History of Christianity in India
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BD/BCS Study Material: History For private circulation only
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA
MAJOR THEMES
A. Jayakumar
Composed & Printed by ESPACE 74B, A.J.C. Bose Road Kolkata 700 016 Phone : (033)65351127 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.espaceindia.in Cover Design Debabani Basu 74B, A.J.C. Bose Road Kolkata 700 016 West Bengal India
© SCEPTRE, 2013
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA
MAJOR THEMES
A. Jayakumar Above all I express gratefulness to God for helping me to complete this work.
I am also thankful to my wife Dr. Jasmine and my son Joel, who are always my support.
I am also thankful to Rev. S. Kingslee Libin Joel (ECI – Mumbai) for his help in this work.
I am indebted to Dr. Wati Longchar, Dean of SCEPTRE, Senate of Serampore College, for encouraging me to take up this task.
Having taught "History of Christianity in India" for few years, I consider it my privilege to put it in book form for the benefit of students of Indian
Church History. This book does not promise any breakthrough study as it was written keeping in mind to be a concise study material for the graduate level theology course.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A. Jaykumar
Wati Longchar, Dean Kolkata August, 2013 To aid external candidates in their studies, the production of study materials was under consideration for a long time. We are happy that the resource materials are ready and I am sure this will greatly benefit the BD/BCS candidates especially those who do not have access to library facility. We record our appreciation to Rev. A. Jayakumar, Principal of Calcutta Bible
Seminary, Kolkata, for preparing study materials on History of Christianity in India: Major Themes. We thank EMW, Germany, for journeying with us in strengthening theological education and making the resources available for the production of study materials.
For many years theological education has been done within the well-protected campus with the primary objective of training pastors. Theological Education by Extension (TEE) is an attempt to do theology beyond campus. The vision of TEE is not confined to ministerial training programme of the churches alone; rather is involves equipping the whole people of God; it is for the Laos – the whole people of God. It seeks to empower the whole people of God for formation and transformation of the whole community and search to build a just and inclusive community in the context of the people of other faiths and to all people. Thus, the theological education by extension programme is meant to strengthen building an inclusive community. Those who go through the process of such education will be able to work not only "for" the people, but also "together with the people".
FOREWORD
Chapter Twelve :
Mission and Colonialism
Chapter Eleven :
Caste and Christianity
Chapter Ten :
Mass Movement
Chapter Nine :
The CMS Mission of Help and the Syrian Chuch of Malabar and the Formation of Mar Thoma Church
Chapter Eight :
Serampore Mission
Chapter Seven :
Christian Friedrich Schwartz
Chapter Six :
Tranquebar Mission
Chapter Five :
The Relationship between the Portuguese and the Syrian Christians and the Synod of Diamper
Chapter Four :
Robert De Nobili:
An Apostle to the Brahmins
Chapter Three :
Francis Xavier: An Apostle to the Indies
Chapter Two :
Roman Catholic Christianity in India
Acknowledgement iii Foreword v Chapter One :
St. Thomas Tradition
Contents
Chapter Twenty :
Fundamentalism and Conversion
Chapter Nineteen :
Christianity in North East India
Chapter Eighteen :
Indian Christian Missionary Organizations
Chapter Seventeen : Emergence of Pentecostal and Charistmatic Movements
Chapter Sixteen :
The Church Union Movement and India's Contribution to Ecumenical Movement
Chapter Fifteen :
Christianity: Medical and Educational Work
Chapter Fourteen :
Women in Indian Christianity
Chapter Thirteen :
Christianity and National Independence Movement
The Expansion of Christianity during Apostolic Period The remarkable result of the Pentecost was the formation of a company of believers in Jerusalem. During the Pentecost event, those who were convicted by the message of Peter took the gospel message to the places from wherever they came. The scattering of Hellenist Christians turned out be the beginning of a new phase in the life and mission of the church because wherever they went, they preached their new faith.4 The origin of the church in Samaria is linked to Philip, one of the seven
Jesus who claimed to be the Messiah began his ministry in Palestine. The ministry of Jesus made tremendous impression upon the people.1 The Jewish leaders could not tolerate the ministry of Jesus because Jesus Movement threatened to endanger their position as leaders. They put an end to it by crucifying Jesus with the help of Romans. The sudden death of Jesus left the disciples perplexed and confused. They hid themselves out of fear of the Jewish authorities.2 However a radical transformation took place among the disciples when their master rose again from the dead on the third day and appeared to them. Next to their conviction of the living Christ, another great factor which contributed to the transformation of the disciples was the gift of Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
The day of Pentecost marked the birth of the church because the active life of the church began on that day. The twelve disciples3 because of their association with Jesus held positions as the leaders of the community.
The Jesus Movement St. Thomas Tradition Chapter One
The development of Christianity from the Post-Apostolic to the third century was multidirectional and cannot be easily mapped. During this period the people who spread Christianity were the bishops, the clergies, the apologists, the teachers in the churches and most importantly the Christians in general.
Expansion of Christianity from until the Third Century Afterwards, Paul in his second missionary journey traveled in the interiors of Asia Minor founding churches in Galatia, Philippi,
Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth and Greece.13 In his third missionary journey he went to Ephesus and stayed for three years in establishing the church and selected Timothy as the leader of Ephesus church.14 In the first century the majority of Christians were from the lower section of the society and there were few members of the middle and upper classes, who played an important part in the community life and administration. Among them, women formed a considerable majority. The favourable conditions for travel made evangelism quite effective.15
Paul was one of the great missionaries in the apostolic period.
He traveled extensively from one metropolis to another in the Roman Empire preaching his faith.11 In his first missionary journey, he along with Barnabas visited Antioch in Pisidia,
Iconium, Lystra and Derbe and established Christianity. From these centers Christianity spread to the surrounding territories.12
In the meantime Christianity spread to Antioch the Capital of Syria. According to Luke, Christianity was introduced in Antioch through the people who were scattered by persecution.
Luke also added that a large number of people became believers at Antioch.7 According to Acts, the church of Antioch was the first to have Gentile members in the church.8 It was at Antioch, the disciples of Christ were first called as 'Christians' a term indicating separate identity. Next to Jerusalem, Antioch played an important role in the expansion of Christianity.9 It is from Antioch that Paul started his first missionary journey.10 deacons of Jerusalem church who went to Samaria because of the persecution in Jerusalem.5 After that at Gaza Philip baptized an Ethiopian who was a treasurer to the queen mother of Nubia.
He also visited Caesarea and started a Christian community.6
St. Thomas Tradition
History of Christianity in India The love of Christians for each other and for the non-Christians, and their faithfulness and courage under persecution led to the conversion of many during this period. According to the Clement of Alexandria16 and Eusebius, a Church historian, who wrote in 302, Christianity was introduced in Alexandria, Egypt by St.
Mark.17 The beginning was among the Jews and Greeks,18 but within a short time Alexandria the capital of Egypt became a leading Christian centre. Alexandrian school of theology was founded by Pantaenus before 180 C.19 In the second century,
Antioch was one of the great missionary centers from which Christianity spread. Christianity might have penetrated into Bithynia in the end of first century because in the beginning of the second century (111-113), Pliny the younger20 (98-117) wrote to Emperor Trajan for his advice on how to deal with the Christians who were rapidly increasing in city and towns of Bithynia.21 In the second century a Christian community was established in Edessa.22 One of its most prominent members was Bardesanes who was a friend of King Abgar IX. About 200 C.E., Abgar IX king of Osrhoenia was converted to Christianity so his capital Edessa became an extremely active centre of the propagation of Christianity.23 Churches were built and for the first time the gospels were translated into Syriac.24
The third century church at Edessa claimed that their founder was Addai, one of the 72 disciples of Jesus.25 The missionaries from Edessa propagated Christianity in Armenia and Parthian
Territories.26 In 300, the king of Armenia, Trdat (Tiridates) III got converted to Christianity and proclaimed Christianity as its national religion.27 The North African province would have most probably received Christianity from Rome. The earliest African
Christianity was probably among the Italian settlers who were of high class.28 Christianity substantially increased in the provinces of North Africa with Carthage as its center.29 The African church from the beginning thought and spoke in Latin. Very early in the third century African bishoprics became numerous.30 In North
Africa by 245, there were ninety bishops and by 303 there were around 200 bishoprics. In Rome, Pope Cornelius (251-253) claimed that he had one hundred fifty five clergies and more than fifteen hundred widows and depressed persons who were
It is one of those east ward movements which brought Christianity to India. It has been said that the history of North
India can be called as the history of conquest of outsiders. The Khyber and Bolan passes of Himalayas had served as links with outside world. The Aryans entered India through them between 2000 to 1500 B.C., the Persians in the sixth century
B.C., and the Khusans in the first century A.D. The trade relation between the South India and West existed even before the time of Christ. It is believe that from 516 B.C., India was in constant touch with the great empires of the West for trade and other
India and its relationship with the West St.Gregory bishop of Tours in the sixth century, who was a historian, wrote that seven Roman bishops came to Gaul (France) in 250, and each of them found a new community in Gaul, Gatian at Tours, Trophimus at Arles, Paul at Narbonne, Saturninus at Toulouse, Denis at Paris, Austremonius at Clermont and Matial at Limoges. Because of their work the bishoprics increased at Gaul in the third century.33 Tradition states that Gregory
Thaumaturgus a miracle worker went to Neo-Caesaria as a missionary there were only 17 Christians but when he died in 270 there were only 17 non-Christians.34 Tertullian (160-220) holds that Christianity was brought to Britain towards the end of the second century.35 About 300, a Gothic national church emerged on the lower Danube (Romania). It originated from Greek Christians of Asia Minor, displaced by Gothic invaders in 250s.36 By the end of the third century Christianity had spread to all parts of the Roman Empire to Asia Minor, Armenia,
Macedonia, Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Northern Africa, Egypt and Syria, and even beyond the Roman Empire. In the first century Christianity was the religion of poor but at the end of the third century it was no more the religion of the poor. Many from the imperial courts and government accepted Christianity.37 In the end of third century Christianity from an urban religion had penetrated into rural areas. In some parts, cities with a Christian majority seem to have existed by the end of third century. taken care of by the church.31 In Italy in the middle of the third century there were more than one hundred and fifty clergies.32
St. Thomas Tradition
History of Christianity in India It is said that Christianity in India is as old as Christianity itself. Christianity reached India, even before St. Peter reached
On December 18, 1955, on the occasion of St. Thomas Day celebrations in New Delhi Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the then
President of India, said: "St. Thomas came to India when many of the countries of Europe had not yet become Christian, and so those Indians who trace their Christianity to him have a longer history and a higher ancestry than that of Christians of many of the European countries."
On 31 December 1952, on the occasion of the 19th century celebrations of the arrival of Apostle Thomas to India, Pope
Pius XII remarked "Nineteen hundred years have passed since the Apostle came to India…During the centuries that India was cut off from the West and despite many trying vicissitudes, the Christian communities formed by the Apostle conserved intact the legacy he left them…This apostolic lineage, beloved sons and daughters, is the proud privilege of the many among you who glory in the name of Thomas Christians and we are happy on this occasion to acknowledge and bear witness to it."
The Origin of Christianity in India purposes. Kerala was one of such places in India which attracted foreigners because of its numerous water boards and rich resources. Pepper was one of the major imports from kerala. It was valued by the Romans as high as gold and silver. A renowned historian, Pliny who wrote "Natural History" in 77
A.D., makes a reference to pepper trade with India says, " it is quite surprising that the use of pepper has become so much into fashion, seeing that in the other substances which we use, it is sometimes their sweetness, and sometimes their appearance that has attracted our notice; whereas pepper had nothing in it that can plead as a recommendation to either fruit or berry, its only desirable quality being a certain pungency; and it is for this that we import it all the way from India". It is also argued with regard to the presence of Jews in Kerala from the time of Solomon, from the ten century B.C., on the basis of references from the Old Testament. Some others argue the presence of Jews in kerala for the last 1900 hundred years.
Generally it is believed that St. Thomas arrived in India in 52 A.D., and ministered and suffered martyrdom there. This has been the constant tradition of the Syrian Christians of Malabar,
St. Thomas Tradition 4. Some scholars like Tillemont, James Hough, sir john kaye opined that st. Thomas never visited India. Now, this view is not given much importance because this view was based on the assumption that it would have never been possible for a Palestinian to visit India because of travel possibilities.
But with the historical documents surfacing the view is completely rejected.
3. Some scholars like J.N. Farquhar, Eugene Card and Bishop A.E. Medlycott believe that St. Thomas visited both the north and south India. These scholars give equal weightage to both the North Indian and south Indian apostolate of St. Thomas.
2. The Syrian scholars E.M. Philip and K.N.Daniel defend the southern apostolate and deny the apostle's visit to the north.
1. Scholars like Fr. J.Dahlmann and G. Milne Rae maintained that St. Thomas ministered only in North India and not in South India.
There are different views regarding the ministry of St. Thomas to India.
Different Views Rome in 68 A.D.! The Christian message is claimed to have been brought to India by St. Thomas one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. There is no historical evidence for this claim because of the lack of documents from the first few centuries.
The earliest record for this tradition available is only from the third century onwards. But they are also not direct or detailed record but just a passing reference while writing other things.
Apart from the scant documents, the Tradition is also supported by oral tradition prevalent among the field of activity of St.
Thomas in India, especially the St. Thomas Christians in Kerala.
This tradition is not only held by the Christians but also even among their non – Christians neighbours.
St. Thomas Tradition
History of Christianity in India Western Tradition does not mean European Tradition because when Christianity came to India they did not have Christianity.
So Western Tradition means Middle East Tradition or Mesopotamian Tradition. According to the western tradition st. Thomas following the well established trade routes reached
India sometime in the middle of the first century. He preached (b) Western Tradition This tradition is also known as Indian tradition. This tradition has been handed down from generation to generation orally among the Malabar Christians of st. Thomas and to some extent among their non-christian neighbours also. According to this tradition st. Thomas after visiting Socotra (an Island in the Arabian Sea off the north – east coast of Africa) came by sea and landed at Cranganore in about 52 A.D. He is said to have preached the gospel to the Jewish colony settled over there and also to their neighbours. He converted a few high-caste hindu families and established churches in Maliankara (near
Cranganore), Palayur, Parur, Gokamangalam, Niranam, Chayal and Quilon. In four of these places the church exists even today.
He is also said to have ordained presbyters for the churches from some leading Brahmin families. After that he moved to Coromandel coast making conversions to Christian faith and then crossed over to china and preached the gospel. Then he returned to India to Coromandal coast in Mylapur. His preaching aroused the hostility of the Brahmins who raised a riot against him during which he was speared to death in 72 A.D. He suffered martyrdom near the little mount, on what is now known as the st. Thomas mount. His body was brought to the town of mylapore and was buried in a holy shrine he had built.
(a) Malabar Tradition the presence of the tomb of St. Thomas in Mylapore and among the West. The Tradition connected with St. Thomas are:
(C) Mylapore Tradition (B) Western Tradition (A) Malabar Tradition
This tradition is also known as Coromandal tradition. This tradition was given much prominence by the Portuguese. In 1517, the Portuguese visited Mylapore for the first time, though they had heard about the place and the tomb earlier. They spent considerable time in gathering the local traditions concerning the Indian apostolate of St. Thomas. In 1533, at the order of the Portuguese king an official inquiry was conducted which brought to light and put on record whatever the people of the locality had to say about St. Thomas. The main source for the (c) Mylapore Tradition The basis for the Western Tradition is a book named "Acts of Judas Thomas" written in syriac language at Edessa in the middle of the third century. This work has been counted among the apocryphal books of the New Testament. According to the book, the twelve disciples at Jerusalem cast lots to determine which countries each of them would go. The country that falls for Thomas was India, but Thomas refuses to go there but he is convinced by the Lord Jesus himself in a dream. Then with the help of merchant arrives in the kingdom of Gundaphorus and thus his ministry starts in Parthia. King Gundaphorous asks St.
Thomas to build him a palace. But the apostle spends all the money on poor and the angry king puts him in prison.
Thereafter, the king's brother Gad dies and when he is brought back to life narrates the beauty of the palace Thomas built for the King in heaven. Following that the king and Gad receives baptism and the apostle is allow to preach the Christian faith throughout the county. He then passes on to another kingdom at the invitation of its king, Mazdai but the king gets furious with Thomas and stabs him to death. After a while when Mazdai opens the tomb of St. Thomas, the grave is found empty and he learns that his body was stolen and taken to Mesopotamia its final resting place. the gospel in Parthia and India and converted many to Christianity including members of Royal familes, suffered martyrdom in India and was buried there. Later his mortal remains were taken or transferred to the west (Edessa) where they were deposited.
St. Thomas Tradition
History of Christianity in India 5.
Marco polo a venetian traveler (traveler from Venice) gives an account of his visit to the site of the tomb of st. Thomas in India in 1292.
Gregory (538-593) bishop of tours in his book "in Gloria Martyrdom" mentions that st. Thomas was killed in India and his holy remains were taken to Edessa and buried.
St. Ambrose of Milan (333-397) identifies st. Thomas with India.
St. Ephraim a hymn writer of Syria who died in 373 A.D. in his hymn mentions the mission of st. Thomas in India.
Didascalia Apostolorum or the teaching of the apostles' written in Edessa around 250 A.D. points to India as the field of activity of Judas Thomas.
Some of the evidences in support of St. Thomas tradition are (a) General Evidence Evidences and sources in support of St.Thomas tradition
According to this tradition st. Thomas after his fruitful ministry in the Malabar coast, he crossed over to Coromandal coast and preached the gospel there. One of the main characteristics of Mylapore tradition is the miracles performed by the apostle and especially building a house or church, which later came to be known as "house of the holy man". He is said to have converted many from high caste Brahmins. But some of the Brahmins who were very orthodox hated a new religion being preached to them. They started persecuting and finally killed St. Thomas in the shrine he had built on the st. Thomas mount (in tamil pharangi malai). They used a spear to kill him and later his followers took his body and buried him in Mylapore. The advocates of this tradition point out a palm print
(foot print) as evidence that is ascribed to st. Thomas.
Mylapore tradition was the oral tradition prevalent among the people mainly among the Coromandel coast. According to Barros, the witness in the 1533 report, inquiry included the Hindu Brahmins, Muslims, Indians and foreigners mostly aged
80 – 90 years.
Problems in establishing the tradition 1.
There are no contemporary records belonging to the first century to establish the st. Thomas tradition. We get slight allusion of st. Thomas coming to India only from 3rd century writings.
The information that is available outside India is not sufficient to establish the tradition.
There is discrepancy in the writings regarding the use of the name "India". century, refers to a church of St. Thomas and locates it at Malpuria, a maritime city situated in the second gulf beyond
India ( i.e., the Bay of Bengal).
The details of Malabar tradition are found in few songs such as Ramban(rabban) Thoma Pattu, margam Pattu,
Veeradyam Pattu. These song were not composed recently but are being sung for centuries.
The seven churches planted by St. Thomas claim their establisher as St. Thomas 6.
The tomb in Mylapore is also considered as an evidence for the ministry of st. Thomas in India.
(c) Indian 1.
A Venetian traveler Marco Polo who visited south India in 1292, gives an account of his visit to the tomb of St.
Thomas, which was a place of pilgrimage for both the Christians and Muslims.
John of Monte Corvino, a Franciscan appointed as the ambassador to China spend sometime in south India. In a letter from Peking dated 8th 1305, he makes a mention of "the church of St. Thomas the apostle".
Nicolo de Conti another traveler who visited India in 15th 1.
Acts of Judas Thomas a syriac book written in edessa in the middle of the 3rd century describes the activities of st.
Thomas in India during the time of king Gundphorus of north India or Parthia.
(b) Western St. Thomas Tradition
History of Christianity in India There is no doubt that the ancient Christian community possesses a rich oral and living tradition. But the records available are only from the time of the Portuguese so they are not enough to prove the St. Thomas tradition without doubt.
But at the same time no other country in the world other than India claims to have the tomb of st. Thomas. And no other country other than India claims that Christianity was established by st. Thomas. So based on the living tradition as well as the circumstantial evidence such as the presence of a Jewish community predating Christianity, the evidences of trade relation with the west etc., today more and more scholars tend to hold that Indian Christianity has apostolic origin.39
Conclusion St. Bartholomew Tradition: Eusebius of Caesarea and St.
Jerome discuss about apostolate of St. Bartholomew in India.
Both the writers refer to the visit of Pantaenus to India in the second century. According to Eusebius, Pantaenus is said to have gone among the Indians, where he discovered the gospel of Matthew. According to the tradition, Bartholomew one of the disciples of Jesus Christ had preached to them and left the writings of Matthew in Hebrew language. According to St.
Jerome, Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria sent Pantaenus to India at the request of legates of that nation. In India, Pantaenus found that Bartholomew one of the twelve apostles of Jesus
Christ, had preached and left the copy of Matthew's gospel.
Pantaenus carried the gospel of Matthew with him when he returned to Alexandria. Most of the scholars do not give any importance to this tradition. But Fr. Perumalil and G.M. Moraes have tried to prove that this argument is untenable and point out to the Bombay region on the Konkan coast, a region known after the ancient town Kalyan was the field of activity of Bartholomew. He maintains that the Bartholomew Christians got intermingled with the St. Thomas Christians who came under the control of Persian Church. But Fr. Perumalil maintains that the Bartholomew Christians got intermingled with the Christians of Bombay after the coming of Portuguese.38
The second half of the fifteenth century was famous in the history of the world as the time of great voyages. Vasco-daGama guided by an Arab soldier discovered sea route to India and landed near Calicut on 21st May, 1498. When he came to India he was troubled by the Muslim merchants who were dominating the trade in India during that time. But he was given a warm welcomed by the kings of Calicut and Cannanore and received help and friendship. After being in India for six months on 20th November 1498 he started for home with a promise to return again. From then on the The Discovery of Sea Route to India and the arrival of the Portuguese The first contact of the Roman Catholic Church to India could have been through the missionaries traveling to China. In 1289, Pope Nicholas IV appointed John of Monte Corvino, a Franciscan as ambassador to China. On his way to china he spend 13 months in India, mainly in south Indian and may have baptized some people. From then on attempts were made to establish Roman Catholic Christianity in India. In April
1321, a group of three Franciscan friars along with Dominican, Jordan Catalini reached Thane ( in Bombay). The Franciscans were killed by the Muslims and Jordon escaped and ran away to Columbum (Quilon). When he returned to Rome in 1329, the Pope erected Quilon as a diocese and appointed Jordon as its first Bishop. However there is no proof that he ever reached his See.40
The Early Attempts of Roman Catholic Mission in India Roman Catholic Christianity in India
History of Christianity in India Roman Catholic Christianity in India Chapter Two The governor, Albuquerque offered financial subsidy to the converts as a incentive to conversion. He also offered one cruzado and a loaf of bread to the new converts daily. As a result of this the application for baptism increased considerably and baptism was administered with little or no preparations. In 1510, Arel (Arayan) who was a sort of chief port officer with his family and his clan numbering 1000 received baptism. According to Sabastiao Pires, Vicar of Cochin, by 1527 there were 15,000 christians in Cochin and most of them were women and people from low caste like
Izhavas and Mukuvas and very few from high castes. But this was done not without opposition, Raja Varma (1505-1545) who succeeded Goda Varma as the king of Cochin who was also pressurized by the portuguese to become Christian but The first attempts to evangelize were made at Calicut
(Kozhikode). The Franciscan missionaries who arrived in 1500 started their evangelizing activity there. A Brahmin who was a great help to the Portuguese was baptized. Then the Portuguese Captain Pedro Alvares Cabral and his men went to Cochin who were warmly received by the local Hindu king,
Goda Varma. He also offered them a piece of land to build a trade centre and a church. He also offered them lot of privileges and helped them in building better facilities for stay and also to establish their first trade factory in Cochin. Thus a small Christian community of Portuguese tradesmen with the women with whom they cohabited and the local converts came into existence. The Franciscans were busy in evangelizing the people of Cochin and neighbouring place.
Cochin Beginning of Portuguese Evangelization Portuguese ships use to come to India for trade purposes and they also brought with them priests who would not only take care of the spiritual needs of the Portuguese but also to evangelize the natives. But when they arrived in India, they did not find any trace of Roman Catholic Mission of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries started by Jordon. They only encountered the St. Thomas Christians.
The Fishery coast which is also known as the Pearl Fishery coast extends from Cape Comorin to the Island peninsula of Rameswaram and from there to Mannar off the coast of Sri
Lanka. During that time it had around 30 villages. The pearl The first information the Portuguese received about Tamil
Nadu was probably about the presence of the tomb of St.
Thomas at Mylapore. In 1506 and 1507, few expeditions were dispatched to collect information about the Coromandel coast and its trading relationship. After which the Portuguese visited the tomb of St. Thomas for the first time in 1517 and gradually a colony of Portuguese arose in and around Mylapore. In 1536/37 a great mass conversion took place on the Pearl fishery coast among the Parava community at Cape Comorin.
Tamil Nadu Goa was taken over Albuquerque (1509-1515) the second Portuguese governor to India. He is also called as the founder of the Portuguese Empire of the East. He made Goa, the centre of administration and capital of all Portuguese settlement in Asia. Like Cochin, the first converts were the women married to Portuguese tradesmen and their concubines. Albuquerque saw the need to have a strong Christian population to maintain the imperial structure he had called into being. With this in view he encouraged his men to marry Indian women, especially the fairer ones, so that they would not return to Portugal thus a large number of Indo-Portuguese population grew up.42 Just like Cochin, conversion was encouraged in different ways and within a short period Goa had a strong
Christian presence and in 1534 Goa was constituted a bishopric. It mainly consisted of Portuguese and people of mixed race.
Goa he not only resisted but also opposed the conversion, particularly of the higher castes. He declared that once converted they would lose their caste and would be considered outcastes and untouchables. Sometimes they would be driven out of their homes and would be deprived of their property.41
Roman Catholic Christianity in India
History of Christianity in India fishery was a source of great income to the paravas who were living in those villages but it also attracted rival regimes and middlemen. The paravas were exploited not only by their rulers and also the Muslim Arabs who had a monopoly of sea-bourne trade. In the beginning of the 16th century, the paravas who were independent fishermen were reduced to slaves and labourers under the muslims. It was in such circumstances, in 1535, the paravas leaders approached the Portuguese for help and also decided to embrace baptism.
Following which, in March – April 1536, the vicar general, the vicar of Cochin, Joao de Cruz and the parava leaders reached the Fishery Coast and baptized the paravas. In 1537, further baptism took place and by the end of the year, the entire parava community was baptized totaling 20,000 in number.43
The Portuguese came to India with the purpose to trade but it was also the purpose of their kings to promote the spread of Christianity among those who came under their rule. In 1514
Pope Leo X granted to the Portuguese king and his successors the right of ecclesiastical patronage or padroado in the lands conquered or to be conquered in the East.44 The doctrine of Padroado (Jus patronatus established by the Papal Bull of November 3, 1514) vested the authority effectively in the hands of the Portuguese Crown in the areas where Portugal claimed political rights. It is interesting to note that the last vestige of Padroado, the claim of approving the appointment of Catholic bishops in certain parts of India, was given up by Portugal only in 1950. It played a prominent part in the Indian Church history. Padroado stands for the "Crown Patronage" bestowed on the Portuguese king by the Pope for missionary expansion.
Portuguese Padroado With the arrival of Vasco Da Gama a new era dawned in the history of Christianity in Indian. He was soon followed by Portuguese businessmen who came to India for trade. They established trade centers in strategic locations in India with Goa as their administrative capital. Where ever they established their trade centers a nucleus Christian community emerged resulting from the marriage between the Portuguese with Indian women.
Apart from that the king of Portugal was also keen to Christianize the natives because of the responsibility on him to spread Christianity where ever they established trade centers according the Portuguese Padroado.
Francis Xavier: An Apostle to the Indies
History of Christianity in India Francis Xavier: An Apostle to the Indies Chapter Three Francis Xavier born on 7th April 1506 in a noble Spanish family in Navarre was related to the royal families of Navarre and France. From the beginning Francis Xavier had no taste for arms. When he was eighteen years old, his father sent him to study philosophy in the University of Paris. He took his Master of Arts and got qualified to teach philosophy. He was very ambitious and wanted to achieve something in life. Ignatius
Loyola arrived at Paris about that time and was put up in the same room of Francis Xavier. Ignatius Loyola was a soldier and got injured in a war which made him unfit for military service. He formed a prayer group at the University Campus and gathered young men for prayer. Ignatius Loyola had a unique power to attract young men and persuade them to take up a course which he himself had formulated called Spiritual
Exercise.47 It was a course designed to conquer oneself and order one's life, without being influenced in one's decision by any inordinate affection.48 Francis Xavier resisted Ignatius for sometime; but Ignatius absolutely won his trust and persuaded him to take up the spiritual exercise course. Soon after that Francis Xavier became one of the six disciples of Ignatius who, together with him, took vows in the chapel at Montmartre on Assumption day, 1534 to live all his life as a poor priest without Francis Xavier and the Society of Jesus Even before the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) was officially constituted, the king of Portugal heard about its member and wrote to his ambassador in Rome, asking him to talk to the Pope to some of its members to India.46
The Pope was happy with the success of the Iberian Kingdoms (Spain and Portugal) in the reconquest of the territories lost to the Muslims, rewarded the two nations with the right to conquer whatever land they discovered with the accompanying duty of evangelizing these lands. In return the pope gave the Crown the right to erect dioceses and nominate bishops and other ecclesiastical personnel. In a sense it was a sort of contract between the church and the state. It imposed on the Crown the duty to send sufficient number of missionaries to the new lands and then supporting them.45
The king of Portugal, John III, asked Pope Paul III to grant him six Jesuits to evangelize the East Indies. But Ignatius Loyola appointed only two; one of them was Francis Xavier. The pope issued four briefs for the benefit of Francis Xavier, from July
27 to October 2, 1540, in which he constituted him apostolic nuncio, and recommended him to the sovereigns of the east coast of Africa and the south of Asia. For throughout that immense territory Francis Xavier was entrusted, both by Paul
III and by the king of Portugal, with a general mission of information, inspection, and organization.49 After which Francis
Xavier set out to India.
The Coming of Francis Xavier to India benefice, to go to Jerusalem, to teach the infidel or if that were impossible, to do whatever the Pope should order him to do. In 1540 Ignatius Loyola along with his six disciples formed "the society of Jesus" or "the Jesuits" under the direction of the pope. They directly came under the direct authority of the Pope. They volunteered to go to foreign countries to proclaim catholic faith especially Africa and Asia. When Protestant reformers like Luther, Zwingli and Calvin were fighting over doctrinal differences with the Roman Catholics, these Jesuits went all over the World as missionaries. They went to South
America, African Countries and India. The countries in South America for example Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Mexico are Catholic Countries today because of the work carried on by the Jesuits. India was the first Asiatic country in which the Society of Jesus organized Christian missionary work.
1542, with the double dignity of a Papal Nuncio and a Royal (Portuguese) Inspector of Missions, Xavier set himself to the task of organizing mission work in Goa. It is stated that when
Francis Xavier started from Portugal in April 1541.
Normally a voyage from Portugal to India would take 5 to 6 months but due to unfavorable weather conditions it took 13 months for Francis Xavier to reach India. While on the board
Francis Xavier ministered to all who were in the ship. Due to the sea sickness many people fell sick and many died Francis
Xavier gave them a decent burial. He reached Goa on May 6th Francis Xavier: An Apostle to the Indies
History of Christianity in India Francis Xavier after his brief ministry of five months in Goa, was asked by the Viceroy to go and work among the Paravas, who were the result of the great mass movement that took place in 1536 and 1537. The Fishery Coast was a source of great income for the Paravas but they were exploited by the Arabs who established monopoly over trade and also by the local kings. The Portuguese helped the Paravas to gain the control of the Pearl Fishery Coast. Towards the end of 1535, the paravas approached the Portuguese to baptism them and also their protection. Pero Goncalves, the vicar of Cochin wrote in 1555 that in the years 1536 and 1537, around 1,20,000 people were baptized and almost the entire parava community had accepted
Christianity. When the paravas were baptized it was impossible to impart any kind of Christian instruction to them. The priests who had gone there to administer baptism also left soon as they found the climate unhealthy and food scarce. As a result the new converts were left without shepherds and continued to live the same old they had been living before. Hence their baptism did not bring any change in their way of life. In October
1542 Francis Xavier along with three parava boys (for the purpose of interpretation, who were studying in the St. Paul's
The Christians of the pearl Fishery Coast The brief ministry of Francis Xavier can be divided into three main theatres of activity. First after he ministered in Goa, he worked in South India especially in the Pearl Fishery Coast.
Secondly, he entered the Portuguese colonies in Malaya, Malacca and the Indonesian Islands. Thirdly, Japan which was outside the pale of European rule. he stepped ashore, instead of going to the Archbishop's palace in a palanquin, he walked barefoot to a lepers' hospital and began at once washing their sores. In 1542 he established there the great college of St Paul for the training of Asian missionaries.
As during the next hundred years, entry of missionaries into the Far East was permitted only through Goa, this institution played a most notable part in Christian activity in Asia. But He was disturbed by the life style of the Portuguese who were living immoral lives.
His method of reaching to the people was very simple. He would normally go about the streets ringing a bell and calling out , "Faithful Christians, friends of Jesus Christ, send your sons and daughters and your slaves to the holy teaching of the love of God," thus gathering people around him. He with the help of the Parava boys translated the Creed, the commandments, the lord's prayer, the Ave Maria, the confessions, and a short sermon about what it means to be a Christian, what heaven and hell are and who goes there. into tamil and teach the same to them. He then would ask the children to teach the same to their father, mother, brother, sister and neighbours. On Sundays he would gather all the Christians of the village and make them repeat the prayers.
He would begin with the sign of the cross, which was to be a confession of their faith in one God in three persons. Then the creed was recited and the people will repeat after him. Then the Hail Mary, Commandments would be repeated and explained to the Christians.51 Another of his method for pastoral care was to appoint catechists. The catechists were responsible for teaching, daily prayers and lessons, giving pastoral care. The people willingly came to receive pastoral care as they had never experienced it before. For their service the catechists received a stipend from the Portuguese administration. It also became a way of training the native leaders. Another of his method which is criticized most his method of baptism. Xavier would normally baptize a whole village in one day with very little preparation before baptism nor cared about a tested improvement in the lives
The grown up children insisted on being taught some prayers and Xavier was happy to teach them few prayers.
College founded in 1541) landed at Manappad on the fishery coast. He went to the so-called Christian villages of paravas which was between Capecomorin and Tutucorin now known as Tinnevelly district (30 in number consisting of Paravas).
The Paravas were Christians for name sake they were no different from their non Christian neighbours because they were never given Christian instruction. There were no churches; no pastoral care was given to them. Francis Xavier noticed that the children who were born after the mass movement in 1537 were not baptized so he baptized all the unbaptized children.50
Francis Xavier: An Apostle to the Indies
History of Christianity in India Francis Xavier was always conscious of being the Apostolic
Nuncio and pioneer of Jesuit missions throughout East Asia.
Francis Xavier's Ministry in Indonesia and Japan The Christians of the coastal part of this district rightly claim
Francis Xavier as the apostle to their territory. During that time, that area was known as Travancore coast. Francis Xavier helped the Raja of Travancore through the Portuguese governor of Goa. The Raja (Rama Varma) announced that in Travancore the people should obey Francis Xavier as they obey him and all those who wish to be baptized could freely do so. Francis
Xavier made use of this opportunity and invited the people for baptism who were living in fourteen villages. The people who belonged to Mukkuva (now known as arasar) community and who were oppressed by the royal officials readily came forward for baptism knowing that they can only benefit by placing themselves under the protection of the Portuguese as their neigbours the Paravas had done. This attracted the people and they decided to immediately use the freedom which had been granted to them. In one month i.e., from mid November to mid
December 1544, Francis Xavier baptized nearly all the mukkuvas of that coast who number around 10,000 with very little instruction.54
The Mukkavas of Kanyakumari District In 1543, Xavier also converted Karaiyas, whose caste was considered lower than paravas. In Kombuturei, where both paravas and karaiyas lived together, a woman who had been in labour pains three days was in danger. Xavier prayed for her and asked her if she would like to be bapized. After her baptism, when she had safe delivery her whole family received baptism.
After them their entire village was baptized. Followed by that the Karaiyas who lived in Pudukudi, Periyapatanam and Vedalai were baptized.53 of those to be baptized. The way of mass baptism was Xavier's system. One of the reasons for his extraordinary hurry was the quick advancement of Islam in India at that time. But Xavier always compensated by sending other workers after him.52
In April 1551 Francis Xavier meet Yoshitaka who was impressed by Xavier that he not only gave the permission for Xavier's contact with Japan was much more positive, it was decisive both for him and for the Society of Jesus. It was decisive because it took him beyond the Portuguese Padroado; and in Japan he took the decisive step of trying to understand
Japanese culture. On 15 April 1549, he left Goa accompanied by three Japanese and two Jesuits to go to Japan and reached there on 15 August 1549. Francis Xavier went to Japan with the idea that it was a united 'Empire' and that therefore his primary task was to obtain an audience with the Emperor and gain his permission to preach the Gospel throughout his dominions, but at that time Japan was far from united.
So he was constantly looking for opportunities to travel to other parts of Asia as a result he was away from India from mid 1545 to January 1548, when he went to Malacca (Malaysia) and Indonesia. He started from Mylapore and arrived in Malacca in September 1545. In Malacca, Xavier stayed at Casa Misericordia
(a charitable institution for the care of the sick and homeless) and immediately plunged into his usual effort to set up regular teaching of the essentials of the faith and of piety. He attempted to gain audiences in his usual 'Pied Piper' manner and again set about having translations prepared of the Creed, with commentary on each article, the essential prayers and the Ten
Commandments. Again he tried to have them set to singable chants. His days followed his usual exhausting round. Crowds came to demand he hear their confessions, he preached daily as well as holding a daily instruction class for the children, and he always made time to visit the sick and dying, which he held as fundamental to his priestly office. For the next two years,
Francis Xavier travelled in what is now Indonesia and rallied the clergy in the Portuguese garrisons and revived the faith of many Portuguese. Above all he reached out to the indigenous peoples by his old technique of drawing people from the highways and byways to be taught sung versions of the Creed and the key prayers of the Church, all translated into their languages.55 It was during these two years in Malaysia and Indonesia that Xavier first heard of China and Japan.
Francis Xavier: An Apostle to the Indies
History of Christianity in India After a few brief months seeing to the affairs of the Province, he set off for China and before the end of the year was back on Sancian island at the mouth of the Pearl River. He was unable to get permission to enter China. The Portuguese merchants who went to the island annually to do some illegal trade with the toleration of local magistrates would not risk that privilege by landing him illegally. When the left again, Xavier stayed on alone but for his Chinese servant, hoping to get ashore by other the Society to preach the Gospel within his dominions but he also gave the Jesuits an old Buddhist temple as their headquarters. In the next six months Xavier, Fernandez and Bernardo prosecuted their mission in Yamaguchi. Xavier spent a great deal of time in discussion with the many Buddhist monks.
Only a small number of monks became Christians but one made a widespread impact. He had been trained at the great Buddhist centre of learning, Ashikaga Gakko, and was highly regarded as a scholar. He was an important convert because of his ability to teach the Jesuits about Buddhism and Japanese culture in general and his ability to communicate effectively with other
Japanese. An equally important conversion for the future of the mission made at that time, was that of a wandering professional minstrel. This extraordinary man, who had severely impaired sight, did not simply become a Christian but also an ardent and eloquent evangelist. Later he was accepted into the Society of Jesus as its first Japanese member, a lay
Brother, who chose for his religious name Lourenço. He played a vital role in the conversion of many people and it is important to note this since so often the growth of Japanese Christianity is written off as simply the product of authoritarian actions by daimyo Lourenço. He composed his Christian songs he was creating the skeleton of an indigenous Christianity. He had had no training at all in any form of western thought so that his evangelistic message, which had a very widespread effect, was
Japanese in form. He was not simply a singer but a brilliant debater and took part regularly in debates with Buddhist monks and other learned men, some of whom were converted to Christianity through him. After initiating the Jesuit ministry in Japan, Xavier returned to Goa on 24 January 1552.
Few negative remarks about the missionary method of Xavier were he baptized individuals and groups without any prior preparation. The instruction before baptism was very short and there was no period of moral probation. He did not wait for the people to live an improved life before deciding to baptize them. Another negative remark it that, he never took efforts to learn local language. He just managed by memorizing the prayers and sermons.
He not only brought new religion but also taught the better ways of life. He rebuked the usual vices of the people, such as drunkenness, immorality, quarrelsome and superstitious.
By means of his hard and sacrificial work on the fishery coast, Xavier succeeded in giving to the paravas a certain pride in their Christian faith and a great attachment to it. They held
Xavier in high esteem, it was shown during his life time, when during his later visits to them they carried him on their shoulders to the church, or when they inspite of famine gave liberally for the churches, or when they slept near the churches with weapons under the pillows in order to defend their churches against hostile neighbors.57
St. Francis Xavier was travelling constantly to and fro in conditions of great hardship from place to place, always urged on by indomitable faith and hope of fresh people to be won for Christ. Wherever he planted churches it must be remembered that he never left a field without making provision for the work began there to be carried on. He always tried to consolidate his work by sending other workers after him.
Impact of St. Francis Xavier's Mission means. On 2 December 1552 Xavier died on the tiny uninhabited Chinese island, still waiting to enter China and begin the Jesuit mission there.56 His body was given a temporary burial there and was then taken to Malacca and was buried in a church, but after 5 months it was secretly exhumed by his friends and conveyed to Goa, its final resting place. 3rd December is celebrated as St. Francis Xavier's Day.
Francis Xavier: An Apostle to the Indies
History of Christianity in India Another of the negative remark about him was, he used
Francis Xavier was a tireless worker. The Jesuits claim that in the ten years of ministry of francis Xavier baptized 70,000 people. He worked among the paravas and mukkavas and gave them a pride of their Christian faith. He was always mindful of the converts that he left a catechist to take care of the spiritual needs of the people.
Conclusion harsh methods with his converts. When the converts who had been accustomed to their old ways of worshipping the Idols or making sacrificing to them if they go back to their old faith.
Xavier would get angry with them, and in one instance he pulled down the house and set it on fire to be an example to others.58
In 1595, the Jesuits began their ministry at Madurai with Fr.
Goncalo Fernandez. He was able to get the permission of the Nayaks and built a church, a presbytery ( residence for the priest), an elementary school and a small dispensary. His church mainly consisted of 100 Paravas who were basically not from Madurai but from the coast who settled there. Apart from that he was also ministering to the Portuguese who occasionally visited him.60 After working for eleven years, Fr. Fernandez was not able to convert a single high caste nayaks or Brahmins.
Fr. Albert Laerzio, the Provincial of the Malabar Province of the Society of Jesus was not impressed with the progress of ministry in Madurai, and found Robert De Nobili and sent him with hopes of reviving the ministry of Madurai.
The Beginning of Madurai Mission Robert de Nobili hailed as the "father of adaptation or inculturation" began his ministry in Madurai. At that time,
Madurai was the capital of Nayak kings who ruled the south – east corner of India. It was the centre of Tamil culture and a centre of learning, where Hindu philosophy and science was extensively studied. Among the religions, Hinduism whether
Saivite or Vaishnavite dominated. It was a regular feature in Madurai to have intellectual and religious discussions among different sects which further deepened their understanding of religion and philosophy.59 It was in this context Robert De
Nobili sowed the seeds of a new form of Christianity which today is hailed as a pioneer attempt to Indigenize Christianity.
Robert De Nobili : An Apostle to the Brahmins
History of Christianity in India Robert De Nobili : An Apostle to the Brahmins Chapter Four As mentioned earlier, the Madurai Mission could not make any impact of the people of maduari even after eleven years of labour by Fr. Fernandez. Robert De Nobili arrived in Madurai in November
1606 and realized that Christianity failed to make deep inroads into the world of the caste Hindus and began to investigate the reason for the failure of Madurai Mission. He had discussion about religion with the learned men and found the chief reason for the failure of Fr. Fernandez. Fr. Fernandez was presenting Christianity as the religion of "Parangi margam" which meant religion of the Portuguese. The people of Tamil Nadu did not accept it because for them Parangi means those who drank wine, ate beef, bath rarely, live immoral lives and communicated with people of low castes.
After a period of observation he reached the firm conclusion that Christianity would have but little success in India if it kept to its
Western garb and refused to understand the mind and thought of the people of the country. De Nobili realised that unless the high castes accept Christianity there is little hope that faith would ever take deep root in India as they were the main body of hindu society.
Since the mission had failed miserably, he did not want to follow the footsteps of his predecessor but was devising an approach which must be made up of Indian society. In 1606 he obtained the approval of the Society to undertake a serious study of Hinduism, with the object, as he stated, of learning how best to argue with the Brahmin leaders and expose the weaknesses of their creed. Madura was in many ways suited for this purpose. It had been a living centre of Hindu culture for over 1,500 years, a citadel of orthodoxy and a place of great learning associated with a brilliant court and a Madurai Mission Robert De Nobili was an Italian Jesuit from an autocratic family.
He came to India in 1605 and after ministering a few months in Goa and Cochin he was sent to work among the parava Christians in Tamil nadu by Fr. Albert Laerzio. He worked among the parava christians for seven months and started learning Tamil. Fr. Albert wanted to develop the missionary works in the interior parts of Tamil Nadu through Robert de nobili. And the place chosen for de nobili was Madurai.
Robert De Nobili
De Nobili surrounded himself with a staff of servants consisting entirely of Brahmins. Very soon his reputation grew and he was widely spoken of. when any visitor would come to meet him he was not easily accessible to them he made them to wait for long hours by informing through his disciples that he is in meditation or prayers. When he use to meet the visitors he would leave them spell bound with his eloquent and elegant
Tamil, suitable quotations from vedic texts in sanskrit and penetrating sayings. The Brahmins soon came to recognize that not only the dress and general conduct of the stranger were in accordance with their caste, but that he also strictly observed
With this in mind, De nobili started to form his ideas and methods to encounter the unfamiliar social environment. De nobili was absolutely convinced that a different approach has to be adopted to present the gospel to the caste hindus. He therefore determined to Indianize himself to present the gospel to the Indians. He determined to make himself an Indian in order that he might win Indians to Christ. Since he was a member of Italian nobility he claimed equivalent to kshatriyas. He declared himself as a sanyasi who had come to teach a new "spiritual law".
After obtaining permission from Fr. Albert, he adopted the life style of a sannyasi and changed his black cassock for Kavi robes and leather shoes for wooden sandals. Like the brahmins he avoided taking meat and wine and lived exclusively on rice, milk, vegetables and water. In November 1607, he left the old mission house where Fr. Fernandez lived and went way to stay in a little mud house with straw over it, where the brahmins lived. De Nobili's first convert was the Brahmin school teacher who conducted class at Fr. Fernandez's school. He was not easily convinced and it took him twenty days at the rate of four or five hours each day to get convinced after a prolonged discussion about religion with De Nobili. After him several high caste nayaks were baptised by De Nobili. In the first year of his ministry he baptized 10 people mostly nayaks. In 1609 he had
63 converts from nayaks and Brahmins.
De Nobili's Accomodation Method celebrated temple.
Robert De Nobili : An Apostle to the Brahmins
History of Christianity in India De Nobili was also one of the pioneers in the writing of Tamil prose.
He enriched Tamil with many words and phrases adapted from He never spoke with a member of any of the lower castes, and even strictly abstained from any intercourse with the other Jesuits who were working among the pariahs. But he soon found a way to solve this problem. To work among the Brahmins he appointed the sanyasis, and to work among the pariahs he appointed missionaries who were known as pandaraswamis. They lived as sannyasis, so on that account they had access to the brahmins but their main responsibility was towards the low castes. As the result, the mission in Madura soon achieved very considerable success.
After finding success with his method, De Nobili faced the challenge of how to take it further so that he can reap the fruits of this labour. De Nobili knew that if his converts were to lose their caste after being baptism or becoming Christians then they would lose their social standing and treated as untouchables. At the same time he had see that if he makes few concessions they should not be contradictory to the essential principles of Christianity. He declared that by becoming a Christian a person does not lose his/ her caste. He allowed his converts to practice caste, wear the three fold thread, applying sandal paste, change their dress, food, or mode of life except in the manner of worshipping idols. Nor they were expected to join the parava congregation. Robert de nobili
Christianized the marriage and burial ceremonies and composed Christian marriage hymns that were patterned on the brahminical wedding hymns. De Nobili also translated the names of Christian saints into the local language, for example for peter, Royappan; for John, Arulappan; for Paul, Chinnappan; for Joseph, Susiappa.
Through these measures or efforts, he sought to incarnate the Christian faith in Indian forms so as to make it acceptable to the caste Hindus. all the laws of the Hindu faith. During his time there was a wide spread opinion among the hindus that the Rig Veda was lost, de nobili said the lost veda is found now and it is "satya veda" the Bible. All those who wish to be saved had to accept it. In this way he saw to it that he would not look like an innovator who came with totally strange doctrine.61
It was not smooth sailing for de nobili. As early as 1610, De Nobili started facing oppositions from different quarters. Firstly some of his own converts turned against him when someone told them that by baptism they have lost their caste. But the main opponent was
Fr. Fernandez, who wrote complaint after complaints accusing De Nobili of allowing hindu practices in the church. Some of the Franciscans working in Fishery Coast went to the extent of saying he had become a hindu. The Bishop of Cochin highly disapproved the method of De Nobili. As a result in 1612, De Nobili was forbade to baptise anyone. This prohibition proved disastrous to the work of De Nobili. Even the archbishop of Goa turned against him and recommended Pope Paul V to take strong action against De Nobili.
After so many correspondence from De Nobili to Rome, finally on 31 January 1623, Pope George XV supported him and gave him permission to carry on with his method.62 But it was also pointed out that the Brahmins and other high caste converts can use their external marks of their rank (cord, hair – tuft, sandal paste) but must give up the hindu ceremonies connected with it. The cord must be received from the Christian priest and the sandal paste must be used for cleanliness and adornment.63
Robert De Nobili : An Apostle to the Brahmins
History of Christianity in India Opposition for his ministry Sanskrit. His works include Athuma Nirunayam (The Science of the Soul), Gnana Upathesa Kandam (A kind of Summa
Theological in four volumes), and Thushana Thikkaram (Refutation of Calumnies). In all twenty-one books, besides numerous other writings are the fruit of his scholarly endeavours. These had a great influence on the educated classes of India. Regarding his learned works, Fr. De Proenca remarked,
"What I admire most in them, leaving aside the excellence of the matter, the arrangement and order of the subjects, is the fact that he composed them all after becoming blind". De Nobili withdrew from the scene of his labours after woring tirelessly for 50 years. By that time there were over 40,000 converts in Madurai as a result of De Nobili's ministry, including a large number of nayaks and brahmins. Thus Nobili succeeded where all other missionaries before him had failed.
Modern scholars critise Robert de nobili for sowing the seeds of caste system. But it must be understood that during his time caste distinction was so rigid and the people of respective caste remained as they were. They did not agitate, they didn't speak anything about caste discrimination. They simply accepted the superiority of the Brahmins and they were willing to be under the Brahmins. The so called caste ladder was wellaccepted one. When this was the case at Nobili's time the need did not arise for him to speak against distinction, in his time it was irrelevant, of course today it is relevant. If de Nobili had spoken about caste even the so-called lower caste people would have gone against him and would not have been accepted by any caste.
Criticisms against Robert De Nobili It was Nobili, who was responsible for producing a number of original works in Tamil, Sanskrit and Telugu dealing with philosophical and theological questions. In this way Christian literature was created in these three languages. Some of the successors of Nobili in the Madurai Mission continued his efforts, so that eventually Tamil came to be possessed with a respectable Christian literature.64
De Nobili was the greatest missionary to India of his century and impressed upon the Madurai Mission with certain lasting features. One as the adaption of the life of the missionary to that of the people. Another was the appropriation of harmless customs and ceremonies for Christian use. He broken the barriers of prejudices and showed that Christianity could be completely Indian. He coined the words for Christian theology and prepared a proper vehicle for conveying Christian ideas.
He translated the names of saints and made them sound Tamil.
The Christian message became incarnate in Tamil. It goes to the credit of Nobili that he realised that it was possible to Christianize the people of India without making them less
Indian in any way.
Impact of Robert De Nobili's Mission Robert de nobili acknowledged the caste system which
We should always look at de Nobili as a child of his time. He could never become a 21st century missionary with 211st century missionary thoughts. Francis Ellis, in his contribution to the 1822 Transactions of the Asiatic Society, explained, "Nobili, who was looked upon by the Jesuits as the chief apostle of the Indians after Francois Xavier, took incredible pains to acquire a knowledge of the religion, customs, and language of Madura, sufficient for the purposes of his ministry". De Nobili must be praised from all corners for planting the seed for indigenization of Christianity. Summing up de Nobili's contribution to the indigenization of Christianity in India, church historian Joseph
Thekkedath observed: "He (de nobili) ... showed in a concrete way that Christianity could be completely Indian.
Conclusion Robert de Nobili is also criticized for not preparing a leader who after him could take his ministry forward. As a result all his converts fell on the way side after his death.
There was another criticism that he talked only to the Brahmins regarding Christianity but he ordained non-Brahmins to talk to the non-Brahmins and the lower caste people. This also was done according to the existing situation because the Brahmins would not listen to non-Brahmins. Because the Brahmins had conception that they know everything. The nonBrahmins didn't know as much as Brahmins do. When this was the case how would they listen to non-Brahmins, if they preach Christianity to them. And there was no response from the non-Brahmin, because of the non-Brahmin evangelist besides it a Brahmin went to non-Brahmins. By studying the prevailing situation carefully in minutest detail Robert de Nobili did a right thing and by posing himself as a Brahmin he elevated
Christianity to the level of Hinduism. Before de Nobili came they looked down on Christianity. means refusing to treat the poorest on terms of equality which violating the teachings of Jesus. But we have to understand that during his time equality among the caste could not be spoken. So the strategy of de nobili was perhaps the only one that could have worked in the setting of the time
History of Christianity in India
Some of the differences between the Roman catholic and the Syrian church are The Portuguese or the Roman Catholics considered Pope as the head of the church but the Syrians considered the Patriarch as the head of the church.
The differences between the Roman Catholics and the Syrian Christians When the Portuguese arrived in India in the sixteenth century, they soon discovered to their astonishment a local Christian community in Kerala. At first the relationship between them was cordial they accepted each other as fellow Christians. And as their knowledge of each other increased they came to know that they are totally different from each other in their worship and doctrine. The Syrian Christians trace back to the origin of their community to St. Thomas the apostle. Because of their relationship with Persia from very early times, their worship and liturgy were more or less of East – Syrian church. The Portuguese believed that the Roman catholic church is the only true church and the Syrian Christians were lead astray and need to be corrected. So they took the responsibility upon themselves to bring the Syrian Christians in the catholic fold. From then on the relationship between them strained.
The relationship between the Portuguese and the Syrian Christians The Relationship between the Portuguese and the Syrian Christians and the Synod of Diamper Corrected 16.08
Chapter Five
The Roman Catholics in serving the eucharist the priest received the bread and the wine separately but all the communicants received the bread only and not the cup but the Syrian method known as "intinction" was to keep the bread in the wine and the two are given together by a spoon. These two practices might have rose out of practical difficulties of administering the cup to large number of people but later they were considered as doctrinal differences. The Romans believed that in each of the elements Christ is fully present so no loss is suffered by receiving one only. For the Syrians, receiving of the bread and wine together meant receiving the living Christ not just the one element.
The Roman Catholic priest cannot marry whereas the Syrian priests can marry only the monks and the Bishops cannot marry.
So the Bishops were normally elected from the monks.
The Roman Catholics use to venerate the images of Mary, Jesus and the saints. They were not merely used as an aid to worship but certain acts were performed suggestive of worship whereas the Syrians did not have an images and made little use of pictures in their churches. Apart from the cross they did not perform any acts suggestive of worship.
The Roman Catholics held the doctrine of Purgatory.
Purgatory was an intermediate state, where the faithful after death go to a place where they suffer for a period of time and only after that they were admitted to heaven. According to them a person can be released from Purgatory by buying of Indulgence from the church. But the Syrian church did not In the liturgy the Roman Catholics prayed for the Pope whereas the Syrian Christians prayed for the Patriarch.
The Roman Catholics had seven sacraments baptism, confirmation, the eucharist, ordination, penence, marriage and unction but the Syrian christians omitted confirmation because for them baptism and confirmation was together which was an Eastern custom. There was also a difference in the use of unction. The Portuguese performed it only on the dying person as a preparation for the life after death but the Syrians performed it on sick persons on the road to recovery (as in James 5:14)65
The Relationship between the Portuguese and the Syrian…
History of Christianity in India The Portuguese soon realized that the bishops coming to Syrian church from Mesopotamia were a major hindrance for them to convert the Syrian into Roman Catholics. Even though some of the bishops who came to the Syrian church were in communion with the Pope but the Portuguese did not appreciate it. Because according to the padroado the Portuguese had juridiction over all christians in India so they were against the coming of bishops from Mesopotamia whether in communion with pope or not. After the death of Mar Abraham in 1597 the last bishop from Mesopotamia, the arch bishop of Goa Alexis de Menezes (appointed in 1595) succeeded in stopping the The chief of their efforts was in 1541, when Fr. Vincent De
Lagos, a Portuguese Franciscan opened a school for the Syrian boys at Cranganore. A few years later, the school was converted into a Seminary at the instance of the first Bishop of Goa, John
De Albuquerque. St. Francis Xavier who visited the Seminary in 1545 and 1549 remarked that the Seminary had over hundred students from the principal Christian families. It was converted to seminary with an effort to Romanise the Syrians. In the seminary, the students were taught latin and where instructed in the doctrines and rituals of roman catholic church but the Syrian language was completely neglected. By doing this their objective was to Latinize and Westernize the whole Syrian community through their priests.66 This effort achieved little success for some years but a Syrian bishop refused to ordain men from the seminary because they did not know syriac.
For the Roman Catholics, the Syrian Church was defective and they took upon themselves the challenge to bring back the Syrian church to Catholic fold by correcting them. The attempts started as early as 1515, Fr. Rodriguez, a Dominican reports to have converted 2000 Syrians to Catholic faith. But it was only after the establishment of the bishopric in Goa, their efforts intensified.
Attempts made by Roman Catholic Church to Romanise the Syrians believe in the doctrine of Purgatory.
