A new era began in 1706 with the arrival of the
first Protestant missionaries, Lutherans who began
their missionary efforts from a base in Tranquebar.
They were joined by a few other efforts to evange-
lize the country, but mission work did not begin in
earnest until the early 19th century, when it won
the backing of British colonial authorities. The
number of conversions was modest, with occa-
sional episodes of what were termed mass move-
ments, when an entire community or caste would
suddenly convert to Christianity. Often, these
mass movements would originate among people
at the lowest levels of the caste system, especially
untouchables (Dalits), who had little to lose by
abandoning Hinduism. (See UNTOUCHABILITY.)
During the missionary era from the 18th cen-
tury onward, Protestants adopted various plans
for developing a successful thrust into Indian
society, including the building of modern colleges
and hospitals, intellectual appeals to elites, and
enticing of Dalits and various fringe groups away
from lives devoid of privilege. The end result was
the development of the third largest religious
community in India (after Hindus and Muslims),
although today the 60 million Christians repre-
sent barely 6 percent of the population.
Throughout the 20th century before Indian
independence, Christianity enjoyed a favored
relationship with the colonial government and
often used that special status to engage in aggres-
sive campaigns of proselytizing. Such aggressive
actions created a level of hostility among Indian
Hindu leaders, who developed an extended list
of grievances against the church, not the least
the missionaries’ use of their favorable status
and relative wealth to woo converts to their reli-
gion instead of teaching the merits of their faith.
Moreover, Hinduism was not a missionary faith,
and it saw itself at a disadvantage in the face of
aggressive proselytizing. Finally, Hindu lead-
ers complained of the ways that the Christian
churches, often in league with colonial authori-
ties, were disrupting a traditional and sacred
social order.
As native Indians, such as Vedanayagam Sam-
uel Azariah (1874–1945), the first native Anglican
bishop, gained positions of authority in Indian
Christianity, they began to address some of these
issues. In particular, these native Indians criticized
Western missionaries for failing to distinguish
between the faith they expounded and the West-
ern culture from which they emerged. Because of
ignorance or thoughtlessness, they complained,
missionaries frequently tried to impose Western
culture, provoking more opposition than they
would have if they had focused exclusively on the
religious message of Christianity, which was not
necessarily offensive to Indians. At the same time,
a new generation of more thoughtful Western
Christian missionaries, who were also students of
comparative religion, arrived in India; they were
willing to appropriate features of Hindu piety and
spirituality, and to shape a Christianity that incor-
porated as many elements of Indian thought and
practice as possible.
By the middle of the 19th century, Christians
attempted to initiate dialogue with Hindu believ-
ers, especially groups of liberal believers that
evolved from the Hindu Renaissance. Among the
first results of these early conversations was a
decision by the Unitarian Church that the BRAHMO
SAMAJ, founded in 1823 by Raja Rammohun ROY
(1772–1833), was actually preaching the same
basic doctrines as traditional Hinduism, uncor-
rupted (by sati [suttee], polygamy, and the wor-
ship of idols). The Unitarians, then, withdrew
from the field of proselytization and used their
missionary allocations to support the Brahmo
Samaj in various ways that continue to the pres-
ent, including the opening of American Unitarian
seminaries to train leaders of the Brahmo Samaj.
Meanwhile, various Hindu leaders began to
develop a range of views on the nature of Jesus
Christ. Roy saw him as a moral and religious
reformer, Sri RAMAKRISHNA (1836–86) saw him as
an enlightened soul leading others to enlighten-
ment. Swami VIVEKANANDA (1863–1902) developed
Ramakrishna’s advaitic (non-dualist) perspectiveK 114 Christian-Hindu relations