Allahabad Bible seminary

60/64 Stanley road, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh

Subject
History of Christianity in India (BHC02)

Topic

Robert De Nobili And Madurai Mission

Prepared by- Jwngma Basumatary, BD 2, (English)

Submitted to- Sir Simon Arpit Matthew.

Submitted date- 16/02/2023.

 Introduction: The Indian mission of the Jesuits lies at the very origin of their Order. Jesuits
have been a continuing presence in India since the sixteenth century. With the help of local
people, they not only spread the Christian faith but also did a lot for the growth of the Indian
nation. They attempted enculturation of the Christian faith in multicultural India; learnt of,
discussed, and respected other religions; and mastered and contributed to the growth of
Indian languages.

1. The Beginning of Madurai Mission: In 1595, the Jesuits began their ministry at Madurai
with Fr. Goncalo Fernandez. He was able to get the permission of the Nayaks 1 and built a
church, a presbytery (residence for the priest), an elementary school and a small dispensary.
His church mainly consisted of 100 Paravas who were basically not from Madurai but from
the coast who settled there. Apart from that he was also ministering to the Portuguese who
occasionally visited him. After working for eleven years, Fr. Fernandez was not able to
convert a single high caste nayaks or Brahmins. Fr. Albert Laerzio, the Provincial of the
Malabar Province of the Society of Jesus was not impressed with the progress of ministry in
Madurai, and found Robert De Nobili and sent him with hopes of reviving the ministry of
Madurai.2

2. Robert de Nobili: Robert de Nobili was an Italian Jesuit Missionary, 3 born at Rome in
September 1577.4 After the death of his father and after finishing his philosophical studies, he
went to Rome in 1600 for his theology. Soon after his ordination in 1603, he left for Portugal.
On April 28, 1604, de Nobili left Lisbon for India and reached Goa on May 20, 1605. 5 In
January 1606, Nobili went to Cochin and from there to the Pearl Fishery Coast, where he
stayed for six months. After that he came to Madurai on 15 th November 1606 along with Fr.
Albert Laerzio and settled down at Madurai as an Indian Sanyasi. 6 Nobili also appointed
special missionaries to work among the lower caste, whose position Corresponded to that of
the non-Brahmin religious mendicants known in Tamil as Pandarams. He lived as sannyasis
and on that account he was respected by the higher castes. The other tethers, known as
Brahmin sannyasis, followed the Brahmin way of life and ministered chiefly to Brahmins.7

2.1. Nobili's Work plan: In order to have the mission successful and meaningful, he prepared a
master plan for the Madurai Mission.8 Firstly, he had to detach Christianity from Parangi.
Secondly, he had to disown Portuguese identity. Thirdly, he had to adapt his life style
according to the challenge of the land. Fourthly, he would remain in his abode and instruct
the inquirers who were brought by the disciple.9

1
Nayak means 'leader' or 'hero' or 'chief' or 'protagonist'. Nayak is a historic title conferred to Sardars,
Governors of the feudatories in medieval times.
2
A. Jayakumar, “History of Christianity in India”, (West Bengal: Kolkata, Sceptre, 2013), 26.
3
Ibid,.
4
Madura A Tourist Guide, (Delhi: Gyan Publishing House, 2020), 190.
5
Ibid, 4.
6
S. Rajamanickam, "Founder of the Madurai Mission- Robert de Nobili, in Christianity in India: Its True
Face,” (Tamil Nadu: The CBCI Commission for Evangelization, 1981), 111.
7
Ibid,…117.
8
M K. Kuriakose, History of Christianity in India: Source Materials, (Delhi: ISPCK. 1999), 45.
9
Roger. E. H. Edlund, Christianity is Indian the emergence of an indigenous community, (Delhi: ISPCK. 2004),
104.
1
2.2. Nobili’s Method of indigenization:- After getting insight into Hindu life and ideas by means
of making acquaintance with a Hindu schoolmaster, a Nayak, de Nobili indianized himself.
He equated himself with a Kshatriya. He engaged a Brahmin cook and began living in Indian
style. In November 1607, he exchanged his black cassock for kavi robes and his leather shoes
for wooden sandals, and became a Sannyasi. Nobili retired to a site of the town, built a little
mud-house and chapel, and there he established himself as a guru, observing strict ascetic
regime, attended by his Brahmin cook and servant, living on rice, Vegetables, fruit and milk,
and eating only one meal a day, and going out very seldom.10

