Writing Tamil Catholicism : : Literature, Persuasion and Devotion in the Eighteenth Century / / Margherita Trento.

• Superior document: Philological Encounters Monographs ; Volume 3
• VerfasserIn: Trento, Margherita,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, The Netherlands : : Koninklijke Brill nv,, [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Edition: First edition.
• Language: English
• Series: Philological encounters monographs ; Volume 3.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (369 pages)

"In Writing Tamil Catholicism: Literature, Persuasion and Devotion in the Eighteenth Century, Margherita Trento explores the process by which the Jesuit missionary Costanzo Giuseppe Beschi (1680-1747), in collaboration with a group of local lay elites identified by their profession as catechists, chose Tamil poetry as the social and political language of Catholicism in eighteenth-century South India. Trento analyzes a corpus of Tamil grammars and poems, chiefly Beschi's Tēmpāvaṇi, alongside archival documents to show how, by presenting themselves as poets and intellectuals, Catholic elites gained a persuasive voice as well as entrance into the learned society of the Tamil country and its networks of patronage"-- Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

Intro -- ‎Contents -- ‎Acknowledgments -- ‎Figures -- ‎Abbreviations -- ‎Notes on Transliteration and Translation -- ‎Introduction. Catholic Literary Practices in Eighteenth-Century South India -- ‎1. Genealogies of Tamil Catholicism -- ‎2. Microstoria and the Global in the Local -- ‎3. The Beginnings of Catholic Literature in Tamil -- ‎3.1. Writing before Accommodation -- ‎3.2. Social Accommodation in Madurai -- ‎3.3. The Literary Turn -- ‎3.4. Beyond Accommodation -- ‎4. The Making of an Archive -- ‎5. Chapter Outline and Threads across the Chapters -- ‎Part 1. Spiritual Institutions -- ‎Chapter 1. Spiritual Exercises for Tamil Saints -- ‎1. Being a Catechist: Preaching and Literature -- ‎2. Being a Catechist: Caste and Profession -- ‎3. Bringing the Spiritual Exercises to the Mission -- ‎4. Spiritual Retreats between Italy and India -- ‎5. Missionary Strategies and Tamil Locations -- ‎Chapter 2. Tamil Manuals for Catholic Selves -- ‎1. Creating a Catholic Self: The Ñāṉamuyaṟci -- ‎2. Disciplining the Catholic Self: The Vētiyaroḻukkam -- ‎3. The Dangers of a Self in Transition -- ‎4. The Catholic Self and Its Other: The Vētaviḷakkam -- ‎5. Conclusions: Catholic Selves, Dangers and Discipline -- ‎Part 2. Rhetorical Education -- ‎Chapter 3. Catholic Poetics and Politics of Space -- ‎1. Jesuit Humanism and Devotion -- ‎2. Kaveri Delta Politics -- ‎3. A Mirror for a Tamil Christian King -- ‎4. The Ēlākkuṟicci School of Rhetoric -- ‎5. Ēlākkuṟicci as a Christian Maṭam -- ‎Chapter 4. A Tamil Grammar of Persuasion -- ‎1. A Textbook of (Christian) Tamil: The Toṉṉūlviḷakkam -- ‎2. Amplificatio as Poruḷ -- ‎3. The Grammar of Society -- ‎4. Ignorant Enemies -- ‎5. Conclusions: Tamil Poetry and the Grammar of Persuasion -- ‎Part 3. Catholic Poetry in a Tamil World -- ‎Chapter 5. Writing for Eighteenth-Century Catechists.

‎1. Christian Epic and Tamil Peruṅkāppiyam -- ‎2. Worldly Publics, Divine Patrons -- ‎3. Angelic Time and the Relocation of Devotion -- ‎4. Tamil Demons and Christian Wonder -- ‎5. Staged Conversions -- ‎5.1. The Temptations of Rebirth -- ‎5.2. The Devil Is a Woman -- ‎5.3. The Discernment of the Pēys -- ‎Chapter 6. Reading as an Eighteenth-Century Catechist -- ‎1. Paper and Palm-Leaf Trails -- ‎2. Catechist Dynasties -- ‎3. Śaiva Neighbors and Rivals -- ‎4. Towards the Colonial Archive -- ‎5. Conclusions: Catholic Lay Identities in the longue durée -- ‎Conclusions -- ‎Bibliography -- ‎Index: People, Places, Works.