EHESS

Christianity in Hindu Polytheistic Structural Mould. Converts in Southern Tamilnadu

Respond to an Alien Religion during 'the Vasco da Gama Epoch'
Author(s): Felix Wilfred
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Archives de sciences sociales des religions, 43e Année, No. 103 (Jul. - Sep., 1998), pp.
67-86
Published by: EHESS
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Arch. de Sc. soc. des Rel., 1998, 103 (juillet-septembre)67-86
Felix WILFRED

CHRISTIANITY IN HINDU POLYTHEISTIC

STRUCTURAL MOULD.
Converts in Southern Tamilnadu Respond
to an Alien Religion During
'the Vasco da Gama Epoch'

The shape of Indian Christianity is Janus-faced. On the one side it continues to

retain its alien imprintinherited from colonial times. The much-talked about foreign-
ness of Christianityis, then, a matterof fact, and this is how the overwhelming majority
of the people in this country perceive it. By means of unmistakableclericalism and a
process of sustained institutionalization, particularlyduring the last one century and
a half, this foreign image was systematically replicated in all areas and levels of
Christianlife and practice (1).
It may well be that among the many traces the << Vasco Da Gama Epoch >>(2) has
left on the Indian shores, Christianityis one. But then, there is the other face of Indian
Christianity, which has not been much studied and reflected upon. It is the face
moulded by the people themselves as they tried to live Christianityin continuity with
their religious tradition and social history. This brief contribution wants to uncover
and throw light on this different shape of Christianitythe contours of which can be
properly understood only when set against the background of the practice of the
missionaries and the theology, values and attitudes commanding it. Obviously, this
study does not intend to examine the situation of India as a whole, but wants to limit
itself to the region of southern Tamilnadu, in South India. I must add also another
limitation of the article. Whatis attemptedhere is to examine certainconstantrecurring
structures,patterns and trends ratherthan evenly distributedchronological presenta-
tion.
The article is divided into five parts.The first parain each of the first four sections
gives in a nutshell the essential elements treated under that section. In the fifth and

(1) Even an Ecumenical Council as Vatican II and the subsequentprogrammeof inculturationcould

only touch the surface, and could not make any real breakthroughin changing this image.
(2) This is how K.M. PANIKKAR characterizesthe colonial period. Cf. Asia and WesternDominance.
A Survey of the Vasco Da Gama Epoch of Asian History, London, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1953.

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ARCHIVESDE SCIENCESSOCIALESDES RELIGIONS

final part, I have tried to reflect upon the implications of this study for the contempo-
rary situation of Christianity. My approach in this contribution is not that of a
theologian who may pronounce on the validity of what people believe and act, on the
basis of established principles of faith. Here Christianityis studied from an empirical
perspective as a social and culturalphenomenon in SouthernTamilnadu.This empiri-
cal approachto the phenomenon, however, takes into account the fact that today, no
sociology of religion is possible without trying to enter, to some extent, into the
experiential world of the believers themselves.

I. - THE INTEGRATIONOF CHRISTIANITYINTO THE MOULD OF HINDU

POLYTHEISM

Christianity could survive in southern Tamilnadu because of polytheism into

whose structuresand mould the converts integrateda religion brought in by colonial-
ism. Polytheism was the religious grammarthroughwhich people could interpretand
appropriatethe alien Christianreligion. It is an irony that the very polytheism against
which the missionaries launchedinto a tiradehelped the people, in practice, to preserve
Christianityas a religious reality.
Even a cursory survey of the history of mission in India will reveal with what zeal
and vigour the missionaries battled against polytheism and the worship of idols. The
pantheon of gods and goddesses with which the Hindu universe was replete held out,
in the estimation of the missionaries, the greatest threat to the faith of the new
Christians. Wherever it was possible, the missionaries tried to do away with Hindu
places of worship and plant the cross as a symbol of victory over the heathen world (3).
To be able to understandthis we need to hold in mind the popularHindu approach
to the world of gods and goddesses and their relationship with the world of the
humans (4). First and foremost it is importantto note that there is no clear demarcation
between these two worlds. Nor is there anything like a God who is absolutely the other.
Instead, there is an interpenetrationof the two worlds in such a way that the gods are
partners in the human world and are immersed in the worldly affairs, just as some
human beings could cross over to the world of gods and share in the vicissitudes of
the ethereal world. Secondly, there is a divine hierarchy: which god or goddess

(3) This was very clearly the case in Goa. Joseph THEKKEDATH notes dthe destruction of Hindu
templesd as one of the d most objectionable steps taken by the Portuguese administrationin its efforts to
Christianizethe territoriessubjectto the Portuguesekingd History of Christianityin India. From the Middle
of the SixteenthCenturyto the End of the SeventeenthCentury,vol. II Bangalore,ChurchHistoryAssociation
of India, 1988, p. 352; also Rowena RoBINsoN, d The Cross: Contestation and Transformation of a Religious
Symbol; SouthernGoa >, in Economic and Political Weekly,January15, 1994, pp. 94 ff.
(4) ChristopherJ. FULLER, The CamphorFlame. PopularHinduismand Society in India, Delhi, Viking,
1992; Alf HILTEBEITEL, ed., Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees: Essays on the Guardians of Popular
Hinduism, Albany, State University of New York Press, 1989; A. Lawrence BABB,The Divine Hierarchy:
Popular Hinduism in Central India, New York, Columbia University Press, 1975; Abraham AYROOKUZHIEL,
The Sacred in Popular Hinduism, Madras, Christian Literature Society, 1983; Henry WHITEHEAD,
The
Village Gods of South India, London, Oxford University Press, 1921.

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 CHRISTIANITYIN HINDU POLYTHEISTICSTRUCTURALMOULD

occupies what position and performs what function is of crucial importance. What
really matters is not an abstract essence of a particular deity and its attributes, but
ratherthe relative position it occupies in the hierarchyand the role it plays in relation
to the world of human beings. This hierarchy again is not anything preordainedand
fixed once and for all. There is, so to say, a criss-crossing in the hierarchy, in such a
way that a god or goddess who occupies a higher rank in a particularconfiguration,
may be a lower one in anotherconfigurationor myth. Thirdly, more than anythingelse
the gods have to do with fakti or power. Often the fakti of a superior god manifests
itself in and through a deity of lower rank. This lower deity is in one sense distinct
from the superior god whose manifestation it is; but in another sense, it is ultimately
the superiorgod himself.
What has been said needs to be understoodin close relationship to a fourthpoint:
the Hindupolytheistic conception encompasses a double and apparentlycontradictory
dimension: the gods are benevolent powers and they nurturelife - specially so in the
case of goddesses. But there are several deities who, while being benign, are also
destructive and malignant powers. In metaphorical terms, there are cool and hot
aspects in divine powers. It is to be noted that one cannot compare this with the
traditional Christian scheme of God and his goodness to which one would oppose
Satan and its kingdom of darkness.Ratherboth the benevolent and the dangerous are
partof the divine reality; they exist not as contradictingbut as complementaryaspects.
Now, these images and approachesof the world of gods have been at the bottom
of the appropriationof Christianityby the converts of southern Tamilnadu. In other
words, there is a continuum in the religious structurewithin which the Christianstried
to fit in their new experience. In the following pages, I shall try to delineate how this
process has concretely taken place.
Let me begin with a statement of Robert Caldwell, a well-known nineteenth
century Protestant missionary who worked in the area of Tirunelveli in Southern
Tamilnadu.Referringto the Catholic converts of the neighbouringPearlFishery Coast
where St Francis Xavier had laboured in the sixteenth century, Caldwell remarksin a
derisive tone that these fishermen who are Christiansfor more than three centuries do
not have even a single chapter of New Testament translated into Tamil (5). What is
of interest for us here is the fact that such a group could continue to be <<Christians>>
without having been exposed to the Scripturesfor many centuries. What, then, made
them Christiansand what was their social and religious identity ? From a social point
of view we can say that the historical circumstances in which the conversion of the
fishermen occurred contributeddecisively to their maintaining a distinct social iden-
tity as Christians. For, these Paravafishermen, looked down upon by others as being
very low in the caste-hierarchy,were harassedby the Muslims and the Hindurulers (6).

