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Christianity in India
Communities Bengali Christians Bettiah Christians Bombay East Indians Marathi Christians Meitei Christians Mizo Christians Naga Christians Punjabi Christians Saint Thomas Christians Tamil Christians Telugu Christians
People Saint Thomas the Apostle Saint Alphonsa Saint Francis Xavier Saint Gonsalo Garcia Saint Euphrasia Eluvathingal Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara Saint Mother Teresa Bl.Devasahayam Pillai Mar Sabor and Mar Proth Mar Baselios Eldho Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar Thomas of Cana Ignatius Elias III Mar Gregorios of Parumala Mar Varghese Payyappilly Palakkappilly Mar Joseph C. Panjikaran Mathews Mar Athanasius Metropolitan Mar Geevarghese Dionysius Mar Geevarghese Ivanios Abraham Malpan Giuseppe Maria Bernini Sadhu Sundar Singh Palackal Thoma Malpan Mar Augustine Kandathil William Carey
Denominations Saint Thomas Christian denominations Catholic Syro-Malabar Catholic, Syro-Malankara Catholic, Latin Catholic Oriental Orthodox Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Independent Oriential Orthodox Malabar Independent Syrian Church Church of the East Chaldean Syrian Oriental Protestant Christian Mar Thoma Syrian, St. Thomas Evangelical Protestant denominations Andhra Evangelical Lutheran, Assemblies Jehovah Shammah, Christian Revival Church, Church of North India, Church of South India, Garo Baptist, Indian Brethren, Indian Pentecostal Church of God, Church of God (Full Gospel), North Bank Baptist Christian, Northern Evangelical Lutheran, Methodist Church, Presbyterian, The Pentecostal Mission, Seventh-day Adventist, United Evangelical Lutheran
Organisations National Council of Churches in India All India Conference of Indian Christians All India Catholic Union
v t e

Christianity is India's third-largest religion, with approximately 24 million followers, constituting 2.4% of India's population.

Christians are found all across India and in all walks of life, with major populations in parts of South India, the Konkan Coast and the North-East. The Christian Church runs thousands of educational institutions and hospitals. The contribution of the Church in fields such as social service, healthcare, education have played a vital role in the development of the nation. Most Christians in India are Catholic, with most belonging to the Latin rite. The Eastern rites include the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, which are prominent in Kerala. Other churches include the Church of South India Church (CSI), the Church of North India (CNI) and other evangelical groups.

Christianity arrived in India with the coming of Thomas the Apostle during the 1st century. The second spurt in the growth of Christianity came during the colonization of India which started after the discovery of the sea route to India by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498.

Early Christianity in India

According to Indian Christian traditions, Saint Thomas is credited with introduction of Christianity in India in 52 AD. Saint Thomas arrived in Kodungallur, Kerala and established the Seven Churches and evangelized in present day Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is believed that he attained martyrdom at St. Thomas Mount in Chennai and buried on the site of San Thome Cathedral.

According to some historians, India had a flourishing trade with Central Asia, Mediterranean, and Middle East, both along mountain passes in the north and sea routes along the western and southern coast, well before the start of Christian era. Hence, it is likely that Christian merchants settled in Indian cities along trading routes.

According to the 3rd century text Acts of Thomas, originally written in Syriac, when the apostles were in Jerusalem and divided the world among them, it was decided that Saint Thomas would go to India. Saint Thomas then arrived in North West India, and baptized King Gondophares and his brother, thereby heralding the beginning of Christianity in India. However, historians generally describe Acts of Thomas as a romantic work, rather than historical account, whose characters were influenced by Indo-Parthian Kingdom that existed in north-western India. During this time, Buddhism which was recently introduced to Northwestern India was making great strides and cosmopolitan cities such as Taxila, meeting points of Greek, Bactrian, Scythians, and Indian discourse, were centers of Buddhist learning.

