Vedanta, Bhakti, and Their Early Modern Sources

This volume considers the Prabodhacandrodaya Naka (c. 1760 CE), an allegorical drama composed by Brajvsds in Brajbh. It contributes to the study of vernacular naka s with its first complete English translation. Moreover, the critical analysis shows that the foundational Sanskrit texts for Vednta and those for Bhakti play a part in the Prabodhacandrodaya Naka 's philosophical and religious edifice. At the same time, the investigation demonstrates that Brajvsds expresses several philosophical ideas by adaptively reusing the Rmcaritmnas by Tulsds (c. 1574 CE). Brajvsds composes a doh by combining one line of his invention with a line from the Mnas . This method is employed throughout all the personified metaphysical concepts. That Brajvs not only read Bhakti but also Vednta through the Rmcaritmnas highlights the philosophical and literary creativity in 18th c. North India. It points to the necessity to rethink the sources of Vednta philosophies, by including works non-conventional for language and genre, because not in Sanskrit and not stra s. Such sources may not be original in their contribution per se but are essential to understand how early modern philosophy was done, conceived and transmitted.

Auteur

Rosina Pastore, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Schweiz.