Caste, Class and Catholicism in India 1789-1914 [Reprint ed.] 0700710957, 9780700710959, 9781138969933, 9781315027531

Citation preview

CASTE, CLASS AND CATHOLICISM IN INDIA 1789-1914

Centre of South Asian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London LONDON STUDIES ON SOUTH ASIA 1. Caste and Christianity D.E. Forrester

2. British Policy Towards the Indian States S.R. Ashton 3. The Assamese A. C. Cantlie 4. Dacca S.U. Ahmed 5. Crime, Justice and Society in Colonial Sri Lanka J. W. Rogers 6. Hindu and Christian in South-East India G.A. Oddie 7. Muslims and Missionaries in Pre-Mutiny India A.A. Powell 8. A Place for Our Gods M. Nye 9. Khizr Tiwana, the Punjab Unionist Party and the Partition of India I. Talbot 10. John Bullion's Empire G. Balachandran 11. Landlord Power and Rural Indebtedness in Colonial Sind D. Cheeseman 12. Krsna's Round Dance Reconsidered H.R.M. Pauwels 13. Ancient Rights and Future Comfort P. Robb

14. Tibet and the British Raj A. McKay 15. Caste, Protest and Identity in Colonial India S. Bandyopadhyay 16. James Long of Bengal G.A. Oddie

17. Caste, Class and Catholicism in India 1789-1914 K. Ballhatchet

CASTE, CLASS AND CATHOLICISM IN INDIA 1789-1914

Kenneth Ballhatchet

i~ ~~o~1~~n~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published in 1998 by Curzon Press Published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 1998 Kenneth Ballhatchet Typeset in Saban by LaserScript, Mitcham, Surrey

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 13: 978-0-700-71095-9 (hbk)

Contents

Foreword

VB

Preface

IX

Acknowledgements Abbreviations Glossary

Xl Xlll

Biographical Note

XVB

Maps Kerala, and Bombay Detail Tamil Nadu, and Madras Detail

XXI

xv

I

The Vatican and the East Indian Company

II

The East India Company

xx

1 13

III Carmelites, Caste, Sex and Conflict in Kerala

23

IV Carmelites and Social Conflict in Bombay

47

V

Capuchins, Boatmen and Irishmen in Madras

VI French Jesuits and Caste in Tamil Nadu

79 111 141 145 165 169

Postscript Notes Bibliography Index

v

This page intentionally left blank

Foreword

Kenneth Ballhatchet was a notable Indian historian whom I was proud to number among my friends. I found his writings and his conversation always stimulating and challenging. He had the patience and skill for immense amounts of detailed archival work in mission archives, in the Vatican and elsewhere. He never became overwhelmed by masses of data, but used his material to tell a good story very well and to illumine great tracts of Indian history. My own work on caste and Christianity was largely confined to Protestant churches and missions. I was aware, however, that a wide range of positions were taken up among Roman Catholic orders and missionaries, and that the controversies about caste arising from the work of Roberto de Nobili and others were of great historical, religious and theological significance. Kenneth Ballhatchet's posthumous book throws a great deal of light on these controversies, which are of considerable importance for the broader history of modern India. I warmly welcome the publication of this book; it deserves a wide readership. Duncan B. Forrester New College University of Edinburgh, November 1997

VII

This page intentionally left blank

Preface

This book began as part of an enquiry into European racial attitudes. In Race, Sex and Class under the Ral, I argued that the English brought their social attitudes to India, where they became racial attitudes. In India, as in England, these attitudes had the triple function of supporting authority structures, protecting vested interests and providing psychological reinforcement for the ruling class. Fundamental to these attitudes was the preservation of a wide social distance between the British and Indians. The French, Dutch and Portuguese colonial empires present significant differences in racial and social attitudes. To explore these matters further the attitudes of Roman Catholic missionaries offered a test case. Unlike Protestant missionaries hardly any were English. They came from a variety of European countries. How far were differences in national attitudes reflected in differences in the racial and social attitudes of European missionaries in India? French missionaries, for example, tended to support the caste system, while Irish missionaries were egalitarian. A further question was how Indians reacted. Here again attitudes to caste were a fundamental problem, both for priests and for laity, and they remained a problem after Independence, when Liberation Theology developed distinctive forms in India. Recently, Father Antony Raj has advocated the liberation of the untouchables in Marxist terms. But he sees the struggle in India not as an option only for the poor (since some untouchables have acquired wealth, perhaps from military service), but an option for those of lowest status. 2 What of the functions of racial and social attitudes? National differences apart, one can see among European missionaries, as among British officials under the Raj, the role of attitudes in supporting authority structures - especially when missionary authority was challenged by Indian priests or laity. Such challenges usually IX

CASTE, CLASS AND CATHOLICISM IN INDIA 1789-1914

involved caste. One can also see, as among British officials under the Raj, the role of attitudes in protecting vested interests, especially the claims of European missionaries in competition with Indian priests. In the arguments that resulted, various moral weaknesses were attributed to Indian priests and laity, such notions providing psychological reinforcement for a privileged minority. In analysing these controversies we must tread carefully, for there were many accusations of sexual immorality. As the venerable Carmelite historian Ambrosius commented, it would be easy to pass over such matters in silence. But this would be to falsify the historical record. And to what end? - Ambrosius demanded. In the long run the Church itself would be damaged by the suppression of historical truth. 3 Ambrosius wrote in 1939, and in the more liberal atmosphere that prevailed after the second Vatican council his views were reinforced by Pope Paul VI, who encouraged historians to examine the archives without fear or favour, for the Church could only gain from fresh historical discoveries conducted in an objective manner.

