Ved?nta, Bhakti, and Their Early Modern Sources

This volume considers the Prabodhacandrodaya N??aka (c. 1760 CE), an allegorical drama composed by Brajv?s?d?s in Brajbh???. It contributes to the study of vernacular n??akas with its first complete English translation. Moreover, the critical analysis shows that the foundational Sanskrit texts for Ved?nta and those for Bhakti play a part in the Prabodhacandrodaya N??aka's philosophical and religious edifice. At the same time, the investigation demonstrates that Brajv?s?d?s expresses several philosophical ideas by adaptively reusing the R?mcaritm?nas by Tuls?d?s (c. 1574 CE). Brajv?s?d?s composes a doh? by combining one line of his invention with a line from the M?nas. This method is employed throughout all the personified metaphysical concepts. That Brajv?s? not only read Bhakti but also Ved?nta through the R?mcaritm?nas highlights the philosophical and literary creativity in 18th c. North India. It points to the necessity to rethink the sources of Ved?nta philosophies, by including works non-conventional for language and genre, because not in Sanskrit and not ??stras. Such sources may not be original in their contribution per se but are essential to understand how early modern philosophy was done, conceived and transmitted.