Moro-bhatt Dandekar was a Hindu pandit and apologist from Bombay, British India. In response to Christian missionary activities, he wrote the Marathi-language Hindu apologetic work Shri-hindu-dharma-sthapana (1831) and published the monthly magazine Upadesha-Chandrika (1844).
| Italic Title: | no |
| Shri-hindu-dharma-sthapana | |
| Author: | Morobhatt Dandekar |
| Title Orig: | श्री हिन्दू धर्म स्थापना |
| Orig Lang Code: | mr |
| Country: | British India |
| Language: | Marathi |
| Subject: | Criticism of Christianity, Hindu apologetics |
| Genre: | non-fiction |
| Pub Date: | 1831 |
In February 1831, Dandekar debated with Christian missionary John Wilson for six successive evenings, each man aiming to defend his religion. Dandekar's 1831 Marathi-language text Shri-hindu-dharma-sthapana summarizes his objections to Christianity.
In the book, Dandekar responds to several Christian criticisms of Hinduism. For example, he argues:
According to Dandekar, the people who see something objectionable in Hinduism must have committed sins in their former births, which explains their "unhappy circumstance".
Balshastri Jambhekar, in the 13 April 1832 issue of The Bombay Durpun, described the work as "the first instance of a Brahmin coming forward publicly to vindicate the Hindu Religion, and entering the field of public discussion by publishing a work in defence of it."
An English translation of the text appears in Wilson's An Exposure of the Hindu Religion, along with Wilson's response to these objections. Narayan Rao of Satara responded to Wilson's text in a pamphlet edited by Dandekar, and Wilson repsonded to it with A Second Exposure of the Hindoo Religion (1834).
In 1843, Narayan Sheshadri, a Deshastha Brahmin educated in a mission school, adopted Christianity, leading to a controversy in Bombay. In response, Morobhat Dandekar published the Marathi monthly magazine Upadesha Chandrika, which featured anti-Christianity religious polemic. The publication ran for one year, during 1844; the 12th issue - dated December 1844 - was published in January 1845.