The Changing Relationship Between Mission and Colonialism in India: Protestan Mission

INTRODUCTION.

 

Modern expression of the concept of colonialism is closely associated with the global expansion of Western Christian nations. Since the dawn of the modern era colonialism and mission got along with each other and they became so interdependent that if one said ‘mission’, one in a sense also said ‘colonialism’. However, in course of time, as the understanding and worldview of the people changed so was the relationship between colonialism and mission. This paper attempts to present this changing relationship of Colonialism and Mission in a short and precise manner. Due to unavoidable constraints the focal area will be limited to India only and in that too special reference will be given to the relationship between Colonialism and Protestant Missions.

 

 

 

In this paper we will firstly have a parting glimpse of the relationship between colonialism and mission. Secondly, we will have a brief view of the context of India during the 18^th century, and how different colonial powers and Protestant missions are related; then lastly, we will make an evaluation of the impact of Protestant Mission under colonialism in India.

 

 

 

1. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COLONIALISM AND MISSION – An Overview.

 

As has been noted, right from the very beginning the spread of the Gospel played a decisive role in Western expansionism. It is a historical fact that, despite different starting positions and goals, mission was aligned with colonialism.[1] The reason behind this was that the western colonialists were Christian, whose teaching commissioned each believer to spread the Gospel and convert people of other faiths into Christianity. Thus, the right to have colonies carried with it the duty to Christianize the colonized.  It is noteworthy that the very origin of the term ‘mission’ presupposes the ambience of the West’s colonization of overseas territories and its subjugation of their inhabitants. David J. Bosch rightly said that, “Modern mission originated in the context of modern Western’s colonialism.”[2]

 

 

 

During the 15^th to the 17^th century both the Roman Catholic and Protestants were, though in different ways, still dedicated to the theocratic ideal of the unity of church and state. No Catholic or Protestant ruler of the period could imagine that, in acquiring overseas possessions, he/she was advancing only his/her political hegemony: it was taken for granted that the conquered nations would also have to submit to the western ruler’s religion. The ruler missionized as he/she colonized. So, during those periods the colonialists were charged not only to subdue the indigenous population, but also to evangelize them.[3]

 

However, by the dawn of the 17^th century there had been a notable shift. The theocratic ideal was gradually pushed back. When the Danes founded their first colony in Tranquebar, their intentions were primarily mercantile. The same applied to the Dutch and the British. In fact, these trading companies, in the early stages, usually refused to allow any missionaries in the territories under their jurisdiction since they saw them as a threat to their commercial interests. In this way, the colonial expansion of the western Protestant nations was thoroughly secular. Surprisingly enough, in the 19^th century colonial expansion once again intimately linked with mission. At times the authorities enthusiastically welcomed missionaries into their territories. From the point of view of the colonial government the missionaries were indeed ideal allies. They lived among the local people, knew their languages, and understood their customs. They were better equipped than the government employees themselves to persuade unwilling natives to submit to the pax Britannica!

 

 

 

Moreover, the missionaries are best agents to influence the locals of western culture, politics and economic principles. Thus, whether they liked it or not, the missionaries became vanguard and rearguard for the colonial powers and pioneers of western imperialistic expansion. Thus, there was a growing consciousness among colonial officials of the value and significance of mission work for the empire. This consciousness is clearly expressed when German Chancellor, von Caprivi publicly stated that “We should begin by establishing a few stations in the interior, from which both the merchant and the missionary can operate; gun and Bible should go hand in hand.”[4]

 

 

 

On the part of the mission, missionaries also sometimes request the government of their home country to extend its protectorate to areas where they were working. So, missionaries tended to welcome the advent of colonial rule since they believed that it would be to the advantage of the natives. Thus, in this way till the 19^th century most western Christians were convinced that ‘mission and colonialism belong together’.[5]

 

 

 

2. COLONIALISM AND PROTESTANT MISSIONS – A Historical Development.

 

Protestant Churches were engaged in their own mission of maintaining and consolidating their territorial Christianity, and occasionally attempting to reach the Jews or Turks with the gospel of Jesus Christ.[6] Europe appeared to be Christian only on the surface, popular religiosity was mostly non-Christian. Only very few individuals thought about global Protestant mission.  The emergence of Pietism brought about the European cross-cultural mission activity in the 18^th century.

 

 

 

2.1. The Context of India in the 18^th Century.

 

The context of 18^th century India was complex. After Aurangzeb, the mughal emperor died in 1707 and his viceroys; the Nizams of Hyderabad and the Nawabs of Arcot came into power.[7] However, these insignificant rulers could not really possessed full sovereignty and there were constant revolts broke out which forces them to seek security and help from the East India Companies. Nawabs of Arcot requested the soldiers of the English East India Company to help those collect revenues and to suppress any revolt.

