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Rules of the Siamese Astronomy, for calculating the Motions of the Sun and Moon, translated from the Siamese, and since examined and explained by M. Cassini, a Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Excerpt from "A New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam"
Tome II
by Monsieur De La Loubere
Envoy Extraordinary from the French King, to the King of Siam, in the years 1687 and 1688. Wherein a full and curious Account is given of the Chinese Way of Arithmetick, and Mathematick Learning. In Two Tomes, Illustrated with Sculptures. Done out of French, by A.P. Gen. R.S.S.
1693

Tome II, p. 186-199

Rules of the Siamese Astronomy, for calculating the Motions of the Sun and Moon, translated from the Siamese, and since examined and explained by M. Cassini, a Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Monsieur de la Loubere, the King's Ambassador extraordinary at Siam brought back a Siamese Manuscript, which comprehends the Rules for calculating the motions of the Sun and Moon, according to the method of that Country, the Translation thereof he likewise brought from Siam, and communicated unto me.

This method is extraordinary. They make no use of Tables; but only the Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division of certain numbers, of which we do not presently discern the Ground, nor to what these numbers refer.

Under these numbers are conceal'd divers Periods of Solar Years, of Lunar Months, and other Revolutions, and the Relation of the one with the other. Under these numbers are likewise conceal'd several sorts of Epoches which are not distinguished, as the Civil Epoche, the Epoche of the Lunar Months, that of the Equinoxes, Apogaea, and Solar Cycle. The numbers in which the difference between these Epoches consists, are not ordinarily at the head of the Operations to which they serve, as they ought to be according to the Natural Order: they are often mixed with certain numbers, and the Sums or differences are multiplied or divided by others, for they are not always simple numbers, but frequently they are Fractions, sometimes Simple, sometimes Compound, without being ranged after the manner of Fractions, the Numerator being sometimes in one Article, and the Denominator in another; as if they had had a contrived design to conceal the Nature and Use of these numbers. In the Calculation of the Sun, they intermix some things which appertain only to the Moon, and others which are not necessary, either to the one or to the other, without making any distinction. They confound together the Solar and the Lunisolar Years, the Months of the Moon, and the Months of the Sun, the Civil and the Astronomical Months, the Days Natural and the Days Artificial. The Zodiack is divided sometimes into twelve Signs, according to the number of the Month of the Year, sometimes into 27 parts, according to the number of the Days that the Moon runs through the Zodiack, and sometimes in 30 parts, according to the number of the Days, that the Moon returns to the Sun. In the Division of the Day there is no discourse of Hours; but therein is found the 11th the 703d and the 800th parts of the Day, which result from the Arithmetical Operations which are prescribed.

This Method is ingenious; and being illustrated, rectified, and purged from Superfluities, it will be of some use, being practicable without books, by the means of divers Cycles, and of the difference of their Epoches. Wherefore it is that I have endeavoured to decypher it, what difficult soever I found at first, not only by reason of the confusion which everywhere appeared, and of the Names which are wanting in the supposed numbers; but likewise by reason of the extraordinary names, which are given to what results from the Operations, of which there are more than Twenty which have not been interpreted by the Translator, and of which I could never have found the Signification, if I had not first discover'd the method; which has likewise evinced to me, that the Interpretation, which the Translator has made of three or four other names, is not very exact.

In this research I have first distinguished, and separated from the other numbers, those which belong to the Epoches, having observed that these numbers, are those which were given to add or to subtract, either simply, or by dividing or multiplying them by certain other numbers.

Secondly, I have considered the Analogies which result from the Multiplications and Divisions of the other numbers, separated from the Epoches; and it is in the terms of these Analogies, that I have found the Periods of the Years, of the Months, and of the Days, and the differences of the one from the other, which the experience of things Astronomical, and the occasion of divers operations which I have made, has been me to understand.

I thought that the Missionaries, to whom Astronomy gives admittance amongst the great and learned throughout the East, might reap some advantage from this work, for the Understanding, and for the Explication of the Oriental Astronomy, which might easily be rectified and adapted to ours, with a little altering the Method, by correcting the numbers which it uses.

I thought also that it would not be useless to reduce the Astronomy of Europe to this form, to be able to supply the want of the Tables which greatly abridge the work. This method would be much more easie to practice in the form of the Julian and Gregorian year of which we make use, than in the form of the Lunisolar year, which the Orientals observe: for their principal difficulty consists in reducing the Lunisolar years and the Civil Lunary months to the years and months of the Sun, which the form of our Kalender immediately gives us; and what has given me the most trouble, has been to find out the method which they use to reduce them, in which the several sorts of Years, Months and Days, which are supposed and sought, are not distinguished. Wherefore the reason of the Explication which I give, and of the Determination of the Genus to the Species which I make in the beginning, will not presently be understood; but in the sequel it will be comprehended by the Connexion of things, and by what necessarily results therefrom.

The jurisprudence of the Hindus and Arabs being the field which I have chosen for my peculiar toil, you cannot expect that I should greatly enlarge your collection of historical knowledge; but I may be able to offer you some occasional tribute; and I cannot help mentioning a discovery which accident threw in my way, though my proofs must be reserved for an essay which I have destined for the fourth volume of your Transactions. To fix the situation of that Palibothra (for there may have been several of the name) which was visited and described by Megasthenes, had always appeared a very difficult problem, for though it could not have been Prayaga, where no ancient metropolis ever stood, nor Canyacubja, which has no epithet at all resembling the word used by the Greeks; nor Gaur, otherwise called Lacshmanavati, which all know to be a town comparatively modern, yet we could not confidently decide that it was Pataliputra, though names and most circumstances nearly correspond, because that renowned capital extended from the confluence of the Sone and the Ganges to the site of Patna, while Palibothra stood at the junction of the Ganges and Erannoboas, which the accurate M. D'Ancille had pronounced to be the Yamuna; but this only difficulty was removed, when I found in a classical Sanscrit [Sanskrit] book, near 2000 years old, that Hiranyabahu, or golden armed, which the Greeks changed into Erannoboas, or the river with a lovely murmur, was in fact another name for the Sona itself; though Megasthenes, from ignorance or inattention, has named them separately. This discovery led to another of greater moment, for Chandragupta, who, from a military adventurer, became like Sandracottus the sovereign of Upper Hindustan, actually fixed the seat of his empire at Pataliputra, where he received ambassadors from foreign princes; and was no other than that very Sandracottus who concluded a treaty with Seleucus Nicator; so that we have solved another problem, to which we before alluded, and may in round numbers consider the twelve and three hundredth years before Christ, as two certain epochs between Rama, who conquered Silan a few centuries after the flood, and Vicramaditya, who died at Ujjayini fifty-seven years before the beginning of our era.

-- Discourse X. Delivered February 28, 1793, P. 192, Excerpt from "Discourses Delivered Before the Asiatic Society: And Miscellaneous Papers, on The Religion, Poetry, Literature, Etc. of the Nations of India", by Sir William Jones

Concerning the Astronomical Epocha of this Method.

I have endeavoured to discover what is the Epoche, from whence they here begin to compute the Motions of the Sun and Moon; and to what year, what month, and what day of our Kalender it refers: for it is not treated of in this extract, which supposes it either known, or explained perhaps in the preceding Chapters from whence this extract has been taken, seeing that without the knowledge of the Epocha, it is absolutely impossible to practice this Method.

I have found that this Epoche is Astronomical, and that it is different from the Civil, which I have understood, because it is here prescribed to begin to compute the Months of the Year, current with the fifth Month in the Leap Year, which consists of 13 Months, and with the sixth Month in the common Year, which consists of 12 Months. For this would not be intelligible, if they supposed not two different Epoches of Years, the one whereof, which must be the Astronomical, begins sometimes in the fifth, and sometimes in the sixth Month of the other, which is the Civil. That which likewise evinc'd to me that the Astronomical Epoche, is different from the Civil Epocha, not only in the Months, but also in the Years, is the Operation which is here made to find the Year of ones Nativity, by subtracting his Age from the number of the Years elaps'd since the Epocha; for this Operation would be useless, if they demand only the Year of the Birth after the Civil Epocha, which is immediately known, and which is compared to the Year current, to know the Age of a Person.

This being supposed, I have first searched out the Age to which this Astronomical Epocha may refer; and having found in the Calculation of the Sun performed by this method, that two Signs and twenty Degrees which are therein employed, can only denote the place of the Zodiack, where was found the Apogaeum of the Sun in the Epocha, which Apogaeum must be in the twentieth Degree of Gemini; I judged that this Epocha must be about the seventh Age, where the Apogaeum of the Sun is found in the twentieth Degree of Gemini according to most Astronomical Tables.

Secondly, having found that the number 621, which is intermixed in the Calculation of the Sun, can only be the number of the days comprized, between the Astronomical Epocha, and the return of the Moon's Apogaeum, to the beginning of the Zodiack; and that the number 3232, which is afterwards employed therein, can be only the number of the Days, during which, this Apogaeum makes a Revolution; I have confirmed that the Apogaeum of the Moon which in 621 Days makes two Signs and nine Degrees, was in this Epocha, in the 21 Degrees of Capricorn: And because that the Moon's Apogaeum by the Revolution it makes in eight Years three quarters, returns to the same degree of the Zodiack twelve times in one Age; I have distinguished the Years of the Age, in which the Moon's Apogaeum is found in this Degree, and I have excluded the other Year.

Thirdly, having found by the method here used for Calculating the place of the Sun, that this Astronomical Epocha is very near the vernal AEquinox, which in the seventh Age fell on the 10th or 21st of March; Amongst these select Years I have found one in which the Moon's Apogaeum, arrived at this Degree of Capricorn, about the 21st of March, which is found but once in 62 Years, wanting some Degrees; and I have found that in the 638th Year of Jesus Christ, the Apogaeum of the Moon was at the 21st Degree of Capricorn the 21st of March.

Fourthly, I have remarked that this Astronomical Epocha must have begun at a new Moon; because the Lunar Months are reduced into Days, to find the number of the Days from the Epocha, and the value of the whole Months being deducted from the Sum of the Days, the test serves to find the Moon's distance from the Sun.

In the 638th Year of Jesus Christ, the AEquinoxial new Moon happened teh 21st of March at three a Clock in the Morning at Siam, when the Sun by its middle Motion ran through the first degree of Aries, the Sun's Apogaeum being in the 20th Degree of Gemini, and the Moon's in the 21st Degree of Capricorn. This Day was likewise remarkable for a great Eclipse of the Sun, which happened the same day, but 14. Hours after the mean Conjunction.

Fifthy, By the manner of find the day of the week, which is here observed, it appears that the day of the Epocha, was a Saturday, and th3 21st of March, in the Year 638 was also a Saturday. This likewise confirms the certainty of this Epocha, and demonstrates the Knowledge and Judgment of those that have established it, who contented not themselves with a Civil Epocha, as other astronomers have done: but who have chosen an Astronomical one, which was the Natural Principle of several Revolutions, which could not begin again, till after several Ages. This Epocha is 5 Years and 278 Days distant from the Persian Epocha of Jesdegerdes, the first year of which began on the 16th of June, in the Year of Jesus Christ, 632. Yet these Indian Rules are not taken from the Persian Tables related by Crosotoca; for these Tables do make the Sun's Apogaeum two degrees more backward, and the Moon's Apogaeum above six degrees forwarder; which agrees not so exactly with our modern Tables. The Persian Tables do also make the Sun's AEquation 12 Minutes less, and that of the Moon 4 Minutes greater; which agrees better with the Moderns.

These Indian Rules are not drawn neither from the Tables of Ptolemy, where the Sun's Apogaeum is fixed to the 5th degree and a half of Gemini; nor from the other Tables since made, which have all this moveable Apogaeum. It seems therefore that they have been invented by the Indians; or that perhaps they have been taken from the Chinese Astronomy, as may be conjectured from this, that in this extract the Numbers are written from the top downwards, after the manner of the Chineses: but it may be that this way of writing the numbers might be common to these two Nations.

Having found the Astronomical Epocha of this method, and the Relation is has with the Julian years; we may rectifie teh Epocha's of the motions of the Sun and Moon by the modern Tables, by adding about a Minute a Year to the Sun's apogaeum, and by correcting the other Periods. Thus there will be no difficulty, to reduce the Years and Months since the Epocha into days; and if the Equations are likewise corrected conformably to the modern Tables, we shall by the same Method, find the place of the Sun and Moon with a great deal more exactness. We will give this Correction, with the Supplement of what is wanting in these Rules, after that we have explained them.

