Margherita Trento, PhD (2020), University of Chicago, is associate professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, and affiliated to the Centre d’Études de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud (CNRS/EHESS) in Paris.

• AcknowledgmentsList of FiguresAbbreviationsNotes to Translation and TransliterationIntroduction: Catholic Literary Practices in Eighteenth-Century South India1 Genealogies of Tamil Catholicism2 Microstoria and the Global in the Local3 The Beginnings of Catholic Literature in Tamil4 The Making of an Archive5 Chapter Outline and Threads across the ChaptersPart 1 Spiritual Institutions1 Spiritual Exercises for Tamil Saints1 Being a Catechist: Preaching and Literature2 Being a Catechist: Caste and Profession3 Bringing the Spiritual Exercises to the Mission4 Spiritual Retreats between Italy and India5 Missionary Strategies and Tamil Locations2 Tamil Manuals for Catholic Selves1 Creating a Catholic Self: The Ñāṉamuyaṟci2 Disciplining the Catholic Self: The Vētiyaroḻukkam3 The Dangers of a Self in Transition4 The Catholic Self and Its Other: The Vētaviḷakkam5 Conclusions: Catholic Selves, Dangers and DisciplinePart 2 Rhetorical Education3 Catholic Poetics and Politics of Space1 Jesuit Humanism and Devotion2 Kaveri Delta Politics3 A Mirror for a Tamil Christian King4 The Ēlākkuṟicci School of Rhetoric5 Ēlākkuṟicci as a Christian Maṭam4 A Tamil Grammar of Persuasion1 A Textbook of (Christian) Tamil: The Toṉṉūlviḷakkam2 Amplificatio as Poruḷ3 The Grammar of Society4 Ignorant Enemies5 Conclusions: Tamil Poetry and the Grammar of PersuasionPart 3 Catholic Poetry in a Tamil World5 Writing for Eighteenth-Century Catechists1 Christian Epic and Tamil Peruṅkāppiyam2 Worldly Publics, Divine Patrons3 Angelic Time and the Relocation of Devotion4 Tamil Demons and Christian Wonder5 Staged Conversions6 Reading as an Eighteenth-Century Catechist1 Paper and Palm-Leaf Trails2 Catechist Dynasties3 Śaiva Neighbors and Rivals4 Towards the Colonial Archive5 Conclusions: Catholic Lay Identities in the Longue duréeConclusionsBibliographyIndex

Margherita Trento, PhD (2020), University of Chicago, is associate professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, and affiliated to the Centre d’Études de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud (CNRS/EHESS) in Paris.

• AcknowledgmentsList of FiguresAbbreviationsNotes to Translation and TransliterationIntroduction: Catholic Literary Practices in Eighteenth-Century South India1 Genealogies of Tamil Catholicism2 Microstoria and the Global in the Local3 The Beginnings of Catholic Literature in Tamil4 The Making of an Archive5 Chapter Outline and Threads across the ChaptersPart 1 Spiritual Institutions1 Spiritual Exercises for Tamil Saints1 Being a Catechist: Preaching and Literature2 Being a Catechist: Caste and Profession3 Bringing the Spiritual Exercises to the Mission4 Spiritual Retreats between Italy and India5 Missionary Strategies and Tamil Locations2 Tamil Manuals for Catholic Selves1 Creating a Catholic Self: The Ñāṉamuyaṟci2 Disciplining the Catholic Self: The Vētiyaroḻukkam3 The Dangers of a Self in Transition4 The Catholic Self and Its Other: The Vētaviḷakkam5 Conclusions: Catholic Selves, Dangers and DisciplinePart 2 Rhetorical Education3 Catholic Poetics and Politics of Space1 Jesuit Humanism and Devotion2 Kaveri Delta Politics3 A Mirror for a Tamil Christian King4 The Ēlākkuṟicci School of Rhetoric5 Ēlākkuṟicci as a Christian Maṭam4 A Tamil Grammar of Persuasion1 A Textbook of (Christian) Tamil: The Toṉṉūlviḷakkam2 Amplificatio as Poruḷ3 The Grammar of Society4 Ignorant Enemies5 Conclusions: Tamil Poetry and the Grammar of PersuasionPart 3 Catholic Poetry in a Tamil World5 Writing for Eighteenth-Century Catechists1 Christian Epic and Tamil Peruṅkāppiyam2 Worldly Publics, Divine Patrons3 Angelic Time and the Relocation of Devotion4 Tamil Demons and Christian Wonder5 Staged Conversions6 Reading as an Eighteenth-Century Catechist1 Paper and Palm-Leaf Trails2 Catechist Dynasties3 Śaiva Neighbors and Rivals4 Towards the Colonial Archive5 Conclusions: Catholic Lay Identities in the Longue duréeConclusionsBibliographyIndex

Margherita Trento, PhD (2020), University of Chicago, is associate professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, and affiliated to the Centre d’Études de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud (CNRS/EHESS) in Paris.

• AcknowledgmentsList of FiguresAbbreviationsNotes to Translation and TransliterationIntroduction: Catholic Literary Practices in Eighteenth-Century South India1 Genealogies of Tamil Catholicism2 Microstoria and the Global in the Local3 The Beginnings of Catholic Literature in Tamil4 The Making of an Archive5 Chapter Outline and Threads across the ChaptersPart 1 Spiritual Institutions1 Spiritual Exercises for Tamil Saints1 Being a Catechist: Preaching and Literature2 Being a Catechist: Caste and Profession3 Bringing the Spiritual Exercises to the Mission4 Spiritual Retreats between Italy and India5 Missionary Strategies and Tamil Locations2 Tamil Manuals for Catholic Selves1 Creating a Catholic Self: The Ñāṉamuyaṟci2 Disciplining the Catholic Self: The Vētiyaroḻukkam3 The Dangers of a Self in Transition4 The Catholic Self and Its Other: The Vētaviḷakkam5 Conclusions: Catholic Selves, Dangers and DisciplinePart 2 Rhetorical Education3 Catholic Poetics and Politics of Space1 Jesuit Humanism and Devotion2 Kaveri Delta Politics3 A Mirror for a Tamil Christian King4 The Ēlākkuṟicci School of Rhetoric5 Ēlākkuṟicci as a Christian Maṭam4 A Tamil Grammar of Persuasion1 A Textbook of (Christian) Tamil: The Toṉṉūlviḷakkam2 Amplificatio as Poruḷ3 The Grammar of Society4 Ignorant Enemies5 Conclusions: Tamil Poetry and the Grammar of PersuasionPart 3 Catholic Poetry in a Tamil World5 Writing for Eighteenth-Century Catechists1 Christian Epic and Tamil Peruṅkāppiyam2 Worldly Publics, Divine Patrons3 Angelic Time and the Relocation of Devotion4 Tamil Demons and Christian Wonder5 Staged Conversions6 Reading as an Eighteenth-Century Catechist1 Paper and Palm-Leaf Trails2 Catechist Dynasties3 Śaiva Neighbors and Rivals4 Towards the Colonial Archive5 Conclusions: Catholic Lay Identities in the Longue duréeConclusionsBibliographyIndex