Robert Frykenberg’s insightful study explores and enhances historical understandings of Christian communities, cultures, and institutions within the Indian world from their beginnings down to the present. As one out of several manifestations of a newly emerging World Christianity, in which Christians of a Post-Christian West are a minority, it has focused upon those trans-cultural interactions within Hindu and Muslim environments which have made Christians in this part of the world distinctive. It seeks to uncover various complexities in the proliferation of Christianity in its many forms and to examine processes by which Christian elements intermingled with indigenous cultures and which resulted in multiple identities, and also left imprints upon various cultures of India.
Thomas Christians believe that the Apostle Thomas came to India in 52 A.D./C.E., and that he left seven congregations to carry on the Mission of bringing the Gospel to India. In our day the impulse of this Mission is more alive than ever. Catholics, in three hierarchies, have become most numerous; and various Evangelicals/Protestant communities constitute the third great tradition. With the rise of Pentecostalism, a fourth great wave of Christian expansion in India has occurred. Starting with movements that began a century ago, there are now ten to fifteen times more missionaries than ever before, virtually all of them Indian. Needless to say, Christianity in India is profoundly Indian and Frykenberg provides a fascinating guide to its unique history and practice.
Robert Eric Frykenberg, Professor Emeritus of History & South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin – Madison (U.S.A.)
List of Maps
List of Illustrations
1. Introduction: Christians, Christianity, and Christendom
Initial Expansions across the World
Proliferation and Propagation
Primal Religions and Christianity
History and Historiography
2. Contextualizing Complexity, I: India’s Lands, Peoples, and Social Structures
Geo-environmental Settings
Ethno-demographic Settings
Language Settings
Kinship Settings: A Classical Stereotype
Socio-structural Settings: Varnāshramadharma
Village Setting: Primordial Political Entities
3. Contextualizing Complexity, II: India’s Dominant Religious Traditions: Sanātana-Dharma and Dar-ul-Islam
Dharma/Karma
Al Hind and Dar-ul-Islam
4. Thomas Christians and the Thomas Tradition
The Thomas Tradition
The Acts of Thomas
The Thomas Parvam and Other Evidence
The Church of the East
The Waves of Refugees
The Refugees from Dar-al-Islam
Conclusion
5. Pfarangi Catholic Christians and Padroado Christendom
The Missionaries of Medieval Europe
The Pfarangi Fleets of Portugal
The Padroado Real of Goa
The Imposition of Catholic Padroado Christendom
The Jesuit Missions in the Mufassal
Conclusion
6. Evangelical Christians as Missionary Dubashis: Conduits of Cross-Cultural Communication
The Impetus of Missionary Pietism
The Dubashi Pandits of Tranquebar: Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and his Tamil Associates
The Dubashi Missionaries of Madras: Benjamin Schultz, Johann Philip Fabricius, and Telugu
The Raja-Guru and Sishiyas of Thanjavur: Christian Friedrich Schwartz and his Disciples
Conclusion
7. India’s Raj and Political Logic: The Unification of India, a Southern Perspective
Metaphors and Paradigms
Pre-modern Systems of Power
Baniya Company and Kompanee Bahadur
Dynamics of Imperial Logic
Stages of Imperial Expansion
India’s Raj and Imperial Paramountcy
Conclusion
8. Āvarna Christians and Conversion Movements
Āvarna Movements in the South
Conversion Movements Further North
Conclusion
9. Missionaries, Colonialism, and Ecclesiastical Dominion
Travancore: Anglican Attempts to Dominate Thomas Christians
Tirunelveli: The ‘Rhenius Affair’ and Missionary Colonialism
‘Tanjore Christians’, Anglican Missionaries, and Caste
Colonial Domination and Dual Identity
Conclusion
10. Indian Christians and ‘Hindu Raj’
Christian Resistance to the Raj
‘Hindu’ Resistance to New Christians
Hindu–Christian Disputes and Encounters
Official Responses to Religious Controversy
‘Hindu’ Establishment and the State
Struggles over Defining ‘Public’ Space
Conclusion
11. Elite Education and Missionaries
‘Oriental’ Learning and Modern Education
Indigenous Demands for Modern Education in English
Early Official Efforts to Spread Education
Pressures for Modern Education in English
Mahajans vs. Missionary Educators
Ascendancy of English in Upper-Class Education
Missionary Compromise and Elite Co-option
Conclusion
12. Catholic Renewal and Resurgence
Catholic India in Decline and Disarray
The Padroado–Propaganda Struggle, or ‘Goa Schism’
The Consolidation of Catholic Christianity in India
Conflicts with Thomas Christians
Conclusion
13. ‘Trophies of Grace’ and their Public Influence
Pandita Ramabai Saraswati: The Mahatma of Mukti
Other Sample ‘Trophies of Grace’
Conclusion
14. Adivāsi Movements in the North-East
Naga Christian Movements: A Paradigm of Metamorphosis
Adivāsi Movements of Meghalaya and Mizoland
Conclusion
15. Conclusion and Epilogue
Critical and Comprehensive Concerns
Epilogue
Bibliography
Glossary
Index