x

Acknowledgements

I should like to thank the staff of the archives of: Propaganda Fide; the Jesuit Curia in Rome; the Jesuit archives in Shambaganur and Toulouse; the Irish College archives in Rome; the India Office Records in London; the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon; and the Tamil Nadu records in Madras. Among libraries, I am particularly indebted to those of the Jesuit Historical Institute and the Pontificia Urbaniana in Rome, and the School of Oriental and African Studies and the British Library in London. I have benefited greatly from the advice of Fr. Josef Metzler, O.M.I., Fr. Chares Borges, S.]., Fr. Francis Edwards, S.J. and the Revd. Professor Duncan Forrester. Dr Sebastian Ballard not only prepared the maps but gave me his advice as a geographer. In sickness and in health my wife Joan's advice has been invaluable. She also undertook that most tedious of tasks, the preparation of the index. I have also learnt much from the comments of friends and colleagues at various conferences and seminars where I have presented papers related to the themes of this book. I treasure warm memories of such occasions in Cochin, Lisbon, London, Oxford, Paris, Reunion and Uppsala. This research was supported by a Leverhulme European Studies Fellowship and a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship, supplemented by grants from the British Academy and the School of Oriental and African Studies. I am most grateful to them.

Xl

This page intentionally left blank

Abbreviations

Acta CP AAES APF ARSI BEP BPP FMd ICRA lOR Ind. Or. LDB MEP MPP NZM Oeuvre PF SC SHC SOCG SOCP

Acta Congregationis Particularis super rebus Sinarum et Indiarum Orientalium Archivio della Sacra Congregazione degli Affari Ecclesiastici Straordinari Archivio della S. Congregazione de Propaganda Fide Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu Bombay Ecclesiastical Proceedings Bombay Public Proceedings F Madurai Irish College Rome Archives India Office Records India Orientalis Lettere Decreti e Bolle Madras Ecclesiastical Proceedings Madras Public Proceedings Neue Zeitschrift fur Missionwissenschaft French lay missionary society, Association for the Propagation of the Faith Propaganda Fide Collectanea Sacrae Congregationis or Scritture referite nei Congressi Congregazione Sacred Heart College. Archives of Jesuit Madura Mission, now moved from Shembaganur to Madras Scritture Originale riferite nelle Congregazioni Generali Scritture Origin ali della Congregazione Particolare dell'Indie e Cina Xlll

This page intentionally left blank

Glossary

Board of Control

English Government Committee with supervisory powers over the Court of Directors Court of Directors London-based controlling body of the East India Company discalced Used to distinguish between two branches of the Carmelite order, the 'shoeless' (discalced) and sandalled friars. Eurasian, especially used of Goanese East Indian Final Court of Appeal of the Roman Holy Office Congregation Originally Palmyra cultivators; fermented palm Toddy Tappers juice is known as toddy.

xv

This page intentionally left blank

Biographical Note

Pie'tro d' Alcantara An Italian discalced Carmelite missionary priest working in the Bombay area in the late eighteenth century, Alcantara was appointed as Superior to his community in 1793, when he was thirty-three years old. At this time the British authorities were anxious to placate the Portuguese ecclesiastical authority based in Goa - the padroado while retaining the services of the Carmelites, under the authority of Propaganda Fide. Since the Bombay government claimed the right to determine any disputes arising between the two authorities, transfers of ecclesiastical jurisdiction could result from the appeals of dissatisfied laymen. Alcantara's tactful handling of such complaints resulted in an increase in the number of churches under Roman control. Later, as Vicar Apostolic of Bombay, he was responsible for the pastoral care of a vast area of southern India. He had to travel frequently to resolve conflicts among his priests and congregations. In this book his visitations to Madras and Kerala are examined. When mission funds from Rome were blocked by the French revolutionary wars Alcantara appealed successfully in 1814 to the Bombay government for a loan, and was also granted a modest life pension. he was even able to persuade the East India Company to finance a seminary for Bombay. He continued in active service until his death, at the age of eighty, in 1840.

xvii

This page intentionally left blank

Maps

C A S T E , CLA SS AN D C A T H O L IC IS M IN IN D IA 1 7 8 9 - 1 9 1 4

BOMBAY Detail

K erala, and Bom bay Detail

TH ANA

V

O

\g V A R S O v A SA L S E T T E

/

S

\ BAM O RA

VBOMBAY U

1M AHIM

( • • ♦ d « « l)

Arabian \

s..

, /

/M A ZA 'U O N J

it )

GOA

\

Mangalore

5L »

\

K3

0

Ootacumund

\_Verapoll

\

9

X cra n g an ore O

V jC O C H IN 9

. U»

V M a t ta r > c h « r 1 \

PAIIeppey

\ c iu ilo n VoArtungel TrtvandnimW ___ t

xx

J

Bombay Harbour

J

M A PS

MADRAS Detail

Tamil N adu, and M adras Detail M ADRAS j

RAYAPURAWT c o r o m a n d e lT p FORT fy -gjgl

i.~ *• rj

O Bangalore

.

Vallor#

1

0

**r«, r

Areo'^

MAILAPUR/

Indian Pondlchery /

O ce an

franquabar

'

. . Trlchlnopoly

*.«•'' ---- '

0

Karikal* Negapatam

0 Pudukottai Avur°

J

Madurai0

\

x

s'

/

\

.•

0

\ \

Tutlcortn/ / X \

'

1-----

Kalugumalal0 \

■

TinnevaHy dManapade Vlravanallur0 ®0