Did Christians Build or

Destroy India?
East India Company, British
Raj and Missionaries
 East India Company Created Every Obstacle for Missionaries;
William Carey Had to Preach Gospel Like a Thief

But as a Sovereign power, the East India Company not

only did not attempt to preach their religion
themselves, but threw every possible obstacle in
the way of the missionaries to settle in their
territories. When William Carey came to Calcutta
in 1793, he had to preach the religion of Christ like
almost like a thief in constant fear of being
deported to England ; and when six years later, he,
Joshua Marshman and William Ward started systematic
mission work, they sought shelter at Serampore, then a Danish
possession.
A History of Hindu Civilization During the British Rule, by Pramatha Nath
Bose, Volume 1, Book 1, Chapter 2, English Influence on Hinduism, Page 51
Complete Works of Babasaheb Ambedkar, Volume 5,
CHAPTER 29, CHRISTIANIZING THE UNTOUCHABLES

It is enough to observe that

these settlers managed to
work through the first eighty
years of the seventeenth
century without building a
Church.
MOCKED

Things as they are: Mission Work in Southern India, by

Amy Wilson Carmichael (1904):
 
Chapter 3, Humdrum - 
Outside in the road a number of Hindus were
standing; some of them were his retainers and
friends. I heard them say, as I passed through
their midst, Who will fall into the pit of the
Christian Way ! ” And they laughed, and the
Brahman laughed. “ As the filth of the world,
the offscouring of all things, unto this day.”
BEATEN

Satsar (The Essence of the Truth) Number 1, Published by Jotirao

Govindrao Phule, Member, Satyashodhak Samaj, (13 June 1885), from
Selected Writings of Jotirao Phule, Published by Leftword Books
 
Shudhra: You can get away with whatever criticism of Christians scriptures
that you might make it. It
has been observed that any can
catch hold of a preacher, beat him up, hit him and
pound him and at the instigation of cunning
impostors the children of ignorant shudras can
follow them about screaming and shouting at them
and throwing mud at them. But remember that the Muslims are
not going to allow you to even touch their Quran. You cannot even think of
dealing with them in this manner. Do not see such dreams.
BURNED

