"Rammohan’s Contribution Significant"

    

    Rammohan’s conception of “the theistic Brahmo, the cornerstone of his reformation movement”, was very likely based on the published work of Ram Ram Basu. Rammohan’s contribution to the “Hindu Renaissance” is significant. His view of the Hindu tradition is an interesting one; he fought for what he believed was the cultural purification of Hinduism, and the monotheistic theology of the Brahmo Samaj was basic to his view of authentic Hinduism.

    Roy’s Brahmo Sabha was the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj. These organizations were based on his views about Vedic Hinduism. His basic idea that “all major religions had similar traditions in spite of diversity of form became the universalist credo of the Samaj. He could not, however, resolve the conflict between the “universality of mankind and the psychological need to maintain one’s Hindu identity”; this conflict led to the later split in the Samaj, between Keshub Sen and Debendranath Tagore.

    There is, however, another aspect of Rammohan’s career that is especially relevant to us, in that it specifically concerns his relationship to Tantrism. As Suniti Kumar Chatteiji puts it, “he had made a study of Tantra.” and it was said that he even followed some (left-handed) Tantra practices. Niharranjan Ray also points to his close association with the (Tantric) avadhut Hariharananda Swami and his regard for the “Mahanirvana Tantra” in particular. Rammohan’s “acceptance” of Tantra may in fact have been due to the traditional “liberalism in Bengal’s religious thoughts and practices(which can) be traced to Tantra to some extent”, according to Dasgupta. Perhaps it was also because he was impressed by Tantra’s liberal attitudes towards caste, marriage, “suttee" and other practices, and also because he felt that the main strains of Tantra ran parallel with Vedanta.

    Turning from Roy, we come to another famous member of the Bengali intelligentsia in this period, namely, Bankimchandra Chatteiji. He was the first graduate of Calcutta University, and in his articles and novels he gave voice to the orthodox party, which was still strong. In his “Krishnacharita" he attacked Christianity, comparing Krishna and Christ to the latter’s disadvantage. Bankim felt that English education was rapidly destroying Indian culture; he stressed that English values were not necessarily good for Indians. In his later novels like "Ananda Math" he extolled Kali as the goddess of the Hindus; his hymn to Kali, “Bande Mataram,” became the slogan of the early nationalists.

    He was, however, inimical to Tantrism. In 1860 he once met a Kapalik at Neguan; the latter was the prototype of the Kapalik in Bankim’s novel “Kapalkundala". He gave this character the most repulsive features, showing clearly his attitude to Tantrism which he saw as “one of the ugliest and (most) fearsome vestiges of the Middle Ages”. Many years later, in his polemics with Hastie regarding Hinduism, he referred to this novel in which he had expressed his “strong disapproval” of this part of Hinduism. In other words, Bankim, who was supposedly the voice of the orthodox party in this period, was extremely hostile to Tantrism; in contrast his precursor Rammohan, though the leader of the reformists, was more accepting of the Tantric tradition.

    The reform movements, like Rammohan Roy’s, however, affected only the English-educated intelligentsia; they had very little influence on the majority of Indians, who were rural. The intelligentsia were, however, also affected by the interest in Indian culture evinced by European Indologists. As a result, English-educated Indians strangely began to offer “scientific” interpretations of all aspects of Hinduism. In that period of eclecticism, the poet Hemchandra Bandyopadhyay, in his famous poem, “Dasha-m ahavidya” , tried to correlate the Tantric “DashaMahavidyas” with the theory of evolution.

    At the same time, well-known nineteenth-century writers like Michael Madhusudhan Dutta, who had become a Christian and then lapsed into being a free-thinker, composed many Shakta lyrics, of which his poem “Vijaya” is an excellent example. Kamalakanta Bhattacharya popularized the Tantric teachings; his “Sadhakaranjana" explains the basic principles of the Tantras in simple verse. The tradition of the Shakta “Mangalakavyas" was also maintained, for example by the romantic poet Biharilal Chakravarty.

    Also, Durga Puja, the great autumnal festival of the goddess, maintained its hold on the public. Michael Madhusudhan Dutta’s beautiful poem “Vijaya”, mentioned above, was in the tradition of the Vijaya (farewell) songs, which depict the mother’s (and Menaka’s) feelings when the daughter (Durga) returns to her husband’s home. Thus, Durga Puja remained the Bengali “national festival”. This festival, though popular all over India, is celebrated with especial enthusiasm in Eastern India, particularly Bengal.

    In this connection, it may be mentioned that the famous Shakta Tantric text, the Kalikapurana, has been frequently used in the Durga Puja ceremonies. It was popular among Sanskrit writers from the fourteenth century on, and was used as a guide during Durga Puja rituals in Bengal and Assam; in fact, according to Dr Sanjukta Gupta, it is still used for this purpose. Incidentally the Kalikapurana was notorious among European scholars for the human sacrifice described in one of its chapters, but these sensational rites form only a minor part of its rituals. Of more relevance to our topic, this important text mentions, in connection with the Durga Puja festival, the feast of Shabarotsava” This feast of the late-medieval, and even recent times, involved the singing of sexual songs and the miming of sexual actions, as the Durga image was taken for immersion.