Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c11.s8.9

c11.s8.9

Lancelot Wilkinson was carrying on his experiments at the *pāṭhaśālā* in the small town of Sehore near Bhopal in central India. He utilized astronomical texts like *Sūryasiddhānta* with their scientific perspective.⁶⁹ Paṇḍit Bapudev was his protégé. John Muir was appointed Superintendent of Banaras Sanskrit College. A Christian polemicist, he had already authored a tract in Sanskrit *Mataparīkṣā* denouncing principal tenets of Hinduism. Before that, he had also announced a prize of Rs. 50 for the best essay in Sankrit verse on the design and power of God, which should not refer to Hinduism. He advocated Sanskrit medium and authored several other texts also in Sanskrit.⁷⁰ Ballantyne also published Sanskrit translation of the three chapters of *Genesis*, titled *The Bible for Pundits* along with the original, to invoke the paṇḍits to testify and search their validity through their scriptures.⁷¹ Ballantyne's *Christianity Contrasted with Hindu Philosophy* led to a series of debates. Devout Christians could not tolerate his comparison of Vedāntic *Nirguṇa Brahman* with the God of Christianity. He was accused of presenting "too favourable" a characterization of Vedānta. His detractors understood *nirguṇa* as devoid of not only physical attributes, but of intellectual and moral characteristics as well. Byllantyne had to approach the *paṇḍits* for substantiation of his view of *nirguṇa*. The *vyavasthā* (opinion) given by the *paṇḍits*, including the savants like Vitthal Shastri and Bapudev Shastri, was published along with the signatures of sixteen others by Byllantyne in his *Bible for Pundits*.⁷²