Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra
A Call for a Balanced Approach: Peter Heehs
P Heehs
International Journal of Hindu Studies, 1-17, 2026
This essay represents the third installment of a four-part exchange titled “The Question of Ramakrishna’s Influence on Aurobindo: A Dialogue Between Peter Heehs and Swami Medhananda.” It critically evaluates Medhananda’s “maximalist” claims concerning the impact of Sri Ramakrishna’s thought on Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy, specifically in regard to the concept of vijñāna. Through a rigorous textual analysis of Aurobindo’s 1912 letter to Motilal Roy and subsequent autobiographical notes, the essay argues that while influence is undeniable during a certain period, Medhananda’s claim that Aurobindo’s Yoga as a whole “derives” from Ramakrishna lacks valid textual support. In support of this, it argues that the influence of embodied teachers and that of post-mortem voices must be distinguished. The essay concludes that mere conceptual similarity does not entail historical influence and advocates a balanced …
Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo, and the Question of Influence: Peter Heehs
P Heehs
International Journal of Hindu Studies, 1-18, 2026
This essay initiates a four-part exchange titled “The Question of Ramakrishna’s Influence on Aurobindo: A Dialogue Between Peter Heehs and Swami Medhananda.” It critiques Swami Medhananda’s recent arguments for a profound direct influence of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda on Sri Aurobindo. While acknowledging a significant spiritual influence, the essay uses philological and historiographical arguments to show that Medhananda overstates the case for direct textual or intellectual influence, particularly regarding the concept of vijñāna. It concludes that while interesting parallels exist, each master’s ideas are best appreciated within their own unique philosophical and spiritual frameworks.
Independent scholar, Pondicherry, India
Verified email at auromail.net -
Homepagehttps://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&hl=en&user=ISajXEMAAAAJ&pagesize=80
| Myth, history, and theory P Heehs History and Theory, 1-19, 1994 | 229 | |
| The Lives of Sri Aurobindo P Heehs Columbia University Press, 2008 | 219 | |
| The bomb in Bengal: The rise of revolutionary terrorism in India, 1900-1910 P Heehs (No Title), 1993 | 184 | |
| Writing the self: Diaries, memoirs, and the history of the self P Heehs A&C Black, 2013 | 148 | |
| Shades of orientalism: Paradoxes and problems in Indian historiography P Heehs History and Theory 42 (2), 169-195, 2003 | 100 | |
| Nationalism, terrorism, communalism: essays in modern Indian history P Heehs (No Title), 1998 | 85 | |
| Sri Aurobindo P Heehs na, 1997 | 82 | |
| Foreign influences on Bengali revolutionary terrorism 1902–1908 P Heehs Modern Asian Studies 28 (3), 533-556, 1994 | 61 | |
| Indian religions: A historical reader of spiritual expression and experience P Heehs NYU Press, 2002 | 50 | |
| India's Freedom Struggle 1857–1947: A Short History P Heehs Oxford University Press, 1998 | 40 | |
| Spirituality without God: A global history of thought and practice P Heehs Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018 | 37 | |
| Terrorism in India during the freedom struggle P Heehs The Historian 55 (3), 469-482, 1993 | 24 | |
| Indian religions: the spiritual traditions of South Asia: an anthology P Heehs Orient Blackswan, 2002 | 22 | |
| he Kabbalah, the Philosophie Cosmique, and the Integral Yoga. A Study in Cross-Cultural Influence P Heehs | 21 | |
| Bengali religious nationalism and communalism P Heehs International Journal of Hindu Studies 1 (1), 117-139, 1997 | 17 | |
| Situating Sri Aurobindo: A Reader P Heehs | 14 | |
| Revolutionary Terrorism in British Bengal P Heehs Terror and the Postcolonial: A Concise Companion, 153-176, 2010 | 14 | |
| The uses of Sri Aurobindo: mascot, whipping-boy, or what? P Heehs Postcolonial Studies 9 (2), 151-164, 2006 | 14 | |
| Narrative painting and narratives about paintings: Poussin among the philosophers P Heehs Narrative 3 (3), 211-231, 1995 | 13 | |
| India's divided loyalties? P Heehs History Today 45 (7), 1995 | 12 | |
| Sri Aurobindo and his Ashram, 1910–2010: An unfinished history P Heehs Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 19 (1), 65-86, 2015 | 11 | |
| Sri Aurobindo and Hinduism P Heehs AntiMatters 2 (2), 33-45, 2008 | 11 | |
