''Śāstra-tattva-vinirṇaya'', also transliterated as ''Shastra-tattva-vinirnaya'' ("A Verdict on the Truth of the Shastra"), is a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

-language text written by Nilakantha Gore (or Goreh, later Neremiah Goreh) during 1844–1845 in

Benares Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic tr ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. It is a Hindu apologist response to the Christian writer

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...

's ''

Mataparīkṣā ''Mata-parīkṣā'' is a Sanskrit-language text by the Christian author John Muir. It criticizes Hinduism, and portrays Christianity as the true faith. It was written in British India in 1839, and revised twice. As suggested by the title ''Mata ...

''.

Authorship

Nilakantha Gore, a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

-speaking

Chitpavan Brahmin The Chitpavan Brahmin or Konkanastha Brahmin is a Hindu Maharashtrian Brahmin community inhabiting Konkan, the coastal region of the state of Maharashtra. Initially working as messengers and spies in the late seventeenth century, the community ...

wrote the text at

during 1844-1845, at the age of 19. Around four years later, he later converted to Christianity, and was baptized with the name Nehemiah.

The text comprises 784 ''

anuṣṭubh ( sa, अनुष्टुभ्, ) is a meter and a metrical unit, found in both Vedic and Classical Sanskrit poetry, but with significant differences. By origin, an anuṣṭubh stanza is a quatrain of four lines. Each line, called a ''pāda' ...

'' verses in 6 chapters: # Repudiation of the Opponent's Way of Examining the Authoritativeness of Religion (''Parokta-mata-prāmāṇya-parīkṣā-prakāra-nirākaraṇaṃ''), 28 verses # Investigation of Faults in the Opponent's Religion (''Para-mata-dūṣaṇa-nirūpaṇaṃ''), 71 verses # Beneficial Instruction (''Hitopadeśa''), 71 verses # Investigation of the Instability of Argumentation in the Previous Narratives and the Necessity of Faith in the Scriptures (''Śāstra-śraddhāvaśyakatā-kathana-pūrvaka-tarkāpratiṣṭhāna-nirūpaṇaṃ''), 59 verses # Investigation into the Scriptures' Self-Validity, which is Independent of Reason (''Śāstrasyopapatti-nirapekṣa-svataḥ-prāmāṇya-nirūpaṇaṃ''), 202 verses # Repudiation of Suspicions About Defects in Our Religion (''Sva-mata-doṣa-śaṅkā-nirākaraṇaṃ''), 186 verses The following sections list Nilakantha's arguments.

Criticism of Christianity

* Why should one believe that the stories of the

miracles of Jesus The miracles of Jesus are miraculous deeds attributed to Jesus in Christian and Islamic texts. The majority are faith healings, exorcisms, resurrections, and control over nature. In the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke), Jesus refuse ...

are true and substantiated by the accounts of Christianity's adversaries, as claimed by Muir? If the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

is the source for such claims, why should one trust the Bible as divine and authoritative? If Jesus really restored eyesight to the blind, why do blind people who revere him today remain blind? Is the god no longer compassionate, or no longer willing to act in a way that will make people have confidence in him? * According to the Christian belief, the god created souls (as opposed to the Hindu belief that the ''

atman Atman or Ātman may refer to: Film * ''Ātman'' (1975 film), a Japanese experimental short film directed by Toshio Matsumoto * ''Atman'' (1997 film), a documentary film directed by Pirjo Honkasalo People * Pavel Atman (born 1987), Russian hand ...

'' is eternally existing). Did the god create souls for his entertainment, because he was alone and sad? If he wants the souls to go to heaven, why did he give them the ability to commit sin, let some of them die as children, or make children who are retarded? Is he not compassionate? If he created humans because he needed them to worship him, he must not be self-sufficient. * According to the Hindu belief, the souls suffer pain and pleasure over several lives, in accordance with their deeds: the sinful suffer only for a limited time, and get a chance to attain

salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

in their subsequent lives. According to the Christian belief, the sinful are condemned to eternal hell. Why did the god create souls that do not know about the Christian scripture, and therefore, are condemned to the eternal hell? * Regarding the concept of

original sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...

, how can the god be called just, if he gave the man ability to break his commands, and then punished him for doing so, and if he punishes one person for the sin of another? * Is it not unjust that Jesus makes sinful men pure (''shuddha'') out of mercy? If men can destroy their sins simply by trusting in Jesus, wouldn't they commit sins at whim? * Why do people who trust in Jesus experience suffering? How can they be sure they won't suffer in the

afterlife The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...

