Christianity in India

Title: Christianity in India – Two Thousand Years of Faith

Author: Leonard Fernando, G. Gispert-Sauch

Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2004 (First)

ISBN: 9780650057696

Pages: 336

Christians constitute a tiny 2% of the population of India, but wield a clout considerably greater than their share in demography. They are generally peaceful and abide by the law of the land. Communal tensions between them and other religions are practically non-existent. Still, they occasionally come in the limelight mainly on the defensive side in an argument about religious conversions. Christians believe that it is their god-ordained duty to show others the true path to divinity and convert them to the Christian fold. Even with all this interaction between religions, it is a plain fact that most of the Hindus in the country are ignorant of the nature and tenets of Christianity, even in states like Kerala where Christians form a considerable chunk of the population. This book is an excellent introduction to Christianity in presenting the basic precepts of the religion, its history from its origins to how it arrived in India, the various forms in which Christian churches are divided and their functioning, and the innumerable ways in which Christians interact with others as responsible members of Indian society. The authors are the country’s foremost theologians. Leonardo Fernando was born in Tamil Nadu and has a specialized knowledge of Indian church history. He is the principal of Vidyajyoti College of Theology in Delhi. The co-author, George Gispert-Sauch was born in Spain, but has been a resident of India since 1949. His special area of interest is the mutual contact and the relations between classical Indian and Christian theological traditions.

The authors put great stress on establishing the historicity of Jesus as a human being as compared to a god-figure like what he is portrayed as in the gospels. This is logically a sound tactic, as they rightfully presume that if Jesus is presented simply as god, the accommodative Hindu theology might incorporate him into their pantheon. Only if the historical existence of Christ is proven beyond doubt, they could claim a radical freshness to their ideas. However, this attempt seems to have failed, since the authors are not able to come up with anything better than gospels as evidence. This does not mean that Jesus didn’t exist, but only that his physical life is not substantiated conclusively. As a justification for this exercise, it is stated that the relationship of the Christians to God can’t be reduced to that between a bhakt and divinity, since the Christian believer is in contact with the historical reality of Jesus as a human being. The human life (body and blood) and his role in history are at the core of the Christian experience. The authors display selective rationalism. When a typical Bible story of the feeding of thousands or walking on water is inconvenient to explain away to an audience of believers of other religions, they claim these epistles as symbolic in nature, but in other places, find no compunction in putting up illogical notions like Jesus’ historical existence. There is as much historical authenticity of Jesus from gospel references as there is for Rama from references in the Ramayana.

Christianity rejects casteism – at least, that is their official creed. Authors claim that it also denounces slavery. However, we know for sure that slavery was a flourishing concern in all Christian societies till the middle of the nineteenth century. This heinous custom could be wiped out only when the hold of religion on human societies was considerably weakened on account of intellectual enlightenment. Coming back to casteism, the book includes shocking accounts of how the missionaries – some of them anyway – discriminated against the lower castes. Several tricks of missionaries to obtain conversion can be seen in the book. Roberto de Nobili, a Portuguese proselytizer, came to Madurai in 1606. He built a mud house in which no European furniture was allowed. He removed his black priestly attire, wore saffron robes of a sanyasi and became vegetarian. Masquerading as a Hindu holy man, he chose his prey among the Brahmins of Madurai. He could convert some of the upper castes in many areas of Tamil Nadu. These elite were assigned separate places in the church and separate doors for entry and exit when the majority of the congregation was converts from lower castes. Moreover, the lower castes received communion only after the Brahmins were served. Criticism naturally ensued against such practice, but Pope Gregory XV decided in de Nobili’s favour in 1623. Different missionaries were assigned to work with different castes. Those working among upper castes were called Pandarasamis and Upadesiyars while those trying their luck with lower castes were known as Pandarams. Converted Brahmins continued to wear the sacred thread and hair tuft (kudumi). Such naked discrimination still exists in the church as out of the hundreds of bishops in India, only a handful belongs to Dalits. This is a serious bone of contention for the rising Dalit movement.

