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The quest to balance the material and the spiritual has a long history
in the Hindu tradition, as it does in the West. While Hindus recognize
desire to be a central human value, they also see it as a cause of
human suffering. This tension persists within contemporary Hinduism,
especially among an emergent middle class that seeks to balance spiri-
tual fulfillment and worldly success. If we are to understand recent
manifestations of Hinduism, we would do well to explore their roots in
the colonial period. That is the goal of this essay, which explores the
affinity between one early colonial version of Vedānta and the socio-
economic activities of its bourgeois promoters. Working from a rare
set of Bengali discourses delivered at meetings of the Tattvabodhinī
Sabhā during its inaugural year (1839–40), this essay demonstrates
how a rescripted Vedānta provided members with a worldview that
legitimated both their spiritual concerns and their worldly activities.
Desire (kāma) is the root of the universe. From desire all beings are
born. —Śilpa Prakāśa (White 2006: 97)
What defines bourgeois society is not needs, but wants. —Bell (1996: 22)
1
Portions of this essay were first presented in talks at Purdue University, Emory University, and
the University of Chicago. I would like to thank Tithi Bhattacharya, Laurie Patton, Paul Courtright,
and Valerie Ritter for inviting me to discuss my work. Since then the essay has benefited from the
comments of anonymous readers, whom I would also like to thank. Funding to support this
research was provided by Illinois Wesleyan University in the form of an Artistic and Scholarly
Development Grant in 2002.
This essay addresses the latter task insofar as it seeks to explore the
roots of the reform-based model of Hinduism to which White alludes.
As early colonial Hindus found themselves inhabiting new social and
economic worlds, and as they simultaneously began to authorize them-
selves to advocate new forms of Hindu life suited to these worlds, the
age-old problem of balancing desire and ultimate salvation resurfaced.
In what follows, I would like to explore one expression of a modern
middle-class Vedānta as found in a rare Bengali text published in 1841.
Consideration of this text enriches our understanding of the impact of
reformist values on the construction and expression of contemporary
Hinduism while providing concrete evidence of one religious attempt to
balance the spiritual and the material. There may be no neat or linear
trajectory from the world of the Tattvabodhinī Sabhā to that of twenti-
eth-century Hindu belief and practice, but this early colonial attempt to
wrestle with desire as a motive force in human life at least helps us give
middle-class Hinduism a history. Along the way, this investigation will
also allow us to reflect upon how we might make comparisons with
modern western religious behavior while retaining a sense for the dis-
tinctive modernity of the Hindu case.
2
An exploration of “middle class-ness” in contemporary Nepal can be found in Liechty (2003).
The now-classic study of the Indian middle class is Misra (1961).
Page 4 of 26 Journal of the American Academy of Religion
3
Tantra, too, is a hot consumer item in today’s new age. See White 2006: ch. 9 and the essays
in part 2 of McDermott and Kripal (2003).
4
This is an approach adopted by Rachel Dwyer, as well, in her study of Indian cinema and the
middle class (2000).
5
For brief, but insightful, summaries of the conceptual concerns surrounding the employment
of words such as “bourgeois” and “middle class,” see Williams (1976). For an expansive definition
of the bourgeois as “those who appropriate surplus value they did not create,” see Sitton (1996).
Hatcher: Bourgeois Vedānta Page 5 of 26
The question raised by this essay is, What are the culturally specific
roots of today’s middle-class Hinduism? If Joshi (2001: 3) is correct to
claim that modernity in India “was built on existing foundations,” we
must attempt to identify the kinds of cultural foundations upon which
reformist Hindus based their self-understanding. I would like to follow
the lead of Joshi (and Liechty as well) by attempting to capture the
Hindu middle-class cultural project in its historical specificity. I am par-
ticularly interested in tracing the colonial roots for the Vedantic vision
of Hinduism as these can be observed in the work of one religious
movement from early colonial India. Recent reports of the Vedantic
gurus imparting spiritual wisdom to MBAs at the Wharton School only
serves to underscore the on-going centrality of Vedānta within contem-
porary understandings of Hinduism.
