This book is an analysis of the relations of state, religion and politics in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It represents research and reflection at various times over the period of a decade, and a growing conviction that religion–state relations need to be studied from a comparative and historical point of view.

The central focus is the important position Hindu temples occupy in modern Tamil Nadu politics, and the state's role in regulating and shaping them. Temples are significant in a multitude of ways in south Indian society and economy, and throughout the modern era have attracted the attention of governments and politicians.

From the perspective of religion–state relations, the study also explores aspects of change and development in twentieth-century Indian politics. The government's official policies toward religion provide a fruitful context from which to view, for example, the relation of political parties to sources of patronage and conflict, the effect of centralized “rational” administration on local practice and privilege, the consequences of bureaucratization for democratic politics, and the legacy of traditional theories of legitimacy in the “secular” state.

The present volume is a revised and much shortened version of my doctoral dissertation of the same title. The initial fieldwork in Tamil Nadu was carried out in 1973–74 and was supported by the Foreign Area Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council. I was helped by many individuals, among whom I would especially like to mention: Chaturvedi Badrinath, IAS, former Commissioner, Tamil Nadu Archives; Thiru A. Uttandaraman and Thiru Sarangapani Mudaliar, former Commissioners, HRCE; Thiru K.A. Govindarajan, HRCE; Thiru Kunrakudi Adigalar, Deviga Peravai; Thiru Swaminatha Gurukkal, South India Archaka Sangham; and Professor Chandra Mudaliar, Madras University.