Prof. Ferdinando Sardella
Swedish scholar of the history of religions, Hinduism, and religious studies
“Modern Hinduism and Personalism in Colonial Bengal”
Although new forms of Hinduism can be found in the early modern period, it is during the British colonial period that educated Hindus become firmly acquainted with modernity. Calcutta, the then capital of the British Empire in South Asia, will become for more than a century the fertile ground for new reform and revivalist movements that would have a great impact in the genealogy of modern Hinduism. One of those movements was the Gaudiya Math and Mission, founded by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (1874- 1937). The Gaudiya Math opened centers in London and Berlin during the 1930s and gained the patronage of important political figures both in India and in Europe. Bhaktisiddhanta’s idea about the person as a foundational element of reality echoes today within several new Hindu movements and challenges a number of conventional perceptions of Modern Hinduism.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016 4:00—5:00 pm
WATSON FORUM
Sponsored by the Asian Studies Program and the Religious Studies Department