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'Hindoo Religion' in the Work of East India

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'Hindoo Religion' in the Work of East India Enlightenment, Empire and Deism: interpretations of the 'Hindoo religion' in the work of East India ‘Company Men’, 1760-1790. A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2017 Jessica Patterson School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Contents Abstract 4 Declaration and Copyright Statement 5 Acknowledgements 6 Introduction 7 i. The Writers and a Deist Interpretation of Hinduism 12 ii. Enlightenment and Deism 17 iii. The Company 23 iv. Method and Structure 27 Chapter One: The Company, Politics and Religion 32 i. The Political Backdrop 33 ii. The Religious Policies of the East India Company 42 iii. Europe, India and Deism 49 iv. Enlightenment and Orientalism 62 v. Conclusion 65 Chapter Two: Holwell's „Religion of the Gentoos‟ 66 i. The Gentoo Shastah 68 ii. The Fall of the Delinquent Angels: A Narrative Decline 78 iii. The Doctrine of Metempsychosis 86 iv. Theodicy 92 v. A „Christian Deist‟ 102 vi. Conclusion 108 2 Chapter Three: Alexander Dow‟s „Religion of the Hindoos‟ 111 i. Scripture and Authority 113 ii. Universal Religion and the „Dirm Shaster‟ 119 iii. The „Bedang‟ and the „Neadirsin‟ 126 -Vedānta/Bedang 126 -Nyāyā 129 iv. Dow in Context 137 v. Conclusion 143 Chapter Four: N.B. Halhed and Charles Wilkins 145 i. The Company Setting 147 ii. The Code and its Preface 153 iii. The Gěětă 160 iv. An Alternative Context 168 v. Conclusion 176 Chapter Five: Enlightenment and Empire 178 i. Holwell, Dow & the European World of Letters 180 ii. Holwell, Dow, the Company & its Critics 192 iii. Halhed & Wilkins: Chronology, Controversy and the Company 203 iv. Conclusion 210 Conclusion 213 Bibliography 225 Word count: 73,894. 3 Abstract In the latter half of the eighteenth century the British presence in India meant that East India Company servants were at the forefront of European researches into the region‟s history, culture and religion. This thesis offers an analysis of the work of four such Company writers, all of whom produced accounts of what they perceived to be India‟s native and original religion: J.Z. Holwell (1711-1798), Alexander Dow, (1735-1779), N.B. Halhed (1751-1830), and Charles Wilkins (1749-1836). It argues that their particular interpretation of what they termed the „Hindoo‟ or „Gentoo‟ religion was based on their own preoccupations with European religious debates, from a perspective that can loosely be described as deist. At the centre of this thesis is the claim that these British interpretations of „Hinduism‟ instigated an important shift in the way that Indian theology and philosophy was understood in eighteenth-century Europe. This new paradigm moved away from characterisations of the religion according to eye-witness accounts, towards a construction of Indian religion based on the claim of British researchers that they were penetrating the original philosophical origins of a much maligned and ancient system of thought. This new interpretation of a „philosophic Hinduism‟ was both based in and shaped Enlightenment intellectual culture, to the extent that by the turn of the century it had firmly cemented its place in not only the thought of prominent figures such as Voltaire and Raynal, but also constituted a significant topic in the emergent discourses of German idealism. The notion of a British interpretation of Hinduism has previously been discussed as both a marker in what some have termed the „invention‟ of Hinduism, and by those researching the history of Orientalism as an academic discipline. In the first instance, these authors are characterised as moments in a process, with some suggesting that the real „invention‟ occurred as part of the nineteenth-century imperialist project. In the second place, these authors are most often seen as unscholarly precursors to the work of the first true British Indologist, Sir William „Orientalist‟ Jones (1746-1794). This thesis will challenge these positions by positing these four authors as the architects of the shift towards a European conception of „Hinduism‟ as a rational and philosophical religion. 4 Declaration and Copyright Statement No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=487), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library‟s regulations (see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in The University‟s policy on Presentation of Theses. 5 Acknowledgements I would like to thank most sincerely Professor Stuart Jones, Professor Jeremy Gregory and Dr Jacqueline Suthren Hirst for their enthusiasm, steady stewardship and patient advice during the varied stages of this process. The guidance of the wider academic community at the University of Manchester must also be noted. In particular I found a very warm welcome at the John Rylands Early Modern Print and Materiality seminar series, thanks to Dr Sasha Handley and Dr Jenny Spinks. My fellow postgraduate students were also a source of great support, with special thanks to Ben Wilcock and Sarah Wood. Thanks also to Michael Smith, who began at the same time and has shared many of the ups and downs since. Many others, beyond the University, have helped me throughout this process. Thank you to Rosy for her hospitality in London, who always readily offered her couch. The same too goes for Kiran and Tom, in Oxford. To my international comrades, Josh, Kat and Ben, thank you for the long-distance solidarity and invaluable sense of perspective. To my family, I would like to say thank you for always being there to hear me complain and reminding me that the worst that could happen is never really that bad. Finally, thank you to Tom Fox, for everything. 6 Introduction India played an important role in the assault on religious orthodoxy during the late Enlightenment. „Hinduism‟ in particular came to occupy the space that Chinese Confucianism had once held for thinkers like Leibniz, as an intellectual counterfoil to European civilization.1 Finding themselves with a privileged access to Indian languages and advisors, British East India Company servants became instrumental in delivering information about „Hinduism‟ to European audiences. In 1767 East India Company servant J.Z. Holwell described the central tenets of the „Gentoo‟ religion as „short, pure, simple and uniform‟, arguing that the multiple gods associated with it were merely figurative.2 A year later, another Company servant, Alexander Dow, declared that the „Hindoo religion‟ was orientated towards a belief in a singular „Supreme Being‟.3 Following this, in two separate published works commissioned by the then Governor- General of Bengal, N.B. Halhed controversially suggested that the „Gentoo‟ scriptures were of greater antiquity than the Bible, and Charles Wilkins described the ancient Brahmins as „Unitarians‟.4 For these „Company men‟, „Hinduism‟ was an unjustly maligned and essentially reasonable religion, the main tenets of which were compatible with Christian moral teaching. In contrast, a decade before Howell‟s remarks, East India Company Servant John Henry Grose offered a different account of the Gentoos. In A Voyage to the East- Indies, with Observations on Various Parts There Grose described his experiences in the regions of Bombay and Surat, as well as offering a recent history of the Mughal empire, 1 P.J. Marshall, The British Discovery of Hinduism in the Eighteenth Century, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970), p.2. 2 John Zephaniah Holwell, Interesting Historical Event Relative to the Province of Bengal, vol.ii (London,1767), p.1, p.111. 3 Alexander Dow, “A Dissertation Concerning the Customs, Manners, Language, Religion and Philosophy of the Hindoos”, in The History of Hindostan, vol.1, (London, 1768), pp.xxi-lxix, p.lv. 4 N.B. Halhed, A Code of Gentoo Laws, or, Ordinations of the Pundits: from a Persian Translation, (London, 1776), pxliv; Charles Wilkins,
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