| Nationalism, religion, and beyond: writings on politics, society, and culture Aurobindo,, P Heehs, Aurobindo, P Heehs Permanent Black, 2005 | 11 | |
| La Vie de Sri Aurobindo P Heehs, P Ghirardi Ed. du Rocher, 2003 | 11 | |
| The centre of the religious life of the world: Spiritual universalism and cultural nationalism in the works of Sri Aurobindo P Heehs Hinduism in Public and Private, Reform, Hindutva, Gender and Sampraday, New …, 2003 | 9 | |
| 'The Error of All P Heehs Gurus and their followers, 209-224, 2000 | 9 | |
| Indian communalism a survey of historical and social‐scientific approaches P Heehs South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 20 (1), 99-113, 1997 | 9 | |
| Genius, mysticism, and madness P Heehs The Psychohistory Review 26, 45-75, 1997 | 9 | |
| Espiritualidad sin dios: su historia y su práctica P Heehs Editorial Kairós, 2021 | 8 | |
| Aurobindo Ghose and revolutionary terrorism P Heehs South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 15 (2), 47-69, 1992 | 8 | |
| Nationalism P Heehs Studying Hinduism, 277-289, 2009 | 7 | |
| Shaped like themselves P Heehs History and Theory 39 (3), 417-428, 2000 | 7* | |
| Sri Aurobindo’s Theory of Spiritual Evolution P Heehs Asian Religious Responses to Darwinism: Evolutionary Theories in Middle …, 2020 | 6 | |
| Religion and revolt: Bengal under the Raj. P Heehs History Today 43 (1), 1993 | 6 | |
| The Maniktala secret society: An early Bengali terrorist group P Heehs The Indian Economic & Social History Review 29 (3), 349-370, 1992 | 6 | |
| ‘Not a Question of Theology’? Religions, Religious Institutions, and the Courts in India P Heehs Comparative Legal History 1 (2), 243-261, 2013 |
| Roots Branches and seeds: The Teachings of Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo examined in the light of Indian tradition colonial nodernity, and one another P Heehs | 3 | |
| Aurobindo and supermind P Heehs The Gnostic World, 603-609, 2018 | 3 | |
| Practices of nontheistic spirituality P Heehs Practical spirituality and human development: Transformations in religions …, 2018 | 3 | |
| Introduction: appropriation as a marketing strategy P Heehs Postcolonial Studies 9 (2), 113-119, 2006 | 2 | |
| Naming and Critiquing Movements in Early-Twentieth-Century French Art the Examples of Intimism, Fauvism, and Cubism P Heehs Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History 94 (2), 124-144, 2025 | 1 | |
| A Brief History of the Eternal Religion: A Genealogy of Sanātana Dharma: Peter Heehs P Heehs International Journal of Hindu Studies 29 (1), 1-32, 2025 | 1 | |
| The Myth of the Theons P Heehs Aries 1, 28, 2024 | 1 | |
| Sri Aurobindo, Agnosticism, and the Unknowable P Heehs Reading Sri Aurobindo: Metaphysics, Ethics and Spirituality, 285-297, 2022 | 1 | |
| Utopias and Dystopias in Literature and Life P Heehs Roots, Routes and a New Awakening: Beyond One and Many and Alternative …, 2021 | 1 | |
| Rethinking Postcolonial Identity: Caught in the Spiral of Violence P Heehs Cross-Fertilizing Roots and Routes: Identities, Social Creativity, Cultural …, 2021 | 1 | |
| Aurobindo P Heehs Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism, 0 | 1 | |
| A Call for a Balanced Approach: Peter Heehs P Heehs International Journal of Hindu Studies, 1-17, 2026 | | |
| Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo, and the Question of Influence: Peter Heehs P Heehs International Journal of Hindu Studies, 1-18, 2026 | | |
| Indian Lives Series Book 4-The Mother: A Life of Sri Aurobindo's Spiritual Collaborator P Heehs Harper Collins, 2025 | | |
| Sri Aurobindo, Agnostizismus und das Unbekannte P Heehs Sri Aurobindo lesen: Metaphysik, Ethik und Spiritualität, 319-333, 2024 | | |
| The Myth of the Theons: Constructing and Deconstructing the Image of Two European Occultists P Heehs Aries 25 (1), 100-127, 2024 | | |
| A Brief History of the Eternal Religion: A Genealogy of Sanātana Dharma: A Genealogy of Sanātana Dharma P Heehs | | |
| The Light of Asia: The Poem that Defined the Buddha: Jairam Ramesh, 2021, 457 pp., Rs. 799, Penguin Random House India P Heehs South Asian Studies 38 (2), 262-263, 2022 | | |
| Book Review: The Light of Asia: The Poem that Defined the Buddha by Jairam Ramesh P Heehs South Asian Studies 38 (2), 262-263, 2022 | | |
| Eternal Truth and the Mutations of Time: Archival Documents and Claims of Timeless Truth P Heehs Aisthesis. Pratiche, linguaggi e saperi dell'estetico 13 (2): 143-153, 2020 | | |