The Roman Catholics used Latin language in their worship whereas the Syrians used Syriac language in their worship.
His first halt was at Vaipicota, where he attend the daily worship services and learnt that in their prayers they prayed for the Patriarch of Babylon (of the East) referring as the universal pastor. He took great offence at it and forced arch deacon George and two of his senior colleagues to sign a notice stating the Patriarch as heretic and any mention of him in the prayer was forbidden. He put the notice on the gate of the church which aroused a great commotion and the people turned against Alexis de Menezes took a bold decision and arrived in Cochin on 26th January 1599 to take charge of the Syrian church.
He invited the arch deacon George to come and visit him. The arch deacon came to visit him with some clergy and 3000 armed men. And it was decided in the meeting that the arch bishop would be allowed to visit the Syrian churches to preach and celebrate mass. The arch deacon hoped that Alexis de Menezis would go away sooner or later. But the arch bishop had decided in his heart that without Romanising the Syrian church he would not go to Goa. The arch bishop took many efforts towards this end. coming of bishops from Mesopotamia because during that time the Portuguese had complete control over the ships. Orders were given to watch over the ports. He was an able and resolute man of commanding personality. He came with a clear head that the Portuguese were complete in charge of the Christianity in India by virtue of his position as Arch bishop of Goa and the "primate of the Indies" the ecclesiastical head of all Christians in the Portuguese territories and moreover the Pope had also entitled him to make temporary arrangements for the administration of the Syrian diocese. He wanted to appoint a Jesuit as the bishop over the Syrian church and had a Jesuit father Francis Roz in his mind for that job. But the Portuguese authorities in Goa did not allow him to do it because they thought that it would create much problem among the Syrian christians. But after the death of Mar Abraham, Arch deacon
George a young Indian from Pakalomattam family, from which St. Thomas is said to have ordained presbyters took over the administration of the Syrian church and was accepted by the Syrian christians.67
The Relationship between the Portuguese and the Syrian…
History of Christianity in India Through all these efforts he was able to win the support of Syrian christians and their rulers and forced arch deacon George to submit to him. He decided to convene a synod. The arch deacon and his men proposed that the synod should be convened in Angamali but Menezes did not accept this he decided to convene the synod at udayamperur (diamper) which was a portuguese sphere of influence from 20th June, 1599. After making these arrangements, Menezes went to Cranganore and drafted the decrees of the synod without anyone's assistance and got them translated into Malayalam.
During the holy week service at Kaduthurutty to impress the people he brought a choir from Cochin and the service was conducted with greatest possible grandeur and solemnity. In the Maundy Thursday he with his full pontificals knelt down and washed and kissed the feet of the kattanars. The people who saw this were awestruck because they had never seen such a humble act from their bishops or arch deacon. They immediately declared their whole hearted support to the arch bishop.69
He also visited the Rajah of cochin and gave him large sum of money to put pressure on the arch deacon and the Syrian christians to yield to the demands of the archbishop. He also visited other small rulers who were supporting the arch deacon and made them to shift their allegiance to him by threatening them in the name of portuguese army.
After this, he left that part of the diocese because it was the strong hold of arch deacon George. He went to the areas where he was welcomed like Udayamperur, Kaduturutty and Parur. He learnt that the Syrian priests were faithful to the bishops who ordained them. So he decided to conduct ordination service for the Syrian boys who had not received ordination thus far. As a result 3 ordination services were conducted at Udayamperur,
Kaduthurutty and Parur, where more than 100 priests were ordained within a period of four months. To win the hearts of people Menezis liberally gave alms to the poor.
Alexis De Menezes. Alarmed by this, the Portuguese authorities advised him to flee to Cochin but he refused to listen to anyone and continued his journey.68
1. Renunciation of Nestorianism and a statement of the Catholic Faith strongly Western in tone.
From the third session, the doctrinal drafts which Menezes had prepared were read out. Some of the main points were.
On 20th June 1599, the Synod of Diamper was convened and it was attended by 133 priests, 20 deacons and 660 laypeople all together 813 syrians participated with a good representation from Syrian Church. After the celebration of the Mass, Menezes explained the reason for calling the Synod. He declared that the Synod was called at the order of Pope Clement VIII who entrusted the administration of the churches in India to him. In the second session, Menezes professed the Tridentine profession of faith which was published by Pope Pius IV in 1564 after the Council of Trent. He required everyone present in the Synod to make their profession but the Syrians protested, why they need to profess when they were already Christians. Menezes explained that it was the duty of all the Christians to profess their faith when required by the authority. After being pacified the arch deacon George and the Syrians made their profession kneeling infront of Menezes. It was further ordered that all clergy who were not present at the Synod should make their profession before Menezes when he visits them.
The synod of Diamper is a famous episode in the history of Indian church. Roman catholic scholars call it as one of the darkest day in the history of the relations between the Catholics and eastern church. Menezis arrived at diamper on 9th june, eleven days before the synod and brought all the drafts which he had prepared to be submitted in the synod. Some of the decrees were to renounce nestorianism, to accept the pope as the head of the church, to receive bishops who are sent by the pope and recognized by the arch bishop of Goa, to give the Syrians liturgy books for correction and the details regarding administration, all of this had been previously discussed with arch deacon George.
Menezis called a committee of 8 leading Syrian priest, 4 laymen and 6 jesuits the draft was read to them and a few amendments were accepted but in the major matters were unchanged.
The Synod of Diamper The Relationship between the Portuguese and the Syrian…
History of Christianity in India After the synod of Diamper Menezis spent four and half months visiting the Syrian churches to see if the decisions of the synod were carried out. He was welcomed by the all the Syrian christians with few exception. In each place some of the decrees were read out and explained. According to one, the married clergy were asked to get separated from their wives or leave ministry. From the Syrian books the name of the Nestorian saints were removed.
Angamali, the seat of the Syrian Bishops contained a large collection of books and document. Menezes burnt down all the documents of the Syrian church because of which we have very less documents of the history of the Syrian church in India before the sixteenth century. When he was in Goa, he heard that the king of Portugal had died so he decided to go back to Goa and set out from Cochin on 16th November 1599. When he reached
Goa, he learnt that in his absence he was made the governor of Goa. He held the dual offices for ten years till he was called back to Portugal in 1609.
After the synod of Diamper:
During the seven days of synod, the Syrian church was pressurized to submit themselves to the Pope and accept the doctrine and customs of the Roman Catholic church. Only the use of Syriac language in worship and liturgy was permitted apart from that the Syrian church was completely Latinized. The Arch deacon George and Cattanars were forced to sign the resolutions as if they accepted the resolutions and were sent to Pope saying that all of them accepted the resolutions and as a sign of their agreement they have all signed resolutions.
4. Roman Catholic Administrative structure was insisted upon.
Like division of the church into parishes, provision of ministers, feasts and fasts to be kept, etc.
3. Explanation of the seven sacraments of the Roman Church and its use and manner of celebrations.
2. Renunciation of the Patriarch of Babylon and insistence on the duty of obedience of the Pope.
In Malabar, the work of reforming the Syrian Church according to the decrees of Diamper was taken up by Francis
Francis Garcia, an elderly man, was a man of the character of Roz set himself to reassert the authority as the third Archbishop.
Hence his relationship with Thomas was very difficult. The Archdeacon Thomas and his men started to rethink of their old heritage and wrote a letter to the Nestorian Patriarch for a new
Bishop. Bishop Ahathalla was sent in 1652 as per the request of the St. Thomas Christians. He arrived in Mylapore on 2nd August,
1652. He established contact with Syrian Christians from Kerala who were under the Roman Catholic (Portuguese) jurisdiction.
He wrote a letter to Thomas telling him to send two priests and forty men soon and also promising him not to be afraid. He also told in the letter that he was sent by the Lord Pope, having many
Britto unlike Roz tried to pacify George by granting him more power. But George manipulated all the power and ruled till his death in 1637. His nephew Thomas succeeded him as Archdeacon. Donato died in 1634 and Britto in 1641.
After Roz, Stephen de Britto was appointed the Archbishop to Malabar. He knew Malayalam and was a mild man who was in good terms with the George. Meanwhile, Dominicans wanted to start a mission among the Syrians and Fr. Donato was sent to Cochin without the permission of Britto. Foreseeing the friction, the Archbishop wrote to the Pope but meanwhile Donato had established himself among the Syrians because he knew Syriac which Britto did not know. It was said that he was a Bishop from the east. A group joined around him and George too allied himself to this group. In 1628, George wrote to the Papal representatives in Lisbon that in future Archbishops to Malabar should be chosen from another order and Donato should succeed Britto.70
Roz, who was appointed the Bishop of Angamali, not archbishop (or metropolitan). He was very actively involved in providing
Syriac service books, visiting churches, settling quarrels, dealing with matter relating to discipline. Previously all these responsibilities were taken care by the Arch Deacons as the Archbishop was normally foreigners and content with liturgical duties. This angered arch deacon George, who felt that all the powers were taking away from him. He raised his voice against the Francis Roz but was excommunicated twice. But he was reconciled to Roz just before the death of Roz in 1624.
The Relationship between the Portuguese and the Syrian…
History of Christianity in India In May 1653, the Syrians held a meeting at Alengad and decided to appoint archdeacon Thomas as their Bishop. Since it was impossible to consecrate him in regular way, twelve Syrian priests laid hands on him and consecrated him. He afterwards was known as Mar Thomas I. To assist him in the administration four Syrian priests were appointed. After sometime when their anger cooled down, the Syrians began to doubt themselves and Archdeacon Thomas accompanied by a large number of cattanars and several thousands of armed Christians gathered outside the church at Mattancheri (Cochin) and swore an oath on the stone cross called the Coonen (crooked) Cross that they would no longer be subject to the Jesuit Archbishop. As all could not reach the cross, rope was tied to it so that all could touch at least the rope while taking an oath. This famous event took place on the 3rd of January 1653. It is said that because of the force of the people upon the rope made the cross bent. The intention of the people was so strong. As news of the revolt spread through the whole region of Malabar, others joined in, until, it is said, only about four hundred remained unaffected. Thus fifty-four years after the synod of Diamper the majority of the Syrians rebelled against the Portuguese hierarchy whose rule they had their accepted.74 It was the Jesuits who were the chief object of the Syrians' wrath.
The Coonen Cross Oath But Ahathalla was not allowed to land Cochin. A large number of Syrian Christians gathered in the harbour and demanded to release their Bishop. But the Portuguese closed the fort and the ship was sailed back to Goa. It was rumoured that he had been thrown overboard and drowned. (Though he was not, but sent to Europe). When the rumour reached the Syrians, they furiously broke into a revolt. They decided that they would never ever submit to Roman Catholicism.73 treasures and other riches. "… Therefore try your best to bring me to you, in the name of Mary the Mother of God, you priests and deacons of the holy flock, as well as all the leaders….71 It was later claimed by the Syrian side that he had written a letter nominating archdeacon as their bishop.72
The relationship between the Roman Catholics and Syrian church was very good initially later it worsened because the Roman
Catholic wanted to impose their traditions and cultures upon the Syrian christians. Alexis used all his mighty ways to accomplish the task. The Syrian church did not put up a serious resistance because they were not strictly taught about the tradition and doctrines of their church because most of their worship was conducted in Syriac which neither the priest nor the people understood. Synod of Diamper and the events related to it are considered darkest event in the history of Christianity in India.
The Roman Catholics believed that they are the only true Church and the Pope is the true shepherd. Bishop Jonas Thaliath in his
The Synod of Diamper considers the synod invalid on the grounds that is was convoked without authority, not conducted according to the sacred canons, and was never approved by Rome. Despite its invalidity, the event has furnished us with document, which throws much light on the affairs of the church of India and before the Portuguese period.76
Conclusion realised that what they have done by consecrating Mar Thoma was invalid. They decided to return to Roman Catholic Church provided someone other than the Jesuits was to be appointed
Bishop. To this effect arrangements were made and Pope appointed Fr. Joseph, from Carmelite order to be the Bishop, which did not please the Jesuits. By 1663, ten years after the event 84 churches had returned to the Roman fold and only 32 remained unreconciled. Toward the beginning of the seventeenth century the Portuguese power began to diminish and Dutch took control of Cochin in 1663 and slowly gained power in that coast.
As a result, the Europeans were forced to leave but before Joseph left, he consecrated an Indian, Parampil Chandy to take his place as vicar apostolic, the first Indian bishop of Malabar Syrians.
The dissent group under Mar Thomas I, renewed their connection with the eastern Patriarch and as a result Mar Gregorios,
Metropolitian of Jerusalem, a Jacobite arrived as their Bishop in 1665. Thus the majority of the Syrians who revolved in 1653 went back to Roman Catholic obedience and a minority persisted as Jacobite Church.75
History of Christianity in India
Philip Jakob Spener (1635-1705) the chief pastor at Frankfurt a commercial city was the central figure of Pietism. In 1670 he formed a fellowship in his house consisting of lay people for bible study, prayer and discussion of Sunday sermons. It was called as "collegia Pietatis." The movement laid emphasis on faith in Christ and a personal experience of Christ, on a life of separation from a worldly life of pleasures. It encouraged the laity to take an active part in the church activities. One of the person influenced by Spener's movement was August Hermann
Francke a professor at Halle University. He made Halle, the centre of Pietism. He founded a school for poor children in Pietism The first Protestant Mission not only in India but in Asia was
Tranquebar Mission. The Tranquebar mission inaugurated a new era in the history of Protestant Christianity worldwide. After the reformation in the early part of sixteenth century till the early part of eighteenth century, the protestant church was struggling for its own existence against the Roman Catholic
Church and for the government's support. They also did not feel obliged to spread Christianity as various Protestant sects were battling with each other over theological differences. After the reformation many protestant countries came to India for business and brought chaplains with them but they did not make any efforts to spread their faith. But the Roman Church as before continued its mission in non Christian lands. The turnaround in the Protestant church's approach towards mission is credited to Pietism.
Tranquebar Mission Chapter Six
The first protestant mission in India was Danish-Halle mission.
It received the name because the mission was sponsored by the king of Denmark with participation from the Halle in the form of Zeigenbalg and Plutschau. As all the beginnings are difficult the same was the case with Tranquebar Mission. Even before the missionaries landed in Tranquebar they started facing problems. J. C. Hassius, the governor of the Danish Tranquebar was not happy with their arrival. It was one thing that their arrival was uninformed and second they were sent not be appointed by Hassius but as "Royal Missionaries" with special protection from the king. As a result, Hassius did not clear their landing and they were made to wait in the ship for three days before they alighted on 9th July, 1706, an important day in the history of protestant church in India. But the relationship between governor and missionaries never improved. Thus
Ziegenbalg and Plutshau started their ministry in Tranquebar.
From the beginning Ziegenbalg concentrated his ministry among the natives and Plutshau among the Portuguese.
The first Protestant Mission in India 1695 and about the same time he also founded another institution known as "Orphan House". His activities in Halle aroused the zeal of many to go as missionaries outside Europe.
Bartholomew Ziegenbalg(1683-1719) who was a student of Francke at Halle was influenced of him. Another person who came under the influence of Francke was the king of Denmark
Frederick IV. The evangelical thought had given him a thought to send missionaries to heathen to preach the gospel. As a result he wanted to send missionaries to Tranquebar, which was a Danish colony since 1620. But he could not find anyone in Denmark who was willing to go as missionary to India. So he approached Halle and immediately Ziegenbalg and Henrish Plutschau volunteered themselves to go as missionaries to India. But there was much opposition from the bishop of Denmark Lutheran church since the missionaries belonged to Germany. But Fredrick IV took efforts to ordain the missionaries by the Denmark church and sent them to Tranquebar as "Royal Missionaries".
Tranquebar Mission
History of Christianity in India Similar to the Roman Catholic Portuguese, the first
As soon as Ziegenbalg was able to converse in Tamil and hold religious discussion. He began preaching the gospel and soon a small mission church was built outside the Fort and nine Tamil converts were baptized in September 1707. As Ziegenbalg proved to use Tamil more effectively than
Pluetschau, he concentrated on Tamil work. He produced a translation of Luther's short Catechism, tracts, Tamil German
Dictionary and school books. Within two years of his arrival, he began to translate the New Testament into Tamil, which no one had attempted before. The reports of Ziegenbalg's ministry created a good impression in Europe. As a result, three missionaries arrived at Tranquebar in 1709, they were
Gruendler, Jordan and Boevingh. They brought with them a large sum of money and other supplies for mission and clear instruction from the king to the commandant that his missionaries were to be given all assistance and protection.
The news of Tranquebar mission reached England, from where SPCK who in the beginning helped the missionaries by raising
Protestant congregations in south India were composed of European soldiers, sailors, and entrepreneurs and their Indian wives, mistresses, and children. Hence, a good deal of the ministry initially centered on the European and Eurasian community. The missionaries use to adopt orphan children of purchasing them from their guardians. In this way a nucleus of orphanage was formed. Thus they started schools in 1707 which Ziegenbalg use to call as dharma-p-pallikutam (School of charity). According to Dennis Hudson, the first students at these schools were either slaves purchased by the mission as an "investment" in its future growth or the sons of families made destitute by being cut off from their relations after they converted to Christianity. During those time due to the periodic famines and wars in the region, hundreds of impoverished people migrated from the hinterlands to the coastal towns to sell themselves or their children into slavery. The missionaries also urged the Europeans associated with the Danish company to send their slaves to study at the school for one or two hours a day. The students were offered free meals or small amounts of money as incentives.
As mentioned earlier, the mission's activity was strongly marked by the inevitable confrontations between the mission and the authorities from the very beginning. The Mission referred to its privileged position as "Royal Danish Mission" considering this more or less a kind of diplomatic status in the local community, whereas the authorities took their stand on being responsible to the East India Company and all its activities.
There use to be frequent collisions between the missionaries and the governor and most of the time Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg was very outspoken as he was a strong and uncompromising person. Hassius use to treat the missionaries outrageously. In 1708, Ziegenbalg wrote a letter to obtain justice for a widow.
Hassius was so enraged that he arrested Ziegenbalg and kept him in solitary confinement in the fort for four months. During that time Plutshau and some members of the congregation were also harassed in other ways. It was only after Ziegenbalg signed a petition for release stating that he was willing to appear for a trial in court, he was released. In 1709, Ziegenbalg wanted to go to Denmark but was refused the passage in a Danish ship by Hassius. It was only after making peace with him in 1714, he was allowed to sail. He met the king and briefed him the state of affairs in Tranquebar after which Hassius was replaced by another governor.
Confrontation In 1714, Ziegenbalg went to meet the Danish King and also got married in Germany. He also conveyed his struggles with commandant Hassius as a result he was replaced. Toward the end of August 1716, he arrived at Tranquebar with a new responsibility of being appointed as the Provost of the Mission.
As soon as he arrived, the first project was the construction of the New Jerusalem Church, which is still in use. Another project was a training school for the teachers and catechists.77 funds by printing and supplying books such as Portuguese New
Testament. Then they helped in setting up a Printing Press in 1712 at Tranquebar. In The same year, the Danish King made a permanent arrangement by for the finances by arranging an annual grant of 2000 dollars for the mission.
Tranquebar Mission
History of Christianity in India Bible Translation: The first person to take up the translation of any portion of the Bible was Philip Baldaeus. He translated the gospel of matthew into tamil for the benefit of the inhabitants of North Ceylon in 1665, it was never printed but was circulated in manuscript written on Palmyra leaves.
Appreciating the Culture of locals: Zeigenbalg emphasized learning the local culture as his principle of mission work. So he learnt tamil and could communicate with the locals. He made a deep study of the religion of the people and wrote books on Hinduism "the geneology of malabar gods" and "malabar heathenism". These were intended to help the future missionaries to understand the religion and culture of the local people. But his purpose was misunderstood in halle and one
Lutheran church official angrily wrote to zeigenbalg that they were sent out to exterminate heathenism in India, not to spread heathen non-sense all over Europe. And the works were not published for more than a century.
Education: Ziegenbalg viewed the educational institutions as the social adjunct to the preaching ministry. His early educational endeavour resulted in starting schools for the tamil people of Tranquebar in 1707. He started a separate residential school for girls in1710, which is considered as the first of its kind in India prior to that, no school was devoted entirely to the education of girls. People of any religion can send their daughters to this school. To promote the importance of the education in the tamil society, parents of the poor children were given financial subsidy for sending their children to the school.
Efforts to learn Local Language: Ziegenbalg and Plutchau began by learning local language by going to school with young children. Ziegenbalg would sit with the young children in this school on the floor and practice writing the letters in the sand.
Since Ziegenbalg had the gift of learning languages so he was able to use tamil effectively within one year and started writing tamil. Every day he would systematically spend eight hours to learn tamil. He preached his first tamil sermon on 25th March
1707.
Ministry Methods of Ziegenbalg
During the later part of his ministry, he faced challenges from the Mission Board Secretary at Copenhagen, Wendt. He was critical of the cost of mission work at Tranquebar especially
Later part of his ministry Seminary for the native clergy: He started the first Protestant seminary in Tranquebar in1716, India. This was not big seminary in today's standards but he had the concept in his mind when nobody had any idea of starting seminary during that early period. And in the seminary he taught the christian
Doctrines and principles of the Bible. And he also taught them how to evangelize, and it was in his schedule to teach them the outline of Hinduism, so that they would have the right approach in Hinduism in presenting the Gospel. Thus he prepared indigenous missionaries and the evangelists to preach the gospel to their own people.
Introduction of Printing Press and Paper mill in India:
Another contribution that invariably helped the promotion of Tamil language was his introduction of a Tamil printing press in Tranquebar in 1712. It was a collaborative undertaking between the Germans, British and the Tamil people. The letters were cut in Halle, the Society for Propagating Christian
Knowledge (SPCK) in London provided both the press and the paper. The Tamil people gave the labour. Thus the first Tamil books were printed in Tranquebar from 1712. The 'Nirubam', a small circular enlisting the Tamil readers for a dialogue with Ziegenbalg marks the first printing. Then the books of New
Testament were printed in 1714. Thus Ziegenbalg's work initiated a process of dramatizing Tamil characters and enabling the common people to read the printed Tamil books. He not only set up a printing press but also started a paper mill at Porayar, Which was the first paper mill started in India.
Zeigenbalg expressed his resolution to translate the bible into tamil on August 22,1708 mainly to put the gospel into the hands of his converts so that they might be able to read, interpret and meditate on it for themselves. He started earnestly this historic attempt on 17th October, 1708 and completed translating all the books of the new testament on 21st March, 1711.
Tranquebar Mission
History of Christianity in India His close cooperation with the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (an Anglican group) was an early exercise of harmony between Christian communities in the mission field. One of the criticisms regarding Zeigenbalg is he allowed casteism in the church. In his church the low caste members would sit in one place and the high caste member would sit in another. And even while serving the communion the high caste people would receive it first then the low caste people were allowed to take communion.
Concluding Remarks During the last few months of 1718 Ziegenbalg's health began to steadily deteriorate, but he refused to relax. The hard work and the harsh climate finally caught up with him and on 23rd of Feburary 1719, at the age of 37 he died. He spent over 10 years in India and was buried in New Jerusalem church which constructed by him in 1718, where a tablet in brass still marks his grave. When he died, he left a Tamil translation of the New
Testament and Old Testament from Genesis to Ruth, Many tracts, many brief writings in Tamil, two church buildings, the seminary, and 250 baptized Christians.
More than the opposition, he had to cope with the climatic conditions in India. Ziegenbalg wrote: "My skin was like a red cloth. The heat here is very great, especially during April,
May and June, in which season the wind blows from the inland so strongly that it seems as if the heat comes straight out of the oven". against the acquisition of property for the mission and said
"Tranquebar Mission was nothing but a great almshouse". He wanted the missionaries to completely devote themselves for preaching the gospel not to invest their time in building expensive churches or run schools. But for Ziegenbalg it was difficult to distinguish between spiritual and material as the people among whom he worked were living in abject poverty.
Even before Schwartz's arrival in India, an evangelical form of Tamil Christianity had already gained a firm foothold in South India by Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg (1682-1719) and Heinrich Plutschau
(1677-1752). In the beginning Schwartz worked among Tranquebar congregations and schools. Already proficient in European languages
(modern, classical, and biblical: German, English, Latin, Greek, Ministry in Tranquebar Christian Friedrich Schwartz (1726-98) was perhaps the most remarkable missionary of eighteenth-century India. For forty-eight years the influence of this gentle and unassuming forerunner of Anglo-Saxon missionaries reached farther and farther across South
India, from Tranquebar (Tharangambadi) southward to Tiruchirapalli (Trichinopoly), to Thanjavur (Tanjore), and to Tirunelveli (Tinnevelly), if not even to Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) and Travancore.
Eloquent in many tongues, he won respect and renown as a preacher, schoolmaster, educational innovator, diplomat, envoy, and statesman, and, finally, as protector-regent and raja-guru to Serfoji, Maharaja of Thanjavur (Tanjore). He, more than any other, together with disciples whom he called "helpers," strengthened the foundations of Tamil Evangelical Protestant Christianity. That this was done in a time of war, when armed conflicts and conspiracies were rife, when the Raj of the East India Company was spreading its imperial
(British) sway over much of the subcontinent, and when opposition to missionary work was implacable makes what he achieved all the more remarkable and deserving of more serious attention from analytic historians than has so far been received.
Christian Friedrich Schwartz
History of Christianity in India Christian Friedrich Schwartz Chapter Seven In 1768, he also received a formal appointment from the East India
Company, gazetting him chaplain for Tiruchirapalli, on a salary of [pounds]100 (most of which was plowed into local missionary outreach projects). Schwartz's regular working station, both as a Missionary, Chaplain, Emissary Two years later, while visiting Tiruchirapalli, Schwartz was implored by Major A. Preston, the local commander, to render assistance. A powder magazine had blown up, killing many soldiers and sepoys.
With no military chaplain to bury the dead or comfort the wounded, Preston promised to build a "prayer-school" hall for Tamil Christians if Schwartz would only stay. Two years later, in 1764, when troops were ordered to march and to besiege Madurai, Preston again begged the missionary to act as his military chaplain. What Schwartz did in ministering to sick, wounded, and dying sepoys and soldiers was so appreciated that he was given an award of nine hundred pagodas (gold currency, equivalent to about [pounds]360) from the nabob of the Carnatic (the Arcot prince whose palace in Tiruchirapalli was then under company "protection"). These funds were useful for building new schools, including a special "orphan school" for the neglected offspring of the soldiers. After Preston died during a Madurai campaign, his successor, Colonel Wood, also turned to Schwartz for help, offering to construct a larger, proper place of worship. A stone structure, seating fifteen hundred persons, was completed and dedicated on May 18, 1766. Within its large enclosed compound, "Christ Church" schools, both English and Tamil, and a commodious mission house were eventually added.
Hebrew, etc.), he became fluent in local Indian languages (modern and classical): Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit, Marathi, Dakhni-Urdu
(Southern Hindustani), Persian, and Portuguese (the coastal lingua franca). His reputation as a gifted schoolmaster grew. He established a school in every local congregation, faithfully following the philosophy and formula developed by Francke in Halle. He and his
"helpers" then became responsible for all new mission work south of the Kaveri River. This task involved caring for congregations in Thanjavur, Tiruchirapalli, and Tirunelveli. In 1760 he crossed the Palk Strait and traveled among Tamil villages of Jaffna (Dutch
Ceylon, now Sri Lanka).
In 1773 war again ravaged the land. The storming of Thanjavur by the nabob's forces brought suffering to many people in that city. Schwartz came to them and began to organize relief efforts. His efforts to help the poor and suffering,
Christian and non-Christian alike, brought him recognition, and his fame spread. On more than one occasion, when no grain could be obtained and people were starving, his simple word was sufficient to underwrite loans and stabilize prices. Without such surety, grain would not come onto the market, and food purchases for masses who were dying from famine would not have occurred. When Tulaui, the rajah of Thanjavur, was restored to his throne in 1776, he begged Schwartz to remain permanently. Two years later, Schwartz left his junior colleague,
Christian Joseph Pohle, to carry on as missionary and chaplain in Tiruchirapalli and moved to Thanjavur. Among various concerns, the humble prayer-school halls of growing local Tamil
Christian congregations, damaged during the wars, needed to be rebuilt. The Rajah, in token of his appreciation, made an endowment for the building of a new and larger stone place of worship. Thereafter, despite travels, Schwartz was to make
Thanjavur his permanent abode for the remaining twenty years of his life. missionary and a chaplain, was to be in Tiruchirapalli. In his new assignment, the German missionary from Halle and Tranquebar proved to be singularly effective and successful.
His knowledge of languages, with his engaging, caring, and gentle manner, enabled him to relate to many kinds of mercenary soldiers and sepoys: British, German, Portuguese, Maratha,
Mughal, Telugu, and Tamil. Consistently cheerful, kind, and self-giving, he won the hearts of officers and troopers alike. At the same time, his missionary activity continued to expand.
The "helpers" he had trained went out into towns and villages, two by two, returning to meet with him for self-analysis and prayer. As pastor-teachers, they sought to provide basic literacy for believers in each congregation. Besides meeting these
"helpers" each morning and evening, Schwartz also accompanied them on missionary forays to more distant places.
Christian Friedrich Schwartz
History of Christianity in India Shortly after this move, Schwartz was summoned by the Back in Thanjavur, construction of the Gothic stone place of worship was completed on April 16, 1780. This structure, capable of holding five hundred, was named St. Peter's Church. In the suburb of Vallam, a house and compound were converted into a prayer-school hall and other pukka buildings also began to rise. But again, war interrupted activities. Hyder's armies broke upon the British authorities to Madras. There he was asked to undertake a secret peace mission. Hyder Ali, ruler of Mysore, had specifically requested that Schwartz be sent. No other emissary was deemed more trustworthy. No one could command such trust; and no one could command such fluency of the relevant languages (Urdu, Persian, Marathi, Tamil, and others). No translator or interpreter would be required. Reluctantly, "to prevent a further effusion of blood," Schwartz agreed to go, but only as long as it was clearly understood that he went only as a missionary and only as an emissary of peace. His journey took eight weeks. Along the way, he and his unarmed entourage took advantage of every opportunity to preach or teach at every place where his palanquin halted. When he finally arrived at Srirangapatnam (Seringapatam), the capital of Mysore, he was ceremonially received. At meetings, both in public durbar and in private audience, he was accorded courtesy and respect. He then wended his way back to Madras and personally reported his conversations to the governor of Madras, at Fort St. George.
He handed over the prize purse of three hundred rupees that Hyder Ali had given him, and when this was then handed back to him, he made it the initial base of an endowment for the establishment of an orphan school in Thanjavur. From neither government, Madras or Mysore, would he allow any personal payment beyond expenses for his travel. He did, however, succeed in securing for Pohle, his successor in Tiruchirapalli, the chaplain's salary of one hundred pounds per year that he himself had previously received from the company. The words that Schwartz conveyed from Mysore to Madras in his report were never made public, but his personal impressions of Hyder and of this whole episode are to be found in his letters to Europe.
He was never convinced that his efforts had done much to avert the war that he saw coming.
At the same time, Schwartz laid the foundations for what was to become the largest and strongest evangelical Christian community in India. As early as 1769 and 1771, word had come to him that Tamil Christians had settled in Tirunelveli.
An affluent Brahmin widow, residing with an English officer Schwartz's most notable achievements, in modern education and in government, still lay before him. His scheme for a modern, state-subsidized "public" system of schools in India began with the rajahs of Thanjavur, Shivaganga, and Ramnad.
High schools that he established so impressed the East India Company's resident at Thanjavur that the company's directors in London and its government at Fort St. George, in Madras, were persuaded to subsidize them, even though none of these schools lay within company territory. Maratha Brahman youths who would eventually fill uppermost rungs of civil service positions within the entire Madras presidency flocked to these schools. The curriculum, combining biblical and Christian texts with principles and sciences of the Enlightenment, included
English literature and European philosophy.
Introducing Modern Education Carnatic "one-hundred-thousand strong," destroying Baillie's brigade near Kanchipuram and sweeping to the gates of Madras itself. Once more Schwartz found his hands full, tending the hungry, sick, wounded, and dying. Hyder Ali commanded that the missionary be allowed to pass among his own troops without molestation. "He is a good man," he is reported to have remarked, "and means no harm to my government." When peace negotiations resumed, Schwartz was again called upon to act as a go-between (dubash). Twice more he acted in this capacity but his efforts were aborted: on the first occasion Tipu
Sultan's pickets stopped him at the border (Hyder Ali having died in 1782); on the second, his legs became so afflicted with boils ("eruptions") that he could not travel. Colonel William
Fullarton, commander of the Madras field force, later wrote:
"The integrity of this irreproachable missionary has retrieved the character of Europeans from imputations of general depravity."
Christian Friedrich Schwartz
History of Christianity in India In 1787, as he lay dying, Tulaji Rajah adopted ten-year-old Serfoji, a cousin, as his heir. At the same time, he turned to Schwartz and begged him to serve as the boy's guardian. Schwartz hesitated and then declined. But when the company set the boy aside and made
Amir Singh rajah in his place, and when Amir Singh's servants Meanwhile, north of Tirunelveli, war continued, bringing further devastation to Thanjavur. This time also, local distresses were aggravated by the rapacious avarice and oppression of the rajah's servants. The country was left waste, and thousands fled their villages. The company's resident at the Thanjavur Durbar recommended that Schwartz be put in charge of a special committee of investigation. At Schwartz's insistence, the rajah dismissed his corrupt officials, and without coercion, a modicum of justice was restored. Once again placing faith in Schwartz's word, seven thousand people returned and took up the cultivating of their fields.
Upon the recommendation of the British resident, Schwartz was appointed royal interpreter (on a salary of [pounds]100 a year).
When the rapacity of the rajah's servants again became intolerable, Schwartz drew up a state paper, suggesting how the administration of justice should be thoroughly reformed. As a consequence, he and his "helpers" were asked to assist those in charge of the Courts of Justice. at the company's fort at Palayamkottai (Palamcottah), had appealed to Schwartz for help. In 1778, having come to Tirunelveli to see for himself, he baptized her, christening her
"Clarinda." When Clarinda later made a personal endowment to pay for construction of a proper prayer-school building for the new congregation, Schwartz sent Satyanathan Pillai, one of his most gifted "helpers," to serve as a permanent resident pastorteacher. Satyanathan was formally ordained in 1790, after undergoing a rigorous examination in Thanjavur. He was then also formally commissioned as a missionary, the first Tamil evangelical to be so designated. In 1799 Satyanathan joined
David Sundaranandam, a local convert and disciple who had come from the lowly Shanar (now Nadar) community, in organizing one of India's earliest modern "mass movements" of conversion to Christianity. Thousands turned to the new faith and suffered severe persecution for so doing.
Schwartz died on February 13, 1798. For the memorial service, Serfoji Maharaj read some deeply heartfelt English verses that he had composed for the occasion. He sent to England for a special monument. This monument, a marble sculpture by Flaxman, rests in Christ Church, in the Small Fort of Thanjavur. It depicts the old
The new rajah became an enlightened and highly educated young man ruling in his own right, having imbibed much learning from Schwartz, his raja-guru. Indeed, the new and modern palace that he was to construct and dub Saraswati Mahal would contain a Room of Wonders (Wunder Kammer) that, replete with modern library, laboratory, microscopes, and telescopes, boasted the latest in scientific apparatus and instruments. Inspired by the Enlightenment, he became a founding member of the Royal
Geographic Society in Britain. By then, the young prince had come to think of the old missionary not only as the protector and regent of his realm but as his personal father and friend. When Schwartz suffered his final illness, he called Serfoji to his side and bestowed a special blessing upon him. He exhorted the prince to rule all his subjects with even-handed justice, to protect his Tamil Christian subjects from persecution, and to submit himself to the grace and mercy of the One and true God, who alone could give him eternal peace.
Raju-guru to the New Maharaj threatened the boy's life, keeping him in a dark room and refusing to allow for the boy's care and education, Schwartz made a special appeal to the Madras government. The Madras authorities formally recognized him as the boy's guardian, but in 1793, when Amir Singh's servants again made attempts against Serfoji's life, placing him in a special house and surrounding him with armed guards so that the missionary had much difficulty in gaining access to the boy, Schwartz decided to journey to Madras and to make a personal appeal. Such was his concern for the prince's life that he brought Serfoji with him, along with the three widows of the late rajah. The governorin-council heeded Schwartz's appeal. Serfoji's claim was recognized, and restoration of Serfoji to the throne of Thanjavur was ordered.
Thus the succession of the prince whom the deceased rajah had begged Schwartz to protect was finally confirmed.
Christian Friedrich Schwartz
History of Christianity in India In a world awash in corruption and injustice, both European and Indian, the personal integrity of Schwartz was never questioned.
To the very last, he showed indifference to personal power or wealth.
"He was," Heber later wrote, "one of the most active and fearless, as he was one of the most successful, missionaries since the Apostles." Heber estimated the number of Tamils who came to faith directly because of Schwartz at six thousand. In Tirunelveli many thousands more came to faith in the years just after he died.
Young missionaries were told to emulate "that worthy man and labourer in Jesus Christ who established such a reputation of candour, integrity, and disinterestedness among both natives and Europeans, as cannot fail to recommend the cause of Christianity to men of every description who have ever heard his name." Such words could echo Joseph Jaenicke's confession: "My connexion with Mr.
Schwartz is another proof of [God's] good providence over me"; or Paezold's anecdote about overhearing Brahmans at Tiruvallur solemnly declare to Schwartz, "You are a holy man: if all your
Christians thought, spoke, and lived as you do, we would, without delay undergo the change and become Christians." Simple folk ever thronged around their beloved teacher, everyone trying to get nearest to him and be the first to greet him with "O Sir! God be Praised!"
Amazingly, few would know about Schwartz two hundred years later.78 man on his deathbed, surrounded by his beloved Tamil
"helpers" and holding the maharaja's hand. In Madras (now known as Chennai), on a huge brass memorial placed in St.
Mary's at Fort St. George by the East India Company, a long and detailed eulogy of tribute (by Bacon) is inscribed. Except for something to his sister's family, Schwartz left all possessions, with nearly a thousand pounds, for the work to which he had given so many years.
William Carey was born on 17 August 1761 at Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, England. His father was a schoolmaster. At an early age of fourteen he had to leave the school and became a cobbler to support his family. It was through the influence of his co-worker he started attending a Baptist Church. Where He was greatly influenced by the preaching and was established in his faith in Christ. Soon He was able to grapple the great truths of bible. He was invited to speak in public church services, as the custom of that denomination was. It was while working at the shoe shop he was able to learn seven languages and read the bible in those languages. To him learning languages was an easy task. In one of his preaching Carey questioned the congregation, "Have the churches of Christ done all they ought to have done for heathen nations?" And he reply he received from a old minister (church Leader) was, "Young man, sit down! When God pleases to convert the heathen world he will do so without your help or mine either."
MAX Mueller, the great oriental scholar referring to the era of William Carey remarked, "The religious reform which is now going on in India is the most momentous movement of this momentous century." Serampore Mission did not make an isolated attempt against a problem but launched a movement against all social cruelties prevalent in Indian society at that time. William Carey the founder of Serampore Mission has been called the patriarch, apostle, prophet and pioneer of modern missionary movement.
Early Life Serampore Mission
History of Christianity in India Serampore Mission Chapter Eight The condition of the people of Bengal was pitiable during the 19th century because the prevailing social system was filled with the evils like sati, child marriage, infanticide, caste system,
In 1765 the East India Company took possession of Bengal, Bihar and parts of Orrisa. As a result Bengal and its surrounding lands became the first regions in India to experience the direct impact of British rule. For the remainder of the eighteenth century and throughout the early decades of the nineteenth century, the British laid the foundations for civil administration.
They established communication and transport systems, a modern bureaucracy, an army and police. In 1877, the British declared Calcutta the capital of the British raj.
The Socio-Political Condition of Bengal And the immediate result of this was the formulation of "Baptist
Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen". The first missionary introduced to this society was Dr. Thomas, a young Christian surgeon who had gone out under the East India
Company. Deeply impressed with the destitution of the heathen, he had returned and was endeavoring to raise fund in London, and was also seeking a companion. Carey presented this man to the new society. From the account of Thomas the mission understood the opportunity for mission activities in India. And the question was who will go? Carey immediately responded
"I will go down but remember that you must hold the ropes."
All arrangements were made for Carey to go to India.
Consequently, Carey landed in India in 1793.
Formation of Baptist Missionary Society As a response to the irresponsible statements of his church leaders, Carey wrote a booklet entitle an Enquiry. Here Carey spoke about the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. The responsibility of man is that he must go into all the world and preach the gospel and disciple the people. if they don't go how will people hear the gospel, if they don't hear how will they believe. Therefore God wants us to go to mission field, if we don't do that we disobey God's call. This was the substance of his tract Enquiry.
In 1798 two young men from B.M.S arrived in Calcutta, although they were English by nationality permission was denied to them to live in Calcutta. They came there with the purpose of assisting Carey in his missionary work. As they could no longer stay in Calcutta, Carey found them a place in Serampore, which was then a Danish Colony; hence the British had no jurisdiction over Serampore. Therefore these two men Joshua
Marshman and William Ward moved to Serampore and started their life in India without any harassment from the British in Calcutta. They were called as Serampore Trio. Now as funds
The Serampore Trio When Carey landed in Calcutta he met Dr. Thomas, who was a great encouragement to him. B.M.S. in England was not able to raise sufficient funds for the work in India; even the insufficient funds did not reach Carey on time. Therefore with the help of Dr. John Thomas, Carey found a job in one of the Indigo Plants owned by an English man. For the first 6 years
Carey did not have a single convert the reason was he did not concentrate on mission work. Because he wanted to master the local languages so that he could more effectively present the gospel to the Hindus. After these years of preparation Carey had a very effective and fruitful ministry.
William Carey in India untouchability and the low status of women.79 And after the long years of harassment from the mugal rulers the native people went under the British as the demoralized multitude lacked in courage and unity. The people hoped that the British would offer a better deal along with education. But the foreigners were interested in exploiting and economic domination.80 Trade and manufacturing industries declined under the East India
Company. They took the raw material from India and sold the manufactured goods to the people of India at expensive price, for example, the company encouraged the manufacturing of raw silk in Bengal but the manufacturing of silk fabrics was discouraged. Thus this resulted in the abandoning of many industries in Bengal.81
Serampore Mission
History of Christianity in India Carey's Ministry Carey's first convert was Sudra by the name Krishna Pal ( a carpenter) and his second convert was a young man called
Krishna Prasad, a high caste Kulin Brahmin. And since then the number of his converts had been growing, all of them were
Hindu converts. He did not run his church with white people, the church was meant for the converts. Although Carey knew very well about the caste system Carey neither encourage nor attacked that evil system but he was very careful to see that his converts had a casteless Christianity.
Another example for the casteless Christianity of William were insufficient to maintain themselves, Carey got three lectureships at Fort William College in Calcutta founded by Lord Wellesly, and the income he received out of that was totally given to the B.M.S mission. Those lectureships were
Bengali, Sanskrit and Hindi. This Fort William College was exclusively run for the children of the Britishers who were in Government service, military service or as businessman. There was a Criticism that Carey was getting a higher income than the Indians or his contemporary white man. But that criticism was baseless because any income Carey received he did not enjoy it he gave all to B.M.S. Thus the criticism was born of Ignorance.
The basic principle of communal life was that every member should be, as far as possible, self-supportingThe objective of the community was to disseminate the gospel in all possible ways: by preaching, by teaching (in schools), and by literature
(translating the Bible into more than 30 languages). Carey's translation service was noteworthy. He also made available some of the Indian classics and was instrumental in the renaissance of Hindu culture in the 19th century.
Carey believed that Indians could be authentically evangelized only by their own countrymen. He set out, therefore, to prepare converts for this task and broadened the scope of education in the mission schools. Serampore College was conceived not as a seminary but as a liberal arts college for Christians and non-Christians.
Although the Serampore missionaries came to India primarily for the purpose of preaching the gospel of Christ, they dedicated themselves to the service of the ailing and distressed people in and around Serampore, spreading education, social reforms and social reconstruction. Rev. John Clark Marshmann wrote,
"The serampore missionaries considered it their duty to take an active interest in every measure calculated to relieve the wretchedness of the people".
Contributions of Serampore Mission A.Christopher Smith writes, "Carey was much more of a mission motivator and Bible translator than a pioneer in the heart of India or a mission strategist." At the end of his ministry, he had
420 converts at Sermapore.82
Carey's Church was that he arranged the marriage between the Kulin Brahmin Krishna Prasad and the Sudra Krishna Pal's daughter, this was first ever marriage in Indian History that was arranged between Sudra and Kulin Brahmin. If only
William Carey's casteless Christianity had continued, today's Indian Christianity would have been totally different, unfortunately Carey's casteless Christianity died with Carey.
He was inculcating missionary zeal in the minds of his converts.
This he did out of his own experience, his church back in England in his younger days did not encourage missionary work at all, in spite of Carey's insistence that the church must take active part and sending missionaries to places where the gospel had not reached. He didn't want to make same mistake made by his church members. Therefore from the beginning he structured his sermons in such a way for his converts as to catch a vision of mission work. And it did bear fruit, Krishna
Prasad went to Manipur and preached the gospel as the first time for the inhabitants of Manipur. And Krishna Prasad had converts and they went to Bihar and preached the Gospel as first time to the people in the particular area. Thus to the mainland North India the gospel was taken by the North East
Indians who were the converts of Krishna Prasad who in turn was convert of the William Carey.
Serampore Mission
History of Christianity in India In 1818 the Serampore trio entered the field of journalism. They launched newspapers "Samachar Darpan" and "Friends of India" to fight against social injustice. Through these two journals Carey started to promote social reforms.86 Friends of India can be accredited as India's first effort for social journalism. In it eyewitness accounts of sati were published.
Carey used every means possible to educate and uplift the people with whom he lived and worked. And he also published
The unprecedented response of the schools triggered the inquisitive mind of Carey to work for the establishment of a College. On 15th July 1818, Carey sent an appeal to the Governor of Denmark for the sanction of a college at Serampore.
The Danish government happily gave their permission. The College was established for the instruction of Indian youth in Christian knowledge and secular education.
William Carey established a charity school for the boys in1794 at Mudnabutty. After moving to Serampore in1800, he established a school with hostel facilities for foreign nationals on payment of fees and on the other hand in June 1800, he started a school to give free education to the natives. Within a few years they could establish number of schools and also produce text books for the students. Carey gave importance to vernacular education over English education because learning their own language would make more sense to them.83 Carey and his colleagues had founded and supervised, by the year
1818, no fewer than 126 native schools, containing some 10,000 boys, of whom more than 7000 were in and around
Serampore.84 I n India at that time the girls were not sent to schools. The serampore missionaries were sensitive to the lack of female education in the conservative society. They encouraged the girls to attend the schools. In 1816, the girls were allowed to sit behind the curtains and attend classes in boys' school but this attempt was not successful. In 1822, a separate school for girls was established by the serampore missionaries.85
Education Journalism
In the first half of the 19th century the social activities of Christians missions were directed towards bringing about moral reforms in Indian society and to emancipate individuals from the age-old superstitions of Hindu religion. William Carey played an important role in removing child infanticide. It is said that Lord Wellesley deputed William carey to inquire into the sacrifice of children. And on that basis of his report on August 20, 1802 lord Wellesley passed a regulation prohibiting the practice of sacrificing children by drowning or throwing them into the sea or river.89
William Carey knew that without the government's help and conscientizing the people about the cruel practice it would be impossible to abolish sati. In 1802 Carey submitted a report to the vice-president in council of the East India Company and gave his suggestion to abolish sati.91 He with the help of few
William carey was very mush instrumental for the abolition of sati in the British territories in India. William carey, in the same year he landed in India 1799 witnessed a sati ( the burning of a widow on the funeral pyres of her husband). And he was shocked by this incident and from that time he determined to launch a relentless struggle against this inhuman practice.90
Sati Child Infanticide Carey learnt the local language of the people to understand the people and their culture. After he learnt Bengali, he contributed to the development of Bengali literature in two capacities, firstly as a missionary (mainly as a translator) and as a teacher and scholar at Fort William College. In order to meet the requirement of textbooks at Fort William's he wrote textbooks and also produced a Bengali grammar and a dictionary. He also laid the foundation for modern Bengali prose and he is fondly remembered as the father of Bengali Prose.88
Bengali literature a periodical, which regularly featured articles on physics, chemistry, geography and biology.87
Serampore Mission
History of Christianity in India William Carey was so much interested in Horticulture, it was not just a hobby for him, but he went into minute details of the variety of plant. He had plants, which many Botanists came to see with curiosity. He gave many Botanical names to many plants, the names which were given by him remain unchanged even today in the Botanical scholars circle. At that time he was known all over England as a Botanist and Horticulturist. Some of the Botanical names given by him are as follows: Onion,
Garlic, Clove etc. The Botanical names were given to these commodities and the same names are used even today all over the world. This speaks volumes of the depth of knowledge
Carey had in Botany.
Horticulture And he started an asylum for the lepers in Calcutta.95
There was another evil practice prevalent in Bengal of killing those suffering from leprosy. Sometimes the lepers were drowned so that they would be reborn with healthy bodies. At that time there was no treatment for the lepers. In 1812, Carey saw a man being burnt alive in Katowa in Burdwan district.94
Care for leprosy afflicted Bengalis surveyed Bengal and found that 438 widows were burnt alive on the previous year and submitted the report to lord Wellesley on 15th October, 1804 and demanded for the abolition of this practice. Even though the government did not want to interfere in the religious affairs of the people but Carey never gave up, he kept writing to the government and was conscientizing the people. In 1818 the Serampore trio started a Bengali journal called "samachar darphan" and an English monthly "the friend of India", Carey used both these journals to promote social reforms. He used to write against sati in his magazines.92 Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian who raised his voice against sati and some Bengali intellectuals also came forward to support this movement. Roy and few others also rasied their voices against sati. As a result of their untiring efforts against this practice, William Bentinck issued an order in 1829 prohibiting Sati in the British territories in India.93
The Serampore Trio's contribution to the Indian soil is immense, especially to Bengal. When they landed in Bengal, the land was full of vices but they reformed and transformed the society by offering education and enlightening people. Their contribution to remove the barbaric practices like infanticide and sati are noteworthy even though they may not be given credit in the Indian history books.
Conclusion Carey was amazed at the agriculture potentials in India but disheartened to see the poor stare of agriculture and poverty of the peasants in general. In 1811, he published his finding in a paper entitled, "state of agriculture in the district of Dinajpore" in Asiatic researches. His concern led to the ultimate foundation of the "Agri-Horticultural Society of India" on 14th September
1820. In Europe and in England, in the intellectual world Carey was known more as a Botanist than as a linguist. He started the Botanical society of Calcutta, today has grown to be a government organization.
History of Christianity in India
The Visit of Dr. Claudius Buchanan to Syrian Churches:
During the time of Colonel Macaulay and Mar Thoma VI, Rev.
Buchanan, a chaplain of the East India from Calcutta Visited the nonRoman Catholic section of the Malabar christians, who lived in various parts of Travancore and Cochin in 1806. Dr. Buchanan visited several Syrian churches and had talks with the clergy and the Metropolitian Mar Thoma VI ( Mar Dionysius I ). He published an account of his travel called Christian Researches in Asia. In it he greatly appreciated the Syrian churches and was happy to know that it was essentially different from the Roman Church. He saw some similarities between Syrian church and his church i.e.,
(Anglican Church, the Church of England.). About the Syrian Church, he wrote, " Although the body of Church appeared to be ignorant, formal and dead; there are individuals who are alive to righteousness who are distinguished from the rest by their purity century. Travancore and Cochin signed a treaty with the British during the Governorship of Lord Cornwallis (1786-1793) to protect these states from the attacks of Tippu Sultan. One of the terms of the treaty compelled a British Resident to live in Travancore. Colonel
Macaulay was the first British Resident to Travancore, he assumed the office in 1800 and held it for 10 years.
The Portuguese in India were displaced by the Dutch and whose power declined towards the end of the 18th century. The British
East India Company became a great political power in the 19th The CMS Mission of Help and the Syrian Church of Malabar and the Formation of Mar Thoma Church The CMS Mission of Help
Chapter Nine
They were not to make Syrians into Anglicans or assume authority over them, but to bring new ideas which should work from within and help the Syrian Church to Reform itself.
CMS Instructions to the Missionaries Colonel John Munro: Colonel Macaulay was succeeded by Colonel John Munro as the resident of Travancore and Cochin in 1811 and was also the deewan of Travancore from 1811-1815.
He was a pious Christian and was very much interested in the welfare of the Syrian Christians. He established a Seminary at Kottayam in 1813 for those who were to be ordained in the church.
During his time, many Christians were appointed in public services of the state. He appointed one Christian judge in every civil court.
He exempted the Christians from taxes to Hindu temples that were required from them. He was not satisfied with just the political and social status of the Syrian Christians but also wanted to improve their Religious condition. Because during his time the spiritual condition of the church was very pathetic. Boys of 10 and below were ordained as deacons, Compulsory celibacy was practiced, the worship services were held in Syriac which the people and to some extend the clergy did not understand, many of the practices like masses for the dead and invocation of the saints were practiced.
To reform the Syrian Church, Colonel Munro invited the CMS to send missionaries to work among the Syrian Church. He wanted them to teach in the Seminary where they could influence the clergy and who could in turn bring revival and reform their church. The CMS immediately responded to the request of colonel Munro and sent Thomas Norton as their first missionary to Travancore in 1816. of love, life and are sometimes censured (to criticize somebody severely, and often publicly, because of something they have done) for too rigid a piety." Dr. Buchanan showed a keen interest in helping the Syrian Church. He translated the four gospels into Malayalam with the help of Metropolitian Mar Dionysius
I, which were printed at Bombay in 1811. He printed the bible in Syriac at his own expense and presented it to the Syrian churches. He longed for a closer union or relationship between the two churches.
The CMS Mission of Help
History of Christianity in India The CMS in its instructions to the Missionaries made it very
First Phase: In May, 1816, Rev. Thomas Norton arrived at Allepy as the first CMS missionary and immediately meet
Colonel Munro and the Metropolitian. Norton was an able person; his wise conduct earned him the respect of the Metropolitan, clergy and the laity. Colonel Munro, wanted him to stay at Kottayam Seminary but the Metropolitian did not approve of it. So he stayed at Alappuzha and occasionally visited Kottayam to see the progress of the college and the method of education. In 1819, the first Anglican Bishop in India,
Bishop Middleton visited the Syrian church and had discussions with the metropolitian and Norton. He advised Norton to be very careful in his proceedings. In course of the next three years, four CMS missionaries came to Kottayam. They were
Benjamin Bailey in 1816, Joseph Fenn in 1818 and Henry Baker in 1819. These three missionaries were known as "distinguished
Trios." The relationship between these missionaries and the Syrian church were very cordial. Benjamin Bailey was involved in literary work. He translated the New Testament into Malayalam and established a printing press. After the New
Testament was published in Malayalam, later the full Bible was published in 1841. Joseph Fen took care of the seminary. The instructions which was given was not only theological but included the elements of general education. Sanskrit, Latin,
Greek and Syriac were also taught. Henry Baker took charge CMS Mission of Help The Mission of Help done by CMS to the Syrians in Travancore can be divided into two phases.
Hence the work among Syrians for CMS was not an easy task. "The primary object of the CMS was to benefit the Syrian
Church by encouraging and aiding it to reform itself. It had no aim or desire to amalgamate the Syrian Church to the Church of England or to interfere with its liberty to ordain rites and ceremonies.
They were to work in perfect understanding with the Metran. clear that they were not sent to proselytize among the Syrians but to teach "pure" scriptural doctrine.
In May 1825, Metropolitan Mar Dionysius III died. So, Mar.
Philoxenos of Thozhiyur was again called to consecrate the next Metropolitan. He consecrated to Philippose Malpan of Cheppat who received the title of Mar Dionysius IV. On account of some arrangement Mar Philoxenos had been the Metropolitan of the Syrian Church till his death in 1830, and Mar Dionysius IV was his assistant. The circumstance was certainly strange because Mar
Philoxenos was the Metropolitan of an independent See (diocese) which did not recognize the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch. But, now he was appointed as Metropolitan of the Syrian Church which recognized the Patriarch of Antioch.96 Meanwhile, the Jacobite
Patriarch of Antioch sent his representative named Mar Athanasius.
He questioned the authority of Mar Philoxenos and Mar Dionysius There were many things in the Syrian Church which the Missionaries did not like, for e.g., the liturgy and the rituals but they not criticize the Syrian Church. They believed that the growth in the knowledge of the scripture would help them to get rid of all these practices. They wished that the Syrian Church should become like their church (Church of England). The missionaries were keen to introduce marriage for the clergy. The metropolitan supported this and gave permission for the clergy to get married. He announced a sum of Rs.400 to the first clergy who gets married. By 1820, out of 150 priests, 40 got married. The Missionaries translated the Book of Common Prayer into Malayalam and circulated to all Syrian churches. They called a Synod to be held at Mavelikara, where they proposed a commission to sit with the Metran (Metropolitian) and make a revision of the Syrian liturgy but this was not agreed by the Syrians. These kinds of proceedings of the missionaries inaugurated a sort of ill feelings in the mind of the Syrians. However the missionary's friendship with the Metran was cordial. The missionaries were cautious in their reforming activities. The missionaries never did anything without the permission of the Metran.
But tensions started to develop between the Syrians who inclined to accept the teachings of the missionaries and the conservatives. of the secular education. He started 72 primary schools in the villages where there were Syrian churches. He also started a higher secondary school in Kottayam. The Metropolitans were highly pleased at the activities of the Missionaries.
The CMS Mission of Help
History of Christianity in India As a result more than the expected unity, it only widened the gap which was already in the process. Mar Dionysius IV turned against the missionaries. The CMS secretary from Madras came down to settle the matter but couldn't and thus it moved on to an open breach. In 1835 Bishop Daniel Wilson of Calcutta visited
The Second Phase: In 1830, Mar Dionysius became the new metropolitan. He was not friendly with the missionaries and gradually developed a hostile policy towards them. After the three "Distinguish missionaries" Joseph Peet and Woodcock arrived in 1834. They were unlike the earlier missionaries, they were young and inexperienced. Joseph Peet was incharge of the Seminary and Wood
Cock supervised the general work. Peet was rash and hasty in his actions. Once a Malpan (teacher) entered a class in the college after Peet had left it and told the students that something which Peet had taught them was against the doctrine of the church. When
Peet heard about it, he straight away dismissed the Malpan from the seminary. Again, there was a strong room in the seminary in which the copper plates and several other documents of the church were kept. The room had two keys of which one was with the Metropolitan and the other with the missionaries. Peet heard a rumor that Metropolitan was planning to break open the room and carry away the documents, so in order to avoid this being happened he decided to break open the room by himself and carry away the documents and copper plates to his bungalow and this was done by him when the Metropolitan and the clergies were away in a church conducting a service. Wood Cock was involved in theological controversies. They began to criticize outspokenly those features of Syrian life and liturgy which seemed to them objectionable (such as references in the liturgy to the Blessed Virgin Mary and prayers for the faithful departed) and encouraged those who agreed with them to rebel.