The Chronicle of Seert describes an evangelical mission to India by bishop David of Basra around the year 300; this metropolitan reportedly made many conversions, and it has been speculated that his mission took in areas of southern India. According to Travancore Manual, Thomas of Cana, a Mesopotamian merchant and missionary, introduced Christianity to India in 345 AD. He brought 400 Christians from Baghdad, Nineveh, and Jerusalem to Kodungallur. He and his companion Bishop Joseph of Edessa sought refuge from King Cheraman Perumal from persecution of Christians by the Persian king Shapur II. The colony of Syrian Christians, thus established at Kodungallur, became the first recorded Christian community in South India.. A number of historians conclude that Thomas of Cana was confused with the 1st century apostle Thomas by India's Syrian Christians sometime after his death and became their Apostle Thomas in India.

There are also two sets of distinct accounts of Jesus travelling through India. According to the first set of accounts, Jesus traveled and studied in India between the ages of twelve and thirty. According the second set of accounts, Jesus did not die on the cross, but after his apparent death and resurrection he journeyed to Kashmir to teach the gospel, and then remained there for the rest of his life. The origin of the first set of accounts is attributed to Russian author Nicolas Notovitch who published the book La vie Inconnue du Jesus Christ (The Unknown life of Jesus Christ) in 1894.

The origin of the second set of accounts is attributed to Kashmiri author Mirza Gulam Ahmed who published the book Masih Hindustan Mein (Jesus in India) in 1899. These two accounts are generally not presented in combination. While travel between Middle-East and India was common during those times, these accounts are not given serious thought and treated as speculation since there is no historical account, either in early Christian writings or Indian historical accounts, to either confirm of refute Jesus traveling to India.

Although, the exact origins of Christianity in India remain unclear, it is generally agreed that Christianity in India is almost as old as Christianity itself and spread in India even before it spread in many, predominantly Christian, nations of Europe.

Medieval Period

The Syrian Malabar Nasrani community was further strengthened by various Persian immigrant settlers. The community was Christian-Jewish Knanaya colonies of third century, Manichaeanism followers and the Babylonian Christians settlers of 4th Century, the 7th Century Syrian settlement of Mar Sabor Easo and Proth, and the immigrant Persian Christians from successive centuries. The Kerala Syrian Church was in communion with Syrian Church and was believed to be under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians and the Patriarch of Babylonian till the Portuguese arrival in the late 15th century. Bishops came from Syria. They seem to have maintained their identity for a long time in the first few centuries and later amalgamated into one patronized community known differently as Nasrani, Malankara Christians, Syrian Christians.

The archaeological excavations at Pattanam show that the ancient port town of Muziris was in modern Kerala. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea calls it of “leading importance” describing it: Muziris, of the same kingdom, abounds in ships sent there with cargoes from Arabia,it is located on a river, distant from Tyndis by river and sea five hundred stadia, and up the river from the shore twenty stadia.

The South Indian epic of Manimekalai (written between 2nd and 3rd century CE) mentions the Nasrani people by the name Essanis referring to one of the early Christian-Jewish sect called the Nasranis. The embassy of Alfred in 833 CE described the Nestorian Syrian Christians as being prosperous and enjoying high status in the Malabar coast. Marco Polo also mentioned the Nasranis and their ancient church in the Malabar coast in his writings Il Milione.

Early Modern Period

In the early modern periods, the French missionaries were the first Europeans to touch Indian shores. The French missionary Jordanus Catalani arrived in Surat in 1320. After his ministry in Gujarat he reached Quilon in 1323. He not only revived Christianity but also brought thousands to the Christian fold. The first Bishop of Quilon was received with great jubilation by the faithful of Quilon. He brought a message of good wishes from the Holy Father to the local rulers. As the first bishop in India , he was also entrusted with the spiritual nourishment of the Christian community in Calicut , Mangalore, Thane and Broach (north of Thane).

Portuguese missionaries had reached the Malabar Coast in the late 15th century, made contact with the St Thomas Christians in Kerala and sought to introduce the Catholicism among them. Since the priests for St Thomas Christians were served by the Eastern Christian Churches, they were following Eastern Christian practices at that time. Throughout this period, foreign missionaries also made many new converts to Christianity. This led to the formation of the Latin Catholics in Kerala. Latin Catholics in Kerala today comprises the St Thomas Christians who were forced to accept Latin Rite, found mostly in central Kerala, and the Christians converted by Portuguese influence and other missionary work, found mainly in the southern parts of Kerala.