| 82 Philosophical Discourse: Thought, Consciousness and Ethics P Heehs, A Tripathy Philosophical Discourse: Thought, Consciousness & Ethics, 82, 2016 | | |
| Book Review: Swami Vivekananda's Legacy of Service: A Study of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission P Heehs Indian Historical Review 35 (1), 294-298, 2008 | | |
| Shades of Orientalism¹ P HEEHS Colonialism, Modernity, and Religious Identities: Religious Reform Movements …, 2008 | | |
| Life of the World'* Spiritual Universalism and Cultural Nationalism P Heehs Hinduism in Public and Private: Reform, Hindutva, Gender, and Sampraday, 66, 2003 | | |
| Peasants and Monks in British India P Heehs International Journal of Hindu Studies 1 (2), 434-435, 1997 | | |
| An Old Approach to the New History P Heehs Studies in History 9 (2), 279-288, 1993 | | |
| [BOOK REVIEW] India's freedom struggle, 1857-1947, a short history P Heehs Asian Affairs 23, 207-208, 1992 | | |
| [BOOK REVIEW] Sri Aurobindo, a brief biography P Heehs Asian Affairs 22, 90-91, 1991 | | |
| Modern India and World History: India's Freedom Struggle, 1857-1947 and World Developments Since 1945 P Heehs Oxford University Press, 1991 | | |
| India's struggle: 1857-1947: a short history P Heehs Oxford University Press, 1988 | | |
| The Light of Asia: The Poem that Defined the Buddha P Heehs |
Myth, history, and theory
P Heehs
History and Theory, 1-19, 1994
Myth and history are generally considered antithetical modes of explanation. Writers of each tend to distrust the data of the other. Many historians of the modern period see their task as one of removing all trace of myth from the historical record. Many students of myth consider history to have less explanatory power than traditional narratives. Since the Greeks, logos (word as demonstrable truth) has been opposed to mythos (word as authoritative pronouncement). In more general terms myth may be defined as any set of unexamined assumptions. Some modern historians have become aware that much so-called factual history is interfused with such assumptions. What we call history is at best mythistory. Some even suggest that there can be no real distinction between the discourses of myth and history, between fact and fiction. The Agastya-Aurobindo narrative is an example of an account based on factual materials …
Introduction: appropriation as a marketing strategy
P Heehs
Postcolonial Studies 9 (2), 113-119, 2006
Most historical writing is concerned with particular people, things and events. Some of these are accepted as figures of comparison*/‘icons’, as the rhetoricians called them. Long-lived icons with positive associations are the brands of historical discourse. Like the commercial variety, historiographical brands enhance the marketability of particular products.(I am of course not speaking of material products*/Gandhi soaps, Vivekananda higher secondary schools*/but cultural or political discourses.) Unlike commercial brands, which enjoy legal protection, historiographical brands can be used by anyone who claims them. Thus Gandhi is invoked not only by the Congress Party, with which he was connected for decades, but also by the Bharatiya Janata Party of Gujarat, whose policies are the antithesis of Gandhi’s philosophy. Different sorts of brands work for different sorts of people. The young, as a rule, like things that …
A Brief History of the Eternal Religion: A Genealogy of Sanātana Dharma: Peter Heehs
P Heehs
International Journal of Hindu Studies 29 (1), 1-32, 2025
There is no evidence to support the common belief that the original Sanskrit name for the religion now known as Hinduism was Sanātana Dharma. The term occurs fairly frequently in classical and medieval Sanskrit literature but never as a general name for the religious beliefs and practices of people living in India. It was first used as the equivalent of Hinduism during the late colonial period, when conservative and progressive Hindus were debating the nature of their religion. This was an instance of “traditionalization,” by which groups and individuals respond to an uncertain present by evoking an idealized past. During the late nineteenth century, the term became an element of Indian cultural nationalism. Since then, it has figured in attempts by religious leaders and politicians to construct a Hindu saṅgaṭhan, or organization. Many understandings of Sanātana Dharma in the sense of Hinduism are based on …
AS Thakur - National Identities, 2026
… The third and most crucial transformation was the rise of the Hindutva movement.
