The Brahmin and his Bible: Rammohun Roy’s Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On

161 Pages·1.546 MB·English

by  R. S. Sugirtharajah

.d
e
vre
se
r sth
g
ir llA
.clP
g
n
ih
silb
u
P
yru
b
sm
o
o
lB
.9
1
0
2
©
th
g
iryp
o
C
Sugirtharajah, R. S.. The Brahmin and His Bible : Rammohun Roy's Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
THE BRAHMIN AND HIS BIBLE
.d
e
vre
se
r sth
g
ir llA
.clP
g
n
ih
silb
u
P
yru
b
sm
o
o
lB
.9
1
0
2
©
th
g
iryp
o
C
Sugirtharajah, R. S.. The Brahmin and His Bible : Rammohun Roy's Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
ii
.d
e
vre
se
r sth
g
ir llA
.clP
g
n
ih
silb
u
P
yru
b
sm
o
o
lB
.9
1
0
2
©
th
g
iryp
o
C
Sugirtharajah, R. S.. The Brahmin and His Bible : Rammohun Roy's Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
THE BRAHMIN AND HIS BIBLE
Rammohun Roy’s Precepts
of Jesus 200 Years On
R. S. Sugirtharajah
.d
e
vre
se
r sth
g
ir llA
.clP
g
n
ih
silb
u
P
yru
b
sm
o
o
lB
.9
1
0
2
©
th
g
iryp
o
C
Sugirtharajah, R. S.. The Brahmin and His Bible : Rammohun Roy's Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
T&T CLARK
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK
1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA
BLOOMSBURY, T&T CLARK and the T&T Clark logo are trademarks
of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain 2019
Copyright © R.S. Sugirtharajah, 2019
R.S. Sugirtharajah has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act, 1988, to be identifed as Author of this work.
For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. vii constitute an
extension of this copyright page.
Cover design: Terry Woodley
Cover image: Statue of Ram Mohan Roy, 1772≠1833, in College Green,
Bristol, England. Stu’s Images/Wikimedia Commons.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publishers.
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for,
any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given
in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher
regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased
to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes.
.de A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
vre
ser sth A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
g
ir llA ISBN: HB: 978-0-5676-8568-1
.clP ePDF: 978-0-5676-8569-8
gn ePUB: 978-0-5676-8571-1
ih
silb
uP Typeset by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd.
yru
b
sm To fnd out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com
o
o and sign up for our newsletters.
lB
.9
1
0
2
©
th
g
iryp
o
C
Sugirtharajah, R. S.. The Brahmin and His Bible : Rammohun Roy's Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
Publisher’s note viii
INTRODUCTION 1
Chapter 1
TRIMMING THE TEXT, MUTILATING THE MESSAGE 5
Chapter 2
THE REFORMER AND HIS REASONS FOR COMPILING
THE PRECEPTS 9
Chapter 3
THE RAJAH AND HIS REDUCED VERSION 13
Chapter 4
PUBLISH AND BE PILLORIED 21
Chapter 5
THE BENGALI AND HIS BIBLICAL ENGAGEMENTS 27
Chapter 6
VEDAS AND THE VETHAGAMAS 35
Chapter 7
.d
evre GOSPEL HARMONIES, BIBLE VERSIONS AND TRANSLATIONS 39
se
r sth Chapter 8
g
ir llA HEATHENISH AND IRRATIONAL DOCTRINES 45
.clP
gn Chapter 9
ih
silb MODEST PROPOSALS, UNEXPLAINED PROPOSITIONS 53
u
P
yru
b Chapter 10
sm
oo TO CONVERT OR NOT TO CONVERT 57
lB
.9
1
02 Chapter 11
©
th THE MLECCHA AND HIS MORAL CODES 61
g
iryp
o
C
Sugirtharajah, R. S.. The Brahmin and His Bible : Rammohun Roy's Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
vi Contents
Chapter 12
THE INDIAN REFORMER, THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT
AND THEIR DESIGNER GOSPELS 69
Chapter 13
HERMENEUTICAL ACHIEVEMENTS: STRENGTHS AND
SHORTCOMINGS 81
Chapter 14
READING RAMMOHUN ROY TODAY 89
THE PRECEPTS OF JESUS 97
Bibliography 143
General Index 146
Scriptural References 148
.d
e
vre
se
r sth
g
ir llA
.clP
g
n
ih
silb
u
P
yru
b
sm
o
o
lB
.9
1
0
2
©
th
g
iryp
o
C
Sugirtharajah, R. S.. The Brahmin and His Bible : Rammohun Roy's Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Most author acknowledgements start with a routine cliché ‘I couldn’t have written
this book without ….’ Like all clichés there is a considerable amount of truth in
it. Without the help of the people I mention below this book wouldn’t have been
possible:
Dominic Mattos, Editorial Director, Bloomsbury T&T Clark, who responded
to my email within a few seconds of sending the proposal and who has since then
shown tremendous interest in the project and continued confdence in my work;
Sarah Blake, the editorial assistant at Bloomsbury for dealing with my questions
with care and sensitivity and skilfully guiding the manuscript through various
stages of production;
Ralph Broadbent for his perceptive reading of the manuscript and for his smart
suggestions;
Pat Budgen, Sian Wyre, Helen Morten, Lorraine Fletcher, Susan Wiyzell and
Stephanie Rose all of the Orchard Learning Resources Centre at the University
of Birmingham for their expert knowledge, especially in retrieving books that
seemed to have gone missing, and the cordial manner in which they handled my
requests;
Dan O’Connor for more than two decades of stimulating conversation about
