Protestant Origins in India: Tamil Evangelical Christians, 1706-1835

233 Pages·2000·48.972 MB·English

by  D. Dennis Hudson

Protestant Origins
in India
Tamil Evangelical Christians, 1706-1835
D. Dennis Hudson
First published 2000 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. &
Curzon Press Ltd
Published 2019 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hudson, D. Dennis.
Protestant origins in India: Tamil Evangelical Christians, 1706-1835 /
D. Dennis Hudson.
p. cm. (Studies in the history of Christian mission)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Eerdmans ISBN 0-8028-4721-8 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Tamil (Indic people) — Missions — History.
2. Protestant Churches — Missions — India, South — History.
3. Protestants — India, South — History.
4. India, South — Church history. I. Series.
BV3255.T3 H83 2000
266'.00954'8—dc21
00-26467
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Curzon Press ISBN 0-7007-1244-5
ISBN 13: 978-0-7007-1244-1 hbk)
Dedicated to the memory of
The Rev. J. D. Manasseh and 'Achi' Dayamani Manasseh,
and of Anjala Richard,
descendants of Vedanayaga Sastri,
and to the honor of
their family and mine
in Chennai, in Tamilnadu, in India
and now the World.

STUDIES IN THE HISTORY
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
R, E. Frykenberg
Brian Stanley
General Editors
STUDIES IN THE HISTORY
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
Susan Biilington Harper
Iti the Shadow of the Mahatma: Bishop V. S. Azariah
and the Travails of Christianity in British India
D. Dennis Hudson
Protestant Origins in India: Tamil Evangelical Christians, 1706-1835
Kevin Ward and Brian Stanley, Editors
The Church Mission Society and World Christianity, 1799-1999
Contents
Prefaceix
1. Beginnings1
Protestant Predecessors5
2. Spreading the Word 10
Language and Velalans 12
Insight into 'Heathen Darkness' 15
Mutual Perceptions 20
First Baptisms 24
Spread of the Mission by Europeans 28
3. Pietism in Malabarian Lives 30
Aaron: The First Ordained Malabarian Pastor 30
Lutheran Pietism 34
Rajanayakan: The Catechist 42
Religious Discussions 48
Exposition through Liturgy 50
4. 'Mahometans' or 'Moors' 52
The 'Mahometans' or 'Moors' 55
5. 'Pagans' 61
Dandapani Swami's 'Scripture of Truth' 62
The 'Civilized' and the 'Alien' in Ancient Tamil Literature 67
Three Types of 'Sudras' Dwelling in the Ūr 70
Velalans as 'Sudras' Dwelling in the Ur 72
'Pariahs' as 'Aliens' in the Cēri and the Wild 76
6. 'Pagan' Thought in Tranquebar and Tanjore 82
Evangelical Rites in a 'Pagan' Context 90
7. Patterns in Development 96
Roman Catholic Predecessors 96
Evangelical Soldiers 99
Expansion to the South 102
A Velalan Protestant Culture 107
8. Vedanayagam Pillai, the Sastri (1774-1864) 110
The Father 110
The Son113
Early Poems 117
Vedanayagam Becomes Sastri 121
Sastri and His Family 127
The Years of Dissension in the Tanjore Congregation 129
Evangelical Sastri and Saiva King 135
9. 'New Missionaries' and the Taniore Congregation 140
Bible Translation 142
Four 'Cruelties' 148
Liturgical Practices 148
Observance of Caste Distinctions 153
The 'Foolishness of Amending Caste' 162
10. Final Thoughts 173
A Theology of Pluralism 173
The Intellectual Impact of Colonizing Europe 185
Glossary 189
Bibliography 198
Index 209
Preface
Thies book nhas evolvced slowoly. Growuing out nof a longt inteerest in thre
of Protestant Christianity with Tamil religions and culture, it
began as 'Luther's Voice in India', my brief contribution to a symposium in
October of 1984 commemorating the 400th anniversary of Luther's birth.
The symposium was held at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts,
where I teach. Nine years later I returned to that unpublished paper and made
it the basis of a more extended contribution to the May 1993 seminar 'Social
Dimensions of Religious Movements', part of the multidisciplinary team
project on 'Socio-Religious Movements and Cultural Networks in Indian
Civilization', coordinated by J. S. Grewal and held at the Indian Institute of
Advanced Study, Rashtrapati Nivas, Shimla. That study was then published as
'DThe Firest Provtestanet Mislsioon to pIndia: mIts Sociael andn Religtiouss ',
in the Sociological Bulletin (Journal of the Indian Sociological Society)
42, nos. 1 and 2 (March-September 1993): 37-62.
Responses to that study by Tamil Protestants in Madras, eager to learn
mpore about thue history of threir religsious commuunity, encourageed me to
Mit further. Roabert E. Frykdenberg of ithe Usniversityo of Wisconsnin at
inprovidetd theat opporrtunnity whean, in 19t94, hie ionvited mne to joian his l
'Christianity in South India Project', sponsored by the Pew Memorial
Trust. I presented portions of the expanded study in January 1997 during that
pMroject's 'Researcha Colloquiudm' at the Asrha Nivaas Conferensce Center .in
pThe critrical reseponses I recesived there eenabled me ton bring it to itts
and final form.
The question in the subtitle of the original version, 'Is the Kingdom of
God Food and Drink?' comes from Romans 14:17. There the apostle Paul dis-