Rules to find the place of the Sun and Moon at the time of any Person's Birth / Explication.

I. / I.

1st. Set down the AEra / 1st. The Aera in this place is the number of the years since the Astronomical Epocha from whence is take the motion of the Planets to the current year; which will appear in the sequel.

2nd. Subtract the Age of the Person from the AEra, you will have the Age of the Birth. / 2nd, The Age of the Person, is the number of the Years from his Birth to the Year current, which being deducted from the AEra, there remains the Age or time of the Birth, that is to say, the Year from the Astronomical Epoche in which the Nativity happened.

3rd. Multiply it by 12. / 3rd. By multiplying the years by 12 they are reduced into Months. These Months will be solar, each consisting of 30 days, 10 hours and a half, a little more or less, according to the several Hypotheses, if the years are solar; or near upon if they are lunisolar, and in so great number, that the excess of the one recompences the defect of the others.

4th. Add hereunto the number of the Months of the year current1 and for this purpose if the year current is Attikamaat, that is to say, if it has 13 Lunar months, you shall begin to compute with the 5th month; but if it is not Attikamaat, you shall begin to compute with the 6th month. / The Form of the Year here mentioned, is lunisolar, seeing there are some common of 12 lunar months, and abundant or Embolismal, called Attikmaas, of 13 lunar months. For that they begin to compute the months, not with the first month of the year, but with the fifth, if it is Leap year, and with the sixth if it is not: I have inferred that there are two Epocha's, and two forms of different Years, the one Astronomical and the other Civil: that the first Month of the Astronomical Year begins in the fifth Month of the Civil Leap year, which would be the sixth Month without the intercalation of the Leap month, which is not reckoned amongst the 12 Months, and which is supposed to be inserted before; and that in the Other Years, all the Months of which are successively computed without Intercalation, the first Month of the Astronomical Year, is computed only from the sixth Month of the Civil Year.

But as it is not expressly determined here, whether one ought to begin to compute an entire month at the beginning or end of the 5th or 6th month, it may be that for the first month of the Astronomical Year they take, that which ends at the beginning of the months whereof it is discourses in this Article. In this case, the Interval between the beginning of the Civil Year, and the beginning of the Astronomical Year, would be only of 3 or 4 entire months: whereas if an entire month is reckoned only at the end of the 5th or 6th month, and that the first month which is reckoned, according to this Rule, be the first of the Astronomical Year; the interval between the beginnings of these two sorts of years, will be 4 or 5 whole months. We shall see in the sequel, that the Indians have diverse sorts of Astronomical Years, the beginnings of which are different, and are not much distant from the Vernal AEquinox; whereas the Civil Year must begin before the Winter Solstice, sometimes in the month of November, sometimes in the month of December of the Gregorian Year.

They add the number of the months of the current year, which are lunar months, to those that they have found by the third Article, which are solar months; and they suppose that the sum, as heterogeneous as it is, should be equal to the number of the solar months elapsed from the Astronomical Epochs. They neglect the different that there may be, which in a year cannot amount to an entire month: but they might be deceived a month in the succession of the years, if they took not good heed to the Intercalations of the months, after which the number of the months which are computed in the Civil Year, is lesser than that which they would reckon without the precedent Intercalations.

5th. Multiply by 7 the number found Art. 4.

6th. Divide the sum by 228.

7th. Joyn the quotient of the division to the number found Art. 4. This will give you the Maasaken (that is to say, the number of the months) which you shall keep.

-- / 5th, 6th, 7th. They here seek the number of the lunar months from the Astronomical Epocha, discoursed of in the 1st Article, to the beginning of the current month: which is performed by reducing the solar months, which are supposed to have been found above, into lunar months, by the means of the difference, which is between the one and the other. In the operations which are made, it is supposed that as 228 is to 7, so the number of the solar months given, is to the difference which the number of the lunary months surpasses the number given of the solar months elapsed, during the same space of time; that thus in 228 solar months, which do make 19 years, there are 228 lunary months, and 7 months more, that is to say 235 lunary months. This therefore is a Period like to that of Numa and Mero, and to our Cycle of the golden number of 19 years, during which the Moon rejoyn'd it self 235 times to the Sun.

Yet in the sequel we shall see, that these Periods which accord together in the number of the lunar months and solar years, agree not in the number of the hours, by reason of the greatness of the solar year and of the lunar month, which is supposed various in these several Periods: and that the Indian is not subject to a fault so great, as the ancient Cycle of the Golden Number, which they have been obliged to expunge out of the Roman Kalender, in the Gregorian correction, because it gave the new Moons later than they are, almost a day in 312 years; whereas the New Moons determined by this Indian Period, agree with the true in this interval of time to near an hour, as will be found by comparing these Rules with the following.

II. / II.

1. Set down the Maasaken / --

2. Multiply it by 30 / --

3. Joyn thereunto the days of the current Month. / The months of the Moon are here reduced into days: but because they make all the months to consist of 30 days, there only will be some artificial months about 11 hours 16 minutes longer than the Astronomical, or some artificial days which begin at the New Moons, and are 22 minutes, 32 seconds shorter than the natural days of 24 hours, which begin always at the return of the Sun to the same Meridian.

4. Multiply the whole by 11. / --

5. Add thereunto also the number of 650. / They reduce the days into 11 parts, by multiplying them by 113 and they add thereto 650 elevenths, which do make 59 days and [illegible]. I find that these 59 days and 1/11 are the artificial days, which were elapsed to the day of the Epocha, since that an eleventh part of the natural day, and an eleventh of the artificial had began together under the meridian of the Indies, to which these Rules are accommodated.

6. Divide the whole by 703. / --

7. Keep the Numerator which you shall call Anamaan. / --

8. Take the quotient of the Fraction found Art. 6, and subtract it from the number found Art. 3. The remainder will be the Horoconne (that is to say, the number of the days of the AEra) which you shall keep. / Having laid apart what is always added by the 5th. Article, it appears by the 2d, 3d, 4th, 6th and 8th, operation, that as 703 is to 11, so the number of the artificial days, which results from the Operations of the 2d, and 3d. Art. is to the number of the days deducted to have the number of the natural days, which answers to this number of the artificial days: whence it appears, that by making the lunar month to consist of 30 artificial days, 703 of these days do surpass the number of the natural days, which equal them above eleven days.

One may find the greatness of the Lunar Month, which results from this Hypothesis: for if 703 Artificial Days do give an excess of 11 Days 30 of these Days which do make a Lunar Month, do give an excess of 163/303? in the Day; and as 703 is to 330, so 24 Hours are to 11 Hours, 15 Minutes, 57 Seconds; and deducting this Overpins from 30 Days, there remains 29 Days, 12 Hours, 44 Minutes, 3 Seconds for the Lunar Month, which agrees within a Second to the Lunar Month determined by our Astronomers.

As to the value of 59 Days and 1/11 which is added before the Division, it appears that if 703 Days do give 11 to subtract, 59 Days and 1/11 do give [x] in the Day, which do make 22 Hours, 11 Minutes and a half, by which the end of the Artificial Day, must arrive before the end of the Natural Day, which is taken for the Epocha.

The anamsan is the number of 703 part of the Day, which remain from the end of the Artificial Day, to the end of the current Natural Day. Use is made hereof in the sequel to calculate the motion of the Moon, as shall be afterwards explained.

The Quotient which is taken from the number of the Days found by the third Art. is the difference of the entire Days, which is found between the number of the Artificial Days, and the number of the Natural Days from the Epocha.

The Herotonne is the number of the Natural Days elapsed from the Astronomical Epocha to the current Day. It should seem that in rigour the Addition of the Days of the current Month, prescribed by the third Article, should not be made till after the Multiplication and Division, which serves to find the difference of the Artificial Days from the Natural, because that the Days of the Current Month are Natural, and not Artificial of 30 per mensem: but by the sequel it appears that this is done more exactly to have the Anamaan which serves for the calculation of the motion of the Moon.

III. / IIII.

1. Set down the Horoconne.

2. Divide it by 7.

3. The Numerator of the Fraction is the day of the Week. / It follows from this Operation and Advertisement, that if after the Division there remains 1, the current day will be a Sunday; and if nothing remains, it will be a Saturday: The Astronomical Epocha of the Horoconne is therefore a Saturday.

Note, That the first day of the Week is Sunday.

If it be known likewise what day of the Week is the day current, it will be seen whether the Precedent Operations have been well made.

IV. / IV.

1. Set down the Horoconne.

2. Multiply it by 800.

3. Subtract it by 373.

4. Divide it by 292207.

5. The Quotient will be the AEra, and the Numerator of the Fraction will be the Krommethiapponne, which you shall keep. / The days are here reduced into 800 parts. The number 373 of the third Article makes [x] of the day, which do make 11 hours and 11 minutes. They can proceed only from the difference of the Epochas, or from some correction, seeing that it is always the same number that is subtracted. The Epocha of this fourth Section may therefore be 11 hours and 11 minutes after the former.

The AEra will be a number of Periods of Days from this new Epocha, 800 of which will make 292207. The Question is to know what these Periods will be? 800 Gregorian Years, which very nearly approach as many Tropical Solar Years, do make 292194 Days. If then we suppose that the AEra be the number of the Tropical Solar Years from the Epocha, 800 of these Years will be 13 Days too long, according to the Gregorian correction.

But if we suppose that they are Anomalous Years, during which the Sun returns to his Apogeum, or Astral Years during which the Sun returns to the same fixt Star; there will be almost no error: for in 13 Days, which is the overplus of 800 of these Periods above 800 Gregorian Years, the Sun by its middle motion makes 12d. 48'. 48" which the Apogeum of the Sun does in 800 Years by reason of 57". 39'". per annum. Albategnius makes the Annual motion of the Sun's Apogeum 59". 4'". and that of the fix'd Stars 54". 34'". and there are some modern Astronomers which do make this annual motion of the Sun's Apogaeum 57". and that of the fix'd Stars 51"3. Therefore if what is here called AEra, is the number of the Anomalous or Astral Years: these Years will be almost conformable to those which are established by the antient and modern Astronomers. Nevertheless it appears by the following Rules, that they use this form of Year as if it were Tropical, during which the Sun returns to the same place of the Zodiack, and that it is not distinguished from the other two sorts of Years.

The Krommethiapponne which remains after the preceeding Division, that is to say, after having taken all the entire Years from the Epocha, will therefore be the 800 parts of the Day, which remain after the Sun's return to the same place of the Zodiack: and it appears by the following Operations that this place was the beginning of Aries. Thus according to this Hypothesis the Vernal middle AEquinox will happen 11 Hours 11' after the Epocha of the preceeding Section.

V. / V.

1. Set down the Krommethiapponne.

2. Subtract from it the AEra.

3. Divide the remainder by 2.

4. Neglecting the Fraction, subtract 1 from the quotient.

5. Divide the remainder by 7, the Fraction will give you the day of the Week.

Note, That when I shall say the Fraction, I mean only of the Numerator. / Seeing that in the third Art. the day of the week is found by the Horoconne, after a very easie manner, it is needless to stay on this which is longer and more compounded.

VI. / VI.

1. Horoconne.

2. Subtract from it 621.

3. Divide the remainder by 3232. The Fraction is called Outhiapponne, which you shall keep. / This Subtraction of 628, which is always deducted from the Horoconne, what number soever the Horoconne contains, denotes an Epocha, which is 621 days after the Epocha of the Horoconne.

The number 3232 must be the number of the Days, which the Moon's Apogaeum employs in running through the Circle of the Zodiack: 3232 Days to make 8 Indian Years and 310 Days. During that time this Apogaeum finishes a Revolution after the rate of 6'. 41". which it performs in a Day, even according to the Astronomers of Europe. The Apogaeum of the Moon does consequently finish its Revolution 621 days after the Epocha of the Horoconne. 'Tis here performed then; as 3232 days are to a Revolution of the Apogaeum, so the number of the days is to the number of the Revolutions of the Apogaeum. They keep the remainder which is the number of the days called Onthiapponne. The Outhiapponite will therefore be the number of days elapsed from the return of the Moon's Apogaeum to the beginning of the Zodiac; which will more evidently appear in the sequel.

If you would have the day of the Week by the Outhiappone, take the Zuotient of the aforesaid Division; multiply it by 5, then joyn it to the Outhiapponne, then subtract thence two days, divide it by 7, the Fraction will show the day.

Whatever is before is called Poulasouriat, as if one should say the Force of the Sun. / Having already explained the true method of finding the day of the Week, it is needless to stay here. Leaving the care of examining it, and searching the ground thereof, to those that shall have the curiosity.