 

 

 

The officials of the Company were mostly colonizers, traders and soldiers who are uneducated, who came to India in order to become rich and return to England with their riches. They were greedy and charged large sums of money for the service. When the Nawabs were unable to pay cash, they had to give lands to the East India Company. Ultimately it was the ordinary people who suffered greatly at the hands of the cruel revenue officers of the Nawabs of Arcot, the East India Company, the local princes and the feudal lords. The East India Company in Madras and the French East India Company in Pondicherry were engaged in prolonged wars. Finally, East India Company won and established its power in 1757 at the famous battle of Plassey in South India.[8] In this situation, the Protestant church began to take its shape.

 

 

 

2.2. Mission Under the Dutch.

 

Beginning from 1596, the Dutch undertook several voyages with the intention of getting direct access to the spice market in South East Asia and they formed the Dutch East India Company in 1602. They settled at Pulicat (1609), Sadras (1647) and Negapatam (1660).[9] They also captured Cochin from the Portuguese in 1663.[10] Their main interest and focus was trade and they were not interested in mission. The Dutch had, prior to their ventures, fought a religious battle to free themselves from the Roman Catholic Church, and therefore, church life was distinctly protestant in character. The Company considered it essential to suppress Catholicism in the areas that it controlled. Therefore, Catholics from Europe were not allowed into the VOC controlled areas, and the Catholic population in some of the former Portuguese territories was made Protestant.[11] They also converted the Church built by the Portuguese into Protestant Churches at Cochin fort, Nagapattinam and Tuticorin.[12] The salaries of the church ministers and all expenses related to church activities were paid by the VOC and the Company demanded strict obedience from all the church servants Apart from these they had never took any further to establish Protestant Mission in their territories.[13]

 

Though there was no such direct protestant mission activities under the Dutch, they did rather better than the other two. With their keen sense of the advantage of having a large Christian population devoted to their European masters, they combine the preaching of the Gospel with the lure of political advantage in such a way as to win the hearts, or at least the calculating minds, of some among their subjects.[14]

 

 

 

2.3. Mission Under the Danish.

 

The Danish East India Company had two settlements in India; Tranquebar (1620) and Serampore (1676). [15] When Ove Gedde, the Danish envoy met Ragunatha Nayak of Tanjore in 1619, they signed a trade treaty and agreed that the Danes in Tranquebar should have full freedom to practice their Lutheran belief. Their trade interest did not allow them to have missionaries in the colonies. However, King Frederick IV was convinced to send missionaries to Tranquebar. [16]

 

 

Here Franz Julius Luetkens, a court chaplain of the Royal Court of Denmark was instrumental in convincing the King. After much difficulty, the Danish Bishop Bornemann ordained two missionaries; Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plutschau and reached Tranquebar in 1706.[17] Missionaries were sent to Tranquebar without the knowledge of the Board of Directors of the Danish East India Company in Copenhagen.

 

 

 

Though they came to Tranquebar with the royal missionaries they were not even allowed to get out of the ship and come over to the shore at first.  However, they managed to start their mission with great difficulties after few months. Ziegenbalg founded Jerusalem, the first Lutheran church that was meant for Indians in 1707 and by 1718, New Jerusalem a second Lutheran church, more spacious was dedicated. Ziegenbalg and Plutschau contributed a lot in printing Christian literature, among them were the Tamil New Testament and the theology of J.A. Freylinghausen. In 1716 they founded a seminary.[18] Since then, the Christians of the Tranquebar mission moved to different parts of India, though they were sent and supplied money to aid the evangelization of the tiny principality of Tranquebar. When the missionaries went beyond the narrow Danish limits, they had to look to the Anglican SPCK for their support.[19]

 

 

 

Christian Frederick Schwartz, German Lutheran missionary arrived at Tranquebar in 1750. However, he worked mainly in Chennai which was under the British East India Company. He built a good relationship with the British East India Company officials. During this time the SPCK supported the German Lutheran Missionaries in Chennai and Schwartz was also adopted as its missionary in 1767.[20] Apart from his mission the British East India Company made use of his services in politics. He went to Mysore King, Hyder Ali for peace mission in 1779 when the King joined hand with the French planning for a war against the British. He even took administration at Thanjavur when the King’s administration was failed.[21] Such relationship with the British Company helped him in his missionary activities.

 

 

 

Schwartz’s contribution in politics impressed the Danish company officials and they became supporters of missionaries. Among those officials Colonel Bea was prominent and worth mentioning. When Colonel Bea went to Serampore as its Governor, he came forward to give shelter and protection to the British Baptist missionaries, viz. Joshua Marshman and William Ward and their group in 1799 that are refused to give permission to land in Calcutta by British East India Company. Likewise Schwartz’s involvement in politics had paved ways for missionaries under the Danish as well as the British in South India. Throughout the eighteenth century, 54 Tranquebar missionaries, about 15 ordained Indian pastors, many Indian catechists and numerous women and men established the protestant church in India.[22]

 

The Danish wars with neighboring nations and the change of European worldviews, theTraquebar Mission began to decline in South India. However, Calcutta with the British presence was showing new life and became an important city.

