RT Article
T1 Rethinking Neo-Vedānta: Swami Vivekananda and the Selective Historiography of Advaita Vedānta1
JF Religions
VO 8
IS 6
SP 1
OP 12
A1 Madaio, James
LA English
YR 2017
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1586228552
AB This paper problematizes the prevalent model of studying the “Neo-Vedānta” 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-Vedānta” consistently appeal to a high culture, staticized understanding of “traditional” Advaita Vedānta 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 Vedāntic traditions which were well-known to Vivekananda and other “Neo-Vedāntins”. 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 theology.
K1 Advaita
K1 Advaita Vedānta
K1 Neo-Vedānta
K1 Swami Vivekananda
K1 Modern Hinduism
DO 10.3390/rel8060101