Notwithstanding the name of the Sun's Force which is here given to the precedent Operations, it is certain that what has hitherto been explained, belongs not only to the Sun, but likewise to the Moon.

VII. / VII.

1. Set down the Krommethiapponne.

2. Divide it by 24350.

3. Keep the quotient, which will be the Raasi, that is to say, the Sign where the Sun will be. / To find what the number 24350 is; it is necessary to consider, that the Krommethiapponne are the 800 parts of the day which remains after the Sun's return to the same place of the Zodiac, and that the solar year contains 292207 of these parts, as has been declared in the explication of the fourth Section. The twelfth part of a year will therefore contain 24350 and 7/180? of these 800 parts: wherefore the number 2435- denotes the twelfth part of a solar year; during which the Sun by its middle motion makes a Sign.

Seeing then that [illegible] of a day do give a Sign, the Krommethiapponne divided by 24350 will give to the Quotient the Signs which the Sun has run since his return by his middle motion to the same place; The Raasi then is the number of the Signs; run through by the middle motion of the Sun. They here neglect the Fraction, 7/23? so that the solar year remains here of 292 [illegible], that is to say of 365 days 1/4?, like the Julian year.

4. Lay down the Fraction of the aforesaid Division, and divide it by 811.

5. The Quotient of the Division will be the Ongsaa, that is to say, the degree wherein the Sun will be. / Seeing that by the preceding Article 24 [illegible] of a day do give a Sign of the Sun's middle Motion, the 30th part of 24 150/ooo will give a degree which is the 30th part of a Sign. The 30th part of 24330 is 811; which do make a degree: dividing the remainder by 811 [illegible], they will have the degree of the Sun's middle motion. Here they neglect that ; which can make no considerable difference.

6. Set down the Fraction of this last Division, and divide it by 14.

7. The Quotient will be the Libedaa, this is to say the Minute.

8. Subtract 3 from the Libedaa.

9. Place what belongs to the Libedaa, underneath the Ongsaa, and the Ongsaa underneath the Raasi: This will make a Figure which shall be called the Mettejomme of the sun, which you shall keep. I suppose it is locus medius Solis. / Seeing that in a degree there are [illegible] parts; in a minute, which is the 60th part of a degree, there will be 13!! of these parts. Neglecting the Fraction, they take the number 14, which dividing the remainder, will give the minutes. The Subtraction which is here made of three minutes is a reduction whereof we shall speak in the sequel.

It is here prescribed to put the Degrees under the Signs, and the Minutes under the Degrees in this manner.

Raasi, Signs.
Ongsaa, Degrees.
Libedaa, Minutes.

This Disposition of the Signs, Degrees, and Minutes one under the other is called a Figure, and it here denotes the middle place of the Sun.

VIII. / VIII.

To find the true place of the Sun,

1. Set down the Mettejomme of the Sun, that is to say, the figure which comprehends what is in the Raasi, Ongsaa and Libedaa.

2. Subtract 2 from the Raasi. But if this cannot be, add 12 to the Raasi, to be able to do it, then do it.

3. Subtract 20 from the Ongsaa. But if this cannot be, deduct 1 from the Raasi, which will amount to 30 in the Ongsaa, then you shall deduct the aforesaid 20. / The number 2[?], which is subtracted from the Raasi, in the second Article, and the number 20 in the third Article, are 2 Signs and 20 degrees, which doubtless denotes the place of the Suns Apogaeum according to this Hypothesis; in which there is not seen any number which answers to the motion of the Apogaeum. It appears then that this Apogaeum is supposed fix'd to the 20th degree of Gemini, which precedes the true place of the Apogaeum, 25 it is at present 17 degrees, which this Apogaeum performs not in less than 1000 years, or thereabouts: From whence it may be judged that the Epocha of this method is about a thousand years before the present age. But as the greatness of the year agrees better here with the Suns return to the Apogaeum and the fixed Stars, than with the Suns return to the Equinoxes; it may be that the beginning of the Signs here used, is not at present in the Equinoxial point, but that it is advanced 17 or 18 degrees, and so it will be necessary to be corrected by the Anticipation of the Equinoxes. Here then they subtract the Suns Apogaeum from its middle placed called Mattejomme, to have the Suns Anomalia: and the number of the signs of this Anomalia is that which they call Kenne.

4. What will afterwards remain, shall be called Kenne. / It appeareth by these Rules that the Kanne is the number of the half-signs of the distance of the Apogaeum or Periganat [?], taken according to the succession of the Signs, according as the Sun is nearer one term than the other: So than in the 5th Article is taken the distance of the Apogaeum according to the succession of the Signs; in Article 6th the distance of the Perigaum, against the succession of the Signs: in Article 7th the distance of the Perigaum according to the succession of the Signs; and in Article 8th the distance of the Apogaeum, contrary to the succession of the Signs. In the 6th, 7th, and 8th Articles it seems, that it must always be understood. Multiply the Raasi by 2, as it appears in the sequel.

In the 6th Article when the degrees of the Anomalia exceed 15, they add 1 to the Kanne; because that the Kanne, which is a half Sign, amounts to 15 degrees.

The degrees and minutes of the Kanne are here reduced into minutes, the number of which is called the Ponchalit.

It appears by these Operations, that the Chaajaa is the AEquation of the Sun calculated from 15 to 15 degrees, the first number of which is 35, the second 67, the third 94; and that they are minutes, which are to one another as the Sinns of 15, 30, and 45 degrees from whence

It follows that the Equation of 60, 75, and 90 degrees are 116, 129, 134. / 35-67-94-116-129-134

which are set apart in this form, and do answer in order to the number of the Kanne, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

As for the other degrees they take the proportional part of the difference of one number to the other, which answers to 15 degrees, which do make 900 minutes, making: as 900, to the difference of two Equations; so the minutes which are in the overplus of the Kanne, to the proportional part of the Equation, which it is necessary to add to the minutes which answer to the Kanne to make the total Equation. They reduce these minutes of the Equation into degrees and minutes, dividing them by 60. The greatest Equation of the Sun is here of 2 degrees, 12 min. The Alphonsine Tables do make it 2 degrees, 10 minutes: We find it of 1 degree, 57 minutes. They apply the Equation to the middle place of the Sun, to have its true place which is called Sommepont.

5. If the Kenne is 0, 1, or 2, multiply it by 2, you will have the Kanne.

6. If the Kenne is 3, 4, or 5; you shall subtract the figure from this figure 5-29-60, which is called Attathiat, and amounts to 6 Signs.

7. If the Kenne is 6, 7, 8; subtract 6 from the Raasi, the remainder will be the Kanne.

8. If the Kenne is 9, 10, 11; subtract the figure from this figure 11-29-60 which is called Touataasamounetonne, and amounts to 12 Signs: the remainder in the Raasi will be the Kanne.

9. If you can deduct 15 from the Ongsaa, add 1 to the Kanne, if you cannot, add nothing.

10. Multiply the Ongsaa by 60.

11. Add thereunto the Libedaa, this will be the Pouchalit, which you shall keep.

12. Consider the Kanne. If the Kanne is 0, take the first number of the Chaajaa of the Sun, which is 35; and multiply it by the Pouchalit.

13. If the Kanne is some other number, take according to the number, the number of the Chajaa aattit, and subtract it from the number underneath. Then what shall remain in the lower number, multiply by it the Pouchalit. As for example, if the Kanne is 1, subtract 35 from 67, and by the rest multiply. If the Kanne is 2, subtract 67 from 94, and by the rest multiply the Pouchalit.

14. Divide the Sum of the Pouchalit multiplied by 900.

15. Add the Quotient to the superior number of the Chajaa, which you have made use of.

16. Divide the Sum by 60.

17. The quotient will be Ongsaa, the Fraction will be the Libedaa. Put an 0 in the place of the Raasi.

18. Set the figure found by the preceding Article over against the Mattejomme of the Sun.

19. Consider the Ken aforesaid. If the Ken is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; It is called Ken subtracting: Thus you shall subtract the figure found in the 17 Article from the Mattejomme of the Sun.

20. If the Ken is 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, it is called Ken additional: So you shall joyn the said figure to the Mattejomme of the Sun: which will give out at last the Sommepont of the Sun, which you shall precisely keep.

19. [21?] This Equation, conformably to the rule of our Astronomers in the first demi-circle of the Anomalia, is subtractive; and in the second demi-circle, additional. Here they perform the Arithmetical operations placing one under the other, what we place side-ways; and on the contrary, placing side-ways what we place one under the other. As for Example:

-- / The Mattejomme / The Chajaa / The Sommepont / --

Raasi / 8 / 0 / 8 / Signs

Ongsaa / 25 / 2 / 27 / Degrees

Libedaa / 40 / 4 / 44 / Minutes

-- / Middle Place / Equation / True Place / --

IX. / IX.

1. Set down the Sommepont of the Sun.

2. Multiply by 30 what is in the Raagi.

3. Add thereto what is in the Ongsaa.

4. Multiply the whole by 60.

5. Add thereunto what is in the Libedaa.

6. Divide the whole by 800, the Quotient will be the Reuc of the Sun.

7. Divide the remaining Fraction by 13, the Quotient will be the Naati reuc, which you shall keep underneath the Reuc. / It appears by these Operations that the Indians divide the Zodiac into 17 equal parts, which are each of 13 degrees, 40 minutes. For by the six first Operations the signs are reduced into degrees, and the minutes of the true place of the Sun into minutes; an din dividing them afterwards by 800, they are reduced into 27 parts of a Circle; for 800 minutes are the 27th part of 21600 minutes which are in the Circle, the number of the 27 parts of the Zodiack are therefore called Reuc, each of which consists of 800 minutes, that is to say, of 13 degrees, 40 minutes. This division is grounded upon the diurnal motion of the Moon, which is about 13 Degrees, 40 Minutes; as the division of the Zodiack unto 360 Degrees has for foundation the diurnal motion of the Sun in the Zodiack, which is near a Degree.

The 60 of these parts is 13-1/3; as it appears in dividing 800 by 60, wherefore they divide the Remainder by 13, neglecting the fraction, to have what is here called Nati-reuc, which are the Minutes or 60 parts of a Reuc.

X. / X.

For the Moon. To find the Mattejomme of the Moon.

1. Set down the Anamaan.

2. Divide it by 25.

3. Neglect the Fraction, and joyn the Quotient with the Anamaan.

4. Divide the whole by 60, the Quotient will be Ongsaa, the Fraction will be Libedaa, and you shall put an 0 to the Raasi. / According to the 7th Article of the III Section, the Anamaan is the number of the 703 parts of the day, which remain from the end of the Artificial day to the end of the Natural day. Altho according to this rule, the Anamaan can never amount to 703: yet if 703 be set down for the Anamaan, and it be divided by 25, according to the 2d Article, they have 28 [illegible], for the Quotient. Adding 28 to 703, according to the third Article, the sum 731 will be a number of minutes of a degree. Dividing 731 by 60, according to the fourth Article, the Quotient which is 12d. 11', is the middle diurnal motion, by which the Moon removes from the Sun.

From what has been said in the II Section, it results that in 30 days the Anamaan augments 330. Dividing 330 by 24, there is in the Quotient 13 [illegible]. Adding this Quotient to the Anamaan, the summ is 343, that is to say, 5 d., 43'. which the Moon removes from the Sun in 30 days, besides the entire Circle.

The European Tables do make the diurnal motion of 12d, 11'. and middle motion in 39 days, of 5d. 43'., 21", besides the entire Circle.

5. Set down as many days as you have before put to the month current. Sect. II. n. 3.

6. Multiply this number by 12.

7. Divide the whole by 30 the Quotient, put it to the Raasi of the preceding figure which has an 0 at the Raasi, and joyn the fraction to the Ongsaa of the figure.

8. Joyn this whole figure to the Mattejomme of the Sun.

9. Subtract 40 from the Libedaa. But if this cannot be, you may deduct 1 from the Ongsaa, which will be 60 Libedaa.

10. What shall remain in the figure is the Mattejomme of the Moon sought. / After having found out the degrees and the minutes which agree to the Anamaan, they seek the signs and degrees which agree to the Artificial days of the current month. For to multiply them by 12, and to divide them by 30, is the same thing as to say, If thirty Artificial days do give 12 Signs, what will the Artificial days of the current month give? they will have the Signs in the Quotient. The Fractions are the 30ths of a Sign, that is to say, of the degrees. They joyn them therefore to the degrees found by the Anamaan, which is the surplusage of the Natural days above the Artificial.