This modern project of defining Hinduism in terms of Vedānta is
associated with the likes of Rammohan Roy in the early nineteenth
century and with later colonial and postcolonial Hindu apologists like
Swami Vivekananda and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. These and a host of
lesser-known philosophers and swamis helped to enshrine Vedānta as
the veritable essence of Hinduism (Nikhilananda 1946). To consider
precisely why and how this particular construction of Hinduism
became possible, we need to give further attention to the earliest phases
of modern Hindu reform. That is the focus of the present essay, which
examines the program of an early Bengali religious organization, the
Tattvabodhinī Sabhā. Consideration of the Tattvabodhinī Sabhā allows
us to improve our understanding of what made Vedānta attractive to its
early colonial proponents.
6
Information on the Tattvabodhinī Sabhā may be found in Tagore (1909 and [1898] 1980)
Damen (1988), Kopf (1979), Sen (1979), and Hatcher (2006 and forthcoming).
Page 6 of 26 Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Though the motive force behind the creation of the Sabhā was apparently
spiritual, we shall see the degree to which the group’s theology also
worked to legitimate its members’ worldly aspirations.
The ostensible mission of the Sabhā in its earliest years was to
educate the Bengali public regarding the truth of Vedānta. This project
had begun a generation earlier in the work of Rammohan Roy, who
sought to authorize and modernize Vedānta through an ambitious
program of translation, publication, and public debate. Rammohan
creatively engaged both the Upanisads and the classical tradition of
Advaita Vedānta from a perspective ˙ of Enlightenment rationality.
A Deist and a practitioner of a rationalist textual hermeneutic, Rammohan
sought to re-tool Vedānta to fit the spiritual needs of his generation.
His efforts during the 1820s to articulate a rational and modern form of
Vedantic theism culminated in the creation of the Brāhmo Samāj in
1828, an organization that would have immense influence across India.7
Rammohan left India in 1828 to travel to England, where he died in
1833. After his departure and subsequent death, the Brāhmo Samāj
experienced a serious decline in membership and vitality. In fact, little
was done to advance his project until the founding of the
Tattvabodhinī Sabhā. The formation of the Tattvabodhinī Sabhā, and
the steps it took toward the further interpretation of Vedānta for the
modern world, thus mark a second crucial moment in the emergence
of modern, Vedantic Hinduism.
Hitherto our best avenue for entering into the world of the Sabhā has
been the group’s own Bengali journal, the Tattvabodhinī Patrikā.
However, the first issue of the Tattvabodhinī Patrikā appeared in 1843,
four years after the founding of the Sabhā. As such the Patrikā offers
only indirect access to the earliest years of the Sabhā’s history. However,
there is one text that provides us with access to the earliest ideas of the
Tattvabodhinī Sabhā. That text is Sabhyadiger vaktrtā, a short Bengali
tract published in Calcutta in 1841.8 Its title means˙ simply “Discourses
by Members,” and it records twenty-one discourses (vaktrtā) delivered
before the Tattvabodhinī Sabhā during the first year of ˙its existence,
1839–40. These discourses offer us a precious glimpse at the articulation
of modern Vedānta when that category was very much still in its infancy.
Unfortunately, Sabhyadiger vaktrtā does not indicate directly who
delivered each of its twenty-one short ˙ discourses. What it provides is a
system of Bengali initials at the end of each discourse. These were
7
Rammohan’s English-language tracts can be found in Roy (1906).
8
The only known copy of this text can be found in the British Library, London.
Hatcher: Bourgeois Vedānta Page 7 of 26
9
A complete annotated translation of Sabhyadiger vaktrtā will be available in Hatcher
˙
(forthcoming). In this work, I provide extensive discussion of historical context as well as treat the
problem of authorship.
10
I follow the example of Mosse (1985), who uses “middle class” and “bourgeois”
interchangeably. Williams (1976: 37–40) long ago noted that “bourgeois” is a “very difficult word
to use in English” (37).
