Tantra in Modern Bengal From the Perspective of a Global Religious History

Presenter:

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Abstract

In the early twentieth century, the editions and translations by “Arthur Avalon” made a certain understanding of Tantra known to a global readership and almost single-handedly established Tantra as a respected subject of academic enquiry. Until recently, it had been assumed that Arthur Avalon was the pseudonym of John Woodroffe (1865–1936), a British Judge at the Calcutta High Court. While earlier studies have shown that Arthur Avalon should, in fact, be regarded as the collaboration between Woodroffe and learned Bengalis, little effort has been made to understand the work and background of those Indian co-workers.

This paper will demonstrate that those individuals were more than “co-workers” indeed: The understanding of Tantra that was communicated through the work of Arthur Avalon was the direct outcome of a specific historical development in nineteenth-century Bengal, which significantly predated Woodroffe’s involvement. As early as in 1880, Bengali intellectuals, some of whom would later work with Woodroffe, reached out to the Theosophical Society in order to transform the overwhelmingly negative perceptions of Tantra. In this paper, their efforts will be contextualized in the period from the 1880s and 1890s. The focus will rest, first, on the relationship between nationalism and Tantra; and second, on the question of “Hindu revival” that was debated against the background of “tradition” vs. “modernity,” and the role of modern science in particular. Theosophy will be located within that intellectual landscape and positioned towards “orthodox” Hindu sabhas, reformers such as the Brahmos and Aryas, and Bengali adherents of Spiritualism.