Complete Works of Babasaheb Ambedkar, Volume 5,

CHAPTER 30 - THE CONDITION OF THE CONVERT
 
What this militant Hinduism will do to Christians
and Christianity can be seen from what
happened at Brindaban very recently. If
newspaper reports are true a crowd of mild
Hinduism quietly went and burned down the
Mission buildings in Brindaban and warned
the missionary that if he rebuilt it they
would come and burn it down again?!
REVENUE BRAHMINS
Caste in a Changing World, The Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmans (1700- 1935),
Chapter 3, CONSEQUENCES OF CONQUEST: Early British Rule in Kanara, 1799-
1834, Frank F Conlon,
Because the British were still learning the lessons of South Asian
rule, they were as dependent upon old administrative elites as
their predecessors. In the growth of the Madras Presidency, the
major base of recruitment to administrative service had been
among members of several brahman castes. Some were Tamil-
or Telugu-speakers, others were descendants of
Maharashtra Deshastha Brahmans who had been
recruited to southern India for such service in earlier
centuries. These groups could not fully monopolize
positions in British service. Yet by virtue of their skill and
support, British officers came to depend upon these
“revenue brahmans.”
•Collaboration in Translation
Winks, Robin. The Oxford History of the British Empire:
Volume V: Historiography (p. 197). OUP Oxford. Kindle
Edition. 
The most impressive orientalist explorations were
collaborative, unofficial, and voluntary. Among
these, none matched the enormous privately
funded venture by Colonel Colin MacKenzie. His
teams of Maratha Brahman scholars begged,
bought, or borrowed, and copied, from village
leaders. Virtually every manuscript of value they
could find they acquired.
 WHAT MISSIONARIES
DESTROYED…EXAMPLES
 MISSIOANRIES WERE THE FIRST TO INSIST ON COVERING
THE UPPER PART OF SHUDRA WOMEN
•Twenty-four other Shanar Christians were falsely charged of assault,
and even murder. People of one village had been forced to flee to
the mountains for safety. Particular difficulties were also
experienced in setting up schools for these Shanar converts. One
schoolroom had been burnt down and a schoolmaster imprisoned
along with several Christians under his care. Especially great
exception was taken when Shanar women dared to start
wearing an upper cloth on their bosom, a symbol of
privilege only granted to high-caste women. Houses
occupied by Christians were surveyed to see if any customary norms
or rules about size and convenience had been broken. Such steps
were taken to make sure that no Christian convert was living in a
house or in a style above his normal station.
•Christianity, Colonialism and Hinduism in Kerala: Integration, Adaptation, or Confrontation, Penelope Carson,
Robert Eric Frykenberg;Alaine Low. Christians and Missionaries in India: Cross-Cultural Communication Since 1500
(Kindle Locations 1813-1817). Kindle Edition.
 MISSIOANRIES WERE THE FIRST TO INSIST ON COVERING
THE UPPER PART OF SHUDRA WOMEN
The removal of Mr Mead to the new station at Neyoor
seemed to arouse all the slumbering fires of persecution.
Occasion was taken to object to the wearing of upper
cloths by Christian women, but there is no doubt the better
classes looked with great disfavour on the steady
advancement of the Shanars and Pariah converts of the
mission. From persecution of individuals they went further,
and riotous bands attacked and burnt the houses and
chapels of Christians. An attack was even made upon Mr
Mead.
A Hundred Years in Travancore, 1806-1906: A History and Description of the
Work Done by the London Missionary Society in Travancore, South India During
the Past Century, Chapter 3, The Growth of Forty Years, 1816-1856, Page 36
Christianity, Colonialism and Hinduism in Kerala: Integration,
Adaptation, or Confrontation, Penelope Carson, Robert Eric
Frykenberg;Alaine Low. Christians and Missionaries in India: Cross-
Cultural Communication Since 1500 (Kindle Locations 1884-1888).
Kindle Edition.
Yet, despite state decrees, the genie was truly out of the
bottle. All Shanar women, Hindu and Christian alike,
began to adopt the upper cloth, and petitions were sent
to the Resident concerning its use. The Resident and the
Madras government declined to intervene in favor of the
Shanars, regarding the matter as one of local caste usage.
In 1859, two hundred Nayars attacked Christian Shanars at
a village near Nagarcoil, beating them and stripping the
upper cloths from the women. Houses were burned and
looted.
 So-called Hindu
Reformers like Chattampi
Swami of Kerala accused
Christians of converting
shudras by giving them
clothes…
 MISSIONARIES ENCOURAGED SHUDRAS AND DALITS TO ENTER THE TEMPLE
ROADS…
The missionaries insisted that, once a person became a Christian, he or she should be
entitled to all the marks of social and ritual standing held by Syrians, including the
right to enter Hindu temple streets and all the other privileged precincts from which
they had previously been banned. Missionaries encouraged low-caste and
untouchable Christians to press for access to temple streets and procession routes as
a sign that they had the same ritual status as the Syrian Christian community.
Missionaries saw this as a process of modernization and "uplift." Of course, by the
twentieth century, non-Christians Christians of these same castes were demanding
the same privileges. As a result of such efforts and interventions, there was usually
violence, with clashes and street battles occurring all over northern Travancore and
Cochin. Untouchable touchable Christians forced themselves into the
presence of Nayars and Brahmans, mans, specifically to pollute them.
When beaten or thrown into prison, Christians would claim they were
being persecuted for the sake of their faith.
Christianity, Colonialism and Hinduism in Kerala: Integration, Adaptation, or
Confrontation, Penelope Carson, Robert Eric Frykenberg;Alaine Low. Christians and
Missionaries in India: Cross-Cultural Communication Since 1500 (Kindle Locations
1904-1907). Kindle Edition.
CHILD SACRIFICE AT GANGES…
In 1801 – William
Carey’s friend Mr.
Udney entered the
supreme council; he
brought this to the
notice of Lord
Wellesley.

William Carey
prepared a report on
the human sacrifice in
full and submitted to
the Government. It
was then proclaimed
as illegal.

William Carey, F B Meyers,

Chapter, Carey as a
Philanthropist, Page 122-
123
SATI – 15 years before Rajaram Mohan Roy took the
issue; William Carey Launched the Movement…

