Vaiṣṇava Hermeneutics in the Śrī Kṛṣṇa Saṁhitā

Abstract

 The article "Vaiṣṇava Hermeneutics in the Śrī Kṛṣṇa Saṁhitā" by Jason D. Fuller explores the interpretive strategies employed by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in articulating a uniquely modern, yet rooted, theological vision. Drawing from the 19th-century text Śrī Kṛṣṇa Saṁhitā, Fuller demonstrates how Bhaktivinoda simultaneously affirms the traditional theological structures of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism while reinterpreting history and myth through rationalist and historicist lenses. The article analyzes Bhaktivinoda’s effort to reconcile a premodern scriptural canon with contemporary intellectual trends—including Western Orientalism and historicism—by treating myths as symbolic and integrating secular history into sacred chronology. Fuller highlights how Bhaktivinoda constructs a three-tiered typology of devotees and prioritizes internal realization as the highest truth. This mode of hermeneutics opens a space for a spiritually progressive engagement with modernity without surrendering scriptural fidelity.