IV, and claimed that he alone was the rightful Metropolitan.
The conservatives supported him whereas the missionaries and the reforming party supported to Mar Dionysius IV. Mar
Athanasius was trying to take possession of the Seminary. The situation became critical. So, he was deported by the order of Dewan, and those who supported him were imprisoned and fined.97
There were some Syrian Christians who had welcomed the missionaries' teaching wanted to leave their own Church and become Anglicans. In 1836, a whole Syrian congregation at Mallapalli requested the missionaries to become Anglican congregation. The missionaries, at first, hesitated to take over them, but finally they agreed. Afterwards other congregations and individuals also followed them. Thus the Anglican Church was established in Malabar. At present it is known as the Central
Kerala diocese of the Church of South India. Other reforming In 1838, the C.M.S. decided that in future its mission must be for the non-Christians rather than to the Syrian Church.98
Outcome of the C.M.S. Mission of Help (f) Malayalam prayers are to be used instead of Syriac.
(e) During divine service every Sunday the Gospel must be expounded to the people.
(d) Every parish church must have its school (c) There should be a permanent endowment so that the clergy be paid fixed amount instead of depending on uncertain payments at the time of services in the church.
(b) Accounts of Church lands and properties should be rendered to the British Resident.
(a) As a rule, only those who have received certificates from the seminary in Kottayam should be ordained.
Travancore. He approached the Metropolitian in a friendly manner to establish peace between the Syrian Church and missionaries. He suggested six points for consideration of the Syrian church.
The CMS Mission of Help
History of Christianity in India The Synod met at Mavelikarai in January 1836 and rejected the proposal. In 1837, the Metran proclaimed that the missionaries should no longer preach in the Syrian churches. In 1840, the properties which were jointly owned by the missionaries and the Metran were divided. Thus the mission started by Munro among the Syrians came to an abrupt end.
Win of the Reforming Party The reform party was not satisfy with the Metropolitan. It deeply felt need of reform in their Church. One of the signs of its activity was the presentation of a memorial to Colonel Fraser, the Resident, in September, 1836, accusing Mar Dionysius IV of bad conduct and asking for his removal from office. Abraham
Malpan was the guiding spirit of the reform party. He was in charge of the parish of Maraman. He did many reform works in his parish. He destroyed a wooden image of some sacred personage and abolished the festival also which was celebrated in honour of it. A number of his young loyal deacons helped him in his parish. The Metropolitan was not pleased with the activities of Abraham Malpan. He excommunicated the entire congregation of Maraman and said that he would not make priest to any deacon who was loyal to Abraham Malpan. So Abraham Malpan began to think about the replacement of the Metropolitan who would be favourable to the reforms.101 He sent his nephew a young deacon to Antioch with credentials signed by a number of Syrians. The Patriarch Elias consecrated
The formation of the Mar Thoma Church is the result of many controversies and struggle between the Syrian Church and the Reforming party which remained with the Syrian Church even after establishment of the Anglican Church in Malabar.
Struggle between the Syrian Church and the Reforming Party and Formation of the Mar Thoma Church 'The presence of the Anglican Church alongside of the Syrian Church had in many ways greatly affected latter. Its example in evangelizing the non-Christians, its efficient organization, its educational institutions, its well-educated clergyall these and many other factors exercised enlightening and stimulating influences on the Syrian Church, which have stirred it to the depths'.100 party remained with the Jacobite community (Syrian Church).
Its further result was another split and emerged the Mar Thoma Church.99
A section of the Syrians did not trust Mar Athanasius Mathew and plotted to replace him. In 1865, they sent a priest
Even though Mar Athanasius Mathew belonged to reforming party, but he had difficulties to reform the Syrian Church because the majority of the Syrians were conservatives. So, wherever the conditions were favourable, he supported to follow the revised liturgy and encouraged Scripture-reading, preaching and Sunday schools, but among the conservatives he kept the old ways.
Reforming Work and Difficulties of Mar Athanasius Mathew103 him as bishop and sent him back to Travancore with his written appointment as Metropolitan of Malankara or Malabar. He retained the title of Mar Athanasius Mathew and landed in 1843.
Mar Dionysius IV did not ready to leave the office and sent a letter to the Patriarch that he was loyal to him and Mathew
Athanasius was from one of the party which inclined towards the Protestant missionaries. In 1846, the Patriarch sent his secretary Mar Cyril with full power and set of blank papers signed by the Patriarch in order that Mar Cyril might have power to issue orders in the name of the Patriarch. In May 1846,
Ignatius XXXII became the new Patriarch who denounced Mar Athanasius Mathew as heretic. He expected Mar Cyril to solve the problem soon. But, Mar Cyril misused the blank papers with an appointment of himself as Metropolitan of Malabar.
Mar Dionysius IV took part in this scheme. He handed over his office to Mar Cyril and informed the Resident. In 1848, the Travancore Darbar appointed a committee to find out whether
Mar Athanasius Mathew was genuine or Mar Cyril. The Committee reported that the credentials of Mar Athanasius
Mathew were genuine whereas Mar Cyril forged, and Mar Dionysius IV was involved in the forgery. The Travancore
Darbar declared Mar Athanasius Mathew the Metropolitan of Malabar in 1852. It was a victory of the party which favoured to the reforms suggested by the C.M.S. missionaries. The British
Resident ordered Mar Cyril to leave the territory of Travancore and Cochin.102
The CMS Mission of Help
History of Christianity in India In 1872, the Patriarch of Antioch died. The new Patriarch was a person by name Peter who took the name of Ignatius XXXIII.
The new Patriarch was aware about the loss of his supremacy in Malabar.104 In 1874, Mar Dionysius appealed to the Patriarch to come to India in person. At first the Patriarch visited to England to secure the co-operation of the highest authorities in the Church and State.105 But his purpose to visit England was without result.106 He arrived in India in 1875. This was the first visit of any Patriarch. His presence turned the people's support for him. All supporters of Mar Thomas Athanasius took the side of Mar Dionysius V, except the reforming party.107 The Government decided to escape from such embarrassing situation and a proclamation was issued, in March 1876, that it would have nothing to do with the recognition or non-recognition of Metropolitans, and any disputes might be settled in the lawcourts.108
Mar Athanasius died in 1877. Though due to the Patriarch's visit and the withdrawal of the Government's support, he and his party had been defeated but he remained in possession of Emergence of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church
The Patriarch brought changes in the Syrian church. He divided the Church into seven dioceses and each with its own
Bishop. Mar Dionysius V was still the Metropolitan, but the administration was given in the hands of a Syrian Christian
Association with a managing committee of eight priests and sixteen laymen with the Metropolitan as chairman. In 1877, he departed for Syria.109
Presence of the Patriarch and Structural Change within the Syrian Church called Joseph to the Patriarch requesting to consecrate him as their Metropolitan. Joseph was consecrated by the Patriarch and returned to India as Mar Dionysius V. He asked the Government to recognize him as Metropolitan, but Mar
Athanasius Mathew was favoured by the Government. In 1868, Mar Athanasius consecrated a coadjutor-bishop as his successor, who received the title of Mar Thomas Athanasius.
The entry of the C.M.S. missionaries in the Syrian Church could be possible because of the dialogues between the Metropolitans on one side and the British officers & Chaplains on the other. The missionaries came to Malabar in order to help the Syrian Church to be reformed. Their dialogue with the Metropolitans helped the Church to be reformed and maintain their relationship with the Church, and failure to which brought breach of peace. centuries we find involvements of the CMS Mission, Patriarch of Antioch, British Government, and the Metropolitans of the independent See of Thozhiyur. Their role was both positive and negative in the history of Jacobite Church (Syrian Church).
In the history of Malabar Syrian Christians during 19th and 20th Evaluation With great courage and effort, the Mar Thoma Church started many things from the beginning. It built the church buildings for the worship. It developed within itself active and evangelistic spirit than any other Syrian community. It has abled to form the Mar Thoma Evangelistic Association in 1889 which carries on a number of schools and ashrams in Malabar and some other parts of India.111 In 1893, Mar Thomas Athanasius passed away without having consecrated a successor. But once again the Metropolitan of the small Church of Thozhiyur came to rescue. He consecrated Titus Mar Thoma as the new
Metropolitan of the Mar Thoma Church.112 At present it has five bishops among them one has special responsibility of mission work outside Malabar. It has intercommunion with the Church of South India.113 the property of the Church. After his death, Mar Thomas
Athanasius became leader of the reforming party. In 1879, Mar Dionysius V filed a lawsuit against him for possession of the seminary and its lands, and won in the court. There were several more cases were filed, concerning local churches and their properties. They were also decided in favour of Mar Dionysius
V. Consequently, the reforming party lost almost all their churches and other property. Thus, it emerged as a separate body called the Mar Thoma Syrian Church.110
The CMS Mission of Help
History of Christianity in India Apart from negative aspects, the contributions of the missionaries cannot be forgotten. They encouraged the importance of the Malayalam which was the local language.
Instead of Syriac, Malayalam was used in the regular worship service. Thus, the participation of the people in the worship service was increased. They developed two Malayalam dictionaries as well as compiled the Malayalam grammar. They translated the Bible into Malayalam. They opened many schools and an institution for higher education. So that the local people would read the Bible as well as understand the need of reformation of their Church and society. They gave importance to the Bible and evangelism. Probably due to this reason the Mar Thoma Church encourages to their members to read the Bible114, and formed an organization for the mission work.
There were two kinds of practices which violated the authorities of the Patriarch in Antioch. Firstly, the consecrations were received by the Metropolitans of an independent Church of Thozhiyur, and secondly a practise was developed to get the Government recognition for the Metropolitan of the Syrian
Church. These practices were encouraged due to the political interest.
The term northeast India refers to those portions of India lying to the north and east of Bangladesh consisting of the states and territories of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura,
Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. It can be divided into Plain and Hill area.
1. Mass Movement in Northeast India Introduction: The majority of the Protestants and up to half of the Roman Catholics in India are descended from the Mass
Movement of the 19th century. J. Pickett estimated that 80% of the Protestants and 50% of the Catholics were converted in Mass Movement, or else are the descendents of such converts.
Prior to the Mass Movement the Indian church existed as a tiny elite group of high caste converts. The mass movement brought in thousands of illiterate, poor and marginalized of the society inside the church, which resulted in the total change in the outlook of the Indian Church.
The term Mass Movement is understood in different ways.
The term mainly means group entry to the church, a family, a group of friends, a caste, a community, and sometimes a whole village. According to J. Pickett the distinguished features of Christian Mass Movement are a group decision favorable to Christianity and the consequent preservation of the converts social integration. In India particularly in the nineteenth century many mass movements had taken place. We will briefly look at the mass movements in the Northeast parts of India,
Chotanagpur and southern parts of India.
Mass Movement
History of Christianity in India Mass Movement Chapter Ten The earliest 19th century missionary interest in the North East was shown by the Baptists of Serampore. Krishna Chandra Pal, the first convert of the Serampore mission, baptized seven people; among them four were Sepoys, two natives of Khasis, and one of Assam. After the death of the last 'Trio' of the Serampore mission, Joshua Marshman, work was discontinued and the field and the mission property were turned over to the American Baptists.115
Brief History of Christianity by Different Mission Agencies Ethnically the people of North East represent an admixture or relatively pure strains of the Dravidian, Mongoloid and Aryan racial groups. Before the arrival of the missionaries, many people of the plains areas were converted into Hindu. There were substantial Muslims minority and small part of the Christian population in the plains. The hills areas were/are inhabited by a number of tribes which have their own languages. Their traditional culture was primitive. Their religious practice consisted mainly of the observance of taboos and rites designed to appease spirits. They had long history of hostility with one another.
In the early 19th century, the Ahom kingdom was the dominant power in North East India. Its effective jurisdiction was limited to the Brahmaputra valley of Assam. In most of the hill areas, there was no political structure apart from the villages. Disputes over succession to the Ahom throne had led to the intervention and occupation of Manipur and Assam by the Burmese. In 182426, the first Anglo-Burman War took place. The Burmese were defeated. This paved the way for the British to gradually take over the North East India.
Background of North East India After the Serampore mission, the missionaries of American Baptist arrived at Sadiya in March, 1836 at the eastern extremity of the Brahmaputra valley. In the beginning their aim was to work in Burma and China, but slowly they turned their attention towards the Assamese of the Brahmaputra valley. In 1841, their first convert, an Assamese
During the 1870s the Lutheran Santhal Mission of Bengal established a colony in Goalpara district. They worked among the Santhali labourers' of tea gardens, who migrated from Chotanagpur, and converted neighbouring Boros as well.
In 1847 or 1948, a British officer by name Capt. J. T.
Gordon started a mission at Tezpur. He employed two German missionaries by name C. H. Hesselmeyer and G. Dauble. After the death of Gordon, the mission was taken over by the SPG in 1864. Thus began the Anglican mission in North East India.
Chaplains Sydney Endle worked with Hesselmeyer after his arrival in 1864. There were a few Kachari converts by that time, but the mission was never large.118 youth named Nidhiram was baptized. The missionaries held a meeting and organized the Baptist Church of Assam, with three branches at Guwahati, Nagaon and Sibsagar in 1845.
There was very less conversion till 1861 due to various reasons, such as so-called 'Sepoy revolt', controversies with the home board, uncertainty about the continuance of the Assam mission, etc. In the second half of 19th century, they started working among the Garos and the Chotanagpuries in Garo Hills (Meghalaya and small portions of Nagaland) and tea garden of Upper Assam. By 1900 they had approximately
8000 members in the church. The Christian conversion movement of American Baptists began among Nagas in the Naga Hills by an Assamese evangelist in 1871. During the last decade of the 19th century missionary work had been begun in Mizoram and the hill areas of Manipur.116
Mass Movement
History of Christianity in India Welsh Presbyterian Mission started their ministry in North
East India on July 2, 1845 with the arrival of missionary, Thomas Jones and his wife at Cherapunji. Missionary Jacob Tomlin was the person who suggested starting the mission work in the Khasi Hills. The first Khasi converts of the Welsh mission were
U Amor and U Rujon who were baptized on March 8, 1846.
The Welsh Mission faced difficulties to work among the Khasis due to the opposition by them. Despite opposition, the remarkable courage shown by individuals to accept Christianity gave impetus to the Welsh Mission to expand its work gradually to other areas of the hills.117
The Government support: The Government found the missions useful in pacifying the hills tribe and providing education at minimal cost. The missions also found the government useful in underwriting their educational work and in providing security for both themselves and their converts. Many schools were opened in the villages. The primary objective of the missionaries was to propagate the gospel. The schoolmasters were in true sense missionaries and evangelists who received salary from the government. They fulfilled the government interest as well as evangelized to the people.122
Causes of the Christian Conversion Movement The Catholic missionary work began in the North East
India with the arrival of four Salvatorians in Shillong in 1890.
They felt that work among the hills people was more promising than among the plains people. In 1891, the first Khasi Catholic was baptized.120 In 1921, the Holy See entrusted the Assam mission to the Salesians of Don Bosco. In 1922, eleven missionaries arrived in Shillong. Gradually the work spread in the Khasi and Jintia area. Within ten years 121 Salesian missionaries were in North East India which helped the Catholic
Church to increase in number.121 After the independence of India, the Roman Catholic Church had its rapid expansion.
Educational Institutions: From the beginning of mission activities, schools had been opened in the North East India.
When the government officials asked missionaries to opened schools in different villages, the missionaries willing did so as it was useful to them to work in new places along with the government protection and grant for the school. In other words, education and evangelism went hand in hand. The evangelists
Independence of India: After the Independence of India the Roman Catholic Church received rapid expansion and numerical growth of its own. The important factor was the removal of restrictions by the government that had previously confined Catholic work to Meghalaya and the Assam plains.123
The Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Mission of Chotanagpur also followed its members to the Assam tea gardens and organized them into churches.119
Revolts: On account of threat upon the traditional way of life, violent revolts, such as the Jaintia Resistance of 1862-63, the Kuki Rebellion of 1917-19, and Zeliangrong movement in the early 1930s began but all of them were failures. The defeat of the rebels was more than a defeat at arms; it was a defeat of the old ways of life. For many of the hills peoples, the impact upon the traditional way of life was shocking. The Tribals had their
Part of New Society: The first conversion movements in the Naga Hills in which the majority of whom becoming a Christian meant in a vague manner becoming part of a new society rather than any serious consideration of Christianity's ethical or moral demands.128
Translation and Literary Work: Like other parts of country, the missionaries of the North East India also never lost sight of the importance of translation and literary works because these were considered a means of spreading the knowledge of Christianity and also the foundation for the future prosperity of the Church.126 There is an example of a person of Garo tribe by name Omed. He was a sepoy. A tract became instrument of his conversion to Christianity. Later on he became an evangelist for his people. His successful work influenced the Mission to take up work in other hills areas.127
"The boarding houses in Shillong, Guwahati and Dibrugarh have played an important role in the evangelization of the region. They formed lay leaders and well-instructed religious teachers. Every year a good number from among the senior students were baptized. It was precisely these youngsters that helped plant the Church in the Garo Hills, in Nagaland, Manipur, and to some extent in Mizoram".125 were working as schoolmasters who were teaching and evangelising, the students as well as villagers. Many students accepted Christianity and became evangelists as well. Thus schools became the most effective means of conversion movement.124 After the Independence of India, the Catholic
Church received its rapid expansion. Its high quality educational institutions were the main reason behind such development.
Menamparampil wrote:
Mass Movement
History of Christianity in India z The traditional drum was being used. z In each church a good space was left open in front of pulpit and altar where people came out and danced as singing proceeded.
Local Evangelists: The intensity of local evangelists was also a reason for the Christian conversion movement in the North
East India. These evangelists were from among the new converts who became evangelists and persuaded their villagers to join the movement. In the Naga Hills, missionary Anderson's practice was to let his evangelists baptize their 'own' converts and report to him. Thus, a number of members added to the Church fellowship.130 The evangelists own languages, way of lives, and familiar with their areas helped them to communicate with fellow people about Gospel of Christ in better ways.
Natural Calamity: There were some natural calamities which became the reasons of Christian conversion in the North East
India. As a result many people accepted Christianity. These calamities were Bamboo famine in Mizoram in 1911-1912, and earthquake in the hills areas of Manipur between 1951 and 1961. F. S. Downs gives opinion about the people in the footnote of his book that the Santals are much more touched by the word of God when they face something of a great disaster like famine, earthquake, and epidemics etc. It may be applicable to many of the peoples of the North East India.131 In other words they accepted Christianity in order to get protection from God of Christians.
Revival Movement: The rapid growth of Christianity is attributed to a series of revival movements in Mizoram. Between 1906-1935, there were four periods during which revivalism was intense which dominated the life of the church in both the Presbyterian north and the Baptist south.132 On account of the problem of the Counter Revival Movement, the following things were introduced after the year of 1919 in Mizo revivalism. fundamental identity threat by Hindus. That is why they began to accommodate themselves with the British rule and Christianity. Thus, Christianity was introduced into the region and became as a conversion movement later on.129
Result of the Christian Conversion Movement There was a mass movement between 1871 and 1891 among the Khasis in Assam. In 1871 there were106 Christians and in1891 there number went up to 2147. One of the reasons for this mass movement was the commitment of converts from the royal families.
Among the Garos, in1875 the garo churches organized an association. By the middle of 20th century the Garos christians numbered about 25,000.
In Mizoram a series of revivals starting with the effect of Welsh revival of 1904 became most instrumental in converting the whole Mizo tribes to Christianity. The second revival meeting was held in1911 and third in 1921 during these ten years the Christian population increased from 2461 to 27,720.
Those who were converted during the revival meetings went about sharing their experience to their fellow tribe members, which helped the spread of Christianity from village to village.
Exemplary Life: In the first years of mission work, the American Baptist missionaries were suspected of being on with the company men who had come to conquer and to rule.
But exemplary lives of missionaries like E. W. Clark, C. D.
King, S. W. Rivenburg and others changed the mind of the people. They had to taste the many difficulties from the beginning of their work itself. The people were impressed because of their sacrificial and dedicated life for the cause of the Good News.135 Even the Mission didn't allow the Government to take action in order to punish the killer of the missionaries.136
Individual Efforts: There were many people among Khasis who accepted Christianity without any personal gain. A number of converts, who belonged to the royal families, gave up even succession to the 'throne' in order to become or remain
Christians. Even, they were deprived from their personal property. One of them by name U Borsing said, 'I can throw off my cloak or my turban but the covenant I have made with God I can no wise cast away'.134 z Songs were incorporated with indigenous music.133
Mass Movement
History of Christianity in India The geographical boundary of Chotanagpur137 covered some parts of Bihar (now Jharkhand also), West Bengal, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh138 (now Chhattisgarh only). There are many tribes who live in Chotanagpur, such as Munda, Oraon, Santal,
Ho, Kharia, Malto, Korwa, Birhor, Bediya, Gond etc. Further the tribes are divided into numerous clans. Every tribe has their own system to govern themselves. Before the arrival of British, they were ruled by Hindus and Moghuls respectively. It came under monarchy system in Hindu period. With the arrival of these outsiders139 , tribal social systems were severely distorted.
Agrarian discontent started among the tribals since 1628 itself when the ancestral land of tribals were encroached by the outsiders.140 By 1793, when the British enacted the Permanent
Land Settlement Act, a large number of tribal villages had already gone in the hands of the outsiders. As a result, they became the legal Jagirdars/Jamindars (Land Lords) of those encroached land.141 Poverty and different kinds of oppressions started to overshadow on the tribes of Chotanagpur, such as Beth-Begary (Forced Labour), Mahajani (Money Lending and Usury)142 , even they were exploited by the Police who were chiefly from Bihar143 , the native place of exploiters.
Consequently, they started to migrate from their land in order to seek for their livelihood. Most of them settled in Assam to work as tea garden labourers.144
Mass Movement in Chota Nagpur:
Geographical Boundary of Chotanagpur The fourth revival took place in 1930, which resulted in great enthusiasm for evangelism and rapid growth of churches.
Among the Nagas, American Baptist Missionaries E.W. Clarke was the first missionary to Nagaland. In 1926 while celabrating the 50th anniversary of the arrival of E.W. Clark among the Ao's, the christians took a decision to reach out their people with indigenous support and to encourage women's education.
Since 1930 the Ao churches became self-supporting. In 1930 there were 10,000 baptized members among Ao tribe but by 1961 the number had increased to 51,520. These conversions were the result of the local leaders and laypeople.
The work of Gossner Mission began in Chotanagpur when four missionaries were sent by Fr. Gossner of Germany. They reached to Ranchi in November 2, 1945. Their names were
Emil Schatz (Theologian), August Brandt (Teacher), Fredric Batsch (Teacher) and Theodore Janke (Economist).145 These
Missionaries started their work in three ways. Firstly, by educating boys and girls in Bethesda School, secondly, by rendering medicine and service to sicks, and thirdly, by preaching Gospel to people.146 First conversion into Christianity took place when four men of Oraon tribe were baptized on June 9, 1850.147 After the First Struggle for Independence
('Sepoy Mutiny') in 1857, the Christianity grew rapidly in numerical. Many tribal leaders took the responsibility within the Mission agency as well as the tribal communities as a whole.
The impact of Christianity was tremendous on the young generations. It could be possible on the basis of a sound
Christian education which enabled them to see the world in the widest sense.148
Brief History of Christianity by Different Mission Agencies Spiritual: The missionaries were able to convert four Oraon
There had been the following causes on account of which the Christian conversion movements were taken place in Chotanagpur.
Causes of the Conversion Movement The Belgian Jesuits began missionary work among the Tribals of Chotanagpur on July 10, 1869. In the time of Fr.
Lievens, the Catholic Church increased rapidly in numerical.
He was a friend of the tribals. He took up the defense of the tribals in land cases and was successful. Thus tribals were greatly influence and he was able to convert them in thousands.150
In 1869, there was a conflict between senior and junior missionaries, which led senior missionaries to join the Anglican
Church. This became the nucleus of a new mission called Society for Propagation of Gospel (SPG), which grew rapidly and in 1890 became the Anglican Diocese of Chotanagpur.149
Mass Movement
History of Christianity in India Protection from the Oppressions: Losing the ancestral land was the main issue for the tribals. Their land was being captured by the outsiders. With the enactment of 1793 Act, the British government subjected the land of Chotanagpur to systematic taxation which was till then unknown to tribals.155 Their traditional land system and its allied institutions were ignored. On account of this, throughout the second half of the 19th century they were being pushed down the social ladder. Consequently they faced many problems, like Poverty, Beth-Begary (forced labour), exploitation by the Money lenders etc. On the other hand, many new things were introduced at once in their society, such as new men and ideas, new administrative policy, a new judicial system and a new religion. Naturally enough, they were bewildered and sought means of maintaining their traditional social institutions.
They found missions as source of their help. In 1884, many tribals went to Father Mullender at Sarwada and promised that Education: The early missionaries played a positive role in establishing schools. The education provided by them helped the tribals to understand their present position and the loss of their traditional rights and privileges. This was also the reason of the Christian conversion movement.154
These above information tell the importance of the local evangelists in the Christian conversion movement.
Local Evangelists: In 1913, there were 28 European missionaries, 31 Indian pastors and 322 catechists.152 'At first, the catechist taught the individual enquirer the basic of Christianity. Then, at least one year of probation was required of every candidate for baptism under the direct supervision of a missionary. On the baptism day, the missionary called each one of them by name, as if he knew them individually'.153 men, five years after their arrival. These men were the followers of KabirPanth (Kabir sect). They had heard about Jesus from missionaries. They constantly came to missionaries at Ranchi and discussed with them about Jesus. Finally they accepted
Christianity and became first converts of Chotanagpur. Later on other people were also converted into Christianity because of this reason but, they were less in number.151
In 1900 South India Missionary Conference listed five motivations for Mass Conversion.
The Reasons for the Mass Movement:
In 1869, Father Stockman started Roman Catholic Mission among the tribals in chota Nagpur. The Adivasis were cheated by the Zamindars and were denied justice. Fr. Constant Leivens arrived in Chota Nagpur on 19th March 1885. He learnt the local language ( Mundari and Oraon) and studied the laws of the land as well as the rights and duties of the Zamindars and consulted lawyers and magistrates in this connection. He fought for the peace and justice among the Mundari and Oraon of Chota Nagpur. This accelerated the phase of conversion. He baptized people in hundreds, sometimes the whole village, and by 1887 there were 10,000 Roman Catholic christians.
Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Mission started its Work in Chota Nagpur in 1845. There was a mass movement among the Kols between 1860 and 1867. According to G. C. Degree in 1857 there number was not less than 700 but by 1867 their number went up to 10,000 and in 1905 they were 67,000 in number.
The reason for the rapid increase in the number of converts was because they received protection from the British government from the Zamindars, employment opportunities were provided to them even in military, they wanted to improve their social status, they could retrieve their rights as the original people of the land.
Result of the Mass Movement:
"I had been for months already in the village of Torpa without gaining a single convert. One day the Jammadar in charge of the Torpa Police station to whom I complained about my want of success, told me, if you want to get converts then just take up the defence of the Mundas in the rent and forced labour questions and you will get as many as you like. I did as he advised and it came to pass just as he had said".156 their whole tribe would join the mission if he assisted them against their enemies. Once Father Lievens was asked about the success of his conversion work, he said:
Mass Movement
History of Christianity in India Conclusion: The mass movement in different parts of India cannot be attributed to any single cause. From place to place the reason for the conversion differed. In some place it was because of oppression, in some place it was because of natural calamities, in some places it was because of political events, in some places it was because of the native people. But in all this cases the genuine conversion experience of the converts cannot be questioned because they have stood the persecution of their relative, other community and Government.
5. Recognition of individuals as human beings, i.e., human dignity.
4. The British government's support to the Christians.
3. Social work done by the missionaries.
2. The revival meetings in Northeast India.
1. The Evangelistic work of the natives We can see there are many other reasons for the Mass
Conversion Picket classifies them in four groups: spiritual motives, Economic motives, Social motives and Natal motives.
5. The influence of Christian relatives.
4. The knowledge of both who became christians had improved both in character and in condition.
3. The desire for education for their children.
2. A desire for protection from the oppressors and if possible material aid.
1. The conviction that Christianity is the true religion.
Caste: Hinduism provides the religious rationale and sanction for the caste system, which in turn forms the basis for the social system. Theoretically and according to myth and legend, Hindu society was originally composed of five main groups: four varnas and the untouchables, i.e., those outside caste. The varnas were ranked in terms of ritual purity and occupation. The Brahmans, the hereditary priestly caste, were positioned at the top. Ranked in descending order below them were the Kshatriyas (warriors), the Vaishyas (traders), and the Sudras
(artisans). The untouchables were relegated to tasks that were ritually polluting to caste members-tasks such as those performed by butchers, tanners, sweepers, and midwives. The basic assumptions of the caste system and its hierarchical ordering of society are so pervasive that even those religious communities that neither accept nor sanction caste-Buddhists,
The Dalits who converted to Christianity did not escape the caste system which has a strongly ingrained presence in Indian society. The different branches of Christianity in India still engage in these societal practices with regards to the caste system, along with all its customs and norms. The Roman
Catholic Church treated the caste system as part of the Indian social structure and, for much of its history in India, it chose to work within the established social system; similarly the Syrian
Orthodox Churches responded in like fashion. The Protestant Christianity in southern part of the country has traditionally more rigidly maintained the caste system than the northern regions.
Caste and Christianity
History of Christianity in India Corrected 16.08
Caste and Christianity Chapter Eleven Christians in Kerala are currently estimated to number over 6 million people. Around half this numbers are Christians who belong to non-Syrian Christian churches, for instance, the Protestant Church of South India (CSI). Syrian Christians
(3,083,884 in the Census of India 2001) thus represent about 10% of the state's population (31,841,374 according to the 2001
Census), while Christians in Kerala make up nearly 30% of the total Christian population of India. It is by far the largest concentration of Christians found in the Indian subcontinent.
The non-Syrian were converts to Christianity during the 19th century and largely came from the lower and Untouchable castes or tribal peoples.158 This shows that the Syrian Christians did not take any effort in converting the non Syrians because they wanted to maintain their status quo of being the high caste
Christians. They do not interact with neo-Christians, recent St. Thomas Christians: According to local tradition, St. Thomas landed on the coast of Kerala in 52 AD near Cranganur, some
30 km north of Cochin. He began to preach the gospel and is said to have established seven churches in the region. He found a receptive audience among the local Hindu and Jewish populations. There are numerous stories of the miracles he performed through which many high-caste Hindus Nambudiri
Brahmans, the dominant landowning caste of Kerala were converted to Christianity. Their social position was further enhanced through service to local rulers. Unlike many Christian communities in India, Syrian Christians rank high in the caste structure of Kerala and have a powerful voice in the affairs of the state. Many Christians in the region claim descent from these early converts among the local peoples. Because they were the converts of St.Thomas, they are also known as Christians of St. Thomas. The community also derives its designation as Syrian Christians from its early association with the East Syrian Church of Christianity, and its traditional use of the Syriac language in church services. Syrian Christians are also called Malabar Christians, Malabar being the name for the coastal region of this part of India.
Christians, Jains, Muslims, Parsis, and Sikhs-are inevitably and inextricably involved in it.157
De Nobili believed that Christianity, while retaining its essential core of doctrine, should be divested of its European cultural trappings in order to flourish in India. He assumed the dress and lifestyle of a Brahman sanyasi, learned Sanskrit, and studied the Vedas. When, after a long period of preparation, he appeared in the town of Madura in southern India, he did not present the slightest resemblance to his fellow-Jesuit missionaries, who travelled from place to place wearing torn and dilapidated cowls, received the confessions of the poor and the slaves in the hospitals, and with their little bells hastened through the fishing villages. Like the Hindus of high caste, he wore a long gown of a yellowish linen, a turban on his head and wooden sandals on his feet. If he were asked by the Brahmins whether, by any chance, he were a Portuguese, he repudiated the suggestion with injured pride, and declared that he was a Roman prince and a Brahmin by faith; he had come to India solely from motives of admiration for his brotherBecause the Brahmins maintained an exceptionally mistrustful attitude towards Christianity; the Portuguese colonists and soldiers who confessed to this faith could, according to Indian ideas, he regarded only as outcasts since they ate meat, drank wine and carried on everyday intercourse with all castes without discrimination, whilst the Brahmin regarded himself as defiled if even the shadow of a pariah fell upon him. Accordingly, then, the Brahmins necessarily regarded the Christian priests too as pariahs, and to adopt
Christianity seemed to them to involve automatically loss of caste.
The Roman Catholic Missionaries: Robert de Nobili arrived in India in 1606 to discover that nothing significant had occurred in the Roman Catholic Church since the days of Francis Xavier.
He made the strategic decision of settling in Madura, an influential center of Hinduism.
The Missionary Era converts from the low castes because of which in some Christian churches in Kerala they have separate pews for low-caste and high-caste members of the congregation.
Caste and Christianity
History of Christianity in India He had given such conclusive proofs of exceptional learning and enlightenment that the Brahmins did not venture for a moment to question the truth of his words when, as the opportunity presented itself, he proceeded to speak about the points of agreement between the sacred writings of India and the Christian teachings. In principle, he explained, in both cases the ideas were the same, the only difference being that, in Christianity, the Brahmin faith was developed and perfected.
What most astonished the Brahmins, however, was his extraordinary knowledge of their faith. Nobili could speak their language fluently, and with scarcely any foreign accent, could read the most difficult Sanskrit texts, and excelled the most learned priests in his ability to intersperse every religious and philosophical discussion with a profusion of quotations from the greatest works of the national poetic art. With the greatest reverence, they listened to the missionary, when, with the voice of a wise philosopher who has renounced the world, he recited passages out of the Vedas, the Apastambra-Sutras and the Puranas; moreover, he himself composed religious works in Sanskrit, and wrote them on palm leaves. On occasion, too, he delighted his hearers by rendering Indian ballads, for he knew the most ancient "ragas," and possessed in an exceptional degree the faculty of being able, for hours on end, to vary them whilst duly observing all the rules of the art.
The Brahmins soon came to recognize that not only the dress and general conduct of the stranger were in accordance with their caste, but that he also strictly observed all the laws of the Hindu faith. Like themselves, he never ate meat, never touched a drop of wine, and lived exclusively on rice, milk, vegetables and water. He established himself in the quarter in which the highest-class Brahmins resided, and surrounded himself with a staff of servants consisting entirely of Brahmins.
He never spoke with a member of any of the lower castes, and even strictly abstained from any intercourse with those white priests with tattered cowls who were striving to secure the spiritual salvation of the pariahs.
Brahmins in India, reports of whose profound wisdom had reached him in his own country
Armed with Pope Gregory XV's approval in 1623, de Nobili wandered from town to town in the style of a Brahman guru. In 1639, De Nobili instituted two classes of missionaries: the first, called Saniasis, were subjected like him to the etiquette of the Brahmins; the second, called Pandara-swamis, were to mingle
Several of de Nobili's colleagues among the Roman Catholic community disapproved of his tactics. In 1610 letters were sent to Rome asserting that de Nobili was corrupting Christianity by compromising on Hindu practices, especially with regard to caste. De Nobili defended his methods as accommodation.
In 1619 de Nobili's methods were condemned by a council that met in Goa. The council's decision was that the Brahmans and caste converts might retain their high caste appearance, but that they must forsake Hindu ceremonies.
At first, however, it seemed that the achievement of this great success was made possible only through the sacrifice of missionary work among the lower castes, for Nobili had strictly avoided all intercourse with the lower castes. He himself soon, however, found a way out of this difficult dilemma: he knew that there was in India a class which was free to associate with all castes without becoming defiled; these were the Yogis, the Penitents. He accordingly proposed to his fellow-missionaries that they should be split up into two distinct groups, the one group representing themselves to be Brahmins and the other
Yogis.
Those who thought in this way were readily disposed to follow the example of such a pious and learned man, and even to become "Christian Brahmins." Thus Nobili succeeded where all other missionaries before him had failed. A number of prominent Indians of the highest caste were baptized, and henceforward no one could any longer contend that Christianity was fitted only for pariahs.
In a short while there was scarcely a Brahmin in Madura who would not have accepted Nobili as his fellow and equal, and many already were of the opinion that this stranger was, in fact, better than any among them.
Caste and Christianity
History of Christianity in India The extent to which the Lutheran missionaries were drawn into the power dynamics of local Indian life can also be seen in the controversies surrounding Ziegenbalg's first big building project, the New Jerusalem Church. When the huge cruciform structure was built in 1718, it seemed a fitting symbol of the new religious power on the scene, but it almost immediately aroused the criticism. The architectural form of the church itself permitted the organization of social relations within the Adaptation to local practices did not take place at the level of semantics alone. To help spread the gospel more widely, the Lutherans ordained the first Indian pastors. Fourteen Indians gained ordination during the eighteenth century, all of them
Vellalars, a caste (jâti) of non-Brahman Sudras who, along with Brahmans, constituted the literate, landowning elite of Tamilspeaking society in south India. The Tranquebar missionaries extended this privilege exclusively to higher-caste Christians with the belief that Vellalars and other high castes would not be impeded in their evangelism by caste prejudice against them and could therefore reach more people than low-caste Indian ministers. But the pattern of ordaining strictly Vellalar pastors suggests that the missionaries were also accommodating themselves, consciously or unconsciously, to the sociological order, by ordaining only people who were qualified to disseminate "the Christian dharma" according to prevailing
Hindu criteria.
Tranquebar Mission: Lutherans mapped many Christian concepts and institutions onto Hindu ones by appropriating
Tamil and Sanskrit religious terminology: The Indian word used to refer to Christian Scripture was Veda, a term that drew directly on the prestige of the most sacred texts of the Brahmanical
Hindu tradition; church pastors were called Aiya, a Brahman caste name denoting "learned" or "priest"; and churches were called koyils, the Tamil word for temple.
The Protestant Missionaries with all classes. When he died in 1656, the Madura mission numbered one hundred thousand Christians.159
The first point to notice is that Carey did not arrive in Bengal with his mind already firmly made up on the caste question.
He realized that it was a difficult and many-sided problem, on which he needed others' advice. Initially, he was inclined to lean towards the almost pre-Enlightenment position of Ziegenbalg and Plutschau, the Danish-German missionaries at Tranquebar, who viewed caste simply as a social phenomenon.
As early as 1796, a confidant of Carey's reported the pioneer's misgivings on whether future converts associated with the Serampore Mission: If ever there was a challenge from India to the Serampore trio's understanding of the ordering of human life under God the Creator, it was the question of caste.
This issue had far-reaching implications for efforts to introduce Indians to Christ and then to raise up indigenous churches.
Reflecting its complexity, the BMS threesome ended up taking years to decide how best to respond to it. congregations along local patterns. Early observers noted that during Mass, the Sudras (by which term the Lutherans meant
Vellalars, who constituted the majority of the converts of the Tranquebar mission) sat in the central part of the church, on mats, while the lower castes sat in the transepts, on the bare floor, with women and men sitting on opposite sides. The historical sources do not indicate whether Indian or German church leaders intentionally directed people to arrange themselves in this way, or whether the congregation "spontaneously" conformed to the distance taboos that regulated contact between different castes. But whether the seating arrangements were intentional or not, we can assume that the fact of the physical separation of Sudras and lower castes in the new church, and the relegation of the lower castes to the fringes of the church seating area, at some level derived from the same ideas about purity and prestige that led the Lutherans to prefer Vellalars over low castes as candidates for ordination. The eighteenthcentury Lutherans left a legacy of caste based distinctions that the Vellalar pastors and laymen who led the church after their deaths for one hundred years carried on with great vigor and preserved caste distinctions.160
Caste and Christianity
History of Christianity in India Faced by such odds, the pioneer missioners felt compelled to bring relief to those who had lost caste, home and livelihood because they professed faith in Christ. The first step was to provide special employment opportunities at the mission's institutional base. Initially, most of the beleaguered converts lived on the Serampore mission estate, but as their numbers increased Christian villages were created for them off the property. In 1807, Marshman declared that the inquirers seeking
Christ must be prepared to lose caste, to reject caste scruples in specified ways, and to become attached "in the most cordial manner to their Christian Governors." He and his colleagues were committed to dethroning "the gloomy, the faithless daemon [sic] of superstition" in "the Hindoos"' hearts, in order to enable them to become "literally regenerated."161
Carey concluded that caste was "one of the most accursed engines that ever the devil invented to enslave the souls of men." He became appalled by the deep social evils that the system of caste status unleashed, including the fearful persecution of any who dared to forsake hinduism. Ward called it "a scourge." Caste thus came to be seen as a religious institution: it was hinduism's implacable antithesis to the gospel.
"Perhaps it may be as Brother Ryland suggests; general knowledge may first prevail, and pave the way for losing caste and joining to the Lord. I thank you for your opinion upon and advice about receiving the natives [viz., converts] while they retain their caste. I have since found it to be impracticable; for they would undoubtedly be cast out of society in that case as well as the other."
Baptist mission could be brought to "lose caste." Thus he asked his mentors in England for their judgment. He received a thought-provoking reply. Generally, the advice was that disavowal of caste need not "be urged in the first instance" at all. Ryland's reflection on the matter demonstrated remarkable pastoral insight. Developments in the Malda area and lessons from the Danish mission in South India induced Carey to move beyond the BMS leaders' position. Thus he wrote back to Fuller on March 23, 1797:
Caste-related conflict among Catholics re-enacted in Catholic terms a similar conflict occurring within Indian society at large.
A survey of such conflict brings into focus an elite perspective, held by the hierarchy or by caste Catholics, and a Dalit or AdiCatholic perspective. The high-caste Catholics who are less critical of low-caste agitation within the Church justify the prevalence of caste distinctions within the Church by pointing to "exigencies of Hindu society," to which Catholics had to accommodate themselves. Some prominent Catholics at Caste Disputes among Catholics
CASTE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Anglican Mission: From the beginning of their ministry the Anglican mission was taking efforts to stop caste observance in their schools and churches. But such a policy was not well received by the Indian Christians. During the time of Bishop
Heber, when a missionary made the Adi Dravidian and Sudra children sit together in a church, a problem developed. This led Bishop Heber to consult other missionaries who were working in South India, they were of the opinion that direct action against caste may not be wise. Thus the missionary was transferred from Madras to Tanjore. In 1833, when Bishop
Daniel Wilson of Calcutta visited South India, he found the Christians practicing caste in the church. He found that only the Sudras were given prominent positions in the church and the Adi Dravidians were made to sit separately in the church.
And during the Holy Communion also the Adi Dravidas had to communicate after the Sudras and even they were not allowed in the houses of the Sudra Christians. Even in the cemetery, they were buried in a separate corner. By looking at all these,
Bishop Daniel Wilson issued a strong warning that "the distinction of caste must be abandoned, decidedly, immediately and finally". This created a big confusion among the Sudras
Christians of Madras, Tanjore and Tiruchirapalli, who were willing to be dismissed from the church membership than to sit with Adi Dravidas. Most of joined the Leipzig Mission after 1846 because they were willing to let the Caste distinctions in the church. 162
Caste and Christianity
History of Christianity in India The experience of caste discrimination within the Church caused Adi-Catholics (or Catholic Dalits) to compare their lot to that of non-Christian Dalits as the latter were enjoying
Catholics from the depressed classes formed nearly forty per cent of the total Catholics population of the Madras Presidency.
In the Trichinopoly diocese, they had numbered sixty per cent, and in the Kumbakonam diocese as much as seventy per cent.
Growing numbers of converts from Dalit backgrounds exposed the limitations of Catholic resources to alleviate their condition.
Such realities prompted members of the Catholic Indian Association and Catholic members of the Madras Legislative
Council to seek Government assistance on behalf of Catholic Dalits. Throughout his term as a Catholic Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) from Trichinopoly, S. Arputhasamy had pressured the Council to extend Government assistance to Christian members of the "depressed classes." Repeatedly, he encountered the prevailing assumption that converts to the Christian religion were not in need of economic assistance because of their access to missionary institutions and resources.
So ingrained in the minds of non-Christians had this assumption become that, by the late 1920s, a resolution had been put forth in the Legislative Council insisting that Christians not be included in the "Depressed Class Community." According to Arputhasamy, Government Orders had been issued in 1925 which defined the term "Depressed Classes" as applicable only to "Hindu" Adi-Dravidas. The Government's denial of scholarships, concessions, land and other benefits to Christians had placed an undue burden on Catholic institutions to address the needs of Adi-Catholics.
Trichinopoly also had justified their tolerance of caste mentality. They went so far as to suggest that caste exclusiveness among Catholics had been part of their strategy for winning the potential Hindu convert. Such rationalizations coming from Church officials denied that Catholics had been active agents in maintaining caste privileges. They had merely adapted themselves to circumstances imposed on them by "Hindu" culture.
In December 1936, Adi-Catholics had demanded the right to be seated with caste Catholics during prayer at the newly consecrated St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral at Kumbakonam.
The Cathedral had a T-shaped hall, with one wing allotted to caste Catholics and the other to Adi-Catholics. The central portion of the hall facing the altar had been designated for schoolchildren and nuns. During a Sunday mass, a group of Adi-Catholics went and sat in the wing assigned to caste
Catholics. Their move not only aroused the resentment of caste The Tinnevelly District Court held that such a suit was not valid, because "the theory of pollution and defilement by touch could not be recognized in the case of Christians."
4 That caste Catholics retain the sole right to perform services at the altar of the church, conduct processions, and have custody of sacred images, church bells and the keys to the church.
3 That separate entrances to the church for caste and AdiCatholics be maintained
2 That exclusive ownership of the Holy Family Church be vested in the Vellalar caste members 1 That walls be re-erected separating caste from Adi-Catholics
Government assistance. In an address given to the All-India Depressed Classes' Conference at Amroati in April of 1930, the president, R.S. Nekaljay, appealed to Catholic religious orders to devote more of their resources to the uplift of Dalits.
The Trichinopoly Diocese of the Catholic Church had a long history of caste conflict, associated with the observance of caste distinctions during mass. Catholic Vellalars (a highly literate and influential group of Tamils) had strongly opposed the very idea of sharing common seating or ritual observances with Nadars. In 1916, a group of Catholic Vellalars (of both Pillai and Mudali families) sued the Bishop of Trichinopoly and several Nadar Catholics, demanding that certain caste privileges be secured to them at the Holy Family Church at Vadakkankulam. The Vellalars wanted the court to issue the following directives:
Caste and Christianity
History of Christianity in India Protestant deliberations over the status of the depressed classes, as in the case of Catholics, can be divided into elite and Dalit perspectives. Elite perspectives tended to revolve around the legitimacy of mass movements of conversion among Dalits.
Bishop Azariah defended Christian work among Dalits in the face of nationalist critiques. In spite of his vision for a castefree Church, Azariah had to contend constantly with the persistence of the old caste mentality among converts. This tension between welcoming Dalits into the Church and Caste Disputes within Protestant Contexts
Bishop Malayappan Chinnappa of Vellore in Tamil Nadu, a Dalit who heads the Catholic Bishops Conference of India
Commission for Dalits says "Dalits embraced Christianity with the hope of finding acceptance, equality with others, and human dignity. But the upper-caste Christians did not accept them as their equals. Instead they are subjected to the same indignity and humiliation which they suffered before they embraced
Christianity". Describing the caste system as a "diabolic form of terrorism," Bishop Chinnappa said that the Church had not yet made "concerted efforts" to stamp out discrimination.164 It is also established by the fact that out of 156 Catholic bishops in India, 150 belong to upper caste communities. Out of 12,500
Catholic priests, only 600 are from dalit communities. This is tree despite the fact that an estimated 75 percent or more of Indian Catholics are not part of the upper castes.165
Catholics, but also of the parish priest and the Bishop of the diocese. Similar passions had been stirred when several AdiCatholic women had seated themselves alongside caste women and were forcibly ejected from their seats. These incidents elicited a chain of protests by Adi-Catholics. One of their spokespersons, Sivaramaswamy, reminded the church authorities of the financial contribution Adi-Catholics had made to the construction of the Cathedral. He insisted that all restrictions on them be abolished without delay. The leader of the anti-caste agitation at Kumbakonum, Marianathan, claimed that the strongest opposition to their cause came from the priests, not from caste Catholics.163
Ambedkar's declaration provided an occasion for Azariah to defend the Christian gospel's capacity to overcome caste divisions, while at the same time recognizing "the many exhibitions of caste spirit, " which persisted within the Church.
Azariah rejected the notion that evangelism among the poor amounted to an exploitation of their condition for sectarian ends. In 1936, he refuted claims made by H.A. Popely, the former General Secretary of the National Council of YMCAs, that Christians were "exploiting the situation" of India's poor
"… religion is not a matter that can be adopted or changed by fifty million people at the behest of a leader, however influential he may be. Nor would there be any spiritual gain to the followers from a religion so adopted. The end of religion is not social uplift, but knowledge of God and union with God. It is of course certain that a true religion will bring social uplift, because it will unite men to God who is Father of us all."
Throughout the 1930's, both Indian and international Christian media had devoted much attention to the role of religion in determining the future of India's depressed classes.
Views of Gandhi and Ambedkar on conversion and nationality, along with Pickett's study of mass movements, had contributed to a climate of religious competition within which Dalit issues were being addressed. At the Yeola Conference of October 1935,
Ambedkar issued his evocative call to Dalits to seek equality of status within "another religion." His declaration caused
Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Christians alike to consider the prospect of masses of Dalits committing themselves to their folds. Bishop Pickett and Stanley Jones requested him to consider the claims of Christianity. One of the reasons
Ambedkar rejected their proposal was he observed that Christians in South India observe caste in the church. Bishop
Azariah, who had all along championed Christian evangelism among the Dalits, responded to Ambedkar's declaration lukewarmly: overcoming caste prejudices among and toward them became even more pronounced as issues of caste and conversion became more politicized.
Caste and Christianity
History of Christianity in India Conclusion: The Dalit Christians suffered multiple liabilities: like all other Christians, they were marginal to Hindu society.
But as Dalit Christians, they were denied quotas for education and employment that were available to those Dalits who had remained "Hindu." Furthermore, Dalit converts continued to suffer discrimination within Christian institutions. Bishop V.
Devasahayam, who heads the Church of South India diocese of Madras lamented, "The Indian church is in a sorry state. The church will fail if it does not weed out caste…Christianity is life giving while casteism is a sin and scandal…Casteism is a sin and caste-based discrimination is a crime." in order to grow in numbers. In his response to Popely, Azariah referred to Biblical accounts in which physical circumstances and bodily hunger are what inclined persons to seek repentance and salvation. He also emphasized the desire of Dalits themselves to receive the gospel. Azariah also believed in retaining certain continuities with the "harmless" duties and customs observed by Dalit villagers. Marriage and baptismal ceremonies were adapted to conform to indigenous ceremonies.
The diocese also adapted Christian liturgy, hymnody, architecture and festivals to Hindu and in some cases Muslim traditions. Perhaps the most significant accommodation to local practices occurred when authorities had allowed certain church leaders to make "substantial, if short-term concessions to the caste sensibilities of non-Brahman converts." In order to promote the progress of the gospel among Sudras, an appeal had been made to Mala and Madiga converts, requesting them to tolerate, for a time, the prejudices of caste Christians. Such accommodations to caste feelings and other facets of Telugu culture, however, could not prevent some converts from regressing or backsliding into "heathen" practices.166
For many historians, historical colonialism is synonymous with 'Europeanization', since the heyday of colonialism was
Abdel-Fadil dates the emergence of colonialism to 1500-1800, initially by Spain and Portugal but soon by Britain, France and the Netherlands. Between the 1820s and the First World
War, 'European countries had achieved complete dominance over world trade, finance and shipping… backed by superiority in technology, applied science, organization and information.'
Colonialism It is an established fact that the Portuguese, the Spanish, the French, the Dutch and the British colonized most countries.
The European powers conducted exploration and colonization as individuals and groups and mainly for commercial purposes.
India during the course of her long history was subjected, from time to time, to the influences of political and cultural forces from outside. One notable feature of the occupied lands/colonies was that it saw the proliferation of mission societies and missionaries in large numbers especially in the 19th century.
Mission and colonialism seemed to follow each other in the colonies and this is justified by the fact that colonialism and Christianization always accompanied each other. This paper is an attempt to briefly look into the relation between European colonialism and Christian mission with reference to India and see how far they were related.
Introduction Mission and Colonialism
History of Christianity in India Mission and Colonialism Mission and Colonialism Mission and Colonialism Mission and Colonialism Mission and Colonialism Chapter Twelve centuries missionaries reached as far to the north-east among the tribal people.
Colonialism and Christian missions went hand in hand since the arrival of the Portuguese in India.168 In the second half of the 15th century an era for discovery and adventure was opened up in Europe. Vasco da Gama's visit to India in 1498 was, for the Portuguese, an opening journey that started European colonialism in India. The Portuguese were followed by the Dutch and the Danes, and the British the last. All of these colonial countries' foremost aim was to get so many possible trading investments as they could. Their sole aim was a profitable trade; but, they also wanted to spread Christianity. The Pope commanded the Portuguese colonizers to missionize their Indian territories.169 Since the Portuguese were Roman Catholics, they tried to convert the natives not only to Christian, but also to the Catholic faith. Of the last three, the Royal Danish Mission seem most welcoming for the mission and the missionaries. The Dutch, as a trading company, was not interested in mission.
The British East India Company's friendliness to the missionaries had been fluctuating. Sometimes they cooperated well and gave freedom to the missionaries, sometimes they restricted them to enter the land. Anyhow, during their time in the country, all of them had done many works to and for the missions, the country, the natives, the mother country and the colonizers as well.
During the later part of the 19th and earlier part of the 20th Western Colonialism and Christian Mission in General when Europe was in the ascendancy and four-fifths of the world was under its control. Brian Stanley defines colonialism as 'that form of imperialism, in which the imperial power imposes governmental control on a territory without resort to large-scale human settlement,' and likewise Loomba sees colonialism 'as the conquest and control of other people's land and goods.'
While colonialism can thus be defined in political and economic terms, it invariably had profound social implications: as suggested by Ingleby, colonialism typically had "a civilizational component, not simply the occupation of territory, but also cultural and religious transformation."167
The union of colonialism and missions is clearly portrayed in the Papal Bulls of 1493 Pope Alexander VI whereby it appointed the Portuguese and Spanish rulers as patrons of the Church in their respective areas. This meant that they had to bear all expenses of sending missionaries, and building, maintain, and defending the Church.174 Another instance of union is seen in the issuing of the 'padroado'- grant of right to the kings of Portugal ecclesiastical patronage in the lands
Spain, which was also a Roman Catholic country, was offered a similar privilege. Hence, both the rulers had to send missionaries, support them, and establish Churches, Chapels, monasteries and the like. The rulers of Portugal and Spain missionized as they colonized.173
Pope Callistus III issued a Bull (an edict issued by the Pope) in 1456 in which he offered to Portugal the rights of dominion and commercial monopoly in the newly acquired territories.172
In the case of Spain and Portugal, which were two countries of strong Catholic faith missionary activities were not dissociated with the interests of the state nor could the state do without the corporation of the missionaries.170 Initially the main motif of the Portuguese who came to India in 1498 was profitable trade and not the possession of territories. But, they were not content to trade merely as visitors and gradually sought to establish a permanent position. Trading posts became bases for Christian missions not only to India but also to China. Portuguese explorers prepared the way for one of the most extraordinary of all Christian missionaries, Francis
Xavier (Goa).171
Portuguese/Roman Catholic Mission The Union of Colonialism and Christian Missions
Each of the four colonialists had one or more connections with the missionaries. In one way they were distinct, but in another way they were supporting each other and working together. Sometimes the Colonial governments were very friendly and supporting, but sometimes they were negative to them. From the Western missiological perspectives, all of their works (colonizers and missionaries) were one of the best means for India.
Mission and Colonialism
History of Christianity in India About the year 1540, King John III of Portugal, always solicitous for the progress of the Faith in his rapidly expanding dominions, appealed to the Pope and the newly formed
Society of Jesus for priests who should go to India and the first man chosen was St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552).179 The intense drive for conversion to Christianity started when the Jesuit missionaries persuaded Governor Barreto to pass laws that would favour Christians and force non-Christians to become Christians. The governor finally yielded and decreed:
1)that all the government offices held by the Hindus be taken away from them and be given to the Christians; 2) that Christian converts not be deprived of the right to inherit their share of the family property; 3) that Hindu orphans below the age of reason who had neither parents… be brought up in St. Paul's college until they were able to choose their religion for themselves; 4) that Hindus not be allowed to hold their rites and ceremonies publicly. The governor ordered that these laws should be faithfully observed under pain of severe penalties.180
Under the Portuguese commander, Cabral in 1500 came eight Franciscan Friars and eight secular priests; and others followed.
As early as 1512 one of these Friars, Luis do Salvador, preached at Vijayanagar and was martyred there. Thus along with the organizing of Portuguese administration in Goa went the building of Churches, convents and charitable institutions, and in 1534 Goa was made the seat of a Portuguese bishop, who became the head of a regular ecclesiastical organization in India and beyond.178
Under the policy of their Governor, Albuquerque (15091515), a large number of mixed marriages between the Portuguese and Indians took place. Normally, by baptism, a large IndoPortuguese population grew in the Portuguese stations.176 He gave the newly married couples a dowry of 18,000 reas for the state treasury to help them get settled. By 1540, there were 1800 such Portuguese settlers in Goa alone.177 conquered or to be conquered in Asia and Africa, in 1514 by Pope Leo X.175
In Cochin, when Albuquerque was Governor, the new converts daily received one cruzado and a loaf of bread each.
As such, the applications for baptism increased considerably.
