PAPER ID:IJIM/Vol. 10 (II)/ /June/53-57/8

AUTHOR: Dr. Naresh Kumar

TITLE : INFLUENCE OF INDIAN RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL TEXTS ON AMERICAN TRANSCENDENTALISM

ABSTRACT: American transcendentalists like R.W. Emerson, Henry David Thoreou,  Margaret Fuller, Bronson Alcott, and Elizabeth Peabody were greatly influenced by ancient Indian religious and cultural discourse contained in seminal texts like Vedas ,Upanishad, Vishnu Purana, Bhagvat Gita, Katha Upnishda, Mahabharta and Ramayana. Moreover the moral, spiritual and reformist ideas of Indian leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Raja Rammohan Roy, Sri Aurobindo, Tagore and Gandhi stimulated the American writers to dwell deep into Indian philosophical texts. It appears that Transcendentalism is the first attempt of American thinkers to look for free thinking, rationality and non-dogmatic approach not only in religious matter but also beyond it in social and cultural domain. Indian philosophical thought which is in itself a multi-faceted concept encompasses varied contradictory strands in its fold embracing criticism, argumentation and diverse voices with a celebratory tone. The foundational proximity between both the philosophical discourses remains instrumental in making the American writers use Indian texts as a source of reference for their literary works. The transcendentalists as a result employed Indian philosophical concepts of Maya, Karma, Brahma and Aatma etc in a dominant way in their literary corpus. The present paper aims at exploring   the American literary discourse of transcendentalists especially that of Emerson for finding Indian religious overtone in the conceptual frame work of Transcendentalism.

KEYWORDS : Transcendentalism, Indian philosophical discourse, Maya, Karma, Brahma

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