Vaisnava Interpretation of the Brahmasutras

Brahmasutras [BS] is a corpus of Vedanta. Although an interpretation of the central teachings of Upanisads, BS has itself been a subject of numerous hermeneutical forays. It somehow suited the Orientalist and Hindu scholars since the early 19th century to promote one interpretation of this seminal text, viz., from the monistic view of Advaita. Radically different trajectories of Hindu cultural selfunderstanding were by and large ignored: one re-interpretative attempt comes from the Vaisnava followers of Sri Caintanya.Sri Rampada Chattopadhyay in this volume attempts such a novel reading. His basic thesis is: the Bhagavata Purana or Srimad Bhagavata, a key scripture in Vaisnava theology, was the best available commentary on the original BS. In other words, as Professor Matilal explains in his Preface, in order to understand the theistic and devotional nature of religious philosophy that underlies Vedanta, one has to depend upon the theological teachings of the Bhagavata.Chattopadhyay draws on these teachings to correlate with issues pondered upon in the Upanisads, and their subsequent influence on Vedanta, the Brahmasutras in particular. He follows the traditional pattern of commenting on each section and chapter according to which the sutras have been devided. While copiously elucidating on the Vaisnava approach, he engages in criticism of Samkara and other Vedanta commentators on BS. The book is of immense importance to scholars and students in this late phase of Indian thought.