Mīmāṃsā, Vedānta, and the Bhakti Movement Anand Venkatkrishnan Submitted in partial ...

287 Pages·2015·1.19 MB·English

Mīmāṃsā, Vedānta, and the Bhakti Movement
Anand Venkatkrishnan
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
2015
©2015
Anand Venkatkrishnan
All Rights Reserved
ABSTRACT
Mīmāṃsā, Vedānta, and the Bhakti Movement
Anand Venkatkrishnan
This dissertation concerns the reception history of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (BhP), an
influential Hindu scripture, among Sanskrit intellectuals who lived between the 13th and 18th
centuries CE. The BhP is most widely recognized for its celebration of bhakti, or religious
devotion to an embodied god, through its narrative, didactic, and philosophical treatment of the
god Kṛṣṇa. Composed in Sanskrit, the BhP was also closely connected to popular traditions of
vernacular poetry and song, collectively known as the “bhakti movement.” I study the rise to
prominence of this text-tradition by examining its impact on two important systems of Sanskrit
scriptural interpretation: Mīmāṃsā and Advaita Vedānta. I situate the shifting discursive registers
of these hermeneutical traditions in particular social contexts, paying special attention to the lives
and careers of scholars in the academic center of Banaras in early modern north India. I also
investigate how Sanskrit discourse about the BhP reveals intersections between popular religious
movements and elite scholarly pedagogy. The thesis contributes to a number of scholarly fields,
each wider than the previous. First, it provides a fuller picture of how particular Sanskrit systems
of knowledge experienced change in precolonial India. Second, it attempts to understand the
challenges that bhakti, qua the public expression of personal devotion, posed to Sanskrit
intellectuals. Third, it revisits certain binaries and narratives in the historiography of Indian
religion and philosophy. Fourth, it incorporates the insights of intellectual and social history into
the study of the premodern non-West. Finally, it helps make a space for intellectual history
within religious studies, and for religion among intellectual historians.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
A Quick Refresher 1
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa 2
Mīmāṃsā 3
Vedānta 5
Early Modernity 8
Intellectual History 13
The End-Game 19
Chapter Outline 26
Chapter 2: The Darkness At Dusk 30
The BhP in Transit: Śaivas, Vaiṣṇavas, Advaita Vedāntins 30
Chapter 3: Mīmāṃsā in the Moonlight 68
The Bhagavannāmakaumudī in Context 68
A Tale of Two Smṛtis 76
The BNK in the World of Vedānta 100
The Sacred Name in the South 118
Conclusion 124
Chapter 4: Vedānta in the Moonlight 127
Jñāna and Bhakti 134
Bhakti and Karma 151
Jñāna and Karma 161
A Social History of Intellectual Change? 177
Chapter 5: Bhakti in the Moonlight 189
Theists, Non-Theists, and Intellectual Historians 189
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī and the BhP 195
Śāṇḍilya's Bhakti Sūtras 204
Nārāyaṇa Tīrtha and the Moonlight of Bhakti 209
Bhakti, Yoga, and the Beautiful Goddess 221
Conclusion 231
Chapter 6: Conclusion 235
Bibliography 242
i
Acknowledgments
Throughout my graduate career, I used to tell people that the acknowledgments section
was the part of my dissertation I most looked forward to writing. In part, this was because I had
no idea what the rest of the dissertation was supposed to look like. But mostly it was due to the
profound grace I had received from a range of teachers, colleagues, friends, relatives, and
community members, without whom I would not have reached this point. Gratitude is a
passionate feeling in secular and religious cultures alike.
The three traditional Hindu figures to whom obeisance is first owed are Gaṇeśa, remover
of obstacles, the Guru, who shows the way, and Sarasvatī, bestower of knowledge. I can think of
no better exemplification of all three than my advisor, John Stratton Hawley. He has opened for
me countless doors within academia, guided and commented on every piece I have written, and
shared freely of his wisdom. The ability to instruct without didacticism; to insist on facts without
pedantry; to encourage without flattery; to critique without denigration; to be generous without
expectation; and above all, to be sincerely and enthusiastically kind—these are not just
pedagogical but fundamentally human qualities, and in Jack they are present in abundance. I feel
fortunate to have had his winds of learning at my back over the past few years, and to discover
the many more ways in which my gratitude will grow.
