Hindu Widow Marriage

Hindu Widow Marriage threw down a major challenge to popular attitudes about the destinies of widows. It was both denounced by traditionalists and embraced by reformers. In his translation of and extensive introduction to Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar's text and context, Brian A. Hatcher brings to life the contentious debates within Calcutta's emerging middle class about how a modern world can be embraced within the framework of an enduring tradition. This book is a masterful contribution to our understanding of how traditional textual authority, prevailing social practices, and the pressures of colonialism collided and brought into being a religious and cultural world that was both in continuity with and a departure from the past. -- Paul Courtright, Emory University, coeditor of From the Margins of Hindu Marriage: Essays on Gender, Religion, and Culture Brian Hatcher is to be commended for giving them such detailed and responsible treatment and, thereby, making Vidyasagar's documents accessible to a wide scholarly audience. -- David Brick Journal of the American Oriental Society It is superbly researched and written, with useful resources that go a long way towards making the text intelligible to non-specialists. -- Ferdinando Sardella Journal of Hindu Studies Hatcher's masterly translation of Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar's Hindu Widow Remarriage affords us a rare opportunity to peer deeply into the world of the nineteenth-century Bengali intelligentsia... [this translation] must now be considered "required reading." International Journal of Hindu Studies A triumph of historical scholarship... Hatcher's translation of Vidyasagar's Bengali text is exemplary with its close attention to details and his concern for readability and integrity. His annotations are ample and meticulous. Orientalistische Literaturzeitung

Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891) was a Sanskrit scholar, author, educator, and social reformer. A leading figure in the Bengal Renaissance, he was responsible for transformations in everything from Bengali prose style and printing techniques to Sanskrit curriculum and Hindu social practices. Brian A. Hatcher is professor and Packard Chair of Theology in the Department of Religion at Tufts University. His research centers on Hinduism in modern India. He is the author of Idioms of Improvement: Vidyasagar and Cultural Encounter in Bengal; Eclecticism and Modern Hindu Discourse; and Bourgeois Hinduism, or the Faith of the Modern Vedantists: Rare Discourses from Early Colonial Bengal.

Preface A Word About the Translation Hindu Categories for First-Time Readers Chronology: Events Pertaining to the Widow Marriage Movement in Bengal Introduction A Short Life of Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar Widow Marriage in Bengal Hindu Widow Marriage as Modern-Day Commentary The Real Significance of Hindu Widow Marriage Hindu Widow Marriage: The Complete English Translation Book One Book Two Glossary Bibliography Index