TL;DRAbstract
Over the half century of HRCE administration, temples have been transformed from localized, more or less distinct institutions into an organized and constituent part of the Tamil Nadu political system. Social reform, cultural protection and efficiency – ideals closely linked with modernity and the modern state itself – justified and promoted this reconstruction. Yet conflicts over the theory of the temple, and the constitutional limits on interference have repeatedly made difficult any mechanical incorporation of temples into the state's structure and have given a significant twist to temple administration. The HRCE has the advantage of high stateness, but in practice its administration is shaped by the struggle for jurisdiction among state agencies, by the specific issues involved (economy, governance or religion), and by the changing shape of political ideologies and opposition.
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Over the half century of HRCE administration, temples have been transformed from localized, more or less distinct institutions into an organized and constituent part of the Tamil Nadu political system. Social reform, cultural protection and efficiency – ideals closely linked with modernity and the modern state itself – justified and promoted this reconstruction. Yet conflicts over the theory of the temple, and the constitutional limits on interference have repeatedly made difficult any mechanical incorporation of temples into the state's structure and have given a significant twist to temple administration. The HRCE has the advantage of high stateness, but in practice its administration is shaped by the struggle for jurisdiction among state agencies, by the specific issues involved (economy, governance or religion), and by the changing shape of political ideologies and opposition.
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