Amiya Sen - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Amiya Sen
Chaitanya
This chapter deals with the way the religious faith and inspiration provided by Chaitanya turned ... more This chapter deals with the way the religious faith and inspiration provided by Chaitanya turned into a successful organized movement, going beyond the frontiers of ethnic Bengal into the adjoining state of Odisha and in specific locales of north India. Broadly speaking, this was carried out over two generations. The first of these was represented by the work of Chaitanya’s most devoted and trusted companions such as Nityananda, Advaita Acharya, Haridas, Gadadhar Pandit, and the well-known ‘Shada Goswamis’ or Six Goswamis, all of whom eventually camped at Vrindavan and spent the rest of their lives in profound scholarship and devotional pursuits. Of these, some were on non-Bengali provenance which itself speaks for the far-reaching and trans-regional appeal of Chaitanya and his movement. The second generation of evangelists such as Narottam, Srinivas, and Shyamananda were post-Chaitanya figures and highly successful in converting their followers into Vaishnavism, including both peas...
This is a short yet critical biography of a major religious figure from Hindu Bengal, Krishna Cha... more This is a short yet critical biography of a major religious figure from Hindu Bengal, Krishna Chaitanya (1486–1533), based on extant hagiographical sources from medieval Bengal as also recent scholarly studies. It relies on both Bengali and English language sources, creating a dialogic and dynamic relationship between the two. The book primarily addresses graduate students and interested general readers in an easily accessible and intelligible manner, without taking recourse to copious notes and citations. The intention of this project was to produce a narrative that was both gripping and enjoyable. However, there is also ample material in this book that will interest and motivate the researcher as well. A significant part of this work is a critical evaluation of just how Chaitanya has been perceived and understood after his time, particularly in colonial Bengal where he has come to assume the place of an iconic figure. Interested readers will find the painstakingly compiled appendi...
Chaitanya, 2019
This is a detailed study of the extant sources related to the life and teachings of Chaitanya, mo... more This is a detailed study of the extant sources related to the life and teachings of Chaitanya, most of which were produced shortly after Chaitanya passed away. This survey includes three key aspects connected with Chaitanya hagiographies available in manuscript form: the pressing literary and cultural quest for their discovery, the problem of their interpolation, and their printing history since the mid-19th century. This chapter studies five hagiographers in some detail, implying their intrinsic importance of their work to the reconstruction of the life and teachings of Chaitanya. This includes a critical treatment of the greatly controversial work Govindadaser Kadcha which has come to be seen in intensely polarised ways as possibly the earliest among hagiographies or else a modern forgery.
Chaitanya, 2019
This is a concise but critical biographical sketch of Chaitanya, situating him in his social and ... more This is a concise but critical biographical sketch of Chaitanya, situating him in his social and cultural environment. The structured narrative deals at length with some of the key episodes concerning both his pre-monastic life and the monastic. These are re-examined in the light of modern critical scholarship. The first half of Chaitanya’s life was spent at Nabadwip, where he provided the inspiration and leadership to a burgeoning religious movement centred on Krishna bhakti. Following his dramatic decision to embrace the life of an ascetic, Chaitanya turned an itinerant saint, travelling through peninsular India and camping at the Vaishnav pilgrim sites of Mathura and Vrindavan. The latter half of his life was spent at Puri where he enjoyed great popularity among the local people as also among his followers from native Bengal who visited him annually at the time of the Rath Yatra celebrations. It was from Puri that Chaitanya gave directions to his followers to launch an evangelizi...
This paper is the text of a lecture delivered at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg, on May 20,... more This paper is the text of a lecture delivered at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg, on May 20, 2015, with footnotes added. It discusses how scholarly perceptions of colonial Hinduism have visibly shifted trajectory over the years. Relating how Hinduism has moved from being ‘discovered’ in the eighteenth century to be seen as discursively ‘invented’ or ‘imagined’ in the nineteenth, it argues that in colonial India, internally generated debates about the origin and nature of Hinduism paralleled ascriptions originating outside but failed to attract adequate attention. It also seeks to ask if not also to definitively answer certain key theoretical questions. For instance, even allowing for the fact that social and religious identities are always porous, does it still make sense to ask if unstable and fluid perceptions of the self too were invested with some meaning?
PREFACE SITUATING BANKIM CHANDRA A LIFE LIVED IN FULLNESS BANKIM CHANDRA AND THE BIRTH OF NEW BEN... more PREFACE SITUATING BANKIM CHANDRA A LIFE LIVED IN FULLNESS BANKIM CHANDRA AND THE BIRTH OF NEW BENGALI PRESS AND LITERATURE REDEFINING RELIGION IN A MODERN WORLD THE NATION AS MOTHER: BANKIM CHANDRA AND ADVANCING HINDU NATIONALISM LAST YEARS AND ASSESSMENT APPENDICES (A: CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS B: CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF MAJOR LITERARY WORKS OF BANKIM CHANDRA) SUGGESTED READINGS
This is a translation from Bengali of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay's Dharmatattva, regarded by... more This is a translation from Bengali of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay's Dharmatattva, regarded by many as one of his more important works. It traces both the development of Bankimchandra's ideas and the impact of Western thought on Hindu religion and philosophy in the nineteenth century.
