ABSTRACT
As the products of collaborative acts of piety, Hindu temples were integral to larger technologies of community building in early South Asia and beyond. This chapter traces some of the ways in which the built spaces and surrounding landscapes of temples dedicated to Śiva were used to express different modes of belonging. While monumental art and architecture have often been understood as tools of elite self-fashioning, material evidence from temples shows that these spaces accommodated a variety of social concerns and ritual repertories – ranging from quotidian cares for health and prosperity to ascetic regimes and ideologies of kingship. Inscriptions associated with temples similarly record diverse modes of social participation and the pious acts of merchants, potters, gardeners, and women, alongside those of religious specialists and rulers. This study presents a selection of case studies from South and Southeast Asia and uses material and epigraphic evidence to illustrate the kinds of social synergies that were catalysed through and within Shaiva temples. In addition to considering the early histories of these spaces, the chapter concludes with a discussion of their present lives and the values of heritage and preservation that inform their contemporary uses.