With the Papal bull Romanus Pontifex the patronage for the propagation of the Christian faith in Asia was given to the Portuguese. The Portuguese colonial government in Goa supported the mission in India with incentives for baptized Christians. They offered rice donations for the poor, good positions in the Portuguese colonies for the middle class and military support for local rulers.Early Roman Catholic missionaries, particularly the Portuguese, led by the Jesuit St Francis Xavier (1506-52), expanded from their bases on the west coast making many converts. Portuguese missionaries wanted to convert the population of Goa. As a result of Portuguese incentives many converted Indians were opportunistic Rice Christians, who even practiced their old religion. This was seen as a threat to the immaculateness of the Christian belief. St. Francis Xavier, in a 1545 letter to John III of Portugal, requested an Inquisition be installed in Goa. However, the Inquisition, one of the most violent events in History of Goa targeting Hindus, Jews, and many newly converted Christians, was installed eight years after Francis Xavier's death. Modern-day Goa has a substantial Roman Catholic population; around 30% of the population is Roman Catholic. The undecayed body of Saint Francis Xavier is still on public view in a glass coffin at the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa.

Mangalore is one more significant region on the west coast which has a huge population of Christianity. In 1321, the French Dominican friar Jordanus Catalani of Severac (in south-western France) landed in a place called Bhatkal near Mangalore and established a missionary station there. Many locals were converted to Christianity by Jordanus. . However like the other tracts in India, the Portuguese were unable to establish their presence in Mangalore due to the Vijayanagara ruler Krishnadevraya and the Bednore Queen of Mangalore Abbakka Rani of Ullal. Mangalorean Catholics were basically the descendants of Goan Catholics who fled Goa during the Portuguese-Maratha Wars and the Goa Inquisition. The St. Aloysius Chapel was later built in Mangalore. This chapel very closely resembles the world-famous Sistine Chapel in Rome.

In Bombay, the high-class Hindus were ceremoniously converted to Christianity by the Portuguese in the 16th century. A large number of the converts were descendants of the Christian Community founded by Apostle St. Barthmolew. They were even referred to as the Portuguese Christians by the Portuguese. From the early days of the East India Company, there were no other Indian Christians in the North Konkan. With the defeat of the Portuguese at the hands of the Marathas and later on the advent of the British, there came a lot of changes. With gradual development, the North Konkan region received the Goan Catholic emigrants from Goa. On the occasion of The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, the Christians of North Konkan, who were known as Portuguese Christians discarded that name and adopted the designation East Indians.

Beginning in the eighteenth century, Protestant missionaries began working throughout India, leading to the growth of different Christian communities. In 1793, William Carey, an English Baptist Minister came to India as a Missionary.

He worked in Serampore, Calcutta, and other places as a missionary. He started the Serampore College. He translated the Bible into Bengali. He worked until his death in 1834. Anthony Norris Groves, Plymouth Brethren missionary came to India in 1833. He worked in the Godavari delta area. He worked in India until his death in 1852. Mormon missionaries, including Hugh Findlay, arrived in Bombay and Pune in the early 1850s, but did not meet with success.

Ahmednagar district in Maharastra has more Protestant Christians than Catholics. They are also called as Marathi Christians. Missionaries began to evangelise the local people in 1800 CE. The Christian population of Ahmednagar is only 4%. Haregaon a small village in Shrirampur taluka of Ahmednagar district is majority Catholic. Haregaon receives thousands of devotees on the occasion of the annual Feast of the 'Matmauli' 'The Blessed virgin Mary' on 7 and 8 September.

Several American Baptist missionaries went to Northeastern parts of India during this period. It was in 1876 that Dr. E. W. Clark first went to live in a Naga village, four years after his Assamese helper, Godhula, baptized the first Naga converts. Rev. and Mrs. A.F. Merrill went to India in 1928. Rev. and Mrs. M.J. Chance spent most of the years between 1950-1956 at Golaghat in evangelistic work. They worked with Naga and Garo tribes. Even today the heaviest concentrations of Christians in India continue to be in the Northeast.

