The treatment for «Bhagavadgita» by thinkers of the Bengal Renaissance: motives and interpretation

The article are given up to study the original discovery of philosophical poem «Bhagavadgita» (from epic «Mahabharata») by Modern Indian thinkers in the Bengal Renaissance XIX early XX centuries. The breaking of brahmanic interpretative monopoly and affirmation of non-dogmatic explanation of scriptures in Bengal thought were motivated by thinkers' aspiration to discover scriptures' ideas and meaning for Indians. The general approach to «Bhagavadgita» text is characterized as philosophical and creative, because the thinkers demonstrated both wide vision of ideas and generation of new meanings. Author of the article examines the main vectors of the treatment for «Bhagavadgita» by Bengal thinkers. First treatment for «Bhagavadgita» had appeared in works be Rammohun Roy for confirmation his religious-reformist monotheistic and anti-ritualistic ideas. This motive of confirmation was main in treatment for this text by brahmoist (leaders and members of society «Brahmo Samaj», founded by Rammohun Roy in 1828) thinkers, such as Devendranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore and others. This treatment for «Bhagavadgita» characterized as instrumental: the text is means in motion to reformist ends. Second vector of treatment is functional, grounded on motive of studying the «Bhagavadgita» meanings in Modern context. This motive had presented in the works of Neo-Hindu thinkers such as Bankimchandra Chatterjee and Swami Vivekananda. But traditional functions of «Bhagavadgita», both ritual ant translation of culture in times (V. S. Sementzov) are not used by Bengal Neo-Hindu thinkers. «Bhagavadgita» function is the explanation of essence and content of Hinduism, the grounding its values and ethics, the enlightening of Hindus, heterodoxies and foreigners about Indian culture. During the creative explanation of his ideas, Bengal philosophers had made new unorthodox tradition of the text interpretation, had widened spectrum of situation, in which must treat to «Bhagavadgita» and had proved paramount importance of man's active work based on ethical value for development of India.

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