and superb guidance in all my research projects; and
fnally, my wife Sharada for her intellectual support and sharing her wisdom in
all the writings I do. Her value is beyond words.
R. S. Sugirtharajah
Bournville
24 July 2019
.d
e
vre
se
r sth
g
ir llA
.clP
g
n
ih
silb
u
P
yru
b
sm
o
o
lB
.9
1
0
2
©
th
g
iryp
o
C
Sugirtharajah, R. S.. The Brahmin and His Bible : Rammohun Roy's Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
It is somewhat unusual to publish a note of this sort at the start of a volume. But
serendipity being what it is I hope I may be permitted a few lines for the sake of
record, and I am grateful for Professor Sugirtharajah’s indulgence in this regard.
In 1821, the publishing house of T&T Clark was founded in Edinburgh, and
Rammohun Roy’s Te Precepts of Jesus were just starting to make an impact,
although not of course as a T&T Clark title at that time. It is somehow ftting,
as T&T Clark looks forward to its bicentenary, to be republishing, and making
available and alive again, a work of roughly the same age as ourselves.
In 200 years a lot can change, and through time and acquisition T&T Clark
has come to be part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and is now based in London.
Roy’s own life is the subject of some comment in this book. But he too spent some
time in London, before moving to Bristol, where he died in 1833. Neither Messrs
T&T Clark nor Rammohun Roy could have known that their labours 200 years
ago would still be bearing fruit today, much less that those labours would unite in
a joint publishing endeavour. Moreover, they would also not have known that the
work on that joint endeavour would be taking place in ofces located at 49 Bedford
Square, which just so happened to be where Rammohun Roy lived during his time
in London, as I found out – some months afer having signed this volume up –
when I paused on the steps to read the blue plaque on the outside of the building
in which I work in every day.
Dominic Mattos
Editorial Director
T&T Clark
.d
e
vre
se
r sth
g
ir llA
.clP
g
n
ih
silb
u
P
yru
b
sm
o
o
lB
.9
1
0
2
©
th
g
iryp
o
C
Sugirtharajah, R. S.. The Brahmin and His Bible : Rammohun Roy's Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
INTRODUCTION
In 1820 a pithy booklet of nearly ninety pages rolled of the Baptist Missionary
Press on Circular Road in Calcutta. Te press was renowned for publishing Bibles
in vernacular languages, dictionaries and grammars with the singular purpose
of converting Indians. Te superintendent of the press, W. H. Pearce, would
have anticipated that his new release would further enhance the cause of the
press, which was regarded as an ‘infuential force in the work for Christ and His
Kingdom’ in colonial India, and that it would form part of the long list of suitable
material for India’s evangelization. To the chagrin of the Calcutta missionaries
the text proved to be textually toxic: challenging the version of Christianity
they cherished and contesting its cardinal doctrines, and efectively making
Jesus a mere human being preaching morality. Te author was Rammohun Roy
(1772–1833), a formidable and erudite Brahmin and a good friend of the Baptist
missionaries William Carey, Joshua Marshman and William Ward, with whom
he collaborated in the translation of the Bible into Bengali and also whom he
personally funded for their educational work. Te title of this tiny text was Te
Precepts of Jesus.
Te Precepts was the result of and a response to the prevailing religious, political
and social context of the time. What Roy did was take control of the sacred text of
another religious tradition, empty it of its fundamental tenets and dogmas, reframe
and reduce its essential teachings to a simple moral truth of love of God and love
of one’s neighbour. It was a compilation of the moral teachings of Jesus, chiefy
.d extracted from the frst three Gospels minus genealogies, miracles, historical
e
vre and doctrinal references and allusions. In efect, Te Precepts did away with the
ser sth powerful pillars of evangelical Christianity – the belief in atonement, the doctrine
g of the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus and the self-sufciency of the Scriptures. Roy
ir llA was severely contemptuous of Christian creeds, which he called ‘heathen notions’,
.clP g and believed that anyone rational enough to reject Hindu mythologies would fnd
n
ih them unhelpful. His object was to present the essence of the Gospels, which, he
silbu believed, lay not in the doctrines, as the missionaries insisted, but in the moral
P
yru teachings of Jesus. Roy was attracted to the ethical wisdom of Jesus but repelled by
b
sm the dogmatic garb in which it was wrapped up and presented.
o
o
lB Te Precepts was principally pitched at his fellow Hindus and Christians, but
.9
1 the ensuing controversy indicated that Roy wanted Muslims also to beneft from
0
2
© the social comfort of the ethical teachings of Jesus.
th
g
iryp
o
C
Sugirtharajah, R. S.. The Brahmin and His Bible : Rammohun Roy's Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,