The Figure here treated of is the Moons distance from the Sun, after they have deducted 40 minutes, which is either a Correction made to the Epocha, or the reduction of one Meridian to another: as shall be explain'd in the sequel. This distance of the Moon from the Sun being added to the middle place of the Sun, gives the middle-place of the Moon.

XI. / XI.

1. Set down the Outhiappone.

2. Multiply by 3.

3. Divide by 808.

4. Put the Quotient to the Raasi.

5. Multiply the fraction by 30.

6. Divide it by 808, the Quotient will be Ongsaa.

7. Take the remaining fraction, and multiply it by 60.

8. Divide the summ by 808, the Quotient will be Libedaa.

9. Add 2 to the Libedaa; the Raasi, the Ongsaa, and the Libedaa will be the Mattejomme of Louthia, which you shall keep. / Upon the VI. Section it is remarked that the Onthiapponne is the number of Days after the return of the Moon's Apogaeum, which is performed in 3232 Days: 808 Days are therefore the fourth part of the time of the Revolution of the Moon's Apogaeum, during which it makes 3 Signs, which are the fourth part of the Circle.

By these Operations therefore they find the motion of the Moon's Apogaeum, making as 808 Days are to 3 Signs; so the time passed from the return of the Moon's Apogaeum is to the motion of the same apogaeum during this time. It appears by the following Operation that this motion is taken from the same Principle of the Zodiack, from whence the motion of the Sun is taken.

The Mattepomme of Louthia, is the Place of the Moon's Apogaeum.

XII. / XII.

For the Sommepont of the Moon.

1. Set down the Mattejomme of the Moon.

2. Over against it set the Mattejomme of Louthia.

3. Subtract the Mattejomme of Louthia from the Mattejomme of the Moon.

4. What remains in the Raasi will be the Kenne.

5. If the Kenne is 0, 1, 2, multiply it by 2, and it will be the Kanne.

6. If the Ken is 3, 4, 5, subtract it from this figure: 5 / 29 / 60.

7. If the Ken is 6, 7, 8, subtract from it 6.

8. If the Ken is 9, 10, 11, subtract it from this figure: 11 / 29 / 60.

9. If the Kenne is 1 or 2, multiply it by 23 this will be the Kanne.

10. Deduct 15 from the Ongsaa, if possible; you shall add 1 to the Raasi; if not, you shall not do it.

11. Multiply the Ongsaa by 60, and add thereunto the Lebidaa, and it will be the Pouchalit, that you shall keep.

12. Take into the Moons Chajaa the number conformable to the Kanne, as it has been said of the Sun; subtract the upper number from the lower.

13. Take the remainder, and therewith multiply the Pouchalit.

14. Divide this by 900.

15. Add this Quotient to the upper number of the Moons Chajaa.

16. Divide this by 60, the Quotient will be Ongsaa, the Fraction Libedaa, and an 0 for the Raasi.

17. Opposite to this figure set the Mattejomme of the Moon.

18. Consider the Ken. If the Ken is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, subtract the figure of the Moons Mettejomme; if the Ken is 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, join the two figures together, and you will have the Sommepont of the Moon, which you shall keep. / All these Rules are conformable to those of the VIII. Section, to find the place of the Sun, and are sufficiently illustrated, by the explication made of that Section.

The difference in the Chajaa of the Moon, discoursed of in the 14th and 15th Article. This Chajaa consists in these numbers: 77 / 1_8 / 209 / 256 / 286 / 296.

The greatest Equation of the Moon is therefore of 4 degrees 56 minutes, as some Modern Astronomers do make it, though the generality do make it of 5 degrees in the Conjunctions and Oppositions.

XIII. / XIII.

Set down the Sommepont of the Moon, and operating as you have done in the Sommepont of the Sun, you will find the Reuc and Nattireuc of the Moon. / This Operations has been made for the Sun in the IX Section. It is to find the position of the Moon in her Stations, which are the 27 parts of the Zodiac.

XIV. / XIV.

1. Set down the Sommepont of the Moon.

2. Over against it set the Sommepont of the Sun.

3. Subtract the Sommepont of the Sun from the Sommepont of the Moon, and the Pianne will remain, which you shall keep. / The Pianne is therefore the Moon's distance from the Sun.

XV. / XV.

1. Take the Pianne and set it down.

2. Multiply the Raasi by 30, add the Ongsaa thereunto.

3. Multiply the whole by 60, and thereunto add the Libedaa.

4. Divide the whole by 720, the Quotient is called Itti, which you shall keep.

5. Divide the Fraction by 12, the quotient will be Natti itti.

The end of the Souriat. / These three first Operations do serve to reduce the Moon's distance from the Sun into minutes; dividing it by 720, it is reduced to the 30 part of a Circle, for 720 minutes are the 30th part of 21600 minutes, which do make the whole circumference. The ground of this division is the Moons diurnal motion from the Sun, which is near the 30th part of the whole Circle. They consider then the Position of the Moon, not only in the Signs and in her stations, but also in the 30th parts of the Zodiack, which do each consist of 12 degrees, and are called itti; dividing the remainder by 12, they have the minutes, or sixtieth parths of an itti, which do each consist of 12 minutes of degrees, which the Moon removes from the Sun in the sixtieth part of a day; these sixtieth parts are called natti itti.

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Part 1 of 2

Nalanda Mahavihara: Victim of a Myth regarding its Decline and Destruction
by O.P. Jaiswal
Mainstream Weekly
Monday 18 June 2018

[T]he Shaman Hwui-li, took up his tablets and wrote the life of Hiuen-Tsiang. The Master had already written his immortal Si-yu-ki or Record of Western Countries... The Life is supplement to the Record. What is obscure or half told in the one is made clear in the other.

Hwui-li begins in the true Chinese manner with a grand pedigree of his hero, tracing his descent from the Emperor Hwang Ti, the mythical Heavenly Emperor....

And withal clear-sighted and intolerant of shams, he is still a child of his age and religion. With childish curiosity he tempts a bone to foretell the future, and with childish delight obtains the answer he most desires. In the town of Hiddha is Buddha's skull bone, one foot long, two inches round. "If anyone wishes to know the indications of his guilt or his religious merit he mixes some powdered incense into a paste, which he spreads upon a piece of silken stuff, and then presses it on the top of the bone: according to the resulting indications the good fortune or ill fortune of the man is determined." Hiuen obtains the impression of a Bodhi and is overjoyed, for, as the guardian Brahman of the bone explains, "it is a sure sign of your having a portion of true wisdom (Bodhi)." At another time he plays a kind of religious quoits by flinging garlands of flowers on the sacred image of Buddha, which, being caught on its hands and arms, show that his desires will be fulfilled. In simple faith he tells Hwui-li how Buddha once cleaned his teeth and flung the fragments of the wood with which he performed the act on the ground; how they took root forthwith, and how a tree seventy feet high was the consequence. And Hiuen saw that tree, therefore the story must be true....

He returned to his own country with no less than 657 volumes of the sacred books, seventy-four of which he translated into Chinese, while 150 relics of the Buddha, borne by twenty horses, formed the spoil reverently gathered from the many lands we call India....

The original from which the translation is made is styled "History of the Master of the Law of the three Pitakas of the 'Great Loving-Kindness' Temple." It was written, probably in five chapters, in the first instance by Hwui-li, one of Hiuen-Tsiang's disciples, and afterwards enlarged and completed in ten chapters by Yen-thsong, another of his followers. Yen-thsong was selected by the disciples of Hwui-li to re-arrange and correct the leaves which their master had written and hidden in a cave. ...

It will be found that Hwui-li's history often explains or elucidates the travels of Hiuen-Tsiang. Yen-thsong evidently consulted other texts or authorities. This is especially the case in reference to the history of the Temple of Nalanda...

-- The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang, by the Shaman Hwui Li, With an Introduction Containing an Account of the Works of I-Tsing, by Samuel Beal, B.A., D.C.L.

Nalanda1 has a very ancient history going back to the days of Mahavira and Buddha in the sixth and fifth centuries BC. According to the Jaina texts, it was a suburb (bahariya), situated to the north-west of the famous city of Rajagriha. Indeed, so important was the place that Mahavira spent as many as fourteen rainy seasons there. The Pali Buddhist literature too contains many references to Nalanda. It is said that in the course of his sojourns the Buddha often visited the place, which was mentioned as prosperous, swelling, teeming with population and containing a mango-grove called Pavarika. The distance from Rajagriha to Nalanda is given as a yojana.

This place is mentioned in the Maha-sudassana-Jataka2 as the birthplace of the Thera Sariputra, a chief disciple of the Buddha. In other texts the same place, under the name of Nalaka or Nalakagrama, appears as a centre of Sariputra’s activities.3 The Mahavastu, a Sanskrit Buddhist text, also gives Nalanda-gramaka, half a yojana distant from Rajagriha, as the place of birth of Sariputra and finds support in some Tibetan texts, including Taranatha’s History of Buddhism in India, a seventeenth-century Tibetan work.4

It is therefore reasonable to hold that Nala, Nalaka, Nalakagrama and Nalanda are all variants of the same place-name.

A yojana south-west from this place brought them to the village of Nala, [Or Nalanda; identified with the present Baragong. A grand monastery was subsequently built at it, famous by the residence for five years of Hsuan-chwang.] where Sariputtra [See chap. xvi, note 11. There is some doubt as to the statement that Nala was his birthplace.] was born, and to which also he returned, and attained here his pari-nirvâna. Over the spot (where his body was burned) there was built a tope, which is still in existence.

-- A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien, Of His Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399–414), Translated and Annotated with a Corean Recension of the Chinese Text by James Legge, M.A., LL.D.

Hiuen-Tsang, the renowned Chinese traveller of the seventh century AD, says that according to tradition the place owed its name to a naga of the same name who resided in a local tank. But he thinks it more probable that the Buddha, in one of his previous births as Bodhisattva, became a king with his capital at this place, and that his liberality won for him and his capital the name Nalanda or ‘charity without intermission’.5

According to Taranatha, Asoka, the great Mauryan emperor of the third century BC, gave offerings to the chaitya of Sariputra that existed at Nalanda and erected a temple here; Ashoka must therefore be regarded as the founder of the Nalanda-vihara [university] [mahavihara].[!!!]6 The same authority adds that Nagarjuna, the famous Mahayana philosopher and alchemist of about the second century AD, began his studies at Nalanda and later on became the high priest here. It is also added that Suvishnu, a Brahmana contemporary of Nagarjuna, built one hundred and eight temples at Nalanda to prevent the decline of both the Hinayana and Mahayana schools of Buddhism.7 Taranatha also connects Aryadeva, a philosopher of the Madhyamika school of Buddhism of the early fourth century AD, with Nalanda.4

Aryabhata mentions in the Aryabhatiya that he was 23 years old 3,600 years into the Kali Yuga, but this is not to mean that the text was composed at that time. This mentioned year corresponds to 499 CE, and implies that he was born in 476....

It is fairly certain that, at some point, he went to Kusumapura for advanced studies and lived there for some time. Both Hindu and Buddhist tradition, as well as Bhāskara I (CE 629), identify Kusumapura as Pāṭaliputra, modern Patna. A verse[???] mentions that Aryabhata was the head of an institution (kulapa) at Kusumapura, and, because the university of Nalanda was near Pataliputra at the time and had an astronomical observatory, it is speculated that Aryabhata might have been the head of the Nalanda university as well.

-- Aryabhata, by Wikipedia

Further, Asanga, a Buddhist philosopher of the Yogachara school, belonging to the fifth century AD,8 is said to have spent here twelve years of his later life and to have been succeeded by his still more famous brother, Vasubandhu, as the high priest of Nalanda.9

The German translation of Lama Taranatha's first book on India called The Mine of Previous Stones (Edelsteinmine) was made by Prof. Gruenwedel the reputed Orientalist and Archaeologist on Buddhist culture in Berlin. The translation came out in 1914 A.D. from Petrograd (Leningrad).

The German translator confessed his difficulty in translating the Tibetan words on matters relating to witchcraft and sorcery. So he has used the European terms from the literature of witchcraft and magic of the middle ages viz. 'Frozen' and 'Seven miles boots.'

He said that history in the modern sense could not be expected from Taranatha. The important matter with him was the reference to the traditional endorsement of certain teaching staff. Under the spiritual protection of his teacher Buddhaguptanatha, he wrote enthusiastically the biography of the predecessor of the same with all their extravagances, as well as the madness of the old Siddhas.

The book contains a rigmarole of miracles and magic….

