Dyron Daughrity, PhD candidate, University of Calgary, Canada.
E-mail:
daughrity@shaw.ca
Abstract
A History of Protestant Missions in South India’s Tinnevelly Diocese
Protestant missions entered South India on July 9, 1706, with the
arrival of two German Lutherans sent from the King of Denmark. Within a decade,
there were printing presses, the Christian scriptures had been translated into
the native languages, schools and seminaries had been established, and the
possibilities appeared endless for the growth of Christianity on the Indian
subcontinent.
With the tremendous labours of the Indians, in particular a widow named Clorinda,
Christianity began to flourish in a region known then as Tinnevelly. In 1796 a
significant event occurred when a member of the Nadar caste was baptized. This
unleashed a people seemingly perfectly suited for mission-work. Their robust way
of life was such that once converted, they made prodigious workers on behalf of
their newfound faith. The Nadars of Tinnevelly quickly became India’s foremost
Christian community. Their presence in south India is substantial and continues
to grow.
South Indian religion has not received the academic attention that has been
invested in north and central India. This, however, is beginning to change. The
story of the Nadars of south India working with Protestant missionaries from the
1700's to the present is fascinating—and is an oft-neglected story that deserves
to be told.