(5) Robert CALDWELL,The TinnevellyShanars. A Sketch of their Religion and their Moral Condition
and Characteristicsas a Caste, Madras, 1849. Tinnevelly is an anglicized form of Tirunelveli, and today it
is also known as Nellai.
(6) Georg SCHURHAMMER, Francis Xavier: His Life, His Times, vol. II, India, 1541 - 1545, Rome, The
Jesuit Historical Institute, 1977; VenantiusFERNANDO, TheImpactof the Portuguese Padroado on the Indian
Pearl Fishery Coast (unpublisheddoctoral dissertation)Rome, UrbanianaUniversity, 1977; Joseph Antony
JOHN,Nellai Mavatta Palaya KattolikkaKoilkal. Or Ayvu [Ancient Catholic Churches of the District of
Nellai. A Study] Unpublished doctoral Dissertation, Madurai,MaduraiKamarajUniversity, 1988. (In the
transliterationof Tamil words and works, I am following the pattern set by Tamil Lexicon of Madras
University, vol. I, Madras, 1982).

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 DESCIENCES
ARCHIVES SOCIALES
DESRELIGIONS

At this juncture they sought the protection of the Portuguese colonial authorities;in
returnthey agreed to convert to Christianreligion as a group and to be an ally of the
Portuguese in their conflict with the local rulers. The Paravafishermen thus enhanced
their power through a new social identity. They took care to maintain their distinct-
iveness through their allegiance to the Church and its authorities.
But when it came to their religious identity,they gave Christianityanotheroutlook
impregnating their Christian practice with the polytheistic religious structures they
shared with their Hindu neighbours. Caldwell calls these Catholics dRomanist Hin-
dus >, and notes, d it may not only be ascertainedbut proved to the satisfaction of every
candid inquirerthat in intellect, habits and morals the Romanist Hindus do not differ
from the heathens in the smallest degreed (7). As far as the fishermen were concerned,
it was not a case of some remnantsof their earlier Hindu religion being carried over
and co-existing with the Christianpractice. Such a phenomenon is often treatedunder
what is known as syncretism. Here instead is a case of re-interpretationof the Christian
religion in daily practice in the same religious and cultural continuum. This was so
not only among the fishermen but also in other parts of southernTamilnadu.
Let us take the example of how Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary and the saints have
been viewed by the converts. We are far from any theology that would start with
Christo-centrism and give, in order of priority, the next place to Virgin Mary to be
followed by the saints. For the converts, the relationship among the three is modelled
closely according to the Hindu divine hierarchy (8). Like Shiva, Vishnu or other great
gods of Hindu pantheon, Jesus Christ, in the consciousness of the converts, remains
distant from the vicissitudes of daily life. At this level, what mattersare the gods and
goddesses whose power is to be entreatedin orderto obtainfavours or to avoid dangers.
The converts place herein the role of Mary and the saints. Mary belongs to the sphere
of benevolent deities, and she is depicted as a goddess representing the cool. This
contrasts with the popular Hindu tradition in which the goddess manifests both the
cool and the hot, or the benevolent and the violently dangerous aspects of the divine
power (9).
Now, the fearsome aspect which seems to be missing in the Christian divine
hierarchy in general and in the cult of Mary in particular,is made up by the converts
in that they resort to popular Hindu goddesses Kali, and her different manifestations
as Bhagavati, Eseki etc (10). Many Christians, in a way or another, express their
devotion to this dimension of the divine feminine. Besides, the deities most wor-

(7) Robert CALDWELL, op. cit., p. 75.

(8) David MOSSE,Caste, Christianityand Hinduism:A Study of Social Organizationand Religion in
Rural Tamilnadu(Unpublisheddoctoral dissertation),Oxford, University of Oxford, 1986, pp. 436 ff.
(9) Kalpana RAM,MukkuvarWomen:Gender, Hegemony and Capitalist Transformationin a South
Indian Fishing Community,Delhi, Kali for Women, 1991.
(10) Kalpana RAM(op. cit., p. 94) construes an antagonism in the popular Mukkuvarconception (a
fishermen caste in southern Tamilnadu)between the power of good representedby Virgin Mary and the
power of evil by Hindu goddess Eseki. But this does not seem to be the case, as P.T. Mathew has shown on
the basis of his study of the village of Vizhinjam in Kerala inhabited by the same caste of Mukkuvarand
who also converted to Christianityin the same epoch (XVIth century). Instead, in daily life, the Christian
fisherwomen express veneration to the fearsome goddesses in their neighbourhoodand invoke her prompt
assistance. P.T. MATHEW, Religious Phenomena among the Mukkuvarof Vizhinjam:An Empirical Study
from a Socio-Theological Perspective (unpublished doctoral dissertation written under my guidance and
submittedto the University of Madras),Madras, 1997, pp. 144 ff.

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 CHRISTIANITYIN HINDU POLYTHEISTICSTRUCTURALMOULD

shipped in the ruralareas of Tamilnadu,and in South India at large, are the goddesses
in their violent form (11). In many instances, they are also the tutelary deities of the
villages. In the case of fishermen, there is a complementaryreason. For, before their
conversion to Christianity, they were worshippers of Kali and the coastal belt of
southern Tamilnadu and Kerala were dotted with Kali temples and worship-places.
Evidence for the worship of goddess by the fishermen of the geographic neithal or
coastal zone is found far back in the ancient Tamil Cankam literature.The attraction
to goddess was so great and deep-rooted among the converts of southernTamilnadu,
that many of them continued to worship the goddess Meenakshi in the great temple of
Maduraiand goddess Bhagavati in Kanyakumari(12).
But then, the Christian scheme of divine hierarchy fashioned by the people
according to the Hindu structure,does not lack altogether the violent and the danger-
ous. This role, however, is assigned to the saints. They are seen as heroes engaged in
a battle against the forces of evil which are ultimately conquered and brought to
submission (13). If, in Hindu popular tradition, bloody sacrifices are offered to
fearsome and violent deities, in the scheme of the converts, the saints would represent
these gods, and therefore in honour of saints animals are slaughtered and offered.
Besides, much like the feared deities, saints like St Anthony, St Michael, St James, St
John de Britto and others are ascribed the role of punishing the evil-doers. It is
interestingto note that not only a Christianpolytheistic hierarchyof divine beings are
fashioned by the converts, but that the Hindu gods and goddesses are viewed by them
as kinsmen and kinswomen of the Christiandeities. As D. Mosse observes on the basis
of his excellent field-study of the village of Suranamin Tamilnadu,
In theendtherefore,the saintas a 'villagedeity'(kirmateyvam)
<< hasto co-existwith
the gods worshippedby Hindus,just as Christiansco-exist with Hinduswithin the
hierarchicalorderof the village. The 'village saint', then, is only one amongother
(adjacent)village deities with restricteddomains and with whom he is sometimes
equated (14) >>.
In this regard, Mosse gives an example from Suranam where the Christians
consider the Hindu deity Aiyanar as the brother of St James, the patron saint of the
parish. We have further illustration of this, for example, in the coastal village of
MantaikatuPuturin the district of Kanyakumari,where the people consider St Lucia
(known locally as Kannnammr)as the sister of the goddess Bhagavati of the neigh-
bouring village temple.

(11) Tulasi RAMASAMI,Nellai Mavatta Nittuppura Teivankal [Village deities of Nellai District],
Madras,InternationalInstitute of Tamil Studies, 1985.
(12) Venantius FERNANDO,op. cit.
(13) David MOSSE,op. cit., p. 457.
(14) Ibid., p. 488.