By 1527, there were 15,000 Christians altogether.185 The Hindu chivalrous castes of Kerela, the nayars, were converted to serve the Portuguese as mercenaries since they were paid more than their lords paid them.186 Albuquerque was very generous in providing them the necessities of life that the Christian community of Cochin was very dependent upon the benevolence of the Portuguese for almost everything.187
In 1512, Albuquerque at Cochin started the first school of the Portuguese in the East. He had allotted a bag of rice per week for the batch of 16 boys.188 Gaspar Pereira, the secretary to Viceroy Francisco de Almeida conceived first to start a Francis Xavier himself expected the colonizers to get involved in the missionary work of converting the natives when he in his letter to the King of Portugal insisted that the task of converting India to Christ should be taken out of the hands of the missionaries and put into the hands of civil authorities. He wrote, but as long as Viceroys are not urged by the fear of disgrace and fine to make many Christians, Your Majesty must not hope that the preaching of the Gospel will meet with great success in India.184
Not only was the conversion by means of compulsion but the prospect of protection from powerful foreigners was a strong inducement to many than the preaching of the Gospel; an example of such is the conversion of the Paravas181 who were baptized being persuaded by a convert employed by the Portuguese, who indicated the advantage of Portuguese protection. Between 1535 and 1537, the whole caste was baptized, about 20,000 souls.182 (Others maintain that it was close to 1,20,000 souls) By 1563, Goa became almost a Christian territory with a Christian population of about 17,000.
The Christian population began to grow rapidly, and by the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Hindus became a minority group in Goa. There were only about 20,000 Hindus while the total population was about 150,000.183
Mission and Colonialism
History of Christianity in India In Cannanore, the first baptism we hear of is some twenty children, whom Vasco da Gama spared after putting to death all except these children when he captured the famous ship of the Egyptian Sultan, Mari.192 The vicars distributed alms on Saturdays. Dom Aires de Gama who saw direct relationship between alms and conversion promoted the former as much as possible.193 Two Churches, one big and another small were constructed inside the fort sometime before 1542. Franciscan monastery too was erected. Pedro Alvaro Cabral built the first place of worship in 1500 as a provisional one. It was converted into a Church with stone during the time of the viceroy, Dom
Francisco de Almeida, he devotion led to name the Church as St. James. The Churches enjoyed sanctuary rights.194
As for the southern province, the combined forces of the missionaries and the Portuguese with "enticement and force" helped successfully to Latinize the rite and discipline of the Thomas Christians and brought them under the patronage of the king of Portugal in 1599.196 Because of the Portuguese methods upon the Thomas Christians, the revolt of the 'Coonan
Cross Oath' broke out which led to the division between the In Calicut, the first baptism took place here in 1500, that of Michael the yogi. The converts were exempted from the authority of the raja whether from Hinduism or Islam. They were regarded equal with the Portuguese.195
Francisco de Albuquerque was the founder of both the fort and its Church in Cochin. The Church was burned down with fire secretly by Viceroy Almeida to convince the raja of Cochin about the need of building the edifices with stone and tile of roofs. Dom Francisco de Almeida provide generously to the Church with silver-ware organs, singers etc.190 The reconstruction did not cease and finally came to be known as Santa Cruz of Cochin.191 hospital in Cochin. The latter gave order in 1506 to start one. It carried the name Santa Cruz de Cochin (Holy Cross Hospital of Cochin). The shifting of the Portuguese administrative headquarters from Cochin to Goa affected much of Cochin's importance and became difficult to attract eminent preachers.189
The Danish East India Company settled at two places in India:
Tranquebar in 1620 and Serampore in 1676. Like the Dutch Company, the Danish Company had trade as their prime
The Danish After capturing the forts of Quilon (1661) and Cranganore (1662), the Dutch captured Cochin in 1663 and ended the influence of the Portuguese in Malabar.200 With all cruel and barbarian manners the Dutch deported the Portuguese in total surrender.201 Being Protestants from Netherland or Holland, and disliking the Roman Church, they gave their all to remove all traces of the Roman Catholicism. Their advent was seen as a blessing to the Syrian Christians who were yoked by the Roman Church through the Synod of Diamper. Although, the Dutch had no interest in mission, they converted the Churches built by the Portuguese in Cochin fort, Nagapattinam and Tuticorin into Protestant Churches. The Dutch had Cochin under their hands until 1795, when the British took over it.202 The Dutch being the main colonial power in Malabar during the 18th century, were as a rule, anti-Portuguese, anti Catholic and anti-Jesuit.203 In 1758, when Schwartz and his friend Kohlhoff paid a visit to Nagapattnam, the Dutch Governor warmly welcomed them, and they engaged themselves in various ways of gospel work among both local and European Christians. On the request of the missionaries, the Dutch officials built a Church for the use of local Christians there.204
About the middle of the seventeenth century, the Dutch East India Company gradually took over the authority and power of the Portuguese. Their prime purpose was to make trade.199
The Dutch The first Protestant Mission was preceded by the first Protestant Trading Company, i.e., the British East India Company which began its trading enterprise in 1600.198
The Protestant Missions Latin Church and Syrian Orthodox Church.197 The key figure was Arch bishop Alexis de Menezes.
Mission and Colonialism
History of Christianity in India Thus the Danish missionaries had the advantage of owning
Vepery Chapel and the property attached to it.
In November 1752, a severe storm wiped out the house of the Danish Missionaries and left them homeless. Fabricius the leader of the Danish missionaries approached the Governor and presented their plight. The Governor sympathized with the missionaries and permitted them to enter the allotted property in Vepery.209 The Company gave them a gift of 500 Pagodas.
On December 4, 1752, the first Sunday in Advent they were able to conduct a service of worship in the Vepery chapel.210
On September 5, 1726, Fort St George accorded permission to Benjamin Schultze, a German Lutheran to open Royal Danish
Mission/English Mission in Madras which came to be the first Protestant Mission in Madras, located in the territory of the English East India Company. On September 14, 1726, Schultze began a Malabar School with twelve children by the order of the Governor. Schultz received from the Governor a definite monthly assistance from November 1726. The East India
Company granted a site for the use of the missionaries where in 1735 a Church of 40 ft. square was built.207 Benjamin
Schultze left Madras in 1743 and went back to Germany on account of ill health and the more famous Joan Philip Fabricius who had already arrived in Tranquebar took his place.208
It was King Frederick IV of Denmark, a Lutheran who first sent the Protestant missionaries to India.205 He sent the two
German Lutherans, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Pluetschu to Tranquebar as royal missionaries in 1706. However, the Danish Commandant J. C. Hassius was very hostile to the missionaries and their activities. The relationship between the Danish Company and the Tranquebar Missionaries on the one hand and between them and the Mission Board the King of Denmark, set up in 1714, on the other became better after the death of Ziegenbalg in 1719.206 interest. The Danes were Lutherans but they refused to allow any missionaries in the territories since they saw them as a threat to their commercial interest.
Christian Frederick Schwartz, a missionary of the Danish-
One of the Danish Company officials who was appreciative of Schwartz was Colonel Bie. When he went to Serampore as The British East India Company made use of the service of Schwartz in politics also. In 1779 when Hyder Ali, the Mysore
King with the French, an enemy of the British was planning for a war against the British, the British sent Schwartz as an embassy
(peace mission). He had several interviews with Hyder Ali though that mission did not bring peace. Later when the Thanjavur King's administration failed due to mismanagement, the British asked Schwartz to be the administrator. Such relationship with the British Company helped Schwartz in his missionary activities.
Halle Mission arrived at Tranquebar in 1750.211 In 1762, at the request of the English officers Schwartz went to the English garrison at Tiruchirapalli to conduct public worship for the Europeans on Sundays. Seeing there a small Church, unsuitable and insufficient for the purpose, Schwartz took steps to erect an altogether new and suitable Church which was completed with the liberal support of the Englishmen of the garrison.
Schwartz opened this new Church on 18 May 1766 and named the Church "Christ Church." In 1767, SPCK founded a Protestant Mission (English Mission) in Tiruchirapalli and appointed Schwartz as their missionary. The British government appointed him as a chaplain to the English garrison at Truchirapalli.212 He undertook tours along with the English garrison to Ramanathapuram and Palayamkottai, where he established Protestant congregations.213 He erected a new
Church for the use of local and European Christians by the contribution of the English people at Vallam, which was in the occupation of an English garrison.214 In Thanjavur, in 1780 he dedicated a new and beautiful church with the help of the Madras Governor General Hecter Munro. The government in Madras supplied six lakhs of bricks and three thousand parahs of chunam for building a Church. The allowance made by the British to Schwartz was larger than those made to other missionaries. In 1792, Schwartz wrote to SPCK in London that the government was favorable to their work and that they only wanted workers. 215
Mission and Colonialism
History of Christianity in India From about the middle of Eighteenth century, interest in mission was growing in Britain. A group of people called 'Evangelicals' spearheaded the cause of Mission. At this point of time, the British Company's Charter 1698, which expected the military chaplains to learn the Portuguese language in one year of their
Fight for Religious Liberty in the Indian colony (the Evangelicals and EIC) The British East India Company began its commerce with India from the beginning of Seventeenth Century. After the battle of Plassey (1757), the East India Company established its rule, having
Calcutta as its headquarters. By the end of the Eighteenth Century British rule was firmly established in the three Presidencies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay and eventually became a colonial government.217 The Company openly encouraged missionary work until the middle of the eighteenth century. But towards the end of the century, with annexation of territories and the assumption of administrative responsibilities over Indian territories, the Company decided not to interfere with the traditional cultures of the people by supporting missionary work.
This policy of withdrawing support for missionary did not last too long. After the Company's charters were renewed in 1813 and finally in 1833, the Board of Directors changed the policy of the Company and, under pressure from Evangelicals in England the missionaries began to arrive freely in India. Ever since, there had existed a renewed cooperation between the missionaries and colonial power in helping one another on their missions.218
The British its Governor, he gave shelter and protection to Joshua Marshman, William Ward and their group in 1799. He is said to have explained that his gesture was because of his appreciation for Schwartz. With his permission, the said Baptist missionaries asked Willaim Carey to join them at Serampore from which the Serampore Mission began. Though officially the Danish Company did not support missions, there were officials such as Colonel Bie who sympathized with it.216
Court Directors, Charles Grant and Edward Parry used their power to send out as Company Chaplains evangelicals such as Henry
Martyn and Claudius Buchanan, who served both as preachers to the Europeans and as missionaries to the Indians.223
Another member, Zachary Macaulay, assured Andrew Fuller (officer of BMS) in 1797 of a desire to help in any way to forward the great work in which the Mission Society had embarked.
Earlier, Henry Thorntorn one of the Court of Directors promised to confer with the directors on the subject of sending more Baptists to India. None, however, aided them as much as Charles Grant, member of the Court of Directors, and chairman or deputy chairman of that body in 1804, 1805, 1807, 1809 and 1815. He carried on an intimate correspondence with Fuller and often advised the B.M.S. on actions to be taken in respect to the court and missionary behaviour. In 1802, for instance he told Fuller that missionary reinforcements should continue to go to India on Danish or American ships.221 He, in alliance with William
Wilberforce, Zachary Macaulay, Thornton, Henry Venn, and their newly organized body of Evangelicals known as the Clapham Sect began to mobilize public opinion in order to secure free entry for missionaries to India, which had failed in 1795.222
Upon his return from India, Charles Grant enlisted the aid of William Wilberforce's attempt in 1793 to obtain the insertion of a clause declaring the 'religious improvement' of the Indian populace to be the duty of Britain. This was to be accomplished mainly by the introduction of Anglican Chaplains and schoolmasters into those territories ruled by Britain in the late eighteenth century. Grant and Wilberforce after some initial success failed in this goal.220 arrival and apply themselves to learn the native language of the country where they shall reside to better instruct the Gentoos, came for renewal in 1793. William Wilberforce, a Member of Parliament, an Evangelical and a member of the Charter proposed to insert in the Charter the duty of the British
Legislature to promote the interest and happiness of the British dominion in India, and for which school masters, missionaries etc. who were skilled and suitable to fulfill these would be sent.
But the proposal met with a failure.219
Mission and Colonialism
History of Christianity in India When Governor-General Lord Wellesley (1798-1805), had
Carey employed to superintend the Bengali studies, and in 1801 as professor of both Bengali and Sanskrit languages in Fort
Serampore Missionaries and British Government At the renewal of the Company's Charter in 1833, India was thrown open to anyone from any part of the world irrespective of their profession. This provision opened up India for missionary activity by non-British too.226
XLIII. It obliged the Governor-General in Council to allot not less than one lakh of rupees annually "for the Revival and Improvement of Literature and the encouragement of the learned Natives of India and for the Promotion of knowledge of Sciences among the Inhabitants of the British Territories in India."225
XIII.
Resolved. That it is the opinion of this Committee that it is the duty of this country to promote the interest and happiness of the native inhabitants of the British dominions of India, and that such measures ought to be adopted as may tend to the introduction among them of useful knowledge and of religious and moral improvement. That in the furtherance of the above objects, sufficient facilities shall be afforded by law, to persons desirous of going to, and remaining in, India for the purpose of accomplishing those benevolent designs.224
XII.
Resolved. That it is the opinion of this Committee (of the House of Common) that it is expedient that the Church establishment in the British territories in the East
Indies should be placed under the superintendence of a Bishop and three Ach-deacons, and that adequate provision should be made from the territorial revenues of India for their maintenance.
When the Parliament renewed the Company's Charter in 1813, three important Resolutions were added to it:
The Charter Acts of 1813 and 1833 and Freedom of Missionary Activity
The evangelicals in England and missionaries in India were the prime movers behind the legalization of English education in 1835. Missionaries and Mission Societies were convinced that western education would bring religious transformation and Cultural Revolution in Indian society and thus prepare the way for evangelism in India.234 One example is Alexander's emphasis on English education. Also, speaking to the Parliament, William Wilberforce argued that the introduction of European enlightenment would prepare the people for conversion to Christianity. Christianizing and civilizing the colonized went together and formed the highest of missionary goals. Evangelizing and educating the people formed the same balance sheet.235 The government hoped that education would civilize the natives to facilitate better business transaction; missionaries envisioned that it would reduce the pagan religions
English Education and Colonialism Of the seventy-one stations belonging to various missionary societies working in Bengal, thirty were situated in and around
Calcutta, the political nerve-center of the British colonizers.233
On April, 1, 1799, Carey witnessed the first time the burning of a widow which got him a lasting impression on his mind, and in the subsequent years, Carey and his co-workers at Serampore launched relentless protests against this inhuman practice. Finally, on December 4, 1829, Bentinck passed in Council a Regulation declaring the practice of Sati both illegal and criminal.232
William College, Carey was paid five hundred rupees per month and when Mahratta (Marathi) was added to it, he was paid one thousand rupees.227 In short, Carey was able to carry on the work of Serampore Mission with the money he received from the British government's treasury.228 While working there, he introduce his Bengali New Testament and other religious publications into the college.229 Wellesley's liberal subscriptions to their publications also helped to finance the growth and extension of the Mission.230 On the basis of Carey's findings, on August 20, 1802, Resolution VI was passed by the GovernorGeneral in Council prohibiting the practice of infanticide.231
Mission and Colonialism
History of Christianity in India The legalization of English education, the abolition of restrictions on missionary presence, and the arrival of administrative leaders who were sympathetic to the evangelicals facilitated the proliferation of mission societies and Christian institutions across the nation. Scottish missionaries, such as John
Wilson in Bombay (1832), John Anderson in Madras (1837), Mission Societies and Christian Institutions
After the Carter of 1833, unlike Carey, a new breed of powerful missionaries began to arrive in India. They began to demand that civilizing and Christianizing should go together. When
English education was introduced in India, Alexander Duff reasoned that mere introduction was value-neutral, or amoral; it should include moral and ethical teachings, by which he meant
Christian instructions. Lord Wellesley and Lord Bentick practiced this.237 Interestingly, all English schools in India, except Banares, were established within 300 miles of Calcutta, the colonial powerhouse in India.238 Thomas Macaulay emphasized that the introduction of Western civilization through English education would enhance trade with India. He also wrote that English education would promote a cultural revolution and a forward movement for the betterment of the natives and make them loyal to the Crown.239 The strong relationship of the missionaries and the British government is apparently portrayed in the presentation of Duff, "We pray for the permanence of the British Government, that, under the shadow of its protection, we may disseminate the healing knowledge of Christianity among our brethren."240 Realizing the importance of colonial power to accomplish his missionary goal,
Duff said that Calcutta and Bengal, the administrative headquarters of the colonial government, were like Jerusalem and Syria. The human instrument God had chosen to evangelize
India.241
English Education and Longevity of the Empire to nothing and pave the way for the dissemination of Christian faith. Thus began another round of collaboration between mission and colonialism.236
The union of European colonialism and Christian mission has much to be evaluated. It has both acceptance and rejection viewing from Indian perspective. One the one hand, it has beyond doubt, contributed in the fields of education, civilization, science, religion, literature, communication etc.; such that,
Indian Nationalism itself was the result of both mission and colonialism. It has also, on the other hand discriminated the originality of the Indian culture, social, religion, politics, economy and the Indian people. As such, Imperialist
Historiography, Colonial Historiography etc. began to emerge from the evaluation made by the Indian historians. Whatever may be the opinion or belief in evaluating the union of European
Colonialism and Christian Mission, one must not be biased by illusion and fallacy which may erroneously neglect the assistance it has contributed to the Indians.
Evaluation and Conclusion and Stephen Hislop in Nagpur (1844) established schools after the model of Duff to promote Christian knowledge among the native students. The Church Missionary Society, the Baptist
Missionary Society, the London Missionary Society, the Basel Mission, and others, in other parts of the country, joined them.
More American Baptists sent their missionaries in 1835. The American Lutherans and other societies followed them in the 1840s.242
History of Christianity in India
But fortunately and undoubtedly, the considerable role played by the Indian Christians towards the national movement
In addition to this, MS Golwalkar (1906-1973), one of the famous leaders of the RSS for more than three decades, mentioned in his Bunch of Thoughts that 'Christians in India are not merely irreligious but also anti-nationals and internal threats to the security of the nation'. He claimed that the Christians, in general, kept themselves aloof from the freedom struggle and they were on the side of the British who belonged to the same faith. Similarly, Arun Shourie, a Cabinet Minister in the former
BJP government stated in his Missionaries in India viewed that 'for over a hundred years thus missionary activity was interwoven with, and inextricably tied up with British imperial control of India: that the missionaries – even those of Indian origin – did not join the Independence movement was not an accident'.244
'Participation of Christians in political affairs was a controversial issue during the development of the National Movement in India.'
A few years ago, the former Deputy Prime Minister of India, Mr. Devi Lal, proposed that the Christians in India should leave
India and go to Europe. He emphasized this while talking about nationalism, and implied by it that Christians in India lack national spirit, because it was understood by the Hindus and others in India that the participation of Indian Christians in the national freedom struggle had been almost nil.243
1. Introduction Christianity and National Independence Movement Chapter Thirteen
Christianity and Western education are closely related. The western education spread in India with the coming of William
3.1 Christianity and Western Education 3. Causes for the Rise of Nationalism But, as a matter of fact, the national movement began with the Revolt of 1857, which had been called Sepoy Mutiny, by the British people. Many Indians considered this as the first war of India's Independence. However, the actual struggle for freedom began with the formation of the Indian National
Congress (INC) in 1885. Therefore, the period between the Revolt of 1857 and the formation of the INC in 1885 was marked by a rapid growth of national consciousness for political freedom.248
The Indian national movement has a long history. Generally, nationalism is not a new phenomenon among Indians and its feelings were expressed in various ways from the beginning of the Europeans' occupation. In the beginning of the 19th century
Velu Thamby, Dewan in the Travancore State in Kerala and Veera Pandiya Kattabomman in the southern part of the former
Madras Presidency were stood against the British. But their motives and aims were misread in their respective context.246 In 1778 or 1779, Hyder Ali of Mysore organized a grand confederacy for making a simultaneous attack against the British from their respective headquarters. In Banaras a rebellion group was formed by Chait Singh, the Raja of Banaras to make a protest against Warren Hastings in 1781. The rebellion of Wazir Ali was also considered as a part of the All-India conspiracy against the English towards the close of the 18th century.247
2. Nationalism Among them, particularly the Christians in India also came forward to identify themselves with the national struggles in every aspect. has been recorded in the Indian history. The achievement of Independence was a result of about a century's struggle by the people. The struggle for freedom was not an involvement of few people but rather it was a people's movement where every section of people got involved with their significant roles.245
Christianity and National Independence Movement
History of Christianity in India The India of the 19th century was under the shadow of the cross and of Western culture. The western conquerors had a vested interest in converting Indians to their own faith which finally caused towards disintegrating the cultural and religious basis of the conquered. The attempts made by the missionaries degraded the Hindu religion and developed a kind of cultural conquest. Indians were invited by the missionaries to join the "true" religion, the religion of the foreign master, was felt by Indians as part of the process of consolidation of colonial rule. At this situation, the foreigners though involved in colonial aggression, they were self-revealing, revitalizing and transforming elements within the process that brought out the Indian renaissance and Indian nationalism. The humanizing cultural challenge of Christianity and the West had become the light and mirror in which Hinduism and Indian culture could see both their weaknesses and their potentialities.
Thus the Indians responded Christianity in a situation of repulsion and attraction: 'Christianity for Indians was repulsive because it seemed to be part and parcel of the Western colonial enterprise; it was at the same time attractive to them, because it has created in them a cultural and spiritual restlessness and 3.2 Cultural Restlessness One aspect of Indian nationalism was a protest and a criticism of the cultural trappings involved in the educational policy and the self-alienation that the system imposed on Indians. In the pledge taken by Indians in 1930 asserting their right for independence, they lamented "culturally, the system of education has torn us from our moorings, and our training has made us hug the very chains that bind us."250 Besides, they got the inspiration for national struggle through the readings of the histories of the American war of Independence, French
Revolution etc. English language also served as a lingua franca for the whole educated Indians which unified the people. Thus,
Christianity and education contributed for the rise of nationalism.251
Carey (1793) and Alexander Duff (1830) to Calcutta. This helped the Indian elites to get the idea of western liberalism.249
The coming of the Europeans, especially the British brought in renaissance in India, through which Indians began to imbibe a sense of pride and appreciation in their culture, languages, literature, religion and country, and so it can be said that there was a cultural renaissance.255 The western education began to challenge the superstitious beliefs and questioned the existing socio-religious practices in India. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the one who founded the "Brahma Samaj" in 1828 in order to carry out the new spirit of rational enquiry into the basis of religion and society. He was against the social evil practices and it was through the joint cooperation of the missionaries that certain practices were abolished. "Arya Samaj" was another movement founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati at Bombay in 1875. He rejected the caste system and proclaimed the rights of everybody to study the Vedas and other Hindu scriptures.
3.4 The Socio-Religious Movement The development of press enabled the Indian thinkers and writers to spread the national consciousness through the periodicals and news papers in both English and regional languages. The Samachar Darpan, Bengal Gezette, Weekly
Madras Courier, and Bombay Herald were some of the publications through which they expressed their views on socio-political, economic, religious ideas and thus spread the national spirit throughout the country.253 These journals became known as the channels of communication in the country and provided the forum for the educated to express their views and organize support for their various agitations and movements. It was the custom for almost all the graduates in India and the more vociferous of the educated to contribute to the local journals in part-time capacities, and to use them as the platform from which to expound their current preoccupations. Therefore, journalism was accepted as the means whereby the educated might express their views.254
3.3 The Technological Development the search for a new identity, the seeks of Indian nationalism.'252
Christianity and National Independence Movement
History of Christianity in India The Mutiny of 1857 was an important reason for the rise of nationalism in India. Before this there was a kind of development found in order to attempt for battle because of the frequent revolts between Zamindars and other supreme landholders, disputes between landlords and groups of tenants, tension between tribesmen and established peasant farmers, and agitations over market control and taxation. All these struggles of fights were widely appeared throughout the country which aided 'the Indian War of Independence' 1857-1859.259 The immediate cause of the Mutiny was the introduction of the Enfield rifle for use by the sepoys. Early in January 1857, a rumour was spread that the cartridges of these rifles were greased with lard made from the fat either of the hog or of the cow, which was a sacrilegious act both for Hindus and Muslims.
This news produced consternation among the sepoys and the idea gained ground that it was a deliberate move on the part of the Government to convert them en masse to Christianity. The first open mutiny of sepoys took place at Ambala in the Punjab and began to spread throughout the cities like Delhi, Kanpur and Jhansi. This directed all classes of people in India were thoroughly discontented and disaffected against the British.
The outbreak of 1857 as a great revolt of the people, claimed to be the first 'Indian War of Independence'.260 It also drove home to the Indians the necessity to be united in their efforts, through which the Indians especially the educated saw the 3.5 Sepoy Mutiny The Indian youths were encouraged by these reformers to get involved in such reforms. These social reformers demanded the British to give more opportunities to Indians in the Indian
Civil Services (ICS), which can be seen as a first step towards devolution of power, through it was not expressed so explicitly.
But 'Indians in ICS meant training in administration as well as to prove that Indians could be equal to the British.'258
As well as, the Ramakrishna Mission and Theosophical Society spearheaded the reform movements.256 These socio-religious movements were an expression of national consciousness, and they deepened the growing spirit of nationalism in India.257
One of the leading figures of the INC was Allan Octavian Hume, A new era in the political life of India began with the foundation of the INC towards the very end of the year 1885. It completely dominated the political life of India and gave a shape and form to the ideas of administrative and constitutional reforms which formed the chief planks in the political agitation of India.264
5. Formation of the Indian National Congress In this period, a few more political organizations were found in different parts of India. In 1852, the "Bombay
Association" was founded and known as the oldest political association in Bombay, which had lost its vitality within a decade and got revived only in 1870s. "Poona Sarvajanik
Sabha" was another important political association begun in 1867 in order to present the wants and wishes of the inhabitants of the Deccan. Similarly, the "Mahajan Sabha" of Madras was founded in 1884. In December 1883, the Indian Association of Calcutta, with the help of other Associations of the country organized for the first National Conference in Calcutta. All these political developments prepared the background for an organized political movement.263
Following the sepoy mutiny of 1857, there was a rapid growth of Indian nationalism and the spirit of national consciousness was intensified in this period. In July 1867, W.C. Banerji who later become the first president of the INC, demanded for a representative and responsible government of India. In 1874,
Krishtodas Pal, a politician proposed for similar government in his article "Home Rule for India" in Hindoo Patriot. The "Indian League262" a new association was started in 1875 by a few political thinkers of Bengal in order to express their views on unsatisfied existing political associations. The aim of this was to stimulate the sense of nationalism among the people and awaken their political consciousness.
4. Political Development Between 1857-1885 future with new vision and mission. The Mutiny had given them self-identity and so there was a renaissance in culture and Hindu religion.261
Christianity and National Independence Movement
History of Christianity in India But on the other side, Hume felt that Indians should be given more freedom, more opportunities in administration, more room to administer themselves, and more cooperation and understanding from the British for such aspirations, which would lead to a cordial relationship, and INC's activities would be on the path of peace and good-will.269 The Congress appeared to be no more than a political body whose main
W.C. Banerji became the first president of the INC in 1885.
'The objectives of the INC were: a) To promote personal intimacy and friendship among the mere earnest workers in the cause of the country in various parts of the empire; b) To eradicate the race, creed, and provincial prejudices among the lovers of the country and the fuller development and consolidation of those sentiments of national unity that had their origin in their beloved Lord Ripon's memorable reign; c) To make an authoritative record after a careful and full discussion on some of the most important and pressing social questions of the day.' It shows that the main objective of the INC was not for political independence, but was rather concerned for the economic and social problems of the time.268 because Hume obtained access to secret government files which suggested that the continued rule of the British over India was in danger, that it might be overthrown.266 The INC was the continuation of the various political organizations throughout the country and especially the National Conference held in 1883.267 a retired member of the Indian Civil Service who was one of the founders of INC (the original name proposed by Hume was 'Conference of the Indian National Union') and its
Secretary until his departure for England in the early nineties.
It was he who was largely responsible for making it a viable and continuing organisation. For this reason he has become known as the father of the INC. As he was by no means responsible for the changes in the social and political scene, it might perhaps be better to view his role as more of a midwife than of a father. He was regarded with suspicion by his fellow
Britons as 'an incorrigible mischief-maker' by Ilbert and 'the greatest liar who ever came to India' by Sir Henry Maine,265
George Thomas, a well known Church historian mentions that, the Indian Christian Community played an influential role, especially in the early phase of the Indian National Congress – founded in 1885 – which was the premier instrument of political nationalism. According to him, the influence of Christians was impressive in the various sessions of the Indian National
6.1 Christians' Participation in Indian National Congress Indian Christians responded to the invitations of the national movement through their various Christian organizations by arranging for conferences and camps in which several issues were discussed including political issues. At times political problems were debated, passed resolutions and sent to the concerned authorities, and thereby the Indian
Christians' voices were made heard.273
In the 19th century, a large number of British missionaries adopted an arrogant, patronising and paternalistic attitude towards Indians. But in the second half of the 19th century, those missionaries began to act according to the context and marked their presence with Indians for nationalism. Two main issues caused Christian missionaries to be concerned about the rising spirit of nationalism. They were primarily concerned about nationalism because it aimed at the glorification of everything Indian, and it opposed everything foreign including
Christianity which was viewed as an alien foreign religion.
The growth of nationalism among the educated class, who consequently showed less interest in Christianity, also concerned missionaries.272
6. Christians' Involvement in Nationalism concern was agitation against the British Government.270 The INC did not ask for independence in the early stages, but by around 1900, the main aim of INC shifted to the political independence with appearance of Hindu fundamentalists like,
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and others. Above all, the INC from its beginning till the achievement of Independence in 1947 dominated the political life of the Indians.271
Christianity and National Independence Movement
History of Christianity in India It is also interesting to note that some Christian women were
6.2 Role of Christian Women in Indian National Congress The influence of many Indian Christians continued to be impressive in the subsequent sessions of the Congress. Kali
Charan Banerjee (1847-1907), a Bengali Christian and a fine orator, regularly addressed the annual sessions of the Congress in moulding the policy of National Movement.279 Apart from him, there were two other Indian Christians of note such as GG Nath, a barrister from Lahore and Peter Paul Pillai, a CMS school teacher, land-holder and later a barrister from Madras.280
RSN Subramania, a Christian barrister and Municipal Councillor from Madras who proposed a resolution that pleaded for complete separation of judicial and executive functions by government officials, Kali Charan Banerji, a prominent leader of the Bengali Christian community who was also an eminent scholar, a brilliant orator and a highly respected and influential
Indian Christian in Congress circles, and Madhusudan Das (popularly known as 'Utkal Gourab'), a lawyer who later became a deputy magistrate in Orissa who addressed the Congress on the question of expansion of legislative councils were some of the prominent Indian Christians at the 1887 INC sessions.276 The Indian Christian delegates continued their contributions in the four subsequent sessions (1888-1891) of the Congress.277 At the 1888 Allahabad session there were 38
Christians out of a total of 1248 delegates, in the 1889 Bombay session 54 out of 1889, at the 1890 Calcutta session 22 out of 677 and in the 1891 Nagpur session, 16 out of 812.278
Congress.274 In the early years of INC, Indian Christians enthusiastically supported the National Congress and attended its annual meetings, says G.A. Oddie. For example, as per the official Congress report, there were 35 Christians out of a total of 607 registered delegates which was 2.5% of the total attendance participated in the third annual session of the Congress in 1887 in Madras. This was quite impressive because
Christian community in 1887 formed less than 0.79 % of the total population. Out of this 35, seven were Eurasians and fifteen were Indian Christians.275
The first Christian organization which had played a role in the national movement was the 'Bengal Christian Association' founded in 1878, by a group of Christians in Calcutta with a view of create a national, independent Indian church. The first president of this association was Krishna Mohun Banerji and one of its active members was Kali Charan Banerji. In 1887,
KC Banerji and Joy Shome formed the 'Calcutta Christo Samaj' which was a Christian parallel to the Brahmo Samaj. Its purpose was for the propagation of Christian truth and promotion of Christian union. Its confession was the Apostolic Creed. In 1886, the 'National Church of Madras' was founded by an Indian medical doctor, S Parani Andy/Pulney Andy with the group of Indian Christians in Madras. In 1892, the 'Lucknow
Christian Association' and the 'Poona Christians Association' were formed in order to deal with the social and economic problems of the Christian community by every legitimate means. At the same time, they were very much critical of the missionaries and the western Christian theology and tried to indigenize it, which clearly indicated the presence of the spirit of nationalism. All these above said associations played an important role to mobilize Christian opinions in support of the struggle for national freedom.284
6.3 Christian Organizations and the Indian National Movement present at the Bombay session of 1889 when women attended for the first time.281 It was also reported that the Christian women made their presence in the same session that there were 'no less than ten lady delegates,' three of whom were Pandita
Ramabai Saraswati, well known Christian social reformer, Ms Mesdames Trimbuck and Ms Nikambe noted Christian educationalists.282 As an outstanding Christian woman, Ramabai was one of the first Indians who championed the right of women to participate in national politics, eloquently articulating the pitiable history of Indian womanhood. She also played as important role in the third session of the National Social
Conference in 1889 at which she supported a resolution condemning the practice of disfiguring the Hindu widows.283
Christianity and National Independence Movement
History of Christianity in India But on the other side, missionaries such as TE Slater, CF
Andrews and E Greaves were outspoken in urging Indian Christians to participate in politics and join the Congress, and they even attended the Congress sessions. E Greaves wrote in 1910 'would to God that Indian Christians might be found in the very forefront of the National movement.'289
The early attitude of the missionaries towards the INC had been stated by TE Slater at the Bangalore missionary conference of 1888 as: "Apart from its political aims, the Congress is in its very constitution a moral and social educator of the greatest value, and as such should be welcomed and supported by every missionary." However, there were some missionaries who stood against the national politics and urged the Indian Christians not to participate in the Congress.286 In 1890 William Harper, a missionary warned Indian Christians of the danger of joining with Hindus, because such missionaries held negative opinion about the INC and there were others who not only encouraged Indian Christians to participate in the INC but also attended the Congress sessions in person.287 He made open and written statement in 1890 as: "Even should it be unquestionable wise and right for the Christian community totally itself with the Congress, it would still remain the duty of the clergy to take no active part in it, or in the local meetings relating to it. Politics lie outside the sphere of the Christian ministry."288
6.4 Role of Missionaries in the Indian National Movement Along with these associations the following institutions such as the All India Conference of Indian Christians, the National
Christian Council of India, Christian leaders and student groups related to United Theological College (Bangalore), Serampore
College and St. Paul's College, (Calcutta), Malabar Christian College, (Calicut), the Youth Christian Council of Action
(Kerala), the Student Christian Movement of India, the Indian Christian Association of Bengal, a conference of Christians in Bombay, a meeting of Christians in Palayamkottai
(Thirunelvelli), and the like, also passed resolutions expressing complete solidarity with the freedom movement since 1920s.
Some of them even took part in massive manifestations against the British colonial government.285
In spite of this, the participation of Christians in the INC sessions declined slowly from 1892 onwards. The reasons for the decline were many. They are:
1. The Evangelicals emphasized other-worldliness which encouraged Christians to be aloof from mundane things such as politics. But evangelicalism and its consequent otherworldliness emphasis was there even earlier and it was not a new phenomenon, and so it need not be the main reason for these said declines.
2. The main reasons were fear of the majority Hindus, and the fear of loosing favour from the Government in terms of securing employment in Government service. It was said that Indian Christians were obtaining employment in Government service in increasing numbers.
3. By 1900 the fear of Hindu domination was generally shared 7. Christians Participation: Reasons for Decline291
The growing strength of the Indian National Movement did not fill all British protestant missionaries with alarm. There was a few British protestant missionaries who did not view the movement with anxiety but looked upon it as an expression of the legitimate aspirations of the Indian people that missionaries concerned with India should seek to understand sympathetically.
Though the number of such missionaries was always comparatively small, the demands of Indian nationalism were felt more acutely by missionaries as the spirit of Indian nationalism increasingly penetrated the Indian Church. Changes in the Indian institution due to the growth of Indian nationalism therefore, did result in a change of missionary attitude with regard to their own mission. They showed an increasing ability to adapt to the changing situation in the interest of their own mission.
Only a few British missionaries, providing more sensitive to Indian nationalism and seeking sincerely to understand the Indian
National Movement, revealed really independent thinking in a period of rapid change in India. Rev HA Popley was one British missionary in South India who protested strongly against the trial and imprisonment of Mahatma Gandhi.290
6.4.1 British Protestant Missionaries Christianity and National Independence Movement
History of Christianity in India 8.2 Student Christian Movement Another important organization was the SCM which was organized under the supervision of John R Mott, contributed
Several YMCAs such as Calcutta in 1857, Bombay in 1875 had been formed under the leadership or initiative of the missionaries in various parts of the country. There were 35
YMCAs in the country with a total of 1896 when the National association was organized where VS Azariah, KT Paul and SK
Datta were the prominent leaders. Though it was not in the position to directly involve in politics, its periodical The Young
Men of India was used to express even political idea; and thereby promoted national consciousness among the Indian
Christians during the national movement.292
8.1 Young Men's Christian Association 8. Other Organizations Towards Nationalism by the Christian community. In 1908 Joseph J Ghose writing on Indian Christians and the national movement, expressed the view that participation in the national movement would be detrimental to the Christian community, because he continued that: "We know by experience that wherever the non-Christians are in power the poor Indian Christians labour under a great disadvantage and have to suffer humiliation, indignities and even persecution."
4. In the early decades of INC, the British did not consider it as a threat to their administration. But with the emergence of Bal Gangadhar Thilak, and Aurobindo Ghosh, the INC took a revolutionary character. Added to that was the partition of Bengal in 1905, which made the INC hostile to the British Raj, when British officials and their establishments were attacked by Congress men, and some officials were even murdered, which led to a vehement attack of the INC by the British both in India and in UK.
So from the beginning of the 20th century, there was apprehension and fear in the minds of the Indian Christians and European missionaries. As a result, they began to leave the INC and their attendance at the INC sessions dwindled.
When the rising tide of nationalism reached its peak when in 1920 the National congress at a special session accepted
Gandhi's swadeshi policy, the NCC was in the position to take decision on responding the national movement. Realizing its inability the council issued two statements using good number of words, but saying actually nothing in favour of Home Rule were 'to the richness of life and to the development of personality.298
The National Missionary Council of India which came into being in 1914 and in 1923 it was renamed as National Christian
Council of India in, which was not able to take a definite stand on the nation's struggle for political freedom, but made prayer calls for peace in the country. This attitude may be due to the fresh policy of the British Government. As a result of the World
War I (1914-1918) the British Government began to think its policy on the entry on non-British foreigners294 including missionaries into their colonies such as India. One of the outcomes of such policy was the introduction of the Memoranda in 1919, which had three parts, viz. 'A', 'B' and 'C'.295 'The purpose of the Memoranda was to keep away or not to re-admit societies or organizations of alien and enemy origin, the individual members of any society who were born in an enemy nation or were of enemy nationality, irrespective of the type of ministry in which they were engaged.'296 Memoranda 'A' was applicable to the British missionaries as well as to those who came through the Foreign Missions Conference of North
America; Memoranda 'B' dealt with the Roman Catholic Societies and Memoranda 'C' was intended for missionaries who came from countries which did not have friendly relationship with Britain, among which the NCC came under the preview of Memorandum 'A'. Therefore NCC was obliged to give a guarantee that the missionary whom it is recommending would give due obedience and respect to the government and would be careful in abstaining from political affairs.297
8.3 National Christian Council of India to the spread of national consciousness especially among the students' community.293
Christianity and National Independence Movement
History of Christianity in India During the active participation of Gandhi, there were some missionaries such as CF Andrews, Jack C Winslow who extended their support to the cause of the national movement by adopting Ashram life, using Khadi dress and following
10. Support of Christians and Government's Restrictions302 Therefore, when Gandhi came into the life of the INC in 1919, soon he became the recognized leader of the national movement. Since that time, the INC became mass-based. From 1920 onwards the national movement became vigorous because Gandhi announced and called the people for noncooperation programme. The spinning-wheel or chakra became the symbol of nationalist India and the home-spun khadi or khaddar dress to become a part and parcel of the national movement. The INC which was spear-heading the movement was considered by the government as their enemy because of its ideology and programmes which according to the government were detrimental to the 'public security'. Thus the national movement became a problem for the British.301
Gandhi's ideas with respect to nationalism were registered in two keys. In the anti-colonial political mode, he viewed Indian nationalism as an all-India resistance to the colonial power.
He exposed a vision of a network of independent, autonomous or partially autonomous local political/administrative structures, each with its own policies and programmes shaped by its environment.300
9. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi But in the 1940s the NCCI leadership was passed over to the native Christians. Dr Rajah Bushanam Manikam took over the administrative leadership from Dr JZ Hodge in 1941. Then the NCCI began to take positive attitude towards the nationalist movement. In January, 1944, under the leadership of Bishop
VS Azariah, a political resolution was passed by the NCCI which read: "Educated Indian Christians fully share the national aspirations of their countrymen. Consequently they also share the sorrow and disappointment aroused by the present political deadlock."299
Obviously, from the late 1920s and in the 1930s, it was on the An organization called All India Conference of Indian
Christians (AICIC) organized its first conference was held in 1914 where some of the highly qualified and influential Indian
Protestant Christian leaders were included because of their commitment towards nationalism. The 1920 meeting of the AICIC expected the Indian Christians to decide on joining or not joining the INC. In fact, the resolution was made as: "This conference is strongly of opinion that Indian Christians should take an active part in all healthy political movements of the country and earnestly urges upon the community to support all that is good for the country and oppose that which may be harmful to the country and the Government of the land."303
At the same time, there were Indian Christians who took part in the non-cooperation movement started in 1920. And also, they actively identified themselves in the process of freedom struggle. Among them, the one who contributed much to the national movement was CF Andrews, who was very close with MK Gandhi. He challenged the youth to work for the national cause saying, "Love your country with the love of Christ." simplicity in every aspect of life and supported prohibition programmes. In 1920, twenty-five missionaries signed a statement to express their protest against the 1919 Jallianwala
Bagh tragedy and the consequent attitude of the Government.
Therefore, the government began to use the provisions in the Memoranda to control the supports towards nationalism from missionaries. When the government began to be strict especially with the non-British missionaries, they demanded the same loyalty to the government from Indian Christians in the service of missions. For example, there was a missionary of the Danish
Lutheran Mission by the name Carl Bindslev, who was based in Tirukoilur, South Arcot District, Madras presidency was asked by the local district Collector, RFBL Guppy to take necessary action against one Swaminathan, a convert to Christianity and a catechist and teacher for using the mission premises for his nationalist activities such as propagating Gandhi's teaching.
Finally, because of the threats from the Government, the Mission took action against Swaminathan in November 1921.
Christianity and National Independence Movement
History of Christianity in India He was one of the prominent Christian leaders in India. He took the positive approach to the national movement and as such did not agree with the policy of aloofness from the Congress and nationalist movement. While many other Christians were keeping aloof, he encouraged the Indian Christians to actively participate in the Congress and national struggle.304 He wrote: "We will do well to realize that there is a terrible danger if we persist in the policy of keeping aloof. Materially, socially, morally and politically, viewed in fact from every standpoint, our interests are intimately bound up with those of other Indian communities.
Will it be ever otherwise? Long after Britain's political mission to India is finished, let us hope five centuries later, for all things earthly must end of change – we shall still be Indians." He encouraged the Christians for active participation in the INC in order to solve the community problem without isolating from 11.1 KT Paul We have a few Indian Christian leaders and missionaries who were for the national movement. Their involvement and contributions towards nationalism were significantly considered from the part of Christians in India.
11. Contribution of the Individual Christians Towards National Movement 'Indian Christians played the role of reconcilers when there arose communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims, by which they showed their concern for the well-being of the country and for communal Harmony. In 1945 when a suggestion was made to form a League of Minorities, with a view to safeguard the political interests of minorities, it was rejected by Christian leaders; they rejected the suggestion of a separate electorate for the Christians. The general view is not to fight for its own advantage but to dedicate itself for the common good.' side of the national movement. In 1930, when Gandhi was arrested because of the Salt Satyagraha, the Indian Christians too were arrested because they involved in the boycott activities along with INC.
11.2 Brahmabandhab Upadhyay George Thomas notes that Barhmabandhab Upadhyay (18611907) a 'Hindu Catholic' sadhu and theologian, played a leading role in the Swadeshi Movement. He was also one of the early leaders who enunciated the philosophy of Non-Co-operation
Movement. He edited Sandhya, a national journal founded in 1904, and it had a decisive influence on the masses because it was the only vernacular paper in Bengali, which boldly advocated complete Indian Nationalism.307 According to C
Fonseca, Upadhyaya was the first of the national leaders to suggest complete independence for India. He actively participated in the boycott and swadeshi movement following the partition of Bengal in 1905. He was one of the early architects of India's independence and in many ways a forerunner of Mahatma Gandhiji.308 Especially, he was also notable for his uncompromising nationalism at a time when most Indian
Christians believed British rule was providential. But for him, independence means both freedom from one's slave complex and freedom from gerrymandering politics. When he describes his vision of an independent India, he emphasizes that "O Mother!
Let us be born again and again in India till your chains fall off.
First let the Mother be free, and then shall come our own release from the worldly bonds … We have heard the voice telling us that the period of India's suffering is about to close, that the day of her deliverance is near at hand."309
11.3 VS Azariah He was the first Indian national elevated to the Anglican episcopate. He stood for the unity of the country and as such was against the provision of separate electorate on the basis of communities. He defended the Christian cause for conversion the community.305 The Viceroy Irwin chose him as the sole representative of the Protestant Indian Christians at the first
Round Table Conference in London in 1930-31. He died on 11th April 1931. MK Gandhi in his speech at the Second Round
Table Conference in London from September to December 1931, said of KT Paul, … so far as I know, he never officially belonged to the Congress, he was a nationalist to the full."306
Christianity and National Independence Movement
History of Christianity in India Rev. Paul Ramasamy (b. 10th May, 1906) was another important Christian who took part in the freedom struggle. He was attracted by and drawn towards the personality of Gandhi and his teachings, especially the principle of non-violence and came into contact with the INC and its programmes. In 1930 he took part in the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Salt
Satyagraha with Gandhi. Several times he was arrested for conducting protest in the public places. The Government of India recognized him as a freedom-fighter and conferred on him the title "Thiyagi". In August 1972 the Government of India honoured him with the issue of a "Tamarapatra".313
11.5 Paul Ramasamy Kumarappa (original name John Jesudason Cornelius, 18921960) was a veteran Congress leader. On 9 May 1929 he met
Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmati ashram and that resulted in their becoming close associates. He was a strong supporter of Satyagraha, and encouraged Christian participation in the national movement. He was appointed as editor by Gandhi for his weekly Young India. In the Independent India, Nehru appointed him as the member of the Planning Commission. As Nehru could not accept the developmental pattern of J C
Kumarappa, latter resigned his post and spent his last days at Kallipatti (near Madurai) village, working for the development of villages, using alternative technology.312
11.4 JC Kumarappa "Transfer of responsibilities, responsible self-government, opportunities for self-expression are phrases that have become familiar in politics, and the rising generation of Indian Christians is most eagerly looking forward to similar opportunities in the church."311 against Gandhiji's criticism. He became the president of NCCI and raised his voice for freedom and encouraged Christians to participate in the national movement.310 When Azariah presented proposals for the formation of a National Church in the National Council, he reminded the missions of the rapid changes taking place in India:
Joseph (1887-1938) was another outstanding Christian who engaged in the freedom struggle. He was one of the three members of the Home Rule deputation sent to England in 1918 to present the Indian case before British public. It has been said that the landslide in the opinion of the Indian Christian
Community in favour of nationalism was very much ascribable to his dynamic leadership. He was one of the first batches of barristers who sacrificed their comforts to engage themselves in national work and joined the Non-Co-operation Movement
11.9 George Joseph Alva (1907-1979) was another outstanding personality in the history of the freedom struggle. He was profoundly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's ideals. As a student leader, he was the pioneer of youth movement in India. He gave whole-hearted devotion to the national movement and gave up his lucrative job in order to dedicate himself for the freedom struggle. He was also a journalist of high calibre who vigorously advocated the concept of swadesh and human brotherhood, especially through his Forum. Mrs Violet Alva (1908-1969) was another personality with abiding nationalist interest. About the involvement of the Alvas in the freedom movement it has been said: "The combination of Joachim Alva and Violent Alva to the Freedom Movement is significant. … They risked their all, but they served [the country] to the full extent of their ability which they had in plenty".314
11.8 Joachim Alva He was a young disciple of Gandhi and a member of a Christian family of Travancore, who accompanied Mahatma Gandhi as one among the 78 persons during his Salt March from Sabarmati ashram to Dandi in 1930.
11.7 Thevarthundiyil Titus He was the one who later became the bishop of Assam of the Church of India Burma and Ceylon (CIBC) joined the national movement in making salt outside Calcutta in 1932.
11.6 Nirad Biswas Christianity and National Independence Movement
History of Christianity in India In the freedom and pro-democracy movement in Travancore in the 1930s and 1940s, prominent Christian leaders like T.M.
Varghese, A.J. John, Anne Mascarenes and Akkamma Cherian were pioneering forces. Philoppose Elanjikkal John was another prominent member of the Travencore State Congress. Among It has been observed that the participation of the Aaron in the national movement was of unique importance for the Christian community in South India. The active participation of the Aaron in the national movement began with the Salt Satyagraha movement of 1930. Samuel Aaron had given the Brighter Hotel
Buildings at Cannanore belonging to him for temporary use by the Congress Satayagrahis intent on breaking the salt law from 22 May to 1 June 1930. EM Gawne, Collector of Malabar requested Samuel Aaron to evict the Satyagrahis on the threat of prosecution. Samuel Aaron replied that he was willing to face the prosecution though, he added, he could not guess what offence he had committed, for the Congress had not yet declared to be an unlawful organisation. He was charged under section 157 and sentenced to pay a fine of Rs 1000 or undergo rigorous imprisonment for six weeks in default.316
11.10C Samuel Aaron and boycott of foreign cloth shops. At the bidding of Motilal
Nehru he discarded his fashionable dress for the coarser homespun and associated himself as editor of the Allahabad daily The Independent which used to exercise a profound influence on its readers. In 1922 he was arrested for sedition and spent a year in the Lucknow district jail along with Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahadev Desai, Purushottamdas Tondon and Devdas Gandhi. George Joseph was also invited to assume the leadership of the Satyagraha movement. He led the Vaikam
Satyagraha for which he was beaten and arrested and sentenced to imprisonment. In 1937 George Joseph was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly. He was also the editor of the South Indian Mail. Jawaharlal Nehru makes a reference to him in his Autobiography. Of him it is said that he did not pop his tail between the hind legs but if he sow the wind he was equally ready to reap the whirlwind.315
The ongoing task of nationalism is to advance the social and political unity of Indian society, the cultivation of democratic humanism as a frame work for the new national existence, and the transformation of social and political structures to sustain them.319 By accepting this task to be fulfilled, the Indian Christians also joined their hands to transform the Indian society. But on the other side, the Indian Christians are keeping aloof themselves from the public activities and reluctant to address the social issues actively in our country, rather they prefer to propagate the gospel and build the churches in the post-independent India.
Thus patriotism is indeed a Christian virtue. The Indian Christians truly identified themselves with the Indian national movement and demonstrated their deepest concern for the cause.
In fact, they were among the prominent persons pioneered and shaped the goals of Indian nationalism. Therefore, as George
Thomas rightly observes, the Indian Christian community was not behind any other community in their desire for national freedom and in their readiness to work and make sacrifices for it.318
Considering the numerical insignificance of the Christians in India compared to the Hindus who form the majority population, the Christian contribution in freedom struggle is indeed commendable. In addition, we need to remember that the vast majority of the Christians of India belong to the lower casts and during the independence movement they were still struggling to emancipate themselves from the clutches of the upper castes of Hinduism. Again, Christianity moulded the minds of men, women, children and youth through their educational institutions so that they began to long for freedom from every form of oppression, including the colonial rule. This was also a form of participation of the Christians in the freedom struggle.
12. Evaluation and Conclusion the leading Christian women leaders who took part in the freedom struggle mention may be made of Mrs George Joseph, Mrs Gracy
Aaron, Mrs Margaret Pavamani, Miss Mary Thomas and Miss Matilda Kalten.317
History of Christianity in India
Ramabai was born in an orthodox Chitpavan Brahmin family in the Mangalore district of southern India in April 1858. Her father, Anant Shastri Dongre, was a reformer in his own way because he taught his wife and daughters Sanskrit and permitted them to read the sacred Hindu literature, with the exception of the Vedas. At fifteen, Ramabai was a proficient scholar of Sanskrit. Her parents always travelled from one sacred place to another visiting temples and reading Puranas as it served double
1. The Heritage of Ramabai "Pandita Ramabai Saraswati was the greatest woman produced by Modern India and one of the greatest Indian in all history.
Her achievement as a champion of woman's rights and as a pioneer in the fields of womens's education and social reform remain unrivalled even after a lapse of nearly a century," writes
Professor A.B. Shah, a member of the State Board for Literature and Culture for the Government of Maharastra. Indeed, Ramabai was one the greatest Indian in all history because of her remarkable contribution to India society in general and widows and orphans in particular. She envisaged transforming the deplorable condition of women and toiled all her life for the emancipation of women and improvement of their status. This paper attempts to give a brief account of Ramabai's heritage, her conversion to Christianity and her contributions that sets her apart as a woman of paramount stature.
Introduction I. Pandita Ramabai Women in Indian Christianity Women in Indian Christianity
Chapter Fourteen
purpose, one to get rid of sin and other was earning livelihood.
The reader of Puranas were called Puranikas320 . At the age of 16, she lost her parents and older sister of starvation in a severe famine. Only she and her older brother survived. They together made pilgrimage to various parts of India for six years and came to Calcutta in 1878.321 Here, fortune smiled on her. The scholars of Calcutta applauded her mastery of the Sanskrit language and she was honoured with the titles of 'Pandita'
(learned woman) and 'Saraswati' (the Hindu goddess of learning).322 In Calcutta, she met the well-known Brahmo
Samaj323 leader, Keshab Chandra Sen, who encouraged her to read the Vedas. She was also invited by some Pundits to lecture to women in purdah on their duties according to the Hindu scriptures. Thus, she started studying the ancient Hindu Dharma
Shastras.324 The Dharma Shastras revealed that This awakened the mind of Ramabai and she realised that she had no place of hope as far as Hinduism was concerned. She wanted something more than Shastras. In Calcutta, she also met Rev. K.M. Banerji and Kali Charan Benerji and was given a copy of the Bible in Sanskrit. In 1880, she lost her brother to cholera and was left alone. She then decided to get married to Bapu Bipin Behari Das Medhavi a non-Brahmin Bengali
Shudra. Her husband was a member of the monotheistic Brahmo Samaj, to which she was drawn. During this time she also came in contact with Christianity through a Baptist missionary Isaac Allen, who was a friend of her husband. He explained to her the meaning of St. Luke's gospel which she had been reading, until stopped by her husband who feared she was attracted to christian teaching. But the death of her young husband within two years of marriage left her alone with her small daughter, Manorama.326
Women in Indian Christianity
History of Christianity in India '…women of high and low caste, as a class, were bad, very bad, worse than demons and that they could not get Moksha as men. The only hope of their getting this much-desired liberation from Karma and its results, that is countless millions of births and deaths and untold suffering, was the worship of their husbands. …She can have no hope of getting admission into Svarge, the abode of the gods, without his pleasure.'325
As a widow, Ramabai returned to Maharashtra with her daughter. Her travel in India and now her present circumstances sensitized her to the bleak plight of widows and orphans. The practice among higher castes of betrothing young girls to much older men (her own mother was nine, her father over forty, at the time of their marriage) had contributed to the vast number of widows, women without status or protection.327 She was moved to do something for the miserable conditions and sufferings of child-widows in Maharashtra. She joined the reformers and became an eloquent advocate of women's rights. She established the Arya Mahila Samaj in Puna as an institution to serve the needs of women in Pune, Bombay, Sholapur, Ahmednagar and other cities.328 She also appeared before the Hunter Education
Commission and spoke on the need for women teachers and women doctors in India. During this time she was discouraged to see that the Indian reformers were unwilling to support her far-reaching plans for women's emancipation. So she turned to other avenues for assistance. During this time she came in contact with Miss Hurford of the Sisters of the Community of St. Mary the Virgin (CSMV). Miss Hurford began teaching the New
Testament along with the English language to Ramabai. Ramabai was more interested in the study of the New Testament than in the reading of English books.329 The Bible lessons interested her intensely.330 These initial encounters with the teachings of Christ had deep impression on her mind. Miss Hurford arranged for Ramabai's further study in England with a view to serving her people in India.331
On May 17th, 1883, Ramabai arrived in England and began staying with the Sisters at Wantage. Within a short period of time, she was deeply impressed by the work of the Sisters of Community of Saint Mary the Virgin (CSMV). During her stay at Wantage, Ramabai keenly observed the kind of work the sisters of CSMV and others were doing and wanted to start a Sisterhood (on the line of the CSMV) for helping the widows and helpless women in India.332 She began to reflect on what she saw being done by these Sisters, but most importantly the 2. Conversion and Commitment to Christ
motivation behind such remarkable service. Her curious and eager mind did not rest until she found the answer. In response to her queries, the Sisters pointed to Jesus Christ, the compassionate, loving and forgiving saviour. She was attracted to Christ and his religion and what appealed to her about Christianity was that it drew people into action.333 This led her to take a revolutionary step. She wrote:
Pandita Ramabai had a clear vision as to what she wanted to do, to emancipate the sufferings of women and provide them dignity, freedom and equality by providing opportunities to educate themselves. When Ramabai returned to India, she began her mission first in Bombay, then in Pune and then in Kedgaon. It may not be possible to study every aspect of her
3. Mission and Contributions In 1887 outlining the plight of Indian women Ramabi published a book titled The High-Caste Hindu Woman, pleading for the creation of educational institutions for Indian women and setting out her own vision to create one.338 The book was widely read in England and America. As a result, "Ramabai Association" was founded in the USA to pledge financial support for her school.339 In May 1888 she came back to Bombay and started her work for the emancipation of women in India.340
The reason for the conversion was the christian message of love and forgiveness and its egalitarian treatment of all people which was not possible in Hinduism.336 After her studies in England, she went to America where she spent three years in Kindergarten training, as well as in the training of various handicrafts. She gave lectures on women's life in general in India and the work she hoped to do among child-widows.337
Women in Indian Christianity
History of Christianity in India So on September 29th, 1883, Ramabai and her daughter were baptized in the Wantage Parish church by Canon Butler, and were named Mary Rama and Manorama Mary, respectively.335
Well, I thought if Christ is the source of this sublime faith, why should not I confess Him openly to be my Lord and my Divine teacher? And so I did, and do confess Him my
Saviour. I believe Him to be the Son of the Most High and Messiah.334
In 1896, there was a great famine in Central India, which made Ramabai to step out and face a new challenge. She saw that men, women and children, and all sorts of people enduring a living death because of the famine. In addition to the physical misery, something which broke Ramabai's heart was young women and girls who were in look out for food were allured by evil men and women and were sold in the market. The more she saw the deplorable condition of women, the more resolute she became to go forward and rescue them. Initially Ramabai had planned to bring 300 famine victims to Sarada Sadan but after witnessing the plight of young women and girls, she changed her mind and gathered 600 of them. She provided food, clothing and shelter to them and admitted them to her school.342 In 1900, in Sharada Sadan there were eighty women acquiring proper vocational training in teaching and nursing, to emerge as professionally skilled and economically independent women.
