An 18th Century Jesuit “Refutation of Metempsychosis” in Sanskrit

Abstract

The Punarjanmākṣepa, a work in Sanskrit from the 17th–18th century Jesuit milieu, aims at refuting the notion of reincarnation as believed by the Hindus in India. It discloses an interesting historical perspective of missionary comprehension and criticism of the belief. This paper briefly examines the context, purpose and the rhetorical strategies of the work and incidentally situates the subject of reincarnation in the 18th century European intellectual ideologies.

Keywords

• metempsychosis
• Hinduism
• Jesuits
• Carnatic mission
• Sanskrit
• 18th century