Jagat

Continuing in the same volume by Sharan Bihari Goswami, there are a number of other quotes from 19th and 20th century scholars. Goswami mentions Growse with approval, but does not quote him. For those who do not know F.S. Growse, he wrote a Mathura: A District Memoir in which he describes the various Vaishnava sampradayas living in the region, which he compiled during his tour as collector between 1872 and 1885. Next on the list is J.N. Farquhar, whose Outline of the Religious Literature of India (Oxford University Press, 1920) was a noted authority in his time. Goswami picks a bone with him for identifying the Haridasis as related to the Gaudiya sampradaya, figuring that the confusion arose out of the similarity of names with Yavan Haridas. He also objects to the sentence "They [Radha-vallabhis] are Shaktas, placing Radha above Krishna." The main quote, though, relates to the Vallabhi sampradaya: Whether they be men or women, they look forward to becoming Gopis and sportin...

Since this blog is really a personal notebook, I thought I would copy some quotes that I found in the Hindi book, Kåñëa bhakti kāvya meà sakhī bhāva by Sharan Bihari Goswami (1966). In the introduction, he quotes three early European scholars opinions of sakhī bhāva . It is hard, out of context, to know what else these scholars said, or if they had any further information about those who practised devotion in the mood of the gopis, as it seems that the term sakhī bhāva is being confused with what we know as sakhī bhekhī . The author appears to think that the Haridāsī sect of Vrindavan, the principal subject of his book, is specifically being discussed. This might just be a confusion of names, as the Haridāsīs are known as the Sakhībhāvas. In A Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus (1862, page 177), Prof. H. H. Wilson wrote: Sakhī-bhāvas . This sect is another ramification of those which adopt Radha and Krishan for the objects of their worship and may be regarded as more pa...