Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Colonialism, and the Philosophia Perennis

Abstract

Jason D. Fuller’s "Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Colonialism, and the Philosophia Perennis" examines the strategic philosophical positioning of 19th-century Gauḍīya reformer Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura as he navigated the pressures of British colonial modernity and the universalist claims of Western perennial philosophy. Fuller explores how Bhaktivinoda engaged with the idea of a philosophia perennis—a timeless, cross-cultural core of spiritual truth—not as passive recipient but as active contributor. Drawing on Ṭhākura’s English and Bengali writings, particularly The Bhagavat: Its Philosophy, Ethics, and Theology, Fuller argues that Bhaktivinoda framed Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava theology as both deeply rooted in Indian tradition and universally relevant, making bold assertions of Kṛṣṇa’s personhood and rasa theology within a comparative context. The article traces how Bhaktivinoda negotiated Orientalist discourses and theological hierarchies, subtly reversing colonial gazes by asserting Vaiṣṇavism's capacity to illuminate—rather than be subsumed by—Western metaphysics. Fuller also investigates Ṭhākura’s dialogical method, which affirmed inclusivism without surrendering doctrinal specificity. By reclaiming Gauḍīya theology as a living instantiation of perennial truth, Bhaktivinoda offered a distinctly devotional rearticulation of universality in the shadow of empire.