I owe an indescribable debt to Sheldon Pollock, who has also supervised and encouraged
my work from the moment I entered graduate school. When I was a senior in college, an
“insurgent classicist” chafing under the strictures of Greek and Latin antiquity, I encountered two
magnificent tomes: Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia, and The
ii
Language of the Gods in the World of Men. That I would have the chance to study with the
editor/author of these groundbreaking volumes never crossed my mind; the breadth and depth of
learning was too dazzling to belong to a single person. That I was not only able to do so, but was
also welcomed into his intellectual circles, is a testament to his generosity and commitment to his
students' advancement. I have benefited immeasurably from his guidance and support, and from
the example of his scholarly dedication to and respect for the thought-worlds of premodern India.
The other members of my committee have also been consistently supportive and attentive
in the course of my graduate studies: Rachel McDermott, Lawrence McCrea, and Wayne
Proudfoot. From Rachel I have learned what a gracious, meticulous, and encouraging teacher
looks like—one of the warmest human beings I have come to know. From Larry, a veritable
sarvatantrasvatantra, I have learned what devotion to Sanskrit learning looks like. I was lucky to
study Mīmāṃsā and Vedānta with him many summers ago, imbibing vicariously his own training
with stalwarts of the disciplines who have now passed on. From Wayne I have received insight
into how to define terms clearly both for a non-specialist audience, and for my own
understanding. All of them have shaped my pedagogy and research.
I am grateful to Christopher Minkowski and Rosalind O'Hanlon at Oxford University for
inviting me to participate in the last iteration of the “Early Modern South Asia” workshop, and
providing me the opportunity to publish my first peer-reviewed article in the journal South Asian
History and Culture. Conversations with them have led to an edited volume, Scholar
Intellectuals in Early Modern India (Routledge, 2015), and to new avenues of research into the
intersection of social and intellectual history in premodern India. I look forward to more such
discussions during my postdoctoral term as a Junior Research Fellow of Balliol College. I owe
iii
further thanks to Jim Benson and Alexis Sanderson at Oxford for their interest in my work, and,
at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Rembert Lutjeharms, Jessica Frazier, and Gavin Flood. I
am also grateful to Gillian Evison at the Oriental Institute Library for assistance with Sanskrit
manuscripts at the Bodleian Library.
I cannot stress enough the importance of my colleagues and friends across departments at
Columbia University to the success of my graduate career. Research and writing is often done in
silent aloneness, but the very ability to engage in them is impossible without a cadre of warm,
supportive, gifted, insightful, and courageous fellow-travelers. In no particular order, I am
grateful to the following: Daniel del Nido (admittedly primus inter pares), Laura McTighe, Kali
Handelman, Cara Rock-Singer, Jay Ramesh, Mark Balmforth, Simran Jeet Singh, Drew
Thomases, Hamsa Stainton, Sajida Jalalzai, Todd Berzon, Liane Carlson, Yogi Trivedi, Udi
Halperin, Patton Burchett, Jon Keune, Joel Bordeaux, Joel Lee, James Hare, Andrew Ollett,
Tyler Williams, Dalpat Rajpurohit, Manpreet Kaur, Christine Marrewa Karwoski, Shiv
Subramaniam, Amanda Culp, Arthur Dudney, Anand Vivek Taneja, Divya Cherian, Guy Leavitt,
Audrey Truschke, Elaine Fisher, Owen Cornwall, Pasha Mohamad Khan, Krista Dalton, Rex
Barnes, Andrew Jungclaus, Liz Dolfi, Elizabeth Tinsley, Yonatan Brafman, Joe Blankholm, and
Zachary Ugolnik. I would also like to express solidarity with the Graduate Workers of Columbia
University (GWC-UAW Local 2110), which as of writing seeks to gain the right for graduate
student employees of the university to unionize. Organizing for the GWC has taught me the
precarious, sometimes shockingly insufficient conditions under which intellectual labor is
conducted, and that achieving a democratic society is as much a task for those within the
university as those beyond its walls.
