On Rameshvaram island in the south-east corner of India lies one of Hinduism's most important temples—the Rāmanāthasvāmi, one of the four dhams (‘holy abodes’) and the site of two Śiva-liṅgas said to have been consecrated by Rāma himself. A temple has existed here since at least the eleventh century, although most of the present temple dates to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when the island was protected by the Setupati rulers of nearby Ramnad. In several of the long corridors and halls for which this temple is famous are brightly painted life-sized standing images of over 100 male figures attached to columns. Though such images are characteristic of many south Indian temples from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there are far more at Rameshvaram than at any other south Indian temple. This article examines the number, location, and significance of these numerous standing images within this temple. By exploring the significance of the temple as a long-standing site for the royal performance of devotion, this article seeks to address whether the great number and identity of the life-sized donor images can be explained by both Purāṇic ideas of kingship and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Dutch observations of the pan-Indian status of the temple.

印度东南角的拉梅什瓦拉姆岛上坐落着印度教最重要的寺庙之一——罗摩那塔斯瓦米 (Rāmanāthasvāmi) 寺庙，它是四大达姆(“圣居”) 之一，也是据说由罗摩亲自祝圣的两座希瓦林伽斯(Siva-liṅgas ) 的所在地。这里至少从十一世纪起就有一座寺庙，尽管现在的寺庙大部分可以追溯到十七世纪和十八世纪，当时该岛受到附近拉姆纳德的塞帕蒂统治者的保护。在这座寺庙著名的几条长廊和大厅中，柱子上悬挂着 100 多个男性雕像，其色彩鲜艳，与真人大小一样。尽管此类图像是十七世纪和十八世纪许多南印度寺庙的特征，但拉梅什瓦拉姆的图像比任何其他南印度寺庙都多得多。本文探讨了这座寺庙内这些众多立像的数量、位置和意义。通过探讨寺庙作为皇家进行奉献的长期场所的重要性，本文试图探讨真人大小的捐赠者图像的大量和身份是否可以用古兰经的王权思想和第十七世纪的思想来解释。以及十八世纪荷兰人对寺庙在泛印度地位的观察。