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ARCHIVESDE SCIENCESSOCIALESDES RELIGIONS

II. - CHRISTIANITYAND THE TRADITIONALRELIGIOUSAND SOCIAL

ORDER

The polytheistic re-moulding of Christianity by the converts in daily life was

supported by corresponding religio-cultural forms of popular Hindu practices. Par-
ticularly remarkableis the fact that the Christianconverts sharedwith the Hindus the
same social hierarchicalorder which was but a reflection of such a hierarchicalorder
among the deities.
The religio-cultural forms of the converts were but a natural corollary to their
re-fashioning of Christianityin the Hindu polytheistic mould. In other words, once the
converts lived their Christianityin Hindu polytheistic way, the most congenial forms
for their worship, celebration of festival, etc. became the ones found in the Hindu
popularreligious world. These were the most appropriateones for the Christiansfrom
a religious point of view, though in terms of social identity they cared to distinguish
themselves from the rest.
As for instance, the religious festivals and the rituals connected with them were
but an extension of the Hindu temple celebrations. The Christiansfollowed the custom
of hoisting flag to mark the beginning of the festival in honour of the patron saint of
the village. On the ninth day night of the celebration they pulled a richly decorated
car (ter) in which the statue of the patron saint was placed and was carried through
the streets of the village (15). This was just what has been customary in the Hindu
temple festivals in the procession of the deity.
In the village of Kamanayakanpattiwhose Christianbeginnings goes back to the
seventeenth century, the Christian festival of Easter and the New Testament events
connected with it were performed in the form of d Vasappu Natakam d close to such
enactments of Hindu myths. It belongs to the genre of folk-performingarts (16). They
were in vogue in the nineteenth century also in the village of Vadakkankulam.
Furthermore,in the worship of the village deities, specially goddesses, symbolizing
life and its growth was important. It was connected with the widespread ritual of
growing grains or corns in mud-pots and offering them ritually to the goddess, and
finally throwing them in the streamor well outside the village. This ritual was known
as mulaipari(17). The converts following the polytheistic structurein their Christian
practice, have, with some variations, used and still continue to use it in the Christian
villages on such occasions as patron saint's festival or Christmas. Another example
would be the use of ammanai, a kind of indigenous Tamil lyric which was amply
employed by the converts to narrate the life-history of the saints in the style of

(15) Joseph Antony JOHN,op. cit.

(16) Vasappu Natakam is a combination of narrativeprose and lyrics in the performance of folk-
drama.A. SUBRAMANIYAN, < Vasappu Natakam > in Navavin Arayci, no 30 (January),1989, pp. 9-26.
(17) On Mulaipariin Tamil tradition,A. SUBRAMANIYAN,MantiramumChatankukalum,Madras 1988,
pp. 66-112.

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 INHINDUPOLYTHEISTIC
CHRISTIANITY MOULD
STRUCTURAL

hagiographicnarrations(18). A. Subramaniyan,who has done extensive field work in

Christian villages of southern Tamilnadu, makes a pertinent remark with regard to
these religio-cultural forms: according to him, such forms drawn from the religio-cul-
tural world of Hinduism were importantto the converts from the lower-strata of the
society (who did not convert to Christianityout of well-deliberated doctrinal convic-
tions) to sustain themselves in a faith that was alien to them (19).
Two other spiritual institutions of Hinduism have gone into the fashioning of
Indian Christianity by the Tamil people. Firstly, the renouncer, an archetype in the
Indic civilization, whose origin goes back to pre-Aryantimes. A renouncertranscends
the religious barriers and is in communion with the sacred and holy. There are
sedentarygurus settled down in places of seclusion as well as wandering sannyasis -
holy men and sages - moving from place to place and fostering the practice of bhakti
- devotion. All this served as a vehicle for the appropriationof Christianity by the
converts in southern Tamilnadu. We note that holy men and women have been
scattered all over the Tamil hinterland, together with bands of devotees who were
inspired by Christian faith. In many cases they preceded the arrival of missionaries.
The origin of Christianityin the village of Vadakkankulam,for example, is associated
with the person of a devout woman called Sandai (20).
Pilgrimage centres and cult-shrines constitute another importantinstitution. The
origin of some of these sites have, like in the case of Hindu shrines, a talapuriinam-
a mythological origin. Interestingly, the mythologies behind the holy shrines were not
exclusively Christian. They often incorpa orated intervention of Hindus as actors
within the Christian narrative,or modelled Christian saints of the shrines according
to the Hindu tutelary deities. To divert the attention of the new converts from the
surroundingHindu places of worship, the missionaries introduced the practice of
planting crosses everywhere (21). People became attached to the crosses as was the
case among the Parava Christians. But then, the kurusati - holy sites with implanted
crosses - were transformedinto shrines of saints surroundedwith practices and rituals
similar to what Hindus used to do in their little temples and places of worship. The
fact that Christians lived their religious life in the same structuralHindu tradition
continuum, made it possible reversely for the Hindus to gather around the tutelary
deities - saints - of Christians.In this regard,particularmention should be made about
the role played by the Hindu rulersthroughtheir patronage.In their view, these shrines
and centres represented some sources of power. As Susan Bayly reminds us,
<<thisearlyphase of statepatronagepavedthe way for the greatspreadof formal
Europeanmission-basedChristianityin the regionduringthe late eighteenthand nine-
teenthcenturies.It shouldbe recognizedthen that it was the poligarsand not just the

(18) HenriqueHENRIQUEs was one of the earliest missionaries who worked for many years in southern
Tamilnaduin the sixteenth century.He was also the authorof the first ChristianTamil works. One such book
was a translationof life of saints into Tamil (Flos Sanctorumentitled Atiyar Varalaru).This book seems to
have provided the stories for the composition of many ammanai.
(19) A. SUBRAMANIYAN, < Vasappu Natakam >, art. cit., p. 23.
(20) SusanBAYLY, Saints, Goddesses and Kings.Muslimsand Christiansin SouthIndian Society, 1700
- 1900, Cambridge,CambridgeUniversity Press, 1989 (Indianreprint,Delhi 1992), pp. 379 ff.
(21) Joseph Antony JOHN,op. cit., pp. 124 ff. It is a fact that in Tamil popularreligion, the deity was
not representedby icons but by poles, stones, etc. erected undertrees and on the way side, where they were
worshipped.Planting of crosses was perhapsmeant to replace this aniconic practice.

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ARCHIVESDE SCIENCESSOCIALESDES RELIGIONS

Europeanpioneerslike de Nobili who helpedto makeChristianity partof an intelligible

and trulyindigenouspatternof faith and worshipin SouthIndia.Throughtheiracts of
patronage,Christianitywas transformedinto somethingthat was no longer alien and
inassimilable- no longerjust the faithof the 'parangikulam'(22)d.
More than all these culturaland political factors, the social structurethe converts
shared with the neighbours supportedtheir transformationof Christianityin terms of
Hindu polytheistic order : there was a correlationbetween the hierarchyin the divine
pantheon on the one hand and the structuringof human society, on the other. The
central organizing principle of the Hindu social order, as claimed by Louis Dumont,
is that of purity-pollution (23). The place in the caste-hierarchydepended on this. But
this principle alone is inadequate. We gain a proper understanding of the social
ordering only when we take into account the system of ritual honours, privileges,
endowments etc., instituted by the kings and rulers, and centered aroundthe temple.
If in the Brahminicalscheme, caste was seen throughthe prism of purity andpollution,
in the royal one the division of labour sanctioned and legitimized particularhonours
and privileges. These were conferred by the king or other notables. As the various
caste groups had each their own share of village produce, so was the corresponding
division of labour and honours.Temple festival was the solemn epiphany of this social
order (24). This was the case also among the Christianconverts when they celebrated
the feast of their tutelary deity - the patron saint. It is clear that they were operating
according to a traditional Hindu religious and social pattern : as these festivals and
particularlytheir climax, the pulling of the tar - the elaborately decorated platform
pulled on a cart - was not restricted to Christians;the whole village was involved in
it, Hindu leaders having a specific ritualrole in it (25). Besides, like the Hindu temples,
the Christian shrines were under the patronage of the rulers.
Though the caste-structureis rigid, nevertheless, changes were also taking place.
The Churchfestival was the crucial occasion ; then the power-interactionof the various
groups making up for these social changes within the village came to be expressed
symbolically. Most Churches in Tamilnadu have had a very tumultuous history of
conflict during Church festivals ; these conflicts were focussed around the honours,
status and privileges deciding for the social rankingof the various groups and for their
relative power (26).

