ABSTRACT
This chapter is divided into two halves. The first attempts to bring out the complexities embedded in the theological and cultural revival of Vaiṣṇavism in colonial Bengal. It argues that “Gauḍīya” or “Caitanya” Vaiṣṇavism was only a part of this revival, albeit the dominant one. Men who first expressed an interest in reviving Vaiṣṇava literature and culture were not Gauḍīyas. Besides, some prominent individuals of the period were quite hostile towards the emotive bhakti associated with Caitanya, alleging that this only caused emasculation among Hindu Bengalis. The second half of the chapter examines the once militant nationalist Bipinchandra Pal as a Vaiṣṇava scholar and theoretician. Pal wrote surprisingly little on either Caitanya or his religion, focusing instead on the more pan-Indian tradition of Kṛṣṇa bhakti. In this he appears to have followed the project of both the Vrindavan Gosvamīs and his near contemporaries like Bankimchandra. Pal’s distinctiveness lay on selectively grafting Vaiṣṇava doctrines upon an abstract universalism. In this, curiosly, he employed the philosophical gloss of Hegelian idealism, thereby strengthening the tendency towards cross cultural theorisation.