-- Mystic Tales of Lama Taranatha: A Religio-Sociological History of Mahayana Buddhism, by Lama Taranatha, Translated into English by Bhupendranath Datta, A.M., Dr. Phil.

These statements of Taranatha would lead one to believe that Nalanda was a famous centre of Buddhism already at the time of Nagarjuna and continued to be so in the following centuries. But it may be clearly emphasised that the excavations have not revealed anything which suggests the occupation of the site before the Guptas, the earliest datable finds being a (forged) copper plate of Samudra-gupta and a coin of Kumaragupta. This is fully confirmed by the statement of Hiuen-Tsang (d. 664 CE) that ‘a former king of the country named Sakraditya built here a monastery and that his successors, Buddha-gupta, Tathagatagupta, Baladitya and Vajra built some monasteries nearby’.10

Kumaragupta I/Shakraditya (r. c. 415–455 CE)
Skandagupta (r. c. 455-467 CE)
Purugupta (r. c. 467–473 CE)
Kumaragupta II (r. c. 473-476 CE)
Budhagupta ( r. c. 476- 495 CE)
Narasimhagupta (r. c. 495-530 CE)
Kumaragupta III (r. c. 530-540 CE)
Vishnugupta (r. c. 540–550 CE) (Last king of the Gupta Empire)

-- by Wikipedia

As some of these names were borne by the Gupta emperors, it has been held that all of them refer to the Imperial Guptas of the fifth and sixth century AD.

The Chinese treatise known as the Hsi-yu-chi (or Si-yu- ki) is one of the classical Buddhist books of China, Korea, and Japan....

On the title-page of the Hsi-yu-chi it is represented as having been "translated" by Yuan-chuang and "redacted" or "compiled" by Pien-chi ([x]). But we are not to take the word for translate here in its literal sense, and all that it can be understood to convey is that the information given in the book was obtained by Yuan-chuang from foreign sources. One writer tells us that Yuan-chuang supplied the materials to Pien-chi who wrought these up into a literary treatise. Another states that Yuan-chuang communicated at intervals the facts to be recorded to Pien-chi who afterwards wove these into a connected narrative.

This Pien-chi was one of the learned Brethren appointed by T'ai Tsung to assist Yuan-chung in the work of translating the Indian books which Yuan-chuang had brought with him. It was the special duty of Pien-chi to give literary form to the translations. He was a monk of the Hui-chang ([x]) Monastery and apparently in favour at the court of the Emperor. But he became mixed up in an intrigue with one of T'ai Tsung's daughters and we cannot imagine a man of his bad character being on very intimate terms with the pilgrim. As to the Hsi-yu-chi we may doubt whether he really had much to do with its formation, and perhaps the utmost that can be claimed for him is that he may have strung together Yuan-chuang's descriptions into a connected narrative. The literary compositions of Yuan-chuang to be found in other places seem to justify us in regarding him as fully competent to write the treatise before us without any help from others...Some of the notes and comments may have been added by Pien-chi but several are evidently by a later hand....

The Hsi-yu-chi exists in several editions which present considerable variations both in the text and in the supplementary notes and explanations....

Under the guidance of the learned Doctors in Buddhism in these establishments he studied some of the great works of their religion, and soon became famous in China as a very learned and eloquent young monk. But he could not remain in China for he longed vehemently to visit the holy land of his religion, to see its far-famed shrines, and all the visible evidences of the Buddha's ministrations. He had learned, moreover, to be dissatisfied with the Chinese translations of the sacred books, and he was desirous to procure these books in their original language, and to learn the true meaning of their abstruse doctrines from orthodox pundits in India. After making enquiries and preparations he left the capital Ch'ang-an ([x]), the modern Hsi-an ([x])-foo, in the year 629, and set out secretly on his long pilgrimage....

After sixteen year's absence Yuan-chuang returned to China and arrived at Ch'ang-an in the beginning of 645, the nineteenth year of the reign of T'ang T'ai Tsung....

Now he had arrived whole and well, and had become a many days' wonder. He had been where no other had ever been, he had seen and heard what no other had ever seen and heard. Alone he had crossed trackless wastes tenanted only by fierce ghost-demons. Bravely he had climbed fabled mountains high beyond conjecture, rugged and barren, ever chilled by icy wind and cold with eternal snow. He had been to the edge of the world and had seen where all things end. Now he was safely back to his native land, and with so great a quantity of precious treasures. There were 657 sacred books of Buddhism, some of which were full of mystical charms able to put to flight the invisible powers of mischief. All these books were in strange Indian language and writing, and were made of trimmed leaves of palm or of birch-bark strung together in layers. Then there were lovely images of the Buddha and his saints in gold, and silver, and crystal, and sandalwood. There were also many curious pictures and, above all, 150 relics, true relics of the Buddha. All these relics were borne on twenty horses and escorted into the city with great pomp and ceremony.

The Emperor T'ai Tsung forgave the pilgrim for going abroad without permission, made his acquaintance and became his intimate friend. He received Yuan-chuang in an inner chamber of the palace, and there listened with unwearied interest from day to day to his stories about unknown lands and the wonders Buddha and his great disciples had wrought in them...On his petition the Emperor appointed several distinguished lay scholars and several learned monks to assist in the labour of translating, editing, and copying. In the meantime at the request of his Sovereign Yuan-chuang compiled the Records of his travels, the Hsi-yu-chi. The first draft of this work was presented to the Emperor in 646, but the book as we have it now was not actually completed until 648. It was apparently copied and circulated in Ms in its early form during the author's life and for some time after. When the Hsi-yu-chi was finished Yuan-chuang gave himself up to the task of translating, a task which was to him one of love and duty combined.... In the year 664 on the 6th day of the second month he underwent the great change.... he passed hence into Paradise....

His character as revealed to us in his Life and other books is interesting and attractive....Too prone at times to follow authority and accept ready-made conclusions he was yet self possessed and independent....

There were lengths, however, to which he could not go, and even his powerful friend the Emperor T'ai Tsung could not induce him to translate Lao-tzu's "Tao-Te-Ching" into Sanskrit or recognize Lao-tzu as in rank above the Buddha....His faith was simple and almost unquestioning, and he had an aptitude for belief which has been called credulity. But his was not that credulity which lightly believes the impossible and accepts any statement merely because it is on record and suits the convictions or prejudices of the individual. Yuan-chuang always wanted to have his own personal testimony, the witness of his own senses or at least his personal experience. It is true his faith helped his unbelief, and it was too easy to convince him where a Buddhist miracle was concerned. A hole in the ground without any natural history, a stain on a rock without any explanation apparent, any object held sacred by the old religion of the fathers, and any marvel professing to be substantiated by the narrator, was generally sufficient to drive away his doubts and bring comforting belief. But partly because our pilgrim was thus too ready to believe, though partly also for other reasons, he did not make the best use of his opportunities. He was not a good observer, a careful investigator, or a satisfactory recorder, and consequently he left very much untold which he would have done well to tell....

After Yuan-chuang's death great and marvellous things were said of him. His body, it was believed, did not see corruption and he appeared to some of his disciples in visions of the night. In his lifetime he had been called a "Present Sakyamuni", and when he was gone his followers raised him to the rank of a founder of Schools or Sects in Buddhism. In one treatise we find the establishment of three of these schools ascribed to him, and in another work he is given as the founder in China of a fourth school. This last is said to have been originated in India at Nalanda by Silabhadra one of the great Buddhist monks there with whom Yuan-chuang studied....

THE PREFACES TO THE HSI-YU-CHI.

There is only one Preface in the A, B, and C editions of the "Hsi-yu-chi", but the D edition gives two Prefaces.... This latter was apparently unknown to native editors and it was unknown to the foreign translators. This Preface is the work of Ching Po ([x]), a scholar, author, and official of the reigns of T'ang Kao Tsu and T'ai Tsung.... It is plain from this Preface that its author was an intimate friend of Yuan-chuang whose name he does not think it necessary to mention. He seems to have known or regarded Yuan-chuang as the sole author of the "Hsi-yu-chi", writing of him thus: — "he thought it no toil to reduce to order the notes which he had written down"....

The second Preface, which is in all editions except the Corean, is generally represented as having been written by one Chang Yueh ([x]). It has been translated fairly well by Julien, who has added numerous notes to explain the text and justify his renderings. He must have studied the Preface with great care and spent very many hours in his attempt to elucidate its obscurities. Yet it does not seem to have occurred to him to learn who Chang Yueh was and when he lived.

Now the Chang Yueh who bore the titles found at the head of the Preface above the name was born in 667 and died in 730, thus living in the reigns of Kao Tsung, Chung Tsung, Jui Tsung, and Hsuan Tsung. He is known in Chinese literature and history as a scholar, author, and official of good character and abilities. His Poems and Essays, especially the latter, have always been regarded as models of style, but they are not well known at present. In 689 Chang Yueh became qualified for the public service, and soon afterwards he obtained an appointment at the court of the Empress Wu Hou. But he did not prove acceptable to that ambitious, cruel and vindictive sovereign, and in 703 he was sent away to the Ling-nan Tao (the modern Kuangtung). Soon afterwards, however, he was recalled and again appointed to office at the capital. He served Hsuan Huang (Ming Huang) with acceptance, rising to high position and being ennobled as Yen kuo kung ([x]).

Now if, bearing in mind the facts of Chang Yueh's birth and career, we read with attention the Preface which bears his name we cannot fail to see that it could not have been composed by that official....according to the Chinese authorities and their translators Julien and Professor G. Schlegel, it was a schoolboy who composed this wonderful Preface, this "piece that offers a good specimen characterized by these pompous and empty praises, and presents, therefore the greatest difficulties, not only has a translator from the West, but still has every letter Chinese who would only know the ideas and the language of the school of Confucius." We may pronounce this impossible as the piece is evidently the work of a ripe scholar well read not only in Confucianism but also in Buddhism. Moreover the writer was apparently not only a contemporary but also a very intimate friend of Yuan-chuang.

In the A and C editions and in the old texts Chang Yueh's name does not appear on the title-page to this Preface. It is said to have been added by the editors of the Ming period when revising the Canon. Formerly there stood at the head of the Preface only the titles and rank of its author. We must now find a man who bore these titles in the Kao Tsung period, 650 to 683, and who was at the same time a scholar and author of distinction and a friend of the pilgrim. And precisely such a man we find in Yu Chih-ning ([x]), one of the brilliant scholars and statesmen who shed a glory on the reigns of the early T'ang sovereigns. ... On the death of T'ai Tsung his son and successor Kao Tsung retained Yu in favour at Court and rewarded him with well-earned honours. In 656 the Emperor appointed Yu along with some other high officials to help in the redaction of the translations which Yuan-chuang was then making from the Sanskrit books. Now about this time Yu, as we know from a letter addressed to him by Hui-li and from other sources, bore the titles which appear at the head of the Preface. He was also an Immortal of the Academy, a Wen-kuan Hsuo-shi ([x]). He was one of the scholars who had been appointed to compile the "Sui Shu" or Records of the Sui dynasty and his miscellaneous writings from forty chuan. Yu was probably a fellow-labourer with Yuan-chuang until the year 660. At that date the concubine of many charms had become all-powerful in the palace and she was the unscrupulous foe of all who even seemed to block her progress. Among these was Yu, who, accordingly, was this year sent away into official exile and apparently never returned.

We need have little hesitation then in setting down Yu Chih-ning as the author of this Preface. It was undoubtedly written while Yuan-chuang was alive, and no one except an intimate friend of Yuan-chuang could have learned all the circumstances about him, his genealogy and his intimacy with the sovereign mentioned or alluded to in the Preface. We need not suppose that this elegant composition was designed by its author to serve as a Preface to the Hsi- yu-chi. It was probably written as an independent eulogy of Yuan-chuang setting forth his praises as a man of old family, a record-beating traveller, a zealous Buddhist monk of great learning and extraordinary abilities, and a propagator of Buddhism by translations from the Sanskrit.

This Preface, according to all the translators, tells us that the pilgrim acting under Imperial orders translated 657 Sanskrit books, that is, all the Sanskrit books which he had brought home with him from the Western Lands. No one seems to have pointed out that this was an utterly impossible feat, and that Yuan-chuang did not attempt to do anything of the kind. The number of Sanskrit texts which he translated was seventy four, and these seventy four treatises (pu) made in all 1335 chuan. To accomplish this within seventeen years was a very great work for a delicate man with various calls on his time.

