Ramchandra Shukla as translator of Ernst Haeckel’s “Welträtsel”: Vedanta, Monism and the Search for a Modern Rational Religion

Abstract

Before his rise to eminence as the foremost literary critic and historian of Hindi literature, Ramchandra Shukla (1884-1941) worked as a translator and editor. One of his works for the Nāgarī Pracāriṇī Sabhā’s “Leisure Book Series” (Manoraṅjan Pustakmālā), which sought to offer ‘useful’ literature for the Hindi reading public, was a translation of Ernst Haeckel’s Welträtsel (first published in German in 1899). At the time of its publication in India in 1920, Die Welträtsel (The Riddle of the Universe in English or Vishvprapanc in Shukla’s Hindi translation) counted amongst the most widely read books all over the world. It offered a comprehensive overview of the advances of modern sciences (chiefly in evolutionary biology, psychology, anthropology, and physics) along with an explanation of Haeckel’s monist philosophy, which he regarded as the only rational religion in line with the insights of modern science. By translating the term ‘monism’ as ‘advaitvad’ into Hindi and by adding a 150-page long introduction to his translation, Shukla sought to highlight the similarities between Haeckel’s scientific monism and Advaita Vedanta (as well as several other strands of Indian philosophy). This allowed Shukla to launch into a complex discussion on materialism, idealism and the role of religion for modern Indian society – thereby intervening in multiple ongoing social debates – while ostensibly remaining tied to the seemingly scientific subjects of Haeckl’s book.