(22) Susan BAYLY,op. cit., p. 397. 'Parangi kulam' is a demeaningexpression used by the indigenous
people to refer to the community of foreigners. The word 'parangi' is probablya local variation of Franks,
symbolizing persons of Western nationality. Poligar or palaiyams were little kingdoms in southernTamil-
nadu ruled since the XVIIth century by warrior-chieftains.Unlike the traditionalkingly descendence, the
rulersof poligars were of pastoralistor peasant origin. By distinguishingthemselves in warfarethey became
rulers of little kingdoms.
(23) Louis DUMONT, Homo hierarchicus : Le systhmedes castes et ses implications, Paris, Gallimard,
1966.
(24) Suzanne HANCHETT,The Festival Interlude:Some Anthropological Observations>, in Guy R.
WELBON, Glenn E. YoucuM, eds, Religious Festivals in South India and Sri Lanka, Delhi, Manohar, 1982;
also ChristopherJ. FULLER, The CamphorFlame. op. cit., pp. 134 ff.
(25) However, in more recent times, due to various reasons, what was originally a village feast
involving also the Hindus and others, came to be reduced to a strictly Christianfeast. This, for example, is
the conclusion which Joe BRITTO arrives at on the basis of his field study in the village of Virakalur.Joe
BRITTO,The Role of Celebration in Social Change with Reference to a Village Catholic Festival, (Unpub-
lished doctoral dissertationwritten in Tamil, Vidyajyoti Theology Faculty, Delhi), Delhi, 1995.
(26) Joe BRITTO, op. cit., pp. 92 ff; also C.F.D. MOSSE,op. cit.; Susan BAYLY,op. cit. also Duncan B.
FORRESTER, Caste and Christianity.Attitudes and Policies on Caste ofAnglo-Saxon Protestant Missions in
India, London, 1980.

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 CHRISTIANITYIN HINDU POLYTHEISTICSTRUCTURALMOULD

III. - A RELIGIOSITYCENTEREDON THE MATERIALNEEDS OF LIFE

Admittedly, the classical Hindu traditionrelates the fulfillment of material wel-

fare of life with the religious rituals and symbols. However, unlike the religiosity of
Sanskriticclassical tradition,the polytheistic religiosity is very much centered on and
revolves around the materialneeds of life. This latter traditionwas carriedover by the
marginalized of the Tamil society when they turned to Christianity whose role they
viewed in termsof its effectiveness to act upon the materialbasis of life. All this proved
to be a scandal to the missionaries.
The classical Indic religious tradition has accentuated the unity of reality, spe-
cially throughthe advocacy of vedanta philosophy. The material aspects of life were
not neglected, but were incorporatedwithin this frame and were ordered towards the
transmundane goal of moksa (final spiritual liberation). On the other hand, the
polytheistic religiosity is thoroughly immersed in the spirit of the earthly aspects of
life. This is particularly the case with the Tamils. Their culture and religion were
deeply concerned with intra-worldlyaspects of life (27). Not that they were not aware
of the fickleness of the worldly life and its transient character. But they immersed
themselves in the life of the world knowing that all will pass away. This orientation
prevailed even when they were confronted with the question of their relationship to
and worship of the deities. Within the polytheistic religious practice the deities they
dealt with were not supposed to be those who would ensure a heavenly abode after
death. Rather life before death was the axis around which their rituals and religious
expressions revolved.
We must consider this background in order to understandthe conversion of the
lower castes and the marginalized of the Tamil society to Christianity. The material
basis of life they looked for in their turning to Christianity was of a different order
and level; the basic structureand pattern,however, were the same. There were times
when famines led the masses in search of rice, clothing and shelter, to the Church.
Hugald Grafe gives some statistics in this regardon the basis of old records:
<<Available statistics and also our survey of group movements above indicate that
times of famineoften coincide with the crest of those movements.Duringsuch times
(1833-1834, 1876-1878, 1898-1900, 1907-1909)and afterwards,the issue of material
motives in Christian conversions and the charge of 'rice Christians' agitated public
discussion in India and abroad. In the PondicherryMission 40,000 people were baptized
during the time 1875 to 1878 between Tindivanam, Tiruvanamalaiand Puluram and in
most parishes in that region formed throughFr Darras.In Tirunelveli District 20,000 came
under SPG-and 10, 000 under CMS-instruction during the Great Famine of 1876-
1878 (28) >>.

(27) K. NEDUNCELIAN, Tamil Ilakkiyatil Ulakayutam[Materialismamong the Tamils], Pari Nilayam,

Madras, 1990 (Originally presentedas doctoral dissertationat the University of Madras);for the pan-Indian
context, Debiprasad CHATTOPADHYAYA, Lokayata. A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism, New Delhi,
People's Publishing House, 1992 (7th edition).
(28) Hugald GRAFE, History of Christianityin India (vol IV,Part2): Tamilnaduin the Nineteenthand
TwentiethCenturies,Bangalore, ChurchHistory Association of India, 1990, p. 96; S. VenantiusFERNANDO,
The Evangelization of the Pearl Fishery Coast under the Portuguese Padroado>>,in Indian Theological
<<
Studies, vol. 15, no 2 (June 1978), pp. 134-168. On the phenomenon of mass movements of conversion, J.
Waskom PICKETT, ChristianMass Movements in India, Lucknow, Lucknow Publishing House, 1933.

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The material basis of life is not exhausted in physical needs. People turned to
Christian missionaries and colonial rulers when they requiredprotection as well. As
long as this was guaranteed,they did not have difficulty in worshipping the new god
presented by the missionaries and colonizers. A well-known case is that of the Parava
Christians in the Pearl Fishery Coast who, as noted earlier, were oppressed both by
the Muslims and by the Hindu rulers of the time. Their mass conversion gave them
the protection and new identity they looked for, while it gave the Christiancolonial
power a group of local allies in their fight against the rulersof the region. Similar was
the case of the Shanarsof Tirunelveli and of the South Travancorestate (now part of
southern Tamilnadu). This group of people, the despised tenants of the land-owning
high castes of the region, had been condemned to poverty since centuries (29). Because
of their ritually inferior state and low social standing, they were debarredeven from
access to temples. Taking all this into account, we realize what it meant for them to
carve out a new identity by identifying with the god of the missionaries and of the
colonizers.
Faced with such conversions, ironically, the missionaries and their detractors
shared one thing: the contemptfor those who converted from lower castes and classes
to Christianity.The general missionary policy operatedwith the hope of a trickle down
effect: the missionaries, specially the Jesuits, concentrated their attention on the
conversion of the upper castes expecting lower caste conversions automatically to
follow. But then actually, due to various reasons and circumstances, it was the lower
castes who flocked into the Church- Catholic and Protestant(30). One reason for the
little esteem in which these converts were held was the interpretationof the motive of
their conversion.
Belly comes before the soul>>,so wrote George Orwell in one of his works (31).
<<
Belly here symbolizes all that the converts needed for their life and survival, and soul
is the motive for which missionaries were there after having undertakensuch a long
and hazardous voyage from their native lands. Nowhere this conflict between belly
and soul is clearer, perhaps, than in the case of a renowned French missionary, Abbd
Dubois of the Paris Foreign Mission Society, who worked in Tamilnaduat the end of
the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century. A perceptive
missionary and well-known author, Dubois gives a vivid account of the situation of
the converts of his times in his work:Letters on the State of Christianityin India. After
about thirty two years of intense missionary engagement he returned to his native
France as a disappointedand even frustratedman. The clue to what befell him is to be
found in the sub-title of his work, which reads: The Conversion of the Hindoos (sic)
is Considered as Impracticable (32). What brought this missionary to such a conclu-

