viewed as the process by which a community attempts to affirm, through religious and political structures and values, the legitimization of its power and authority. Successive efforts to weave new patterns of legitimization might therefore define the process of change in that society. What happens to a community's ordering of reality when it attempts to redefine its political legitimizing process in terms of its religious orientation? The purpose of this study is to examine this question in the related societies of medieval South India and Sri Lanka .
South India and Sri Lanka stand out in the degree to which they
exemplify this historical process of shaping and transforming the mechanisms of
the social order. The religious tradition, as it is expressed in the historiography
of the chronicles the Dipavamsa, the Mahavamsa and the Culavamsa is portrayed
as an ideal society that defines itself against the past--the South India
Brahmanic influence and its basic political and social institutions. At the
same time, the religious tradition quite self-consciously identifies itself as
a transformation and extension of the older tradition. In the Cholan state, the
king (deva-raja) as protector of the social order sacrificially attains
divinity and becomes Siva incarnate. Ritually incorporative kingship of this
kind provides the ritual focus for balanced and opposed internal groupings.
In the Sri Lankan state there is
an amalgamation, or absorption, of localized chieftainship; power is relegated
to smaller parts of a political whole. Hence, ritually incorporative kingship
in Sri Lanka does not exist at the same incorporative level of organization as
in the Chola state. Professor Carment teaches courses on conflict analysis,
conflict mediation, international organization, conflict resolution,
development theory and international relations theory at the Norman Paterson
School of International Affairs (Carleton University). His research interests
include the international dimensions of ethnic conflict, the role of communication technologies in conflict
analysis and resolution, early warning, peacekeeping, conflict prevention,
peace building and security issues in South and Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe
and Africa. Recent articles focusing on these subjects have appeared in the
Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Etudes
Internationales, Third World Quarterly and Canadian Foreign Policy. His most
recent books are Using Force to Prevent Ethnic Violence: An Evaluation of
Theory and Evidence (Praeger 2000) with Frank Harvey; Peace in the Midst of
Wars: Preventing and Managing International
Ethnic Conflicts (University of South Carolina Press, 1998) and Wars in the
Midst of Peace: The International Politics of Ethnic Conflict (University of
Pittsburgh Press, 1997) both with Patrick James. Dr. Carment is Associate
Professor of International Affairs.
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