11
On distinguishing between class stratification and “stratification by social prestige,” see
Bottomore (1966: 25).
12
Writing about Bombay, Dwyer prefers to speak of the “middle class,” but acknowledges that
for many Indians to be middle class is in fact to consider oneself among the elite (Dwyer 2000:
59). She provides useful insights into the tensions among a “grande bourgeoisie” drawn from
aristocrats, an “emerging petit bourgeoisie,” and the “new middle classes” who situate themselves
between these poles (Dwyer 2000: 90–92).
Page 8 of 26 Journal of the American Academy of Religion
13
Liechty’s exploration of how the Nepali middle-class struggles to achieve a balance between
“two devalued social poles” reveals the continuity of contemporary practices with colonial patterns
(2003: 67).
14
On the idea of “affinity,” see Weber (1958: 27).
15
Joanne Waghorne finds in Weber a resource for thinking through the colonial and
postcolonial experience of an emergent Hindu middle class (2005: 13–16; see Waghorne 1999 for
an earlier version of her argument).
16
The importance of the bhadralok as a category for understanding modern Bengali society
received important attention in the 1960s and 1970s. Bloomfield portrayed the bhadralok as a local
“dominant elite” who were, “distinguished by many aspects of their behavior—their deportment,
their speech, their dress, their style in housing, their eating habits, their occupations, and their
associations—quite as much as fundamentally by their cultural values and their sense of social
propriety” (Bloomfield 1968: 5–6; compare Banerjee 1989: 54).
Hatcher: Bourgeois Vedānta Page 9 of 26
17
Mukherjee (1977: 31) remarks that although bhadralok was largely a Hindu group, caste
status was not in fact a basic requirement.
18
This sketch of the bhadralok draws from Bhattacharya’s recent analysis (2005), which builds
upon the work of Sarkar (1997).
19
By the late nineteenth century, this ethic and sentiment played an important role in
promoting early forms of nationalist mobilization. George Mosse’s work on bourgeois
respectability and European nationalism suggests possibilities for conceptualizing the relationship
between bhadralok culture and Indian nationalism (Mosse 1985).
Page 10 of 26 Journal of the American Academy of Religion
20
It has been estimated that by 1876 at least 200 voluntary associations had been formed in
Calcutta (Sanyal 1980: 14, see also Ahmed 1976).
21
Hatcher (1996b) explores the impact of this revolution on the lives and activities of Sanskrit
pandits.
22
The group has been called a curious combination of modern voluntary association and
traditional caste tribunal (Mukherjee 1977: 54).
Hatcher: Bourgeois Vedānta Page 11 of 26
A BOURGEOIS VEDĀNTA
For a text created by a group with a strong commitment to the
Vedānta, it may come as a surprise to learn that those things often
associated with Vedānta—that is, the metaphysics of ātman and
brahman; the problem of illusion (māyā); or the characteristics of ulti-
mate reality—are far from prominent in the discourses of Sabhyadiger
vaktrtā. To understand this, we must appreciate the degree to which the
˙ sought to distance itself from the classical Advaita Vedānta
group
associated with the great philosopher Śaṅkarācārya (ca. eighth c. CE),
in which such themes are highlighted. Dissaffection with Śaṅkara’s
non-dualist philosophy had begun with Rammohan Roy, in whose
vision of Vedānta renunciation was replaced by the ideal of worldly
engagement, an ideal he captured in the image of the “godly house-
holder,” or brahmanistha grhastha (Hatcher 1996a: ch. 8). Though
˙˙ ˙
Page 12 of 26 Journal of the American Academy of Religion
23
Engardio and McGregor (2006) inform us that an executive at Sprint Nextel Corporation has
written a book on the Bhagavad-gītā and business leadership.