(29) David LUDDEN, Peasant History in South India, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1985,
p. 192; Robert L. HARDGRAVE, The Nadars of Tamilnad: The Political Cultureof a Communityin Change,
Bombay, Oxford University Press, 1969; also Dick KOOIMAN, Conversionand Social Equality in India. The
London Missionary Society in South Travancore in the 19th Century,South Asian Publications, Delhi (no
date).
(30) John C.B. WEBSTER,The Dalit Christians.A History, Delhi, ISPCK, 1994.
(31) George ORWELL,LookingBack on Spanish War(1943), as quoted in James C. SCOTTr, Weaponsof
the Weak.Everydayforms of Peasant Resistance,New Haven-London,Yale UniversityPress, 1985, p. 241.
(32) Abb6 J.A. DUBOIS,Letters on the State of Christianity in India in which the Conversion of the
Hindoos is Considered as Impracticable, London, 1823 (Reprintby Asian Education Services, Delhi-Ma-
dras, 1995).

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sion ? The chief reason was that the converts were looking for material benefits and
not for what the missionaries held to be very crucial - the soul and its salvation. Dubois
with a note of sadness observes,
<I do not rememberany one who maybe saidto have embracedChristianityfrom
conviction,and throughquite disinterestedmotives.Amongthese new convertsmany
apostatized,andrelapsedintoPaganism,findingthatthe Christianreligiondid not afford
themthe temporaladvantagestheyhadlookedfor in embracingit (33) >.
The experience with the Protestantconverts was not different. As alreadynoticed,
R. Caldwell worked among the Shanars of Tirunelveli. In his book he mentions the
conflict of interests between the converts and the missionaries. The authorrepeatedly
laments about the dullness and inability of the people to rise up to the noble Christian
principles and doctrines. The eyes of the converts, instead, were cast on the ground,
busying themselves with the dire needs of daily life, and they showed little interest in
the exalted philosophy and theology missionaries strained to impart to them. The
missionary efforts to convince the people of the nobility and superiority of Christian
religion fell on deaf ears. Caldwell conveys some of the typical attitudinalexpressions
of the Shanars,such as : < I am a poor, stupid man and don't understandanything.Why
should I take so much trouble about anything that is not eatable or wearable? You say
if I become a Christian it will be well for me after I die; but who has seen heaven ?
who has seen hell ? (34)
Striking is the contrast between this attitude and the missionary's discourse:
d Havingno idea of God'sgovernmentof this world,of rewardsandpunishmentsin
a futurestate,or of the necessityof an atonementfor sins, they do not comprehendthat
Christianityis as necessaryfor themas for us, andthatwhenthe pooror illiteratereject
it, they reject that which alone can make them, not only wise but rich and great for
ever (35) >>.
To put it briefly, the converts held Christianityas a new opening for the fulfillment
of their long unfulfilled materialneeds. This dominantconcern explains their interac-
tion with the new religion.

IV. - AN UNEASY RELATIONSHIPWITH THE MISSIONARIES

The ways of the missionaries and of the converts did not meet but went on parallel
lines. In spite of the control the missionaries believed they had over the converts, in
fact, the converts carved out their own path in keeping with their religio-cultural
traditionsand the inner dynamics of a caste-hierarchysociety. Faced with imposition,
the people reacted to the missionaries in different ways: by open confrontationat times
and at other times by using the 'weapons of the weak'.

(33) Abb6 J.A. DUBoIS, op. cit., p. 134.

(34) Robert CALDWELL,
op. cit., pp. 65-66.
(35) Ibid.

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To understandthe way people appropriatedChristianity, it is importantto study

the story of their relationshipwith the missionaries. It can be compared to the making
of a tunnel starting from both sides of the mountain. As zealous messengers, the
missionaries tried to reach out to the people offering them a new religion having its
doctrines, traditions, structures and institutions. Impassioned by their zeal to save
souls, they demonstratedgreat heroism in their enterprise,in the spirit of the classical
missionary adage: da mihi animas, caetera tolle - give me souls, and take away the
rest. But the offer of the new religion meant something else to the people who built
the tunnel from their own side. The result was that two independenttunnels were built
that never encountered each other!
In the eyes of the people, Christianitywas an opportunityfor many things: fulfil
their material needs; free themselves from the clutches of traditional oppressors;
improve their social status; contend anew for ceremonial honours and hierarchical
precedence, etc. Considering this background two things become clear. First of all,
the people did not heed to what matteredmost to the missionaries - their (converts')
salvation. Secondly, it was important for the converts to maintain the continuity
between their previous social and religious world. Here was also the source of conflict
between the missionaries and the converts. The missionaries were probably condi-
tioned by the history of mission in Europe as well as by the theology of the times.
Then, to be a Christian meant to break away from the past connections and to make
one's own a new identity fashioned by the missionaries. The converts were expected
to join the <parangi kulamd (the tribe of foreigners), by renouncing their previous
religious identity. It was important,then, for the missionaries to paint the picture of
Hinduism and its deities in their darkest colours. The previous religious affiliation of
the converts was brandedin missionary literatureas devil worship>>.
In short, discontinuity was the paradigmof the missionaries, whereas continuity
was that of the people. We need to make, however, a furtherdistinction. As for the
converts we note a consistency in so far as they held the same kind of continuity in
their social dealings as the one they maintainedin religious terms. On the other hand,
we note much ambiguity and inconsistency in the missionary approachto the social
reality. This is specially obvious in their attitude and practice towards the institution
of caste.
As a matterof fact, the Tamilnaducaste reality, intriguing and divisive as it was,
did not spare even the missionaries. Not only it divided the converts, but the mission-
aries as well. I mean to say that there were tensions among the missionaries regarding
whether one should accommodate to caste or oppose and combat it. On the whole,
barring laudable exceptions, the attitude of the overwhelming group of missionaries
was that of accommodating and tolerating the caste-reality, in spite of its being
diametrically opposed to the egalitarian vision of the Gospel. This is particularlytrue
of Catholic missionaries (36).

(36) It is a fact thatthe Protestantmissionaries hailing from centraland northEuropeancountries were,

in general, more imbued with a vision of social equality than their Catholic counterpartsfrom the southern
partof Europewho were more inclined towardsfeudal attitudesand values. No wonder then that Protestants
with their sense of egalitarianismand opposition to caste, attractedthe poor and low castes, specially during
the nineteenthcentury.

