Pundits in Modern India (Studies in the Pundit-tradition of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries)

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India has a rich history of knowledge systems or sastric traditions covering more than three millennia. These systems grew through diverse channels and plurality always remained a mark with them. This book convincingly establishes the continuous growth of sastric traditions assiduously pursued by the pundits till our times. It also demolishes the prevailing notion that Sanskrit language and its traditions stopped developing after the tenth century CE. In reality, the whole nineteenth century and early decades of the twentieth century have produced greatest savants in the line of pundits; many of them as brilliant as Kapila, Kaņada or Gautama and some could be ranked with greatest philosophers of modern times. This book presents fascinating accounts in the lives and deeds of some of the modern rsis - the pundits, who lived in India during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries CE. The revealing accounts of the struggles and activities of some of our greatest unsung heroes will create greater awareness about the viability of knowledge traditions in India.

This study also addresses some of the most intriguing questions with regard to the pundit-tradition, discussing the attempts of the pundits enter into dialogue with the society, and the way they have addressed the social, moral and political issues of modern times.

This study will also open new vistas for creating hermeneutics with reference to Sanskrit-based knowledge systems.

Prof. Radhavallabh Tripathi retired as a professor from Dr. Harisingh Gour University, Sagar (M.P., India). He has served as Vice Chancellor at a number of universities and has worked as a visiting professor at Silpakorn University, Bangkok; a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla; and has also occupied the Karnatak Chair of Orientology at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune. Presently, he is the National fellow of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research. He is known for his original contributions to the study of Natyasastra and Sahityasastra as well as to creative writing in Sanskrit and Hindi. He has received 38 national and international awards and honours for his scholarly contributions as well as his creative writings in Sanskrit and Hindi.

This study aims at creating an intellectual history of India for the period between 1850 CE and 2010 CE concerning achievements and contributions made by the pundits. An attempt has been made to bring out the holistic perspective of the pundits in modern India and to examine their overall contribution to society and the viability of the pundit- tradition in our times. The whole nineteenth century and early decades of the twentieth century have produced the greatest savants in the line of pundits. We can perhaps name not a dozen but hundreds of great pundits who flourished in these two centuries. Many of them are as brilliant as Kapila, Kanada, or Gautama; some of them could have been ranked with greatest philosophers of modern times like Russell, Wittgenstein, or Whitehead; still, others appear like the rșis of ancient times. There are pundits like Madhusudan Ojha, spelling out a completely revolutionizing theory of Vedic Vijnana, or Ramavatar Sharma, courageously proclaiming an entirely new philosophy: or Taranatha Tarkavachaspati, single-handedly authoring a complete encyclopedic dictionary of Sanskrit covering 5500 pages in large size print. The significance of their lives and deeds may be realized after shifting much of the chaff covering them.

I have concurrently used the spellings 'pandita' and the 'pundit' (and sometimes 'pandita' also in case it is in a citation/excerpt reproduced). The term has been used with diacritic Roman with citations from Sanskrit sources, and its equivalent as accepted in English dictionaries also is used for a common purpose. For modern names of individuals, townships or villages, etc., I have not used diacritics, except where necessary to avoid confusion about their pronunciations. The terms related to the world of pundits, like sastra, pathashala (pronounced as pathasala), the nomenclatures for various sastric disciplines like Vyakaraṇa, Nyaya, etc. have not been translated in English, as there are no exact translations for them.

As I intended to create the intellectual history by the way of tracing the development of the academic life of the pundits, details about their family background and personal acquisitions have been noted to the extent they were helpful in understanding their thought processes and mindset. In most of the cases names of the mothers have not been noted (it may sound patriarchic though). Most of the pundits were devoted to their families, cared for their spouses and children. Such descriptions have also been omitted unless they were essential.

In the introductory part of this work, I have discussed the concept of a pundit as envisaged in the tradition. Many of the pundits have been poets par excellence and their literary activity corroborated with their scholarly pursuits. In all such cases, an assessment of the literary activity and creativity of the person concerned has also been taken up.

The work has been divided into three parts prefixed with a detailed introduction.

Part I presents critical intellectual biographies of 77 of the pundits born between 1800 and 1900 CE. Part II carries this journey forward by covering the data on 51 pundits born after 1900 CE. These biographies include the accounts of life and deeds of the pundits and their milieu the cultural fabric, social conditions as well as the life in the pathashalas, tols or educational institutions where these pundits studied and served. The list of pundits whose biographical sketches have been included in this part is just illustrative; there are definitely many more savants who stand as their peers. Part III is comprised of studies in some of the knowledge texts created by pundits. These texts are characterized by original thinking and substantially contribute to the particular

knowledge systems. This study addresses the following questions with regard to the pundit-tradition:

1. To what extent the pundits entered into dialogue with the society, and how did they deal with the social, moral or political issues in their times?

