Conclusion

CONCLUSION It is safe to conclude that a major portion of the writings about Christianity were from missionaries and were written for the English-speaking world with its vested and varied interests. Missionaries wrote these texts. These texts were written in English. And they continue to be written. Most of the monographs are autobiographical or biographical accounts and institutional histories. While writings between 1848 and 1932 explored Telugu culture in order to create missionary interest among Western Christians and draw missionary strategies, those between 1933 and 1952 accentuated the “civilizing aspects” of Christian mission. The literature written between 1953 and 1981 highlights the way the Telugus articulated their faith, while the essays and books written after 1981 employ caste as a hermeneutical tool. While seeking to hear the voices of the natives and attempting to bring Telugu Christians to the foreground, we must not get carried away either by the dearth or depth of writings by native writers, both Telugu and non-Telugu. Being sympathetic to what native Christians had to tell their contemporaries, a historian should constantly ask whose voice she or he is hearing in the text. It is possible, though difficult, to see the footprints of my ancestors in the missionary transcripts, but it is equally improbable that we always hear the voices representative of Telugu Christians in the texts written by native Christians. Many native writers did collaborate with the missionaries, but local Christian communities were not completely passive regarding what missionaries thought or wrote. Therefore, although the voices of Telugu Christians at the grassroots were muted, they can still be heard. These documents consist of representations of the Telugu. But the Telugu is not completely absent in these portraits. Telugus, both Christian and non-Christian, and Western missionaries together developed a native form of Christianity in Andhra Pradesh, both during the colonial era and thereafter, and they influenced each other’s writings through the processes of interaction and encounter, conflict and collaboration.48 The historical process consists of dialogue and complex negotiation, rather than mere conflict and impositions of ideas and interests. It is a negotiated construction shaped by both the weak and the strong.49 The native was not absent in the production of “representations” either. It is possible, though difficult, to study the history of Telugu Christian communities from these texts. The challenge in the process is not with finding the sources, but with interpreting them and discerning the voices that we hear in these transcripts. NOTES 1. Henry W. Fox, Chapters on Missions in South India (London: Seeleys, 1848). Four books published soon after are A Memoir of Henry Watson Fox, Appendix to the Life of the Rev. H. W. Fox, A Memoir of the Rev. Walter Gunn, Late Missionary in India, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the United States (Baltimore: E. H. Press, 1852), and Telugu Mission (London: Wertheim and Macintosh, 1852). 2. K. E. Rajpramukh, Dalit Christians of Andhra Pradesh (New Delhi: Serials Publications, 2008). 3. John E. Clough, From Darkness to Light: The Story of a Telugu (Boston: W. G. Corthell, 1882); Nicole Macnicole, India in the Dark Wood (London: Edinburgh House Press, 1930).

4. There are sixty monographs or chapters written in the first sixty years, while ninety books, small and big, are produced in the following twenty years at the rate of four to five books every year. 5. Jarrell W. Pickett, Christian Mass Movements in India (New York: Abingdon Press, 1933). Hereafter, Pickett, Christian Mass Movements. 6. W. E. Hocking, Rethinking Missions: A Laymen’s Inquiry after One Hundred Years (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1932). Hereafter, Hocking, Rethinking Missions. 7. Thirty out of the ninety books of this period were written in Telugu. A series “The Stories of Telugu Church Founders,” undertaken by the Christian Literature Society, alone included twenty-seven booklets. 8. May Her Light Shine as a Beacon in the Darkness: A Tribute to the Late Mrs. Maria Klassen Lohrenz—A Souvenir (Hyderabad: Mennonite Brethren Bethel Church, 1992). 9. Joe S. Sebastian, The Jesuit Carnatic Mission: The Foundation of Andhra Church (Secunderabad: Jesuit Province Society, 2004). Hereafter, Sebastian, Jesuit Carnatic Mission. 10. Gabriel Ogirala, Krishnamandal Canadian Baptist Mission Sunadavatsara Viseshamalu, 1874-1924 (Coconada: S.R.P. Works, 1928). 11. R. C. Paul, Andhra Kristuvula Charitra (n.p., 1929). 12. Murari David, A History of the Guntur Mission: A Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the General Synod’s Mission in India (n.p., 1924). 13. Malcolm Orchard and Katherine S. McLaurin, The Enterprise: The Jubilee Story of the Canadian Baptist Mission in India, 1874-1924 (Toronto: CBFMB, 1925). 14. William Boggs, Expansion in the Telugu Mission (Boston: ABMU, 1907). 15. James M. Thoburn, The Christian Conquest of India (New York: Eaton and Mains, 1906). 16. Brenton T. Badley, Visions and Victories in Hindustan: A Story of the Mission Station of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Southern Asia (Madras: Methodist Publishing House, 1931). 17. Sebastian, Jesuit Carnatic Mission, 147. 18. Ibid. 19. Catherine A. Brekus, “Writing as a Protestant Practice: Devotional Diaries in Early New England,” in Practicing Protestants: Histories of Christian Life in America, 1630-1965, ed. Laurie F. Maffley-Kipps et al. (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2006), 34. 20. Arley I. Munson, Jungle Days: Being the Experiences of an American Woman Doctor in India (New York: Appleton, 1913); Jacob Chamberlain, In the Tiger Jungle: And Other Stories of Missionary Work among the Telugus of India (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1896). 21. Jacob Chamberlain (9 works), George Drach (6), Frank C. Sackett (5), Clarence Swavely (5), Charles Posnett (5), William Boggs (4), David Downie (4), Calvin F. Kuder (3), and Anna Kuglar (3) are the most prolific writers during this period. 22. Wilber T. Elmore, Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism: A Study of the Local and Village Deities of Southern India (Hamilton, N.Y.: privately published by the author, 1915); Henry Whitehead, Village Gods of South India (New York: Oxford University Press, 1916); Emma Rauschenbusch-Clough, While Sewing Sandals: Tales of a Telugu Pariah Tribe (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1899). 23. John E. Clough, From Darkness to Light: The Story of a Telugu (Boston: W. G. Corthell, 1882). 24. Jacob Chamberlain’s titles include “How Those Cobras Squirmed” or, Hinduism Vitally Wounded (Madras: Methodist Episcopal Press, 1890); In the Tiger Jungle: And Other Stories of Missionary Work among the Telugus of India (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1896); The Angry Mob Quelled (New York: American Bible Society, 1915); The Bible Tested: Is It the Book for To-day and for the World? or, The Bible in India (New York: American Bible Society, 1878); The Cobra’s Den: And Other Stories of Missionary Work among the Telugus of India (Chicago: Student Missionary Campaign Library, 1900); The Kingdom in India: Its Progress and Its Promise (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1908); The Man with the Wonderful Books (New York: American Bible Society, 1917). 25. Pickett, Christian Mass Movements. 26. Franklin J. Balasundaram, Dalits and Christian Mission in Tamil Country (Bangalore: Asia Trading Corporation, 1997). 27. Mary S. McLaurin, 25 Years On (Toronto: Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board, 1950), 11. 28. Ibid., 11-12. 29. Quoted from Young India (April 23, 1931) by W. E. Hocking in his Rethinking Missions. 30. William A. Stanton, The Awakening of India: Forty Years among the Telugus (Portland: Falmouth Publishing House, 1950); Mary B. McLaurin, Healing Hands: Miss Jessie Allyn, M.D., of Pithapuram (Centenary Committee of the Canadian Church, 1945). 31. Alvin T. Fishman, Culture Change and the Underprivileged (Madras: CLS, 1941). Fishman, a Baptist missionary, analyzed the impact of Western civilization on the Telugu and their culture and demonstrates how this interaction between the

