87 – Traditional Indian Scholarship on Advaita Vedanta in Colonial India

It is still largely unexplained in scholarship how the now hegemonic view that Advaita Vedanta is the central philosophy of Hinduism came about. In addition to Vivekananda, the influence of European Orientalism is usually cited. Otherwise, research concentrates on the pre-colonial period and mostly on the supposed classics. The reception of Advaita Vedanta in colonial India by traditional Indian scholars has received only limited attention. This applies on the one hand to Brahmanical Sanskrit scholarship, but at least as much to "vernacular Vedanta" (Michael S. Allen), i.e. the diverse scholarly discourses in the so-called "vernacular" languages. The panel aims to shed more light on this neglected aspect by focusing on different regional and vernacular contexts.

Convenors

Michael Bergunder
- Julian Strube -