 

 

 

2.4. Mission Under the British.

 

The British East India Company, which was responsible for colonizing India, was established in India in the beginning of the 17^th century. It was a company incorporated under a charter granted by the British Parliament. The British East India Company had only a few trading centers in India, but as time went on; it extended its territories through trade pacts, peace treaties and annexation of areas. As a result of the battle of Plassey (1757), the Company established its rule, having Calcutta as its headquarters. By the end of 18^th Century British rule was firmly established in the three Presidencies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay. The Company, a commercial organization had become a colonial government.

 

 

 

The company was mainly interested in trade and profits. Therefore, they did not welcome any mission work under their jurisdiction thinking that they would be a threat to their commercial interest. However, a new zeal for mission aroused among the Court of Directors and they made a statement in 1659 that the company should allow missionaries to embark on their ships and Christianity should be spread among the people of India. But when the Company began emerge as a political power in India by the end of the 18^th Century, it became cautious regarding religion. It was anxious to strengthen its political and economic hold on India and did not give much importance to the spread of the Gospel.[23]

 

 

 

As we noted before many German Lutheran missionaries worked under the British East India Company. Benjamin Schultz became the founder of the Lutheran Church in the city of Madras in 1726. John Zecharias Kiernander became the founder of the Lutheran church in Calcutta in 1758.[24] The First British Baptist missionary, William Carey arrived Calcutta in 1793. The British in Calcutta, however, did not recognized Carey because he belonged to dissenter group of Christians (Baptists) who criticized the Anglican Church in Great Britain. The Anglican leaders in Calcutta looked instead for their own missionaries from the SPCK. In 1797, William Tobias Ringeltaube, a German Lutheran was sent by the SPCK to Calcutta. However, his stay in Calcutta was short.[25]

 

 

 

Since the Company remained hostile and resisted free entry into British territories, Carey’s group had difficulties until he was allowed to settle in the Danish station at Serampore. He could not cross the Hugli to work in Calcutta until he was hired to teach oriental languages at Fort William College. Carey and his colleagues were great pioneers in several fields of knowledge and had a good contribution in abolition of Sati and other social evils. [26] Certainly this was an important factor in the decision of the East India Company in 1813 when company’s charters were renewed and finally in 1833, the Board of Directors changed the policy of the company and, under pressure from Evangelicals in England the missionaries began to arrive freely in India. [27] Ever since, the Company’s governments in India welcomed the arrival of increasing numbers of missionary teachers, physicians and nurses. As missionary schools, colleges and hospitals proliferated and spread out across the country in the late nineteenth century, multiplying into many hundreds – staffed by dedicated professionals and volunteers of different missionary societies from all over the world. Some Hindus had grounds for feeling that, as Marx put it; foreign missionary activity in India was the ‘handmaiden of imperialism.’[28]

 

 

 

 

3. IMPACTS.

 

The Christian missionaries and the colonizers brought many changes in the Indian Society. They have positive influence as well as negative influence. We will discuss some of those impacts in a nutshell. Many educated youth became aware about Hindu traditionalism, even among the Hindus who cherished new ethical and social concerns out of religious motivation in it, and this is an indirect result of Christian mission.[29] Practices like female infanticide, Sati were abolished to a great extent and this can be one of the indirect impacts of Christianity in the Indian Society.

 

 

The Education pattern of India was largely enriched; schools, colleges and universities were established. It was the Christian missionaries who brought the modern system of education to India and made it available for all people irrespective of caste, colour, creed or status.[30]

 

 

Another significant impact of Christian mission in India was hostility of the western influence. In 1857, some prominent Nadar Christians of Tirunelveli protested against western influence over the Indian Christian Church and founded the Nattu Sabai (new church); an indigenous/national assembly. They believed that their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord did not repudiate their association with their non-Christian cultural environment.[31] The idea of indigenization and the protest against western influence became the national issue and many prominent thinkers came forward to advocate. Nehemiah Goreh, Brahmabandhab Upadhyaya, Vengal Chakarrai, etc., are among the prominent Indian Christian thinkers who advocated the idea of indigenous church and theology.

 

 

Many protest that the western Christianity is responsible for the 1857 Revolt. The renaissance brought in by English education, railways and postal system, had negative effects too. There was widespread discontent among the Indian princely class who were much affected by the British government’s policy of extending its territories. Many of the areas ruled by Indian kings/princes, both big and small, were brought under its control on one pretext or the other and British government’s representatives called Residents were appointed. Naturally it was resented and led to hatred.[32]

 

 

CONCLUSION.

 

From all these discussions it is obvious that mission and colonialism go very close to each other in spite of certain misunderstandings between them. Colonialism is thus, an instrument to pave the way for mission activities and at the same time mission activities were also helping agency to establish power. It is difficult to state with confidence whether the contribution of colonialism in the mission work as a boon or bane. Because, on the one hand, Colonialism enhanced the work of mission and provided material resources and moral support; on the other hand, because of its co-operation with colonial governments Christian mission received many accusations and instilled negative attitude towards Christian mission by many indigenous people. However, we cannot change what had happened in the past; what we can do now, therefore, is to learn from the previous mistakes and make use of it for our future undertakings.