Unforgetting Chaitanya: Vaishnavism and Cultures of Devotion in Colonial BengalWhat role do pre-modern religious traditions play in the formation of modern secular identities? In Unforgetting Chaitanya, Varuni Bhatia examines late-nineteenth-century transformations of Bengali Vaishnavism-a vibrant and multifaceted religious tradition that traces its origins to the fifteenth century Krishna devotee Chaitanya (1486-1533). Drawing on an extensive body of hitherto unexamined archival material, Bhatia finds that both religious modernizers and secular voices among the Bengali middle-class invoked Chaitanya, portraying him simultaneously as a local hero, a Hindu reformer, and as God almighty. She argues that these claims should be understood in relation to the recovery of a "pure" Bengali culture and history in a period of nascent, but rising, anti-colonialism in the region. Who is a true Vaishnava? In the late nineteenth century, this question assumed urgency as debates around questions of authenticity appeared prominently in the Bengali public sphere. These debates went on for years, even decades, causing unbridgeable rifts in personal friendships and tarnishing reputations of established scholars. Underlying these debates was the question of authoritative Bengali Vaishnavism and its role in the long-term constitution of Bengali culture and society. At stake, argues Bhatia, was the very nature and composition of an indigenously-derived modernity inscribed through the politics of authenticity, which allowed an influential section of Hindu, upper-caste Bengalis to excavate their own explicitly Hindu pasts in order to find a people's history, a religious reformer, a casteless Hindu sect, the richest examples of Bengali literature, and a sophisticated expression of monotheistic religion. |
Contents
1 | |
1 A Religion in Decline in an Age of Progress | 21 |
2 Untidy Realms | 53 |
3 A Swadeshi Chaitanya | 90 |
4 Recovering Bishnupriyas Loss | 124 |
5 Utopia and a Birthplace | 161 |
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Advaita Amrita Bazar Patrika authenticity authority bairagi Bangiya Sahitya Parishad Basu Baul Bengali Language Bengali Vaishnavism bhadralok bhadralok Vaishnava bhakti birthplace Brahmin Brahmo Calcutta caste celebrations Chaitanya Charitamrita chapter context cultural Darbesh decline Delhi Dinesh Chandra Dinesh Chandra Sen district Dutt Dutta elite emerged English festival Gaudiya Math Gaudiya Vaishnavism Gaurabda 413 Gauranga Samaj Goswami gurus hagiographies Hence Hindu Hinduism History of Bengali Ibid India intellectual Jat-baishnab Kadacha Kartabhaj Kaviraj Kedarnath kirtan Krishna Krishnanagar late nineteenth century lineage Mayapur missionary modern Muslim Nabadwip Nadia nationalist Nimai Oxford University Press period popular practices published Puri reformer region religion religious ritual role sacred biography sacred space Sahajiya Sanskrit Sarkar scholars sect Shri Bishnupriya Patrika shripat Sishir Kumar Ghosh social society songs Stewart Svalikhita Jibani Swadeshi temple tion town of Nabadwip Vaishnava Vaishnava journal Vaishnava literature Vaishnava traditions Vaishnavism in Bengal vernacular Vrindavan Wilson writings