On March 11th 1889, Ramabai inaugurated a school for widows known as Sarada Sadan (Home of Wisdom) at Chowpatty in Bombay. The sole purpose of the school was to shelter, train and educate child widows of high-caste Hindu community. But very soon, she admitted to her school other women and girls who were not child widows.341 Within a period of six months there were 25 students in the school. But soon Ramabai faced opposition and was charged with teaching Christianity to the students. When the criticisms were getting audible she published in a leading newspaper that there was no pressure in her school on the students to change their faith and they were free to follow their own religious practices. But the truth was there was a dangerous attraction in Pandita Ramabai and the only way to guard against it was to keep oneself far from her because all those who looked at Ramabai yielded to the charm of her character. In November 1890, because of financial constrains and other reasons the school was transferred to Pune. During that time Ramabai had 18 widows in Sadan.
3.1. Sarada Sadan (1889) mission and contribution in detail but I would highlight a few of them.
Ramabai chose the term mukti343 as the name for her base in Kedgoan opposed to any other English word. The very name
Mukti is most significant because it spelled out its mission. It is from there she embarked on an endeavour to both live and promote mukti for widows and orphans. 'Full salvation' was exemplified in every aspect of the home. Again in 1900-1 when famine hit in Gujarat more women and children came to Mukti at Kedgaon. In 1900 Mukti had a population of over 2000.344
Ramabai started 37 vocational training at Mukti, like, Field work and gardening, Carpentry, Masonry and well digging,
Tape making, Thread work, Embroidery, Lace making, Doormat making, Rope making, Nursing the sick, Midwifery, Dairy work, Poultry farming, Sanitary work, Storekeeping, Book
It would be correct to say that it was not only a place of refuge from famine and plague victims but also a home for women who had nobody. Keith White provides an almost exhaustive list of all that Mukti came to represent. Mukti was a farm; a refuge; a mission compound; a village; a big family; residential institution; a school for education and training; an international community; a boarding school; a children's village; a women's place of residence; and a Christian residential community.345
In 1895, while Ramabai was in Poona she invested money in a property of about one hundred acres outside Poona with a view to establish it as a resource generator. To cultivate fruit trees and so to help by their produce to maintain the work at Sarada
Sadan, Poona. The land was dry and barren but trees were planted and a well was dug. During the famine of 1896 in central
India (Madya Pradesh), many hundreds were rescued and housed at Sharada Sadan in makeshift buildings that though not ideal but sufficient for the desperate need. When the plague hit the already vulnerable Poona and Sharada Sadan, the Municipal authorities did not allow many people to be housed in such close quarters and ordered them to move within fortyeight hours. The property in Kedgaon came to their rescue; tents and sheds were put up, more wells were dug and people tilled the land for food.
3.2. Mukti Mission (1900) Women in Indian Christianity
History of Christianity in India Some of Ramabai's contributions to literature are, The High
Caste Hindu Women in 1887, SreeDharma Neeti (Morals for Women) in 1883, her Bible in Marathi language, Ibri Vyakarana
(Hebrew grammar in Marathi), A Tesimony (the story of her conversion to Christianity), a Music notation book and Mukti
Prayer Bell (Journal of the Mukti).352 S.M. Adhav in his book says that in the last 15 years of her life Ramabai had written around 37 books.353
Ramabai's concern for education was so deeply rooted in her that she applied the same critical method to study the Christian scriptures. She claimed to have found no less than 5,945 mistranslated words in the Marathi Bible349 , and she called on the Bible Society to coin new words with the help of Sanskrit and vernaculars, than using Hindu pandits. She preferred simpler and popular terms unlike what the pandits used. Ramabai undertook the enormous task of translating the Bible. Her main intention was to make the Bible understandable to the lay people and to avoid words with Hindu religious meanings.350 In 1904 she began her translation of the Bible into Marathi from Hebrew and Greek, a process that took her eighteen years.351
3.3. Literary Contributions keeping, Type setting, etc.,. The nine wells in the Mukti campus were dug and built by the girls. Persons of different ages lived in Priti Sadan, Sharada Sadan and Shanti Sadan.
The rescue home, Kirupa Sadan, stood by itself, with a hospital attached to it. She encouraged the marriage of Mukti girls and built up 'Bethel' – a colony near Mukti, so that villagers around might see their sober Christian life.346 Manorama,
Ramabai's daughter studied Braille in England. On her return from USA in 1901, she took the interest of having a blind school for teaching the special privileged people. In 1921 the arrangements were made to conduct classes for the blind girls.
A teacher from England came and taught to read and write brail for the girls who came from all over India.347 She was also involved in national politics and raised voice for bringing
Hindi as a national language in India. She went with eight women delegates to attend 5th National Congress.348
Ramabai moved away from advocating oriental traditional language to learn languages such as English and other subjects.
Ramabai appeared before the Hunter Commission in 1882 as one of the many witnesses giving evidence to the Commission on the conditions and needs of Indian female education. Other witnesses were already educated people speaking from within the educational field, on topics like curriculum, grants system etc., whereas she stressed the need for a female inspectorate, higher salaries for female teachers, scholarships for girls, character development in education and the necessity for female doctors.354
3.4. Education Education though was the major focus yet it was related to justice issues. In Ramabai's appeal one could see the concern not only for education but for equality and justice in seeking for position
3.5. Liberation and Justice Issues According to Sister Geraldine, Ramabai made such an impression on Dr. William Hunter, that he made her the topic of his lecture in Edinburgh. Thus Ramabai became popular among British, the people were concerned about the social upliftment of the people of India. Kaur and Shaw say that it attracted Queen
Victoria's attention and led to the creation of the National Association for Supplying Female Medical Aid to the women in India, popularly known as 'the Countess of Dufferin Movement', inaugurated in 1885 by Lady Dufferin, the Viceroy's wife.
Adhav in an appraisal of Ramabai concludes that all medical colleges in India stand as a memorial to her. In 1913, Ramabai started a school for high caste Hindu girls in Gubarga.
Educating women and providing them the means to stand on their own was Ramabai's passion, and she spared no efforts in providing education at every level to these women, who under the normal circumstances would have had no opportunity to educate themselves. Starting with the kindergarten up to the high school, Ramabai made sure that girls and women who came to Mukti had an equal opportunity to systematically educate themselves. She introduced methods of Kindergarten training as well as illustrated books and pictures for village primary schools.
Women in Indian Christianity
History of Christianity in India On one occasion Ramabai reacted to the British Government for passing a six months imprisonment sentence on Rukhmabai, who was married as a child but after being educated she decided not to live with her husband, since her marriage was not consummated. But the court imprisoned her, a verdict based on Hindu law that once married, a woman is the property of her husband. She appealed to the British Government but they refused her petition as going against the norms of traditions.
Rukhmabai's case was debated by reformers, and discussed at missionary conferences of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta.
Ramabai wrote, "Now, under the so-called Christian British rule, the woman is in no better condition than of old." She continued, by writing," It is false to expect any justice for India's daughters from the English Government, for instead of be befriending her, the Government has proved to be a worse tyrant to her than the native society and religion. It advocates on one hand the education and emancipation of the Hindu woman, and then, when the woman is educated and refuses to be a In her concept of liberation, Ramabai elevated women to a position that was denied to them and attempted to change their man-made destiny. Ramabai desired to liberate the widows from doing menial jobs to do professional jobs. More than the economic welfare Ramabai's concern was to help the widows to discover themselves. She lifted them from the position of being nobodies to become somebody with an identity, to find their potential and capacities to contribute to the betterment of the nation. Ramabai's understanding of liberation was an individual woman should be able to determine her social role with a great freedom as does a man.
Ramabai addressed the question of women's right to know and the freedom to be in control of themselves in order to think and act responsibly. and equal rights for women. Ramabai believed that men should also be educated, so that they may help by encouraging women to come forward in the society. She wrote: "I must first of all urge upon men and teach men of poorer classes. Then when the men are convinced of the necessity of elevating the condition of their women, I shall have access to their Zenanas."355
For Ramabai mission was very broad and comprehensive. She was at heart a missionary and viewed the task of caring for the child widows and orphans as God's plan to redeem the downtrodden, but her chief desire was to see these women and girls completely transformed by the regenerating power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.360 However, while being concerned for their salvation, she did not confine her mission to the spiritual
3.7. Balanced Holistic Mission Even though Ramabai was in England and America for several years, she chose only those aspects of mission which were more
Biblical and appropriate for the Indian context. She consciously demonstrated her allegiance and loyalty to her nation by proving that one can be a Christian and still be an Indian. She consciously did this because she was aware of the criticism that was brought upon Indian Christians who having become Christians.359
Every aspect of Mukti Mission Ashram was Indian; the Indian method of worship in the church; the Indian food served to both
Indians and foreigners alike seated on low wooden stools in the dinning hall; the Indian dress made of lowly cotton woven mostly on the handlooms worked by the women inmates of Mukti.358
Even after renouncing Hinduism and accepting Christianity, Ramabai deliberately kept her 'Indian ness' through out her life. She retained her original name Rama, even though she was given a Christian name "Mary,"357 she kept her simple
Indian dress code, ate vegetarian food throughout her life, spoke and encouraged the Marathi language for communication, introduced both secular and vocational education that was more fitting in the Indian context and in developing her mission, she called her establishment Mukti, being closer to the Indian understanding of spiritual liberation. In all of this, her urge to identify with Indian soil, culture and context was evident. From the very choice of the name Mukti to every expressed aspect of her mission, she reflected a keen sense of 'Indian ness.'
3.6. Indian and Christian slave in soul and body to the man, the English Government comes to break her spirit through its law."356
Women in Indian Christianity
History of Christianity in India Pandita Ramabai was like a rainbow which is full of colours.
She was reformer, revolutionary, writer, educationalist, able administrator, social activist, Bible translator, an ecumenist, a champion for the cause of women and what not. The life of a gifted and accomplished person like Ramabai will doubtless posses numerous dimensions. This paper had sought to give a brief account of Ramabai's work. Her commitment to emancipate women, by providing them shelter, education, dignity and freedom. The outcome of her mission was the transformation of thousands of girls, women and widows. This transformation eventually challenged the existing religious, social and cultural norms and brought about definite change in the way the society perceived and treated women.
Conclusion While doing that she attempted to provide dignity and equality to women and to demonstrate to the world that there is no difference in Christ. aspects alone; rather she attempted to provide holistic assistance to those who came to Mukti. Knowing that women and particularly the widows and orphaned girls were considered to be useless to undertake any profitable work, she deliberately provided various avenues of training for them so that they would gain some skills to support themselves. In her annual Report to the American Association on March 24th, 1921 she reported thirty-seven different kinds of vocational training programs undertaken. Teaching some of those trades to women was revolutionary in many ways because traditionally certain caste people carried out most of those trades; therefore teaching them to women was almost un-heard during those days.361 In this way she envisioned integration of widows and orphaned girls into society that would enable them to stand on their own without depending on others. After watching the oppressive caste and creed discrimination against women, Ramabai wanted to put into practice a more egalitarian and caste less community at Mukti. This was perhaps in line with her vision of providing women with space to grow and be self-sufficient, a sort of female community for women of all castes, providing a sanctuary for them within the large society, which was dominated by men.362
In 1895, Carmichael went back to Asia but this time to south India. It was there that she met Walker of Tinnevelly. He convinced her to come to Tinnevelly to learn Tamil from him,
Amy Beatrice Carmichael was born in Northern Ireland in 1867.
She was the eldest of seven in a well-to-do, devout Presbyterian family. As a girl, Amy was schooled at a Wesleyan Methodist boarding house in Yorkshire. Her father died in 1885, and this caused her to spend some of her late teen years and early twenties in the care of a Quaker, Robert Wilson, one of the founders of the Keswick Convention, which was an evangelical movement that spawned revivals all over the world. Amy attended several Keswick gatherings as a young woman. One commentator wrote that these experiences, "intensified her thirst for winning persons to Christ". In 1892, Carmichael was sent out as the first Keswick missionary to Japan. She served there only briefly, and decided to return to England on grounds of ill health.
Amy Carmichael Throughout the 19th century, several CMS missionaries came and went with variable success until the arrival of a fiery preacher named Thomas Walker, who served the Dohnavur mission from 1900 to 1912. "Walker of Tinnevelly" was known in south India as a great missionary and communicator to the people, as he spoke Tamil fluently. It was Walker who lured
Amy Carmichael to the area by offering to teach her this difficult language. In 1900, he managed to persuade Carmichael to remain in Dohnavur, which remained her home, without furlough, until her death in 1951.
The history of the Dohnavur mission goes back to a German CMS (Church Missionary Society) man named C.T.E. Rhenius, who was in south India from 1820-1838. Rhenius renamed the area in honour of a pious and wealthy Prussian benefactor named Count Dohna of Schlodin, who had donated the funds to build a mission.
The mission at Dohnavur II. Amy Carmichael Women in Indian Christianity
History of Christianity in India Until 14 January 1918, Carmichael's work at Dohnavur had been almost exclusively with girls. On that day, the first boy arrived. (15) It was the boys' ministry that brought Stephen
Neill to the Carmichael compound. To this day, Dohnavur is functional and successful. The compound has expanded and supports an impressive array of ministries, including a large
Carmichael's insulated and puritanical approach began to gain her enemies. Her austerity was particularly obvious when it came to discipline. She used several methods, such as putting quinine or ink on the rebellious tongue, and hanging a sign that said, "LIE" around the neck of an offender for half the day and, the strap was commonplace. What was most noteworthy about Carmichael's discipline was its overtly religious tone.
She often recounted scripture while doling out punishment, in particular Isaiah 53: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities."
Carmichael's work was difficult and often tragic. For example, disaster struck in 1907, when she was vacationing in the mountains. During her absence, ten babies contracted a particularly violent kind of dysentery and died. In spite of overcrowded conditions and disease, other babies continued to come. Amy was in serious need of help but she was highly selective. The volunteers came but Amy would quickly turn them away when she discovered any hint of "unholy living", as she called it. It was becoming clear that Amy Carmichael's mission was different from the compromising missions elsewhere. Her mission had the highest of principles, and she was willing to fight for that regardless of the cost. and to help with his work in training Indian divinity students.
While there, she discovered the practice of temple prostitution taking place, and began rescuing the young girls involved. It was to become her life's work. One biographer wrote, "The overwhelming desire to save the children became a fire in her bones." In 1901, Carmichael began this work with four abandoned children in her care. For the rest of her life, the children with whom she worked referred to her as Amma, Tamil for "mother".
Hilda Mary Lazarus was born on January 23,1890, into an accomplished family at Visakhapatnam, in southern India. Her grandparents on both sides had converted to Christianity in the early nineteenth century, her maternal grandfather abandoning his Brahmin identity to become an ordained missionary for the Background III. Hilda Mary Lazarus While the enormous amount of charity that poured forth from the Dohnavur Fellowship is obvious, one cannot help but be perplexed by the profoundly insulated atmosphere of the fellowship. It has been suggested that this may have come from Carmichael's sheltered childhood. One Indian scholar pointed out that the girls raised in the Dohnavur Fellowship are often criticized for being overly attached to the mission. Unrelenting on the issue of celibacy, the girls struggle to adjust once they reach adulthood and leave the compound. Carmichael strongly discouraged marriage for "my girls". For Carmichael, missionary work was a life of self-sacrifice, without furlough; she never had one in 55 years.363
Opinions of Amy Carmichael vary. On the one hand, the missionary Sherwood Eddy described her as "the most
Christlike character I ever met". On the other hand, she could come across as stern and autocratic. Carmichael was very protective of her mission, and went to extremes to keep worldly ideas out. She was distrustful of others, and managed to create a group perspective that was completely lacking in selfcriticism. On one occasion, Carmichael ran over a missionary while riding on her horse. She reflected on the incident, "I did not mean to, he wouldn't get out of the way and one can't stop short in mid-gallop." orphan's home, a hospital, a home for disabled children, a fibrework cottage industry pavilion, a co-ed English-medium boarding school, a publishing firm, and a "Sisters of the Common Life" convent. Carmichael's legacy continues, primarily through her writings; she produced about 35 books during her life, some of them selling very well.
Women in Indian Christianity
History of Christianity in India Lazarus entered the first stage of her career with the WMS by serving briefly at Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital, New Delhi. Established under government auspices in 1916 as the only fully professional medical college in India concerned exclusively with the training of women, Lady
Hardinge was open to qualified students from all religious backgrounds. Full professional training was also available in some coeducational institutions, such as the one in Madras where Lazarus herself had studied, but other facilities in India exclusively for training medical women, such as the Missionary Medical School for Women in Vellore, offered only licentiate-level instruction and thus only limited professional horizons for their graduates. Lady Hardinge
Medical College was thus unique within India, and it was to this institution that Lazarus returned in triumph in 1940 as its first Indian principal. Meanwhile, during the years that intervened, she worked in various parts of India, superintending hospitals, training nurses and midwives, and At the University of Madras Lazarus completed a B.A. before obtaining her medical degree from the university's coeducational
Madras Medical College and winning a gold medal for outstanding work in midwifery. Following further training in the United Kingdom, she passed medical examinations in London and Dublin. Having obtained membership in the Royal College of Surgeons and a specialization in obstetrics and gynecology, she was appointed from London to the Women's Medical Service
(WMS) in India, the first Indian woman to obtain such an appointment. Thus began a career in government medical service that lasted from 1917 to 1947.
Government Medical Service London Missionary Society (LMS). Her father, a highly regarded Christian educator and author, ran the oldest high school in the Madras Presidency, an institution founded by the LMS and later administered by the Canadian Baptist Mission.
After obtaining a solid education in this school, Hilda Lazarus attended a local college and then, like her brothers, left "Visag" for professional training and a remarkable career.
Given this background, it is scarcely surprising that Lazarus was regarded by Oliver and Scudder and many of their colleagues in the medical missions community as the ideal person to become
CMC's first Indian head. For those who did not know her, it was perhaps less easy to see why Lazarus agreed to leave the WMS a year before her retirement and, already in her late fifties, to take
The years of World War II significantly advanced Lazarus's career. Having been made head of Lady Hardinge in 1940, she was asked just three years later to take up another new appointment: chief medical officer of the WMS. At the same time, she became secretary of the Countess of Dufferin
Fund and assistant director-general of the women's branch of the Indian Medical Service. In the latter position she held the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Nor were these the last of the firsts in her career in government medical service. Lazarus was one of just three women invited to serve on the government of India's Health Survey and Development Committee, headed by Sir Joseph Bhore. Its report, published in 1946, was intended to serve as a blueprint in planning for public health and medical education for the next forty years. Though the Bhore Committee had been appointed by a government still under British control, its composition reflected changes to come in that two-thirds of its membership was Indian, including "many of the leading figures in medicine and public health in India at the time." Lazarus's appointment to the Bhore
Committee was thus an exceedingly important recognition of her status in the Indian medical community. Her accomplishments were also recognized in several government honors, among them appointment as a Companion of the British Empire (CBE). Meanwhile, in 1945 her sisters in the medical profession chose her as president of the Association of Medical Women in India. taking other steps to improve the quality of medical services for women and children. In addition to broadening her professional horizons and areas of expertise, these years also led her to acquire facility in several new Indian languages in addition to the Telugu and Sanskrit that she had learned in childhood, along with English.
Women in Indian Christianity
History of Christianity in India Nationalism and new standards of medical professionalism combined to create unique challenges for the medical missions community in India during the already difficult years of the Great Depression. The Missionary Medical School for Women could not escape those challenges. The dilemma facing
Scudder's institution and the two other Christian medical schools in India in the late 1930s—those at Ludhiana and Miraj—was the same as that facing numerous other medical schools in the country: they had been training doctors to a licentiate level rather than to a fully professional standard, offering diplomas
(usually for L.M.P.'s, Licensed Medical Practitioners) rather than the degree of M.B.B.S. (bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery), available only through affiliation with a recognized university. For Indian nationalist modernizers anxious to make
New Challenges: The 1930s and 1940s responsibility for an institution that would clearly face a struggle even to survive. Yet her Christian commitment was deep and strong. Not only had she grown up in a home that had implanted an ethic of Christian service, but she had contributed over the years in a variety of ways to the work of medical missions in India. She was a respected member of the interdenominational
Vellore Council, which, together with the British and North American sections of the Governing Board, determined broad policy and future directions for the Missionary Medical School for Women. She was also an admirer of Scudder and, as a result of overseas furlough travels, already well known to "Friends of Vellore" committees and other important mission-support constituencies in England and North America. Thus, when an opportunity came to help secure a future for a fully professional
Christian medical college in an independent India, it seems clear that she felt a sense of vocation to take up that opportunity, notwithstanding the difficulties to be faced. Some background on the factors that led to the transition at Vellore in the 1940s from the Missionary Medical School for Women to the coeducational Christian Medical College will help provide a context for Lazarus's years there and suggest why her long period of successful government service was of such importance.
Meanwhile, under the leadership of the indefatigable Dr.
Chone Oliver, the Christian Medical Association of India had been working since the early 1930s to establish a fully professional Christian medical college. An association of Protestant medical missionaries and other Western and Indian doctors who shared its objectives, the CMAI recognized the urgency of providing Indian Christian doctors with the level of training and commitment necessary to work as colleagues in mission hospitals. But as at Vellore, the stumbling block was money. In these circumstances cooperation between the CMAI and Vellore seemed an obvious approach. The CMAI, however, had been committed since 1932 to establishing a coeducational institution, while Scudder and the American section of the Vellore
Governing Board, which raised most of the funds for her school, remained wedded to its long tradition of "women's work for women." This difference resulted in years of delay. It was not until 1943, some five years after pressure in favor of coeducation had been brought to bear by senior representatives of overseas ecumenical committees and denominational mission boards, and after a lengthy tour by Scudder in the United States had failed to obtain the funds necessary to upgrade the school on a single-sex basis, that the Vellore Council finally won approval from the American section of the Governing Board to work with the CMAI for a coeducational Christian Medical College. their educational and medical institutions as respectably professional as those in the West, the licentiate level of training was no longer acceptable. Steps to legislate more rigorous requirements for medical education began in the late 1930s with Indian politicians in the Madras Presidency, where
Scudder's school was located. At the time the University of Madras was widely regarded as the premier university in India, so the state's leadership in this matter was not surprising. Scudder had already been seeking funds in the United States to upgrade her school even before the Madras government issued its ultimatum to licentiate-level institutions to develop their staff and facilities to meet degree-level standards or cease teaching.
Inevitably, the new requirements made her task much more urgent.
Women in Indian Christianity
History of Christianity in India When she took up her role as principal in the summer of 1947,
Lazarus faced many challenges beyond those directly related to the profession of medicine. There were administrative, political, and financial problems to be dealt with if CMC was to obtain full and permanent affiliation with the University of Seven Years at Vellore In addition to coming to terms with the fact that it would be difficult to raise funds for even one fully professional Christian medical college for India, those who had previously held out against coeducation were brought round by arguments that coeducation was acceptable, even desirable, in a modernizing
India and by the urgency of training Indian Christian doctors who could be, in Oliver's words, "colleagues and eventually successors." Especially in the context of wartime India's increasingly strong demands for independence, there was great pressure both to upgrade and to Indianize Christian medical education. In a colonized country where Christianity had made only a tiny dent, and that mainly among people whose commitment to nationalism had long been questioned, Christian institutions were tainted by their assumed links with colonialism and thus had to demonstrate that they would have both utility and a strong national identity in a future independent India. A statement in the CMAI Journal in 1942 referred to the need to create a Christian medical college "so strong and so distinctive in its contributions to the needs of India that its value cannot be questioned by any government or medical council of the future
... [able] not just to conform to the minimum standard for University affiliation but to develop a college that can give a lead in lines that need emphasis such as research, service in rural areas, [and] the moral and spiritual basis for healthy living." Fortunately for the medical missions community, independent India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was prepared to accept and even welcome Christian institutions like the one at Vellore if they could help deal with India's massive health and social problems? Fortunately, too, in Hilda Lazarus,
Vellore was getting someone with a nationally recognized reputation to deal with the challenges that lay ahead.
Dr. Lazarus's prolonged absence so soon after her arrival undoubtedly added to concerns among staff and supporters about the frequent changes in leadership, especially given the many challenges Vellore was facing. Yet most of these challenges required large infusions of money, far more than was available in the new India. Although Scudder's medical work for women had received much favorable attention in the interwar years, the "old Vellore" lacked the infrastructure and staff to offer more than L.M.P. training. Indeed, most of the doctors, including Scudder herself, lacked the qualifications necessary to meet University of Madras requirements for training medical students to the M.B.B.S. degree. As the Vellore
Council secretary put it in 1944, the difference between an These changes were taking place at the same time that Vellore was dealing with a frequent turnover in leadership. With Dr.
Scudder's departure to the United States in 1941 to raise funds, a longtime colleague had become acting principal. She was replaced in 1944 by Dr. Robert Cochrane, an internationally renowned leprosy specialist, who also served as director.
Lazarus at first succeeded Cochrane only in the principalship, but when he resigned as director early in 1948, she took on that role as well. In September she donned yet another hat, undertaking a four-month tour of North America as a fundraiser for Vellore. Her departure necessitated the appointment of yet another temporary administrator, Dr. Carol Jamieson.
Madras as a recognized professional medical training college.
When she arrived, there were, in effect, two Vellores in existence. Though they had shared staff and facilities and both were referred to informally as Vellore, there continued to be separate councils for the Missionary Medical School for Women and the newly emerging CMC until they officially amalgamated in August 1948. By then, the "old Vellore" had upgraded in stages, having obtained approval from the university in 1942 for teaching twenty-five women students for the first two years of an M.B.B.S. degree and, in 1946, getting provisional affiliation with the university for teaching the third, fourth, and fifth years. An outpatient department for men had opened in 1944, and three years later the first male students were admitted.
Women in Indian Christianity
History of Christianity in India Returning to Vellore in January 1949, Lazarus was once again in charge of an institution still in the process of reinventing itself. With the encouragement of government and university officials, it had begun India's first degree-granting nursing program in 1946. It also pioneered other specialties in addition to neurosurgery and began planning for a leprosy sanatorium and a mental hospital. While the men and women responsible for developing these areas of expertise were drawn to CMC by a sense of vocation (they could have earned much more in government work or private practice), they were also professionals anxious for the facilities that would make their particular specialties as strong as possible. Inevitably, the Prior to Dr. Lazarus's arrival, steps to address the staffing problems had been taken through recruitment efforts within India and in the West. Beginning in 1942, and continuing even after her formal retirement as CMAI secretary in 1944, Dr. Oliver had sought out staff with the medical qualifications necessary for teaching M.B.B.S. courses, among them the young and able
Dr. Jacob Chandy, who returned from his postgraduate studies in North America to begin the first neurosurgery work in India.
Likewise, Dr. Cochrane sought faculty who could fill urgent needs, bringing to Vellore medical couples like Paul and Margaret Brand, who, like him, made significant contributions to leprosy work. Some longtime Vellore staff upgraded their training or, like Dr. Carol Jamieson, obtained British
Commonwealth qualifications in order to meet national government requirements. Even so, as Lazarus explained in her first report, there remained inadequacies in the facilities and staffing for some mandatory departments in the training hospital at CMC and a lack of "security of finances," with the result that full and permanent accreditation by the University of Madras was delayed until 1950. Given such circumstances, that furlough in North America shortly after her arrival was in fact a necessity, a means of reassuring supporters that the new
Vellore was in competent hands and worthy of ongoing support. institution like the old Vellore and what it had to become to obtain permanent accreditation was akin to the difference
"between a kindergarten and a high school."
In 1950 Dr. P. Kutumbiah, a senior medical educator who had retired from the Madras Medical College, succeeded
Lazarus as principal. Yet she continued to teach and perform operations in obstetrics and gynecology and to do religious work with students. She also participated in conferences and became CMAI president. And as director of CMC, she still faced administrative, financial, and political challenges. The college remained dependent on overseas sources for most of its funds and for some specialized staff. As a Christian institution in an overwhelmingly non-Christian country, it sometimes faced criticism for its external links. There were additional hurdles to be overcome in establishing viable relationships with the national and state governments and the University of Madras.
For instance, in order to receive funding from the Madras government, CMC had to deal with questions about such matters as the number of non-Christian students it was prepared to accept. In 1950 Lazarus argued successfully against a proposed increase by pointing out that CMC already did more in acceptance of non-Christian students than some non-Christian institutions did in acceptance of Christian students. The skill and determination with which she made this argument did not stem from hostility to the aspirations of the new India but rather from a commitment to keeping CMC a strongly Christian institution, even as it became increasingly Indian. In old age she recalled that she had responded to parliamentary concerns about proselytization within the hospital not by denying that it resulting pressures forced Lazarus to make tough decisions about allocating scarce physical and financial resources. Not surprisingly, she began to show signs of strain. "Do pray ... for Hilda," wrote colleague Frank Lake. "When she gets too tired, she tends to become very critical and rather difficult." Even in these circumstances, he added, she "continues to guide the affairs of state with surprising clear-sightedness and efficiency."
Like a senior official with "Friends of Vellore" in England, who described Lazarus as "an outstanding and widely respected administrator well able to cope with Madras University and government authorities," Dr. Lake called for a division of responsibilities as a way of lightening her burden.
Women in Indian Christianity
History of Christianity in India During her seven years at the college Lazarus had done a great deal to strengthen its position within India. The stellar national medical reputation, decades of experience, and connections within government that she brought with her were, in themselves, significant gifts to Vellore. This point bears emphasis, since in the postcolonial era many mission institutions lacked respected and experienced leaders and went into a state of decline. On the ground, Lazarus deployed her time and talents and the necessary tough-mindedness to cope with the numerous, often conflicting, pressures associated with her roles.
In her presidential address to the CMAI's fourteenth biennial conference, at the end of 1953, Dr. Lazarus took mission hospitals and their home boards to task for being slow to appoint
Indian doctors to positions of leadership and to grant them the same opportunities available to missionaries. In the same address she insisted that leadership in a Christian medical college should go to "the best individual for a particular post, irrespective of race or nation." While her remarks may have seemed confusing to her audience, even contradictory, they reflected her attempt to address both national, or "justice," issues and issues of institutional priorities. When she retired early in 1954, she signaled her commitment to the latter position by recommending an American medical missionary, Dr. John S. Carman, as the best person to succeed her. Her recommendation may have disappointed some members of her staff, particularly some of its gifted and ambitious young Indian doctors, but it is unlikely that they questioned the disinterestedness of her motives or the sincerity of her concern for CMC's future.
The Lazarus Legacy had taken place but rather by declaring that the institution's clear religious commitment was something many patients found helpful. Indeed, she seems to have practiced and defended forms of overt evangelism that many medical missionaries had by then eschewed in favor of a more informal approach and the witness provided by their professional and personal lives. It was one of a number of areas in which Dr. Lazarus and Dr.
Cochrane differed in their approach to leadership at Vellore.
Given the contributions she made to Vellore, it seems important to ask why Hilda Lazarus does not loom larger in its institutional memory or in the memories of former colleagues.
The low-key gift to a budget rather than a building may be part of the reason. Perhaps more important, even colleagues who remembered Lazarus fondly for acts of tenderness and sympathy, as well as for medical and administrative skill, acknowledged that she could be difficult, demanding, and intimidating and that she was not someone who formed easy and intimate friendships. Indeed, her penchant for privacy and the "very strong personality" that made her "a leader among women of her time" perhaps precluded such friendships, even as her steely determination and insistence on high standards enabled her to take the helm of an institution in transition and leave it significantly strengthened. Lazarus's legacy, then, as the first Indian director of the work begun by missionaries at Vellore is not to be found in personal tributes or physical monuments but rather in her contribution to indigenizing and professionalizing a venerable institution while retaining its strong Christian identity and preserving it for the India of the future. CMC's Web site celebrates the vision of founder Ida
Scudder. Perhaps in time there will also be a place for the accomplishments of the remarkable Indian doctor who successfully led it into the postcolonial era.364
A resolution in the College Council minutes at the time of her retirement stated that through the things she had done for Vellore as its principal and director, Lazarus had "helped raise this institution to the unique position it now occupies in India."
The resolution also noted that rather than accept the retirement "purse" equivalent to six months' salary offered by the college, she had requested that the money be put toward the year's budget.
History of Christianity in India
Before the coming of the missionaries, Indigenous forms of medicine existed in India like Ayurveda and Unani. In one of the four Vedas, an elaborate discourse on the system of disease, their diagnosis and prescriptions for their treatment is given.
Christian Contribution to Medical work Though Christianity is just a tiny minority in India, its contribution for the betterment of the country is simply outstanding. From the very beginning, philanthropic work has been an integral part of missionary activities. They established hospitals, medical colleges and educational institutes throughout
India. In the beginning of the 19th century, there were insufficient medical facilities in India. The government services were limited to official stations so the major part of the country was unaffected by them. The missionaries were able to take the medical supplies into the places where it did not reach otherwise. In the same way, the Christian contribution in the field of education is outstanding. R. L. Rawat, in his History of Indian Education, suggests that India will forever be indebted to the missionaries for the production of textbooks, dictionaries, and grammars, and for their zealous pursuit of educational advancement. In ancient India, it was the Brahmins who were the privileged section of the society who could acquire the literary skills. The outcaste or the Dalits were kept illiterate and subservient. The education was either absent or inadequate in the Indian setting.
It was reserved for some and denied for others.
Christianity: Medical and Educational Work Chapter Fifteen
Clara Swain: Clara Swain was the first qualified women missionary physician to be sent for overseas work in 1870 by Methodist Episcopal Church. Swain settled in Bareilly and took over a medical work already present in embryonic form, begun by a missionary wife who had initiated "a small class of native
Christian women" for a limited course of instruction in medicine". Like most early women physicians, Swain realized
Basically, western system of medicine was introduced to serve the British soldiers and civilians stationed in India. But the missionaries brought scientific medicine to the common people. They started hospitals and dispensaries and later native doctors were trained. The main focus of Christianity is the total well-being of the people. Health care is an integral part of overall development. The missionaries saw the need and acted to meet the needs. The Jesuits had established a hospital for the poor in Goa as early as 1576. Followed by them, during the British colonialism many qualified doctors started work. John
Thomas in Calcutta in 1793, John Taylor at Madras in 1805, John Scudder in 1819 and John Steele in 1836 in Madura began their medical work respectively. The need arose for female doctors as Indian women resisted being attended to by male doctors. A new chapter inaugurated in the medical mission, with coming of women doctors. The social customs like Purdah kept women in strict isolation and they were not allowed to be examined by a male doctor, thus Zenana365 mission came into existence. The first Zenana missionary to reach Benaras (now
Varanasi) was Cooper in 1857 and it was in 1867, the mission opened a permanent work there. It would be ideal to mention that female missionary doctors' contributions were outstanding in comparison with their male counterparts.
The treatment consisted of a strict dietary restriction. The Brahmins who were the custodians of the Vedas alone had the right to practice this system of medicine. Therefore, the poor and the lower class people could not benefit from them. In the villages, people were animists. They regarded sickness as the manifestation of the displeasure of supernatural forces and attempts were therefore made to placate the spirits that have been offended. These gave rise to sacrifices and elaborate rituals.
Christianity: Medical and Educational Work
History of Christianity in India When Kugler arrived in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, there was no precedent for Western-style medical work among women in that region. She performed her medical work in addition to her more general missionary duties, but when her stock of medicines was depleted, the work had to be discontinued. It was finally in 1885 Kugler was officially appointed for medical
In 1882 Dr. Kugler applied to the Board of Foreign Missions of the General Synod of the Lutheran Church in America (later a part of the United Lutheran Church) for sponsorship to do medical work for women in India. Although Clara Swain had preceded her by over a decade, the board officially replied that the organization was "not yet ready to undertake work of this kind"—but she could do "general work. It explains the board's unevenness that marked the policies and an attitude prevailing among the foreign missionary societies in North America at the time as Clara Swain was working as a medical missionary for over a decade. Kugler, however, agreed to be sponsored as a "general" missionary and sailed from Philadelphia in the company of seven other missionaries. They arrived in India in November 1883.
Anna Kugler: Anna Kugler. Born in 1856 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, Anna Kugler was the daughter of Charles and Harriet Sheaff Kugler. After graduating from the Woman's
Medical College, Philadelphia, she worked as an assistant physician at the state asylum at Norristown. that training local women to join medical work at least as assistants and perhaps later as qualified professionals was the key to the success of the medical projects. Using a student from her class as an assistant, she began her efforts to train women in rudimentary medicine. Her first class was modest, consisting of sixteen girls from the missionary orphanage and three disabled women. They were taught anatomy, physiology, and some rudimentary medicine but their level of professional training reached only a basic certificate level of practice. By seeing the good work of Clara Swain, the Nawab of Rampur donated a portion of his estate for establishing a hospital for women and soon the building was completed by May 1873 and in-house patients were admitted.
Ida Scudder: Ida Scudder was the granddaughter of the first American medical missionary, Dr. John Scudder, who with his seven sons all became missionaries. After completing her theological studies at Northfield Seminary at Massachusetts, she visited her mother who was ailing at the mission bungalow at Tindivanam, but during that stay, she had the enlightening experience of not being able to help three women in childbirth who died needlessly in one night. That experience convinced
Anne Kugler medical work was centred around Guntur where she arrived in 1883. Kugler's faced many hindrances in her medical work, like the issue of caste which prevented her from accessing the high caste women. Kugler discovered that even when local women were persuaded to try her medicine many would not accept a dose of medicine from her outcaste hand and had to receive it from the hand of a relative. Liquid medicine with alcohol content was less acceptable than medicine in powder form. In 1893, she purchased a large plot of land in Guntur and the dispensary building was completed in 1897.
Over the years the medical work expanded in the Telugu speaking region surrounding Guntur. In 1906, Kugler began rural outreach work in Chirala. It involved waking up at 2.00 a.m. to take two different trains from Guntur to Chirala in order to reach the patients by 7.30 a.m. The medical ministry at Chirala was taken over by Dr. Mary Baer. Later Kugler started a Nurses' training program at Guntur. She was highly regarded by locals and colonial officials. She was twice awarded the Kaiser-i-Hind medal (an award of distinction bestowed by the British colonial state) in 1905 and 1917. She served in India for forty seven years. On her death in 1930, Dr. Ida Scudder remembered her as one of "those noble pioneering women who made it easy for us who follow in their trails"; she remarked that "a star of great magnitude has fallen from the galaxy in our medical missionary firmament."366 work and there were sufficient funds to rent a house to function as a dispensary. In 1887 two dispensaries were opened at Mangalgiri and Guntur. It took fifteen years, though, for Kugler's project to become a full-fledged hospital with a children's ward, maternity block, chapel, and nurses' home.
Christianity: Medical and Educational Work
History of Christianity in India During her lifetime she saw her medical center become one of the largest in all Asia, the departments multiply to include radiation-oncology, thoracic surgery, nephrology, leprosy surgery and rehabilitation, microbiology, rural work, mental health, ophthalmology, and many others — a list of "firsts" in India commensurate with her abounding energy, indomitable will, and consecrated purpose. After her tireless service to the Scudder began training nurses, an almost unheard-of procedure in Asia. Her nursing school grew to become the first graduate school of nursing in India, affiliated with Madras
University. In 1909 she started her famous roadside dispensaries, a ministry to patients in surrounding villages that expanded throughout the years to treat thousands each week, developing finally into Vellore's Rural Unit for Health and Social
Affairs, administering public health service to a vast area. Never satisfied, in 1918, with the help of women of many denominations, she founded a college to train women doctors.
Beginning with seventeen girls, all taught by herself, it grew into a great complex of buildings in a beautiful valley, graduating thousands of skilled, dedicated doctors. In 1923, again with the support of many denominations, she built a larger hospital in the center of Vellore. Faced with new regulations by the Indian government that threatened to end her work, in 1941 she traveled the length and breadth of the United States raising money, enlisting new leadership with advanced degrees, securing the necessary upgrading of both college and hospital.
Both were now open to men as well as women. her and she believed that it was a calling and a challenge set before her by God to begin a ministry dedicated to the health needs of the people of India particularly women and children.
She went back to study medicine and graduated from Cornell University Medical School. In the first couple of years, she treated woman patients in her father's bungalow in Vellore,
South India; then in 1902 she moved into Schell Hospital, built with money she herself raised in America. She performed her first operation with no helper but the butler's wife, yet in time she became noted as a surgeon. By 1906 the number of patients she treated annually had risen to 40,000.
In the sixteenth century, the Jesuits established Christian institutions of learning. Fr. Francis Xavier started a few schools for the education of his converts and their children. He use to appoint young men who were intelligent and capable among his converts as catechists and arrange for their remuneration from the Portuguese government. In 1540's the Portuguese
But it would not be wrong to say that it is with the coming of the Christian missionaries, the flood gate of education was open to all, irrespective of caste, color, religion or class. The "good works" carried out by missionaries and Christians have always been understood to be an expression of their love and obedience to Jesus. The underlying motivation, of course, was their obligation to proclaim the salvation of God through the Christian faith. From the beginning the missionaries whether
Roman Catholic or Protestant, they gave importance to education in fact established high quality schools.
Ancient India was celebrated for its learning all over civilized Asia and Europe. Taxila and Nalanda were two centres of learning in ancient India. Education in India in its traditional form was closely related to religion. Early education in Indian commenced under the supervision of a guru. Initially, education was open to all and seen as one of the methods to achieve Moksha, or enlightenment. As time progressed, due to superiority complexes, the education was imparted on the basis of caste and the related duties that one had to perform as a member of a specific caste.
The Brahmans learned about scriptures and religion while the Kshatriya were educated in the various aspects of warfare. The Vaishya caste learned commerce and other specific vocational courses while education was largely denied to the Shudras, the lowest caste. The earliest venues of education in India were often secluded from the main population. During the Islamic invasion of India, Islamic institution like madrassas and maktabs were established and grammar, philosophy, mathematics, law and science were taught.
Christian contribution in Educational work Indian people, she died at her home on Hilltop, a bungalow at Kodaikanal on 24th May 1960 at 89 years old.
Christianity: Medical and Educational Work
History of Christianity in India Lutheran Mission Schools: The Lutheran missionaries who arrived at Tranquebar also established schools. Ziegenbalg opened a boarding school in Tranquebar for the half natives and mixed race children in1707. He also opened boarding schools for Indian children where they were taught to read and write 367 . His charity boarding home (started after the model of orphanage homes in Halle) and the school for the natives set an example for the authorities of the EIC to introduce the Civil orphan asylum scheme in Madras Presidency. Given the humble backgrounds of the students, Ziegenbalg's choice of name for the schools is interesting. Dharma is a multivalent Sanskrit word meaning, in various contexts, "law," "order," "justice,"
"practice," "right," and "religious teaching." He charged nothing for tuition and often offered free meals or small amounts of money as incentives to attract students opened the St. Paul's College in Goa which was for the training of Indians for lesser government jobs. During Xavier's time it came under the management of the Society of Jesus and it became a theological institution.
Serampore Mission Schools: William Carey and the British Baptists who arrived in Calcutta in the late eighteenth century pioneered modern education in North India. The very next year,
William Carey came to India (1794), he started a school at Madnabatti. The School had few local boys to whom he taught reading, writing, arithmetic and Christian teachings.369 Joshua and Hannah Marshman started two boarding schools in Serampore, one for boys and another for girls soon after their arrival in India. The schools were mainly for Europeans students so that funds could be raise to support the mission work at Serampore. Hannah was most probably the first one to start of school of this kind in Bengal. In 1800, the Serampore missionaries started a free school for the native boys and in the To promote the importance of education, the parents of the poor children were given financial subsidy. Later the renowned
Friedrick Schwartz began Christian schools in both vernacular languages and in English.368 He established a school in every local congregation, faithfully following the philosophy and formula developed by Francke in Halle.
In 1819 the Baptists already claimed 7000 children in their schools, whilst the C.M.S. estimated their numbers at 4300 which increased to 7000 by 1826. The L.M.S. had 4000 children under instruction, and the American Board between 700 and 800.
CMS and LMS Schools: London Missionary Society also began to promote elementary education. In 1805, a charity school was founded at Vizagapatam, which was followed by another at Madras, and both schools proved a great success.
Ringeltaube, another agent of the L.M.S., employed five or six Indian schoolmasters in various parts of Travancore. It was after the renewal of the Company's Charter in 1813, the missionaries could appeal to their Boards as the EIC had changed its policy towards education and the coming of missionaries. The result of this change was to increase the number of missionaries belonging to the Societies already active in India and to induce other bodies, notably the Church
Missionary Society, to send their representatives also.
Female Education: Christians were also pioneers in the field of female education. Much of this work was taken up by the wives of early missionaries, and by single women missionaries, of whom there were many. In 1834 it was reported that only 1 percent of Indian women could read and write. Hannah
Marshman was particularly interested in starting schools for girls.
She could establish 12 girls' schools in Serampore and also established mission schools in Birbhum, Dacca, Chittagong,
Benaras, Allahabad and Jessore. But most of them were short lived due to financial crisis and other reasons.370 Carey and his colleagues had founded and supervised, by the year 1818, no fewer than 126 native schools, containing some 10,000 boys, of whom more than 7000 were in and around Serampore.371 subsequent years several schools were established. Serampore missionaries were the pioneers in introducing western education in Bengal for the non-European girls. In 1809-10, they initiated in establishing Benevolent Institution in Calcutta, whose main purpose was to provide shelter to the destitute especially the Anglo-Indians. For them, they started charity schools for boys and girls.
Christianity: Medical and Educational Work
History of Christianity in India The American Mission opened schools for boys in Bombay from 1815, and in 1829, John Wilson saw to it that a school was also set up in Bombay for girls. Following it, Scottish Church
College was opened in Kolkata, Madras Christian College in Madras, Hislop College in Nagpur, Noble College in Machilipatnam, Scott Christian College in Nagarcoil, Voorhees
Serampore College: The most significant work for education had to wait until the Charter act of 1813. As a result of this
Charter many Christian missions opened colleges. In India the first Western-type postsecondary school, Serampore College, was organized in 1818. When the College was started it was made clear that it would not bar any student on the basis of religion or caste. After much discussion, it was also decided that the medium of instruction would be vernacular. Marshman
(1816) made his point, "Instruction…should be such as to render the inhabitants of a country happy in their own sphere, but never to take them out of it". But after the death of the trio, the medium of instruction was changed to English.374
Higher Educational Institutes With the renewal of the British East India Company's charter in 1813 and the arrival of a host of British mission societies, there was a proliferation of schools and printing presses across the country. According to the renewed charter,
Renewal of the British East India Company's charter in 1813 Five years later, the Rev. James Hough, a former chaplain in the Madras Presidency, basing his figures on the most recent reports at his disposal, claimed that at least 39,000 children were receiving instruction in the various
Societies' schools, and. suggested that possibly 50,000 might be a more accurate total.372
"a sum of not less than a lakh of rupees (or ten thousand pounds) a year was to be set apart from the surplus revenues, and applied to the revival and improvement of literature and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories there."373
Though Duff's idea to set up an English-language school was, at first, controversial. There was significant opposition, but soon Duff's modest experiment began to catch the imagination of the upper classes and those who possessed aspirations for their children. Duff's work was a great success and resulted in Alexander Duff: The arrival in Calcutta of Alexander Duff in 1830 marked the beginning of a new approach to learning, namely, English-language education. Though Duff was not a pioneer nevertheless he is celebrated as the Populariser of higher education in English. He came to India in 1830, having been at sea eight months and shipwrecked twice upon the way. He realized the necessity of reaching the higher classes. He proposed to provide schools for youth of the higher castes of Northern India in which, through the medium of the English language, a liberal education in all subjects was to be offered to those who were willing to receive Christian instruction at the hands of missionaries thoroughly competent in educational matters. He thought English the only language in which, as things then were, a comprehensive Western education could be given in India. He thought also that it was the only language in which foreigners at all events could make plain to Indians the meaning of the Christian faith. The Company, on their part, had in mind the multiplicity of languages and dialects in India and the necessity of a common medium of communication.
They hoped that an English education would tend to bind the higher classes to England. Duff's schools were filled and emptied several times upon the issue of his insistence upon instruction in the Christian religion. The government schools were naturally on the basis of strict religious neutrality.
Nevertheless, Duff and his compeers exerted the greatest influence upon the whole government system of education in India exactly in the period of its most rapid and significant expansion. Lord Bentinck officially declared that Duff's schools had produced unparalleled results. Interestingly enough Duff was supported in his views by Ram Mohan Ray, who became one of the great leaders of reformed Hinduism.
College in Vellore, American College in Madurai, CMS college in Alwaye, St.John's in Agra and many others.
Christianity: Medical and Educational Work
History of Christianity in India Conclusion: Certainly one way to measure the contribution and impact of Christianity in India is to observe the masses of people of all religious communities and social classes who use whatever influence they have at their disposal to get themselves and their children admitted to Christian hospital and schools.
The Medical work was not automatically associated with missionary activity in the early nineteenth century but it was introduced to reach the women who were living in Zenanas but after that the scope of the ministry enlarged and it became a ministry in itself. Also the widespread and popular adoption of English by people of all language groups and classes has certainly given India an advantage in today's global economy, as well as in diplomacy, politics, and technology. In 1997 the reputed and secular weekly India Today reported on the top ten colleges in the nation. Five of these were Christian: St.
Stephen's, New Delhi; St. Xavier, Mumbai and Kolkata; Loyola College, Madras; and Stella Maris College (for women), Madras.
Education for Dalits and Tribals: Christian missionaries also went to live and work among both the tribal groups and the Dalits. The former were animists who lived outside the Hindu fold, while the latter were from the "untouchable" caste and were therefore excluded from the orthodox Hindu social structure. Toward the end of the nineteenth century Christian missionaries began to take more seriously the needs of the tribals and the Dalits and went to minister to them. The missionaries began schools and created written forms for many of the languages. In response, people from these groups converted to Christianity in great numbers. This was particularly so in the Northeast and in the mass movements of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In all these way Christianity has contributed to the building of the nation and to an upward social mobility that has changed lives and benefited families and communities, particularly among the Dalits (the former "untouchables"). the expansion of English-language educational institutions throughout British India in the nineteenth and twentieth century's, at the primary, secondary, and university levels; in time English became the veritable lingua franca of India.
As a result of Pietism and Evangelical revivals, the Protestants Countries began to form missionary societies and send their missionaries to various parts of the world. From the beginning of the eighteenth century India began to receive protestant missionaries. In India, they established churches according to their own traditions which resulted in denominationalism in the form of Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist.
Even though the missionaries took the denominationalism for granted but they could not ignore that in India the Christians were a tiny minority It was in these circumstances, the need for unity was felt by various mission agencies as well as by the leaders of the Indian churches at the dawn of the twentieth century. In the 19th century, the scene was beginning to change, there were more brotherly feelings, co-operation between the denominations consulting together on common problems despite maintaining their denominational differences, which gave hope to the Indian Christianity in the wider sense. Christian leaders felt that it was their responsibility to break the barriers and come together, for which many significant efforts had developed in order to achieve the task of Christian unity.
Meeting at Hill Stations: Once in a year, the missionaries from Europe and America working in Southern part of India use to gather in the hill stations such as Kodaikanal, Coonoor and 1. Factors contributing to unity Introduction The Church Union Movement
History of Christianity in India The Church Union Movement and India's Contribution to Ecumenical Movement Chapter Sixteen Nationalism: Indian Nationalism born in Bengal, and soon spread to other parts of India, especially South India. The rising ride of nationalism was one of the factors that helped the Ecumenical Movement in India. F.J. Balasundaram argues:
Christian Institutions: This higher educational institution attracted many young Indians who showed a deep interest in Western education. Many young people gathered there from different parts of the nation had the opportunity to meet young people from different denominations and different languages which ultimately led them to feeling of oneness in Christ. This institution which was founded by Scottish Presbyterians in 1837 came to be known later as the MCC and got reorganized in 1910 as a union institution. The two Scottish Missions, the Wesleyan Methodists and the CMS (Anglicans) became supporting bodies thus bringing about a climate of oneness and cooperation. WCC in Madras, CMC Vellore also played role to unite various denominational people to come together.
Non-denominational Organizations: Christian organizations in India such as Christian Literature Society (CLS), the Christian
Endeavour, and the YMCA brought together all the European and Indian Church leaders of different denominations.
Organization like YMCA in particular treated Europeans and Indians equally, which made the leaders in India to exercise towards church union movements.375
Ootacamund (Ooty) to spend their summer. During that time, the missionaries belonging to different organizations use to have informal meetings to share and exchange their views about their work and experience. These meetings led to formation of South Indian Missionary Association in 1897 which took the responsibility to organize the 1900 South India Missionary
Conferences, Madras.
"…Nationalism, too, has the same effect. To whatever Churches Christians may belong; they consider themselves members of the Indian Christian community – a single political unit, with a common religious and social life and with common political ambitions. This, then, is the background against which the attitude of the Indian Christians towards unity must be viewed for right appreciation…." 376
Antecedent Meetings for Missionary Conferences: After many Though it was not materialized immediately, Carey decided to gather the missionary societies and the church organizations for city level missionary conferences.379
William Carey from BMS made a proposal to Andrew Fuller, secretary of BMS in 1806 for a World Missionary Conference. He wrote to him with great enthusiasm as follows:
"The beginnings of the Ecumenical Movement in India has its roots in the Missionary Conferences were held during the second half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century.The Missionary Conferences directly or indirectly influenced the Ecumenical Movement in India, especially at the initial stages of this movement."377
The Fragmented Indian Christians: Many missionaries as well as Indian Christians, especially those who lived in cities or migratory areas, felt the scandal of a divided Indian Christianity.
They felt the need for a United Church for effective evangelism and Christian witness.
2. Missionary Conferences The influence of this movement made an impact on few Christians, and they started to show their nationalist spirit. The formation of the 'Nattu Sabai' or the 'Hindu Church of Lord
Jesus' by one 'Sattampillai' (Teacher) at Mookuperi, Tamilnadu; the formation of the National Church of Madras/India by a medical doctor Dr. Pulney Andy or Parani Andy; the formation of the Christo Samaj in Calcutta by Kali Charan Banerjee and Joy Shome; and the proposal of Lal Behari Dey to form an Indian church taking the best from each denominations were the examples for nationalist expressions which led the Indian
Christians to come together with nationalist spirit too made the Missions to think of coming together in union.
The Church Union Movement
History of Christianity in India I earnestly recommend this plan, let the first meeting be in the year 1810, or 1812 at furthest. I have no doubt but it would be attended with very important effects; we could understand one another better, and more entirely enter into one another's views by two hours conversation than by two or three years epistolary correspondence.378
More particularly this meeting talked for the first time about the formation of an Indian Church, a pointer on ecumenism.385
The South India Regional Missionary Conference, Ootacamund, 1858: The first South India regional missionary conference was held at Ootacamund from 19 April to 5 May,
1858, where missionaries from eight societies took part and discussed and made resolutions on vernacular preaching, native agency, female education, educational policy, and caste.384
North India Missionary Conference, Benares/Varanasi, 1857: The first North India missionary conference was held at Benares/Varanasi on January 6-9, 1857. There were resolutions made on vernacular preaching, native agency, native female education, the Government system of education and caste.383
General Conference of Bengal Protestant Missionaries, Calcutta, 1855: One of the series of local, regional and national inter-denominational missionary conferences was held in Calcutta on September 4-7, 1855. Representatives of six missions and three European churches were present. This was considered as the first fruit that to play such an important role in the development of ecumenicity in India.382
This meeting at Bombay contributed to similar gatherings in Calcutta and Madras. In 1830 they had the first meeting at Madras. In Calcutta, the missionaries initially met in the house of the Baptist missionary in charge of the Baptist Mission Press, on the first Monday of every month during breakfast time regularly. These city level meetings led to regional conferences of missionaries.381 suggestions from Carey, the missionaries of different missionary societies in India realized the need for a gathering. Thus the missionary societies working in Bombay (Mumbai) came together for gathering, and they first met in 1825 for fellowship, for sharing joys and sorrows in their works. They discussed also about the areas of co-operation in their common task of evangelism and decided to have a uniform minimum requirement for offering baptism to new converts, and also to cooperate for education, production of common Christian literature work.380
This was a significant Indian contribution towards ecumenism which also opened the way for the 1910 Edinburgh World
Missionary Conference. It was in this conference the principal of Comity formed. According to this principle where one mission is working another mission should not open its mission. This promoted spirit of co-operation among the The South India Missionary Conference, Madras, 1900: The conference was held on 2-5 January, 1900 at Madras. The missionaries who met during the summer at the Hill Station
Kodaikanal, Tamilnadu in 1897 formed South India Missionary Association (SIMA) and decided to have SIM
Conference in 1900. The SIMA requested the missions to send only the official representatives to the SIM Conference; and the number of the delegates would be in proportion to the number of missionaries on the field. In this conference, SIMA received the names of delegates and divided them as groups for discussion on the given topics. The final reports of the discussions were collected by SIMA and a final resolution numbering ninety-five, were published. This conference of Madras 1900 became a pattern for preparation and organisation for the subsequent missionary and ecumenical meetings.388
The South India and Ceylon Missionary Conference, Bangalore, 1879: Missionaries from fifteen societies attended and fifteen Indians too took part in this conference. There were significant people like W. Burgess, Jacob Chamberlain, W.T.
Sathianadhan, B. Rice and A.H. Arden participated actively and read their papers on different issues. Among them,
Sathianadhan and Arden in their presentation, focused on the issues related with Native Churches.387
December, 1862 and 2nd January, 1863. A common Holy Communion service was celebrated in which all those missionaries gathered from different mission societies took part.