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INHINDUPOLYTHEISTIC
STRUCTURAL
MOULD

For example, since the time of De Nobili, the Jesuits of Maduraimission (37) in
southernTamilnadu,used to minister to high-caste Hindu converts while segregating
the low caste converts (38). It conformed to the Hindu principle of purity-pollution
on which the caste hierarchywas based. This two-tier approachhad effects at different
levels, in particularat that of local leadership. In Vadakkankulamas well as in other
villages of the South, the missionaries appointed as their catechists, sacristan and
Church-helpers,only persons belonging to higher castes, who were considered purer,
even though the higher caste converts were numericallya small minority.In the village
of Vadakkankulamn,the higher caste Vellalas were chosen for leadership, to assist
the priests in the performanceof sacred rituals and other administrativeworks of the
parish. Kovil Pillai was the name given to those of Vellala caste enlisted in Church-
services (39). The segregation of the low-caste Nadars (40) as well as the privileging
of high caste Vellalas gave rise to endemic power-struggle between the two groups, a
very sad page in the history of Indian Christianityindeed.
We can observe at least three motives for the ambiguous role of missionaries in
this matter:Firstly, they considered caste as a matterof indigenous social reality, not
touching the faith. Secondly, this mundanereality had to be simply tolerated in view
of the supernaturalsalvation. Thirdly, recognizing and accepting the caste-hierarchy
and its practical implications, would encourage much-prizedconversions from higher
castes.
The little esteem in which the missionaries held the local population and their
deep prejudices against the religious practices in southern Tamilnadu, led them to
behave in paternalistic authoritarianways with the people. Specially when they saw
traces of Hindu religious rites or practices in the lives of the converts, they were
intolerant. The missionary 'tolerance' of the Hindu caste-system was matched only
by their intransigentattitudeand vehement opposition to Hindu doctrinesand practices
which they perceived as a threat to Christianity. They tried to discipline the people
throughecclesiastical power, with little success. In the coastal regions, therehave been
all along conflicts with the missionaries. No wonder then that in their annual letters,
the missionaries speak of the disobedience and rebelliousness of the converts. Accord-
ing to the testimony of Fr Valignano, the Jesuit priest who visited the converts of the
coast in 1575, they <<wereliving almost like pagans >, and according to Fr Antony
Monserrate, another Jesuit missionary, the converts gave a lot of trouble to mission-
aries and even beat up one Fr. Andrew Hernandez,the reason being that <<heordered
the demolition of a little temple which some bad Christians had set up in front of a
church in order to obtain the favour of the devil for their fishing (41)>>.
Generally, the people paid lip-service to the admonitions of the missionaries, and
actually practiced a latent religion in continuity with the Hindu traditionjust as they
continued to live in the social-structure of caste. The external association with the

(37) L0on BESSE,La Mission du Madurai.Historique de ses Pangous, vols. I & II, Trichinopoly, 1914.
(38) On the circumstances in which this mission policy originated,Vincent CRONIN, A Pearl to India.
The Life of Roberto de Nobili, London, A Libra Book, 1966.
(39) The Vellalas were also enlisted by the missionaries into the honourableservices of sacristansand
accountantsin the mission stations of the coastal villages.
(40) <<Nadars >>is a respectable self-given name to the people originally known as <<Shanars>>.
(41) Joseph THEKKEDATH, op. cit., p. 190.

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missionaries and Church-related activities was necessary for them to keep their
distinctive identity as a group. People defied the missionaries through several daily
forms of protest which was expressed in silent resistance to the injunctions of the
missionaries and in ignoring things which were of utmost importance in the eyes of
ecclesiastical authorities.
But there were also cases of open confrontationand rebellion. A widespreadform
of rebellion was that of threatening to cross over to Hinduism, or to one of the
ProtestantChurches. Such a practice can be observed in many Christianvillages even
today. When crucial issues arise on which the ecclesiastical authorityis insistent and
not ready to concede, the people hold out the threatto exit en masse andjoin another
religion or Church-group.In some instances, it turned out to be more than a threat.
We can cite the instances of a group of Paravas in the village of Idinthakaraigoing
over to Hinduism ; that of the Vellalas of Vadakkankulam who exited from the
Catholic Church in the beginning of nineteenth century and joined a Protestant
denomination. Moreover, in order to institutionalize their protest, they erected a
Protestantchurch opposite to the existing Catholic church (42).
Creating independent Churches was not in vogue in India. But there were very
few such instances, one of which in southernTamil Nadu. It was an extreme form of
protest against what was perceived as a colonial Christianity.The ChurchMissionary
Society (CMS) and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) were very
active in the area surroundingTirunelveli. In the case of Shanarconverts in Tirunelveli
and South Travancore, their conversion to Christianity was part of their search for
empowermentand new identity. They had been challenging the powers that kept them
subjugated in different ways. Unfortunately, something else awaited them in the
Church.
( Importantly,
theconvertswhowerein a positionto challengeindigenousstructures
of authority,weresimultaneouslydisempowered withintheChurch.Europeanmissionary
dominationwithinthe Churchandits alliedinstitutionswas so pronouncedthatmission-
aries presentedan appearanceof almost infallibility.In contrast,the convertswere
identifiedas inferiorandoftenuncomplimentary remarksweremadeaboutthemotivesof
their conversion (43) d>.
Considering this backgroundwe understandthe rebellion of a person like Sattam-
pillai and his challenging the missionaries (44). His point was that the foreigners -
English officials and the band of missionaries - were keeping on giving a degrading
picture of the Shanarsthroughtheir ethnographicand historical presentationswhereas
the Shanars were attempting to project in true light their origin and history. In this
connection, it may be recalled here that the well-known work by R. Caldwell on the
Shanars stirred up a hornet's nest, inviting vehement protests. Besides, according to
Sattampillai, the Christianity preached by the missionaries was unauthentic and by

(42) For details, Susan BAYLY, op. cit., pp. 420 ff.
(43) Vincent KUMARADOSS, dNegotiating Colonial Christianity: The Hindu ChristianChurchof Late
Nineteenth CenturyTirunelveli > South Indian Studies 1, 1996, pp. 35-36.
(44) Aroundthe middle of the nineteenthcenturyArumainayagamalias Sattampillaiprotestedagainst
what appearedto be humiliationsinflicted by the missionarieson the Shanars,the caste to which he belonged.
In an attemptto counter-balancethe low image of the Shanarsprojectedby the missionaries, he claimed that
his caste people had ksatriya or kingly origin. To signify it, the Shanars progressively came to call
themselves Nadars.

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and large the product of the Western world. This type of Christianityfailed to reflect
the spirit and message of the Gospel as preached by Jesus. It may be out of scope to
go into the details of his spirited arguments.Suffice it here to take note of the fact that
his confrontations with the missionaries led him to step out of the ProtestantChurch-
group to which he belonged and to found in the year 1857 a Hindu Christian Church
(locally known as Nattu Sabai), which has survived even to this day (45). Vincent
Kumaradoss comments upon the significance of the protest of Sattampillai and the
founding of the Hindu ChristianChurch:
FreedfromWesternChristianity
<< and,consequently,missionaryauthority, theHindu
ChristianChurchwas in a positionto subvertthe nationalistcriticismthatthe converts
werealliesof Britishcolonialism.In denyingthe scopefor suchcriticism,Sattampillai, at
onelevel, workedoutsimilaritiesbetweentheJewishandtheHinducustomsandpractices;
andat anotherlevel incorporated a numberof local 'Hindu'customsintothe Church.By
fixing the new identityof the convertswithin the indigenousstructure,Sattampillai
repudiatedthe nationalistintentionof marginalising anddisempowering them(46)>>.
In short, there is a whole history of resistance and confrontationby the converts
vis a vis the preachersof Christianity.This is unfortunatelyan area little investigated.