Dr. Ameeta Singh Professor of History Govt. Maharani Laxmi Bai Girls PG (Auto) College,
Bhopal Madhya Pradesh, The Role of Missionaries in abolition of sati custom in India with
special reference to Serampore Missionary, , IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science,
Volume 20, Issue 10, Ver. II (Oct. 2015) PP 52-55
•…In 1799 the Searampur Christian missionary headed by
William Carey had started a movement for the abolition of
sati. The Christian missionaries argued before the British
Government at the Sati system is not an essential part of
Hindu religion and it must be abolished. William Carey
launched a plan for movement against the sati.
•SATI – PREPARED REPORTS, DEBATED WITH HINDUS
Dr. Ameeta Singh Professor of History Govt. Maharani Laxmi Bai Girls PG (Auto)
College, Bhopal Madhya Pradesh, The Role of Missionaries in abolition of sati custom
in India with special reference to Serampore Missionary, , IOSR Journal Of Humanities
And Social Science, Volume 20, Issue 10, Ver. II (Oct. 2015) PP 52-55
He prepared a statistical record of widow burning
and wrote many sati accounts that he witnessed.
They sought the help of Hindu Pandits to know
whether the sati practice has religious sanction. He
organized open discussion on the subject and
arranged a debate in 1803 at fort William College,
Calcutta. Both Indians and Europeans attended this
meeting. Raja Rammohan Roy also visited the
Searampur missionaries in 1816 and discussed the
subject of sati in Hinduism in detail….
•SATI – 107 petitions in the House of Commons…
Dr. Ameeta Singh Professor of History Govt. Maharani Laxmi Bai Girls PG (Auto)
College, Bhopal Madhya Pradesh, The Role of Missionaries in abolition of sati custom
in India with special reference to Serampore Missionary, , IOSR Journal Of Humanities
And Social Science, Volume 20, Issue 10, Ver. II (Oct. 2015) PP 52-55

•…The missionaries gained vital support from the

Thomas Fowell Buxton (leader of evangelical group).
He initiated the first parliament debate on the sati
custom in 1823. From 1823-1830 a total 107
petitions against sati were presented to the House of
Commons…
.
SATI – Raja Rammohan Roy visited missionaries
and discussed the subject with them

Dr. Ameeta Singh Professor of History Govt. Maharani Laxmi Bai Girls PG (Auto)
College, Bhopal Madhya Pradesh, The Role of Missionaries in abolition of sati
custom in India with special reference to Serampore Missionary, , IOSR Journal Of
Humanities And Social Science, Volume 20, Issue 10, Ver. II (Oct. 2015) PP 52-55

Raja Rammohan Roy also visited the Searampur

missionaries in 1816 and discussed the subject of
sati in Hinduism in detail…
SATI – 15 years before Rajaram Mohan Roy took
the issue
Dr. Ameeta Singh Professor of History Govt. Maharani Laxmi Bai Girls PG (Auto)
College, Bhopal Madhya Pradesh, The Role of Missionaries in abolition of sati
custom in India with special reference to Serampore Missionary, , IOSR Journal Of
Humanities And Social Science, Volume 20, Issue 10, Ver. II (Oct. 2015) PP 52-55

…The missionaries gained vital support from the

Thomas Fowell Buxton (leader of evangelical
group). He initiated the first parliament debate on
the sati custom in 1823. From 1823-1830 a total
107 petitions against sati were presented to the
House of Commons…
SLAVERY ABOLISHMENT - Indian Slavery Act V. of 1843. 
Cassels, Nancy Gardner. Social Legislation of the East India Company: Public
Justice versus Public Instruction (SAGE Law) (p. 173). SAGE Publications. Kindle
Edition.
 
On one side of this 70-year debate were Company officials, many of
very senior ranks, who argued that slavery in India was uniquely
entangled with Muslim and Hindu law and custom; these Company
servants were exponents of a traditionalism which guaranteed
support for immemorial custom against any kind of Government
interference. On the other side of the debate were Evangelicals
within and without Parliament who, heady with the success of their
campaign against the African slave trade and slavery in the West
Indies, turned their attention towards the East Indies; they virtually
forced the Board of Control to order the Court of Directors to
demand, in turn, that the Government of India take legislative
action against slavery in India.
B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol.1, 51-52 –
DEVADASI SYSTEM… 
Though the correspondence with regard to the
abolition of the customs of dedicating minor girls
to the gods at Jejuri and Savantwadi is carried on
under the leadership of Dr.Bhandarkar, it is the
Missionaries who are as a matter of fact at the
bottom of the whole affair. It was they who first
brought to the notice of Government that such
girls led an immoral life after attaining puberty
and that the existing statutory resolutions were
quite inadequate to remedy the [sic] evil.
WHAT MISSIONARIES
CREATED…EXAMPLES
HEALTH SECTOR
 Early Indian systems
• Ayurveda and Sidha (TN)
• Health- 3 humors- phlegm, gall and wind
• Herbs and Diet
• Fever- Demon and suprahuman forces
• No Hospitals
• NO SURGERY FOR 1000s of Years – ONLY SOME
REFERENCE - Charaka (physician) and Susrutha
(surgery knives)
• NO MEDICINES FOR EPIDEMCICS, OR SERIOUS
ILLNESSES
A History of Hindu Civilization During the British Rule, by
Pramatha Nath Bose, Book 2, Chapter 1, Caste, Page 32

