Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

@article{201666,
        author = {Dr. Santhosh Kumar PK},
        title = {Temple Administration, Autonomous Decentralization, and the Limits of the Modern State},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {12},
        pages = {12811-12816},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=201666},
        abstract = {This article interrogates the concept of decentralisation through a historical and theoretical examination of temple administration in precolonial South India, with particular reference to the Vijayanagara Empire and the Keladi Nayakas. Using the Kapu (Kaup) Mariamma temples and the traditional Guttu system as primary case studies, it argues that precolonial decentralisation was grounded in genuine local autonomy fiscal, judicial, and social rather than in authority delegated by a centralised state. Temples functioned as autonomous corporate institutions that mediated governance through "sacral constitutionalism," customary law, and community trust. In contrast, modern decentralisation, including contemporary Panchayati Raj institutions, operates largely as a downward extension of centralisation, producing an illusion of participation without sovereignty. By applying Elinor Ostrom’s framework for common-pool resource management and Burton Stein’s segmentary state model, the article proposes a fundamental rethinking of decentralisation theory beyond the modern state-centric paradigm.},
        keywords = {Decentralisation; Temple Administration; Vijayanagara Empire; Keladi Nayakas; Panchayati Raj; Sacral Constitutionalism; Guttu System; Political Theory; Common-Pool Resources.},
        month = {May},
        }