2. Were there inner conflicts and disparities within the pundit tradition itself?

3. To what extent the pundits survived the onslaughts of colonialism as well as the scientific and technical advancement in modern age? It is intended to critique the responses of the pundits to historical processes.

4. How does their legacy continue, and to what extent their impact persists in recent times?

5. How relevant is the pundit-tradition now? It still exists or is dead?

The narratives of the life and deeds of the pundits as recorded here will open many forgotten chapters of our immediate past. They will hopefully rectify the distorted picture created by British colonizers, western orientalists, and Euro-centric discourses viewing the pundit-tradition and the pundit-hood as something fossilized in the past, incapable of developing, a phenomenon that has become irrelevant and lifeless. Also, they will hopefully put forward a tradition that remains vibrant and potential, though marginalized and sidetracked.

It has been a thrilling intellectual adventure for me to revisit histories that have sunk in amnesia. Forgetting the legacy, which was to be cherished and nourished, has been an act of ungratefulness on the part of modern society. Remembering the pundits of yore will not only enable us to repay their debts, but it will also hopefully help us in resolving our own problems and to carry forward the traditions which are still relevant for us. It may also help us in understanding our self in a better way and to take curative steps to resolve our short comings and failures.

The present book is an outcome of Professor Radhavallabh Tripathi's research done during his tenure as Infosys Chair at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute under the Academic Development Programme supported by the Infosys Foundation. The main purpose of this study is to delve into the intellectual history of India from 1850 to 2010 CE, and explore the remarkable accomplishments and contributions of the traditional pundits to Indological knowledge. Professor Radhavallabh Tripathi has conducted a comprehensive analysis of the pundits' holistic perspectives and elaborated upon their overall impact on society. An important part of this book is an assessment of the relevance of the pundit tradition in the present-day scholarly Indological world.

This book is divided into three parts. After an introduction to the theme of research, the second part covers data on 51 pundits born after 1900 CE and discusses their lives against the background of the intellectual milieu of their periods. The third part includes studies on knowledge texts created by the pundits, revealing their original thinking and the substantial contributions they made to Indological knowledge. Some of the texts discussed are Mahanirvanatantra, Habdartharatnakara, Sanatanadharmoddhara, Paramarthadarshan, Kavyalankarakarika and Sahityalankara.

The eurocentric narratives have depicted the pundit tradition as obsolete, stagnant, and irrelevant to modern times. Through this study, the author has tried to rectify such distorted portrayals of India's intellectual history, particularly those done by western scholars. The author believes that this tradition is still very much alive and has immense potential, despite being neglected and sidelined. He attempts to demonstrate that the pundit tradition is not outdated and can evolve with time. In essence, this study explores the pundit tradition and investigates its interactions with society, its internal dynamics, its resistance, as well as its integral attempts to evolve itself according to historical challenges and its contemporary relevance.

I hope this book will provide a baseline for all those interested in Indology in general and the pundit-tradition of seeking knowledge about India's past in particular.

With the commencement of the nineteenth century, a new consciousness started dawning in the country leading to a renaissance. The pundits not only participated in new social and political movements, they also assumed leading roles in the process. Their activities can be chronologically viewed through the following four phases - Beginning of the 'Raj' between 1800 to 1850, the age of renaissance between 1850 and 1900, the age of freedom-movement between 1900 and 1947, and post-independence period from 1947 onwards.

Pundit Baldev Upadhyaya adjusts the beginning of the modern period in the history of Sanskrit literature with the arrival of Nagesa Bhatta in Kashi in 1760, as Nagesa inculcated a new spirit in Vyakaraṇa and Alankarasastra.

Various pre-colonial knowledge systems and institutions continued in the colonial period. But then the pundits as native informants started participating in the process of law and governance for the British Government and subsequently also took the lead to a revolt against the colonial rule. Some of them served as advisers and philosophers for the East India Company. They actively contributed to building bridges between diverse polarities and the creation of shared spaces. A new political consciousness was dawning together with the awareness of a rapidly changing national and international scenario in the community of pundits. These changes are reflected in the literature produced in Sanskrit during the last decades of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. With the advent of journalism in Sanskrit, prose was adopted as a more effective medium for the expression of ideas on national movement and contemporary situations. But the tendency at versification continued to dominate.

Who is a Pundit?

The word pandita is formed by adding itac suffix to panda. A person having panda (wisdom, knowledge or learning) is a 'Pandita'. The word panda is formed from the root padi (to move, to go). Vaijayantīkosha (96.164, 165) defines panda as consciousness (cetana) and also understanding the essence (tattvadhīḥ). Abhidhanacintamani of Hemacandra supports this interpretation. It says that tattvanugă mati (the intellect in pursuance of Truth) is panda. A man equipped with the intelligence to distinguish between the sat (essence) and the non-essence (asat) is said to be the pandita. Elsewhere the word panda is used in the sense of knowledge of scriptures (panda sastrajñanam asya jatam iti panditah (Siddhantasiddhañjana, 123.13 (1)]. The intellect capable of inferring and reasoning is also called panda (Sivakarmadīpika, II.410.17). Bhagavata defines pandita as a man who understands bond and salvation. (pandito bandhamokshavit 11.19.41). Prakasa on Sastradīpika defines him as a person who can distinguish between the essence and the non-essence panditäh sadasadvivecanasīlaḥ 1.1.5).

