Programme
Francis X. Clooney
Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology
School of Divinity
Harvard University
E/ fclooney@hds.harvard.edu
Personhood and Identity, Divine and Human, in the Ajnananivaranam Attributed to Roberto de Nobili
The Ajnananivaranam ("the Dispelling of Ignorance") is a Christian treatise reaching 140 pages in its sole printing in 1891 (South India Times Press, Trichi). In its 15 chapters, it reports the teachings of a missionary named throughout simply as "Tattvabodhakar" (Teacher of Truth/Reality). Despite the Sanskritic title and teacher’s name, it is a Tamil-language treatise of good quality; while Sanskrit words are frequent, it is nonetheless an instance of well-composed Tamil prose. It is attributed to the famed missionary, Roberto de Nobili (1579-1656), who wrote a number of treatises in Tamil and was honored with the title "Tattvabodhakar," but the evidence adduced by S. Rajamanickam indicating that de Nobili might have composed this work is (as Rajamanickam agrees) inconclusive. There is an unpolished, unpublished, and undated translation by Fr. Augustine Saulière, SJ (in the Archives in Shembaganur, Tamil Nadu), probably from the 1950s, but (to my knowledge) no significant scholarship had been done in regard to the text. The major theme of the Ajnananivaranam is the nature of God as understood in accord with a proper array of divine attributes, simplicity and unity, omniscience, goodness, etc. In each chapter, a sharp contrast is made between a proper understanding of God and contrasting south Indian Hindu conceptions of deity, as reported in popular belief and practice and in some (infrequently) cited Tamil texts. While de Nobili and others wrote apologetic treatises of this sort, the Ajnananivaranam is distinctive in the vividness of the setting of its chapters. Each is written so as to evoke a “real-life” scenario rich in natural and social detail, serving as occasions in which the wisdom of the teacher or his catechist is sought. It seems that the author has made a significant effort to position his apologetic in a close relationship to the life, beliefs, and practices of south Indian Hindus, and to write up his argument as an attractive literary and dramatic work.
This paper will use the Ajnananivaranam to explore the conference theme in three steps: i) the representation of Christian and Hindu persons as agents, as presented in the background settings of the various chapters; ii) the conception of the divine person and agent, Christian and Hindu, in the substantive thematic content of the chapters; and iii) the ideal and idealized representation of the identity and agency of the convert who, foregoing relationships with the Hindu deities, shifts to a Christian way of life.
Given the lack of research on the Ajnananivaranam and its uncertain context, as well as its length, the paper can only open a discussion of the text and its pertinence to the conference theme. It will also be necessary to report on its apologetic and polemic stances without extended reflection on their value and disvalue, and implications for intercultural and religious understanding today. Since my own expertise is theological and not cultural studies, emphasis too will be on theological concerns and not the many insights this text has into wider cultural and linguistic issues related to personhood and identity.
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Fr. Clooney is a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Society of Jesus,
joined the faculty of the Harvard Divinity School in 2005. He was previously
Professor of Comparative Theology at Boston College, where he taught since 1984,
after earning his doctorate in South Asian languages and civilizations from the
University of Chicago. His primary areas of scholarship have been theological
commentarial writings in the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions of Hindu India, and
the developing field of comparative theology, a discipline distinguished by
attentiveness to the dynamics of theological reading and writing in light of
traditions other than one's own. He has also written on the Jesuit missionary
tradition, particularly in India, and is interested in the dynamics of dialogue
in a postcolonial world. His publications include, Fr. Bouchet's India: An
18th-Century Jesuit's Encounter With Hinduism (2005);
Divine Mother, Blessed Mother: Hindu Goddesses and the Virgin Mary
(2005); and, most recently,
Jesuit Postmodern: Scholarship, Vocation, and Identity in the 21st Century
(2006). He has just completed two books: Beyond Compare: A Hindu, Christian
Insight Into Radical Surrender (forthcoming), and The Truth, the Way,
the Life: Christian Commentary on the Three Holy Mantras of the Srivaisnava
Hindus (Peeters Press).