It made an appeal for an indigenous, united Indian church which led Indian Christians to another ecumenism. At this conference, a proposal was made for first time for an All India
Missionaries' Decennial Conference.386
The Punjab Missionary Conference, Lahore, 1863: The Punjab Missionary Conference held at Lahore between 26th
The Church Union Movement
History of Christianity in India Calcutta, 1882: The second, All India decennial Missionary
Conference was held at Calcutta from 28 December, 1882, to 2 January 1883. It was attended by 475 delegates from 27 missions, among whom were 46 Indians. W. Hooper, W. Miller
In this conference, J. Barton suggested for joint inerrancies by the members of the different Missions, both Missionaries and Catechists, mutual interchange of pulpits, union prayer meetings, inter-communion at the Lord's Table, common religious
Periodicals and advisory conferences or councils, to meet at intervals of five years.390
Allahabad, 1872: The first, all India decennial missionary conference was held at Allahabad from 26 December, 1872, to 1 January, 1873. It was attended by 136 missionaries from nineteen mission societies participated, among whom were twenty eight native. Papers were presented by the Indian members like W.T. Sathianandhan, R. Jardine, J. Barton and K.C. Chatterjee over different topics. In addition, the resolution on Mutual Non-interference of Missionary Societies was made, which clearly says that, The Regional Missionary Conferences in India led to the AllIndia Decennial Missionary Conferences.
3. All India Decennial Missionary Conferences missionaries of various denomination and organization.
Secondly the unreached place could be reached.
"They (Missionary Societies) are of opinion that, with certain recognized exceptions, such as the large centres of population, it is expedient that agents of different
Missionary Societies should occupy different fields of labour. Without calling in question the right of every missionary to exercise his ministry wherever God may give him opportunity, it is their solemn conviction that the progress of the Gospel in a heathen land can only be retarded by the missionaries of one communion receiving the converts of another church, who are as yet imperfectly acquainted with divine truth and unable to enter intelligently in to questions which separate the various sections of Christendom, - especially those who are under discipline."389
Madras, 1902: The fourth All India Decennial Missionary Conference held at Madras on 11-18 December 1902 and was also the last of the important 'field' conferences in India. It was conducted on the model of the 1900 SIM Conference, Madras.
It was attended by 286 delegates representing fifty five missions.
January 1893. There were 620 members from forty missions with sixty seven Indians. Kali Charan Banurji, H. Martyn Clark and Bishop Thoburn were the significant delegates who presented papers on various topics. Banurji while presenting his paper on 'the Native Church – Its Organization and Selfsupport,' emphasised the difference between 'Substantive
Christianity' and 'Adjective Christianity.' His speech went as follows:
Bombay, 1892: The third, All India Decennial Missionary Conference held in Bombay from 29th December 1892, to 4th and W.T. Sathianandhan present papers in this conference.
Besides, the discussions on 'devolution' that is, transfers of power from Mission to the Church were emphasized. It emphasized on selfhood of the Indian Church with its three self-formulas is self-support, self-government and selfpropagation.391 In the conference, W.T. Sathianandhan presented a paper on self-support and self-propagation of the native churches.
The Church Union Movement
History of Christianity in India "The following three principles followed at the Madras
"Substantive Christianity, or the principles of Christianity, its vital facts and doctrines based thereon, must ever be above all bending, in consideration of any possible environment. This issue of native or foreign, is absolutely inadmissible, when it in the question. But Adjective
Christianity, or the procedure to be adopted with a view to ensure the conservation of Christian truth, where accepted, and its progression, where still in abeyance, need not be, had better not be, a hard and fast system… Substantive
Christianity has been stereotyped; Adjective Christianity has not been. All that is claimed for the Native Church in India is adjective Christianity through its own agents and in harmony with its own environment…"392
The All-India Decennial Missionary Conferences culminated in the formation of the National Missionary Council (NMC). It was John R. Mott394 who had contributed a lot to stir up Indian
Christian leaders and students for the cause of Ecumenical Movement. After the Edinburgh Conference of 1910, he visited various countries with a view to set up national missionary councils. In India he held several meetings with Christian leaders in several places. His mission began in Madras in the middle of November 1912 and ended in Calcutta during Christmas time.
Most of the missionaries from all the missionary societies working in India along with fifty-eight delegates from all parts of India attended the first General or National Conference met in Calcutta in 1912. Since unity was felt to be the need of the hour, the National Conference appointed a Special Committee to be responsible for it. The second National Conference took place in February 1914 in the YMCA at Calcutta and it was attended by 28 members out of thirty six and it was decided to form a permanent council to be called the National Missionary
Council of India. But after the First World War, in 1923, the council constituted itself as the National Council of India, Burma
4. Formation of National Missionary Council of India (NMCI) 3. It is not desirable that any resolution should go forth as a deliberation of the Conference unless the Conference has been able to come to practical agreement in its favour."393
2. In view of the recognized differences between denominations represented in the Conference, no question involving doctrines of ecclesiastical principles on which these denominations differ ought to be raised in the conference.
1. The object is to promote as far as possible harmonious cooperation between the missions represented and their efficiency in working for the advancement for the kingdom of God.
Decennial Conference was adopted as a model at the Edinburgh Conference in 1910:
The first decade of 20th century marked the beginning of the Church Union Movement in India. In 1901, the churches under the American Arcot Mission and the two Scottish Presbyterian
Missions (Church of Scotland and Free Church of Scotland) from in and around Madras came for an all India Presbyterian
Union in 1904. In the following year, the Congregationalists of the LMS and the American Madura Mission in Tamil nadu also formed into a union. Later, both the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists attempted the first fruitful interdenominational union in coming together as the South India
United Church in 1908.398
5.1 Formation of South India United Church (SIUC) 5. Church Union Movements However, the Missionary Conferences really experienced the joy and the worth of coming together and face the common task. The call for unity was there in all the Conferences.
The NCCI initiated some studies which contributed to the ecumenical movement. They are: a) The Lindsay Commission on Christian Colleges whose report was published in 1931 as the Christian Higher Education in India; b) Survey of Mass
Movements under the leadership of Bishop J. Waskom Pickett which was published as Christian Mass Movements in India
(1933); c) Survey of Theological Education by Dr. Charles W.
Ranson whose report was published in 1945 as The Christian Minister in India.397
The primary objectives of the NCCI, as enumerated in the 1960s were: "to initiate and stimulate thinking on the Church, on co-operation of all Christian agencies and on the unity of the Church: to help formulate a Christian public opinion in India and act as a liaison with the Government; to make provision for the convening of an All India Conference whenever desired: to consult the WCC and other National
Councils etc."396 and Ceylon. After Independence, the council of Ceylon and Burma departed from it. Since then, it came to be known as the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI).395
The Church Union Movement
History of Christianity in India Soon after the formation of the SIUC, a parallel movement was going on in Northern India. Eleven missions as The Church of Scotland, the American Presbyterian, the Canadian Presbyterian, the New Zealand Presbyterian, the English Presbyterian, the Irish Presbyterian, the Welsh Presbyterian, the American
Evangelical and Reformed Church, the American Marathi Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Mission, the London Missionary Society, and the United Church of Canada were represented in it and it ultimately resulted in the formation of the UCNI in 1924. Its area was stretching from Bengal and Assam to Gujarat and the Punjab.401
5.2 The United Church of North India (UCNI) Nevertheless, the formation of the SIUC was the first fruitful attempt at an inter-denominational union. It can be an example for federal union.
The SIUC, the Angelican dioceses in South India and the South Indian Districts of the Methodist Communion were the churches involved themselves in this union. V.S. Azariah, V.
Santiago, H.A. Popley and Sherwood Eddy and few others were the prominent figures played a key role and known as the founding members who convinced that the united church was the purpose and will of God and compatible with the teaching of the Scriptures. Therefore, a million Christians from different backgrounds and denominations, formerly separated apart by western denominationalism, are in this one church, totally dependent and rooted in the Indian soil and culture.400
The SIUC had more members numerically from the Congregational background. The Jaffna (Ceylon) Mission of the American Board (ABCFM) joined with SIUC by which it had eight regional church councils. The SIUC initiated negotiations with other communions in order to form 'The Federation of Christian Churches in India. Later, the Malabar area of the Basel Mission came under the care of the SIUC
(during the first World-War, 1914-1918, they became 'orphan'), which ultimately became a part of the SIUC, as the Malabar
Church Council, formed in March 1919.399
Both SIUC and UCNI can be called Federal Unions in view
After the successful formation of SIUC, churches that were actively involved in the process of negotiations hailed from three distinct traditions called Calvinism, Episcopalism and Revivalism. There were disagreements, because the Presbyterians and Congregationalists shared common origins in Calvinism who rejected both episcopalism and liturgy; the Anglican communion in South India was to Anglo-Catholic tradition that continued to follow most elements of the Medieval
Church except withdrawal of Allegiance to the Pope of Rome; and the Methodists though belonged to the Anglican tradition but because of their adherence to the Evangelical Revival had opted to remain independent.404
The Lutherans had been organising autonomous Lutheran churches as the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran church which was formed after the War of 1914-1918 through merging of the Leipzig Mission and the Church of Sweden Mission. However, the Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India
(FELC) was formed in 1923/6 with nine different Lutheran Missions in India.402 In 1975 the name was changed as the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India (UELCI), functioning as one national church, with full autonomy to all constituent churches. In 1998 its constitution was amended and it came to be known as the United Evangelical Lutheran
Churches in India (UELCI), and started to function with all features of one Church including the churchly functions of ordination, authority on matters of theology and doctrines, ecumenical relations, national affairs, and signing related statements.403 However, Federal Union means full autonomy to all constituent churches, and not as an organic union.
J.H. Maclean, a Presbyterian, convener for the committee on Union began to contact a number of Churches, and the reply from the Wesleyan Methodists was favourable. In 1909, the 5.4 The Church of South India 5.3 The Lutheran Federal Union of their administrative structure. These also were Indian contribution to the Ecumenical Movement.
The Church Union Movement
History of Christianity in India The leaders gathered sent a letter to heads of the churches in South India to consider union on the basis of Tranquebar
Manifesto. The SIUC and Anglicans responded readily and appointed their representatives. The Joint committee was formed in 1920. The Methodist joined the discussion in 1925.
4. The Historic Episcopate locally adopted.406
3. The two sacraments ordained by Christ Himself – Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
2. The Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.
1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments, as containing all things necessary for salvation.
It was H.A. Popley who organized the Indian Ministers'
Conference on Church Union with the support of the Evangelistic Forward Movement. This was held in Tranquebar, Tamilnadu on April 29-30, 1919 where fifty-six members from Anglicans,
Wesleyans, SIUC and Church of Sweden were participated.
Among them, there were thirty three delegates from Anglicans (seven) and the SIUC (twenty six). The meeting was led jointly by Bishop V.S. Azariah and V. Santiago (SIUC) in the presence of H.A. Popley and Sherwood Eddy the non-Indian delegates. It insisted that 'Church unity is the will of God and it is Biblical; the divisions in the Church affected evangelism in India; the church divisions were not the making of the Indians and so they did not wish to perpetuate them.'405 Therefore, it proposed the following elements in order to unite the churches which were based on the 1888 Lambeth Quadrilateral, was popularly known as the 'Tranquebar Manifesto.' committee on Union suggested the formation of a Federation of Christian Churches in India, in which the committee explained that "the Federation shall not interfere with the existing creed of any church or society entering into its fellowship and all the churches would recognize the validity of each other's ministry, membership and discipline." But this effort did not get materialized. Though several others were talking about union, the meeting that eventually led to the formation of Church of South India is to be traced to the meeting held in Tranquebar in 1919.
Following this, there were many questions and negotiations taken place on the 'episcopacy.' Based on this issue, the Joint
Statement was published in 1929, as the first scheme of Union and circulated among the local congregations of the churches in negotiations. The scheme of union was revised six times based on the comments received from the uniting churches and found the solution. The Wesleyan Methodists407 in 1943, the Anglican diocese of the CIBC408 in 1945 and other councils of SIUC in 1946 gave their consent for union; but few others refused to give their approval.409
Finally, by overcoming certain technical difficulties throughout the councils and negotiations, the Church of South
India was inaugurated on September 27, 1947. By praising this significant church union, C.B. Firth writes as follows:
It was accepted from the beginning that the United Church would be an Episcopal Church. It was also decided that not to formulating a doctrine in order to face the issues on Episcopal ministry, where as the churches agreed to maintain the historic episcopate. But, still the question of integrating the nonepiscopally ordained minister into the Episcopal Church. Few proposals were made such as simple re-ordination, a service of Episcopal commissioning, mutual commissioning of all ministers and supplemental ordination, and all of these were rejected. At last, it was unanimously decided and accepted to have the service of the ordained minister from anywhere within the CSI; ''but a pledge' was given that none of them would be imposed upon a congregation which did not conscientiously welcome his ministrations; and further it was laid down that after thirty years – during which all new ordinations in the CSI would of course be Episcopal – the Church should decide whether it would continue to allow exceptions to the rule of Episcopal ordination or not. These provisions – the initial mixed ministry, the pledge and the thirty years' period before decision
– are the distinctive features of the CSI.410
The Church Union Movement
History of Christianity in India "The most ambitious and far reaching project of Church union in the first half of the twentieth century was the one which led to the formation of the Church of South India in After the step by step proceedings of the negotiating bodies such as RTC, the Continuation Committee (CC), the Joint Council
(JC) etc., the Working Committee met in July 1969 at Calcutta The Wesleyan Methodist Church called for the first Round
Table Conference (RTC), which took place at Lucknow in 1929 by responding to the UCNI's request to discuss the possibility of union among the churches in North India. However, the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon (CIPBC), the Council of Baptist Churches in North India (CBCNI), the Methodist Church in South Asia (MCSA), the Church of Disciples of Christ (CDC), the Church of Brethren in India (CBI), the Methodist Church of British and Australian Conferences (MCBAC) and the UCNI were invited for negotiation.
In 1904, the Presbyterian church of India was formed under the leadership of K.C. Chatterjee. Later, in 1919 the Welsh
Calvinistic churches in Assam with a great number of members around 64,000 and in 1924 the New Zealand Mission of Punjab were come into the union of the Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian Church of India was united with the General Aikya
(fellowship) of the Congregational Churches in Western India.
The Evangelical Reformed Church of Central Provinces and the Moravian church in Leh, Ladakh in Kashmir, joined themselves in 1956 and 1958 respectively with the United
Church of North India (UCNI), which was formed in 1924.
5.5 The Church of North India The North Tamil Church Council (Coimbator) of SIUC in 1950,
The Kanarese Basel Mission in 1958 and the Malabar Basel German Mission Church in 2003 joined CSI which is a model for organic union.
1947, for here it was not a question of drawing together of denomination of the same type, but an attempt to heal one of the major divisions that arose in the western churches during the troubles of Reformation period in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and had been imported into India by western missions…To seek a union of such different traditions was no ordinary enterprise perhaps it could not have succeeded anywhere except in India."411
Once the CNI was inaugurated, the CSI began to have intercommunion and exchange of pulpit with CNI. In 1975, CSI, the CNI and the Mar Thoma Church decided to begin negotiations.414 As a result a Joint Council was formed and its first sitting was in 1978, which significantly had known for a solid ecumenical movement in India. JC declared that each church can bring thirty representations415 from their respective denomination. The nature of the JC is described as, 'the JC of the CSI, CNI, MTC, has been constituted as the visible organ for common action by the three churches which recognise themselves as belonging to the one Church of Jesus Christ in India, ever while remaining as autonomous churches, each having its own identity of traditions and organization structure.'416 And also, there were discussions on a suggestion
5.2 Conciliar Union The formation of the SIUC, the UCNI, the CSI and the CNI raises many issues related to the growth of ecumenism. The joining together of Episcopal and non-Episcopal traditions of churches and their mutual acceptance is remarkable. Also the acceptance of baptism whether immersion or sprinkling is of extreme significance in the furtherance of ecumenical relationships. Now we are moving towards a wider unity, not necessarily organic, on the basis of common creed. The NiceneConstantinople creed, itself has a function in ecumenism. Even the Roman Catholic Church has been bent towards going back to the original text of the creed by leaving the 'filiogue' clause.
Dr. J.W. Gladstone, a Church historian says that, where the delegates of CDC declared their intention to join the new church. When the negotiating committee met at Nagpur,
UCNI, CIPBC, MABAC, CDC, CBCNI, and CBI churches declared their consent to support for the formation of a new church. Finally, the Church of North India was inaugurated at the All Saints' Cathedral, Nagpur on November 29, 1970 with the Moderatorship of Dr. Gurbachan Singh of the UCNI.412
The Church Union Movement
History of Christianity in India "The experience of organic union has been positive in general. However, we have to work out new models of unity, because this need not be the only model of church union."413
"Azariah was a leader at the meeting of Indian ministers in Tranquebar in 1919 which marked the beginning of the church union movement in India. To him, "unhappy divisions" were in fact a "sin and a scandal" in the Indian setting."418 He was also known as the architect of CSI. He was chairman of the National Christian Council of India (NCCI) and an influential participant of International Missionary Council, 1921 and conferences as Lausanne 1927, Oxford 1937 and Tambaram
1938.419 In a provocative address at Edinburgh1910, Azariah He was born on 17th August 1874 in Tinnevelley, Tamilnadu.
He was widely known as a champion of ecumenism among the younger churches, and served as YMCA secretary in 1895, working among students. He was one of the founders of Indian
Missionary Society (IMS) of Tinnevelly in 1903, the interdenominational National Missionary Society (NMS) and later he went as missionary to Nizam of Hyderabad, was ordained by him in 1909 and went to Dornakal. After he made powerful comment against the unequal partnership between Western missionaries and their indigenous colleagues at Edinburgh 1910, was consecrated as the bishop of Dornakal in 1912, the first
Indian to become a bishop of the Anglican Church.
(a) Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah (1874-1945) Ecumenical Movement is not just a movement of institutions, conferences, ideologies or issues but also a movement of individual persons who have contributed their unconditional involvements in terms of ecumenism in India. Their role and contributions towards ecumenism are unparallel. Indeed, their involvements made many significant changes which are remarkable.
Individual Contributions These different types of Unity models are also identified as Indian contributions to the Ecumenical movement.417 to establish a name for the new church as "The Bharath Christian
Church," which has not materialized yet. Now since 2000 AD, the JC is known as the "Communion of Churches in India."
This model is known also as the Koinonia Model.
Chandran was born on 6th May 1918 at Kadamankuly, Tamilnadu. He was the vice-moderator of the WCC central committee, 1966-68, and also played a key role in the WCC's fourth assembly in Uppsala in 1968 to open the way for new voices from third-world churches to be heard. He was the representative of the CSI at many ecumenical meetings, and played the role of convener of the union negotiations committee of the CSI. His long membership of the WCC's Faith and Order
(c) Joshua Russel Chandran (1918-2000) Banerjee of Bengal was a lawyer, a nationalist and a prominent
Christian figure in the late 19th century. Banerjee, however realized the division through the Western type of denominationalism among the Indian Christians into several fragmented segments, which made him unhappy. Therefore, he and his Bengalee Christian friends formed the indigenous and interdenominational 'Christo Samaj' in 1887. The aim of this Samaj was to set up an interdenominational church under native leadership, support and indigenous propagation of the Christian truth, and to promote a universal native church that would in due course eliminate Western denominational churches.422 Thus Banerjee stressed the need for the freedom of the church to grow in harmony with its own environment.
He also demanded that 'the union process should be allowed to grow into an organization.' Therefore, he called the societies for the complete growth of the church with all freedom of its own, leaving western divisions.423 b) Kali Charan Banerjee strongly criticised the unequal partnership between western missionaries and their indigenous colleagues;420 and he concluded his speech as follows:
The Church Union Movement
History of Christianity in India "Through all the ages to come the Indian Church will rise up in gratitude to attest the heroism and self-denying labour of the missionary body. You have given your goods to feed the poor. You have given your bodies to be burned. We also ask for love. Give us FRIENDS".421
He was born in Lahore in 1878, had his education in Lahore and in Edinburgh. He served as the national secretary of the YMCAs of India, Burma and Ceylon (1919-1927), and participated in the IMC in Jerusalem, 1928. He served as (e) Surendra Kumar Datta (1878-1948) While she was working as a teacher at Isabella Thoburn
College, an ecumenical school under US Methodist auspices in Lucknow, she refused the invitation to be a delegate to the WCC's first assembly in Amsterdam by saying that she was not a Methodist; rather she was encouraged by the Methodist bishop G. Bromley Oxman to represent there in 1948 on behalf of younger church where she presented the report from fifty eight countries on the role and status of women in the Church.
In 1951, she was asked to hold up the position of president of the WCC, "in recognition of her exceptional service to the whole ecumenical movement."424
She was born on 13th February 1905 at Trichur, Kerala in a Syrian Orthodox family. Chakko was an ecumenical youth and student movement leader, first chair person of the WCC's commission on the Life and Work of Women in the Church, and first woman on the WCC presidium (1951-54). To contribute her activities in the SCM of India, Burma and Ceylon, she attended student conferences in Java in 1933 and in San
Francisco in 1936 and was part of an Indian SCM team that visited university students in China in 1946. She also served on the national committee of the YMCA of India, Burma and Ceylon and was a vice president of the World YWCA.
(d) B. Sarah Chakko (1905-1954) commission enabled him to bring the Indian experience to other churches engaged in union negotiations. He was also secretary of the Joint Council of the CNI, CSI and the Mar Thoma church, and founder president of the Christian Union of India. He joint at UTC in Bangalore in 1950 and became its first Indian principal in 1954. He served as president of the Senate of Serampore College, 1968-71, and also of the Ecumenical
Association of Third World Theologians
president of the All India Conference of Indian Christians for subsequent three years from 1923 to 1934. He was the only
Indian Christian delegate for the Round Table Conference in London in 1931.425
K.T. Paul was known as 'Christian statesman of India.' He was born in Salem, southwest of Madras in 1870, and was educated at MCC. In 1905 he was one of the founders of the NMS of India and held the responsibilities of its organizing secretary in 1907 and general secretary in 1909. He and V.S. Azariah started the monthly journal National Missionary Intelligencer (later
NCC Review). As he accompanied with John R. Mott to visit around India in 1912, was recognized as the Mott of India because of his abilities as organizer and administrator. Paul was deeply involved with the YMCA and became national general secretary in 1916. He was one of the participants in Jerusalem IMC conference in 1928 along with William Temple.
His last words are recorded as having been, "I have done my duty to my God and my country. I die in peace."427
(g) Kanakarayan Tiruselvam Paul (1870-1931) He was born in Madras in 1901, pursued his secular degree at Nizam College, Hyderabad and Presidency College, Madras, and did his theological studies at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, and later he obtained his doctorate from Yale University. P.D. Devanandan was known as the Indian theologian and pioneer in inter-religious dialogue. He contributed his teachings in UTC, Bangalore from 1932 to 1949.
He was an eminent scholar to have dialogue with the people of other faiths, especially with Hindu friends. From 1949 until
1956 he was with the Indian YMCA, first as secretary at the Delhi YMCA, and later as national literature secretary.
Devanandan was one of the delegates who participated in the Third Assembly of the WCC at New Delhi in 1961, and presented a speech on "Called to Witness." In 1962, he died at Dehra Dun, India.426
(f) Paul David Devanandan (1901-1962) The Church Union Movement
History of Christianity in India He was born on 7th October 1920, Karkal, Karnataka. He studied at Madras University; UTC Bangalore; Union Theological
Seminary, New York; and Hartford Seminary with a Ph.D.
(j) Stanley Jedidiah Samartha (1920-2001) He was born in Kerala in 1922. His contribution towards ecumenism as the President of the WCC during 1983-1991,
Director of the WCC Division of Ecumenical Action and Associate General Secretary of the WCC, 1962-67. He was a delegate at the Vatican Council II as an observer. Gregorious led WCC delegation to UNESCO, 1966, to the Heads of African
State, 1968 and to the UN General Assembly Special Session on Disarmament, 1988. During the Vancouver Assembly, he helped arrange a meeting between representatives of all the Oriental Churches and Anglicans from England, Scotland and Canada with the Archbishop of Canterbury in the chair. He helped produce complete Christological agreement between the two families of the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental
Orthodox.429
(i) Paulos Mar Gregorious [Paul Verghese] (1922-1996) He was born on 7 August 1921 at Banaras, Uttar Pradesh; he was a professor at Allahabad University to teach international economics. He played multi role in the ecumenical movement in different capacities as associate director of the Ecumenical
Institute of Bossey (1964-67), as a member of the CNI, became chairman of the working committee on Church and Society, member of the Commission of the Churches on International
Affairs, vice-chairman of the WSCF, and WCC representative on the SODEPAX committee. In his own church he held leading positions as vice-chairman of the SCM of India, chairman of the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society
(CISRS), Bangalore, and a member of executive committee of the NCCI. His thorough influence on economics, made him as an adviser to the Uppsala assembly, and his contributions helped in shaping the WCC's understanding of the processes and goals of development.428
(h) Samuel L. Parmar (1921-1979)
Roy was a founder-President of an indigenous Church of God in North East India (NEI). He was one of the founding members of the Assam Christian Council433 in 1937 and a key figure of the ecumenical formation in the region. The council deputed him to attend the Tambaram IMC conference in 1938. Though
(l) James Joy Mohan Nicholas - Roy (1884-1959) He was born on 15th May 1916 in the Travancore region of Kerala, belonged to Mar Thoma Syrian Church. Thomas was known as Indian church leader and world ecumenical leader.
He was a pioneering Asian ecumenical thinker and layman, active in the ecumenical movement for many years, was moderator of the WCC central committee, 1968-75. He acted as the Secretary and later vice-chairman of the World Student
Christian Federation, 1947-53, chairman of the working committee of the ECC's Department on Church and Society at Geneva in 1966. At the WCC's assemblies in New Delhi 1961 and Uppsala 1968 he was a main speaker. M.M. Thomas was a tireless speaker and writer, stimulating ecumenical debate and forging consensus, expressed in countless conference and meeting reports he helped write. In Asia, he organized a series of ecumenical study conferences on social questions, which provided the basis for social reflections during the early years of the East Asia Christian Conference: Bangkok 1949, Lucknow
1953 and Kuala Lumpur 1959. Though he was a partaker in the ecumenical councils and dialogues, the Indian government recognized him and he was appointed as governor of Nagaland from 1990-1992.432
(k) Madathilparampil Mammen Thomas (1916-1996) dissertation, "The Modern Hindu View of History according to Representative Thinkers." He played the role as principal of the Basal Mission Theological Seminary in Mangalore (19471960) and in Serampore College (1966-1968).430 "He was the first director of the WCC Sub-unit on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies, 1970-81, Samartha was able to secure wide acceptance for dialogue as an important ecumenical concern."431
The Church Union Movement
History of Christianity in India Niles played a significant role to lead the Sri Lankan National
Christian Council from 1941-45. At that time onwards, he initiated contacts and conversations with the Roman Catholic Church and was involved in inter-faith dialogue. He also provided a sound leadership to the newly organized ecumenical body in Asia. He was made the first General Secretary of the East Asia Christian
Conference (EACC) at Prapat in1957. His eminent leadership led EACC towards a healthy growth and development, through which he contributed the publication of the EACC Hymnal to Asian search for a relevant ecumenism. His ecumenism related
Niles was a world leader in ecumenism and evangelism for four decades and for the last three of these were one of its bestknown leaders. He was born on 4th May 1908 in Ceylon into a family of Congregational Methodist ministers dating to the first
Tamil convert in 1821. He was graduated from UTC, Bangalore, and later earning a doctorate at the University of London. His ecumenical involvement began with the SCM for India, Burma, and Ceylon and continued at the IMC meeting in Madras in 1938 where he addressed on "The Authority of the Faith." He was one of the speakers in the opening service of the WCC,
Amsterdam 1948, and continuously participated at Evanston 1954 and Uppsala 1968. In the WCC he served successively as chairman of the Youth department, executive secretary of the department of evangelism, and one of the six world presidents.435
(m) Daniel Thambyrajah Niles (1908-1970) he was an ordained minister of the Church, he contributed his dynamic involvement in NEI's regional politics from 1920 till his death in 1959. He was also a member of the Constituent
Assembly in New Delhi – an Assembly that framed the Constitution of Indi where he actively took part in the discussions on conversion, of which he stressed on the freedom of an individual person to choose for one's faith/religion. His role in the national and freedom movement and in the building of a modern India had the consequence of strengthening national integration, secularism and protection of the neglected hill people's interest.434
He was born and brought out from an ecumenical family; on his father's side Manikam was Tamil and Lutheran, and on his
(o) Rajah Bushanam Manikam (1897-1969) He was also one of the founding members of the formation of United Biblical Seminary (UBS) first at Yavatmal and today in Pune, and contributed his abilities as its Board Member (19531987), Chairman (1968-1984) and Principal (1994-1995). He was President of the World Evangelical Fellowship from 1968 to 1974. Closely related to that, he was a member of several ecumenical organizations like the Board of Theological
Education, NCCI, British and Foreign Bible Society; London, World Vision of India and the founder secretary/ chairman of the Evangelical Fellowship of India Committee on Relief
(EFICOR); New Delhi. He also participated in the World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin 1966, International Congress on World Evangelization; Lausanne in 1974 and was a member of the Lausanne Continuing Committee till 1978, and Jerusalem
Conference on Biblical Prophecy pin Israel in 1971 and in other numerous organizations. His contribution to the churches and people in NEI through North East Indian Committee on Relief and Development (NEICORD), the Pine Brook Centre, Shillong,
World Vision and the EFICOR.
Ben Wati is from Nagaland in NEI, had his education in Shilong, Guwahati, Kolkata, Chicago and Wheaton. He was one of the founders of what is known today as the Eastern Theological
College (ETC), Jorhat. His Christian service was no longer limited within the hill people of NEI, but spread to the national level and even up to the level of world evangelical Christianity.
As an eminent ecumenical leader of evangelical persuasion, Ben introduced the evangelical movement with larger ecumenical representation as the first executive secretary of the newly formed Evangelical Fellowship of India from 1953 to 1976.
(n) Imchaba Bendang Wati (1920-2012) publications are: That They May Have Life (1952), Upon the Earth (1962), and A Testament of Faith (1972).
The Church Union Movement
History of Christianity in India "The official WCC Committee for writing the history of the ecumenical movement set the following terms of reference in 1946, that it should treat the efforts made across the centuries to secure: a) co-operation between Christians belonging to different confessions and churches, b) co-operation between the several churches and confessions, c) union or reunion of separated churches, and d) the full and final restoration of the unity of all Christendom."438 In India, since the later periods of 19th century, all these written statements of WCC Committee undoubtedly came true in action. Therefore, Dr. Arthur rightly says that 'the church unity efforts in India go on to fulfil the prayer of Jesus Christ "That they all may be one" (Jn. 17:21).'439
"The Church in India throughout its history has usually been dependent on the Churches of the West, and has had little opportunity to play a conspicuous part in general Church
History; but in this matter of church union in the twentieth century it has played a leading role and made a notable contribution to the Christian world."437
Conclusion mother's side Telugu and Anglican. He was known as Indian church leader and ecumenical statesman. His theological educations B.D. at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, and a Ph.D. at Columbia University led him towards prominent positions in Indian Christianity. In 1937, Manikam joined the staff of the NCCI, specializing in church-mission relationships, ecumenical activities, and higher education. In 1950, he was appointed as East Asia secretary of the International Missionary
Council and World Council of Churches. He was as an ordained minister of Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC), consecrated as its bishop in 1956. His outstanding achievement in the ecumenical circle was the creation of the East Asia Christian
Conference in 1957. His hopes and wider expectations for an extensive church union in India, with Lutheran participation, failed to come to fruition. Manickam is remembered by many as a world Christian, and also as a writer, he made a significant contribution to ecumenical thought in his book Christianity and the Asian Revolution (1954).436
'Lesslie Newbigin typecasts the Protestant and Catholic views of the church as 'the congregation of faithful' and the 'body of Christ' respectively, and went on to describe the Christianity of the Pentecostal churches as an authentic third stream of Christian awareness, embodying a view of the church as 'the community of the Holy Spirit'. This, he said, is now needed to fertilize and irrigate the other two views.'442 According to projections made by the World Council of Churches, by the year 2000, over 50% of all Christians in the world would be: (1) non-white, (2) from the southern hemisphere, and (3) of the Pentecostal or Charismatic variety.443
The "Pentecostals" subscribe to a work of grace subsequent to conversion in which Spirit baptism is evidenced by glossolalia
(i.e., speaking in tongues); for some, this baptism must also follow another act of grace, sanctification. "Charismatics," however, do not always advocate either the necessity of a second work of grace or the evidence of glossolalia as an affirmation of Spirit baptism. Yet both emphasize the present work of the Spirit through gifts in the life of the individual and the church.441
Since the beginning of 20th century, Christianity has witnessed the emergence of two great renewal movements of the Spirit: the Pentecostal movement, beginning in 1901, and the charismatic movement that developed several decades later. The impact of these movements has changed the face of Christianity around the world and ushered in a new era of Christian spiritually.440
Emergence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
History of Christianity in India Emergence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements Chapter Seventeen The Pentecostals claim that their teachings are rooted in the Bible. They uphold the importance of unity, fraternity and holiness. The non-conformism is an important feature of Pentecostalism. They challenge the theology and practices of traditional churches. The Pentecostal church is a free church and the Pentecostals have a critical look at the other religious traditions. They believe in the spiritual gifts especially prophecy and healing and give more emphasize on eschatology in their preaching. While describing the issues in Pentecostalism, R
Hollius Gause discovered the following things, which distinguishes the Pentecostals from other Protestants.
The Pentecostal Movement began in the first years of the 20th century among believers who sought a baptism in the Holy Spirit accompanied by speaking with tongues similar to instances recorded in Acts. Manifestations of this nature, occurring in some special meetings in Los Angeles in 1906, were the first to attract world-wide attention. The Movement spread rapidly.445 Within a century from humble origins, Pentecostalism has grown to become a major global Christian tradition, second in number only to the Roman Catholics. Pentecostalism, from its beginning, has been a missionary religion. Today Pentecostal and other independent movements comprise the fastest growing sectors of the Church in several areas of India.446
1. Pentecostal Movement Ecclesiastical differentiation is based on denominational affiliation among these movements. Thus, Pentecostals refers to those participating in classical Pentecostal denominations, such as the Assemblies of God, the Church of God, the Church of God in Christ, the United Pentecostal Church, and the International
Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Charismatics, on the other hand, refer to person outside these classical Pentecostal denominations but with connections to mainline denominations.
Neocharismatics are participants in independent, postdenominational, non-denominational, or indigenous groups or organizations, such as the Vineyard Christian Fellowship.444
The first is that the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is distinguishable from conversion. The second is
South India has been more responsive than the North to Pentecostalism.450 Pentecostalism came to Madras State in 1907 and it came to the Marathi district (now Maharashtra) in June
1.2.1. South India 1.2. 20th Century Pentecostal Movement in India: The Emerging Evidence The spiritual awakening in India through Pentecostalism had been in progress since 1905. There were three contributory factors behind the coming of this spiritual movement in India. The first was disappointment in the failure of traditional mission methods to increase the number of conversions in India because there were only one million Protestant communicants and adherents out of a population of 284 million by 1900. The second was encouraging news of revivals with large-scale conversions, particularly in Wales (1904), which seemed to indicate that the "last days" revitalization of the church had begun. The third was the desire of Indian believers for indigenous forms of worship and leadership.449
1.1. Pentecostal Movement in India Pentecostal churches entertain people from all castes and religious traditions and advocate a simple life style. They believe on the Scripture, Trinity, Repentance/Salvation, Baptism, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, the Eschatology, the Sacraments (Baptism &
Eucharist), non-liturgical Worship and the Ministry. The preaching of the Pentecostals is very much linked with the problems of the people which are existential and social. It is very much contextual and it always leads the people to renewal and commitment. The Pentecostal congregations are comparatively small, and this helps the pastors to take care of the spiritual well-being of the people more meaningfully.448
Emergence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
History of Christianity in India that the initial outward manifestation of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the experience of speaking with other tongues as the spirit gives utterance. The third is that the practice of holiness is normative for professing Christians and particularly for those seeking of professing the indwelling presence of and baptism in the Holy Spirit.447
Among Aroolappen's converts was the former Brahmin Justus Joseph, who formed the Revival Church in 1875. This group also was indigenous in nature, maintaining traces of local
Hindu culture, although Joseph proceeded to negate caste among his adherents. The Revival Church also re-established the prophetic office and practiced spiritual gifts, including making controversial predictions. Joseph's group continued into the early twentieth century, though discredited and criticized by the more conventional missionaries. As a consequence of renewed
European missionary fervour (beginning in 1897), and spurred on by the Welsh Revival (1904), a series of revivals swept across
India in 1905-1906. This awakening encompassed most Protestant groups, including Anglicans (CMS), Baptists, Danish
Lutherans, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, London About the early Indian Pentecostalism, Gary B. McGee points to a series of Pentecostal-like revivals in Madras Province (now
Tamil Nadu) and in Travancore (now Kerala), South India. The first of these occurred in Tirunelveli in Madras Province in 186061, followed by an outpouring of the Spirit in Travancore in 1874-75. In both cases, charismatic gifts (prophesy, glossolalia, glossographia, and interpretation of tongues) and other
Pentecostal phenomena (prayer for the sick, falling down and shaking, as well as restoration of the offices of apostle and prophet) were present. The leader was John Christian
Aroolappen, a native Anglican catechist who had been trained by pietistic missionaries. Aroolappen's ministry and the revival itself took an indigenous course, with little or no further influence by missionaries and no western money. Evangelistic outreach involved both men and women, and resulted in many conversions.453
1905 at Pandita Ramabai's girl's orphanage at Mukti, where a Pentecostal revival broke out, spreading from the orphanage to various parts of India and the world.451 There were also other pioneers of Pentecostal revival in India. They are AG Garr (USA),
Christian Schumacher (USA) and Thomas Barrett (Norway). In the State of Kerala also the Pentecostal movement spread like a violent storm and people from different faiths have joined the movement.452
Missionary Society, Church of Scotland, Methodists, Open Brethren, Presbyterians, Reformed, and Wesleyan Methodists.454
In recent decades, missionaries in North India made concerted efforts to reach the larger cities. The best known Pentecostal work in all of India has been that of Mark and Huldah Buntain in Calcutta. It now feeds over 20,000 hungry Indians each day, the early Pentecostal missionaries turned to establishing institutions such as orphanages, industrial schools, elementary schools, correspondence schools, radio programs, leper asylums, and dispensaries. 457 Gary McGee also has pointed out that, because of intense opposition, missionaries in North India often set up mission stations with a church, school, and missionary residence.
Benjamin P. Shinde (a product of the Junnar Boy's Orphanage and one of the earliest trained Indian missiologists) argues that this mission-station model retarded the development of Indian
Pentecostal leadership in the North. In contrast to stand-alone mission-stations, orphanages and industrial schools have been the most successful in developing Indian leadership.458
Pentecostal missionaries such as Alfred and Josephine Garr came to North India shortly after the outbreak of revival at the Azusa
Street Mission in Los Angeles. The Garrs arrived in Calcutta in January 1907 and began holding services. At about the same time a Pentecostal revival broke out in the Elliot Road Orphanage in Calcutta under the ministry of Ms Fannie Simpson, a Methodist missionary. Eventually Simpson was recalled by her bishop.
Again, she returned to India as an independent Pentecostal missionary about 1915, establishing girls' orphanage at Purulia.
These independent Pentecostal missionaries became associated with the Assemblies of God (AG) when it was organized in 1914.
But, because of difficulties faced in evangelizing North India,456 1.2.2. North India Early Pentecostal missionaries in South India focused most of their attention on evangelistic work and on the training of Indian evangelists and pastors. While George Berg established five schools for children, and Robert Cook founded four such schools, they did not consider charitable and social work as effective as evangelism.455
Emergence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
History of Christianity in India The Indian Pentecostal Church of God accepts the teaching of several Bible colleges. Pentecostal Young People's Association
(PYPA), the youth wing of the IPC, with over 2,000 chapters, is the largest youth ministry in India. Annually, in January, the General Convention of the Church, attended by tens of thousands,
Pastor KE Abraham in 1924 founded the IPC of God at Mulakazha, Chenganur. KC Cherian (Vettiyur), PM Samual
(Kekozoor), KM Zacharia (Punnakad), KC Oommen (Kumbanad) and PT Varghese (Chethakal) were his associates.
By the end of 1926, the church had spread to Travancore, Cochin, Malabar and Madras Province, to the States of Mysore and Hyderabad and to some places in North India. In 1934, the church became a registered body with the government under the Societies
Act at Elura, Andhra Pradesh. Now it is the largest Pentecostal denomination with over 5000 local congregations. It has twentyfour Region Councils spread in various States of India and abroad.
Kumbanadu Convention is conducted by IPC since 1985.460 At present, the IPC is the largest Pentecostal denomination in Kerala, with a total number of churches reaching 1,000 (over 4,400 throughout India) It has two ministerial centres, Hebron Bible
College and Salem Bible School. The Pentecostal churches in South India, particularly in Kerala, are sending missionaries to all parts of India and to Western countries, including the US, where Keralians have attempted to evangelize the Indian population. The most active group is the Indian Pentecostal
Church of God.461
1.3.1. Indian Pentecostal Church of God (IPC) 1.3. Pentecostal Churches in India Buntain's work has expanded to a hospital, a school of nursing, a junior college, a vocational school, six village clinics, a hostel for destitute youth, a drug prevention program, and twelve schools that provide instruction for 6,000 children. While classical
Pentecostalism has significantly impacted specific regions throughout the subcontinent, currently it is the slowest growing wave in the Indian Renewal movement. It is fair to say that India has responded less favourably to Christian culture imposed from abroad than to those forms that have a more indigenous base.459
The Assemblies of God developed the most extensive system of institutions, primarily centred in the Gangetic plain. These include an orphanage and girls school at Bettiah, a girls' orphanage at Purulia, the James Harvey boys school at Nawabganj, a leper work at Uska Bazar begun in 1911 by Minnie
The official publication of the Assemblies of God, Pentecostal Khalam, was started in 1925, and Bethel Bible School at Mavelikara was founded in 1927. Upon the death of Mrs
Chapman in 1927, the administration of the Assemblies of God came into the hands of Indians. The entire Assemblies of God is divided into three general councils – North, South and East India
Assemblies of God. These general councils together constitute the Assemblies of God of India (AGI), which was formed in 1955, and there is an executive committee for the administration.464
The first Assemblies of God missionary to South India was the veteran missionary to Africa, Mary Weems Chappman. She travelled extensively, holding meetings in Bombay Mukti,
Dhone, and Bangalore and finally settled in Madras in 1915, founding the Pentecostal work there. While in Madras, a delegation from Travancore requested that she come there. In 1922 Spencer May from Wales, a British AG missionary, came to Trivandrum to join with Mrs. Chapman. Together they published the first Malayalam Pentecostal magazine, the Pentecostal Trumpet, with a circulation in South Africa, the Gulf
States, Ceylon, and Malaysia, as well as India. In 1913, Robert F Cook who received Spirit baptism at the Azusa Street Mission also arrived in Bangalore as an independent missionary and joined
AG church and began to work at Kottarakkara, Travancore along with George E Berg. In 1929 Robert Cook and an Indian pastor
KE Abraham left the AG, choosing to work independently.
Abraham separated from Cook in 1930, forming the Indian Pentecostal Church (IPC). In 1936 Cook joined with the Church of God along with his congregation, which was known as Malankara Full Gospel Church.463
1.3.2. The Assemblies of God is held at the IPC headquarters at Hebron, Kumbanad, Kerala.462
Emergence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
History of Christianity in India Rev Thomas Philip, Pastor Abraham Mathew and Rev George
1.3.5. New India Bible Church This is an indigenous New Testament Church established in 1976, and Pastor VA Thampy is the founder president. The church has units in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh, Orissa, Bengal and Nepal and has 50,000 members, 528 pastors, 42 sisters and 200 trainees. New India Church is divided into two regions, southern and northern regions.469
1.3.4. New India Church of God The Church of God in India (Kumbanad) remained separate, with 15,000 members and 123 pastors. The present membership strength of the combined church is 40,000 and there are 520 pastors. Languages used are English, Malayalam and Hindi. The Church of God has spread throughout India and in 1972 it was divided into seven autonomous regions, each under a State overseer.468
The Church of God (Full Gospel) is an international Pentecostal church spread over 150 countries with 45 million members. JG
Ingram, one of the founders of the church, came to India in 1936, and he met American Robert F Cook of Malankara Full
Gospel Church which had been founded in 1914. Cook joined the new group with 66 local churches, 43 pastors and 2537 believers.466 The Church of God expanded into Central and Northern India in 1954 under the leadership of William Pospisil and TM Varghese. Churches also were established around Delhi and near Calcutta. In 1959 Harry Scism, son of Ellis Scism, opened a work for the United Pentecostal Church in Bhopal. Stanley
Scism, son of Harry, now serves as a missionary in Delhi. At present Harry Scism is general director of the UPC Foreign
Missions Board.467
1.3.3. The Church of God in India Abrams, a co-educational Bible school at Hardoi, the "Baby Fold" at Rupaidiha, a girls' industrial school at Siswa Bazar, a men's
Bible school at Laheria Sarai, and Childers Lodge, a Himalayan hill station operated as a missionary rest facility and revival centre.465
Much of the ACA ministry is carried out by volunteers. Full time workers are ordained but do not receive a fixed salary.
Theological training is not required. It is believed that at ordination they receive a special endowment of the Holy Spirit.
It is reported that in mid-1993 the main church at Purasawalkam The ACA is one of the prominent indigenous church bodies of Madras. Founded as an autonomous Pentecostal church in Madras city by the late Pastor G Sundram who had left the exclusivist Ceylon Pentecostal Mission, this church has a strong appeal for Hindus. Many well-educated Hindu observers participate in the worship, and a large number are publicly baptized in weekly baptismal services. Much of the worship is devoted to congregational singing, and Hindu converts have compared this to Saivite devotional hymn-singing of their past.
A second similarity is an intense personal experience of the grace of God, testimonies of which reflect the pattern of the Saivite saints. Third was the attraction of the saintly Pastor Sundram as a religious guru.
1.3.7. Apostolic Christian Assembly473 Unlike other Pentecostal groups, Ceylon Pentecostal Mission is an exclusivist group that has no relationship with other
Pentecostal groups or other Christian churches. It was founded in Colombo (Sri Lanka) by Paul Ramankutty in 1924, and it has spread throughout Kerala establishing "faith homes." It has more women workers than men - perhaps because it demands clerical celibacy. 471 From the beginning, indigenous forms of worship were incorporated. Worshippers were seated on mats on the floor
– similar to Buddhist and Hindu worship procedures. Domestic musical instruments for worship, singing of indigenous tunes, and other local cultural practices were common features, all of which gave the CPM an identity of its own, states Somaratna, yet the main driving force was the healing ministry.472
1.3.6. Ceylon Pentecostal Mission Philip at Paipad, Kumbanad and Tiruvalla in Kerala founded
New India Bible Church. The church has 125 local communities, and they are divided into 14 centres.470
Emergence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
History of Christianity in India Dr John Douglas founded the International Pentecostal
Organization, WME in 1940, and it was registered at Hyderabad.
(i) World Missionary Evangelism in India (WME) Rev DS Warner founded the Church of God in Anderson,
Indiana, USA, and Rev AD Khan brought it to India in 1910.
The church is divided into two, the Church of God in South and the Church of God in North. Local churches in Kerala, Tamil
Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka comprise the Church of God in South India. The church has 1250 local communities and 1200 pastors.476
1.3.9. The Church of God in South India Association Dr PJ Thomas founded Sharon Fellowship Church in 1953.
Following university education in India, he went abroad for higher education and became a professor at Wheaton College, Illinois.
He returned to India and founded Sharon Bible College in 1953 to equip young people for missionary work. The churches started by the graduates of the college came to be known as Sharon
Fellowship Church.474 During the first twenty years of SFC history, the ministry was confined to Kerala with the exception of a few churches in Southern Tamil Nadu. Then in 1970 TG
Koshy, a revival speaker, the then Vice President of the SFC, started church planting ministry in northern India. Churches were started in Delhi, Bombay, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore,
Nagpur, Bhopal and other cities.475
1.3.8. Sharon Fellowship Church The church engages in a wide range of activities including relief and welfare ministries, developmental projects, church planting, evangelistic outreach and conventions. On the other side, ACA missionaries are sent into North India. At least 10 churches have been started in Calcutta, Chandigarh, Delhi,
Jabalpur and also in the states of Gujarat, Haryana and Bihar.
This church is a vibrant model of a South Indian indigenous church. had a membership of 5,500 which had increased to 12,000 members by 1997.
In the Indian society equality is denied to women, by the system of patriarchy that governs human life today in all aspects: religion, culture, economics, politics, and social life.
The status of women is same even in the Christian Churches.
Normally, women have no voice in the church and the life of the church. The status of Dalit women is more severe. Julie
Ma says that according to Jewish custom, the Feast of Pentecost was celebrated only by men. However, both men and women experienced the out poring of the Holy Spirit on that day. For her the preaching of Peter, a disciple of Jesus, from the prophetic book of Joel about the 'sons and daughters' would prophesy is a key encouragement for women to enter
Christian ministry. This was particular true for those with roots in the 19th century Holiness movement. Julie Ma says that both unmarried and married women have worked in various ministry settings primarily to fulfil their sense of calling. They
(b) Women in the Pentecostal Movement479 This was the result of the 19th century resurgence of Christian unity and activity, a new awakening within the Protestant
Reformation of the 16th century. In 1827 in Dublin, Dr Edward Cronin, JN Darby, Bellect, and Hutchinson constituted the first congregation, having affirmed that a priest was not necessary.
This movement came to India in 1835 through Antony Norris Groves, a dentist by profession, and his activities centred in Bihar,
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, followed to Karnataka and Bengal in 1872. Mathai Upadeshi, a disciple of John Arulappa, who took the baton from Groves, initiated this movement in Kerala. JJ Groves, a preacher from Keswick Convention in England, delivered sermons at the Maramon Convention,
Kerala.478
(ii) Brethren Assemblies The India Independent Churches of God founded by the late CS
Mathai of Pathanamthitta on 12 July1947 united with WME in 1971. The church is divided into 75 areas, each under a supervisor. There are about 15,000 ministers and 6,000 congregations.477
Emergence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
History of Christianity in India During the first half of the 20th century, there were a number of Western women missionaries such as Mary Chapman (18571927), Lydia H Graner (1937-1972) and Mildred C Guinn (19301972) who came to India. Bergunder says, "Nevertheless, there are also some Indian Pentecostal women who have their own congregations and are in fact acting as pastors." One of the most important examples is the Zion Gospel Prayer Fellowship in Chennai. It was founded in 1963 by Sarah Navroji who not only
Leadership and full ordination of women are two main concerns in Pentecostalism. The first known tongue speaker in the 20th century is Agnes Ozman in the US. In India the first known speaker is a group of women in the Mukti Ashram of Pandita
Ramabai in 1905. These two histories show the significant role of women in the origin and development of Pentecostal movement.
1.5.2.
Women Leadership and Ordination According to Michael Bergunder," in the South Indian
Pentecostal Movement, women exercise strong influence in shaping congregational life, and it is their activities that contribute to a large extent to the growth of the churches. They have freedom to engage in many authoritative ways in the life of the church."
They exercise the gift of prophecy and are allowed to preach in the church and other meetings. The main involvement of women is in the field of mission and evangelism. Stephen says that women are more active in mission and find the needy and the weak people and extend their help to them. They are active in the worship services. They take initiative in singing songs and praying. It is their joy and they celebrate it. During the time of worship they exercise their spiritual gifts such as prophecy and tongues. They prophesy to both men and women. Women share their pain and pathos in the church. Church has a space to listen to their experience and this kind of testimonies is regular in a Pentecostal churches.
1.5.1.
Participation of Women in the Ministry are church planters, preachers, teachers, and doctors in faroff corners of the world.
VV Thomas has observed that the first adherents of the Pentecostal movements were mostly the poor and needy.
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church terms Pentecostalism as originally "a religion of the poor."480 David
Barrett, the editor of the World Christian Encyclopaedia says that half of all Pentecostals, approximately two hundred million persons, live in the depth of poverty. Of that number, nineteen million represent the poorest of the poor. Julio de Santa Ana at the Ecumenical Association of Third-World theologian's conference in Bossey says, "liberation theology has called for an option for the poor, but the poor have opted for Pentecostalism." In explaining the Pentecostal presence among the poor, Reuben Gabriel says, "Pentecostalism in India thrives among the poor and downtrodden." For Richard Shaull,
1.6.
Pentecostals among the Poor According to Stephen though certain Pentecostal churches ordain their women in India, it is not a common practice among all the Pentecostal churches in India. In AG church women are given the first ordination and consider them as a minister or the recognized worker in the church because Samuelkutty observes that it has been the women who mainly invited and brought many of their own relatives to the Pentecostal churches. But on the other side still women are subjected in the church in terms of ordination and leadership. acted as a famous evangelist, but also went one step further and started her own church in Medavakkam, near Kelleys, Chennai.
Even though women and their ministry are well taken, it is a contradiction that in some local churches male pastors use the Pauline concept "women should be silent in the church."
Emergence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
History of Christianity in India "The more aware I become of the nature of their search, the more I realized that Pentecostals are the ones who are now present among the poor and are responding to them according to the testimonies of those we interviewed, this is where they have found new life. As I listen to them, I could not escape the conclusion that Pentecostals were offering them something I and my communities of faith did not have and thus could not offer."
"Charismatics" derive their name from the Greek word Charisma which means "a gift of grace, a gift of involving grace (charis) on the part of God as the Donor". According to Robert H
Culpepper the Charismatic movement is an inter-denominational 2. Charismatic Movement The idea of doing Christian mission with a humanitarian concern humanisation – in the social scenario is the major contribution of the great ecumenical theologian, MM Thomas. For the Pentecostals, evangelism is more important than social work. At the same time it is not fair to say that Pentecostals are totally indifferent to doing social work because they also contributed their involvement in the rescue and reconstruction work in Tsunami affected areas particularly in India is a good sign of their mission on this aspect. Though Roger Hedlund viewed that, the members of the Pentecostal churches are not encouraged to engage in social or political action, he accepted along with Richard Shaull and Waldo Cesar and says that Pentecostalism has demonstrated its power to touch the lives of the poorest and most excluded to help them, recognize their lives, and to give them a new sense of identity and hope. Likewise, most of the Pentecostal churches are having their own projects to express social concern among their respective society.481
1.7. Social Action Pentecostal movement has been known as the movement of the poor. During the time of emergence of Pentecostalism poverty was severe among all castes and the 'out castes.' The people, who were economically poor, physically challenged, alienated and marginalized have also been a part of this movement. And also, the Pentecostal believers have an eschatological hope that this exploitative system will be changed and the sufferings and the pain will be consoled; this eschatological hope is the basic reason of the growth of Pentecostalism among the poor people.
Pentecostals say that Christians in the traditional churches and people in other religious tradition often mock them in the name of their poverty. According to VV Thomas, "Pentecostals acknowledge the suffering as a reality."
While early Pentecostalism was often associated with the lower socio-economic classes and relegated to the fringe of evangelical
Christianity, the desire for spiritual renewal in the historic and affluent mainline churches unexpectedly resulted in an increased interest in spiritual gifts, including glossolalia and physical healing.
News of this renewal in the United States began to surface on the national level in 1960 with the publicity accorded to remarkable happenings in the ministry of Dennis Bennett, an Episcopal rector in Van Nuys, California. As the movement grew, it spread to other Protestant Churches, the Roman Catholic Church, and finally to the Orthodox churches. Part of the groundwork for charismatic renewal, reflecting its deep roots in the Pentecostal movement, had been laid by the ministries of Oral Roberts, David
J du Plessis, and Demos Shakarian and the Full Gospel Business 2.1. Its Beginning and Nature movement within Christendom seeking to promote personal and church renewal and a recovery of spiritual power by an emphasis upon the exercise of the gift of the spirit mentioned by Paul in 1
Cori. 12:7-11.482 In a narrower sense, the word is used especially for the supernatural graces which individual Christians need to perform the specific tasks incumbent on them in promoting the spiritual advancement of their fellows. It was believed that the charismata given to Apostles, prophets, teachers, and those entrusted with the government of the Church.483 In fact, Pope
John XXIII offered a prayer for the Second Ecumenical Council where he emphasized for Holy Spirit as follows:
Emergence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
History of Christianity in India O divine Spirit, sent by the Father in the name of Jesus, give your aid and infallible guidance to your Church and pour out on the Ecumenical Council the fullness of your gifts...
May this Council produce abundant fruits; may the light and power of the gospel be more widely diffused in human society; may new vigour be imparted to the Catholic religion and its missionary function; may we all acquire a more profound knowledge of the Church's doctrine and a wholesome increase of Christian morality. O gentle Guest of our souls, confirm our minds in truth and dispose our hearts to obedience, that the deliberations of the Council may find in us generous consent and prompt obedience.484
In 1972, Minoo Engineer, a young Parsi civil engineer who had been studying at Fordham University and had been converted to Catholicism through his involvement with Charismatics, brought the Catholic Charismatic renewal to India. In that same year, two
Jesuit priests, Fr Fuster and Fr Bertie Phillips, who had been in the United States for studies and research, returned to India as Charismatics.490 These early leaders formed prayer groups. The 2.2. The Charismatic Movement in India Like most religious movements, the Charismatic renewal has a distinguishing characteristic: as the Protestant Reformation focused on justification, or Wesleyans on sanctification, the Charismatic renewal has emphasized the person and work and gifts of the Holy Spirit.487 The Charismatic Movement unites
'churches'. The movement created a different understanding of the reality of Christian Faith such as prayer, Word of God, witnessing and fellowship etc., and wide range of spiritual gifts are manifested. The experience of "Baptism in the Holy Spirit," often accompanied by speaking in tongues.488 In the Charismatic renewal the Scriptures are regarded as a primary source of spirituality. The use of the Scriptures is very evident in their prayer meetings. In fact it is during prayer meetings that they mainly do the interpretation of the Scripture.489
The renewal in the Roman Catholic Church, which can it part be traced to the monumental changes ushered in by the Vatican II Council, spread around the world and was experienced by both prelates and laity. With the outbreak of the charismatic renewal in the early 1960s, it became apparent to the church world that Pentecostalism in its various forms would have to be taken seriously not only because of its growth but also because of its successful penetration into virtually every corner of the Christian community and the world.486
Men's Fellowship International. It quickly became apparent that this renewal, which also sought for the dynamic power of the Spirit, flowed out of what many believed to be a vacuum in American religious life as well as a longing to return to the essence of New Testament Christianity within one's particular church tradition.485
At present, the leading Indian Catholic charismatic leader is Mathew Naickomparambil, a Catholic Charismatic healing evangelist born in Kerala in 1947; he was baptized by the Spirit in the early 1970s on his own, well before the Catholic
Charismatic Renewal was known in India. He entered a Vincentian denominations often were touched by the renewal as they were hosted by Pentecostal missionaries. Following his ordination as priest in 1976, Naickomparambil received many spiritual gifts. The first healing through his ministry occurred in 1978, and shortly thereafter he began to have frequent visions.