Demographics

The total number of Christians in India as per Census in 2001 are 24,080,016 or 2.34% of the population.

Majority of Indian Christians are Roman Catholics accounting for a total of 17.3 million members, including 408,725 members of the Syro-Malankara Church and 3,674,115 of the Syro-Malabar Church. In January 1993 the Syro-Malabar Church and in February 2005 Syro-Malankara Church were raised to the status of major archiepiscopal churches by Pope John Paul II. The Syro-Malabar Church is the second largest among 22 Eastern Catholic Churches who accept the Pope as the "visible head of the whole church". The states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu in South India and Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya in North-East India account for 60% of India's total Christian population.

Most Protestant denominations are represented in India, as a result of missionary activities throughout the country. The largest Protestant denomination in the country is the Church of South India, since 1947 a union of Presbyterian, Reformed, Congregational, Methodist, and Anglican congregations with approximately 3.8 million members. A similar Church of North India had 1.25 million members. (These churches are in full communion with the Anglican Communion.) The Mar Thoma Church has 700,000 members, and derives from the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, which numbers 1.2 million and is in communion with the Anglicans, but not a full member. In 1961, the evangelical wing of the church came out of Mar Thoma Church and formed the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India which has 10,000 members . Syrian Orthodox Church of Malabar rites 1,200,000 members, respectively. There were about 1,267,786 million Lutherans, 648,000 Methodists, and 2,392,694 Baptists in India . Pentecostalism, another denomination of Protestantism, is also a rapidly growing religion in India. It is spreading greatly in northern India and the southwest area, such as Kerala. The major Pentecostal churches in India are the Assemblies of God, The Pentecostal Mission (TPM — founded in 1923.), India Pentecostal Church of God (IPC) with 900,000 members. New Apostolic Church founded in 1969, with total adherents of 1,448,209. The New Life Fellowship (founded in 1968) now has approximately 480,000 adherents, and the Manna Full Gospel churches and ministries (founded in 1968 with connections to Portugal) has 275,000. Evangelical Church of India now has over 680 churches with a 250,000 community. Another prominent group is the Brethrens. They are known in different names Plymouth Brethren, Indian Brethren, Kerala brethren. Presbyterian Church of India has 823,456 members.

From the late nineteenth century, the fastest growing Christian communities have been located in the northeast, among the Khasis, Mizos, and the Nagas. Today Christians are most prevalent in the northeast, and in the southwestern states of Kerala and Goa. Indian Christians have contributed significantly to and are well represented in various spheres of national life. They are currently chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya; others provinces also used to have them as chief ministers including Kerala, Manipur, Goa, and Chattisgarh. In the election committee of the ruling Indian National Congress party, they take four out of twenty places.

Conflicts

Hindu-Christian conflict

Historically, Hindus and Christians have lived in relative peace since the arrival of Christianity in India from the early part of the first millennium. In areas like Kerala, land to build churches had been donated by the then Hindu kings and Hindu landlords only. The arrival of European colonialists brought about large scale missionary activity in South India and North-East India. Many indigenous cultures were converted to Christianity. Sometimes they were voluntary, and other times they were coerced. The Goan Inquisition is pointed out as a blot in Christianity's India history.

Then Hindus who converted to Christianity typically retained their social customs, including caste practices; Dalit Christians make up 70% of India's Christian population. Aggressive proselytizing by Christian missionaries under British rule was a cause of resentment among Hindus and Muslims in the 19th century, who felt that their cultures were being attacked. This was one of the several causes of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British Raj. The role of the Anglican padres and chaplains in that conflict is recounted in William Dalrymple's The Last Mughal Also, many Christian ideals prompted reform movements within the Hindu society in the 19th century, the most notable being the Brahmo Samaj, which was influenced by British Christian Unitarianism.. Some Indian Christians have retained Hindu customs and practices, and have combined Hindu customs with Christianity to achieve a unique brand of Indian Christianity.