In addition to his religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, it was an absolute
abstinence from meat, fish, egg, wine, etc. He cut himself off from his own brethren with
regard to food. It was a kenosis a complete emptying of all nationality, culture and personal
convenience. It was a question of the grain of wheat dying in order to bring forth much fruit.11
De Nobili built his Church in the Indian style and coined Christian terms in Tamil and made
them capable of conveying all Christian thought, without having recourse to Latin or
Portuguese words. Marriage and other ceremonies were Christianized. They were companied
by Christian prayers and hymns. Pongal and other national feasts were encouraged and
Christianized.12 His converts were not required to break caste or change their dress, food or
mode of life except in the matter of idolatry. Those who worn the sacred cord and the kudumi
or hair-turf retained them. The ceremonial bathing and the rite of investiture with the cord
were kept with Christian prayer substituted for the Hindu mantras.13

2.3. His Literary Works: Nobili had a flair for Indian languages especially Tamil and Sanskrit.
He learnt 32 languages in his lifetime. He kept on learning Sanskrit till his death in 1656. De
Nobili left writing in six languages: Tamil, Telegu, Sanskrit, Italian, Portuguese and Latin.
Italian was his mother tongue. Portuguese was the official language of the Missionaries in
India and Latin was the official language of the Church. Tamil was the language he used
most as it was the language of the people. Telegu, he used in dealing with the ruling Nayaks
of Madurai as well as with other chiefs and feudal lords. Sanskrit was the language in which
he discoursed with the Brahmins and the learned. 14 It is no wonder that he wrote several
books, composed hymns and prayer, songs in Sanskrit. His “Information”, a Sanskrit work
itself is enough to prove his depth in Sanskrit. The Life of Our Lady was composed in
Sanskrit in verse form. Nobili’s books are Philosophical and Theological. 15

10
C.B Firth, “An Introduction to Indian Church History”, (Delhi: ISPCK, 2012), 112.
11
Kuriakose, History of Christianity in India, 50.
12
Rajamanickam, Founder of the Madurai Mission, 113.
13
Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History, 113.
14
Rajamanickam, Founder of the Madurai Mission, 116.
15
Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History, 118.
2
 To instruct and confirm the Christians, de Nobili wrote numerous treatises in Tamil. To name
a few, Gnanopadesam Kandam or Spiritual Teaching, the Attuma Nirnayam- discussion on
the soul, the Divya Madirigai-Divine Mood, Tushana Tikkaram-Refutation of Blasphemy,
Punar janma Chepam-Refutation of Rebirth and Gnana Sanchivi-spiritual medicine. In
prison, he composed the Attuma Nirunayam and Akkiana Nivaranam-removal of ignorance.
In addition to these works, we have seven treatises by him and 56 letters, 9 in Portuguese, 29
in Italian and 18 in Latin.16 In Sanskrit verse he wrote a Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and
composed canticles to be sung by the Brahmin Christians of Madurai at weddings and
funerals. Beside these, he wrote hymns in Tamil and Telegu. He is said to have written a
summary of Christian doctrine in hundred Sanskrit slokas.17

3. Madurai Mission:
3.1. Beginning: “Madurai Province” derives its name from ‘Madura Mission’ which stands for
Jesuits Mission. The foundation of the Mission was laid by Robert de Nobili. 18 During 1607
to 1612, he laid the foundation of a genuinely Indian Church. This led to the establishment of
the Madurai Mission. Nobili set up his mission at Madurai, devised his own strategies for the
successful mission and carried on his mission work by indianizing himself. During his
sojourn in Madurai, Robert de Nobili lived on strict vegetarian diet. Impressed by this the
Brahmin elite surrounded him. He began to master Tamil, learned Sanskrit, and studied the
Vedas He gave up his European style of living and adapted instead those of the Brahmins.
The fame of Nobili soon spread far and wide. The natives were astonished at the purity of his
Tamil and captivated by his oriental learning and versatile intellect. 19