? The argument that the god makes them suffer to test their nature does not make sense, as an omniscient god must already know about the nature of his creation. Why does the God make children suffer and die before they reach the age of accountability? * Animals are like humans in many ways; for example, they are creatures of god, and have families. Why is the god not compassionate towards them and does not provide them with a way to salvation?

Defense of Hinduism

* The rituals prescribed in the Hindu scriptures are for the worship of one god (''

Bhagavan Bhagavan ( sa, भगवान्, Bhagavān; pi, Bhagavā, italics=yes), also spelt Bhagwan (sometimes translated in English as "Lord"), is an epithet within Indian religions used to denote figures of religious worship. In Hinduism it is us ...

''). However, the god gives the fruit of various deeds to the doers through various deities, just as a king does through various servants. * All of god's actions are aimed at ensuring that the souls (''jivas'') obtain the fruit of their deeds ('' karman''). The conflict between Hindu deities (referred to in the ''Mata-pariksha'') also happen for this reason. These deities have just one soul (''atman''), but they seem distinct to different people because those people have different viewpoints. * The various

Hindu philosophies Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson (2 ...

(''darshanas'') seem contradictory, just like a man asking for directions may get seemingly contradictory answers (such as "Go east" or "Go west") to reach a destination depending on his location. However, all of them provide the same result: leading one to

. * All living beings experience prosperity or pain because of deeds in their past lives. This also explains why certain people are born into the privileged

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

class. God created Brahmins to perform ritual activity which "gives rise to purity of mind". *

Idol worship Idolatry is the worship of a cult image or "idol" as though it were God. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the Ab ...

involves focusing mind on the god, not on the material of the idol. Similarly, repeatedly chanting the names of the god (''Bhagavan'') focuses one mind on the god. There is no harm in practising such rituals. * Those who compare the ''

rasa lila The rasalila (), also rendered the raslila or the ras dance, is part of the traditional story of Krishna described in Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavata Purana and literature such as the Gita Govinda, where he dances with Radha and the gopis ...

'' of

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

to sinful activities such as adultery are not intelligent enough to understand it. The god, in form of Krishna, showed favour to the ''

gopi Gopi ( sa, गोपी, ) or Gopika in Hinduism are worshipped as the consorts and devotees of Krishna within the Vaishnavism and Krishnaism traditions for their unconditional love and devotion ('' Bhakti'') to god Krishna as described in the ...

s'' who rejected attachment to all objects and desired only him. * The Hindu scriptures are "deeply profound" unlike the Christian scripture which can be understood easily even by stupid people, and therefore, cannot be of divine origin. * Multiple

Hindu scriptures Hindu texts are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. A few of these texts are shared across these traditions and they are broadly considered Hindu scriptures. These ...

exist for the welfare of people of different aptitudes. * The aim of the Puranic cosmography is to glorify the god, so it should not be taken literally and criticized for scientific inaccuracies. Even in Christianity, there is a conflict between

religion and science The relationship between religion and science involves discussions that interconnect the study of the natural world, history, philosophy, and theology. Even though the ancient and medieval worlds did not have conceptions resembling the modern u ...

. * Spiritual faith (''

shraddha Shraddha may refer to: In religion * Śrāddha, a Hindu ritual performed for one's ancestors who left their spiritual body(the parents are still a living entity called Pitru) * Śraddhā, the Sanskrit term used to refer to faith in Buddhism, fa ...

'') allows one to see realities beyond what can be perceived with senses and logic. Reason (''tarka'' or ''upapatti'') is subservient to faith: it should be used for understanding the scriptures, but not for contradicting them. A person requires faith to appreciate the content of the scriptures, and a person obsessed with objective verification of their content will become cynical like the

Charvaka Charvaka ( sa, चार्वाक; IAST: ''Cārvāka''), also known as ''Lokāyata'', is an ancient school of Indian materialism. Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embrac ...

s. Goreh argues that even Christians require faith, rather than logic, to believe stories such as that of a conversation between a

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

and

Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...

Critical edition

S.L. Katre prepared a

critical edition Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

of the text, based on two fragmentary manuscripts and a complete manuscript owned by Bhau-saheb Katre of Varanasi. It was published by the Scindia Oriental Institute of

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani language, Hindustani pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Prad ...

in 1951. With help of this critical edition, S.L. Katre intended to counteract Goreh's post-conversion critique of Hinduism - '' Shad-darshana Darpana''.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Shastra-tattva-vinirnaya
Sanskrit texts Hindu apologetic works 1844 books 19th-century Indian books Indian non-fiction books Books critical of Christianity