Pañcānana Tarkaratna Bhaṭṭācārya’s Twentieth Century Śakta Vedānta

Pañcānana Tarkaratna Bhaṭṭācārya (1867–1940) has been mentioned in the context of revivalist movements in colonial India. Through an examination of his Sanskrit ‘Śākta Vedānta’ writings, I try to locate him, instead, in the context of developments in Sanskrit intellectual culture between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. A serious engagement with Tarkaratna’s negotiation of Vedānta and Śrīvidyā, in addition to other Sanskrit disciplines, reveals a rich picture of both the man and the intellectual worlds he inhabited. This paper examines Tarkaratna’s treatment of Vedānta and Śrīvidyā through significant moves he makes in and through his reading practices. I demonstrate that these are grounded in his understanding of the role of the Goddess in the efficacy of religious practice. I look at three issues in particular: Tarkaratna’s position on alternative interpretations of religious texts; his approach to Śaṅkara and to Vedānta; and his reading of a particular quotation from the Veda. I also suggest that these point towards a more complicated engagement with Sanskrit intellectual culture than narratives of epistemic rupture in South Asian history might allow.