The book includes accounts of treatment early Christians received from Muslim kings in India. Akbar was broadminded in religious affairs and he instituted the Ibadat Khana in Fatehpur Sikri, which was a meeting place of scholars of all religions. He requested the governor of Goa to send two missionaries to Agra to teach him the religion. Unaccustomed to anything like tolerance, especially in religion, the catholic bishop in Goa rejoiced at the thought of coming so near to the conversion of the emperor, which in time would lead to the baptism of the whole country. Akbar was likened to be an Indian Constantine. However, the priests’ hopes were dashed in a short while after reaching Agra, as the emperor had no plans of conversion at all. The disappointed fathers returned gloomily back to Goa. However, Christian imagery soon acquired the pride of place in Mughal court painting. This was so, as Akbar found it expedient to propagate the image of Jesus with his disciples which helped to evoke the relationship between the emperor and his nobles in the minds of aristocrats. The magnanimity of Akbar was in sharp contrast with the bigotry of Tipu Sultan, who ruled Mysore. The book tells the accounts of Mangalore Christians who came under the rule of Tipu in 1782. Hyder Ali, his father, practiced a liberal religious policy and he did not interfere with the practices of Hindus and Muslims. But Tipu was not happy with the tolerance. He bodily uprooted the Christian community to Srirangapatnam. On arriving there, the women were put into harems and the men forcefully circumcised to convert them to Islam.

The authors passionately argue the case for conversion, or, their presumed right to convert anybody in the country. They claim that Dalits and tribals chose change of religion as the road to a fuller human life. But this claim is in contradiction to the tales of discrimination meted out to Dalits described in the other pages. The common allegation against evangelization in India is that it is helped by foreign money pouring in to lure the poor with the offer of economic benefits. The authors don’t outright deny this accusation, but states that though Jesus asked his disciples to preach in poverty, many missionaries are not keeping in line with this divine command. They have inexhaustible resources at their command and spend lavishly on propaganda (page 196). Conversion is dubbed harvest of souls in ecumenical terminology and more money is distributed to missionaries depending on the number of people they are able to convert. Even though spiritual conviction is touted as an essential prerequisite to a change of faith, authors admit that upward mobility in the social and economic spheres is a factor influencing such decisions. Their rankling point of contention with the modern Indian state is the denial of the benefits of reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to Dalits who had converted to Christianity.

An interesting fact mentioned in the book is that Buddha is a canonized saint in Catholic theology and explains the route by which this happened. The canonization was done in 1584, based on the story of Barlaam and Josaphat. In reality, this story is based on the Buddhist text Lalitavistara that mentions a Bodhisatva. When this story travelled to Europe through Persia and Greece, the word bodhisat was successively transformed into bodhisaf, yudasaf and finally josaphat. However, this incongruity is noticed by the church and he may probably be dropped from the list of saints.

Even though this is a book of Christian propaganda, the chronology is mentioned in C.E, rather than sticking on to the old A.D. Continuing with the occasional rational spirit, they acknowledge that the creation stories as mythical and attest the flood myth to the literature of Babylon and linked to matsya avatar myth. Taking the tempo a notch tighter, it is also admitted that the Bible was not dictated by god. It has human authors and has the imperfections of human writings. Rare errors of fact or understanding have crept in, in its composition (page 15). The book is also noted for extensive comparison of Christian concepts with Hindu and Buddhist analogs. Psalms are likened to Theragatha of Buddhism and prostration of Job with that of Arjuna at viswaroopadarshanam. Some of the similarities mentioned are not apt, however. When the authors employ Hindu philosophical ideas like sookshma shareera to explain away the resurrection of Christ, it is just a small step away from declaring Jesus as another incarnation of Vishnu.

The book is neatly written in a style appealing to all classes of readers. The collaborative spirit of the authors has blended ideas smoothly into the main argument. A good section on references and bibliography is included, along with a nice index. A few photographic plates are added for visual appeal. A factual error needs to be pointed out so that future editions may correct it. While describing the life of Blessed Joseph Vaz (1651 – 1711), who was a missionary, the authors assert that in the sixty years of his life, he revived the Catholic faith among Christians in Karnataka who were reeling under the persecution of Tipu Sultan (page 143). This is an error, as the life of the saint is actually seven decades before the reign of Tipu.

The book brings into focus the ways in which Christianity is similar to the ethos of Indian tradition, rather than the ways in which it differs from it. The concept of Original Sin is mentioned only once, in a casual way. The reason why a person is born as a sinner is never explained. On the other hand, the spread of Christianity in four waves in the country – during the times of St. Thomas, the Portuguese evangelism, Protestant missionaries and the conversion of Dalits and Tribals – is neatly catalogued and elaborated.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star