In 1987, Naickomparambil felt led to proclaim the word of God rather than to counsel and minister individually. This led to daily proclamations at the Potta Evangelization Retreat, north of Cochin. Vast crowds attended. In 1990, the Vincential order bought a nearby hospital in Muringoor, near Chalakudy, to form the Divine Retreat Centre, led primarily by Naickomparambil.
Retreats in six languages, including English, are simultaneously conducted in six different auditoriums. Retreats are conducted every week of the year with an average of 15,000 people per week and up to 150,000 at the five-day conventions492 , especially during the summer holidays. Everyone in attendance is given accommodation at the centre during the retreats. Over 300,000 non-Christians and millions of Christians have attended these first of these began in Bombay with only four members present.
The movement spread to Bandra, encouraged by the Medical Mission Sisters of the Holy Family Hospital. Other prayer groups were formed in Vile Parle and Juhu. The first of four groups formed in Byculla was in the Institute of Deaf Mutes in Mazagoan.
There was a very active group in Mahim in the Presentation Convent with Sr. Basil and Margare D'souza. Fr Fuster and Fr
Philips started the Life in the Spirit Seminars and prayer groups at St. Xavier's College. Shortly thereafter the renewal spread to Poona and to Goa. Then prayer groups emerged in Gauhati in Assam in the Air Force Colony as an interdenominational prayer group. The charismatic movement then came to Delhi, with prayer groups developing at St Thomas's Parish and St Dominic's
Parish. Soon small prayer groups had spread throughout all of India.491
Emergence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
History of Christianity in India By far the largest category within the renewal in India is that of the Neo-Charismatics. These are Christian bodies with 3.1. Indian Neo-charismatics496 The rapid growth of Pentecostalism in its various forms also brought a considerable variety of worship patterns, cultural attitudes, ecclesiastical structures, and method of evangelism.
Wide differences in forms of spirituality and theology become even more apparent when indigenous neo-charismatic groups are examined. "Neo-charismatic" group that cannot be classified as either Pentecostal or Charismatic but share a common emphasis on the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, Pentecostal-like experiences, signs and wonders, and power encounters. In virtually every other way, however, they are as diverse as the world's cultures they represent. This Neo-charismatic include such groups as the New Apostolic Churches, the Legion of Mary (an independent
Catholic church beginning in Kenya), the Kimbanguist Church and the Eglise de Jesus Christ sur la terre d'apres le prophete
Simon Kimbangu (Zaire), Mana Egreja Crista (Portugal-based), True Jesus Church (indigenous Oneness church from China), and the Celestial Church of Christ (indigenous church originating in Ghana). In the Asian continent, the countries such as South
Korea, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Japan also found rapid neocharismatic growth through the frequently extreme spiritual manifestations.495
3. Neo-Charismatics In 1974-75 a group of 30 Catholic charismatic leaders met in Bombay to hold the first National Charismatic Convention; to begin a journal, Charisindia, to serve the renewal; to print the first edition of the Praise the Lord hymnal; and to nominate a service team for Bombay. The National Service Team is the apex body of national leaders with the threefold task of discernment, prophetic ministry, and service to the movement. 494 week-long retreats, and large numbers have accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. Good news and healing conventions are held by Naickomparambil and his associates in parishes all over Kerala.493
One of the best examples for the Charismatic church in India is 3.1.1. The Believers' Church Among the largest renewal groups in India are the third wave or neo-charismatics. With few exceptions, these are indigenous bodies. The largest in the New Apostolic Church founded in 1969, with adherents totalling 1,448,209 in 1995. This group established a Kenya mission in 1973. This is the second largest, the IPC with about 900,000 adherents throughout India and 10 other countries. Others include the New Life Fellowship (founded in 1968, now with about 480,000 adherents; the Manna Full
Gospel churches and ministries (with origins c. 1968 and connections to Portugal), now with 275,000; the Nagaland
Christian Revival Churches (1952, Pentecostal splits from Nagaland Baptists), now with 260,000; Christi Groups (c. 1970, known for literature campaigns) with 233,000; Omega Full
Gospel Assembly (c. 1960, in Karnataka) with 230,000; Believers Church in India (founded by KP Yohanan c. 1960) with 200,000; and 40 other independent Oneness bodies, many with US connections, with 200,000 adherents. The total of Indian believers in the Neo-charismatic denominations is 15,345,340.
Millions more are in older independent Christian churches, such as the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, or are non baptized believers in Christ. Unfortunately, most of these groups are so new and independent that they have not yet been adequately studied.
Typically, scholars have not risen in their ranks, and they have been treated by outsiders merely as "Indian indigenous churches." 497
Pentecostal-like experiences and a common emphasis on the Holy Spirit that have no traditional Pentecostal or Charismatic denominational connections. This is a catch-all category of dozens of independent, indigenous, post-denominational denominations and groups. According to Roger E. Hedlund,
Indian Christians of indigenous origins include members of tribal communities, converted Dalits or untouchables, as well as converts from much earlier indigenous Christian churches in India, such as the St. Thomas Christians in Kerala and Tamil
Nadu.
Emergence of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements
History of Christianity in India Sadly, this spirit of cooperation has only emerged under duress and shows little signs of permanence. India may well have been the first country to experience the modern Pentecostal outpouring. Indian Pentecostalism has been weakened, however, by frequent divisions and by noncooperation between various
Christian groups as well as between missionaries and Indian leaders. Notwithstanding, modest growth continues, especially among charismatic and independent Pentecostal groups. 562
Indian Christians of all varieties, especially the more aggressive Pentecostals and Catholic charismatics, have experienced severe persecution by radical Hindu groups in recent years. Atrocities have ranged from the beheading of Catholic priests and the raping of nuns to the destruction of churches, the exhuming of Christian bodies from cemeteries, the beating of AG believers in Annaipalayan, the burning of Bibles, and the parading of Christians naked through towns and villages. In response, virtually all Christian groups have united in the formation of an "All India United Christian Voice" to conduct mass rallies and to issue joint press releases.
4. Persecution in the Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches499 the Believer's Church. This church is the outcome of a mission,
Gospel for Asia, which was founded by Dr KP Yohanan in the 1960s. During the first years of the mission, the Gospel for Asia worked with many mission organizations that focussed on evangelism. Eventually they set up Bible colleges to train church planters and send them out to the neediest nations of Asia. The Gospel for Asia has nearly 10,000 Believers' churches. The Believers' Church basically subscribes to the general Pentecostal beliefs; however, they accept episcopacy in their governance of the church. In 2004 Dr. KP Yohanan was consecrated bishop.
The headquarters of the Gospel for Asia is Tiruvalla, Kerala.
Recently they have consecrated six more bishops and Dr Yohanan is elevated Archbishop.498
After the formation of the IMS and NMS there was a period of stagnation in the history of Indian missions. Spiritual lethargy, nominalism and the influence of liberal theology killed the evangelistic and missionary zeal of the church.502 But, following Independence, Indian mission organizations mushroomed. A study initiated in 1977 revealed the existence of 78 indigenous missions India. Undoubtedly, many more
Post-Independent India Indigenous Missionary Organizations in the Indigenous Missionary Movement is an expression of indigenous Christianity. Probably, the earliest recorded example in India is the Mar Thoma Evangelistic Association, organized in Kerala within a year of the formation of the reformist Mar
Thoma Syrian Church in 1888-89. Missionary zeal combined with Indian Christian nationalism in the formation of the first indigenous mission agencies.500 Therefore, in 1903 under the leadership of Bishop VS Azariah, the Indian Missionary Society
(IMS) was formed in the Tirunelveli diocese of the Anglican Church. Two years later Bishop Azariah along with other national Christians and a few expatriates like Dr Sherwood Eddy was responsible for the formation of the National Missionary
Society (NMS). Both these societies began their work in India, sending missionaries cross-culturally with the latter especially being an expression of national consciousness and unity.501
Indian Christian Missionary Organizations
History of Christianity in India Indian Christian Missionary Organizations Chapter Eighteen Some of these Indian missions are indigenous in origin, finance and government. Others are indigenous in origin and government while they receive funds from abroad. For those which are indigenous in finance, the funds come through local
One of the characteristics of the indigenous missionary movements in India is that they are regional. Their works, board members, and supports are all from one state or one language group. The majority of the missions were from Tamil Nadu in South India. Except for the NMS and IEM, and other missionary movements are regional in origin, governance and support.
Except the IEM, most of the others work in cross-cultural situations within India only. The NMS is also working in Nepal.
Salient Features of Indigenous Missionary Organizations506 But in the early fifties there was a fresh breath of revival and new life in the churches in South India. It was at this time that the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) was also born.
Missionary interest was revived. This led to the formation of the Indian Evangelical Overseas Mission in 1954 as the missionary arm of the EFI. Later in 1965 this mission took a new shape with the name "Indian Evangelical Mission" (IEM).
Following this, other indigenous missionary movements sprang up, predominantly in South India.504 In addition, mission was not confined to Protestant mission agencies and personnel in this period. Indigenous missionary institutes of the Catholic
Church also carry forward the evangelization mandate in India today. Other missionary projects are carried out directly by the churches.505 existed not identified by the researchers at that time, but the data indicated a much larger number of agencies and indigenous missionaries than had been known. Apart from well-known agencies such as the FMPB and the IEM, many lesser-known societies came to light. One of the surprises was to find the largest indigenous missions located in northeast India, namely the Synod Mission Board of the Presbyterian Church and the Zoram Baptist Mission in Mizoram. The study discovered a variety of missionary structures and that most agencies were experiencing a steady increase in personnel.503
The first missionaries were Sasmuel Packianathan and his brother, who went to Dornakal in 1904 where the first baptism took place in 1906. In 1909, Azariah himself took a leading part in the formation and development of the Society and its
Dornakal field. By 1912, there were 8,000 converts in a great mass movement. By1920, the membership had grown from 8,000 to 86,000, and in the next ten years it grew to 1,58,000.
IMS of Tirunelveli was founded on 12th February 1903 through the initiative of VS Azariah, then a secretary of the Young Men's
Christian Association(YMCA), together with other like-minded persons, to provide a means for the church in Tirunelveli to carry the gospel to other Indians, in keeping with the mission's stated principles of "Indian men, Indian money, and Indian management and an area of work where no other missionary society was working,' Dornakal, a territory o the east of the erstwhile Hyderabad state, was chosen and approved by the Bishopp of Madras as the field of operation for the new mission.
1.1. Indian Missionary Society of Tirunelveli507 The post-independent period is known for the emergence of many indigenous missions endeavour extensively and a few missions even before Indian independence. A few movements and organizations have created a tremendous contribution towards the growth of Christianity in India.
1. A Few Indian Christian Missionary Organizations churches and individuals and prayer groups within the local churches. Most of the support is personalized support. For an instance, the Friends Missionary Prayer Band (FMPB) has many prayer groups in Tamil Nadu and in other States. Each prayer group undertakes to support one or two or more missionaries.
The IEM gets almost all its support for the work in India from local churches, groups and individuals within the country. For capital expenditure like buildings, vehicles equipment, etc., gifts were accepted from abroad in the early days; but today the Indian churches have come forward to raise financial supports to meet all those expenditures.
Indian Christian Missionary Organizations
History of Christianity in India After100 years, the IMS is still active, and at present has
This is a Catholic indigenous missionary congregation founded by Fr Gaspar A Pinto in 1941. The two main aims of the Society,
1.3. Indian Missionary Society, Varanasi509 As the NMS of India was welcomed by the denominational
Churches, missionaries were sent to Nepal, Sikkim, and other parts of India. Sadhu Sunder Singh worked as an honorary missionary of NMS. Today the mission has the approval of the mainline Churches in India, namely CSI, CNI, the Mar Thoma,
Methodist, and Lutheran Churches, and is supported by Indian resources.
Established on Christmas 1905 in the Serampore College Library, the NMS of India adopted Carey's motto, 'Expect Great
Things from God, Attempt Great Things for God.' The organizers of the Society were nationalist Indian church leaders representing the various Protestant denominations concerned with a distinctly indigenous expression of the Christian mission.
When seventeen young men from various parts of India to bring people together from the different denominations in order to evangelize the nation, VS Azariah, and KT Paul, came together at Serampore on 23-25 December 1905, the NMS was born.
1.2. National Missionary Society of India508 516 missionaries serving in seventeen states supported by families, prayer groups, congregations, and institutions.
Converts are formed into new congregations. There are now more than 175 churches and 600 prayer houses. More than
1,100 adivasi children are cared for in eighteen hostels. The Society has matriculation schools in six service areas with 1,500 children and ninety two missionary teachers. They maintain eight clinics in tribal areas with as rehabilitation centres training adivasis in self-employment skills in eight states. Azariah was consecrated as bishop on 29th December 1912, with responsibility for the Dornakal Diocese, becoming the first
Indian Anglican Bishop, and by remembering his centenary consecration day special gatherings were organized by the IMS people in Tirunelveli, Chennai and other places in December
2012 and January 2013.
Around the 1950s, most of the European colonized nations became independent and slowly missed the traditional Protestant
Western missionary services. Thus, the church in India had to develop her own indigenous leadership. In this scenario, in 1977, six Indian missions assembled to form the India Missions
Association in a meeting called by the EFI at Devlalai, Maharashtra. The IMA was formed for the facilitating mutual help, cooperation, and corporate expression of cross-cultural mission endeavours. Today IMA represents 210 Indian mission organizations, agencies, and church groups, and about 40,000
Christian workers within India and beyond. Membership is open to Indian Christian mission organizations, institutions, and church groups that are establishing Jesus worshipping fellowships within and or outside of India. When missions formally apply, their structure, leadership, and the ministry are checked, and then the executive board of IMA approves them for membership. This brings certain credibility to members.
Then the members pay a certain yearly subscription to IMA.
Partnership is open to overseas missions and churches involved in ministry to Indians.
1.4. Indian Missions Association510 A few years ago, people began coming in large numbers to this Catholic centre, which stresses inter-religious dialogue, harmony, and cultural adaptation of faith. It has a chapel and a satsang bhavaan, a house for group chanting of devotional songs. Besides the annual convention, people calling themselves
Krist bhaktas (devotees of Christ) gather throughout the year to hear the gospel and pray together. which is headquarterede at Christnagar, Varanasi, are pioneering evangelization and inculturation. The Society accepted the mission station of Sidrol from the Archdiocese of Ranchi for pioneering evangelization in 1991. It manages the Matridham
(mother's abode) Ashram outside Varanasi, wherein thousands from all over northern India, most of them non-Christians, gather annually for a three-day spiritual convention and reconciliation service at the Catholic retreat centre.
Indian Christian Missionary Organizations
History of Christianity in India The IMA has formed many networks based on the Specific goals were set for raising prayer partners and missionaries, opening mission stations, and starting new churches. Commitment to prayer, sacrificial service, exemplary lifestyle, partnership with churches, and innovative and culturally relevant approaches have made this organization a foremost mission agency in India. Significant holistic transformation has taken place among the Kukna and Vasava tribes in south Gujarat and the Malto tribe in Jharkhand.
In May 1966, a team visiting Panchamalai in Dharmapuri district was challenged to send resident missionaries to that area. In June 1967, Harris Hilton and Pushparaj were sent as the first missionaries to Periamalai. In 1971, the first mission station was opened in north India at Basti, Uttar Pradesh, with Hilkiah as the missionary.
FMPB is an indigenous missionary movement emerging from a spiritual awakening among the children and youth of Tirunelveli district in the early 1950s through the ministry of Vacation Bible School (VBS). Thekey personalities involved in it included P Samuel, Theodore Williams, Samuel T
Kamalesan, and others, who formed a prayer group called Friends Fellowship. This became the FMPB in the year 1959.
The missionary vision was spread through district meetings and prayer groups. The writings, songs, and messages of Emil
Jebasingh helped spread the missionary challenge.
1.5. Friends Missionary Prayer Band511 Since the advent of IMA, three general secretaries have led the movement successively, namely Rev Theodore Williams,
Ebenezer Sunderaj, and presently K Rajendran. The IMA leadership is also represented in many global leadership forums. contemporary mission challenges in India to impact the whole nation. The networks in 2006 were Member Care Network,
Urban Ministries Network, Big Partners/Tent-makers Network, Neighbours Network, Bandhu Seva Network, Missionary
Training Network, Research Network, Board Members Network, Youth Ministries Network, and Bible Translation/
Literacy Network.
IIM was started by KV Paul Pillai and registered as a religious society in New Delhi in 1966. The mission is an interdenominational and evangelical body dedicated to evangelism and church planting in north India. From a staff of 1.7. Indian Inland Mission513 The staff in the Bangalore office of IEM now includes associate general secretaries, finance, literature, and promotional secretaries, finance, literature, and promotional secretaries. When Theodore Williams retired, R Theodore
Srinivasagam becamea the general secretary followed by Noel Kotian. IEM is now one of the larger indigenous cross-cultural missions in India. It is a member of the India Missions
Association and involved in partnerships both in India and abroad.
In October 1965, Simon Baru was sent as IEM's first missionary to Pallahara in Orissa, to work among the Munda,
Ho, Juang, and Bhuyan tribes. By 1968, IEM had five missionaries. In 1969, Theodore Williams became full time secretary of IEM. At present, they have a total of 328 missionaries. The qualifications for missionary candidates are a deep dedication, an evangelistic and missionary spirit, and Bible School training. Today IEM also provides additional missionary training at the Outreach Training Institute at Hosur near Bangalore.
The IEM came into being on 15th January 1965 through the initiative of the EFI meeting during the annual conference at Devlal in Maharashtra. There K Thirumalai, I Ben Wati, Subodh
Sahu, J Victor Manogaram, BA Prabhakar, D John Richards, Theodore Williams, and Augustine Salins grappled with the challenge of launching a self-governing and self-supporting
Indian mission. Indian leaders would take the intiative to challenge Indian Christians for missionary service. They formed a board of nine members with K Thirumalai as chairman and appointed Theodore Williams, a teacher of the South India Bible
Institute, Bangarapet, as honorary general secretary.
1.6. Indian Evangelical Mission512 Indian Christian Missionary Organizations
History of Christianity in India The "Little Tradition" represents the practices and beliefs of Christian adherents which may be at variance with the dogmas and rituals of recognized "Great Tradition" Christianity.
Normally, the churches of the "Little Tradition" consist of lesserknown churches and recent new movements of Indian origin in contrast to the historic denominations and institutions constituting the "Great Tradition" in Indian Christianity which have existed since the era of St. Thomas. These new movements for the most part known for the greatest growth of the Church today is taking place frequently among poor and 2. Understanding of the "Little Tradition" Churches
The mission also operates the Grace Medical Centre and Technical Training Centre for new members in fifty acres of farmland in Gurgaon, Haryana, called the Grace Centre. This also houses the Grace Bible College, a home for destitute children, and a home for the aged. The support within India is received from the assemblies established by the mission and from about 200 prayer groups in south India, mostly in Kerala. six in1968, it grew to twenty-nine in 1973, and by 1978 there was a staff of forty-eight. By 1980 there were fifty-two missionaries working in Delhi, Haryana, Kashmir, and Punjab.
In addition, about 200 people are actively engaged in full-time mission work, but are not on the IIM staff list, though they are supported in some way through the mission. The missionaries are involved in evangelism, teaching, medicine, and in other ministries. The ability to preach and teach and the command of local languages (such as Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi) are seen as desired qualities for missionary candidates. Most of the candidates are recruited from the Grace Bible College run by the mission. Those from outside colleges are given six months' special training. The mission had planted seventy-eight churches across north India by 1980 and had about 3,000 converts from various backgrounds. The Delhi Bible Church in New Delhi is an IIM project. The aim is to ultimately establish a Christian assembly in every village in the five north Indian states in which it operates.
The Pentecostal, Charismatic and Neocharismatic Movements and the Indigenous Missionary Movements in India are considered as the 'Little Tradition" in Indian Christianity which is ready to accept the people irrespective of caste, colour, creed and community as they are. And these movements are working not only for the spiritual growth of the people and missionary work in the society, they also taking considerable efforts to bring out the identity of the community and create oneness in Christ. Hedlund says that, "Christians find an identity in Christ and in the Church which is both local and universal.
Indian Churches share in the catholicity of the Church. Indian Christians and Churches are part of the one, universal body of Christ."517
A majority of India's Christians are from the oppressed, the products of Tribal and Dalit conversion movements. In India today, however, in North as well as South, a number of subaltern movements are taking place in which oppressed peoples are finding dignity in a new identity as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, these new churches are important and need to be identified in the wider sense. For the most part the new small churches have been by-passed in the study of Christianity in India.516
Hence, the study of Indigenous Christian Movements, Churches of Indigenous Origins, and Independent Indian
Churches must be considered as revitalization movements which involve the members of the community themselves – not outside advocates – in an effort to create new structures leading ultimately to a renewed Church, group or society. Revitalization is a renewal of a structure because as Hollenweger states,
Churches of Indigenous Origins "represent a return of Christianity to its roots."515 disenfranchised, marginalized populations are neglected by Indian church history.514
History of Christianity in India
According to the 2001 census, India has a Christian population of 19 million. The total Christian population of northeast India which is roughly 4.3 million, accounts for about 22.7 percent of Indian Christians. Christianity has emerged as the major
Christianity in Northeast India The term "Northeast" is a geographical identity and refers to those portions of India lying to the north and east of Bangladesh consisting of the states and territories of Assam, Manipur,
Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. The region excluding the recent addition of Sikkim, the Himalayan state, is also called as "the land of seven sisters".
These states contain an immense diversity of language and culture, including about two hundred different hill and plains tribes speaking about 175 different languages. They can be classified into two, the hill and the plain tribes. The hill tribes consist of the Kuki-Chin-Mizo groups, the Nagas, the Garos, the Khasis and few others. They live in the states of Manipur,
Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal, Meghalaya and Assam.
Most of the hill tribes are Christians. The plain tribes are the Ahoms and Adivasis. They are found in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam. At the time of India's independence in 1947, all but the princely states of Manipur and Tripura were part of Assam.
The states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland were carved out of Assam in the 1960s and 1970s.518
Land, People and Culture Christianity in North East India Christianity in North East India
Chapter Nineteen
Assam: At the invitation of David Scott, the first British commissioner of Assam, the Serampore Mission started rather small-scale mission work by opening a school in Guwahati
(Assam) in 1829. The school was closed in 1836, by which time another school had already been opened in Cherrapunji
(now Meghalaya). Following the amalgamation of the Serampore Mission with the Baptist Missionary Society in 1837, the second school was also closed, and the Cherrapunji mission was abandoned in 1837. Around the same time, in 1836, the American Baptist Mission arrived in the northeastern part of Assam with the intention of reaching China. When they were unable to move beyond the region, the missionaries gradually turned their attention to Assam itself. Rev. Nathan Brown and Oliver Cutter and their families arrived at Sadiya on March
1836 and soon started a school in June with twenty boys.
Gradually he established several schools in the nearby villages.
Rev. Brown learnt Assamese language and started preaching by the end of 1837. Following the Khamti Insurrection, he had to leave Sadiya after working for over three years and moved to Jaipur in May 1839, where they were able to baptise a young
Assamese boy from Sadiya by name Nidhiram, a former student at Sadiya School on June 13, 1841. Later they moved to Evangelization of North East India religion in three North-eastern states, Nagaland 90%, Mizoram
87% and Meghalaya 70.3%. Manipur has a Christian presence of 34%, Arunachal Pradesh with 18.7% and Sikkim with 6.7%.
With roughly 1.2 millions, Meghalaya has the highest number of Christians, followed by Nagaland with about one million.
Among the eight states, Christians numbered the least in Tripura with about forty-seven thousand. The three largest denominations in this region are the Baptist church, established by the American Baptist Mission, Roman Catholic Church, and the Presbyterian Church, founded by the Welsh Presbyterian
(formerly Calvinistic Methodist) church mission. The Baptist of American Baptist origins are now organized under the council of Baptist churches in northeast India (CBCNEI), and the Presbyterians as the Presbyterian church of India (PCI).
Christianity in North East India
History of Christianity in India b) Khasi and Jaintia Hills: The Serampore Mission was the first to take the gospel to the Khasi people. William Carey through his teaching at Fort William College made acquaintance with many officials and Some of them like
W.N. Garret and Mr Matthew Smith a magistrate of Sylhet appealed to Carey to send someone to work among the Khasis. In 1813 Krishna Pal an early convert of William
Carey was sent to Sylhet. On 7th April 1818, he preached the gospel at Panduah and two of the Khasis (Duwan and Anna) were baptized after which he remained there for eight months.521 After that Serampore Mission sent Alexander
B.Lish to Khasi Hills. He established three schools in a) Garo Hills: In 1847 Francis Jenkins, the successor of David
Scott as the commissioner of Assam, opened a school in Goalpara near the Assam-Garo Hills border that enrolled a number of Garo boys. After they completed their studies, two Garo boys, Omed Watre Momin and Ramkhe Watre
Momin, converted to Christianity. This decision was the result of reading a tract, probably prepared by the Serampore
Mission, which one of them found in a dustbin. They were baptized in 1863 at Guwahati. When the American Baptist
Mission was unable to find missionaries for Garo Hills, the two resigned their jobs, proceeded to Garo Hills, and began evangelistic work among their people amid severe opposition. When American Baptist missionary Miles
Bronson finally visited them in April 1867, he found thirtyseven Garos ready for baptism and, after baptizing them, formed the first Garo church and ordained Omed to be the minister of the church." The organization of a Garo Baptist
Church was followed by the adoption of Garo Hills as the mission field of the American Baptist Mission.520
Meghalaya Sivasagar (then called Sibsagar) adopting it their mission field.
In 1846, Rev. Brown baptised twenty people. By 1851, he had seven natives as assistant pastors. He was instrumental in founding the Baptist Church of Assam in 1845 and Baptist
Association on Assam in 1851.519
century, the church experienced tremendous result. It often led to despair, the churches grew weaker and weaker.
According to many sources, the hunger arose by the reports of the Revival that had broken out in the church in Wales in the year 1904. As a result Revival broke out and people were truly and well prepared for the revival. The revival climaxed at Mairang from 15-19 March, 1906. It is said that on that The coming of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Mission
(Welsh Presbyterian Mission) marks the history of the spread of Christianity in Khasi and Jaintia Hills. On 22nd June 1841,
Thomas Jones arrived at Cherrapunji as the first Missionary to Khasi Hills. As soon as he arrived, he started preaching the gospel. He found that it was difficult to introduce Christianity to them because they were illiterates so he introduced primary education so that they can read and sing hymns. He trained young men to be teachers and send them to different places as school teachers. He used the cherra language using the Roman characters. The new alphabets were taught to the people and with the spread of education, the alphabets spread quickly and was learnt by the school communities. The first book printed was Kot Kitab Nyngkong ( First Khasi Reader) and it printed at Baptist Press, Kolkata as early as 1842. This could be regarded as the beginning of Khasi literature and Thomas Jone is rightly called as "The father of Khasi
Alphabet".523 In 1842, Thomas Jones surveyed Jaintia Hills and Ri-War (Southern Part of Khasi Jaintia Hills) area to find a convenient village to start a mission field and to establish schools. It was after four or five years of the work, two Khasis became Christians, U Rujon and his wife. Raj Bahabur, the first Khasi evangelist stated that the number of the Khasi
Christians in 1849 was nineteen members and in 1853 a church was established at Shella. It was not until the end of 19th
Christianity in North East India
History of Christianity in India Mawmluh, Mawsmai and Cherrapunji in which there were
36 students. As soon as he reached there, he made friendship with the natives (Khasis) especially in Cherrapunji. In 1838, he became ill with lung inflammation and was recommended by the doctor to be examined in Calcutta, so he left Khasi
Hills in November of the same year.522
The most significant era in the history of Christianity in Nagaland was inaugurated with the arrival of American Baptist missionaries, Dr. and Mrs. Edward Winter Clark. They reached
However due to Khamtis invasion over Sadiya, the Christian missionaries along with the British administration established new headquarter at Jaipur in Assam. Their settlement in Jaipur led Miles Bronson and his wife to encounter Namsang village in 1839 with a project to open a school and share the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people. He prepared a spelling book and also a catechism in the Naga language. This became a history of Christian missionaries' arrival among the Naga people, though Namsang village at present lies under Tirap District of Arunachal Pradesh. Due to health reasons and lack of amenities, the Naga mission was abandoned and Bronson moved to the Sibsagar mission. Since the mission to the Nagas was deserted for approximately 30 years, from 1840-1870, the mission at Namsang could not bear fruit. However, the missionat Sibsagar could reach and change the lives of the individuals who belonged to the villages bordering Assam. The first Naga convert was Hube Konyak who was baptized by Brown at Sibsagar on 12th September 1847. The second was Supongmeren Ao from Merangkong village, he was baptized by S.W. Whiting in Sept
7, 1851 at Sibsagar.
Nagaland: The first commissioner of the British Government of Assam, David Scott arranged to bring a number of English
Missionaries to tribal areas with a core aim to Christianize, civilize ad educate the people who were ignorant of Christianity and modernity.525 Later, Francis Jenkins, the subsequent commissioner of Assam persuaded the Baptist Mission in Burma to Sadiya. The mission board accepted Jenkin's proposal and sent missionaries. The American Baptist missionaries Mr.
Nathan Brown and his wife and Mr. Oliver Cutter and his wife arrived with much enthusiasm to impart education and share the gospel to the people lived in Assam. 1837, they were joined by another group of American missionaries Mr and Mrs Miles
Bronson and Mr. and Mrs Jacob Thomas.526
Sunday at Mairang, around 10,000 people were worshipping in one accord expressing their joyfulness in their hearts.524
Later the mission centre was shifted to Imput in 1897 which is the centre of Ao Baptist Church Association known as ABAM
(Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang) which continues till today.530 A later renewal movement occurred through the work of Caleph, a young native convert. Along with his Assamese friend Biney,
Caleph led evangelistic preaching tours, which greatly helped the growth of Ao communicant members in th e last years of the nineteenth century.
In 1874, the American Mission Board designated the Clarks to work among the Naga people. In February 1876, Clark made his second visit to Dekhahaimong village and lived there.
However due to the discontentment arose between the villagers, after few months he along with Godhula led the new converts from Dekhahaimong to a new site and established a Christian village called Molungyimsen. This village became the centre of the Christian Mission activites for a short span of time.529
Sibsagar on 30th March 1869. They were designated to work among the Assamese, especially the church at Sibsagar and met few Nagas in Sibsagar bazaar. In 1871, Clark approached his mission board to grant him permission to work among the Nagas but it was not approved. So, he firstly sent his friend Mr.
Godhula, an Assamese Evangelist. So he can be called as the pioneer who first landed among the Ao-Naga with the gospel.
Despite objection from civil authorities, Godhula with the help of Supongmeren could make several evangelical trips to Naga villages.527 In 1872, Godhula and his wife Lucy entered the Dekhahaimong village and managed to get across the message of peace and love of the God whom he called 'the bread of love'. He was able to convert nine members who were willing to receive baptism. Clark baptized them on 11th November
1872. As a result of positive headway Clark set out his first trip to Dekhahaimong village on 18th December 1872 and baptized fifteen members on 23rd December 1872, despite cautions received from his mission board back in the states.528
Christianity in North East India
History of Christianity in India The growth of Christian mission in the Ao areas gave further vision to Clark to send a missionary to Kohima. In 1878, C.D.
King was deputed to start the mission work in Kohima District, but he could enter the region only in 1880 as the pioneer
The Aos and the Angamis Nagas are the first people to receive Christianity in Naga Hills. From there, Christianity spread to other Naga tribes. Eventually, Ao Naga and Angami pastors and teachers, both male and female, launched other movements that spread to Lotha Nagas. Sema Nagas turned
Christian as if by spontaneous combustion—that is, without coming into direct contact with the American missionaries. They then became the most explosive evangelizing force in the region. Although more overseas missionaries came, it was the Nagas themselves who carried on the main work of missionary expansion and whose self supporting village congregations backed them.532 In the first half of the twentieth century, another phenomenal growth came about among the Sema-Nagas.
Through what Puthenpurakal calls "a chain of reaction," lay native evangelists carried on the work of evangelization, leading to what he calls a mass movement among the Semas. While the growth of churches among the Aos, which began from the first decade of the twentieth century, was gradual, the growth among Semas and Lothas, dating from the 1930s, was impetuous and spontaneous. The major growth of Christianity among this tribes, as well as the initiation and growth among other Nagas tribes began after the independence of India in 1947, and after the missionaries left Nagaland in early 1950s. The history of the spread of Christianity among the Nagas is the result of the immense labour of the missionaries and the early Naga converts. missionary to western Nagas. In 1884, he opened the first mission school at Kohima. His passion to teach the Angami, the Roman script, Angami alphabets and some portion of the Holy Scripture for the use of school children drew the attention of the villagers and they began to extent their cooperation and donated land and material for the school building. Seeing the progressive contribution of the missionaries, the government too started to help in opening the schools. By the year 1911, out of 22 schools in the Naga Hills, 12 belonged to the mission.
It was on 21st June 1885; the first Angami Naga was baptized and became a member of this church. In 1906, Rev. Dickson came to work and within a short span of one year he was able to baptize as many as 99 members.531
Rev. Jones started his work by opening a school with thirty pupils on 15th Febuary 1898. In 1900 a larger building was set up which served as church cum school till 1913. Very soon he was joined by another missionary named Rev. Edwin Rowlands in December 1898. The two missionaries worked tirelessly for two and half years to get their first converts in the form of Khuma and Khara, who were baptized by Jones on June 25,
1899. Rev. Rowlands settled in Aizawl and Rev. Jones went to South Mizoram in 1899 was able to convert four persons who were baptized in 1902. By 1903, there were 125 christians of whom 13 were baptized. In London negotiations were made
Mizoram: The pioneering missionaries to Mizoram were J.H.
Lorrain and F.W. Savidge who came under the Arthington Aborigines Mission run by Robert Arthington, an English millionaire. They arrived at Aizwal on January 14, 1894, where they worked for four years from 1894 to December 1897. After which they came again in 1902 as BMS missionaries and served for almost forty years. During their short as AAM missionaries, they accomplished many things and laid the foundation for the future. Within a short time they picked up the language and introduced the literature by using Roman script. They translated the gospel of Luke, John and Acts of the Apostles into Mizo which were printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Specially, Rev. Lorrain had the flair of picking up languages and he produced a Grammar and Dictionary containing seven thousand words which was published by the Government in 1898. It is said that Lorrain continued to add more words to it and when he published it in 1940, it had 33,000 words. Without making any converts they had to leave Mizoram in 1897 as the policy of their Mission board changed. While they were still in Mizoram, the first Welsh Presbyterian missionary Rev. David
Evan Jones arrived in Aizawl on August 30, 1897. They were very kind to Rev. D.E. Jones and also taught him Mizo for few months.534
The Naga pioneers helped the mission work by serving as the tutors, interpreters and agents who also assisted the missionaries in promoting education and translation of literature such as hygienic books, dictionaries, hymnals and scriptures.533
Christianity in North East India
History of Christianity in India Manipur: Rev. William Pettigrew's name is linked to pioneering
Christian missionary work in Manipur. In 1890, he arrived at Kolkata under the Arthington Aborigines Mission and met some
Meiteis and development an interest in Manipur. With this in mind he began learning Manipuri but he was denied the permission from British authorities who did not want to antagonize the orthodox Hindu Manipuris. It was only in February 1894, he got permission to enter Manipur to start a school at Imphal, which he gladly accepted and soon started a school with four boys and produced a Manipuri Primer and Manipuri Grammar. But soon he was asked to leave Imphal in September 1894 but permission was granted to him to work in Hills if he wished. In the mean time AAM decided to withdrew from Manipur so he contacted American Baptist Missionary
Union and started his ministry in Tangkhul area opened a school at Ukhrul in 1896. Gradually the school began to develop and he reduced the Ukhrul dialect into written form using Roman script which became common literary dialect for all Tangkhul
Nagas.
The Mizo churches experienced their first revival in 1906, which is connected to the Welsh Revival in 1904 and also among the Khasi at Mairang. Seven Presbyterians from North and three Baptists from South attend the Khasi Revival at Mairang assembly. In one of the meetings Rev. Robert Evans called them to the platform and the whole congregation prayed for them and each of them received the flame of revivalism.
When they returned, the revival spread to Mizoram. It was followed by a series of revival in the first four decades of the twentieth century which vitually converted the whole of Mizo community to Christianity. Teams of lay people affected by the revival went about sharing their revival experience with their fellow tribe members spreading Christianity from village to village.535 between Welsh Mission and BMS and it was decided that Southern Mizoram should be transferred to BMS. It was Revds.
Lorrain and Savidge who came back to south Mizoram but since the missionaries knew each other from before there was good cooperation between them.
It was only after six years, in 1901, twelve of his students accepted Christianity and were baptized by Rev. William
Pettigrew on September 29, 1901 and as a result the first church in Manipur was established in Ukhrul and remained as the only church in Manipur till 1916. The church membership was fluctuating because of the strict discipline by William Pettigrew.
He also established a dispensary as he got himself qualified in medicine when he went on furlough in 1903. It was reported that in 1906, there were 943 major and 1446 minor treatments were given. In 1916, the second church was established in Keishamthong, Imphal. The church expanded more rapidly in the 1920s as it was reported that in 1921, there were more than
1000 baptisms in the state. Further expansion happened during the revival movement during 1923-1924. Rev. William Pettigrew translated the New Testament into Tangkhul and it was published by Bible Society in 1926. He also translated the Bible portions in both Manipuri and Kuki languages.536
The two princely states of the north east India during the British colonial rule, namely Tripura and Manipur did not welcome missionaries. While missionaries managed to enter
Manipur with great difficulties. William Pettigrew, the pioneer missionary in Manipur, was from the Arthington Aborigines mission. He entered Manipur in February 1894 and started his work among the Meitei people (The non-tribal resident of Manipur valley). Pettigrew changed his denomination affiliation from Anglican to Baptist before he entered Manipur due to impending opposition from the Meitei Hindus, The British political agent asked Pettigrew to move to the hills, and he worked among the Tangkhul Nagas from 1896-by this time
Pettigrew have joined the Baptist and American Baptist mission had adopted him as missionary and Manipur as his field. Slow and steady was the progress of mission among the Tangkhul.
The early converts, including some from the Kuki tribes, then took their took their new faith to their people. Due to political restriction only few other missionaries were permitted to enter
Manipur and the major evangelical work was done-by the natives, some with the Zeliangrong Nagas and Mao Nagas of the northern and north western part of Manipur. Large scale
Christianity in North East India
History of Christianity in India The present Arunachal Pradesh, known in the past as North
East Frontier Agency, has a long but insignificant interaction with Christian mission activities. Its remote location and ethnolinguistic diversity have kept it from significant interaction with outsiders, including Christian missions. Significant mission work, mainly by Christians from other states of Northeast India, began only in the 1960s, and the 1970s saw signs of significant
Christian presence in the state.537 Arunachal Pradesh is In the meantime, the New Zealand Baptist Mission, which was working across the border in present-day Bangladesh, succeeded in gaining permission to work in Tripura in 1938.
Gathering about one hundred Christians, mainly Garos and Kukis residing in the state, the New Zealand Baptist Mission formed the Tripura Baptist Christian Union (TBCU) in December 1938. Until the last missionary left Tripura in the early 1970s, TBCU was led by missionaries of the New Zealand
Baptist Mission. The Darlong Church joined TBCU in 1940, as did the Mizo Church, then called Jampui Presbytery, in 1944.
Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh: These three states have a certain commonality and will be treated together. The three states have received the most missionary attention from other states of the region, in recent decades. The Christian presence in these states is insignificant as compared to other Northeastern
States. These states have vehemently opposed the missionary activities at different points of time. Tripura has the least number of Christians in northeast India mainly because the state did not permit missionaries until 1938. The earliest Christian presence in the state and subsequent mission work began with Mizo Christians settled in the state. A missionary supported by the Mizo Christians started evangelistic work in 1917 among one of the Tripuri tribes called Darlong. The North-East India
General Mission (NEIGM) sent a missionary to work among the Mizo immigrants in 1918 and among the Darlong tribe in 1919. Other NEIGM missionaries followed, most of them becoming pastors and teachers. growth of Christianity among these tribes took place after the First World War.
Sikkim: Sikkim is one of the smallest states in India. Ethnic Nepalese are a majority here and almost all of them are Hindu.
Sikkim was one of the kingdoms ruled by the Tibetan kings.
Till it was annexed as one of the state of India it was a kingdom.
At first the Christian missionaries were not allowed to enter the Sikkim. Mission was discouraged because the state religion was Buddhism. Geoffrey Gorer writes in his book called 'The Lepchas of Sikkim' – "The Maharajah is a fervent Buddhist and gives active encouragement to the lamas; and with a couple of exceptions there are no Christian missionaries in the state.
There are only half-a-dozen resident Europeans in Sikkim; and for Europeans to enter the state it is necessary to get permission from authorities of Gangtok or Darjeeling.538 experiencing sharper changes, in the census of 196, the Christians percentage was 0.79% but according to 2001 census it is 18.7%. The largest tribe in Arunachal Pradesh, Nyishi is mostly Christian now.
In 1870 the Church of Scotland decided to start a Foreign Mission at Darjeeling, and the Rev. William Macfarlane, a native of Perthshire, who had been working in the holy city of Gaya in the plains of India, was asked to go to Darjeeling to start work there.539 In 1885 the Foreigh Mission Association of the four Scottish Universities decided to start and support their own missionary project. "Independent Sikkim" was the field suggested for this new venture, and William Macfarlane in Darjeeling was asked to make a report on this for the Association.540 From the time that William Macfarlane first explored Sikkim for the Scottish Universities Mission it had not been an easy field. Village schools had been started and these had been welcomed. In 1900 permission was given for a missionary to reside in Sikkim, and the Rev. W. McKean built a house inside the country at a place called Temi, but his very presence seemed to encourage suspicion. The Lepcha people of Sikkim were spirit worshippers, but lamas from Tibet had brought into the country one of the Tibetan forms of Buddhism and monasteries had been built in many parts of the country.
The rulers of Sikkim were Tibetan by race, and as Buddhists, were naturally sympathetic to the lamas, who were suspicious
Christianity in North East India
History of Christianity in India Rev. D.G. Manuel writes in his book called 'A Gladdening
River' – Of the three qualified in October, one is doing useful work in Sikkim, vaccinating… In the course of his report for The pioneer missionary William Macfarlane observed – "
Rev.Macfarlane soon saw that the one thing required for the development of the district, for raising the people in the scale of civilization, and incidentally for obtaining a powerful lever for his mission work, was some statesmanlike scheme of education."544 This is why he started mission schools in and around Darjeeling and in Sikkim.
The Scot-Mission opened many schools and Dispensaries in Sikkim. Missionaries opened many primary health care centers in different places of Sikkim such as Rehnok, Wok,
Fambong, Soreng, and in Dentam. Schools were opened in Rehnok, Pacheykhaney, Namthang, Pakyong, Chidam, Turuk,
Timi, Wok, Fambong, Saryong, Chyakhung, Rinchenpong and Dentam. In Darjeeling and Sikkim the mission schools and dispensaries played a vital role to spread the gospel among the people543 . of foreigners with new ideas. The burden of missionary work fell largely on the shoulders of the local teachers and catechists, many of them trained in Kalimpong.541 Rev. McKean during his stay in Sikkim found much to discourage him and became more and more frustrated. He left Sikkim for another post in Darjeeling. There was still a great need for a missionary in Sikkim to encourage the Church and supervise the work but no suitable person could be found. In January 1921, when Rev.
Mackean left Sikkim after spending 14 years, he recommended his mission board to send his successor who should be medical missionary. Thus Mary Scott arrived in Sikkim as a medical missionary and worked there for 18 years and also received
Kaisar-i-Hind medal for her medical services for serving during the epidemics such as the influenza outbreak in 1918-1919.
She was allowed to live in Gangtok, where she established Palzor Namgyal Girl's High School in 1924. She was also able to open a church at Gangtok in 1936 with the help of the Maharani of Sikkim.542
Education: The first and foremost contribution of Christianity in the North East India is Education because almost all the missionaries with the exception of few began their ministry with a School. The aim of running the schools was to impart the basic knowledge of the Christian faith while imparting secular education. Therefore scripture, prayer and devotion were important part of the curriculum of their schools. Apart from opening the schools, the missionaries also played a key role in providing the Roman script for their native dialects. The first school was opened by the Serampore mission at Gauhati in 1829. In June 1836, the Baptist missionaries opened a school at Sadiya. Gradually Rev. Nathan Brown established several schools in the nearby villages.547 Rev. Thomas Jones
Positive Impact: The advent of Christianity in North East India affected the people of Northeast Indian in numerous ways.
M.M. Thomas remarked, "For the tribal people, Christianity came as a liberator form spiritual and social demons."546
Impact of Christianity in North East India The Church of Scotland Mission work really played a vital role to preach the gospel in Sikkim. Today many churches are there to witness the missionary work of the Church of Scotland.
The largest congregation in Sikkim today is Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Sikkim. Formerly they all were the members of the Church of North India. Since the church split took place in 1993 most of the church leaders of Sikkim came together and formed the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Sikkim. But even than Church of North India is still exists in Sikkim. Many other churches are also there in Sikkim. Such as Roman Catholic Church, Pentecostal churches, Believer church of India, Baptist church and so on. But the Christians are still in minority in Sikkim.
1900, Dr. Macdonald speaks of smallpox as raging in Sikkim, and of the excellent services rendered by the Rev. Mr. Macara in carrying out a vaccination campaign ; also of an epidemic of cholera in the months of May and June which carried off its victims in most cases in a few hours.545 This shows that the missionaries works were very much effective in those days.
Christianity in North East India
History of Christianity in India Philanthropic Work: The Tribals mostly depended on herbals medicines for treatment from their illness, wounds and injuries.
They used to believe that certain sickness were caused by spirits or supernatural beings, so sacrifices were offered to these spirits in the belief that those illness and sickness can be healed by appeasing the spirits or supernatural beings. The missionaries offered them treatment and moreover it was much cheaper or sometime without any cost. In 1878, the Welsh Mission opened a dispensary at Mawphlang, Khasi Hills. Americian Baptists started medical work at Tura, Meghalaya in 1899. In the same year, a Presbyterian missionary doctor started a hospital at Durtland, Mizoram. 550 After 1905, Rev. Pettigrew not only started a dispensary at Ukhrul but also trained simple medical care along the Bible classes to the native evangelist. It was upon his insistence, Dr. Crozier was sent to Kangpokpi in 1918, where he set up a leper asylum and a dispensary. The dispensary at Kangpokpi was upgraded to a hospital level and is still serving
Ramke established the first school in Damra, Garo Hills in 1864.
When Dr. Marcus Clark Mason moved to Tura in 1878, the government handed over the responsibility of education to the mission with grant in aids. The centre school at Tura produced many teachers who went to villages and opened schools. By 1916, there was a secondary school in Tura with 236 students and 96 primary schools with 2951 students.549 Educational work and Church planting went hand in hand in Northeast India.
Education played a vital role in the modernization and transformation of the tribal societies. With the introduction of modern education, the process of development acceleration started in all spheres of life. Apart from lifting the social and economical status of the society, education has also contributed in stimulating a new social relationship among the people which has led to the restructuring the traditional family, clan, and village contributing to the solidification of the entire tribe. It also helped in preserving history, language, folktales, and folksongs through documentation. established schools in Mawsmai and Mawmluh as early as 1842.
He not only opened the schools but also provided the Roman script for their dialect and produced literature for the schools.548
Westernization: Western culture which accompanied the missionaries cannot be all together considered good for all aspects of life at all levels. There are certain negative aspects and practices which can be said as the byproduct of the new religion. As a result of embracing western cultured religion the pattern of thinking, modes of life of the people are being to a extent westernized. Panger Imchen remarked, "Younger people laugh at those who sing the Ao dialect and think them old fashioned and old timers, so unfit for modern society." People
Negative Impact: Christianity because of its western culture and civilization has brought massive change to the social life of the North East people. Inspite of the tireless, sacrificial and selfless service, Christian mission has created a disastrous effect on the culture of the people living in Northeast India
The Christian missionaries have also brought an economic well being to the Northeast people especially by improving agriculture, dairy farming, providing technical education, printing skills, architecture and jurisprudence.
Transformation: The introduction of Christianity and its emphasis on love and forgiveness positively reduced inter tribal feuds and stopped head hunting in the war like tribes of Northeast India. It taught them love and respect, friendship, tolerance, peace and turned them into a people who respect lives. Probition of head hunting struck at the very heart of All the missionaries emphasised on Christianity as a way of life, a life life style. Doctrine was important but meaningless if not associated with transformed life. P.H. Moore, an American
Baptist Missionary in 1903 remarked, "To the Christian missionary, and in Mission business generally, character is a chief asset – purified, santicfied, transformed character, perfected on the lines of the divine model, 'to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ'." Emphasis was always being placed upon the maintenance of certain standards of conduct if one wished to become a Christian or to remain in the church.552 the need of the people.551 In similar ways lot of hospitals and dispensaries were established by the missionaries in North East
India.
Christianity in North East India
History of Christianity in India Christianity because of its western culture and civilization has brought massive change to the social life of the North East people. Inspite of the tireless, sacrificial and selfless service,
Christian mission has created a disastrous effect on the culture of the people living in Northeast India. Mostly, the non-Christian writers and to some extent the Christian thinkers accuse
Christianity as the caused for erosion and destruction of the Challenges for North East Christianity Festivals: The life of the people were encircled by so many beautiful and meaningful festivals like, seed sowing, Harvest, ear piercing festivals. During such festivals the community used to come together for public gathering and feast where would share their love, joy and happiness. Thus these festivals strengthened the bond within the communities. However, with the coming of Christianity these festivals were replaced by Christmas, Easter, Good Friday etc.555
Dress, Music and Dance: The people of Northeast India possess beautiful and colorful design of dresses which symbolically maintained their identity among other tribes. However, under the transformation brought by the missionaries, the earlier converts were stopped from wearing their beautiful ornaments of great artistics and human value, like cowries, ivory, scarlet hair of enemy and hornbills etc. It is also observed that the extinction of cultural music, dance and folklore were due to the missionaries who prohibited them without understanding their meaning and inner beauty.554
Individualism: The concept of salvation had shifted the community centred spirituality to the individual soul saving spirituality. This led to the loss of community centred spirituality and life. Because salvation is seen from an individualistic perspective all others beyond the self is considered irrelevant.
Also the introduction of education and economy has detached one's life from home, family, relatives, clan and village to look for better livelihood. This undoubtedly affected the social life of the North East People. are embarassed about their own cultural elements like songs, festivals, cultural dresses etc.553
Christianity is not a culture but a religion. Therefore it must be understood in the culture of the people. O.M. Rao remarked,
"The gospel must recognize the heritage and responses of a particular people from their value premises about the word and the human existence." Therefore Christianity will have less meaning if it is not contextualized to a particular context. It means, it make the gospel meaningful it must be understood in the light of their culture which again means indigenizing the gospel and developing their own appropriate theology. Dr. K.
Thankzuava remarked, "A tribal theology must emerge out of the interaction of the text (Bible) and the tribal experiences of actual life and faith in their own context to empress their relationship with God who concerns with their total salvation." indigenous cultural patterns. F.S. Down maintains that "Christianity in general has helped the people to adjust to the tremendous change that the Bristish administrators had introduced among the tribals. Ultimately a new cultural synthesis was developed for which Christianity was the primary agent." In the process of interaction of the tribal culture with Christianity there were rejection, transformation and adoption of the tribal culture. The problem with the church in North East
India is that even some of the traditional values very much in tune with Christianity have not been theologically articulated.556
History of Christianity in India
Fundamentalism: The term 'fundamentalism' was originally coined to describe a narrowly defined set of beliefs that developed into movement within the Protestant Christians in the US in the latter part of I9th century. However, with the resurgence of world religions and growth of communal politics, it has taken a negative turn in a secular society. Religious fundamentalism refers to a deep and totalistic commitment to a belief in the infallibility and inerrancy of Holy Scriptures, absolute religious authority, and strict adherence to a set of basic principles or fundamentals. It is an attitude of rigid intolerant orthodoxy, historical traditionalism and revivalist
Religious fundamentalism has become an alarming global phenomenon. No religion or community has succeeded in making itself an exception. India is one of the main targets of fundamentalist attack. On the other hand, the Indian society has been religiously and culturally pluralistic for more centuries than any other country in the world. Secularism is a hallmark of our in constitution that has emerged as a political ideology in the course of national struggle for independence. But from the very dawn of independence, India's history tells the sad story of a slow erosion of secular ideals in which religious fundamentalism allied with communal politics is paying a dominant role. "In India ... radical Hindus claim that they are heading for minority status despite current estimates placing the Hindu population at 830 million and the Muslim population at 130 million."
Introduction Fundamentalism and Conversion Fundamentalism and Conversion
Chapter Twenty
Indian experience with fundamentalism has been bloody and traumatic. The post independent India's history tells the sad story of a slow erosion of secular ideals in which religious fundamentalism allied with communal politics is paying a dominant role. Politicization of religions and communalization politics has shaken the very foundation of our secular democracy. The Hindu chauvinistic factions and parties-BJP
Fundamentalism in India Religious fundamentalism has appeared at the turn of the century as a prominent tendency, a habit of mind found within religious communities and paradigmatically embodied in certain representative individuals and movements. It manifests itself as a strategy by which beleaguered believers attempt to preserve their distinctive group identity. Feeling this identity to be at risk in the contemporary era, the believers fortify it by selective retrieval of doctrines, beliefs, and practices from a sacred past.
This selection is carefully done so that it is not only appealing to the audience but also readily acceptable. While selective retrieval claims only to be restoring the ancient ways, in fact fundamentalist movements pick and choose carefully among inherited doctrines and practices, as well as cloaking innovations in the garments of antiquity. These retrieved fundamentals are refined, modified, and sanctioned in a spirit of pragmatism: they are to serve as a bulwark against the encroachment of outsiders who threaten to draw the believers into a syncretistic religious or irreligious cultural milieu. The problem of fundamentalism knows no borders, and it is a common enemy of humanity.557 fervor that opposes reform. Further, it is an attitude of inflexible certitudes and crusading opposition to all views and heritages other than that of the fundamentalists. It advocates scriptural, religious and territorial dogmatism with an aggressive mission of expansionism to bring everybody under its ambit. Moreover, fundamentalism is militant in spirit and often connected with politics leading to communalism. It is also important to note that fundamentalism is not necessarily the common people's attitude, but that of select ones with vested interests.
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India Hindutva: Hindutva (or Hinduness) refers to the ideology espoused by Hindu fundamentalists who argue that no matter what religion one belongs to, it is imperative that all Indians subscribe to a Hindu ethos. In short, they seek to make every
Indian, irrespective of religious affiliation, a "Hindian." The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (Organization of National
Volunteers—RSS) subscribes to a Hindu rashtra ideology that claims India is the preserve of the Hindus and that Hindus alone make up the nation. This has led to them to call for all nonMuslims and Christians, irrespective of their present religious affiliations (Buddhism, Jainism or Sikhism, all of which Until the mid1980s, the impact of Hinduism on the political landscape of India, where more than 80 percent of the people are adherents of this faith, was moderated by the political parties in power to maintain a secular democracy. But since the late 1980s, there has been increasing popular support for Hindu nationalist parties among the people of India. Tension and distrust between Hindus and Muslims have long been a normal facet of life in India. The 1992 destruction of a disputed
Muslim shrine in Ayodhya (in the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh) and the subsequent anti-Muslim (Bhartiya Janta Party), Shev Sina , RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Singh), VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) - have missed no opportunity to communalise national politics aimed at capitalizing on Hindu votes. The RSS was established in early
20th Century by Dr Keshave Baliram which coincided with Hindu-Muslim riots at Malabar in 1921. Mahatma Gandhi, before he could fully savour the fresh air of independent India, fell victim to a Hindu fundamentalist's bullets. Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi was gunned down by her own bodyguards in the aftermath of the Sikh fundamentalist movement. Burning alive of the Australian national Graham Stains along with his two sons in Orissa has heightened the cruelty of fundamentalists.
The recent serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad has indicated the handiwork of Islamic fundamentalists or Mujahideens. There is a constant fear of terrorism by fundamentalist forces operating within and across the borders of our nation.
The plurality of religion has always been considered a threat to the complacency of Hinduism. It threatens Hindus spiritually, socially, and ultimately politically, as well as in terms of classical
Religious fundamentalism is an attempt on the part of a community to defend the fundamentals of its faith against all dangers that threaten its identity and survival. But it has acquired some negative connotations since the 20th century. Hindu fundamentalism is a general term within which one can situate
Hindutva as a mixture of theology and ideology that is constantly being reconstructed and reinterpreted to serve political purposes.
Hindu Nationalism/ Fundamentalism originate in India), to be categorized as Hindus. The hindutva forces, headed by organizations such as the RSS, Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (World Hindu Council—VHP) and the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), also argue that successive governments have undermined secularism by not treating all religions equally because these governments and India's constitution provide preferential status for Muslims. The bases for such claims are the provision in the constitution that confers special status for India's majority Muslim state, Kashmir, and the extant separate religious code for Muslims. The BJP consequently calls for a milieu in which sarva dharma sambhava
(equal respect for all religions) is practiced. The anti-secularists thus undermine inter-communal harmony even as they argue that their demands are geared toward upholding secularism.
These hindutva forces, together with other communal groups, such as the Shiv Sena, Jan Sangh and Hindu Mahasabha, are at the forefront in clamoring for an implementation of a hindutva agenda and in using Muslim population figures to foster communalism. The Shiv Sena's leader, Bal Thakeray, for example, has called for India's minorities to "nationalize" themselves, which is interpreted as embracing a Hindu ethos, if not Hinduism. Thakeray has also said that "They [Muslims] are like snakes. You never know when they can turn around and bite you." Such rhetoric conveys the message that the fewer
Muslims there are, the fewer snakes there will be to hurt the Hindus.
