Introduction: With the need to place the history of Christianity in India in the context of

the marginalized sections of the society, eminent scholars like Rev. Dr. Arthur Jeyakumar
have ventured to develop historiographical approaches on the Dalit movement. However,
no specific systematic approach for the Dalits has been found in his writings and the
sources on his historiographical approaches are very limited. In this paper we have
brought out some of the important elements of Arthur Jeyakumar’s historiographical
approaches.

Historiographical approaches of Arthur Jeyakumar: The observance and practice of

caste system and the different attitudes of the Christian missionaries as well as the Indian
Christian converts toward the prevailing caste system can be regarded as the initial stage
of Arthur Jeyakumar’s historiography towards the Dalit movement.

1. The observance and practice of caste system: Caste system is peculiar to India and it
is commonly known that there are four major castes in India namely Brahmin, Kshatriya,
Vysya and Sudra. People outside the caste system are termed as outcaste and various
names such as Depressed classes, Scheduled castes, Harijans, Adi- Dravidar, Dalit,etc are
used to denote them. Several theories have been developed on the origin of caste system.
There are those who believed that the caste system developed on the basis of occupation
while others believed that the basis is race and colour. Whatsoever, the general opinion is
that the caste system is based on Hindu scriptures, especially the Rig Veda where the
importance and pre-eminence is given to the Brahmins and that it is defined by Manu in
his code.1 When the Christians missionaries first came to India the social context was
strictly based on the caste system. Different missionaries as well as Indian Christians
faced the caste system in different ways.

1.1. Malabar Syrian Christians: The Malabar Syrian Christians accepted the practice of
caste distinctions because they believed that St. Thomas only converted the high caste
people. Even the early Church workers appointed by St. Thomas were said to be from the
high castes. When the two Syrian groups under the leadership of Thomas of Cana and
1
D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India: Revised and Enlarged Edition (Chennai:
Rev. Dr. D. Arthur Jeyakumar, 2011), 59.
Marwan Sabrisho during the fourth and ninth centuries A.D. respectively came to
Malabar, the local rulers instructed them to maintain their status as high-caste or class
groups and on that basis the local rulers gave them special treatment. Even to this day, the
distinction exists between one group of Malabar Syrian called Northists (Vadakumbagar)
and the other called Southists (Thekkumbagar). They do not inter marry and in the earlier
days they were enrolled as body-guards of the local rulers and they were engaged in
trading and acts as advisors in the courts of local kings. Moreover, because of the special
privileges given to them, they did not convert the low caste people as Christians.2

1.2. The Roman Catholics: St. Francis Xavier, the Roman Catholic missionary
concentrated on converting the low castes like the pearl Fishery Folk on the Coromandel
Coast and the Mukkuvars. He found it difficult to convert the high castes and as a result
Christianity was considered by the high caste in those regions as low-caste people. Robert
de Nobili, the Jesuit missionary came to Madurai in 1606 and made an attempt to
indigenize Christianity. He concentrated more on the high caste and was successful in his
approach. After 1623, he expanded his field of activity to Salem, Tiruchirapalli and
Moramangalam where there were more converts from the Sudra castes and the Adi
Dravidas. After this, it was decided to appoint special missionaries for work among the
lower castes who were called pandaraswamis. The later Jesuit missionaries followed
Robert de Nobili’s method till 1773 where the high caste converts were few and more
converts among the Sudra and depressed classes. The method of Robert de Nobili divided
the Christians on caste basis and the caste distinctions had long lasting consequences on
the Christians. Initially there were no separate places of worship but the buildings were
so arranged as to keep caste and out caste in separate portions. However later on, separate
worship services, separate burial grounds came into existence. Besides, dividing walls
were put up inside to segregate the congregations on the basis of caste in a few Church
buildings. The Holy Communion elements were distributed first to the high caste