In more contemporary periods, Hindu-Christian amity is sometimes challenged by partisan politics and extremism from both communities. Christian missionary activity among lower-caste Hindus has created groups of Crypto-Christians, particularly among Dalits. As a response to allegedly aggressive missionary activity four Indian states (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu (later repealed) mainly) have passed laws restricting or prohibiting religious conversion.

The Government of the state of Tripura has claimed that it has evidence that the Baptist Church of Tripura has been supporting the terrorist group National Liberation Front of Tripura. The NLFT is a separatist group that has been accused of forcing tribals to become Christians and has banned Hindu festivals.

Muslim-Christian conflict

In spite of the fact that there have been relatively fewer conflicts between Muslims and Christians in India in comparison to those between Muslims and Hindus, or Muslims and Sikhs, the relationship between Muslims and Christians have also been occasionally turbulent. With the advent of European colonialism in India throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, Christians were systematically persecuted in a few Muslim ruled kingdoms in India.

Perhaps the most infamous acts of anti-Christian persecution by Muslims was committed by Tippu Sultan, the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore against the Mangalorean Catholic community from Mangalore and the erstwhile South Canara district on the southwestern coast of India. Tippu was widely reputed to be anti-Christian. The captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam, which began on 24 February 1784 and ended on 4 May 1799, remains the most disconsolate memory in their history.

The Bakur Manuscript reports him as having said: "All Musalmans should unite together, and considering the annihilation of infidels as a sacred duty, labor to the utmost of their power, to accomplish that subject." Soon after the Treaty of Mangalore in 1784, Tippu gained control of Canara. He issued orders to seize the Christians in Canara, confiscate their estates, and deport them to Seringapatam, the capital of his empire, through the Jamalabad fort route. However, there were no priests among the captives. Together with Fr Miranda, all the 21 arrested priests were issued orders of expulsion to Goa, fined Rs 2 lakhs, and threatened death by hanging if they ever returned.

Tippu ordered the destruction of 27 Catholic churches, all beautifully carved with statues depicting various saints. Among them included the Church of Nossa Senhora de Rosario Milagres at Mangalore, Fr Miranda's Seminary at Monte Mariano, Church of Jesu Marie Jose at Omzoor, Chapel at Bolar, Church of Merces at Ullal, Imaculata Conceiciao at Mulki, San Jose at Perar, Nossa Senhora dos Remedios at Kirem, Sao Lawrence at Karkal, Rosario at Barkur, Immaculata Conceciao at Baidnur. All were razed to the ground, with the exception of the The Church of Holy Cross at Hospet,owing to the friendly offices of the Chauta Raja of Moodbidri.

According to Thomas Munro, a Scottish soldier and the first collector of Canara, around 60,000 of them, nearly 92 percent of the entire Mangalorean Catholic community, were captured, only 7,000 escaped. Francis Buchanan gives the numbers as 70,000 captured, from a population of 80,000, with 10,000 escaping. They were forced to climb nearly 4,000 feet (1,200 m) through the jungles of the Western Ghat mountain ranges. It was 210 miles (340 km) from Mangalore to Seringapatam, and the journey took six weeks. According to British Government records, 20,000  of them died on the march to Seringapatam. According to James Scurry, a British officer, who was held captive along with Mangalorean Catholics, 30,000 of them were forcibly converted to Islam. The young women and girls were forcibly made wives of the Muslims living there. The young men who offered resistance were disfigured by cutting their noses, upper lips, and ears. According to Mr. Silva of Gangolim, a survivor of the captivity, if a person who had escaped from Seringapatam was found, the punishment under the orders of Tippu was the cutting off of the ears, nose, the feet and one hand.

The Archbishop of Goa wrote in 1800, "It is notoriously known in all Asia and all other parts of the globe of the oppression and sufferings experienced by the Christians in the Dominion of the King of Kanara, during the usurpation of that country by Tipu Sultan from an implacable hatred he had against them who professed Christianity."