Indian Historical Review, 2008
Hindu Revivalism in Bengal c.1872-1905, 2001
Indian Historical Review, 2014
I ESSAYS AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS II DISCOURSES, PUBLIC ADDRESSES, AND INFORMAL TALKS III... more I ESSAYS AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS II DISCOURSES, PUBLIC ADDRESSES, AND INFORMAL TALKS III LETTERS
This is the first study in the English language of the Hindu conservative writer and literary cri... more This is the first study in the English language of the Hindu conservative writer and literary critic, Chandaranath Basu. In 1891, Basu invented the term ‘Hindutva’ but with a very different set of meanings than what is taken taken to be today. This essay specifically examines his seminal work “Sakuntala Tattwa” (1881) in which Basu attempts to compare select characters from Shakespeare with that of principal character from Kalidas's well known play Shakuntala, in terms of both literary creation and cultural argument. In so doing the author also questions some of the postulates of western modernity such as prioritizing a man centered universe over a cosmic understanding of things. Also significant here is his contesting a temporal view of ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’ whereby tradition is taken to precede modernity in time. In Basu's view, however, they are densely interwoven both in terms of time and typical values that they are capable of generating. This paper was inspired b...
India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs
Swati Ganguly, Tagore’s University: A History of Visva Bharati, 1921–1961. Permanent Black, 2022,... more Swati Ganguly, Tagore’s University: A History of Visva Bharati, 1921–1961. Permanent Black, 2022, pp. 432 + Bibliography and Index, ₹1200, ISBN 9788178246406.
The Indian Economic & Social History Review, 2022
Uma Das Gupta, ed., Friendships of ‘Largeness and Freedom’: Andrews, Tagore and Gandhi—An Epistol... more Uma Das Gupta, ed., Friendships of ‘Largeness and Freedom’: Andrews, Tagore and Gandhi—An Epistolary Account, 1912–1940. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2018, 580 pp.
The Legacy of Vaiṣṇavism in Colonial Bengal, 2019
The Legacy of Vaiṣṇavism in Colonial Bengal, 2019
Chaitanya
This chapter deals with the way the religious faith and inspiration provided by Chaitanya turned ... more This chapter deals with the way the religious faith and inspiration provided by Chaitanya turned into a successful organized movement, going beyond the frontiers of ethnic Bengal into the adjoining state of Odisha and in specific locales of north India. Broadly speaking, this was carried out over two generations. The first of these was represented by the work of Chaitanya’s most devoted and trusted companions such as Nityananda, Advaita Acharya, Haridas, Gadadhar Pandit, and the well-known ‘Shada Goswamis’ or Six Goswamis, all of whom eventually camped at Vrindavan and spent the rest of their lives in profound scholarship and devotional pursuits. Of these, some were on non-Bengali provenance which itself speaks for the far-reaching and trans-regional appeal of Chaitanya and his movement. The second generation of evangelists such as Narottam, Srinivas, and Shyamananda were post-Chaitanya figures and highly successful in converting their followers into Vaishnavism, including both peas...
This is a short yet critical biography of a major religious figure from Hindu Bengal, Krishna Cha... more This is a short yet critical biography of a major religious figure from Hindu Bengal, Krishna Chaitanya (1486–1533), based on extant hagiographical sources from medieval Bengal as also recent scholarly studies. It relies on both Bengali and English language sources, creating a dialogic and dynamic relationship between the two. The book primarily addresses graduate students and interested general readers in an easily accessible and intelligible manner, without taking recourse to copious notes and citations. The intention of this project was to produce a narrative that was both gripping and enjoyable. However, there is also ample material in this book that will interest and motivate the researcher as well. A significant part of this work is a critical evaluation of just how Chaitanya has been perceived and understood after his time, particularly in colonial Bengal where he has come to assume the place of an iconic figure. Interested readers will find the painstakingly compiled appendi...
Chaitanya, 2019
This is a detailed study of the extant sources related to the life and teachings of Chaitanya, mo... more This is a detailed study of the extant sources related to the life and teachings of Chaitanya, most of which were produced shortly after Chaitanya passed away. This survey includes three key aspects connected with Chaitanya hagiographies available in manuscript form: the pressing literary and cultural quest for their discovery, the problem of their interpolation, and their printing history since the mid-19th century. This chapter studies five hagiographers in some detail, implying their intrinsic importance of their work to the reconstruction of the life and teachings of Chaitanya. This includes a critical treatment of the greatly controversial work Govindadaser Kadcha which has come to be seen in intensely polarised ways as possibly the earliest among hagiographies or else a modern forgery.
