Brahmabandhav Upadaya (1896-1907)

Brahmabandhav Upadaya (1896-1907)

Early life

Bhavani Charan Banerjee later known as Brahmabandhav Upadaya was born on 2nd February 1861 in a Brahmin family in Khanyan a small village about o miles away from Calcutta. Before Brahmabandhav was one year old his mother passed away, so he was brought up by his grandmother, who was a devout Hindu. Kali Charan Banerjee, the founder of Christ Samaj in Calcutta, was his uncle, and naturally Brahmabandhav had occasions to come into contact with Christianity. He did his schooling in a Scottish mission school and college education in Hoogly College. 

While he was in high school he had a great interest in national movement, so he made an attempt to enlist in the Gwallior army with a view to drive out the British with the help of Gwallior army but did not success. Later in 1887 he joined the church of new dispensation formed by Keshub Chandra Sen. There he met Vivekanada who was of the same age and they became good friends. Vivekananda joined the Bramo Samaj in 1888 when he was 27 years old and Brahmabandhav went to Hyderebad in Sindh to teach Sanskrit at the union academy. 

Conversions

Brahmabandhav Upadyay’s interest in the teaching and lie of Jesus Christ was because of his two friends who were Anglican missionary in Hyderabad. He regularly attained the Bible study conducted by his two missionary friends, and gradually became convinces of the truth of Jesus and the resurrection and of His co-eternal Son ship. His first lecture about Jesus was in 1889 in Karachi and on 26th February 1891 he accepted baptism, but did not join the church, and later he joins the Catholic Church choosing the name Theophilus which he translated as Brahmabandhav.   

Contributions 

Brahmababandhav Upadhyay is the first Christian theologian to enter into a positive dialogue with the indigenous theological and philosophical tradition of Hinduism. So Upadhyay believes that the Vedas and sankara should be used as starting points for articulation Christian theology in the west. Secondly, upadhyay was deeply influenced by the brahmo Samaj view of primitive Theism. His studies of neo-thomistic theology and philosophy gave him a profound appreciation for certain universally apprehensible truth. His positive view of natural theology enables him to approach the Hindu religious and philosophical context with a positive, rather than a confrontational attitude. Thirdly Updhyay redefine what is meant the term ‘Hinduism’. The western missionary perspective viewed Hinduism as a massive conglomeration of conflicting belief system. he helped to construct an understanding of Hinduism which no longer tied to some form of Hindu religious beliefs, but was rather the multifarious reflection of Indian culture i.e., Hinduism is a reflection of Indian culture and could be used to express what it means to be Indian Christian.