The translations made by Yuan-chuang are generally represented on the title-page as having been made by Imperial order and the title-page of the Hsi-yu-chi has the same intimation. We know also from the Life that it was at the special request of the Emperor T'ai Tsung that Yuan-chuang composed the latter treatise. So we should probably understand the passage in the Preface with which we are now concerned as intended to convey the following information. The pilgrim received Imperial orders to translate the 657 Sanskrit treatises, and to make the Ta-T'ang-Hsi-yu-chi in twelve chuan, giving his personal observation of the strange manners and customs of remote and isolated regions, their products and social arrangements, and the places to which the Chinese Calendar and the civilising influences of China reached....

At the beginning of Chuan I of the Records we have a long passage which, following Julien, we may call the Introduction. In a note Julien tells us that according to the editors of Pien-i-tien, this Introduction was composed by Tschang-choue (i.e. Chang Tue), author of the preface to Si-yu-ki". Another native writer ascribes the composition of this Introduction to Pien-chi. But a careful reading of the text shews us that it could not have been written by either of these and that it must be regarded as the work of the pilgrim himself. This Introduction may possibly be the missing Preface written by Yuan-chuang according to a native authority....

What our author here states to his reader is to this effect...

His Majesty ascended the throne" in accordance with Heaven, and taking advantage of the times it concentrated power to itself. [His Majesty] has made the six units of countries into one empire and this his glory fills; he is a fourth to the Three Huang and his light illumines the world. His subtle influence permeates widely and his auspicious example has a far-reaching stimulus....in founding an imperial inheritance for his posterity, in bringing order out of chaos and restoring settled government...and in raising men from mud and ashes, he had far transcended the achievements of the founders of the Chow and Han dynasties....

"In more than three-fifths of the places I traversed", all living creatures feel the genial influence [of H. Ms. reign] and every human being extols his merit. From Ch'ang-an to India the strange tribes of the sombre wastes, isolated lands and odd states, all accept the Chinese calendar and enjoy the benefits of H. Ms. fame and teaching. The praise of his great achievements in war is in everybody's mouth and the commendation of his abundant civil virtues has grown to be the highest theme... Were there not the facts here set forth I could not record the beneficial influences of His Majesty. The narrative which I have now composed is based on what I saw and heard."

This is an address well spiced with flattery in good oriental fashion.... The founder of the T'ang dynasty, it should be remembered, was neither a hero nor a man of extraordinary genius, and he came near being a prig and a hypocrite. His loyalty and honour were questioned in his lifetime, and history has given him several black marks. While sick of ambition, he was infirm of purpose, and wishing to do right he was easily swayed to do what was wrong.... But all his success in later life, and the fame of his reign were largely due to the son who succeeded him on the throne....

The splendour of T'ai Tsung's great achievements, the conspicuous merits of his administration, and the charm of his sociable affable manner made the people of his time forget his faults.... So it came that the historian, dazed by the spell and not seeing clearly, left untold some of the Emperor's misdeeds and told others without adding their due meed of blame. For this great ruler smutched his fair record by such crimes as murder and adultery. The shooting of his brothers was excusable and even justifiable, but his other murders admit of little palliation and cannot plead necessity. Though he yielded to his good impulses, again, in releasing thousands of women who had been forced into and kept in the harem of Sui Yang Ti, yet he also yielded to his bad impulses when he took his brother's widow and afterwards that maid of fourteen, Wu Chao, into his own harem. His love of wine and women in early life, his passion for war and his love of glory and empire, which possessed him to the end, were failings of which the eyes of contemporaries dazzled by the "fierce light" could not take notice....

It was during the reign of this sovereign, in the year 636, that Christianity was first introduced into China. The Nestorian missionaries, who brought it, were allowed to settle in peace and safety at the capital. This was the boon which called forth the gratitude of the Christian historian and enhanced in his view the merits of the heathen sovereign.

The author next proceeds to give a short summary of the Buddhistic teachings about this world and the system of which it forms a constituent. He begins —

Now the Saha world, the Three Thousand Great Chiliocosm, is the sphere of the spiritual influence of one Buddha. It is in the four continents (lit. "Under heavens") now illuminated by one sun and moon and within the Three Thousand Great Chiliocosm that the Buddhas, the World-honoured ones, produce their spiritual effects, are visibly born and visible enter Nirrvana, teach the way to saint and sinner...

The author next proceeds to make a few summary observations...

From the Black Range on this side (i.e. to China) all the people are Hu: and though Jungs are counted with these, yet the hordes and clans are distinct, and the boundaries of territories are defined....

"For the most part [these tribes] are settled peoples with walled cities, practising agriculture and rearing cattle. They prize the possession of property and slight humanity and public duty (lit. benevolence and righteousness). Their marriages are without ceremonies and there are no distinctions as to social position: the wife's word prevails and the husband has a subordinate position. They burn their corpses and have no fixed period of mourning. They flay (?) the face and cut off the ears: they clip their hair short and rend their garments. They slaughter the domestic animals and offer sacrifice to the manes of their dead. They wear white clothing on occasions of good luck and black clothing on unlucky occasions. This is a general summary of the manners and customs common to the tribes, but each state has its own political organization which will be described separately, and the manners and customs of India will be told in the subsequent Records."

This brief and terse account of the social characteristics common to the tribes and districts between China and India presents some rather puzzling difficulties. It is too summary, and is apparently to a large extent secondhand information obtained from rather superficial observers, not derived from the author's personal experience, and it does not quite agree with the accounts given by previous writers and travellers. Thus the pilgrim states that the tribes in question had no fixed period of mourning, that is, for deceased parents, but we learn that the people of Yenk'i observed a mourning of seven days for their parents. Nor was it the universal custom to burn the dead; for the T'ufan people, for example, buried their dead.

-- On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629-645 A.D., by Thomas Watters M.R.A.S.

The assumption that the monasteries of Nalanda were the creation of the Gupta emperors beginning with Kumaragupta I receives confirmation from the fact that Fa-hien, the Chinese pilgrim of the early fifth century AD [337-422 CE], does not mention the monastic establishments of Nalanda. He speaks of the village of Nalo, the place of birth and death of Sariputra, and of a stupa existing here.11 As has been suggested above, this place is identical with Nalanda, but the absence of any other monument except a stupa at the time of Fa-hien is significant.

Hiuen-Tsang saw here an 80-ft. high copper image of the Buddha raised by Purnavarman,12 belonging to the early sixth century AD. And the illustrious Harshavardhana of Kanauj (606-647) no doubt greatly helped the institution by his munificence: he built a monastery of brass, which was under construction when Hiuen-Tsang visited the place. The biographer of Hiuen-Tsang says that Harsha remitted ‘the revenues of about a hundred villages as an endowment of the convent and two hundred householders in these villages contributed the required amount of rice, butter and milk’. ‘Hence,’ he adds, ‘the students here, being so abundantly supplied, do not require to ask for the four requisites. This is the source of the perfection of their studies, to which they have arrived.’ This statement makes it clear that the students did not have to beg for their daily food.

Harsha highly revered the Nalanda monks and called himself their servant.13 About a thousand monks of Nalanda were present at the royal congregation at Kanauj.[???] Royal patronage was, therefore, the keynote of the prosperity and efficiency of Nalanda. As Hiuen-Tsang [602–664] says, ‘A long succession of kings continued the work of building, using all the skill of the sculptor, till the whole is truly marvellous to behold.’14

Kumaragupta I/Shakraditya (r. c. 415–455 CE)
Skandagupta (r. c. 455-467 CE)
Purugupta (r. c. 467–473 CE)
Kumaragupta II (r. c. 473-476 CE)
Budhagupta ( r. c. 476- 495 CE)
Narasimhagupta (r. c. 495-530 CE)
Kumaragupta III (r. c. 530-540 CE)
Vishnugupta (r. c. 540–550 CE) (Last king of the Gupta Empire)

-- by Wikipedia

Gupta rulers patronised the Hindu religious tradition and orthodox Hinduism reasserted itself in this era.

-- Gupta Empire: Origins, Religion, Harsha and Decline, by factsanddetails.com/india

***

[T]he Gupta rulers practiced Hindu rituals and traditions ...

-- The Gupta Period of India, by ushistory.org

Hiuen-Tsang also recounts a few of the monasteries and temples that he saw here, giving their directions in most cases. Thus, the monastery built by Buddhagupta was to the south of the one built by his father Sakraditya; to the east of Buddhagupta’s monastery was the one of Tathagatagupta; the one built by Baladitya was to the north-east of the last; while Vajra’s monastery was to the west. After this an unnamed king of mid-India is said to have built a great monastery to the north and erected a high wall with one gate round these edifices. Hiuen-Tsang also gives a long list of the other monasteries and stupas that he found. Modern attempts to identify them with the existing ruins have met with scanty success, as the six centuries that separated Hiuen-Tsang and the final desertion of the site must have produced many new buildings and modified the existing ones.

Hiuen-Tsang was very warmly received at Nalanda and resided here for a long time. The courses of study were based on secular ideals including the scriptures of the Mahayana and Hinayana schools, hetu-vidya (logic), sabda-vidya (grammar) and chikitsa-vidya (medicine), as well as purely Brahmanical texts such as the Vedas including the Atharvaveda. From the accounts of the pilgrim it is clear that Nalanda was bustling with literary activities.

Hiuen-Tsang received here the Indian name Mokshadeva and was remembered by the inmates of the Nalanda monastery long after he had left the place.[???] Several years after his return to China, Prajnadeva, a monk of Nalanda, sent him a pair of clothes, saying that the worshippers every day went on offering to Hiuen-Tsang their salutations.[???]

Nalanda had by then acquired a celebrity status spread all over the east as a centre of Buddhist theology and secular educational activities. This was evident from the fact that within a short period of thirty years following Hiuen-Tsang’s departure, no less than eleven Chinese and Korean travellers were known to have visited Nalanda.15 [Samuel Beal, Life of Hiuen-Tsang (London, 1911), pp. 177.]

KAU-FA-KAO-SANG-CHUEN.
(Nanj. Cat. 1491.)

III. The author in the preface having alluded to the journeys of Fa-hian and Hiuen-Tsiang, who proceeded to the western countries to procure books and pay reverence to the sacred relics, passes on to notice the hardships and dangers of the route, and the difficulty of finding shelter or entertainment in the different countries visited by their successors, pilgrims to the same spots, and that in consequence of there being no temples (monasteries) set apart for Chinese priests. He then goes on to enumerate the names of the pilgrims referred to in his memoirs....

-- The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang, by the Shaman Hwui Li, With an Introduction Containing An Account of the Works of I-Tsing, by Samuel Beal, B.A., D.C.L., Professor of Chinese, University College, London, With a Preface by L. Cranmer-Byyng, 1911

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Part 2 of 2

Next in importance to Hiuen-Tsang stands I-tsing, who reached India in 673 AD and studied at Nalanda for a considerable time. His work records very minute details about the life led by the Nalanda monks that he regarded as the ideal to be followed by the Buddhists all over the world. He said that the number of monks of the Nalanda monastery exceeded three thousand in number, maintained by more than two hundred villages bestowed by previous kings.16 He also gave details of the curriculum which, besides the Buddhist scriptures, included logic, metaphysics and a very extensive study of Sanskrit Grammar.17 He further testified to the strict rules of discipline that the monks observed, their daily life being regulated by a water-clock.18

I Ching or Yi Jing (635-713) was a Tang Dynasty Buddhist monk, originally named Zhang Wen Ming, who traveled by sea to India and studied at Nalanda for eleven years before returning with a collection of as many as 500,000 Sanskrit stanzas. He translated more than 60 sutras into Chinese, including Saravanabhava Vinaya, Avadana, stories of great deeds, and Suvarnaprabhascottamaraja-sutra, (Sutra of the Most Honored King). He also is responsible for the translation of eleven Buddhist tantras and eighteen works on monastic discipline, as well as exegetic works....

I Ching was born Zhang Wen Ming in 635 in Qizhou (modern Shandong province). He left his family at the age of 7 to live in a Buddhist monastery, where he studied under two monks, Shanyu (d. 646) and Huizhi....

I Ching was an admirer of two traveling monks: Fa Xian, who traveled to Nepal, India and Sri Lanka between 399 and 412 to acquire Buddhist scriptures and take them back to China, and visited Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha[???];

In Watters’ book ‘On Yuan Chwang’s Travels in India’ (prepared from an unpublished manuscript after his death) the following statement is found with reference to the Lumbini site:

‘Yuan-chuang, as we have seen, mentions a stone pillar, but he does not say anything about an inscription on it. The Fang-chih, however, tells us that the pillar recorded the circumstances of Buddha's birth’.