The cry of the orthodox Hindu society has ever been

“Hinduism in danger.” When in 1831, a few boys of the
Hindu college attended a lecture delivered by a missionary
on the moral qualifications necessary for investigating
truth, the whole city was in an uproar. The College was
closed next day. A notice was put up threatening with
expulsion students who should attend “Political and
religious discussions.” When it was decided to stop the
practice of Sati, Hinduism was held to be in danger.
Karma – IF MEDICINES DON’T WORK
Caraka-samhita. 4.2.16 - As a result of karma
there is unequal division of the semen-blood
complex as it develops in the womb; One is
larger and the second is smaller, and so
among the twins one is distinctly larger.
Caraka-samhita. 4.1.116-117 - For there is no
significant karma whatsoever whose fruit is
not consumed. Diseases produced by karma
resist treatment until that fruit is gone; then
they subside.
MEDICAL SCIENCE – DID HINDUISM PROMOTE IT
Taittiriya Samhitavi. 4. 9.
The head of the sacrifice was cut; the gods said to the Açvins,
Ye are physicians; do ye replace the head of the sacrifice',
they replied. Let us choose a boon; let there be drawn a cup
for us also herein.' For them they drew this cup for the Açvins;
then indeed did they replace the head of the sacrifice; in that
(the cup) for the Açvins is drawn, (it is) to restore the sacrifice.
The gods said of these two, 'Impure are they,
wandering among men [1] and physicians.'
Therefore a Brahman should not practise
medicine, for the physician is impure, unfit
for the sacrifice. Having purified them by the
Bahispavamana (Stotra) they drew for them this cup for the
Açvins;
PHYSICIAN = THIEF – HOW WILL MEDICINE GROW?
Dharmasutra of Vasistha Chapter 3
 Brahmins and Learning
3 Brahmins who are not learned, who do not teach, or who do
not maintain the sacred fires become equal to Sudras.
2 On this point they cite a verse of Manu: When, without
studying the Veda, a twice-born man strives after other
matters, he quickly sinks to the level of a Sudra in this very life
together with his descendants. (M 2.168)
3 A man ignorant of the Veda cannot
be a Brahmin, and neither can a
trader, an actor, a man taking orders
from a Sudra, a thief, or a physician.
 Leprosy

• William Carey wrote in 1812:

“Last week I witnessed the burning
of a leprosy man….”

• He immediately started an asylum for leprosy patients to keep

them safe from others

• Dr Rippentrop of Gossner mission: “Living sacrifice” (Chapra)

• 231 Leprosariums-1947
 From No Hospitals to 1947
• 1000 Protestant hospitals

• 1000 Catholic hospitals

• 1 in every 3 was a mission bed

• 90% nurses were Christians

 Ida Scudder and Edith Brown
• 43/1100 – 3 knocks
• Medical Colleges for women

• In 1900, India had a handful of women doctors

• By 2010, India had the highest number of women

doctors in the world
 Sacrifice or investment?

• How did Dr Catherine come to Jagdalpur in Bastar

district from the US in 1892?

• Worked in Jagdalpur for 37 years

• How did Dr Ada Louck come to Sironcha in tribal

Chhotanagpur area? (Clason Memorial Hospital)

• Missionary families and children’s education-Motihari

story of RBMU
LANGUAGES AND PRESS…
 Not every language…

“Adhikarana 6 – Treating the authority of words as used by

the MLECCHAS”

…How could words occurring in the Veda be taken in the

sense that is recognised only among the Mlecchas?
Specifically when the very sight of a Mleccha, makes
us stop our recitation of the Veda. Nor is it allowable for
the people of Aryavarta to have a conversation or
consultation with the Mleccha , and hence could we even
come to know the sense in which any word may be current
among them…

The Tantravarttika of Kumarila Bhatta, Volume 1, Page

218, translation by Ganganath Jha
 A Seventh Century Text!!! – Calling Dravida Language as Mlecchas
“Adhikarana 6 – Treating the authority of words as used by the
MLECCHAS”

Though there are a few words in use among them that appear like
sanskrta words, yet there are found to be used in senses other than
those recognized by us, and as even these are used without the
necessary affixed &c, they are not properly expressive and as such
they can never be held to have any real denotation. Even when an
Arya attempts to find traces of his own (sanskrta) words among
those of the Mleccahs, he can only find them by grouping
together the letter of two different words (e.g. in a custom, they find
the sankrta word ‘eka’), and sometimes he find therein his own words,
either a little too short or one too long.”