24
Interestingly, none of the authors represented in Sabhyadiger vaktrtā cites the Bhagavad Gītā
as a proof text, preferring a selection of Upanisads and other sources, ˙such as the Laws of Manu,
the Mahābhārata, and the Kulārnava Tantra. ˙
˙
Hatcher: Bourgeois Vedānta Page 13 of 26
when their obedience falls even the slightest bit short. Eventually they
reach their appointed hour, overcome by old age and death. Then there
are those who have copious wealth and various avenues for enjoyment,
but who are unable to enjoy it because of illness (SV: 18).25
looks at a mountain from afar and because of the sun’s rays perceives
it to be covered with all sorts of delightful gems. In the same way, a
person under the sway of sense objects gazes at unearned riches and
imagines them to promise endless possibilities for happiness. And yet,
no sooner do those riches come to him by dint of countless afflictions
than he is left unsatisfied. Driven by a longing for happiness, he once
again grows agitated to acquire more riches. This kind of thirst for
sense objects can never be overcome through riches (SV: 14).
Is there a single member of this Society who doesn’t know how much
the world is helped by business? Through their varied efforts, mer-
chants determine what sorts of essential goods are wanting in various
nations. Then they diligently set about producing the various goods
that will address these needs. In this they are capable—at one and the
same time—of helping both their own nation and foreign nations.
They provide continual support to the farmers and craftsmen of their
own nation who grow bountiful corn and fruits and who make all
sorts of clothing and jewelry. And by distributing this corn, fruit,
clothing, and jewelry to other lands where they are needed, they
increase the general welfare. It is by the very grace of these merchants
that we have come to live in the one place where all these delightful
25
Abbreviating Sabhyadiger vaktrtā as SV, and providing the page numbers as found in the
˙
original edition of 1841. All translations are my own [for the complete text, see Hatcher
(forthcoming)].
Page 14 of 26 Journal of the American Academy of Religion
goods are prepared, here on the shore of the mighty ocean. Right now,
as I deliver this very discourse, how many merchants from how many
nations are busily working to promote our happiness?
Do you suppose it is the case that all these merchants have gone
into business merely to work for our happiness? Do all the sea captains
brave the ocean waves out of a desire for our well being? This cannot
be so. It is practically a universal truth that people exert themselves out
of a desire to increase their own wealth, reputation, and fame (SV: 32).
Thanks to the force of human desire, marvelous trade goods flow into
the colonial metropolis from around the world; men grow wealthier by
the day. And it just so happens that the desire for wealth and power
even serves to foster the “welfare of the country” (SV: 14):
26
Numerous voluntary associations were dedicated to the creation and publication of school
books to promote the interests of native education (Hatcher 1996a).
Hatcher: Bourgeois Vedānta Page 15 of 26
of the self (ātmabodha; see SV: 15). As in the Upanisads, the fundamen-
˙
tal question is, Who are you? Nevertheless, this is a bourgeois rescripting
of the Upanisadic message, as is made clear from the attempt to demon-
strate that Vedānta provides a resource for promoting the betterment of
one’s world. The bhadralok authors of these discourses are intent upon
spiritual comfort, but they also seek worldly happiness. The way to
achieve both ends is to cultivate sense-restraint.
The author of the first discourse reminds us that it is only through
sense-restraint that ultimate reality can be known and liberation attained.
As he puts it, “true worship of Brahman consists of restraining the senses
and grasping the teaching of the Vedas and Vedānta. On the other hand,
if one disregards both reason and the Śāstras and lets one’s fickle senses
grow strong, one cannot attain the Supreme Lord” (SV: 1).27 Several of
the authors argue that since God has given human beings the power to
restrain their senses, it must certainly be something within our grasp.
However, the authors of Sabhyadiger vaktrtā share the conviction
˙
that the key to sense-restraint is not radical renunciation, as it is in many
classical traditions, but simply diligence and personal effort. They suggest
that it is pointless to wander off to the forest to subdue one’s passions,
since distraction is always possible, even in the depths of the jungle. The
better strategy is to pursue sense-restraint within the ordinary world of
family, business, and government (SV: 27–29). Our senses and our pas-
sions do not need eradication; they just need subduing. One passage, in
particular makes this argument in straightforward terms:
If all the passions were destroyed once and for all, it would be difficult
for us to carry out the duties of worldly life.
