Shivachandra Vidyarnava

This chapter zooms in on the local Bengali context and explores the thought and activities of Shivachandra, which were shaped by the intellectual atmosphere of his hometown, Kumarkhali, and the famous Baul circle around Kangal Harinath. Taken out of school by his father because of the supposedly negative influence of English education, Shivachandra was educated at Navadvip, Benares, and Calcutta. His rejection of English education and defense of what he regarded as orthodoxy led him to the foundation of the Sarvamaṅgalā Sabhā. The society proclaimed opposition Western material science (jaṛabijñān), promotion of the “eternal Vedic dharma” (sanātan vaidik dharma), and a struggle against “the propaganda of Western materialist capitalists” (pāścātyer dhanatāntrikˡdiger annadāsˡkuler apapracār). Shivachandra’s Tantratattva was essential to these efforts and is hence examined particularly regarding his understanding of Tantra as sanātana dharma, as well as to the conceptualization of sādhana in relation to science.