Chaitanya, 2019
This is a concise but critical biographical sketch of Chaitanya, situating him in his social and ... more This is a concise but critical biographical sketch of Chaitanya, situating him in his social and cultural environment. The structured narrative deals at length with some of the key episodes concerning both his pre-monastic life and the monastic. These are re-examined in the light of modern critical scholarship. The first half of Chaitanya’s life was spent at Nabadwip, where he provided the inspiration and leadership to a burgeoning religious movement centred on Krishna bhakti. Following his dramatic decision to embrace the life of an ascetic, Chaitanya turned an itinerant saint, travelling through peninsular India and camping at the Vaishnav pilgrim sites of Mathura and Vrindavan. The latter half of his life was spent at Puri where he enjoyed great popularity among the local people as also among his followers from native Bengal who visited him annually at the time of the Rath Yatra celebrations. It was from Puri that Chaitanya gave directions to his followers to launch an evangelizi...
This paper is the text of a lecture delivered at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg, on May 20,... more This paper is the text of a lecture delivered at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg, on May 20, 2015, with footnotes added. It discusses how scholarly perceptions of colonial Hinduism have visibly shifted trajectory over the years. Relating how Hinduism has moved from being ‘discovered’ in the eighteenth century to be seen as discursively ‘invented’ or ‘imagined’ in the nineteenth, it argues that in colonial India, internally generated debates about the origin and nature of Hinduism paralleled ascriptions originating outside but failed to attract adequate attention. It also seeks to ask if not also to definitively answer certain key theoretical questions. For instance, even allowing for the fact that social and religious identities are always porous, does it still make sense to ask if unstable and fluid perceptions of the self too were invested with some meaning?
PREFACE SITUATING BANKIM CHANDRA A LIFE LIVED IN FULLNESS BANKIM CHANDRA AND THE BIRTH OF NEW BEN... more PREFACE SITUATING BANKIM CHANDRA A LIFE LIVED IN FULLNESS BANKIM CHANDRA AND THE BIRTH OF NEW BENGALI PRESS AND LITERATURE REDEFINING RELIGION IN A MODERN WORLD THE NATION AS MOTHER: BANKIM CHANDRA AND ADVANCING HINDU NATIONALISM LAST YEARS AND ASSESSMENT APPENDICES (A: CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS B: CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF MAJOR LITERARY WORKS OF BANKIM CHANDRA) SUGGESTED READINGS
This is a translation from Bengali of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay's Dharmatattva, regarded by... more This is a translation from Bengali of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay's Dharmatattva, regarded by many as one of his more important works. It traces both the development of Bankimchandra's ideas and the impact of Western thought on Hindu religion and philosophy in the nineteenth century.
Indian Historical Review, 2008
Hindu Revivalism in Bengal c.1872-1905, 2001
Indian Historical Review, 2014
I ESSAYS AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS II DISCOURSES, PUBLIC ADDRESSES, AND INFORMAL TALKS III... more I ESSAYS AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS II DISCOURSES, PUBLIC ADDRESSES, AND INFORMAL TALKS III LETTERS
This is the first study in the English language of the Hindu conservative writer and literary cri... more This is the first study in the English language of the Hindu conservative writer and literary critic, Chandaranath Basu. In 1891, Basu invented the term ‘Hindutva’ but with a very different set of meanings than what is taken taken to be today. This essay specifically examines his seminal work “Sakuntala Tattwa” (1881) in which Basu attempts to compare select characters from Shakespeare with that of principal character from Kalidas's well known play Shakuntala, in terms of both literary creation and cultural argument. In so doing the author also questions some of the postulates of western modernity such as prioritizing a man centered universe over a cosmic understanding of things. Also significant here is his contesting a temporal view of ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’ whereby tradition is taken to precede modernity in time. In Basu's view, however, they are densely interwoven both in terms of time and typical values that they are capable of generating. This paper was inspired b...
India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs
Swati Ganguly, Tagore’s University: A History of Visva Bharati, 1921–1961. Permanent Black, 2022,... more Swati Ganguly, Tagore’s University: A History of Visva Bharati, 1921–1961. Permanent Black, 2022, pp. 432 + Bibliography and Index, ₹1200, ISBN 9788178246406.
The Indian Economic & Social History Review, 2022
Uma Das Gupta, ed., Friendships of ‘Largeness and Freedom’: Andrews, Tagore and Gandhi—An Epistol... more Uma Das Gupta, ed., Friendships of ‘Largeness and Freedom’: Andrews, Tagore and Gandhi—An Epistolary Account, 1912–1940. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2018, 580 pp.
The Legacy of Vaiṣṇavism in Colonial Bengal, 2019
The Legacy of Vaiṣṇavism in Colonial Bengal, 2019