Sankaracarya understands panda as an awareness of the self.2 Commenting on Gitä II.11 and V.18, he defines Panda as the highest form of intellect. It leads to atmajñana or knowledge of the Self-Paņda ya atmaviṣaya buddhiḥ yeşam te hi panditäh (Sankara on Gīta 2.11). Vedantakalpataru defines it as 'adhyayanaja dhĩh (503.8). Ramanuja describes the pandita as a person equipped with the true knowledge of Atman. Thus the idealist view of a pandita connects it to the knowledge of self (Atmajñana).

Panda is used as a synonym for the river Ganga (Panda pandasevita Brhaddharmapuraņa, 1.50.15). Panda is the purest form of intellect. Describing a pious lady, Neminathacarita says - Lebhe satīşu ya rekham dhīšu panda matir yatha (1.56b).

Some scholars of historical linguistics have tried to connect the word panda with prajña and 'pandita' to a hypothesized term 'prajñita.' Vasudev Sharan Agrawal opines that there has been a school of Prajñavadins in ancient India. Krşņa in the second chapter of Gitä tells Arjuna 'You lament for those who are not to be lamented, and you also talk of prajñavadas. Vidura is called 'Mahaprajña' in the MB and he becomes 'Mahapandita Vidura' in Buddhist Jätakas. The word prajña becomes pañña in Pali and in some Prakrits it becomes panna and panda. The Prajñavadins were known for their common sense and rationalistic views (Patel and Bhate: 446). Aklujkar is of the view out that there is a logical gap in the assumption (Aklujkar: 18-20).

Amarakosa (III.817-19) one of the most authentic ancient lexicons in Sanskrit, gives the following synonyms of 'pandita vidvan, vipascīt, doșajña, san, sudhih, kovida, budha, dhira, manīşī, jña, prajña, samkhyavan, kavi, dhīman, sūri, kṛtī, kṛṣți, labdhavarņa, vicakşaņa, dūradaršī and dīrghadarsī. The other synonyms of pandita as given in old lexicons are kovida, vidagdha, krisnavit and krști. Aklujakar opines that they imply investigative analysis (ibid: 19). A pandita is a man of intellect with a capacity to discriminate.

These synonyms indicate certain specific connotations of the word 'pandita'. Не is supposed to be a scholar, a man of discrimination, foresight, and wisdom, a man of a saintly character, gifted with vision, patience, and creative faculty. The word 'pandita' is synonymous with 'kavi.' A kavi is a pandita and a pandita is a kavi. The concepts of pandita and kavi are quite different from what we understand today as the scholar and as the poet, and quite unlike the modern notions the tradition does not hold any dichotomy between the two.

A pandita should be sensible enough to find his way in confusion Pandito medhavī Gandharan eva upasampadyeta (Chandogya Up. 6.14.2). Pandito hi arthakṛcchreşu kuryan nihsreyasam mahat (Ram, II.94.17c).

Pundit need not be linked to a religion or any sect. We may sometimes use the terms like a Vedic pundit or a Buddhist Pundit to specify their areas and contributions; otherwise, a person is a pundit not because of being a Vaidika or a Buddhist. "The dominant current in the application of the word pundit remains non-religious.' (Aklujkar: 28).

The epithet 'pandita' is used for wise ladies pandită ca pativrata' MB, Aranyaparvan, 3.28.2 b).

The best description of a pundit is found in the Mahabharata. It says-"Thousands of occasions for sorrow and hundreds of occasions for fear overpower the ordinary folk, but not the pandita." On the other hand SKD cites a stanza which defines the pandita in the following way:

"He involves himself with recommended (actions), he does not involve himself with actions that are censured. He is not a non-believer in a higher reality, and has faith (or trust in what he has learned). This is the mark (or definition) of a pandita.

Gitä on the other hand defines a pundit who has shunned all the desires and has burnt his actions with the fire of knowledge. Samadrsti (seeing equality) is said to be the mark of a pandita.

Chandrashekharendra Sarasvatī in his commentary on Vivekacüdamani interprets 'panditaih' as 'atmavişayakaparokşajñanavadbhiḥ those who have indirect knowledge of Atman., and strive for the direct knowledge.

Perseverance and patience these are said to be the other characteristics of a pandita. A Pandita would not suddenly jump into action, he would decide the course of his action after duly considering all the aspects.