V. - SOME LESSONS FOR TODAY

The picture we have tried to present studying the situation of Christianity in

southernTamilnaduduring colonial times is obviously one in which the converts are
the subjects. It has shown us how they related themselves with the new religion and
its agents - the missionaries. This brief study, though limited to a small geographical
zone of India, raises nevertheless a numberof questions which could be of importance
for the present-day understandingof Christianityin India and for its future shape.
The present-day history of mission has been written on the basis of the accounts
found in the letters, reports and other records of the missionaries as well as those of
the colonial authorities. They contain, as can be expected, gross exaggerations and
deep prejudices resulting in a distorted picture of the situation of the time. The
historiographyof Christianityneeds to be re-writtenfrom sources closer to the people.
We will then get to know how they appropriatedChristianityin continuity with their
social and religious world and how they interactedwith the missionaries (47).
Let me illustrate by an example: when the missionaries refer to deviant practices
of the converts, the implicit understandingof religion is thatof a credal system whereas

(45) M. Thomas THANGARAJ,d The History and Teachings of the Hindu-ChristianCommunityCom-

monly Called Nattu Sabai in Tirunelveli >>in The Indian ChurchHistory Review, vol. V, no 1, 1971.
(46) Vincent KUMARADOSS,art. cit. p. 49.
(47) This work remains to be done. Unfortunately,the project of IndianChurchHistory sponsoredby
the ChurchHistory Association of India (CHAI), seems, by and large, to fall in line with any other type of
history of mission, except that it has attempted to present this history in the socio-political context of the
time. It is importantto gain a view of the situation from the convert's point of view. In this respect, one
cannotexaggerate the significance of the work done by JacquesGerneton people's perceptionof and reaction
to Christianityat the time of Matteo Ricci, throughhis researchinto Chinese resources of the time. Jacques
GERNET, Chine et christianisme, Paris, Gallimard, 1982.

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the point of reference of the missionaries is the orthodoxy of doctrines and norms of
ethical practice. What is deviant for them is a matter of continuity with their religio-
culturalworld for the people and an effort to make Christianitytheir own. The converts
reacted from a cultural world in which being religious is a matterof symbols, rituals,
festivals, or, in other words, a way of life.
What we have seen in the context of the Tamilnadu experience shows also the
necessity of developing a sociology of IndianChristianity.Such an Indiansociological
approach to the phenomenon of Christianity should not sound strange, since, as we
know, the complexity and unique aspects of Indiansociety defies Western sociological
frameworks of interpretation, but requires an ethno-sociology of its own. In the
absence of a proper Indian sociology of Christianity, our reading of the situation of
Christian communities in the colonial period will be very much conditioned by the
de-contextualized theological preoccupationsof the missionaries. Such a sociology of
Indian Christianityneeds to startfrom micro experiences and studies, so as to give us
the picture of the social role and significance of Christianityin a particularcontext,
specially as viewed by the converts in their proper context of life and its exigencies.
In this respect, our study raises many instructive points for the present as well as
for the future: one thing is that the majority of the people did not get converted to
Christianity because they were convinced that they were going to be saved, or that
they were going to receive something religious and spiritual which they did not get
anywhere else. Speaking from a phenomenological perspective, today, if Christianity
continues to presentitself simply as an agency of supernaturalsalvation, it is not likely
to receive any serious attention on the part of the people. An approachin the line of
sociology of Christianitywill lead us to ask: what role could Christianityplay in the
dynamics of present-day Indian society. To the extent Christianityis an active agent
in the socio-political dynamics of the country it will be considered seriously. This has
implications for the future shape of Christianity.This is an additional reason why we
require a proper sociology of Indian Christianitywhich is yet to be written.
Our study leads us to rethink the contemporary discourse on inter-religious
dialogue in India. There are two major presuppositions behind the present under-
standingof such a dialogue, andthe situationsketched in this article seems to challenge
both: firstly, today it is generally assumed that the Hindu and Christian worlds of
religiosity have not met each other. On this assumption, dialogue is envisaged as an
attempt to bring together the followers of these two religious traditions. But the fact
is that, long before such discourses and concerns, there have been vibrantinteraction
between Hinduism and Christianity. This was done by the converts who did not
consider Hinduism and Christianity as two distinct entities, but who related them in
terms of life and its challenges: the exigencies of life were reflected in their way of
relating the two religious worlds. Issues of daily life such as sickness, misfortune,fear
of impending evil, hope for prosperity, etc. were the windows through which both
traditions were looked at and lived in the same religious continuum by the people.
Further, the type of occupation the converts were engaged in (whether fishing,
agriculture,etc.) conditioned the natureof their relationship to the surroundingHindu
world (48). If such was the case, we understandwhy the interactionbetween these two
traditions came about at the level of religious rituals, festivals, symbols and sacred
(48) Here we need to note thatthe religion of the Tamils was very muchboundwith the eco-geographic
zones (divided into five and known as tinai) in which one lived. The way of life of the neithal (coastal zone)

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spaces and objects, ratherthan at the level of doctrinal tenets and ethical norms. For
them, religion was not so much a matterof belief than a source of power. Therefore,
their religiosity is one that deals with obtaining and channelling power, no matter
which source it comes from. With this kind of approach to religion as a source of
power, they were able to transgressthe religious borders and see their unity in life.
Another point which emerges out of the present study has implications for our
understandingof the nature of Hinduism. Today Hinduism, as increasingly acknow-
ledged by scholars, cannot be anythingbut a common label underwhich a wide variety
of indigenous religious streams is subsumed (49). Consequently, one may not equate
it with the streamof Sanskritictradition,associated with the uppercastes. Concentrat-
ing on dialogue with the classical Sanskritictraditionwill prove to be a modernversion
of the old missionarystrategyof approachingselectively the higher caste. Today, in the
contextof the conflictbetweenuppercastes andlowercastes, speciallythe dalits (formerly
referredto as duntouchables>>),it is importantthatwe takenote of the fact thatthe people
who embracedChristianitywere by and large from the lowest strataof Indian society,
and most groups were closer to popular Hinduism. This assumes importance in the
present-daycontext wherein religious symbols and rituals have become crucial means
for the assertion of the self-identity and dignity of the marginalized.
The experience in southernTamilnadubrings to the fore anothercrucial issue. It
concerns the formation of Christian identity. The missionaries coming out of the
context of the EuropeanChristendomof classical times, took care to dissociate their
converts from the rest and constitute them into a separate social and religious entity.
The principle of either...or was strongly ingrained in them, as a result of which to be
Christianmeant to be nothing else. This (with other factors) had an unintendedeffect:
the creation of the self-consciousness of the Hindus as a religious community com-
peting with other communities. This was a marked departurefrom the situation in
which for a Hindu, identities and borderswere very fluid. What I mean therebycomes
out in a recent remarkof one of the radical Hindu leaders in southernTamilnadu:<<I
was a Christianat heart, but the Christiansmade me into a radical Hindu>>(50). From
a situation of fluid and porous communitarianborders, strict walls of separationwere
erected, also because the missionaries and the colonial administratorsenteredinto easy
objectification and classification of what they did not properly understand.In that
sense they, along with the Orientalists,were the d creators>>of Hinduism as a religious
community. In the context of his study of the various forces involved in Hindu
community formation in Kerala, Muralidharanobserves,
dMissionarywritingsformanothermajorsite at whichthe Hinduwas constitutedas
a community.Thisgenreof writingscutsacrosstheCatholic-Protestant divideandshares
certaincommontechniquesof objectificationwhereverit confrontedclassicalreligious
traditionsas in Indiaor the MiddleEast.They,in thesesituations,droppedthe technique
of designatingthe subjectpeople as withoutreligionand insteadimputeda religionto
(suite note 48)
had its own forms of religiosity which had its own features, distinguishing it from that of the agriculturalor
mountainouszones. In southernTamilnadu,Christianityin its shape as well as in its relationshipto Hindu
religiosity differed, owing, among other things, to the difference in the occupation of the converts.
(49) Vasudha DALMIA Heinrich von STIETENCRON, eds, RepresentingHinduism. The Constructionof
Religious Traditions and National Identity, Delhi, Sage Publications, 1995; Guenther D. SONTHEIMER,
HermannKULKE (eds), HinduismReconsidered, Delhi, Manohar, 1991.
(50) Statement of a Hindu leader in the Hindu-Christianconflict prone district of Kanyakumariin
SouthernTamilnadu,given in a personal interview to one of my doctoral students during field-study.

