Brahmabandhav Upadhyay, a pioneer of Indian Christian theology, was born
Bhavani Charan Baneijea into a Bengali Brahmin family in 1861. In 1887, he was
formally initiated into the Brahmo Samaj where, until 1890, he was actively involved in
promoting reforms within Hinduism. However, he became increasingly attracted to the
uniqueness of Christ and on 26 February 1891, he received Christian baptism and on
1 September formally united with the Roman Catholic Church. In 1894, he declared
himself a sannyasin and thereafter was known as Brahmabandhav Upadhyay.
Upadhyay's conversion to Christianity marks the beginning of a series of journalistic
efforts in which he sought to demonstrate how Christian theology, particularly neo-Thomistic
thought, was compatible with indigenous thought forms present in India.
This thesis is an analysis of the theology of Upadhyay drawn from his writings from
1893 until his untimely death in 1907. These writings are primarily found in several
journals he founded, including the Sophia, The Twentieth Century and, Sandhya.
This research focuses on three main areas in which Upadhyay's theology
seeks to interact with indigenous Indian religious, philosophical, and cultural
traditions. First, there is an analysis of how Upadhyay sought to build Christian
theology on the foundation of human reason and his belief in universal, primitive
theism. In his writings from 1894 until 1897, he sought to construct Christian
theology on the foundation of the earliest Indian Scriptures, the Vedas. However,
after January 1898, he recognized that the Vedas provided an insufficient
philosophical foundation and he increasingly sought to demonstrate the compatibility
between neo-Thomism and, what he regarded as the highest expression of Hindu
philosophy, advaita Vedantism, as expressed by the 8th century philosophical
theologian, Sarikara. His development of Sarikara's thought occurs primarily over
the next five years in several important and definable stages, each designed to
demonstrate how the key concepts in Sarikara's thought could be used "as stepping
stones to the Catholic faith." Upadhyay recognized that Sarikara's theology need not
be re-interpreted or re-directed, but only properly understood to be an adequate
statement of many important themes in Christianity. Thus, Upadhyay's use of Sarikara
became the second major foundation upon which he sought to construct Christian
theology in India. The third and final area in which Upadhyay constructs an
indigenous theology, was on the foundation of Indian culture which he viewed as an
extension of his ongoing commitment to Sarikara's advaitism. By 1902, Upadhyay
had re-defined Hinduism as primarily a cultural, not theological, phenomenon, which
enabled him to embrace various iconic figures in India, such as Krishna, as cultural
symbols which are in no fundamental conflict with the Christian faith. Upadhyay was
convinced that once Hinduism was accepted as an expression of Indian culture, then an
indigeneous Christianity might then be able to be planted in Indian soil which was not
unnecessarily united with European cultural forms. Upadhyay insisted, both in his
writings as a 'Hindu-Catholic,' as well as in his life as a sannyasi, then he could live
and behave as a Hindu, but believe as a Catholic.
After a
thorough examination of his theological writings, the thesis concludes
by arguing that Upadhyay has left a lasting theological legacy which continues to
provide fresh insights relevant to the ongoing process of the emergence of indigenous
expressions of Christianity in India.
