TableRonde/RoundTable
L’HINDOUISMEÀL’ÉPOQUEDELAPREMIÈREMODERNITÉ:
L’HISTOIREDUCONCEPTAVANTLALETTRE?SOURCESETREPRÉSENTATIONS
EARLYMODERN«HINDUISM»:
HISTORYOFTHECONCEPTAVANTLALETTRE?SOURCESANDREPRESENTATIONS
November14,2011
CEIAS,190‐197Av.deFrance,Paris75013
Salle638‐NoyauA(6èmeétage)
Organizers:MargheritaTrentoandInesG.Županov
InarecentscholarlyproductiononHinduism,theroleofWesternrepresentationsandthehistory
ofitsnamehavebeendiscussedwideandlarge.Europeanorientalistandmissionaryrepresentations
weredecisiveininventingtheconceptintheearly19thcentury,whichhomogenizedalooselyknit
tradition(fromvarioushermeneuticalandideologicalpositionstoritualpractices)intoatightlypacked
geo‐culturalwhole.Duringthe20thcentury,Hinduismwasfinallyrecognizedasa“worldreligion”.
Thegoalofourroundtableistolookspecificallyintoearlymoderngenealogyoftheconcept,
especially,thoughnotexclusively,fromCatholicmissionarysources(Italian,Spanish,Portuguese,Latin,
FrenchbutalsoSanskrit,TamilandMarathi),whileavoidingessentializing,anachronismandteleologystill
presentinhistoriographyandinreligiousstudieswhendealingwithHinduism.Againstfacileclaimsthat
theBritishinvented“everything”andagainstSirWilliamJones’sinvitationtoforget“everythingthatwe
knewaboutIndiabefore”,inthisworkshopwewanttoshowthatknowledge,connectedwithanother
empireanddiversecolonialactors,wasproducedandresponsibleforconceptualizationssuchas,for
example,thetermBrahmanism(bramanismo)inventedin1616byaJesuitinMaduraiandusedafew
yearslaterasa“machineofBrahmanism”byanotherJesuitinKerala.Thenewresearchhasshownthat
theBrahmanconvertsinMadurai,GoaandelsewherehavetoalargedegreedefinedtheearlyJesuitand
Portuguese“orientalist”conceptionsandthequestioniscanwe‐shouldweandhow–disentangleIndian
andEuropeanvoicesintheprocessofconstructingHinduism.Anotherquestionishowtochartthe
itinerariesoftheseearlyCatholicorientalistrepresentationsthoughthe18thcentury(Enlightenmentand
“revolutions”)intothe19thcenturyinwhichIndologyandOrientaliststudiescameofage.
Duringthehalfadayofroundtablediscussionsandpresentations,thegoalofthismeetingisto
sharethemostrecentwork(sincemostoftheparticipantshavejustcompletedthePhDorarestillwriting
theirdoctoraldissertations)onthetopicfromavarietyorarchivalsourcessuchasJesuitrecords,the
archivesofthePropagandaFide,theInquisitioninRomeandGoa,Frencharchives,etc.
Wewouldliketostressthatourprimarygoalistoprovideaplatformforacross‐disciplinary
dialogue.Forthisreason,thepresentationswillbenolongerthansevenminutesfollowedbyfifteen
minutesofdiscussionforeachsession,andwe’llhaveaboutanhourforthegeneraldiscussionattheend
oftheconference.
centre d’études - Inde | Asie du Sud
centre for South Asian studies