Indian Influences on Blake

Abstract

Grevel Lindop’s "Indian Influences on Blake" explores possible resonances between the visionary poetry of William Blake and the philosophical and mythological traditions of India—particularly as filtered through early English translations such as Wilkins’ 1785 Bhagavad Gītā. The article navigates both speculative and textually grounded connections, examining how Blake’s radical critique of rationalism, his cosmological symbolism, and his emphasis on imaginative vision echo Vedantic and yogic concepts. Lindop investigates whether Blake encountered Hindu texts directly or indirectly through his Romantic contemporaries, including figures like Coleridge and Southey who were influenced by Wilkins. The essay considers thematic parallels between Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Book of Urizen, and Jerusalem, and Gītā ideas such as non-duality, the eternal self (ātman), and divine embodiment. While acknowledging the limits of documentary evidence, Lindop argues for a meaningful convergence of spirit between Blake’s poetic theology and Hindu metaphysics—suggesting a cross-cultural dialogue that, if not historical, is at least visionary and archetypal.