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ARCHIVESDE SCIENCESSOCIALESDES RELIGIONS

them.In otherwords,it hadto be assertedthattheytoo hada religion,howeverbarbaric,

so thatit couldbe overcome,penetratedandconquered(51)>>.
Against this background,the people's appropriationof Christianitywe discussed
acquires significance. It broke through such fortified and theologically justified
segregation and tried to see, as in other areas, their social existence in terms of
continuity, ratherthan discontinuity. This is of vital importancetoday in India in the
context of communal conflicts among the various religious groups. We need, perhaps,
to regain some importantvalues implicit in the converts' understandingof community
which was not exclusive but inclusive.
If Christianityis appropriatedin the religious and social continuum of the people
- as we have seen in the case of southernTamilnadu- the question may legitimately
be raised: what of the prophetic role of Christianity? Should Christianity simply
accommodate itself to the ways of the people ? The history of the past five hundred
years of Christianity during colonial times reveals little of Gospel prophetism. One
may glory in having exercised a prophetic role by condemning the heathen ways and
practices of the surroundingHindu world. But this can hardly be called prophetism;
it is simply misplaced zeal fomented by ignorance of the other, which has cost the
genuine Christian message dear. We need to take into account the fact that in the
colonial period the pastoral approachof the missionaries was such that, by and large,
it helped more to reinforce the stratified caste social order than contributeto any real
social change. This is very glaring when we observe the role played by the official
religious agents in the celebration of festivals. Because the Christian missionaries
confined their ministry and service within the limited circle of Christianity, these
ministers could bring about change only within the sacred space and not in the larger
society > (52). This was not only the case of festivals, but also of the celebration of
various sacramentsand rituals.
Today, it is importantto realize that only the kind of Christianprophetism will be
effective that inserts itself into the history and process of realizing the ideals of
equality, brotherhood and sisterhood in the Indian cultural and social setting. For
example, I may cite here the movement of the backward castes and dalit groups in
their attempt to progressively get rid of the shackles that bound them (53). This
movement which is propheticin characterand at the same time fully indigenous in its
idiom and approach,has in the spanof a few decades, contributedmore to the realization
of those lofty Gospel ideals of equality than five hundredyears of Christianityin the
colonial period.WhatI wish to underlineis thatChristianity- viewed from a sociological
point of view - may not contributeany thing significantto social transformationunless it
insertsitself into the streamof the Indiansocial and political life.

FelixWILFRED
Schoolof PhilosophyandReligiousThought
State Universityof Madras, India

(51) M. MURALIDHARAN, <<Hindu Community Formation in Kerala: Processes and Structuresunder

Colonial Modernityd, South Indian Studies, no 2 (July-December) 1996, p. 253.
(52) Joe BRITTO, op. cit., p. 236. Translationof the cited passage mine.
(53) Gail OMVEDT, Dalits and the DemocraticRevolution,Delhi, Sage Publications,1994; Dalit Visions.
TheAnti-casteMovement
andtheConstruction
of an IndianIdentity,Hyderabad,
OrientLongman,1995.

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 CHRISTIANITYIN HINDU POLYTHEISTICSTRUCTURALMOULD

Abstract
In a decolonized and independentIndia, it was very importantfor the Christians to be seen
no more as allies of the erstwhile colonial power, but as part and parcel of the life and history
of the country. Hence there was a conscious effort to indigenize Christian way of life, worship
and practices. Thus, even before the Roman Catholic Church began to speak of inculturation,
and the Protestant Churches about contextualization, the concerns underlying those expres-
sions had become already part of the discourse of those Indian Christians who wanted to relate
their Christianfaith with the national issues.
But this approach, unfortunately, has gone ahead with the assumption that Christianity
has remained all along an alien reality in India. The preoccupation was to make this alien
religion truly indigenous. But this paper argues that Indian Christianity is Janus-faced, the
otherface of it being completely covered. What is attempted here is to uncover the other side
of Indian Christianitywhich the modern efforts of inculturation seems to be ignorant of What
we witness on the other side is a Christianityshaped in Hindupolytheistic mould. The southern
Tamilnadu offers a very good instance to understand this. The complexity of the situation in
the relationship of the converts to Christianityduring the colonial period in South Tamilandu,
specially the structural continuity with their previous polytheistic religious mould and in the
context of social caste-hierarchy, is an invitation to re-think the presuppositions and process
behind what is known as inculturation or indigenization of Christianity.

Risumd

Dans l 'Inde dicolonisee et indipendante, il itait trks importantaux yeux des chritiens de
ne plus tre considerds comme des allies de l'ex-pouvoir colonial, mais bien comme des
participants l part entibre g la vie et i l'histoire du pays. De cefait, des efforts considdrables
d'indiginisation des modes de vie, du culte et des pratiques chretiennesfurent entrepris.Ainsi,
bien avant que l'Eglise catholique romaine ne commence ciparler d'inculturation et les Eglises
protestantes de contextualisation, les domaines concerndspar ces expressions avaient-ils ddja
commence ct alimenter les discours des Indiens chritiens disireux d'articuler leur foi chrd-
tienne aux enjeux nationaux.
Malheureusement,cette approche allait de pair avec l'idee selon laquelle le christianisme
demeurait une rialiti itrangbre a l'Inde, le souci des acteurs consistant alors c faire de cette
religion itrangtre une rialitd pleinement indigane. Cet article diveloppe l'argument selon
lequel le christianisme indien aurait comportd une double face, I'une de ces faces ayant itd
totalementocculte. IlItentepar consequent de divoiler cette autreface que les efforts modernes
de l'inculturation semblent ignorer. Ce que l'on constate en effet, c'est que le christianisme
indien a 6td fagonn6 dans un moule hindou polythdiste. Le Tamil Nadu du sud offre une
excellente illustration de cette proposition. La complexiti de la situation de ceux qui s'y sont
convertis au christianisme pendant la piriode coloniale, notamment la persistance, dans le
contexte d'une hidrarchie sociale de type caste, du moule religieux polythdiste priexistant,
invite a repenser les presupposes et les processus sous-jacents a ce que nous appelons
inculturation ou indiginisation du christianisme.

Resumen

En la India descolonizada e independiente, era muy importantepara los cristianos el no

ser considerado como aliados del ex-poder colonial, sino como participante de la vida y de la
historia del pais. Por esta causa, exfuerzos importantesde indigenizacidn de los modos de vida,
de culto y de las practicas cristianas fueron desarrollados. De esta manera, mucho antes de
que la Iglesia romana comenzase a hablar de inculturacidn y las iglesias protestantes de
contextualizacion, la realidad concernida por estas expresiones habid ya comenzado a alimen-
tar el discurso de los hindues cristianos, deseosos de articular sufe cristiana con las realidades
nacionales. Desgraciadamente, este acercamiento estaba imbricado con la idea de que el
cristianismo seguia siendo una realidad extranjera a la realidad de la India.

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ARCHIVESDE SCIENCESSOCIALESDES RELIGIONS

El presente articulo desarrolla el argumento de que el cristianismo hinda habria compor-

tado una doble cara, una de las cuales habria sito totalmente ocultada. Lo que podemos
constatar es que el cristianismo hinda ha sido modelado en el interior del molde del hinduismo
politeista. El Tamil Nadu del sur ofrece una excelente ilistracidn de esta propuesta. La
complejidad de la situacidn de aquellos que se convirtieron al cristianismo durante el periodo
colonial y, sobre todo, la persistencia en el contexto de unajerarqufa social de tipo casta, del
molde religioso politeista preexistente, obliga a repensar los presupuestos y los proceso
subjacentes de lo que Ilamamos inculturacidn o indigenizacidn del cristianismo.

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 ERRATA
ASSR No 103

- p. 25 : note 13, il faut lire Tuhfat al-mujdhidin fi bacz Ahwdl al-Burtukali

- p. 71 : dans la citation, il faut lire (kiramateyvam)
- p. 148: note 72, il faut lire Philipps THOMAS

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