Illinois Professor Studies 19th Century Hindu Renaissance

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Illinois Professor Studies 19th Century Hindu Renaissance

 

Source: http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=213064

BLOOMINGTON, IL, USA, August 20, 2008: When Brian Hatcher, now a professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, first gazed upon a pamphlet of obscure Hindu writings in a London library, he knew he had happened upon something significant. His find, in 1990, marked an exciting moment for a professor delving into his topic: the modernist Hindu movement of the 19th century.

Hatcher translates the Bengali-language pamphlet title as “Discourses by Members” — the members being prominent Indians who called themselves the Truth-Propagating Society (”Tattvabodhini Sabha”). The writings dated to 1839 and 1840. The publication date was 1841. There was no table of contents and only initials to identify authors of 21 discourses.

Research enabled Hatcher to identify with reasonable certainty most of these authors, and through his research he knew the group well. The Truth-Propagating Society was a piece of a Vedanta-Centered Hindu reform movement aimed at bridging the ancient religion into the modern world. Hatcher believes his find at least inches forward the study of modern Hinduism.