Contribution à l'étude d'Aiyanar-Sasta

by Marguerite E. Adicéam

Aiyan?r-??st?, a village deity or popular deity of South India, has many temples attributed to him in this region. One of his principal duties is to protect the land. Literary sources often describe him as a son of ?iva. The present publication, using all documentation pertaining to the deity assembled by the French Institute of Pondicherry (Sanskrit and Tamil texts both edited and in manuscript form as well as illustrations), successively studies the various names of the deity, his origins, the characteristics of his representations, the location, direction and form of his temples, the manner of his installation, festivals that honour him and the Aiyan?r-??st? cult.