Baladeva Vidyabhusana: A Post-Caitanya Philosopher of Religion (Makers of Indian Literature)

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Baladeva Vidyabhüşaņa (1700-1793) was born in a village near Remuna, Balasore District of Odisha. He was a prominent Gaudiya Vaishnava acharya. At a very early age, he completed his studies of grammar, poetry, rhetoric and logic and then went on pilgrimage. During this time, he spent some time with the Tattvavadis in South India and thus became conversant with the Vaishnava Theology of Sri Madhva. During his travels, he again came to Utkaladesa (Odisha) and met with a grand- disciple of Sri Rasikananda Deva and learned the conclusions of Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology as expounded by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

According to Vidyabhusana's statement at the end of his Siddhanta-ratna, he had been previously initiated in the Madhva-sampradaya before becoming a follower of the philosophy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. His first known work was a commentary on the Vedanta-sutra or Brahma- sutra, entitled Brahma-sutra-karika-bhasya. Other works include Siddhanta-ratnam (Govinda-bhasya-pithakam), Prameya-ratnavali, Siddhanta-darpana, Kavya-kaustubha, Vyakarana-kaumudi, Pada- kaustubha, Isadi-upanisad bhasya, Gitabhusana-bhasya, Sri Visnunama- sahasra-nama-bhasya, Sanksepa-bhagavatamrta-tippani, Tattva- sandarbha-tika, Stava-mala-vibhusana-bhasya, Nataka-candrika- tika, Candraloka-tika, Sahitya-kaumudi, Srimad Bhagavata-tika.

Ananta Charan Sukla (1942-2020) was an eminent literary critic, aesthetician, and philosopher of art, religion, and language. He retired as a Professor of English from Sambalpur University in 2002. He was a comparative literary scholar of global repute and founded Vishvanatha Kaviraja Institute and the Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics in 1977 to promote studies and research in comparative philosophy and aesthetics. His earlier monographs from Sahitya Akademi (under the Makers of Indian Literature series) include Vishvanatha Kaviraja and Sridhara Svami. His books have also been published by Praeger, Bloomsbury, Brill, Rubbettino, and Rupa & Co.

In our study of Baladeva we shall deal with the two phases of philosophical career - The Madhva trend in Prameya Ratnaāvaté and the Bengal Vaisnavism as reflected in his commentaries on BS and BG, particularly as associated with Jiva Gosvami and Viśvanātha Cakravarti. Three major topics of Baladeva will be highlighted: Ontology or ultimate Reality, the nature and means of knowing this Reality and the nature of experience of this Reality, i.e., bhakti. In its totality the Bengal Vaişnavism stands as a branch of Pancarātra Vasudevism in bringing in the Kūhas into its formation of metaphysical ideas. Besides, what is more to note, is the theological perspectives that it derives from the mythological episodes of Krsna converting all this to a metaphysical framework. The role of this conversion of mythology to metaphysics has been a premier trend in Indian philosophical tradition right from the vedic tradition. Bengal Vais navism also draws on the Renaissance Sänkhya for elucidating. though in their specific theological modification, the concepts of creation, the nature and status of the phenomenal world and final stage of dissolution in their circular movement.

Dasgupta states that "the system of thought represented by Baladeva may be styled the Madhva-Gaudiya system" (pp.447-48). This statement suggests that Baladeva was not simply an imitator of the Bengal Vaisnavism (of Caitanya and his followers). He brought sufficient change into it that reflects his originality both as a philosopher and a saint. His attachment with Orissa (Utkal) is clear in his statement that four sampradayas (Schools) of Vaisnavism such as Sri, Brahma, Rudra and Sanaka (Rāmānuja, Madhva, Vişnusvämin and Nimbāditya) will spring forth in Orissa in Kali yuga (II dasgupta, 447). Strangely he does not count Caitanya among these preachers of Vaisnavism, a statement that speaks a volume that he was not a Vaisnava exclusively of the Bengal school, though he draws a lot on this school for explicating his own original view of Vaisnavism that pendulates between Madhva and Caitanya (and his followers). A lengthy prologue has been provided for a comprehensive knowledge of the origin and development of Pancarātra system ending in Bengal Vaisnavism.