Rethinking Neo-Vedānta: Swami Vivekananda and the Selective Historiography of Advaita Vedānta

0479750 - OÚ 2018 RIV CH eng J - Journal Article
Madaio, James
Rethinking Neo-Vedānta: Swami Vivekananda and the Selective Historiography of Advaita Vedānta.
Religions. Roč. 8, č. 6 (2017), ---, č. článku 101. E-ISSN 2077-1444
Institutional support: RVO:68378009
Keywords : Swami Vivekananda * Neo-Vedanta * Advaita Vedanta * modern Hinduism
OECD category: Religious studies
Method of publishing: Open access
http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/8/6/101

This paper problematizes the prevalent model of studying the “Neo-Ved¯anta” of Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) principally in terms of an influx of Western ideas and nationalism. In particular, I demonstrate how scholarly constructions of “Neo-Ved¯anta” consistently appeal to a high culture, staticized understanding of “traditional” Advaita Ved¯anta as the alterity for locating Vivekananda’s “neo” or new teachings. In doing so, such studies ignore the diverse medieval and early modern developments in advaitic and Advaita Ved¯antic traditions which were well-known to Vivekananda and other “Neo-Ved¯antins”. Redressing this discursive imbalance, I propose that close attention to the way in which Swami Vivekananda drew from Indic texts opens up a wider frame for understanding the swami and the genealogy of his cosmopolitan theolog
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0280102