cultures empowered the Madiga communities. He submitted it in 1941, nine years after the publication of Laymen’s Inquiry, as a doctoral dissertation to the University of Chicago. 32. Except the biography of Saramma, all other biographies were about men. 33. WorldCat Online categorizes these booklets as fiction. 34. John Craig et al., Telugu Trophies: The Jubilee Story of Some of the Principal Telugu Converts in the Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission in India from 1874 to 1924 (Toronto: CBFMB, 1925). 35. Muriel Carder, Jewel of India (Toronto: CBFMB, n.d.). This is the story of a Telugu Bible woman, Manikyam, whose name means “jewel.” Several Bible women were named Manikyam. 36. Pickett, Christian Mass Movements, 7. 37. Eventually the diocese of Hyderabad was bifurcated into the dioceses of Madak and Karimnagar, and the dioceses of Kurnool and Kadapa-Chittoor were amalgamated into the diocese of Rayalaseema. 38. H. Sumitra, The First Ten Years of the Rayalaseema Diocese (Church of South India) 1947-1957 (Gooty: High School Press, n.d); K. Luka, Dornakal Tirunalveli Indian Missionary Sangham: Ebadi Samvasthsaramula Charitra, 1906-1956 (Church of Dornakal Tirunalveli Mission: History of Fifty Years, 1906-1956) (n.p.: privately printed by the author, n.d.). 39. Ch. Kalyana Rao, Antarani Vasantham (Hyderabad: Revolutionary Writer’s Association, 2001). 40. Gogu Shyamala, Nallapodhu: Dalita Streela Sahityam (Hyderabad: Hyderabad Book Academy, 2003). 41. Thottukadavil E. Koshy, Bakth Singh of India: The Incredible Account of a ModernDay Apostle (Colorado Springs: Authentic, 2007). 42. Bob Armstrong, One Billion Souls Burning: The Thrilling Story of Dr. P. J. Titus (Dallas: Christ for India, 1996). 43. S. Vasanthakumar, Burnt Offering: Life and Ministry of Rt. Rev. Ananda Rao Samuel (Bangalore: Bangalore Collectives, 1989). 44. Rayi Ratna Sundara Rao, Bhakti Theology in the Telugu Hymnal (Madras: CLS, 1983). 45. Ravela Joseph, Bhakti Theology of Purushottam Choudari (Chennai: CLS, 2004). 46. Pulidindi Solomon Raj, A Christian Folk-Religion in India: A Study of the Small Church Movement in Andhra Pradesh, with Special Reference to the Bible Mission of Devadas (New York: Peter Lang, 1982); Michael Bergunder, South Indian Pentecostal Movement in the Twentieth Century (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008). 47. Sathianathan Clarke, Dalits and Christianity: Subaltern Religion and Liberation Theology in India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998), 45; George Oommen, “The Emerging Dalit Theology: A Historical Review,” Indian Church History Review 34:1 (2000): 19. 48. Eliza F. Kent, Converting Women: Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial India (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). 49. Eugene F. Irschick, Dialogue and History: Constructing South India, 1795-1895 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994).

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