Explorations in Modern Bengal, C. 1800-1900: Essays on Religion, History, and CultureHistorically, nineteenth-century Bengal was the site where the first crop of a Western educated Hindu intelligentsia creatively and actively engaged in a two-pronged intellectual enterprise. On the one hand, there was deep introspection that encouraged the overturning of traditional categories of thought and ways of life, and on the other, a growing cultural pride that preferred suitably defending these even under perceptibly changed intellectual and material conditions. Many claimed that while the preceding centuries of Indo-Muslim rule had made no difference to the Hindu mind, the Christian West had critically challenged it in intellectual and moral ways. In the course of time, this was also intimately tied to the growing desire to confront colonial modernity on one's own terms. This work examines in some detail, a regional culture as it was subjected to acute interpretative stress for much of the nineteenth century. This is done through an original study of three key facets of contemporary Hindu thought: new perspectives on the possible interplay between the divinely ordained and humanly enacted history, innovative extensions in the meaning of older terms like Dharma and attempts at evolving new moral and cultural theories around select mythical figures and traditionally revered texts. Copious writings on the figure of Krishna-in a historical vein-and the hermeneutical, as also the unprecedented popularity of the Bhagavat Gita are cases in point. In essence, this is a pioneering contribution to the intellectual history of modern Bengal as distinct from the more conventionally political or social. |
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activity Akshay Kumar Akshay Kumar Dutta anusilan appears argued argument avatar Bandopadhyay Bankim Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay believed Bhagavat Purana bhakti Bhasya Brahman Brahmo Samaj Calcutta Chaitanya Chakrabarti Christian cited claim commentary conception contemporary criticism cultural Debendranath Tagore Delhi dharma Dharmatattwa dharmic essay ethical faith Gita gyan hand happiness hermeneutic Hindu thought Hinduism human Ibid idea ideal important India intellectual Jeebon kamya Karma Yoga Kathamrita Keshabchandra knowledge Krishna Krishnacharitra Letters Mahabharata Maharshi Mahendranath man’s missionary modern Bengal moral Nabinchandra Nabinchandra Sen Narendra nature neo-Hindu nineteenth century nineteenth-century Bengal nishkam karma Pandit Sashadhar philosophical Press published purely Purva Mimamsa Rabindranath Rammohun Roy reason religion religious Roy's Sabha Sahitya Sanskrit Sanskrit text scholar selfless sense Shankaracharya Shastri shruti social society soul spiritual Sri Ramakrishna Sridhari suggest Swami Vivekananda Tattwabodhini Patrika theory traditional translation truth universal Upanishad Vaishnava Vedanta Vedas Vedic whereas worship