iv
Outside of Columbia, I have profited from conversations, studies, and collaborations with
both senior and junior scholars. I am grateful to Yigal Bronner, Ajay Rao, Parimal Patil, Gary
Tubb, David Shulman, V. Narayana Rao, Christian Novetzke, Somadeva Vasudeva, Valerie
Stoker, Madhav Deshpande, Andrew Nicholson, Elisa Freschi, Jonardon Ganeri, Ravi Gupta,
Prashant Keshavmurthy, Archana Venkatesan, Vasudha Narayanan, Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad,
Edwin Bryant, Afsar Mohammad, Chad Bauman, Reid Locklin, Davesh Soneji, Jim Mallinson,
Francis X. Clooney, Kiyokazu Okita, Carla Bellamy, Teena Purohit, John Thatamanil,
Sthaneshwar Timalsina, Robert Yelle, Michael Allen, Shankar Nair, Jason Schwartz, Eric
Steinschneider, Arun Brahmbhatt, Patrick Cummins, Charles Preston, and Sonam Kachru. I also
take this space to thank my various students at Columbia University, Rutgers University, and
Stony Brook University, for teaching me to be a better teacher.
My current academic trajectory would have been impossible without the presence of
mentors at my undergraduate institution. At Stanford I would like to thank Linda Hess, Aishwary
Kumar, Maud Gleason, Bert Lain, Marsh McCall, Richard Martin, Fred Porta, Mark Gonnerman,
Akiba Lerner, Paul Harrison, Azim Nanji, Andrea Lunsford, and Joshua Landy for their
intellectual support, patient instruction, and lasting friendship.
Of course, the people to whom I must give greatest thanks are my parents, Subramanian
Venkatkrishnan and Meenakshi Subramanian, for their emotional, intellectual, and financial
support for my entire educational career. They may not understand all the paths on which my
interests have led me, but they have more faith in me than I do. I owe them more than I can say.
Finally, for S, a luminous source in a dark world. Thank you for the love, compassion,
generosity, and grace. May all who enter their embrace be nourished.
v
For my first Sanskrit teacher,
Dr. Sarasvati Mohan
vīṇāṃ na dhatte kimu śubhravastraṃ
no rājahaṃse śayitā kadāpi |
vidyāpradāne tu na ko 'pi bhedaḥ
sarasvatī sā jagati prasiddhā ||
She never played
a fancy instrument,
dressed in all-white, or
reclined on a royal swan.
But when it came to
imparting knowledge,
she was just as good,
so we knew her as:
Sarasvatī.
vi
1
Chapter 1: Introduction
Let it go. What's the point of talking about the past now?
-Nārāyaṇa, Hitopadeśa, 1.3751
It may be the same flowers
wreathed around your head
time and time again,
but when strung together
in a way never seen before,
they spark new wonder.
-Jayanta Bhaṭṭa (9th C.), Nyāyamañjarī, v.52
A Quick Refresher
This dissertation is about the reception history of a popular Hindu scripture, the
Bhāgavata Purāṇa (BhP), between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries CE. I show how the
BhP challenged and refashioned scholastic writing in Mīmāṃsā and Advaita Vedānta, two
important systems of Sanskrit scriptural interpretation. I situate the shifting discursive registers
of these hermeneutical traditions in particular social contexts, paying special attention to the lives
and careers of scholars in the academic center of Banaras in early modern north India. I trace the
movement and migration of the BhP through a variety of Hindu scholastic and sectarian
communities,3 and examine how singers and storytellers, in both Sanskrit and the vernacular,
mirrored and reproduced the BhP's legacy as a bridge between elite theological reflection and
1 Judit Törszök, trans., Friendly Advice by Nārāyaṇa and King Vikrama's Adventures (New York: New York
University Press; JJC Foundation, 2007), 174: yātu, kim idānīm atikrāntopavarṇanena?
2 Nyāyamañjarī of Jayanta Bhaṭṭa, ed. K.S. Varadacharya (Mysore: Oriental Research Institute, 1969), 1:
tair eva kusumaiḥ pūrvam asakṛtkṛtaśekharāḥ |
apūrvaracane dāmni dadhaty eva kutūhalam ||
3 The vexed politics of using the term “sectarian” in the context of Hinduism have been summarized nicely in
Elaine Fisher, “A New Public Theology: Sanskrit and Society in Seventeenth-century South India” (PhD diss.,
Columbia University, 2013), 1-19.