Without lust, there would be no bonds of love with our wives and
sons. Without an object of our love, we would cease to exert ourselves
in caring and providing for others; we would go about listless and con-
fused, doing false deeds. Caring only to find some way to feed our own
stomachs, and deprived of all the other pleasures of life, we would
descend even lower than the beasts.
Without anger, there would be no shame. All of a sudden everyone
would be stealing. Children, servants and wives, etc., would not live as
they ought to. How could the duties of worldly life be carried out in
such a situation?
Without selfishness, there would also be no friendship on earth. No
one would share in the suffering and happiness of others; no one
27
A common refrain in these discourses is the pursuit of “happiness in this life and liberation
in the next” (SV: 2).
Page 16 of 26 Journal of the American Academy of Religion
would lift a hand to help anyone else. People would scarcely feel it
necessary to care for their wives and children.
Therefore, respected members, be diligent in steadfastly controlling
lust, anger, etc., and reflect upon their proper functioning, that you
may find salvation from all misfortune (SV: 17).
28
As Taylor (1989: 277) notes, the Deist ethic based on a vision of “providential order” can be
“an extremely conservative doctrine.” On the modern western idea that “individual prosperity
redounds to the general welfare,” see Taylor (2002: 101).
Hatcher: Bourgeois Vedānta Page 17 of 26
someone who mistakenly says there is no ruler when in fact there is.
Such a person violates the law and winds up being punished. The
same goes for someone who mistakenly says there is no Lord and no
afterlife. Such a person is tainted by the sins of various evil deeds and
eventually meets with misfortune. Not being able to remember the
Supreme Lord—who is our savior and refuge—when confronted by
some fear or anxiety is only to have one’s fears redoubled. One mista-
kenly thinks there is no afterlife. One mistakenly thinks that at death
the Self is destroyed. With every passing day one grows more sorrowful
at the thought of death. Then, on the day of one’s death, one plunges
into a sea of hopelessness (SV: 13).
Here the emphasis on what Weber (1958: 25) might have called the
“rational structures of law” seems to confirm and foster the emergence
of bourgeois norms of civil life. And the largely conservative tone of the
addresses suggests the prevailing bhadralok attitude of the 1830s regard-
ing the providential character of British rule. Provided they recognized
their place within the larger order of British law and commerce, the
bhadralok were confident they would prosper. Vedānta as deployed
in these discourses thus serves to legitimize the cultural choices of the
bhadralok by naturalizing their worldview.
Powerful tools for legitimating the social status of the bhadralok are
found in the related idioms of “law” and “duty.” The idiom of law is
invoked in two registers. On the one hand, it serves to remind us of the
regularity and purposefulness of God’s creation. Creation conforms to
the Creator’s laws (niyama or dharma). Were there to be any relaxation
in this law, “the world would be completely destroyed” (SV: 8).29 On
the other hand, the idiom of law is used to identify the kinds of duties
human beings must observe. We are told that the religiously awakened
person is one who “performs all his actions in life in accordance with
the Lord’s laws” (SV: 13). Weber’s discussion of the Calvinist view of
duty rings remarkably well in this context: “The world exists to serve
the glorification of God … The elected Christian is in the world only to
increase this glory … by fulfilling His commandments … But God
requires social achievement of the Christian because he wills that social
life be organized according to His … purpose” (1958: 108).30
29
Consider the fourth discourse, where we read that it is “through the laws of this merciful
Supreme Lord … [that] a child is born after spending ten carefree months in its mother’s womb”
(SV: 8).
30
Compare this with another of Weber’s comments on bourgeois religion: “Not union with
God or contemplative surrender to God … but God-willed action with the feeling of being God’s
‘instrument’ could here become the preferred religious habitus” (qtd in Ringer 2000: 154).
