Hindu View of Life Lecture: Special Dispensations, Sublime Realities: Keshab Chandra Sen and the Comparative Impulse in the Nineteenth Century

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Radhakrishnan’s lectures on Hindu views of life 100 years ago emphasize how the world then, after a devastating world war, was witnessing an interchange of thought between religions through the mingling of populations. Furthermore, the spirit of the age and the need of the hour determined the emphasis in each religion.

This lecture will explore how interchange of thought between religions flourished in certain circles in nineteenth-century India, through an examination of the thought and major works of Keshab Chandra Sen (1838-1884), a Bengali philosopher of religion and social reformer who pioneered a range of comparative religious projects. Through an examination of his compilations of excerpts from a diversity of religious texts as well as his relationship to religions outside of Hinduism, Sen serves as a major precursor to Radhakrishnan’s contributions to modern and contemporary views on religion in the twentieth century.

NEILESH BOSE is Professor and Graduate Advisor in History at the University of Victoria. His research focuses on modern South Asia, the British Empire, decolonization, migration, religion, performance, and global history. He is the author of Recasting the Region: Language, Culture, and Islam in Colonial Bengal and Chips from a Calcutta Workshop: Comparative Religion in Nineteenth Century India .