Recent studies of scholarly life in early modern India have concentrated on the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. My essay has two aims: to push this study into the long eighteenth century, and to contextualise the new configurations of Sanskrit scholarship in the movement of people between Banaras and Thanjavur, theorised here as centres of gravity and of levity, respectively. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, the Maharashtrian scholar Raghunātha Gaṇeśa Navahasta moved from his post as temple priest at Chāphaḷ, in the Sātārā district, down south to Thanjavur, to receive the patronage of Queen Dīpābāī. At the behest of the queen, Raghunātha began writing in Marathi instead of Sanskrit, in order to reach a wider audience. Despite his elite education as a young man in Banaras, his Sanskrit writing itself was likely accessible to the same audience that the queen had envisioned. What were Raghunātha’s true aspirations, and how did changes in his working conditions shape his career? In this essay, I trace Raghunātha’s entrepreneurial spirit through his Bhojanakutūhala, or Curiosities on Consumption. Although traditionally the prerogative of cultural historians of food, the Bhojanakutūhala reveals just as much about the intellectual context of its author as he travelled from north to south. I conclude by comparing Raghunātha’s career with that of his contemporary and namesake, Raghunātha Paṇḍita.

现代印度近代对学术生活的最新研究集中在16世纪和17世纪。我的文章有两个目的：将这项研究推向18世纪的长远，以及将梵文学者奖学金在巴那拉斯和坦贾武尔之间的人们迁徙中的新结构与背景联系起来，这里分别将其理论作为重心和重心。到17世纪末，玛哈拉德教徒学者RaghunāthaGaṇeśaNavahasta从担任萨帕拉（Chāphaḷ）的寺院牧师的职位搬到南部，坦贾武尔（Thanjavur），一直受到蒂帕巴伊皇后的支持。按照女王的要求，拉古纳塔（Raghunātha）开始在马拉地语而不是梵语中写作，以吸引更多的听众。尽管他在Banaras接受过青年时期的精英教育，女王所设想的同一位读者很可能会访问他的梵文著作。拉古纳塔的真正志向是什么？他工作条件的变化如何影响他的职业生涯？在本文中，我通过他的Bhojanakutūhala或“消费好奇心”来追溯Raghunātha的企业家精神。尽管从传统上讲，食物文化历史学家享有特权，但Bhojanakutūhala揭示了其作者从北到南的旅行时的知识背景。最后，我将Raghunātha的职业与他的当代和同名RaghunāthaPaṇḍita的职业进行比较。我通过他的Bhojanakutūhala或消费好奇心来追溯Raghunātha的企业家精神。尽管从传统上讲，食物文化历史学家享有特权，但Bhojanakutūhala揭示了其作者从北到南的旅行时的思想背景。最后，我将Raghunātha的职业与他的当代和同名RaghunāthaPaṇḍita的职业进行比较。我通过他的Bhojanakutūhala或消费好奇心来追溯Raghunātha的企业家精神。尽管从传统上讲，食物文化历史学家享有特权，但Bhojanakutūhala揭示了其作者从北到南的旅行时的知识背景。最后，我将Raghunātha的职业与他的当代和同名RaghunāthaPaṇḍita的职业进行比较。