Converting Women: Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial South India
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Converting Women: Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial South India ELIZA F. KENT OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Converting Women This page intentionally left blank Converting Women Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial South India eliza f. kent 1 2004 1 Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Sa˜o Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright ᭧ 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kent, Eliza F., 1966– Converting women: gender and Protestant Christianity in colonial South India / Eliza F. Kent. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-516507-1 1. Christian converts from Hinduism—India, South—History. 2. Women, Tamil—Religious life—India, South—History. 3. Protestant converts—India, South—History. 4. Protestant women—India, South—History. I. Title. BV3280.T3K46 2004 305.48'6204'09548—dc21 2003049854 987654321 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Dedicated to the memory of Norman Cutler (1949–2002) and Alice Cooke Kent (1910–1992) This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments I would like first of all to offer heartfelt thanks to my friends, col- leagues, research assistants, and gracious hosts in Tamil Nadu who facilitated the research for this project at every step of the way, illu- minating for me the meanings of south Indian Christianity and Hinduism through their thoughts as well as through the example of their lives. They are too numerous to mention, but for their extraor- dinary and timely assistance, I want to express my gratitude espe- cially to Dr. S. Bharati and Krishnaswami of the American Institute for Indian Studies in Madurai, S. Anandaraman and A. Padma of Madurai, Rev. David of Christ Church in Madurai, J. Arun Selva in Madurai, Rodney and Crystal Easdon of Chennai, Vincent Kumara- doss of Madras Christian College, Dr. S. Manickam of Madurai Ka- maraj University, Dr. P. R. Subramaniam of the Mozhi Institute, Dr. Gnana Robinson, Dr. George Oommen, and Dr. Sathianathan Clarke of the United Theological College, Lieut. Col. Nandan Nilak- antha of the Theosophical Society, P. Raji of Chennai, A. Sivasubra- maniyam of Tuticorin, K. Uma Devi of Tirunelveli, D. Kavitha Ran- jini of Madurai, and V. Visalakshmi of Madurai. I owe a special debt of gratitude to the Devadawson family in Madurai for warmly wel- coming me into their home and for introducing me to Christians all over south India. Many institutions opened their doors to me during my thirteen months in Tamil Nadu. They impressed me enormously by their willingness and ability to share a wealth of material. The study of Indian Christianity is presently undergoing a profound sea change, in large part due to the dedication and organization of these institu- tions: Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary in Madurai, United Theo- logical College in Bangalore, Folklore Resources and Research Cen- viii acknowledgments ter at St. Xavier College in Palayamkottai, and the Bishop Neill Archives at St. John’s College in Palayamkottai. I also want to thank the staff of the Tamil Nadu State Archives for their invaluable assistance during the period of my research in Chennai. Generous financial support from the American Institute for Indian Studies and the Fulbright Foundation enabled me to travel to India and England to conduct the research for this book. Grants from the Woodrow Wilson Foun- dation, the Gender Studies Program of the University of Chicago, and the Committee on South Asian Studies made it possible for me to devote my energy to writing for valuable stretches of time. Conversations with many people have shaped this book over the years. I owe thanks to those who patiently helped me to untangle the knotted skein of forces at work in religious conversion and the social organization of gender in colonial India: Carol Breckenridge, Dipesh Chakravarty, Virginia Chang, Mat- thew Condon, Sarah Gualtieri, Anne Hardgrove, Eugene Irschick, Laura Jen- kins, Helen Koh, Caitrin Lynch, Theresa Mah, Maria Elena Martinez, Paula Richman, Katherine Ulrich, Kumkum Sangari, Zooey Sherinian, and Hugh Urban. Corinne Dempsey, Selva Raj, and others associated with the Hindu- Christian Studies Society deserve special thanks for their hard work opening up south Indian Christianity, both organizationally and intellectually, as a field of study for anthropology and the history of religions. I am very grateful to the editors at Oxford University Press, especially Cynthia Read and Rebecca Johns- Danes for their patience, hard work, and editorial savvy. Comments from sev- eral anonymous readers were also instrumental in improving this book at a crucial stage. Frank Reynolds’s incisive criticisms and Norman Cutler’s keen appreciation for Tamil culture helped steer this project through its earliest stages. Norman’s recent death, which came so suddenly in the autumn of 2002, leaves a great void in the lives of the many people who loved and re- spected him. This book is dedicated to his memory. I have been fortunate to benefit from Wendy Doniger’s enormous gener- osity as a mentor and her boundless, irrepressible curiosity about the complex motivations that animate human life and find their way into texts, in some- times strange and wonderfully distorted ways. Her influence on this project and on my training as a historian of religion has been immense, but I am also grateful for her patience and unwavering support when I willfully strode off in my own directions, in spite of her best efforts to advise me against it. That combination of straight forward direction and capacity to let go continues to inspire me in my own work as a teacher. From the beginning, my mother and father have supported my adventures in India and academia with their enthusiasm and love. My childhood home was filled with treasures they brought back from their own travels in Asia from before I was born. The hours I spent as a child gazing at these objects and listening to their stories planted the seeds of my interest in Indic religion and culture; their interest in the stories and objects I brought back from India has sustained it. My beloved grandmother, Alice Cooke Kent, granddaughter of missionaries, one-time theosophist, confirmed Episcopalian, and passionate, acknowledgments ix broad-minded scholar of religion in her own right, has been another influence in my life, the extent of which is impossible to measure. This book is dedicated also to her memory. Finally, these acknowledgments would not be complete without mention of the immeasurable joy that Mari Shopsis has brought to my life. Living with a writer entails living with someone who gazes into the distance at unpredict- able moments and responds to perfectly ordinary questions with odd non se- quiturs. I am deeply grateful for her love, playfulness, curiosity about the world, and tolerance for my periodic departures, to India and to regions of space within my own mind. This page intentionally left blank Contents Abbreviations, xiii PART I Caste, Christianity, and Conversion Introduction: Gender and Conversion in Colonial India, 3 1. Into the Fold: Protestant Christian Communities in South India, 15 2. Colonial Knowledge and the Creation of Respectable Castes, 51 3. Women’s Missionary Societies, 81 PART II The Conversion of Gender 4. Motherhood and the Home: Indian Christian Domesticity, 127 5. Civilization and Sexuality: Indian Christian Marriage, 165 6. Gold and Cholis: Indian Christian Sartorial Style, 199 Conclusion: Indian Christianity and Conversion, 235 Notes, 243 Bibliography, 281 Index, 303 This page intentionally left blank Abbreviations ABCFM American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions AMM American Madurai Mission CEZMS Church of England Zenana Missionary Society CMS Church Missionary Society LMS London Missionary Society LPNIW Lucy Perry Noble Institute for Women MCC Madurai Church Council SPCK Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge SPFEE Society for the Promotion of Female Education in the East SPG Society for the Propagation of the Gospel TELC Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church TNSA Tamil Nadu State Archives UTC United Theological College WBM Women’s Board of Missions WBFM Women’s Board of Foreign Missions WMMS Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society Map of South India in the late nineteenth century, from Mrs. Murray Mitchell, In Southern India (London Religious Tract Society, 1888). part i Caste, Christianity, and Conversion This page intentionally left blank Introduction Gender and Conversion in Colonial India Colonial rule brought about enormous changes in Indian society. British intervention into all matters of governance, from the collec- tion of revenue to the maintenance of law and order, made it diffi- cult for traditionally dominant groups to police the boundaries of the social order as they once had. The development of print media, increased communication by railroad and trunk roads, and the in- corporation of India into new global networks of trade created the conditions for novel ways