This article explores the role played by Hindu temples in Sri Lankan Tamils’ lives in the diaspora in the United Kingdom. It investigates why those temples became not only places for religious worship but also hubs for the expression of Tamil nationalistic political views, while temples in Sri Lanka managed to keep those politics at bay. Departing from studies on religious belonging in the diaspora, I argue for the specificity of the Sri Lankan experience as mingled with the suffering of war and Tamil nationalistic politics, thus suggesting that historical and political processes are key to understand ways of belonging. I use the lens of the capacity of the sovereign deities to unravel the various ways employed by deities to cater to their devotees’ needs. I explore how Hindu deities and refugee devotees in London, while accommodating nationalistic politics, try to establish their own power and claim a form of belonging in the new country. I argue that in the process, both the new sovereign deities and Tamil migrants/refugees not only need each other but also need the deities from home across time and space. [politics, religion, sovereign deity, belonging, diaspora]

中文翻译：

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“无家可归”神灵和难民奉献者：印度教寺庙、斯里兰卡泰米尔侨民和英国的政治

本文探讨了印度教寺庙在斯里兰卡泰米尔人在英国散居的生活中所扮演的角色。它调查了为什么这些寺庙不仅成为宗教崇拜的场所，而且成为表达泰米尔民族主义政治观点的中心，而斯里兰卡的寺庙则设法阻止了这些政治。从对侨民宗教归属的研究出发，我认为斯里兰卡经历的特殊性与战争的苦难和泰米尔民族主义政治交织在一起，从而表明历史和政治过程是理解归属方式的关键。我使用主权神灵能力的镜头来解开神灵使用的各种方式来满足他们的奉献者的需求。我探索伦敦的印度教神灵和难民奉献者，在适应民族主义政治的同时，尝试建立自己的权力并在新国家中寻求一种归属感。我认为在这个过程中，新的主权神灵和泰米尔移民/难民不仅需要彼此，还需要跨越时空的家乡神灵。[政治、宗教、至高无上的神、归属感、侨民]