3.2. Conversion: Early in 1607 Nobili was able to instruct a group of young men, which also
joined by schoolmaster. After the having a long debate on the rival teachings of Hinduism
and Christianity, the schoolmaster declared himself convinced, accepted de Nobili as his
guru and was baptized along with three other young men. De Nobili got acquainted with a
Telegu Brahmin Pandit, named Sivadarma, with whom he began to learn Sankrit. His
association with the Pandit led to the later baptism in 1609. In that year the number of convert
rose to 63, belonging to several castes, some Nayaks, cultivators, Brahmins. 20 By 1619,
nearly two hundred persons embraced the faith of Christ. De Nobili also extended his work to
other places. People began to come to him for religious and philosophical discussions as they
had done in Madurai. On Christmas Day 1625, he baptized Tirumangala Nayak, the Dispose
ruler of nangalam, with his wife, mother and children. Through the baptism of an Adi-
Dravida Pandaram or religious mendicant, who was a guru to some two thousand disciples,
many of his followers became catechumens. 21 Balthasar da Costa recorded that in 1661,
throughout his fifty years of work he was able to convert 30, 000 thousand people. And
among them, there were few Brahmins and other high casts and the rest of them were from
the low caste.22
16
Rajamanickam, Founder of the Madurai Mission, 115.
17
Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History, 118.
18
The Society of Jesus, [Link] Accessed on 11th February, 2023.
19
Ibid.
20
Woba James, “History of Christianity in India”, (Delhi: Christian World Imprints, 2019), 26-27.
21
Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History, 116, 117.
22
Ibid.
3
3.3. Persecution: He then pursued his way to Sendamangalam, a principality under the Nayaks of
Madura. He was well received by the Prince. From there Nobili went to Salem. Here he was
received with coldness. The year 1640 saw a persecution start at Trichy and spreading to
Madurai. It was occasioned by the refusal of Pariya Christian to give his daughter in marrige
to a rich non-Christian of the same group. At the request of the later Venkatraya Pillai the
brother in law of Thirumalai Nayak had arrested Fr. Immanuel Martins with four of his
neophytes. They were thrown into prison, tortured and then driven out of the town. At about
the same time, Fr. Nobili and Fr. Maya were imprisoned at Madurai on 22 nd July 1640 along
with his companion Separtiao de Maya by Venkatraya Pillai an official of Tirumalai Nayak.
However, on the intervention of Tirumalai Nayak, the two sanyasis were released.23

3.4. Last Days: Due to deterioration in his health, he was transferred from there to Mylapore in
Madras. Here he built himself a small cottage and spent his last days in the company of his
first converts and old associates. De Nobili retired from the Mission in 1648 due to old age
and blindness. His time was divided between literary composition, prayer and contemplation.
After a very brief span of rest here, he died on 16th January 1695. He was beyond doubt the
greatest of the Missionaries sent out to India by the Society of Jesus. In short, he was the real
founder of the Madura Mission. De Nobili's companion, After Robert de Nobili, great
personalities like St. John de Britto (1647-1693), Constantine Joseph Beschi continued the
mission. 24

Conclusion: The Jesuit Madurai mission (from 1606) made Catholicism into a kind of
Brahmanic religion, which then became embedded in the pre-colonial regional social and
political system. Here Catholic saints were indigenized as power divinities within a local
sacred geography, received patronage from Hindu kings, and were worshipped through Tamil
temple forms. Meanwhile, missionary priests became crucial mediators of political honours.

When Robert de Nobili visited Madurai in 1606 and found it an ideal place for evangelization
and conversion; so he founded “Madurai Mission”. He had converted many high caste Hindu
peoples in Christianity by his indigenisation method. He had revealed himself as a Sannyasi
or Guru. De Nobili spent the rest of his life living as an ascetic in the manner of the Hindu
holy men. With this strategy, he had considerable success in converting members of both the
higher and the lower castes to Christianity. De Nobili adopted the garb of Brahmin scholars,
gave up meat, and carried the walking stick and water jug used by Hindu monks. He learned
Sanskrit to read Hinduism’s holy books, and translated Christian psalms and prayers into
Tamil.

23
Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, [Link], Banglore, 1992, 221, 222.
24
Firth, “An Introduction to Indian Church History”,.. 118.
4
Bibliography

Jayakumar, A. “History of Christianity in India”. West Bengal: Kolkata, Sceptre, 2013.

Madura A Tourist Guide. Delhi: Gyan Publishing House, 2020.

Rajamanickam, S. "Founder of the Madurai Mission- Robert de Nobili, in Christianity in

India: Its True Face”. Tamil Nadu: The CBCI Commission for Evangelization, 1981.

Kuriakose, M K. History of Christianity in India: Source Materials. Delhi: ISPCK. 1999.

Edlund, Roger. E. H. Christianity is Indian the emergence of an indigenous community.

Delhi: ISPCK. 2004.

C.B Firth, “An Introduction to Indian Church History”, Delhi: ISPCK, 2008.

James, Woba. “History of Christianity in India”. Delhi: Christian World Imprints, 2019.

Thekkedath, Joseph. “History of Christianity in India”. [Link], Banglore, 1992.

Web Bibliography

The Society of Jesus, [Link] Accessed on 11th

February, 2023.