Suchergebnisse

This book offers a new interpretation of the life and legacy of the Indian reformer and intellectual, Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar (1820-91). Drawing upon autobiography, biography, secondary criticism and a range of Vidyasagar's original writings in Bengali, the book interrogates the role of history, memory and controversy, and emphasises the key challenge of pinning down the identity of an enigmatic and multi-faceted figure. By examining lesser-known works of Vidyasagar (including several pseudonymous and posthumous works) alongside the evidence of his public career, the author c.

The Oxford History of Hinduism: Modern Hinduism, edited by Torkel Brekke. New York:Oxford University Press, 2019. xi + 317 pp., £73 (hb). ISBN 9780198790839.

AbstractThe goal of this article is to provide conceptual and historical orientation useful for thinking about the emergence of philanthropy in modern South Asia. Conceptually, the article suggests the need to approach the expression of philanthropy in early colonial Bengal in terms of processes of imitation. To do so, we must overcome the stigma attached to the idea of imitation within both nationalist and post-colonial thought. In the particular context of early colonial Calcutta, local actors entered into intimate relationships with Europeans and these relationships provided occasions to borrow, translate, and retool a range of ideas and practices relevant to new modes of public charity. The importance of attending to historical context is suggested by reading such early colonial developments against the grain of late nineteenth-century perspectives—a time when Bengalis grew anxious about cultural imitation. Rather than deferring to these late-colonial anxieties over imitation, we need to situate them within a critically informed historical framework. To do this, the present article draws on the writings of the Brāhmo intellectual Rajnarain Bose, who pondered the relationship between an earlier colonial moment ('then') and his own late-colonial 'now'. Close reading of Bose allows us to plumb the nature of late-colonial anxiety about cultural borrowing while opening up a new perspective on imitation and intimacy in early colonial Bengal that is not predicated on the teleology of the late-colonial modern.

This article offers critical reflection on the work of Sheldon Pollock and Sudipto Kaviraj in connection with the project, 'Sanskrit Knowledge-Systems on the Eve of Colonialism'. While both Pollock and Kaviraj have written of the 'death' of Sanskrit, this article advises against metaphors of historical rupture. If we wish to make sense of the fate of Sanskrit intellectuals under colonial modernity, we should attend to processes of cultural convergence and the concrete choices made by Sanskrit scholars. A selection from the reformist writings of Isvaracandra Vidydsdgara is examined to demonstrate one pandit's ongoing engagement with Sanskrit intellectual tradition.

This essay raises a single question for which it ventures two kinds of answers, one historical and the other historiographical. On the one hand, to ask 'What's become of the pandit?' is to express an interest in finding out about transformations over time in the activities, experiences, and social placement of pandits—for present purposes in the context of colonial Bengal. Taken in this sense, the question reflects a desire to examine the diverse experiences of Sanskrit pandits, perhaps to inquire about the degree to which they either may or may not be illustrative of other sorts of changes taking place in colonial Indian society. On the other hand, to ask 'What's become of the pandit?' is to suggest that it may be worth investigating what we mean by the word 'pandit' and how we have come to view pandits as we do. What we're asking thus is really, 'What's become of the pandit in modern scholarly discourse?' In this sense, the question is a historiographical or methodological one. It suggests there may be important reasons why scholars tend to conceptualize the life and work of pandits as they do, and reminds us that becoming aware of these reasons might allow us to gain a better perspective on our own field of study.

Against High-Caste Polygamy offers a complete, annotated translation of Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar's influential social-reform tract from 1871. Crafted by one of the nineteenth century's most prominent voices for social change, Against High-Caste Polygamy demonstrates Vidyasagar's ability to call upon the classical discourse and argumentation of the Sanskrit legal tradition while engaging the norms of modern historical and social criticism. In this work, Vidyasagar utilizes both a kind of "imaginative sociology" geared at capturing the suffering of Kulin women and a kind of proto-statistical analysis aimed at opening the eyes of readers to the extent and ramifications of polygamous practices that left Hindu women ostracized, neglected, and abused.

"Against High-Caste Polygamy offers a complete, annotated translation of Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar's first book arguing against the practice of high-caste Kulin marriage in Bengal. The translation is based on the text of the first edition of Bahuvivaha rahita haoya uchita ki na etadvishayaka vichara, published from the Sanskrit Press in 1871 (Samvat 1928); henceforth simply Bahuvivaha. I have relied on the version of the text as found in the second volume of Gopal Haldar's Vidyasagar-rachanasamgraha, as well as on a digitized version of the 1871 first edition available online"--

A complete, annotated translation of Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar's influential social-reform tract from 1871. Crafted by one of the nineteenth century's most prominent voices for social change, 'Against High-Caste Polygamy' demonstrates Vidyasagar's ability to call upon the classical discourse and argumentation of the Sanskrit legal tradition while engaging the norms of modern historical and social criticism. In this work, Vidyasagar utilizes both a kind of 'imaginative sociology' geared at capturing the suffering of Kulin women and a kind of proto-statistical analysis aimed at opening the eyes of readers to the extent and ramifications of polygamous practices that left Hindu women ostracized, neglected, and abused.