RT Article
T1 Keshab Chandra Sen and Hindu Image Worship
JF Journal of ecumenical studies
VO 54
IS 4
SP 586
OP 611
A1 Ulrich, Edward T.
LA English
PB University of Pennsylvania Press
YR 2019
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1694454312
AB Keshab Chandra Sen (1838-84) was a prominent social and religious reformer in Kolkata. In 1857, he joined the Brahmo Samaj, which was known for its emphasis on the scriptural texts, the Upaniṣads, and the concomitant rejection of popular expressions of Hinduism, such as image worship. An aim of the Samaj was to focus on a core common to all religions, lying beyond rituals and doctrines. With time, Sen and other young members broke with the Brahmo Samaj over issues of authority and ideology. In 1866, they formed a new institution, the Brahmo Samaj of India. Sen articulated an agenda for this new organization, that being the harmonization of religions by integrating their different aspects. Contrary to the aims of the original Samaj, this led to an increasing focus on religious particularities, first with saints and prophets, and later coming to include aspects of image worship. In fact, in 1881, Sen performed a hybridized set of rituals that partially drew upon the latter. This was an ironic change, given that a defining characteristic of the original Samaj was the rejection of all forms of image worship, and given that Sen's opposition to it was initially even stronger than that of the majority membership. A need for concreteness in religious devotion was one of the motivating forces behind this fifteen-year development. [End Page 586]
K1 Brahmo Samaj
K1 Devotion
K1 Debendranath Tagore
K1 Keshab Chandra Sen
K1 PARTICULARITY (Aesthetics)
K1 Rammohan Roy
K1 SEN, Keshub Chunder, 1838-1884
K1 Social reformers
K1 Sri Ramakrishna
K1 Swami Vivekananda
K1 Theodore Parker
K1 Thomas Carlyle
K1 Unitarianism
K1 Worship (Hinduism)
K1 Eclecticism
K1 image worship
K1 interreligious worship
DO 10.1353/ecu.2019.0044