As for example, in the Dravida language, though all words are

used as ending in the consonant, yet the Aryas are dound to
assume in them the affixes &c, that can be appended only to words
ending in vowels, and then make the words give a sense, in
accordance with their own sanskrata, language.

The Tantravarttika of Kumarila Bhatta, Volume 1, Page 219,

 A Seventh Century Text!!! – Arya Vs. Dravidas

“Adhikarana 6 – Treating the authority of words as used by the MLECCHAS”

For instance, when the Dravidas call “rice,” “cor”, the Arya reads in it his own
word ‘cora’ (thief), and comprehends the meaning accordingly. And when the
Dravidas call the road ‘atar’, he reads it as ‘atarah’ and declares that as the
road is difficult to cross, it is really atara (uncrossable). Similarly, they call the
snake ‘pap’ evil animal and he takes it as ‘papa’ (evil) and argues that the
snake is really an evil animal. So, too in the case of the word ‘mal’ which they
use in the sense of woman, the word is taken as ‘mala’. The word “vair” used
by them in the sense of stomach, is taken as “vaira” (enemy), and then use is
justified on the ground of hungry man being capable of doing many sinful
deeds, which proves that the stomach is an enemy of the man.

Thus then, when the Arya stands in need of such groundless assumptions,
even in the case of the words current among the Dravidas (who inhabit a part
of Aryavarta itself) – how could we ever reasonably deduce sanskra word from
the current among such distant peoples as the Parsis, the Barbaras
(barbarians), the Yavanas (Greeks), the Raumakas (Romans) and the like.”

The Tantravarttika of Kumarila Bhatta, Volume 1, Page 218, translation by

Ganganath Jha
 Hindi till Sanskrit..

“As a solution to the

problem of ‘lingua franca,
till the time sanskrit takes
that place we shall have to
give priority to Hindi on the
score of convenience.
Naturally we have to prefer
Part Two - The Nation and
that form of Hindi which like its Problems X. CHILDREN
OF THE MOTHERLAND
all other Bharitya languages,
Once the Glory
stem from Sanskrit and gets
sustenance from Sanskrit for
 Robert Cladwell – Already Addressed this Question

Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of

Languages, Page 45
 Robert Cladwell - FIRST ONE TO DO A DETAILED STUDY ON DRAVIDIAN
LANGAUGES

Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of

Languages, Page 45
 Robert Cladwell Gave Several Reasons… Comparison of Primary Words

Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of

Languages, Page 45
 Robert Cladwell Gave Several Reasons… Comparison of Primary Words

Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of

Languages, Page 45
FIRST JOURNAL IN ANY INDIAN LANGUAGE…

In 1818 the Christian Missionaries came forward

with their own publication from Serampore.
In 1818 the ‘Dikdarshan’, a Bengali Monitly,
was started as a combined venture
by John Clark Marshman and Ward.
This was the first journal in Indian language.
Dr. Carey, John Clark The Indian Reformer,
Marshman and Ward 10th January 1861
The first Tamil periodical
‘Tamil Magazine’ was started in 1831
by ‘Religious Tract Society’.
‘The Dinavarthamani’ of 1855
another weekly paper
was edited by Rev. Fr. Percival
and published from Dravidan Press
with a grand from Madras Government.
Fr. P.Percival
 The Pioneer Missionaries Mangalur Samachar
S.Hebich, Dr. Gundert, Dr. Mogling 15th February 1844
The first periodical in Telugu was
‘Satyadootha’
a Christian Missionary journal published in
1835
under the auspices of
the Bellary Christian Tract Society.
 Title page of first Telugu printing,
Viveka Vardhini, 1885 1747
First Periodical Weekly in Telugu
EDUCATION…
 From Gurukul System to Missionary Education Model…

• In the first half,

– The Gurukul system continued in India.
– Parallelly, the Mughal administration & Mullahs in the
Mosques encouraged use of Persian language.
• There were only a few educational institutions in
India.
• The literacy and enrolment in schools were
abysmally low by the end of the first half at below
one percent.
• It was at a time when the literacy of western
Countries was above 50% & the enrolment was
about 12.6% in Europe & 5% in South and South
East Asia.
 Government and Missionary Schools in UP 1912

Source: Missionary Education And Empire in Late Colonial India 1860-1920,

Hayden J A Belleonit, Chapter British Fears and Indian Society in the Emergence
of North Indian Education, Page 51
 On the significance of missionary
intervention
“The introduction and growth of Western
Education in India was the lever which
moved the medieval Indian world, after
centuries of inertia under Muslim rule”
(Bose, N.S., 1990. He was the former Vice-
chancellor of Visva-Bharati University).