The Fang-chih -– a shortened version of Yuan-chuang’s account -- does nothing of the sort, since though it also refers to a stone pillar at Lumbini, no inscription ‘recording the circumstances of Buddha’s birth’ is mentioned in this text either. Watters, a great Sinologist, was referred to by V. A. [Vincent Arthur] Smith as ‘one of the most brilliant ornaments’ of Chinese Buddhist scholarship, and it is inconceivable that he would have made this critical mistake. Indeed, when Smith asserted that the Lumbini pillar inscription ‘set at rest all doubts as to the exact site of the traditional birthplace of Gautama Buddha’, Watters acidly retorted that ‘it would be more correct to say that the inscription, if genuine, tells us what was the spot indicated to Asoka as the birthplace of the Buddha’. Note that ‘if genuine’: this shows that Watters not only had his doubts about this inscription, but that he was also prepared to voice those doubts in public. Moreover, according to Smith, ‘Mr Watters writes in a very sceptical spirit, and apparently feels doubts as to the reality of the Sakya principality in the Tarai'. From all this, it will clearly be seen that this Fang-chih ‘mistake’ was totally at variance with Watters’ ‘very sceptical spirit’ regarding these supposed Nepalese discoveries (Lumbini included); and I shall therefore charge that it was a posthumous interpolation into Watters’ original text by its editors, Rhys Davids, Bushell, and Smith. If this charge is correct –- and I am quite sure that it is -- then the reasons behind this appalling deception can only be guessed at, I need hardly add.

-- Lumbini On Trial: The Untold Story. Lumbini Is An Astonishing Fraud Begun in 1896, by T. A. Phelps

and Xuanzang (Hsüan-tsang, pronounced Shwan-dzang, d. 664), who made a seventeen-year trip overland to India and back in the early Tang period....

I Ching was inspired to make his own mission to India. Provided with funding by an otherwise unknown benefactor named Fong, he decided to visit the famous Buddhist university of Nalanda, in Bihar, India, to further study Buddhism.... I Ching began his journey in 671. Unlike pilgrims before him, he could not take the land route to India across central Asia and the Himalayas because of political turmoil in Tibet and Afghanistan and the surrounding areas. Instead, he made his way to India by sea, taking a more southerly route....

Traveling by a Persian boat out of Guangzhou, he arrived in Srivijaya (today's Palembang of Sumatra) after 22 days, where he spent the next 6 months learning Sanskrit grammar and Malay language.

He then passed through the Strait of Malacca to the northwest tip of Sumatra, where he boarded a ship going to the Nicobar Islands....In 673 after ten days’ travel across the Bay of Bengal he reached the "naked kingdom" (south west of Shu).

I Ching studied Sanskrit for a year in the Buddhist temple of Vahara at the port of Tāmraliptī, in the delta of the Ganges River, then traveled to Nālandā with another Chinese monk, Dachengdeng (d. 675). They followed a group of merchants and traveled to 30 principalities. They visited sacred sites in Gṛdhrakūṭa at Rājagṛha and Mahābodhi at Bodh Gayā, traveled to Vaiśālī, Amaraba, and Kāśī (Banaras), visited Jetavana Monastery at Śrāvastī and the "heavenly stairs" (said to have been built by the god Śakra for the Buddha to use in descending from Heaven) at Sāmkāśya, and journeyed to Sārnāth and Kukkuṭapāda. They encountered mountains, woods, and swamps on the way to Nalanda. Halfway to Nalanda, Yi Jing fell ill and was unable to walk; gradually he was left behind by the group. He was looted by bandits and stripped naked. He heard the natives would catch white skins to offer as a sacrifice to the gods, so he jumped into mud and used leaves to cover his lower body. Walking slowly, he reached Nalanda where he stayed for 11 years.

At Nalanda, I Ching studied Buddhist logic, the Abhidharmakośa, monastic discipline (Vinaya), and the Mādhyamika and Yogācāra philosophies.... I Ching studied and copied original Sanskrit texts of Buddhist religious writings, and collected some 500,000 Sanskrit stanzas that he believed would fill 1,000 volumes when translated into Chinese.

With the manuscripts he had collected at Nālandā, Yijing left central India for Tāmraliptī in 685. Making his way home the same way he had come, he made short stops at Kacha and Malayu. When I-Ching again arrived at Śrīvijaya in 687, he decided to stay and begin the translation of his collection, hoping to complete it in about ten years. In 689, he found he needed more supplies for copying the Sanskrit manuscripts. He went to the port to send a letter to China requesting paper and ink, which were not available in Śrīvijaya at that time. While he was drafting his message, the ship unexpectedly set sail with him on board. On August 10, 689, he reached Guangfu, where he recruited four assistants. He returned with them to Śrīvijaya on December 18, 689, and they remained there until 695, working on the translations. In Śrīvijaya, I Ching studied under the distinguished teacher Śākyakīrti, and wrote an account of Buddhist practices and a report regarding a group of Chinese monks who had traveled to India in search of Buddhism. Yijing sent these reports, together with his translations of Buddhist texts, to China with one of his assistants in 692. I-Ching also produced a detailed geographic account of his travels through India, through the East Indies islands and along the Malay Peninsula....

Accompanied by two assistants, I Ching returned to Guangfu in 694. In 695, he traveled to Luoyang, where he received a grand welcome from Empress Wu.

In 689 Chang Yueh became qualified for the public service, and soon afterwards he obtained an appointment at the court of the Empress Wu Hou. But he did not prove acceptable to that ambitious, cruel and vindictive sovereign, and in 703 he was sent away to the Ling-nan Tao (the modern Kuangtung).

-- On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629-645 A.D., by Thomas Watters M.R.A.S.

He lived at Foshouji Monastery and worked as an assistant translator in the bureau of translations headed by Siksananda. From 700 until his death, I Ching was in charge of his own bureau of translation of Buddhist canons at Luoyang and Chang'an. He translated fifty-six works in 230 fascicles, among them scriptures, commentaries, and Vinaya texts under the patronage of the empress and her successors, who provided forewords to I Ching's translations. Honors and rewards were bestowed upon him, and he was awarded the title "Master of the Tripiṭaka."

I Ching died on February 16, 713. He was buried with grand honors....

I Ching’s entire journey lasted 25 years. He brought back approximately 400 Buddhist translated texts. He translated more than 60 sutras into Chinese...

He also translated 11 Buddhist tantras and 18 works on monastic discipline, as well as exegetic works that are important not only for Chinese Buddhism but for the religion as a whole. His translation of the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya texts systematically preserved one of the most influential monastic traditions in India, and his translations of the Yogācāra texts and of Buddhist logic are quite significant.... His glossary, the Fanyu qianziwen (A Thousand Sanskrit Words), is the earliest extant Sanskrit-Chinese dictionary. Although the translations of his predecessor, Xuanzang [602 – 664], overshadow those of I Ching, a sample examination of both renderings of the Viṃśatikā (Liebenthal, 1934) concluded that Yijing was a better translator than Xuanzang.

I Ching praised the high level of Buddhist scholarship in Srivijaya and advised Chinese monks to study there prior to making the journey to Nalanda, India.

"In the fortified city of Bhoga, Buddhist priests number more than 1,000, whose minds are bent on learning and good practice. They investigate and study all the subjects that exist just as in India; the rules and ceremonies are not at all different. If a Chinese priest wishes to go to the West in order to hear and read the original scriptures, he had better stay here one or two years and practice the proper rules…."

I Ching's visits to Srivijaya gave him the opportunity to meet with others who had come from other neighboring islands.

Srivijaya was a Malay Buddhist thalassocratic [maritime] empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th to the 12th century AD. Srivijaya was the first unified kingdom to dominate much of the Malay Archipelago. The rise of the Srivijayan Empire was parallel to the end of the Malay sea-faring period. Due to its location, the Srivijaya developed complex technology utilizing maritime resources. In addition, its economy became progressively reliant on the booming trade in the region, thus transforming it into a prestige goods-based economy.

The earliest reference to it dates from the 7th century. A Tang dynasty Chinese monk, Yijing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in year 671 for six months.[???!!!] The earliest known inscription in which the name Srivijaya appears also dates from the 7th century in the Kedukan Bukit inscription found near Palembang, Sumatra, dated 16 June 682. Between the late 7th and early 11th century, Srivijaya rose to become a hegemon in Southeast Asia. It was involved in close interactions, often rivalries, with the neighbouring Mataram, Khmer and Champa. Srivijaya's main foreign interest was nurturing lucrative trade agreements with China which lasted from the Tang to the Song dynasty. Srivijaya had religious, cultural and trade links with the Buddhist Pala of Bengal, as well as with the Islamic Caliphate in the Middle East.

Before the 12th century, Srivijaya was primarily a land-based polity rather than a maritime power, fleets are available but acted as logistical support to facilitate the projection of land power. In response to the change in the maritime Asian economy, and threatened by the loss of its dependencies, Srivijaya developed a naval strategy to delay its decline. The naval strategy of Srivijaya was mainly punitive; this was done to coerce trading ships to be called to their port. Later, the naval strategy degenerated to raiding fleet.

The kingdom ceased to exist in the 13th century due to various factors, including the expansion of the competitor Javanese Singhasari and Majapahit empires. After Srivijaya fell, it was largely forgotten. It was not until 1918 that French historian George Cœdès, of l'École française d'Extrême-Orient, formally postulated its existence.[!!!]

-- Srivijaya, by Wikipedia

George Cœdès (10 August 1886 – 2 October 1969) was a 20th-century French scholar of southeast Asian archaeology and history.

Cœdès was born in Paris to a family of supposed Hungarian-Jewish émigrés. In fact, the family was known as having settled in the region of Strasbourg before 1740. His ancestors worked for the royal Treasury. His grandfather, Louis Eugène Cœdès was a painter, pupil of Léon Coignet. His father Hyppolite worked as a banker.

Cœdès became director of the National Library of Thailand in 1918, and in 1929 became director of L'École française d'Extrême-Orient [EFEO: French School of the Far East. Since 1907, the EFEO has been in charge of conservation work at the archeological site of Angkor.], where he remained until 1946. Thereafter he lived in Paris until he died in 1969.

In 1935 he married Neang Yao.

He was also an editor of the Journal of the Siam Society during the 1920s.

He wrote two texts in the field, The Indianized States of Southeast Asia (1968, 1975) (first published in 1948 as Les états hindouisés d'Indochine et d'Indonésie) and The Making of South East Asia (1966), as well as innumerable articles, in which he developed the concept of the Indianized kingdom. Perhaps his greatest lasting scholarly accomplishment was his work on Sanskrit and Old Khmer inscriptions from Cambodia. In addition to scores of articles (especially in the Bulletin of the École française d'Extrême-Orient), his 8-volume work Inscriptions du Cambodge (1937-1966) contains editions and translations of over a thousand inscriptions from pre-Angkorian and Angkor-era monuments, and stands as Cœdès' magnum opus. One stele, the recently rediscovered K-127, contains an inscription of what has been dubbed the "Khmer Zero", the first known use of zero in the modern number system. The transliteration system that he devised for Thai (and Khmer) is used by specialists of Thai and other writing systems derived from that of Khmer.

George Cœdès is credited with rediscovering the former kingdom of Srivijaya, centred on the modern-day Indonesian city of Palembang, but with influence extending from Sumatra through to the Malay Peninsula and Java.

-- George Cœdès, by Wikipedia

According to him, the Javanese kingdom of Ho-ling was due east of the city of Bhoga at a distance that could be covered in a sea journey of four or five days. He also wrote that Buddhism was flourishing throughout the islands of Southeast Asia. "Many of the kings and chieftains in the islands of the Southern Sea admire and believe in Buddhism, and their hearts are set on accumulating good actions."

-- I Ching (monk), by New World Encyclopedia

The Pala emperors held east India from the eighth to the twelfth century AD and were noted for their patronage of Mahayana Buddhism. At the same time they established monasteries at Vikramasila and Odantapuri in Bihar.19 It was even stated by Taranatha that the head of the Vikramasila monastery had control over Nalanda. Still, there are ample epigraphic and literary evidences to show that the Palas continued to be liberal in their munificence to Nalanda.

