This paper is a preliminary investigation of South Indian temple inscriptions from the perspective of their production and of their physical character – as material objects and as documents produced for particular purposes, making history and having histories of their own. I explore this topic through several case studies of groups of inscriptions engraved on the walls of Hindu temples in Tamilnadu, at different points in medieval history, from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries. I consider the oral, material and performative processes that resulted in the production of inscriptions and investigate their ‘afterlives’. This paper tries to make sense of the mixed functions and statuses of South Indian temple inscriptions – as both objects and texts, as authoritative yet often illegible or ephemeral, as highly local yet engaged with cosmopolitan (royal, professional, legal) and even transcendental realms – to explore the intersection of material culture and religious life.

中文翻译：

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南印度神庙铭文传记

本文是对南印度寺庙铭文的初步调查，从它们的制作和它们的物理特征——作为物质对象和为特定目的制作的文件，创造历史和拥有自己的历史。我通过对刻在泰米尔纳德邦印度教寺庙墙壁上的铭文组的几个案例研究来探讨这个主题，这些铭文在中世纪历史的不同时期，从 10 世纪到 13 世纪。我考虑导致铭文产生的口头、材料和表演过程，并调查他们的“来世”。本文试图理解南印度寺庙铭文的混合功能和地位——既作为对象又作为文本，作为权威但往往难以辨认或短暂，