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India Hindu values of tolerance, freedom of expression, and individualism. North Indian Hindus have been on the defensive since the end of the 19th century. The decennial census introduced by the British made the different communities aware of their own numerical strength and showed the Hindus as losing ground in terms of population. Without drastic action, it appeared, the decline could be irreversible. Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism were all proselytizing religions, with active mechanisms for conversion; Hinduism was not. As things stood, the traffic in conversion was flowing only one way, and those lost to Hinduism were gone forever.
Hindu Nationalists strongly feel that three elements are most essential for the progress of the Hindu Jati (in this sense, community, although usually the term connotes caste): that its members share a common language, that religion is held in common by them, and that members are in unity and share a common origin. "Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan," thus became a slogan coined to awaken Nationalist feelings.
The evolution and resurgence of Hindu Nationalism at the state level is not very old. Although the Hindus were the majority community ruled by minority rulers since the 12th century A.D., there was no major uprising in any part of the subcontinent against any of the foreign rulers. Despite forceful conversions to Islam and other deprivations imposed on the Hindus during the reign of Mughals in general and Aurangazeb in particular, the only forces that rose or stood up against these harsh treatments were a handful like Shivaji, the Maratha warlord, and the Sikhs. Even the 1857 uprising against the British was more a military rebellion than one that was either a national or religious movement against the rulers.
The events that led to partition of the subcontinent as a consequence of independence, the Hindu-Muslim riots and trans-border movement that followed, and the assassination of Gandhi by a Hindu fundamentalist were the catalysts that really molded Hindu Nationalism into concrete shape. The belief that Gandhi was inclined more toward the minority Muslims was something not very palatable to the Hindu Nationalists' psyche.
To them, being the majority community meant automatic
The next event that fueled the Hindu Nationalist movement is not linked to Islam directly but is worth mentioning. This was the traumatic experience of the Hindus during the brief period of the Sikh extremist movement in Punjab. Between 1980 and 1984, when the movement was contained, it was mostly Hindus who bore the brunt of Sikh militancy in the state. The trust and brotherhood that had existed between the Hindus and Sikhs and which was the fabric of Punjabi rural life was suddenly shattered. Even after the situation was contained
The first among these was the influx of Muslim refugees from this newly formed state beginning in 1971. This led to changes in the demography of some eastern states of the nation, especially in the state of Assam. The majority community suddenly became the minority, and this changed status made them feel threatened.
Although Hindu Nationalist organizations were active in some parts of India since independence, their growth and rising popularity has been closely linked to the rise and increased activities of Islamic fundamentalists and vice versa. While occasional Hindu-Muslim riots did occur at a few places at irregular intervals, these were a result of localized frictions and often perpetrated by narrow-minded individuals out to gain some petty dividends. What gave direction and purpose to this movement was a chain of events linked to the liberation of Bangladesh.
Later, with the growth of the Indian National Congress (nurtured by the British themselves), aspirations for self-rule and independence were channeled along a nonviolent path.
With the ascension of Gandhi, the manner in which the political goals were to be realized was clearly defined and meticulou sly followed. It was only after the Muslim League came into the political arena and advocated a separate homeland for the Muslims that the Hindus were awakened and rose up against this idea. elevation to the prime position, especially after having been under subjugation by foreign rulers for centuries without any respite.
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India Conversion: According to J.Kavunkal, the word Conversion is the most misunderstood term in the religious vocabulary of India." According to S.Michael, "Conversion brings the individual into conflict with his family, neighbor, society and culture." Conversion is basically a decision of an individual searching for the best way to reach God. It has multiple
Today there is a new Hindu identity under construction in many parts of India, especially in the northern and central states.
It is a process which is undoubtedly propelled by the fact that this identity is also the basis of the political growth of some contemporary parties. Political scientist Gabriel Almond has stated, "It is not unusual for ethnicity and religion to combine, as in Hinduism. Hindu Fundamentalism is ethno-nationalist as well as religious. The two spheres are not neatly separated."
Coinciding with the turn of events in Kashmir, especially the proliferation of Madrassas in that state, there has been a discernible increase in the number of these Islamic religious schools in many parts of North India. The pretext to open these institutions was the plea that Urdu, the language of the Muslims, was not being taught in normal schools. But instead of knowledge to enlarge the mind with logic and analytical reasoning, what is being imparted to the pupils is religious indoctrination and narrow fundamentalist philosophy. Along with the mushrooming of Madrassas, there has been a discernible demographic change. The Muslim population that had stood at less than 10 percent at the time of independence has enlarged to over 14 percent and is continuing to grow.
The ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Kashmir and the violence perpetrated there affected the Hindu Nationalists profoundly.
For them, now the threat was real and violent. They had to act to heal their wounds and prove to the other side that they were not powerless. And so in 1992, the long-disputed structure in Ayodhya was brought down, leading to widespread riots in Bombay and many other parts and accounting for scores of deaths. and normalcy returned, the Hindus remained shell-shocked by their traumatic experience.
connotations, in a very strict sense, conversion applies to one's change of religion, also known as proselytism.558 On the other hand conversion is a radical change because of the inner experience resulting in change of dress, way of life, do's and don'ts and their outlook on the meaning of life and their worldview. The convert departs from one social group and joins another. His/her group loyalities change, old customs and beliefs are denied and a new set of norms are accepted.559
Golwalker leader of RSS said, "The non Hindu people of Hindustan including Christians and Muslims must adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence the Hindu religion, and must entertain no ideas but those of glorification of the Hindu race and culture."561 Bhai
Parmand of the Jan sangh said, "both Muslims and Christians are not the children of the soil they are only guests. They can live here as long as they wish to remain our guests."562
According to S. Radhakrishnan, conversion from one faith to another faith is both psychologically undesirable and logically unwarranted. The Hindu firmly believes that Christianity is a foreign religion and conversion to Christian faith involves vital abandonment of Hindu culture and heritage. Gandhii wrote, "In the Hindu household, the advent of Christian missionary has meant the disrupt of the family, coming in the wake of change of dress, manners, languages, food and drink. Not only the Christian converts give up their traditional faith but also national culture and influence, thought and philosophy of life. Gandhi's objection to conversion was based on his conviction of the equality of all religions; to seek to change one's religion is like wanting to change one's parents. Yet he would not object to conversion out of genuine conviction, which he felt was rare.560
April 1953 that foreign missionaries working in the country engaged in social work, medical, education were welcome, but if they indulge in proselytism it would be undesirable. The general Hindu attitude towards proclamation of the gospel which resulted in conversion of a Hindu to Christianity is decidedly negative.
Hindu Attitude towards Conversion: Kailash Nath Katju, Home Minister made a declaration in the Parliament on 22nd
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India In India, Madhya Pradesh is the first state to enact the Anticonversion. It has a large population of tribal known as "Adivasis". The Government constituted an inquiry commission headed by Dr. Bhavani Shankar Niyogi, a retired Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, and comprising five members.
(2)Groups are particularly vulnerable to being lured into changing their religion.
(1)People who converts in group may not have freely chosen conversion.
All the seven states which have their Anti conversion law before enacting the Anti conversion law, State have following two assumption on which State Government enact the Anti conversion law:
The Anti-Conversion are laws which is enacted mainly by state to prohibit the conversion by force, allurement, gratuity, and other method by which one man renounce his religion and convert into another religion. At present, six states have their
Anti-conversion law, the following state have their Anticonversion law. Madhya Pradesh, Orrisa, Gujarat, Rajasthan,
Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. There are more states planning to introduced their Anti-conversion law like Jharkhand and Uttarakand.
Anti Conversion Bill Although the Indian Constitution article no.25 clearly guaranteed a fundamental right to freedom of religion including a right to propagate one's religion, but it has been challenged by some Hindu political groups like BJP and RSS.
Indian Constitution on Conversion: India being a secular country, the right to propagate religion necessarily includes conversion as a part of Indian constitution. When the fundamental right to propagate one's religion under article number 25 was being discussed in the constitution Assembly in 1949, several Hindu members were against it, but in the end, it was conceded due to the advocacy of certain Christian members in the constituent Assembly and the special pleading of Sadar Vallabhai Patel, the deputy Prime Minister of India.563
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a passed anti-conversion law in the state of Gujarat in 2003. A report in an Indian newspaper described the law "From now on, anyone wishing to convert will have to tell the government why they were doing it and for how long they had been following the religion which they were renouncing, failing which, they will be declared offenders and prosecuted under criminal laws". Due to this law, it becomes mandatory for the clergy who want to convert a person from one religion to another to obtain permission of the district magistrate. It also becomes mandatory for the clergy to provide personal information of the person whom (s) he
On these recommendations of the Commission, the Madhya Pradesh Government passed the anti-conversion law known as Madhya Pradesh Swantraya Adhiniyan Act, 1966 prohibiting conversion from one religion to another religion.
4) It is, therefore, necessary to enact legislation banning conversion.
3) These Christian institutions are controlled by the Churches of foreign countries.
2) Christian institutions are receiving funds and other contributions from foreign countries.
1) Christian missionaries are converting innocent and ignorant people to Christianity by offering various inducements such as free education, free medical facilities and employment opportunities.
One of the members of the Commission was S.K. George, a Christian and a true Gandhian and working as a professor in a college at Wardha. The Commission toured fourteen districts and visited seventy-seven places. It examined 11,300 persons coming from 770 villages and sent questionnaires and received reports from 375 institutions, which included 55 Christian institutions. It also sent questionnaires to prominent individuals of the State. After such detailed and elaborate inquiries the Commission submitted a comprehensive report to the government in 1966. Some of the important recommendations made by the Commission were as follows:
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India According to one estimate, the number of cases involving violence against Christians between 1964 and 1996, a period of 32 years, was only 38 but this number touched a high of 136 in just one year in 1998.The violent incidents included disruption of prayer meetings and gospel readings, damage to Bibles, holy crosses and church buildings. Nowadays the Christians in India have once again become victims of provocative Hindus' aggressive feelings against other communities inhabiting the country. The recent clashes have been triggered by the issue of religious conversions in Orissa's poor tribal region that is home to a number of Christian missionary groups. Hundreds of Christians in the Indian State of Orissa have been forced to renounce their religion and become Hindus. The lynch mobs offer the innocent hapless
Christians a stark ultimatum: convert or die. During the conversion ceremony they are given cow dung to eat exhibiting their loyalty towards Hinduism. The state of Karnataka too has
Rajendra Singh (RSS) declared on 22 Nov 1998, that, "Muslims and Christians will have to accept Hindu cultures as their own if the Hindus are to treat them as Indians."
The chief instigators appear to be from the bodies associated with the Hindu right, namely RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parisad (VHP),
Bajrang Dal and Hindu Gagran Manch (HMJ). These groups take law in their hands as suggested by Golwalker, " violence should be used as a surgeon's knife…to cure the society."565
Trends against Conversion: Though attacks on christian community in India has a long history but the trend of attacks increased in 1998 with the ascension of BJP at the central in Delhi. Atal Bihari Vajpee demanded a national debate on conversion, thereby implying that attacks on christians are due to their conversion activities. He further added that if the christian missionaries continued with their religious conversions, the government could not stop reconversions. In the same way, the Sangh Parivar encourages conversion from christianity to Hinduism as Ghar Wapasi or home coming. 564 wants to convert including her/his marital status, occupation and income.
The problem of fundamentalism knows no borders, and it is a common enemy of humanity. Therefore, what is needed today is the removal of root causes of fundamentalism which may necessitate restructuring of our socio-economic and political systems for the benefit of the masses. It is the responsibility of every citizen to uphold the values of secular democracy. In order to live in peace and harmony, communities have to learn and practice mutual respect and tolerance in a pluralistic society.
What is required today is renewal of all religions taking into account the religious pluralism and secular democratic ideals of our nation. Religious leaders must strive to ensure that the teachings of their respective faiths are seen in the daily life of the believers, in which, love, peace and communal harmony are the most important elements. They must teach their communities to be tolerant and respectful towards other communities and religions and to avoid fanaticism and fundamentalism. Moreover, our secular democracy must provide perspectives and challenges where people can enjoy religious freedom and equality and can come together for dialogue and collaboration to bring about greater communal harmony, to generate common action, to correct social evils, to tame political passions and to work together for nation building. Then only will our independence be relevant and meaningful.
Conclusion come under siege and its secular and progressive fabric is tearing apart under demonic activities of Hindu fundamentalists. The latter sanction the violence by extending arguments of 'cultural protection' against conversions to Christianity. But such arguments are nave as no case of forced conversion by Christians has come into limelight. The noteworthy fact is that the Hindu right wing groups have long been stirring up religious resentment as a way to shore up its voter base. All these incidents depict a gloomy picture of future of 'secular India'.566
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India
Lars P. Qualben, A History of the Christian Church, 35
Harris Franklin Rall, New Testament History: A Study of The Beginnings of Christianity, 139
Mathias was elected in the place of Judas Iscariot.
Ibid.
E. Glenn Hinson, The Early Church, 44
F. F. Bruce, The Spreading Flame, 99
Acts 11:19-21
Knut Schaferdick, "Christian Mission and Expansion," in Early Christianity, edited by Ian Hazlett (Great Britain: SPCK, 1991), 66
Acts 11: 29-30
E. Glenn Hinson, The Early Church, 46
Erwin R. Goodenough, The Church in the Roman Empire (New York:
Henry Holt, 1946), 19
Lars P. Qualben, A History of the Christian Church, 45
Knut Schaferdick, "Christian Mission and Expansion," in Early Christianity, 66
Lars P. Qualben, A History of the Christian Church, 46-51
Knut Schaferdick, "Christian Mission and Expansion," in Early Christianity, 67
He was born in Athens and died in 214 C.E., at Asia Minor. After his conversion he moved to Alexandria and succeeded Pantaenus as the chief teacher in the church of Alexandria.
A disciple of St. Peter.
Robert D.D. Rainy, The Ancient Catholic Church (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1902), 24
F. Hrangkhuma, Introduction to Church History (Bangalore:
Theological Book Trust, 1996), 37
Usually called Pliny the Younger, to distinguish him from his uncle with the same name. He was a Governor in Bithynia during the time of Emperor Trajan.
F. Hrangkhuma, Introduction to Church History, 35
A city of northern Mesopotamia, capital of Osrhoene.
Henri Daniel Rops, The Church of Apostles and Martyrs (New York:
Image Books, 1960), 35
F. Hrangkhuma, Introduction to Church History, 36
Henry Chadwick, The Early Church (Michigan: W. M. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), 61
Henri Daniel Rops, The Church of Apostles and Martyrs, 35
Knut Schaferdick, "Christian mission and Expansion," in Early Christianity, 72
END NOTES
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India 28 Robert D.D. Rainy, The Ancient Catholic Church (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1902), 25 29 Knut Schaferdick, "Christian Mission and Expansion," in Early
Christianity, 70 30 Robert D.D. Rainy, The Ancient Catholic Church, 25 31 W. H. C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity, 313
32 Knut Schaferdick, "Christian Mission and Expansion," in Early Christianity, 71 33 Henri Daniel Rops, The Church of Apostles and Martyrs, 37
34 F. Hrangkhuma, Introduction to Church History, 35 35 Lars P. Qualben, A History of the Christian Church, 80
36 Knut Schaferdick, "Christian Mission and Expansion," in Early Christianity, 72 37 F. Hrangkhuma, Introduction to Church History, 39
38 A.M. Mundadan, History of Christianity in India, Vol.1, From the beginning upto the middle of Sixteenth Cenutry,( CHAI: Bangalore),
1989, 65-66 39 The Indian Church in context: Her emergence, growth and mission, Ed by Mark T. B. Laing, (Delhi: CMS/ ISPCK), 2002, 82
40 The Indian Church in Context, 86 41 History of Christianity in India, vol. 1, Mundadan A. M,.355 -361
42 The Indian Church in Context, .88
43 History of Christianity in India, Mundadan, 391 -397 44 C. B. Firth, 51 45 The Indian Church in Context, 95 46 C.B. Firth, 57 47 Pierre Janelle, The Catholic Reformation, (Milwaukee:Bruce
Publishing Company), 1949, 346 -347 48 C.B. Firth, 56 49 Pierre Janelle, The Catholic Reformation, (Milwaukee:Bruce
Publishing Company), 1949,347 50 A.M. Mundadan, 399, 400 51 Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, Vol. II, 158
52 Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, Vol. II, 156 -162 53 Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, Vol. II, 159
54 Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, Vol. II, 184 -185 55 Andrew C. Ross, A vision betrayed: The Jesuit in Japan and China,
(Edingburgh:UniveristyPress).,17-18 56 Andrew C. Ross, A vision betrayed: The Jesuit in Japan and China,
(Edingburgh:UniveristyPress).,20 - 30 57 Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, Vol. II, 163
58 Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, Vol. II, 158 59 C.B. Firth, 110 60 Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, Vol II, 211
61 Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, Vol. II, 215 62 Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, Vol. II, P.218
63 C.B. Firth, P.116
64 Joseph Thekkadath, History of Christianity in India, Vol 2, 486 65 C. B. Firth, 72 66 A.M. Mundadan, History of Christianity, Vol. I, 323
67 C. B. Firth, 80 - 83 68 Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, Vol. II, 66
69 Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, Vol. II, 68 70 C. B. Firth, An Introduction…, 98-99 71 M. K. Kuriakose, History of…, 53-54 72 C.B. Firth, 101 73 C. B. Firth, An Introduction…, 101 74 Ibid.; Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity…, 72
75 C.B. Firth, 102-108 76 Roger E. Hedlund, Oxford Encyclopedia of South Asian Christianity
Vol 1(Oxford University Press, 2012), 226.
77 C.B. Firth, 134-136 78 Robert Eric Frykenberg, The legacy of Christian Freidrich Schwartz,
International Bulletin of Missionary Research, July 1999 79 Jumuna Nag, Social Reform Movements in Nineteenth Century India,
RBSA Publishers:Jaipur,1988,1 80 Jumuna Nag, 6 81 Dewanji Malay, William Carey and the Indian Renaissance, ISPCK:
Delhi, 1996, 11-12 82 P.C.Gine and T.K. Banerjee, (eds), A Journey from Carey to Tagore:
Socio-Cultural Transformation, "Saptarashi Mallick", An Enqire into the obligations of Christians, (Serampore: Serampore College) 2011,
83 R.E.Hedlund & J.T.K. Daniel, p.208
84 George Smith, P.275,276 85 Malay Dewanji, pp.45-47 86 Arthur Jayakumar, p.58
87 ibid, p.13
88 Ashish Kumar Massey & June Hedlund, 14 89 ibid, 58 90 Malay Dewanji, 71 91 ibid,72 92 Malay Dewanji, 73-74 93 Arthur Jayakumar, 54-55
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India 94 Malay Dewanji, 45 95 Arthur jayakumar, 44 96 F. E. Keay, 62-63 97 C. B. Firth, 171 98 C. B. Firth., 173 99 Ibid.
100 F. E. Keay, A History of the Syrian Church in India, (Delhi: ISPCK, 1960), 69 101 F. E. Keay, 70-72.
102 G. T. Mackenzie, Christianity in Travancore, (Trivandrum:
Travancore Government Press, 1901), 39-40 103 C. B. Firth, 175 104 G. T. Mackenzie, 41 105 C. B. Firth, 175 106 G. T. Mackenzie, 41 107 C. B. Firth, 175 108 Ibid., 176 109 Ibid., 176-177 110 Ibid 111 Ibid.177
112 C. P. Mathew and M.M. Thomas, The Indian Churches of Saint Thomas, (Delhi: ISPCK, 1967), 88 113 C. B. Firth, 177 114 Lucy A. Milne, A History of the Eastern Churches, (Bareilly: HTLC,
1980), 159 115 F. S. Downs, History of Christianity in India. Vol. IV, Part 5...., 65-66
116 Ibid., 69-84.
117 Ibid., 72-74.
118 Ibid., 87-89.
119 Ibid., 89-90.
120 Ibid., 92-93.
121 Ibid., 105-106.
122 Ibid., 30-36.
123 Ibid., 120.
124 Akhrole Kenye, Christianity and Mao Naga Culture, (Dimapur: The author, 2011), 55.
125 F. S. Downs, History of Christianity in India. Vol. IV, Part 5…., 120.
126 Lal Dena, Christian Missions and Colonialism, (Shillong: Vendrame Institute, 1988), 107.
127 M.K. Kuriakose. Ed., History of Christianity in India: Source Materials,(Delhi: ISPCK, 1999), 209.
128 Joseph Puthenpurakal, Baptist Missions in Nagaland, (Shillong:
Vendrame Missiological Institute, 1984), 144.
129 F. S. Downs, History of Christianity in India. Vol. IV, Part 5...., 2-6, 14-15, 142-143.
130 Joseph Puthenpurakal, 104.
131 F. S. Downs, History of Christianity in India. Vol. IV, Part 5…., 142.
132 Ibid., 73-74.
133 Ibid., 96-97.
134 Ibid., 95.
135 Joseph Puthenpurakal, 144.
136 Ibid., 73.
137 Chotanagpur is also known as Jharkhand.
138 Robert Parkin, The Munda of Central India, (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992), 1.
139 The tribals called them Diku. Diku is a Munda word which means exploiters.
140 Anand Sebeyan Hemrom, Theological Evaluation of Jharkhand Movement, 1996 (Unpublished MTh Thesis Submitted to Senate of Serampore).
141 M. M. Thomas and R. W. Taylor. Ed., Tribal Awakening: A Group Study, (Bangalore: CISRS, 1965), 154.
142 A. S. Hemrom. Ed., Meaning and Relevance of the Missionary Contributions of Fr. Gossner, (Ranchi: HRDC, 2010), 36.
143 Peter Tete, A Missionary Social Worker in India: Fr. J. B. Hoffmann, (Ranchi: Satya Bharathi, 1986), 7-9.
144 Workshop on Mission and Evangelism in the Context of Jharkhand, (Ranchi: HRDC, 1998), 20.
145 S. Mahto, Hundred Years of Christian Missions in ChotanagpurSince 1845, (Ranchi: the Chotanagpur Publishing House, Ranchi, 1971),
19-24.
146 P. Minz, Father Johannes Evangelista Gossner and History of Gossner Mission Society, (Ranchi: G.E.L.Church Press, 1986), 14.
147 S. Mahto, 36.
148 SivajiKoyal, A Critique of the Missionary Movement in Chotanagpur 1845-1900, ICHR Vol. XIX, Number 2, December 1985, 140-141.
149 C. B. Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History, (Delhi: ISPCK, 1998), 198.
150 Peter Tete, 25-28.
151 S. Mahto, 35-45.
152 S. Mahto, 135.
153 Ibid., 70.
154 SivajiKoyal, 140-141.
155 A. S. Hemrom. Ed., Meaning and Relevance...., 35-36.
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India 156 Ibid., 150-151.
157 Richard F. Nyrop, India: Introduction, Countries of the World, January
158 Syrian Christians in India, Worldmark Encylopedia of Cultures and Daily Life, January 2009 159 Rene Fulop Miller, The Power and Secret of the Jesuits, (New York:The Viking Press), 1930, 223 - 226 160 Eliza F.Kent, Converting Women: Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial South India, (New York:Oxford UniversityPress), 2004,
15ff 161 A. Christopher Smith, International Review of Mission, Mythology and Missiology: A Methodological approach to the Pre-Victorian
Mission of the Serampore Trio, London, 1965 162 C.B. Firth, 162 163 Chandra Mallampalli, Christians and Public Life in Colonial South
India, 1863-1937: Contending with Marginality, (New York:
Routledge Curzun) , 2004, 170-180 164 Caste System, Catholic Insight, July 2004 165 Thomas C.Fox, Most Bishops are of higher caste but most catholics are not, The Catholic Reporter, May 2001
166 Chandra Mallampalli, Christians and Public Life in Colonial South India, 1863-1937: Contending with Marginality, (New York:
Routledge Curzun) , 2004, 170-180 167 Ducker, "Postcolonialism and Missions," http:// www.theduckers.org/ media/postcolonialism and mission.pdf (19 Jul 2012).
168 Jacob S. Dharmaraj, Colonialism and Christian Mission: Postcolonial Reflection (Delhi: ISPCK, 1993), 14.
169 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India-Selected Themes (Chennai: Author, 2011), 24, 25.
170 Lal Dena, Christian Missions and Colonialism: A Study of the Missionary Movement in North-East India with Particular Reference to Manipur and Lushai Hills 1894-1947 (Shillong: Vendrame Institute,
1988), 1.
171 Alan Thomson, New Movements: Church History AD 1500-1800 (Delhi: ISPCK, 2005), 80.
172 In Medieval Europe, Pope was held as having dominion over the kingdoms of the earth.
173 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India, 24.
174 Thomson, New Movements, 81.
175 Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History (Delhi: ASPCK, 2012), 51.
176 C.B. Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History (Delhi: ASPCK, 2012), 50.
177 Jacob S. Dharmaraj, Colonialism and Christian Mission: Postcolonial Reflection (Delhi: ISPCK, 1993), 16.
178 Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History (Delhi: ASPCK, 2012), 51.
179 Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History (Delhi: ASPCK, 2012), 55.
180 Jacob S. Dharmaraj, Colonialism and Christian Mission: Postcolonial Reflection (Delhi: ISPCK, 1993), 16.
181 A caste of pearl-fishers on the south-east coast of India opposite Ceylon.
182 Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History (Delhi: ASPCK, 2012), 52.
183 Jacob S. Dharmaraj, Colonialism and Christian Mission: Postcolonial Reflection (Delhi: ISPCK, 1993), 17.
184 Jacob S. Dharmaraj, Colonialism and Christian Mission: Post Colonial Reflections (Delhi: ISPCK, 1993), 17.
185 A. Mathias Mundadan, History of Christianity in India: From the Beginning up to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century, vol. I (Bangalore: CHAI, 1984), 159.
186 A. Mathias Mundadan, History of Christianity in India: From the Beginning up to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century, vol. I (Bangalore: Church History Association of India, 1984), 160.
187 A. Mathias Mundadan, History of Christianity in India: From the Beginning up to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century, vol. I (Bangalore: Church History Association of India, 1984), 165.
188 A. Mathias Mundadan, History of Christianity in India: From the Beginning up to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century, vol. I (Bangalore: Church History Association of India, 1984), 368.
189 A. Mathias Mundadan, History of Christianity in India: From the Beginning up to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century, vol. I (Bangalore: Church History Association of India, 1984), 369.
190 A. Mathias Mundadan, 370.
191 ibid, 373.
192 Ibid, 379.
193 Ibid, 383.
194 Ibid, 384.
Ibid, 388.
196 Jacob S. Dharmaraj, Colonialism and Christian Mission: Postcolonial Reflection (Delhi: ISPCK, 1993), 17.
197 Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity, vol. II (Bangalore: CHAI, 2001), 72; Firth, 101.
198 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity, 26.
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India 199 ibid, 26.
200 Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History (Delhi: ASPCK, 2012), 104.
201 M.K. Kuriakose, History of Christianity in India: Source Materials (Delhi: ISPCK, 1999), 54, 55.
202 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, 27.
203 E. R. Hambye S. J., History of Christianity in India, Vol. III (Bangalore:
CHAI, 1997), 90.
204 M. Justus, "Schwartz: A Missionary in Politics 1750-1798," in Indian Church History Review, vol. XXVI (Bangalore: CHAI, 1992), 38.
205 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India: Selected Theme (Chennai: Author, 2011), 27.
206 Ibid, 28.
207 David Packiamuthu, "The beginning of Protestant Mission in Madras," Indian Church History Review, edited by Leonard Fernando and A. Mathias Mundadan, vol. XXXIV (Bangalore: The Church history Association of India, 2000), 101.
208 Ibid, 102.
209 It is situated at a distance of about three miles west of Fort St George, and adjacent to Black Town. It was a flourishing trade centre as its name indicates. Ibid., 105.
210 David Packiamuthu, "The beginning of Protestant Mission in Madras," Indian Church History Review, edited by Leonard Fernando and A. Mathias Mundadan, vol. XXXIV (Bangalore: The Church history Association of India, 2000), 113. Vepery chapel was built by Prince Uscan among the merchants and a distinguished citizen of Madras. It was built for the benefit of the poor at his own expense.
Ibid., 108.
211 M. Justus, "Schwartz: A Missionary in Politics 1750-1798," in Indian Church History Review, vol. XXVI (Bangalore: The Church History
Association of India, 1992), 36.
212 Ibid, 38.
213 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India: Selected Theme (Chennai: Author, 2011), 28.
214 M. Justus, 40.
215 M. Justus, 41.
216 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, 29.
217 ibid, 30.
218 Jacob S. Dharmaraj, Colonialism and Christian Mission: Postcolonial Reflection (Delhi: ISPCK, 1993), 18.
219 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, 31.
220 E. Daniel Potts, British Baptist Missionaries in India 1793-1831: The History of Serampore and its Missions (New York: Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1967), 170.
221 E. Daniel Potts, 172.
222 Jacob S. Dharmaraj, Colonialism and Christian Mission: Postcolonial Reflection (Delhi: ISPCK, 1993), 43.
223 Ibid. 22.
224 M.K. Kuriakose, History of Christianity in India: Source Materials (Delhi: ISPCK, 1999), 88.
225 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, 31.
226 ibid, 35.
227 S. Dharmaraj, Colonialism, 54.
228 Ibid, 55.
229 E. Daniel Potts, British Baptist Missionaries in India 1793-1831: The History of Serampore and its Missions (New York: Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1967), 175.
230 E. Daniel Potts, 176.
231 Ashish K. Mondal, "William Carey and Ca;cutta," in Indian Church History Review, edited by Frederick S. Downs and A. Mathias
Mundadan, vol. XXV (Bangalore: The Church Association of India, 1991), 6.
232 Ibid, 8.
233 Jacob S. Dharmaraj, 44.
234 Ibid, 58.
235 Ibid, 59, 60.
236 Jacob S. Dharmaraj, 62.
237 Ibid, 62.
238 Ibid, 67.
239 Ibid, 69.
240 Ibid, 70.
241 Ibid, 71.
242 Ibid, 84.
243 Arthur Jeyakumar, "Paul Ramasamy and the National Movement,"
Dharma Deepika 1/2 (December, 1997): 33.
244 J. Kuruvachira, Indian Christians and the Independence Movement, 1.
245 Atula Imsong, "Christians and the Indian National Movement: A Historical Perspective," Indian Journal of Theology 46/1&2 (2004):
99.
246 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India: Selected Themes (Revised and Enlarged Edition), (Author, 2007), 91.
247 R.C. Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement in India Vol.I, (Calcutta: Firma Klm Private Limited, 1997), 77-82.
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India 248 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …: 99.
249 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …: 99.
250 George Thomas, Christian Indians and Indian Nationalism 18851950: An Interpretation in Historical and Theological Perspectives,
(Frankfurt a.M: Verlag Peter D. Lang, 1979), 45.
251 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …: 99.
252 Thomas, Christian Indians and Indian Nationalism …, 46-47.
253 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …: 100.
254 Jim Masselos, Indian Nationalism: An History, (New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Private Limited, 1991), 59.
255 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity…, 91.
256 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …: 99-100.
257 Elizabeth Susan Alexander, The Attitudes of British Protestant Missionaries Towards Nationalism in India-with Special Reference to Madras Presidency 1919-1927 (Delhi: Konark Publishers Pvt. Ltd.,
1994), 7.
258 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …, 91-92.
259 Murari Lal Gupta, History of British Rule in India (New Delhi: Reliance Publishing House, 1993), 258-259.
260 R.C. Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement in India Vol.I, (Calcutta: Firma Klm Private Limited, 1997), 129, 213.
261 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …, 92.
262 It was supplanted by a new political organization called "Indian Association" which was inaugurated in 1876, in Calcutta. Imsong,
"Christians and the Indian …:100.
263 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:100.
264 Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement …, 342.
265 On the other hand, Indian opinion viewed him in a different light as: he had a 'pure and unblemished' character (the Bengali Amrita Bazaar
Patrika); he had a commanding personality … sagacity and … determined will (a Bombay Parsi); the 'fervour of the prophet and the enthusiasm of a fanatic held well under control by the practical insight of a statesman, and his selflessness was sublime (the Lahore Tribune).
Jim Masselos, Indian Nationalism: An History, (New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Private Limited, 1991), 80.
266 Masselos, Indian Nationalism…, 79-81.
267 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:101.
268 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:101.
269 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …, 92.
270 Alexander, The Attitudes of British Protestant Missionaries …, 9.
271 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:101.
272 Alexander, The Attitudes of British Protestant Missionaries …, 8-9.
273 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:101.
274 Kuruvachira, Indian Christians and the …, 1-2.
275 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …, 93.
276 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:, 93.
277 "Christianity in India Through the Centuries," 205.
278 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …: 93.
279 Kuruvachira, Indian Christians and …, 2.
280 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …, 93.
281 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:103.
282 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …: 94.
283 "Christianity in India Through the Centuries," 206.
284 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …: 101-102.
285 Kuruvachira, Indian Christians …, 2.
286 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …: 103.
287 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …,94.
288 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:103.
289 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …, 94.
290 Alexander, The Attitudes of British Protestant Missionaries …, 105107.
291 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …,94-96.
292 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:102.
293 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:102.
294 During the World War I, it was believed that the missionaries who came from countries which were at war with Great Britain might engage in anti-British activities. The Government realized that missionaries wielded much influence over the people of India and therefore took steps to control non-British missionaries whose loyalties were suspect.
Arthur Jeyakumar, "The British Government in India and Missionaries of Non-British Societies the Light of the Memoranda of 1919: Some
Case Studies," Indian Church History Review 18/2 (December, 1984):
119.
295 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …, 97.
296 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, Christians and the National Movement: The Memoranda of 1919 and the National Movement with Special
Reference to Protestant Christians in Tamil Nadu: 1919-1939, (Bangalore: centre for Contemporary Christianity, 2009), 18.
297 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …, 97-98.
298 K Baago, A History of the National Christian Council of India: 19141964, (Nagpur: The National Christian Council, 1965), 28.
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India 299 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:103.
300 T.V. Sathyamurthy, "Indian Nationalism: State of the Debate,"
Economic and Political Weekly 32/14 (April, 1997): 715.
301 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …, 98.
302 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …, 99-105.
303 Kuriakose, History of Christianity …,, 322.
304 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:105.
305 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …,, 96.
306 Jeyakumar, History of Christianity …, 102.
307 Kuruvachira, Indian Christians …, 3-4.
308 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:105.
309 Kuriakose, History of Christianity …, 268-269.
310 Imsong, "Christians and the Indian …:106.
311 K Baago, A History of the National Christian …,, 30.
312 Kuruvachira, Indian Christians …, 2.
313 Arthur Jeyakumar, "Paul Ramasamy and the National Movement,"
Dharma Deepika 1/2 (December, 1997): 34-37.
314 J. Kuruvachira, Indian Christians and the Independence Movement, 4.
315 Kuruvachira, Indian Christians …, 5.
316 Kuruvachira, Indian Christians …, 5-6.
317 Kuruvachira, Indian Christians …, 4-6.
318 Kuruvachira, Indian Christians …, 6-7.
319 Thomas, Christian Indians …, 115.
320 Puranikas or readers of the sacred Puranas, normally traveled from place to place, preaching or simply reading the Puranas to whoever would listen. The hearers were obliged to give some gifts to the Puranikas, in the form of food, money, garments or flowers.
321 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India: Selected Themes, (Madurai : Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary), 2000, 58-59
322 What attracted the scholars in Calcutta was Ramabai could repeat 18,000 verses from Bhagavata Purana and was acquainted the amazing intricacies of Sanskrit.
323 The Brahmo Samaj was a group of social reformers formed from among the educated elite classes of Bengal. The members, who were deeply influenced by Western ideals of liberalism and rationalism, questioned the premises of orthodox Hinduism.
324 Uma Chakravarti, Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai (New Delhi: Kali For Women), 2000, vii 325 Pandita Ramabai, A Testimony, (Poona: Mukti Mission), 1907, 9
326 S.M. Adhav, Pandita Ramabai,(Madras: CLS), 1979, 7 327 Nirmala charles, Pandita Ramabai and Modern Indian Renaissance
( Lucknow: Lucknow Publishing House) 2004, 42 328 Ibid 329 Pandita Ramabai, A Testimony, 24 330 Basil Miller, Pandita Ramabai: India's Christian Pilgrim (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House), 1949, 33 331 S.M. Adhav, Pandita Ramabai, 8 332 A. B. Shah, ed., The Letters and Correspondence of Pandita Ramabai
(Bombay: Maharashtra State Board for Literature and Culture), 1977,
333 Uma Chakravarti, Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai, 316 334 A. B. Shah, ed., The Letters and Correspondence of Pandita Ramabai,
335 Nicol Macnicol, The Story of Pandita Ramabai, (Calcutta: Good Books), 1996, 64 336 Nirmala charles, Pandita Ramabai and Modern Indian Renaissance,
337 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India: Selected Themes, (Madurai : Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary), 2000, 77
338 Meera Kosambi (ed. & trans.), Pandita Ramabai Through her Own Words: Selected Works (New Delhi: Oxford University Press), 2000,
129ff 339 Mary L.B. Fuller, The Triumph of an Indian Widow: The Life of Pandita Ramabai (New York: Christian Alliance Publishing Co.), 1927, 29.
340 Rev. John K Mathew, "Padita Ramabai", The Trumpet Kahalam, Vol.18, No.5, May, 2007, Kumband, Kerala, 7
341 S.M. Adhav, Pandita Ramabai, 27 342 Nagendra K Singh (editor), Pandita Ramabai, Encyclopaedia of the India Biography, 413 343 Perhaps this word expresses her personal liberation experience from what she called the clutches of Hinduism, but in a true sense, she wanted to name her mission as 'Mukti' – liberation. She wanted the whole community to represent that liberation.
344 Jessie H. Mair, Bungalows in Heaven: The Story of Pandita Ramabai (Kedgaon,: Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission), 2003, 87-88.
345 Keith J. White, Pandita Ramabai (1858-1922): A Revaluation of Her Life and Work, Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Wales, 2003,
222 - 223 346 Nagendra K Singh (editor), Pandita Ramabai, Encyclopaedia of the India Biography, 413 347 Nirmala charles, Pandita Ramabai and Modern Indian
Renaissance,114
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India 348 Nagendra K Singh, 413 349 Adhav, Pandita Ramabai, 196 350 Nalini Arles, Pandita Ramabai: An Appraisal from Feminist
Perspective, A paper presented at UBS, Pune, 17-20 Jan. 2005, 11 351 Adhav, Pandita Ramabai, 201-2 352 Nagendra K Singh, 413 353 S.M. Adhav, Pandita Ramabai, 237-238
354 Nalini Arles, Pandita Ramabai, 15 355 M.E. David, "The Legal Status of Women in India", Religion and Society, Vol. XXIII, No.1, March 1976, Bangalore, C.I.S.R.S., p. 50.
A.B. Shaw, L and C pp. 228, 226-230 and 61 356 Nalini Arles, Pandita Ramabai: An Appraisal from Feminist
Perspective, A paper presented at UBS, Pune, 17-20 Jan. 2005, 22 357 A. B. Shah, ed., The Letters and Correspondence of Pandita Ramabai
(Bombay: Maharashtra State Board for Literature and Culture), 1977,
358 S.M. Adhav, Pandita Ramabai (Madras: Christian Literature Society), 1979, 44 359 Atul Yeshvant Aghamkar, Mission Perception and Practice of Pandita
Ramabai, A Paper presented at UBS, Pune, 17-20 Jan 2005. 20
360 Basil Miller, Pandita Ramabai: India's Christian Pilgrim, 71 361 Uma Chakravarti, Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita
Ramabai, 328 362 Ibid.
363 Daughrity, Dyron, A Dissonant Mission: Stephen Neill, Amy Carmichael, and Missionary Conflict in South India, International
Review of Mission, Volume: 97, Issue: 384-385, January-April 2008, 103 ff 364 Brouwer, Ruth Compton, International Bulletin of Missionary
Research , "The Legacy of Hilda Lazarus",. Vol. 30. Issue. 4, October 2006.,202 ff 365 Zenana is an Urdu generic word widely used to denote spaces in households which were marked off exclusively for women, where they would cook, do domestic work and spend leisure hours.
366 Maina Chawla Singh, Women, mission and medicine: Clara Swain, Anna Kugler and early medical endeavors in colonial India,
International Bulletin of Missionary Research 29, no 3, 2005, 128 -
367 D. Authur Jeyakumar, 37 368 George Smith, Life of Carey: Shoemaker and Missionary, (London and Toronto: J.M.Dent and Sons), 1922, 273
369 J.T.K. Daniel and R.E. Hedlund (ed), Carey's Obligation and India's Renaissance, T. Ambrose Jeyasekaran, William Carey's Educational
Contributions, (Serampore:Serampore College), 1993, 217 370 A.K.Dutta and P.C. Gine (ed), Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges, Bonita Aleaz, Serampore Missionaries and Women's education in Bengal, (Serampore:Serampore College), 2009,.60-61
371 George Smith, 275,276 372 Kenneth Ingham, Reformers in India 1793-1833: An account of the work of the Christian Missionaries on behalf of Social reform,
(Cambridge:University Press),1952, 62 ff 373 George Smith, 275,276 374 A.K.Dutta and P.C. Gine (ed), Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges, Sailesh Mukhopadhyay, Higher Education: Idea of Rev.Dr. William Carey (Serampore:Serampore College), 2009,.35
375 D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India: Selected Themes (Revised and Enlarged Edition) (Madurai: Author, 2007), 111.
376 F.J. Balasundaram, The Growth and Development…, 385.
377 Ibid, 385.
378 M.K. Kuriakose, History of Christianity in India: Source Materials, (Delhi: ISPCK, 1999), 82.
379 Arthur Jeyakumar, Indian Contribution to the Ecumenical Movement, Unpublished notes.
380 Arthur Jeyakumar, Indian Contribution to … 381 Ibid.
382 M.K. Kuriakose, History of Christianity…, 158.
383 Ibid,161.
384 Ibid,170.
385 Arthur Jeyakumar, Indian Contribution to… 386 Arthur Jeyakumar, Indian Contribution to…
387 Ibid.
388 M.K. Kuriakose, History of Christianity…, 270.
389 Ibid, 220.
390 Ibid, 214-218.
391 Arthur Jeyakumar, Indian Contribution to… 392 M.K. Kuriakose, History of Christianity…,, 252-253.
393 F.J. Balasundaram, The Growth and Development…, 391.
394 Chairperson, Continuation Committee of the World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh 1910 395 C.B. Firth, An Introduction…, 235.
396 F.J. Balasundaram, The Growth and Development…, 394.
397 Arthur Jeyakumar, Indian Contribution to… 398 F.J. Balasundaram, The Growth and Development…, 396.
399 Arthur, Jeyakumar , History of Christianity…, 117-118.
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India 400 F.J. Balasundaram, The Growth and Development…, 396-397.
401 Arthur, Jeyakumar , History of Christianity…, 118.
402 F.J. Balasundaram, The Growth and Development…, 398.
403 Arthur Jeyakumar, Indian Contribution to… 404 O.L. Snaitang, A History of Ecumenical Movement: An Introduction,
(Bangalore:BTESSC/SATHRI, 2010), 86-87.
405 Arthur, Jeyakumar , History of Christianity…, 120.
406 Ibid, 121.
407 Madras, Mysore, Trichinopoly and Hyderabad districts 408 Church of India, Burma and Ceylon, viz. Madras, Travancore-Cochin,
Tirunelveli and Dornakal 409 Arthur, Jeyakumar , History of Christianity…, 122.
410 Ibid., 122.
411 C.B. Firth, An Introduction…, 239.
412 F.J. Balasundaram, The Growth and Development…, 397-398.
413 J.W. Gladston, Historical Development of the Ecumenical Movement and its Implications, NCC Review 114 (1994) 06: 451.
414 Arthur, Jeyakumar , History of Christianity…, 123.
415 Five bishops, ten presbyters, fifteen lay persons including five women 416 F.J. Balasundaram, The Growth and Development…, 398.
417 Arthur Jeyakumar, Indian Contribution to… 418 Robert J. Mc Mahon, "Azariah, Vedanayagam Samuel", The New
International Dictionary of the Christian Church, Edited by J.D.
Douglas, et al, (Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1974):93.
419 Ans J. Van Der Bent, "Azariah, Vedanayagam Samuel", Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement Edited by Nicholas Lossky, et al, (Geneva:
WCC Publications, 2002): 83.
420 F.J. Balasundaram, The Growth and Development…, 400.
421 Kenneth Scott Latourette, "Ecumenical Bearings of the Missionary Movement and the International Missionary Council", A History of the Ecumenical Movement: 1517-1948, Rouse Ruth and Stephen Neil,
(Geneva: WCC Publications, 1989), 359.
422 O.L. Snaitang, A History of Ecumenical…, 224.
423 F.J. Balasundaram, The Growth and Development…, 391.
424 Susannah Haris-Wilson, "Chakko, Sarah", Dictionary of the…, 158159.
425 Stanley J. Samartha, "Datta, Surendra Kumar", Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Edited by Gerald H. Anderson, et al, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 1988): 169.
426 Stanley J. Samartha, "Devanandan, Paul David", Biographical Dictionary…, 177.
427 Eric J. Sharpe, "Paul, Kanakarayan Tiruselvam", Biographical Dictionary…521.
428 Ans J. Van Der Bent, "Parmar, Samuel L.", Dictionary of the…, 879880.
429 F.J. Balasundaram, The Growth and Development…, 401.
430 Eeuwout van der Linden, "Samartha, Stanley Jedidiah", Biographical Dictionary…, 588.
431 Ans J. Van Der Bent, "Samartha, Stanley Jedidiah.", Dictionary of the…, 1014.
432 Ans J. Van Der Bent, "Thomas M. M. (Madathilparampil Mammen)", Dictionary of the…, 1135.
433 Known since 1962 as North East India Christian Council (NEICC) 434 O.L. Snaitang, A History of Ecumenical…, 237.
435 Creighton Lacy, "Niles, Daniel Thambyrajah", Biographical Dictionary…, 496.
436 Hans-Werner Gensichen, "Manikam, Rajah Bushanam)", Biographical Dictionary…, 430.
437 C.B. Firth, An Introduction…, 247.
438 F.J. Balasundaram, The Growth and Development…, 382.
439 Arthur, Jeyakumar , History of Christianity…, 129.
440 Stanley M. Burgess and Gary B. McGee eds., "The Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements," Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic
Movements by Editors (Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House,
1988): P. 1
441 Burgess and Gary B. McGee eds., P.1
442 James.I Packer, "Theological Reflections on the Charismatic Movement-Part 1" Churchman 94/1 (1980) 443 Larry Christenson ed. Welcome, Holy Spirit: A Study of Charismatic
Renewal in the Church (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1987), 19 444 Stanley M. Burgess ed. International Dictionary of Pentecostal
Charismatic Movements: Revised and Expanded Edition (Michigan:
Zondervan, 2003): xxi.
445 F.L. Cross ed., The Oxford Dictionary, P.1043
446 Roger E. Hedlund, "Approaches to Indian Church History in Light of New Christian Movements," ICHR 34/2 (December, 2000), P.161
447 T.D. Manuel, "Theology of Worship in Isaiah 1-39 and its Implications for the Theology of Worship in the Pentecostal Churches in India"
(M. Th. thesis, 2002).
448 M. Stephen, "The Challenge of the Pentecostal Churches Today: an Insider's View," Jeevadhara 25/148 (July 1995): P. 276-280
449 Gary B. McGee, ""Latter Rain" Falling in the East: Early-Twentieth-
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India Century Pentecostalism in India and the Debate over Speaking in Tongues," Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 68/3
(September, 1999): P.649
450 Stanley M. Burgess, "Pentecostalism in India: An Overview," Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 4/1 (2000): P. 88
451 Stanley M. Burgess, "Development and Growth of Pentecostalism in India (1910-60)," The New International Dictionary …: P. 123
452 Stephen, "The Challenge of the Pentecostal …:P. 275
453 McGee, "'Latter Rain" Falling …: P. 658-665 454 Burgess, "Pentecostalism …: P. 87
455 Burgess, "Pentecostalism …: P. 92
456 Alfred Garr firmly believed that God had given him the Bengali language when he was Spirit-baptized, and Lillian (Josephine) believed that she received Tibetan and Mandarin. Both expected to preach in these languages. Conflict followed these claims. Alfred
Garr's inability to preach in Bengali resulted in his abandoning the utility of tongues as a missionary tool, although he vigorously retained them as the indispensable sign of Spirit-baptism. In this the Garrs came into conflict with missionaries who preceded them to India, including the glossolalic Minnie F. Abrams, who objected to the concept of tongues as absolutely indispensable for Spirit baptism.
Notwithstanding these disagreements, Pentecostalism grew rapidly in India. Burgess, "Pentecostalism …: 89.
457 Burgess, "Development and Growth …: P. 124
458 Burgess, "Pentecostalism …: P. 93
459 Burgess, "Pentecostalism …: P. 94
460 K.M. George, Christianity in India through the Centuries, (Secunderabad: Authentic Books, 2007), P. 172-173
461 Burgess, "Development and Growth …: P. 123-124 462 John Alex "Indian Pentecostal Church of God," The Oxford
Encyclopaedia of South Asian Christianity Vol. I (A-K) ed. by Roger E. Hedlund (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2012): P. 334
463 Burgess, "Development and Growth …:P. 122
464 George, Christianity in India …, P. 173
465 Burgess, "Pentecostalism …:P. 93
466 George, Christianity in India …, P.173
467 Burgess, "Development and Growth …: P.124
468 George, Christianity in India …, P.173
469 George, Christianity in India …, P.174
470 George, Christianity in India …, P.174
471 Burgess, "Development and Growth …: 122
472 Roger E. Hedlund, India's Churches of Indigenous Origin: Quest for Identity, (Delhi: MIIS/ISPCK, 2000), P.138
473 Hedlund, India's Churches of Indigenous …,P.139-140 474 George, Christianity in India …, P.174
475 Hedlund, India's Churches of Indigenous …, P.145
476 George, Christianity in India …, P.174
477 George, Christianity in India …, P.174
478 George, Christianity in India …, P.175
479 Nitson K. Varghese, "Pentecostal Theology as People's Theology: A Reading of the Experience in the Pentecostal Theology from the Perspective of Margins" (M. Th. thesis, Senate of Serampore College,
2007).
480 E.A. Livingston and F.L. Cross eds. "Pentecostalism," The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1997): P.1254
481 Nitson K. Varghese, "Pentecostal Theology as an Emerging for Theologising," Gurukul Journal of Theological Studies 17/1 (January,
2006): P.50
482 Joy John, "The Twentieth Century Charismatic Movement: A Biblical Evaluation," Asian Biblical Expositor 2/4 (October-December, 1993):
P.31
483 Cross ed., The Oxford Dictionary …: P.265
484 James Byrne, Threshold of God's Promise: An Introduction to the Catholic Pentecostal Movement, (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1971),
P.69
485 Burgess and Gary B. McGee eds., "The Pentecostal …: P.3
486 Burgess and Gary B. McGee eds., "The Pentecostal …: P.3-4 487 Christenson ed. Welcome, Holy Spirit: A Study …, P.17
488 John, "The Twentieth Century Charismatic …: P.32
489 Paul Puthanangady, "The Spread of Charismatic Movement Today and the Revival of Fundamentalism," Jeevadhara 22/130 (July, 1992):
P.278
490 Burgess, "Pentecostalism …: P.94
491 Burgess and Gary B. McGee eds., "The Pentecostal …:P. 4
492 Sunday is registration time; Monday is the day of surrender; Tuesday is the day of confession; Wednesday is the day of counselling;
Thursday is a time for inner healing, prayer and fasting; Friday is devoted to the gift of the Holy Spirit; and Saturday is the final mass, with the blessing of rosary and the Bible. Burgess, "Pentecostalism
…: P.94-95
493 Burgess, "Pentecostalism …: P.94
494 Burgess, "Development and Growth …: P.124-125 495 Burgess ed., The New International Dictionary …, P.xix-xx.
Fundamentalism and Conversion
History of Christianity in India 496 Burgess, "Pentecostalism …: P.95-96 497 Burgess ed. International Dictionary …: P.125
498 George, Christianity in India …, P.175
499 Burgess ed. International Dictionary …: P.125
500 Hedlund "Indigenous Missionary Movement," The Oxford …: 338.
501 Theodore Williams, "Indian Missionaries: How Should they be used?"
Indian Church Growth Quarterly 3/4 (October-December, 1981): 177.
502 Williams, "Indian Missionaries: How Should …: 177.
503 Hedlund "Indigenous Missionary Movement," The Oxford …: 337338.
504 Williams, "Indian Missionaries: How Should …: 177.
505 Hedlund "Indigenous Missionary Movement," The Oxford …: 338.
506 Williams, "Indian Missionaries: How Should …: 178.
507 Peter S.C. Pothan "Indigenous Missionary Movement," The Oxford …: 333.
508 Samuel Prabhakar "National Missionary Society of India," The Oxford …: 333.
509 Hedlund ed. "Indigenous Missionary Movement," The Oxford …:
333-334.
510 K. Rajendran "Indigenous Missionary Movement," The Oxford …:
332.
511 Rajasekhar "Friends Missionary Prayer Band," The Oxford …: 269.
512 Pothan "Indigenous Missionary Movement," The Oxford …: 332.
513 Pothan "Indigenous Missionary Movement," The Oxford …: 332333.
514 Hedlund, "Approaches to Indian …: 153-154.
515 Hedlund, "Indian Christians of Indigenous …: 23-24.
516 Hedlund, "Approaches to Indian …: 155.
517 Hedlund, India's Churches of Indigenous …, 262.
518 David H. Lumsdaine (ed), Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Asia,( Oxford University Press: New York),2009,. 150
519 Elungkiebe Zeliang, Pioneer Missionaries of North East India Vol 1, (Assam: ETC), 2003, 19 520 Lalsangkima Pachuau, Church-Mission dynamics in Northeast India,
International Bulletin of Missionary Research, October 2003.
521 B.L. Nongbri, Paper Presentation on "Serampore Mission in Northeast India with special reference to Khasi Hills (1813-1838), A Historical
Survey, 7 522 R.R. Cunville, The Growth of the Church in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, Shillong: Church Association of India, 1964, 15
523 H. Bareh, A Short History of Khasi Literature, (Shillong: Ri Khasi Press), 1891, .8
524 J.Edwin Orr, Evangelical Awakening in India,( New Delhi: n.p), 1970,
525 M. Alemchiba, A Brief Historical Account of Nagaland, (Nagaland :
Naga Institute of Culture),1970, 53 526 F.S. Down, An Historical account of the Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India, 1983-1986, CBCNEI Sesqui Centennail Souvenir,
1986, P.1
527 Inato Yekheto Shikhu, A Re-Discovery and Re-Building of Naga Cultural Values, (New Delhi: Genency Publication), 2007, 68-69
528 B.B. Ghost (Ed), Nagaland District Gazetteers, Mokokchung District, Kohima, Government of Nagaland, 1979, P.58
529 Inato Yekheto Shikhu, A Re-Discovery…, 71 530 Renthy Keitzar, Good News for North East India: A Theological
Reader, (Assam:The Christian Literature Centre), 1995, 163 531 Joseph S. Thong, Glimpses of Naga Legacy and Culture, kerala, D C
Press, 2011, P.240
532 Norman Etherington and Roger Louis (eds), Missions and Empire, (England: Oxford University Press), 2005,116
533 Lalsangkima Pachuau, Church-Mission dynamics in Northeast India, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, October 2003.
534 Elungkiebe Zeliang, Pioneer Missionaries of North East India ,.88-92 535 Elungkiebe Zeliang, Pioneer Missionaries of North East India Vol 1,
138 -143 536 Elungkiebe Zeliang, Pioneer Missionaries of North East India,111-
537 Lalsangkima Pachuau, Church-Mission dynamics in Northeast India, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, October 2003.
538 Geoffrey Gorer, The Lepchas of Sikkim (Delhi: Gian Publishing House, 1987), 42.
539 Albert Craig, A Scot in Sikkim (Edinburgh: Church of Scotland Print Centre, 2001),2.
540 Ibid., 3.
541 Ibid., 5.
542 J.R. Subba, History, Culture, Customs of Sikkim, Gyan Publishing House: New Delhi, 2011, 155-156 543 Nirwan Amos Subba, Lepcha Jati ani Biblesita Mildojuldo Kuraharu
(Kalimpong: Xerox Plus, 2011), 62.
544 LSS O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers Darjeeling, 1907, Reprint(New Delhi: Logos Press, 1999), 171.
545 D.G. Manuel, A Gladdening River (London: A. & C. Black, Limited, 1914), 178.
546 C.B. Firth, An Introduction to History of Christianity in India, 277
History of Christianity in India 547 Elungkiebe Zeliang, Pioneer Missionaries of North East India , 2003,
548 Elungkiebe Zeliang, Pioneer Missionaries.., 38,39 549 Elungkiebe Zeliang, Pioneer Missionaries.., 77
550 C.B. Firth, History of Christianity in India, 282-283 551 Elungkiebe Zeliang, Pioneer Missionaries.., 132
552 F.S. Downs, History of Christianity in India, V.5, (Bangalore: CHAI), 2003, 146 553 Renthy Keitzar, Good News for North East India: A Theological
Reader, (Assam:The Christian Literature Centre), 1995, 162 554 Panger Imchen, Ancient Ao Naga Religion and Culture, (Delhi:
Haranand Publications), 1993, 157, 163 555 R.R. Shimrey, Origin and Culture of Nagas, (New Delhi: Pamleiphi
Shimrey), 1985, 203 556 Renthy Keitzar, Good News for North East India: A Theological
Reader, 107-108 557 Krishna Kumar, Parameters, "Religious Fundamentalism in India and Beyond", Volume 32, Issue.3, Autumn 2002, 17ff
558 Y.Antony Raj, Social Impact of Conversion,( Delhi:ISPCK),2001, 23 559 Y.Antony Raj, 27 560 M.P. Raju, Religious Conversion: Legal Implications, (Delhi:Media
House), 1999, 44 561 Brojedra Nath Benerjee, "Conversion", in International review of Mission, LXXII/287, July 1983, P.395
562 M.P. Raju, Religious Conversion, 44 563 M.P. Raju, Religious Conversion, 35 564 Roger. E. Hedlund, Missiology for the 21st Century, 363
565 Roger. E. Hedlund, Missiology for the 21st Century, 360 566 Religious Fundamentalism in India, The Nation (Karachi, Pakistan),
November5, 2008