Tippu Sultan's invasion of the Malabar had an adverse impact on the the Syrian Malabar Nasrani community of the Malabar coast. Many churches in the Malabar and Cochin were damaged. The old Syrian Nasrani seminary at Angamaly which had been the center of Catholic religious education for several centuries was razed to the ground by Tippu’s soldiers. A lot of centuries old religious manuscripts were lost forever. The church was later relocated to Kottayam where it still exists to this date. The Mor Sabor church at Akaparambu and the Martha Mariam Church attached to the seminary were destroyed as well. Tippu’s army set fire to the church at Palayoor and attacked the Ollur Church in 1790. Furthernmore, the Arthat church and the Ambazhakkad seminary was also destroyed. Over the course of this invasion, many Syrian Malabar Nasrani were killed or forcibly converted to Islam. Most of the coconut, arecanut, pepper and cashew plantations held by the Syrian Malabar farmers were also indiscriminately destroyed by the invading army. As a result, when Tippu's army invaded Guruvayur and adjacent areas, the Syrian Christian community fled Calicut and small towns like Arthat to new centres like Kunnamkulam, Chalakudi, Ennakadu, Cheppadu, Kannankode, Mavelikkara, etc. where there were already Christians. They were given refuge by Sakthan Tamburan, the ruler of Cochin and Karthika Thirunal, the ruler of Travancore, who gave them lands, plantations and encouraged their businesses. Colonel Macqulay, the British resident of Travancore also helped them.

His persecution of Christians also extended to captured British soldiers. For instance, there were a significant amount of forced conversions of British captives between 1780 and 1784. Following their disastrous defeat at the battle of Pollilur, 7,000 British men along with an unknown number of women were held captive by Tipu in the fortress of Seringapatnam. Of these, over 300 were circumcised and given Muslim names and clothes and several British regimental drummer boys were made to wear ghagra cholis and entertain the court as nautch girls or dancing girls. After the 10 year long captivity ended, James Scurry, one of those prisoners, recounted that he had forgotten how to sit in a chair and use a knife and fork. His English was broken and stilted, having lost all his vernacular idiom. His skin had darkened to the swarthy complexion of negroes, and moreover, he had developed an aversion to wearing European clothes. During the surrender of the Mangalore fort which was delievered in an armistice by the British and their subsequent withdrawal, all the Mestizos and remaining non-British foreigners were killed, together with 5,600 Mangalorean Catholics. Those condemned by Tipu Sultan for treachery were hanged instantly, the gibbets being weighed down by the number of bodies they carried. The Netravati River was so putrid with the stench of dying bodies, that the local residents were forced to leave their riverside homes.

In modern times, Muslims in India who convert to Christianity are often subjected to harassment, intimidation, and attacks by Muslims. In Kashmir, the only Indian state with a Muslim majority, a Christian convert and missionary named Bashir Tantray was killed , allegedly by militant Islamists in 2006.

A Christian priest, K.K. Alavi, who is a convert from Islam, recently raised the ire of his former Muslim community and has received many death threats. An Islamic terrorist group named "The National Development Front" actively campaigned against him..

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2. Abraham Vazhayil Thomas (1974). Christians in Secular India. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. pp. 13, 200. ISBN 0838610218.
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61. Scurry & Whiteway 1824, p. 104 harvnb error: no target: jam (help)
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• This article includes material from the 1995 public domain Library of Congress Country Study on India.
• Trec International
• International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
• American Baptist Convention
• The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, Vol.I (India), Vol.II (Kerala)

See also

• List of notable Indian Christians
• Caste system among Indian Christians
• List of cathedrals in India
• List of Roman Catholic missionaries in India
• List of Protestant missionaries in India
• History of Pentecostalism in India

External links

• Website of the Indian Christian Churches
• A History of the Church of England in India
• History of Syrian Church in India
• Catholic encyclopedia - entry on India
• St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India
• Churches In India
• Orthodox Church in India
• Christian Pilgrimage sites in India
• History of Syrian Orthodox Church in India
• Divine Recruits
• Christians in Secular India
• Non institutional Christians in India - following the example of the Christians in the Bible

• Christianity in India