2
D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India: Revised and Enlarged Edition, 60.
Christians and then to the others. All such practices continued almost till the middle of
the twentieth century.3

1.3. The Protestants: At the Tranquebar mission, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg did not take
any firm decision to root out caste distinction from among his converts. As such there
were clear cut divisions at the Church. Similarly distinctions were made at the schools.
But later on, Schultze strongly opposed the observance of caste distinctions in the
mission and began to attack it when he headed the Tranquebar mission in 1720. This led
to opposition and discontentment and some of the Indian Christian converts even
threatened to leave the Tranquebar mission and join the Roman Church. This eventually
resulted in the withdrawal of Schultze and the old practice was restored under Walther
and Pressier. The Serampore mission headed by the Serampore Trio did not permit caste
distinctions among their converts from the beginning of their mission and they even
encouraged inter-caste marriages.4

1.4. The Anglicans: Among the Anglican missionaries, Bishop Daniel Wilson is known
for his opposition to the maintenance of caste distinctions among Indian Christians. But
his strict attitude had its consequences too. Some of the higher castes Indian Christians in
Chennai were against him and they decided to join the congregation of the Leipzig
Evangelical Lutheran Mission (L.E.L.M) in Chennai who followed the policy of caste
observance. The Basel mission at Kanara did not agree with the practice of caste
distinctions among its converts and so it followed a policy of mixing them up in their
industrial and educational institutions.5

2. Christians and the National Movement: Arthur Jeyakumar in his historiographical

approaches includes the studies on Christians and the National movement. In his studies

3
D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India: Revised and Enlarged Edition, 60-63.
4
D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India: Revised and Enlarged Edition, 64-65.
5
D. Arthur Jeyakumar, History of Christianity in India: Revised and Enlarged Edition, 66-68.
on the Christians and the National movement 6 he points out the content of the
Memoranda of 1919 and its impact on the activities of the missionaries as well as the
Indian Christians. The original purpose of the Memoranda was to control the growing
entry and functioning of Non- British individuals and missions in India during the First
World War. But Later on, the Memoranda came to be used as an effective instrument to
control the activities of missionaries from supporting the National Movement in India.7
Many Indian Christians along with missionaries supported and participated in the
National Movement. Non- British missionaries like Stanley Jones, G. B. Halstead and
British missionaries like Jack C.Winslow, Verrier Elwin, C.F. Andrews and others
supported the National Movement as well as Indian Christians like S.k.Datta, Rajkumar
Amrit kaur, S.k. George , George Joseph, J.C. Kumarappa, V.S. Azariah, K.T.Paul,
Augustine Ralla Ram and many others actively participated in the National Movement.
Some of them were members of Indian National Congress and close associates of
Gandhi.8 Their participation in the struggle of nationalism showed their oneness to
become one despite the existing diversities and distinctions. Many of them opposed the
practice of Caste system and worked for the upliftment of the outcaste to enhance the
growth of nationalism.

Conclusion
The Dalits have struggled throughout the history of Christianity and even today they are
marginalized in certain ways. While some early Christians tried to unite all people, there
were others who extensively made distinctions to maintain the order of caste distinctions
for several reasons.Arthur Jeyakumar’s historiography clearly denotes this and indicates
how the Dalit movement have made their place in the Indian history of Christianity.

6
In his study on the Christians and the National Movement he specifically dealt with “The
Memoranda of 1919 and the National Movement with special reference to Protestants Christians in Tamil
Nadu: 1919-1939”.
7
D. Arthur Jeyakumar, Christians and the National Movement: The Memoranda of 1919 and the
National Movement with Special Reference to Protestant Christians in Tamil Nadu: 1919-1939 (Bangalore:
Centre for Contemporary Christianity, 2009), 3.
8
D. Arthur Jeyakumar, Christians and the National Movement: The Memoranda of 1919 and the
National Movement with Special Reference to Protestant Christians in Tamil Nadu: 1919-1939, 124-125.