As economic and cultural changes made India’s borders more flexible and called
into question previous notions of an authoritative Indian identity, there were violent …
P Meera Baskar
… project of global Hindutva, with specific … /pro Hindutva. I characterize this
ideologically non-aligned section of the Hindu-fold as the soft saffron, because
despite being critical of Hindu majoritarianism, their beliefs and sense of selves are …
I characterize this ideologically non-aligned section of the Hindu-fold as the soft saffron, because despite being critical of Hindu majoritarianism, their beliefs and sense of selves are anchored on certain elements of Hindutva narratives. I argue for the expansion of the current ontologies in which nationalism is discussed in academia to arrive at a more robust understanding of how authoritarian regimes derive legitimacy in subtler and indirect ways, that may even exceed the very idea of the conventional nation. Drawing on the work of Lisa Wedeen, I use ethnographic methods to provide insight into the soft saffron's political and cultural inclinations. Specifically, I conduct interviews with students who are members of Hindu student organizations at universities in a major U.S. city, and a social media study. My research suggests that the failure to bridge the social gap between secular and religious Hindu could potentially act as the first step towards countering the monopolizing of Hindu subject formation by majoritarian narratives.
B Du, V Rangaswamy - Journal of Transnational American Studies, 2026
… There are important distinctions to be made, for example, between the influence
of Hindu, Gandhian nonviolence on the Civil Rights Movement and the uptake of far-right,
ethnonationalist Hindutva philosophies in forming some Indian American diasporic …
S Sarkar - Economic & Political Weekly, 2026
… lemical essays engaging the problems of the first Bharatiya Janata Party government,
overall his interest lay in unpacking the complex historical phenomena that were the
context for understanding the emergence of Hindutva politics. And this is where …
R Blair - 2026
Kissinger (above) was correct. Global order must include regional order. at is not,
however, what we have nor is it where we appear to be headed. ree empire-states (USA,
China, and Russia) exercise grossly disproportionate international agency and the …
J Rosanne - New Directions in Indian English Fiction
Prison literature is a genre of written literature that explores the experiences of an
imprisoned person. Imprisonment in most cases is involuntary and might be due to
various causes. This genre explores the incarcerated experiences from various …
S Susmihara, AB Tolere, S Syukur - Educate: Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan dan Pengajaran, 2026
This study examines the relevance and conceptual convergence of modern Indian
educational thought with contemporary Islamic educational paradigms. Both
educational traditions face shared modern challenges, including hyper-standardization …
MR Dixit, J Singh - Contemporary Literary Review India, 2026
… While Manoj Das a staunch follower of Sri Aurobindo is deeply influenced by his
philosophy and blends magic realism with spirituality in his works… Whereas Das
influenced by Sri Aurobindo explores deep metaphysical concepts through his novel The Escapist.
Through his magic realism he emphasizes the inevitability of spiritual evolution...
Contrary to Narayan, Manoj Das writes with spiritual
conviction. He shows that the fractured-self is a necessary step
that leads to human evolution. All Human beings are ‘escapist’
as they are trying to escape The Divine Will by veiling behind
ego. The escapist Padmalochan finally stops escaping and
leaves everything on the Devine Will. His journey that begins
as a liar finally ends with smashing ego before the Divine will.
Thus he achieves a state of consciousness when mask is not
needed and he appears with his true face and healed self.
H Chauhan, S Chakravorty, DAK Mahavidyalaya
Posthumanism delves into the idea that technology has begun to exert a growing
dominance throughout human existence. Its far-reaching influence extends to
culinary practices and the realm of theatrical plays alike. The act of cooking food and …
A Roy
শিক্ষা হল সমাজ পশিবর্তনেি ধািক ও বাহক। সমানজি এমে ককানো কক্ষত্র কেই কেখানে
শিক্ষাি ক াোঁয়া পন়েশে। ঊণশবিংি ির্াব্দীনর্ ভািনর্ি শবশভন্ন মেীষী শিক্ষাি স্বরূপ
সম্পনকতমর্ামর্ কেষণ কনিন ে, র্ানেি মনধে অেের্ম হনলে িবী োথ ঠাকুি। শর্শে শুধু …
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