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Dalit Christianity and Theology

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Dalit Christianity and Theology chapter 5 Dalit Christianity and Theology The purpose of the next two chapters is to erect the second pole of comparison in this project, namely, divine possessions among Christian Dalits. However, before I enter into the study of possessions, I believe it is first necessary to be aware of the complex and much politicized history of Dalit Christianity. This will be presented in the first part of this chapter. In the second part, to pre- pare the ground for the study of divine embodiment in Dalit bodies, I want to consider the basic conceptualization and expressions of God in Dalit theology. Thus, this chapter will provide a background for the study of divine posses- sions among Dalit Christians in the next chapter. 1 Dalit Christianity Although the main objective of this book is to study divine possessions among Dalit Christians in South India, I believe that it is necessary to see these phe- nomena within the overall context of Dalit Christianity, albeit limited to Para- iyar Dalits and Indian Protestantism. In this section, I begin with Paraiyar conversions in the early Protestant missionary period, moving on to the mass movements of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. In the final section, I will give a brief and selective presentation of the issues facing Dalit Christians today. 1.1 The Beginnings When speaking of Dalit Christian history, it is typical to begin with the “Mass Movements” i.e. the large scale conversions of Dalits to Christianity that hap- pened around the turn of the twentieth century. Although I agree with this conventional historical point of departure, I believe that Christian links with Dalits, Paraiyars in this case, are earlier than it is often believed. Therefore, I want to begin with the early decades of Protestant missionary work, in the first half of the eighteenth century, focusing on two mass conversions that were led by and centered around two individuals who have not received much attention. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | DOI:10.1163/9789004420052_008 128 CHAPTER 5 1.1.1 Rajanaiken of Tanjore (1700– 1771)1 Rajanaiken was an officer in the kingdom of Tanjore who had received some form of education, possibly through Catholic missionaries. As a person with great thirst for matters relating to religion, he longed to read the Bible, which, however, was not available in Tamil then. Meanwhile the Raja of Tanjore asked Rajanaiken to go to Tranquebar to protect the crops in the region. During this visit Rajanaiken got the opportunity to meet the Protestant missionaries of the Tranquebar mission. In 1706, the first Protestant missionaries Bärtholomeus Ziegenbalg (1682– 1719) and Henrich Plütschau (1676– 1747) had arrived in the sub- continent, and by 1714 Ziegenbalg had translated the New Testament. Since Rajanaiken was interested in reading the Bible he bought a copy from the missionaries and began studying it. He was particularly impressed by the story of the Roman Centurion Cornelius (Acts 10). The translation for centurion in Zieganbalg’s New Testament was “sevaikaran,” the equivalent of Rajanaiken’s position in the army. Inspired by this comparison, Rajanaiken decided to serve Christ and joined the Lutheran church in 1718. In 1727, he negotiated with the king of Tanjore and invited Aaron (1698– 1745) who was then a catechist (but was later ordained as the first Indian priest) to preach and establish a congregation in the town. This establishment of a church in Tanjore is significant given that the Raja of Tanjore was earli- er not favorable to the Christian missionaries entering his kingdom. By this time, Rajanaiken had resigned his position in the army and become a full- time evangelist. The Halle mission was so impressed with Rajanaiken’s work that they wanted to ordain him as a priest. However, at this point, the issue of Raja- naiken being a Paraiyar came to the fore, and the Indian Christians would not approve a ‘pariah’ to be their priest. On these caste dynamics in the Protestant church during this early period, Daniel Jeyaraj writes, When the question of ordination was discussed, the names of Savari- muthu, Rayanayakkan, and Aaron were suggested. Savaraimuthu and Rayanayakkan were Pariahs by birth and the stigma of their status as 1 Also known as Rayanayakkan. This section is compiled from Daniel Jeyaraj, “Indian Par- ticipation in Enabling, Sustaining, and Promoting Christian Mission in India,” in India and the Indianness of Christianity: Essays on Understanding — Historical, Theological, and Bibliographical— in Honor of Robert Eric Frykenberg, ed. Richard Fox Young (Grand Rapids and Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans, 2009), 26– 40, & James Massey, “History and Dalit The- ology,” in Frontiers of Dalit Theology V. Devasahayam (Madras: Gurukul, 1996), 161– 163..
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