Page 18 of 26 Journal of the American Academy of Religion
What holds this worldview together is the trust that both God’s
divine law and all human laws are reflected in our own internal sense
of duty. Weber (1958: 109) spoke of “natural intuition,” but the
members of the Sabhā invoke the idiom of dharma, or “duty,” further
reminding us how this bourgeois ethic found expression in indigenous
categories. Dharma connotes both the cosmic or divine order and the
rules of duty for humans to follow. It also speaks of that inner sense,
that “intuition,” of how things should be. The idiom of dharma thus
proves to be a powerful one for the Tattvabodhinī group because it
offers a middle ground between theistic and humanistic morality. It
captures a sense of the interpenetration of divine law, human legis-
lation, and innate human morality.
Through the idiom of dharma, the Sabhā also arrived at a convin-
cing argument for legitimating their worldly activities. Put simply, to
engage in profit-making business could be seen as part of the omnis-
cient Lord’s creative plan. Business is good not simply when it is done
well, but when it is done according to dharma, which is to say with the
right intention—with diligence and concern for the well-being of
others. The final discourse in Sabhyadiger vaktrtā leaves us with an
˙
image of such a bourgeois hero. He is, in the words of one speaker, a
“great soul” (mahātmā):
31
It is worth comparing the emphasis in these discourses on diligence and self-restraint with
Weber’s emphasis on “the alert self-control of the Puritan” (1958: 619).
Hatcher: Bourgeois Vedānta Page 19 of 26
their new-found religious vision, but also for the way they seem to
have found a framework for rationalizing their success and happiness in
this life.
It would take us too far beyond these discourses to trace the afterlife
of this bourgeois vision. We might simply note two important develop-
ments. First, no sooner had the Sabhā been established than the hopes
of the bhadralok for expanded opportunities in the colonial public
sphere began to crumble. As Sarkar (1997: 226) has written, the 1840s
witnessed “the end of large-scale Bengali entrepreneurship, with the
collapse of the Union Bank being often taken as a benchmark.” It
was during this same period that the assets of Carr, Tagore, and Co.
were sold; the demise of this venture that had begun so promisingly
under Debendranath’s father, signaled the coming demise of bhadralok
business interests in colonial Bengal (Kling 1976: 242). Second, groups
like the Sabhā began to come under increasing Christian criticism after
the mid-1840s. Responses to such critique varied, but in time the
defensive posture required by such exchanges would sow the seeds of
more reactionary forms of Hindu assertion, beginning already in
Rajnarain Bose’s widely hailed address from 1872 on the “Superiority
of Hinduism” (Bose 1872).
As the century progressed, the melioristic bourgeois theology of
the earliest Sabhā would begin to seem quaint and a tad irrelevant,
especially in the face of growing British racism after the events of
1857 and the proclamation of British imperial rule. At the same time,
the fundamental conservatism of the Sabhā’s bourgeois worldview
would have to face increasing pressures from within the Brāhmo
movement, with which it had become synonymous by the late 1850s.
Debates over the need to reform society would eventually create fis-
sures within the larger Brāhmo movement itself. In light of such
developments, the discourses recorded in Sabhyadiger vaktrtā may
now seem rather naïve and perhaps a tad self-absorbed. However, ˙ they
reveal an important, if short-lived, moment in the early decades of
colonial Calcutta when merchants and entrepreneurs were looking to
define a new cultural space by redefining their religious and economic
worlds.
CONCLUSION
The overall optimism of the original Tattvabodhinī Sabhā and its
confidence in the promise of prosperity through landholding, trade,
and benevolent government, is signaled by the rhetorical question that
Page 20 of 26 Journal of the American Academy of Religion
32
Precedent for employing such a rubric can be found in the concept of “protestant Buddhism”
developed by Gananath Obeyesekere; for a short overview of the model, see Gombrich (1988:
ch. 7).
33
Additionally, the present essay serves to illustrate the point that when it comes to modernity
we should speak not of the global spread of a singular phenomenon but of the emergence of
“multiple modernities” (Taylor 2002: 91).
Page 22 of 26 Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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