Mention may here be made of some famous scholars who, by their deep learning and excellence in conduct, created and maintained the dignity which Nalanda enjoyed. It has been already stated above that the early Mahayana philosophers, Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Asanga and Vasubandhu, were all, according to Taranatha, the high priests (pandita) of Nalanda. Next in point of chronology comes Dinnaga, the founder of the medieval school of logic; he was a southerner who was invited to Nalanda to defeat in disputation a Brahmanist scholar and received the title tarkapungava. The next famous pandita was Dharma Pala, who had retired just before Hiuen-Tsang arrived. At the time of the pilgrim the head of the monastery was Silabhadra, under whom the pilgrim studied and whose scholarship and personal qualities he described eloquently. Silabhadra was probably succeeded by Dharmakirti, who is credited by Taranatha to have defeated a Brahmanical philosopher, Kumarila.

The next important figure was Santarakshita, who was invited by King Khri-sron-deu-tsan to Tibet, where he lived for many years till his death in 762. About the same time Tibet was also visited by Padmasambhava, who acquired great fame as the founder of the institution of Lamaism in Tibet. It was no mean honour for Nalanda that one of its scholars gave to the Tibetan religion a form that is continuing to the present day.

Thus, Nalanda succeeded in attracting the best Buddhist scholars whose fame spread to distant countries and persisted through the ages. Rightly has it been said that ‘a detailed history of Nalanda would be a history of Mahayanist Buddhism’.20

It is evident from the account of Hiuen-Tsang that Buddhism was slowly decaying when he visited India. Important centres of early Buddhism were deserted, though some new centres, such as Nalanda in the east, Valabhi in the west and Kanchi in the south, had sprung up.[???] After some time Buddhism lost its hold in other provinces and flourished only in Bihar and Bengal, where royal patronage succeeded in keeping alive a dying cause. But it is clear that Buddhism was no longer popular and centred round a few monasteries. The Buddhism that was practised at these places was no longer of the simple Hinayana type, nor even had much in common with the Mahayana of the earlier days, but was strongly inbued with the ideas of Tantricism, inculcating belief in the efficacy of charms and spells and involving secret practices and rituals.

The crusade of the Brahmanical philosophers and preachers such as Kumarila and Sankara-charya in the eighth century must have been another potent factor in rendering Buddhism unpopular. They are reported to have travelled all over India, defeating the Buddhists in arguments and retionale.

On the other hand it has been propagated that Muslim invaders drove away the monks and damaged the monasteries, but it does not stand correct in the light of scrutiny of the facts. The whole story of Muslim invasion has been woven on the basis of “Tabaqat-i-Nasiri” of Minhaj-i-Siraj, without going through the text honestly. The text reads as follows: “Bakhtiyar Khalji organised an attack upon the fortified city of Bihar and he advanced to the gateway of the fortress with two hundred horsemen in defensive armour and suddenly attacked the place. Muhammad-i-Bakhtiyar Khalji, by the force of his intrepidity, threw himself into the postern of the gateway of the palace, and they captured the fortress and acquired great booty (Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, tr. H.G. Raverty, Calcutta, 1881, pp. 552) The greater number of inhabitants of that place were Brahmans, and the whole of those Brahmans had their heads shaven; and they were all slain. There were a great number of books there; and, when all these books came under the observation of the Musalmans, they summoned a number of Hindus that they might give them information regarding the import of those books; but the whole of the Hindus were killed. On becoming acquainted with the contents of the books, it was found that the whole of that fortress and the city was a college called Vihara.

The above account mentions the fortress or Vihara as the target of Bakhtiyar’s attack. The fortified monastery which Bakhtiyar captured was known as “Audand Vihara” or “Odanda-pura—Vihara” (Odantapuri in Biharshariff, then known simply as Vihara). He did not go to Nalanda from Biharshariff, rather he moved Nadia in Bengal through the hills and jungles of the Jharkhand region, which is attested to by an inscription of 1295 AD. So, destruction and burning of the university of Nalanda by Bakhtiyar Khalji is based on concoction and imagination. It is clear from the above mentioned facts that Bhaktiyar Khalji invaded and conquered parts of Bihar and destroyed the Mahavihara in the region,22 but he did not move towards Nalanda from Biharshariff; so, the question of destruction and burning of Nalanda Mahavihara does not arise. (The above facts in detail are from Professor D.N. Jha’s account in sacw.net of July 9, 2014.)

Two Tibetan traditions tell a tale of destruction of Nalanda Mahavihara by Tirthika’s fire. History of Buddhism in India by Lama Tara Nath [Taranatha] (17th century AD) and Pag-Sam-Jon-Zang by Sumpa Khan (18th century AD) narrate the event of destruction almost in the same manner.[!!!] Both the narratives agree that “during the consecration of the temple built by Kakutsiddha at Nalanda, the young naughty Sarmanas threw slops at the two tirthika beggars and kept them pressed inside door panels and set ferocious dogs on them.” Angered by this, one of them went on arranging for their livelihood and the other sat in a deep pit and “engaged himself in Suryasadhana (solar worship), first for nine years and then for three more years and having thus ‘acquired mantrasiddhi’ he performed a sacrifice and scattered the charmed ashes all around”, which immediately resulted in a fire, that consumed all the eighty-four temples and the scriptures some of which, however, were saved by water flowing from an upper floor of the nine-storey Ratnodadhi temple.23 (Professor D.N. Jha’s account, op. cit.) The above facts indicate that there was longstanding antagonism between Brahmins and Buddhists which resulted in destruction of Nalanda by fire.

Destruction by fire is confirmed by excavations also. While excavating the sites the excavators are frequently seen commenting that the particular monastery was probably destroyed by fire; but they do not state the probable causes of such fires. We have nowhere any evidence to suggest that the fires were caused by outside agencies or in the course of any political catastrophe except for a solitary instance as quoted in a Tibetan source alleging that the Brahmins deliberately set fire to the famous library.

One inscription of about 1003 AD, found at the temple site no. 12, actually refers to such destruction by fire and something saved from it and a grant made by one Baladitya of Telhada near Nalanda. It does not, however, say how the fire was caused. Unfortunately, the inscription does not refer to what was actually destroyed, whether it was the temple itself in the ruins of which it was found or a monastery nearby. The record is on a piece of a stone door-jamb. It does not mention Nalanda by name. It has been presumed that it refers to the restoration of the temple. From the list of inscriptions from Nalanda it may also be observed that this is the last datable inscription so far known to us and found at Nalanda.

It has been stated that the temple shows clear indications that it was restored during the declining day of Buddhism as inferred from its “plain exterior” and from traces of a protective compound wall seen around it. If Baladitya had really restored this temple, or had done a part of the work, as appears quite probable, the fact would be very significant for the history of Nalanda and its final end. It would give an impression that the end of Nalanda was fast approaching by the first decade of the 11th century AD.24 Unfortunately, the antiquities and finds from the excavations have not been closely studied and dated; though we can say that the above is the latest datable inscription so far known and recovered from the ruins. There is, therefore, reason to believe that Nalanda had met its final end some time in the 11th century AD, that is, more than hundred years before Bakhtiyar Khilji invaded Bihar in 1197 AD.[???]

_______________

References

1. In ancient literature both the forms Nalanda and Nalanda occur indiscriminately.

2. Hirananda Sastri in Proceedings of the Fifth Oriental Conference, I (Lahore, 1930).

3. B.C. Law, Geography of Early Buddhism (London, 1932).

4. Chattopadhyay, D.P., History of Buddhism in India, Calcutta.

5. [Saqmuel] S. Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World (London, 1906), II, p. 167. The derivation na-alam-da has been proposed, but it does not convey the sense that it is intended to.

6. Chattopadhyay, D.P., op. cit., pp. 65 ff.

7. Ibid., p. 68ff.

8. Ibid., p. 83.

9. Some scholars are in favour of a date earlier by a century.

10. Chattopadhyay, D.P., op. cit., p. 122.

11. For Hiuen-Tsang’s description of Nalanda, see [Samuel] Beal, op. cit., pp. 167ff. His biographer, Hwui Li, adds some interesting details: [Samuel] S. Beal, Life of Hiuen-Tsang (London, 1911), pp. 109ff.

12. Legge, Travels of Fa-hien (Oxford, 1886), p. 81.

13. Beal, Records, II, p. 118.

14. Beal, Life, p. 160.

15. Beal, Life, p. 177.

16. For a list, see Beal, Life, pp. XXVIIIff.

17. J. Takakusu, A Record of the Buddhist Religion (Oxford, 1896), pp. 65 and 154.

18. Takakusu, op. cit., pp. 167ff. It appears from his account that all the existing grammatical texts of the Paninian school, including the Ashtadhyayi itself, were taught to the students. It is strange that in spite of this the Buddhist texts in Sanskrit should have been written in incorrect language.

19. Ibid., p. 145.

20. Vikramasila was founded by Dharmapala (Chattopadhyay, D.P., op. cit., p. 217) and is generally identified with Patharghata in Bhalgalpur District, Bihar. Odantapuri or Uddandapura was erected near Nalanda by either Gopala or Devapala, ibid., pp. 204 and 206, and may be identified with modern Biharshariff in Nalanda District. Jagaddala was founded by Ramapala, one of the last kings of the dynasty, somewhere in North Bengal.

21. Chattopadhyay, D.P., op. cit., p. 2018.

22. Chattopadhyay, D.P., op. cit., p. 131ff.

23. The identification with the famous Brahmana mimamsaka Kumarila is at once suggested but does not seem to be very likely as Kumarila probably lived somewhat later.

24. Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, IX (Edinburgh, 1917), s.v. Nalanda.

Professor O.P. Jaiswal is a Retired University Professor, Patna University.

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XXII. Lunisolar Periods Composed of Whole Ages, Excerpt from "A New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam"
Tome II
by Monsieur De La Loubere
Envoy Extraordinary from the French King, to the King of Siam, in the years 1687 and 1688. Wherein a full and curious Account is given of the Chinese Way of Arithmetick, and Mathematick Learning. In Two Tomes, Illustrated with Sculptures. Done out of French, by A.P. Gen. R.S.S.
1693

Tome II, p. 222

XXII. Lunisolar Periods Composed of Whole Ages

The first lunisolar period composed of whole Ages, is that of 600 years, which is also composed of 31 periods of 19, and one of 11 years. Though the Chronologists speak not of this period, yet it is one of the ancientest that have been invented.

Antiq. Jud. 1, I. C. 3.

Josephus, speaking of the Patriarchs that lived before the Deluge, says that God prolonged their Life, as well by reason of their Virtue, as to afford them means to perfect the Sciences of Geometry and Astronomy, which they had invented: which they could not possibly do, if they had lived less than 600 years, because that it is not till after the Revolution of six Ages, that the great year is accomplished.

This great year which is accomplished after six Ages, whereof not any other Author makes mention, can only be a period of lunisolar years, like to that which the Jews always used, and to that which the Indians do still make use of. Wherefore we have thought necessary to examine what this great year must be, according to the Indian Rules.

By the Rules of the I Section it is found then, that in 600 years there are 7200 solar months, 7421 lunar months and 21/23c.[?]. Here this little fraction must be neglected; because that the lunisolar years do end with the lunar months, being composed of intire lunar months.

It is found by the Rules of the II. Section, that 7421 lunar months do comprehend 219146 days, 11 hours, 57 minutes, 52 seconds: if therefore we compose this period of whole days, it must consist of 219146 days.

600 Gregorian years are alternatively of 219145 days, and 219146 days: they agree then to half a day with a lunisolar period of 600 years, calculated according to the Indian Rules.

The second lunisolar period composed of Ages, is that of 2300 years, which being joyned to one of 600, makes a more exact period of 2900 years: And two periods of 2300 years, joyned to a period of 600 years do make a lunisolar period of 5200 years, which is the Interval of the time which is reckoned according to Eusebius his Chronology, from the Creation of the World to the vulgar Epocha of the years of J. Christ.

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XXIII. An Astronomical Epocha of the Years of Jesus Christ, Excerpt from "A New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam"
Tome II
by Monsieur De La Loubere
Envoy Extraordinary from the French King, to the King of Siam, in the years 1687 and 1688. Wherein a full and curious Account is given of the Chinese Way of Arithmetick, and Mathematick Learning. In Two Tomes, Illustrated with Sculptures. Done out of French, by A.P. Gen. R.S.S.
1693

Tome II, p. 222-223

These lunisolar periods, and the two Epocha's of the indians, which we have examin'd, do point unto us, as with the finger, the admirable Epocha of the years of J. Christ, which is removed from the first of these two Indian Epocha's, a period of 600 years wanting a period of 19 years, and which precedes the second by a period of 600 years, and two of nineteen years. Thus the year of Jesus Christ (which is that of his Incarnation and Birth, according to the Tradition of the Church, and as Father Grandamy justifies it in his Christian Chronology, and Father Rieciolus[?] in his reformed Astronomy) is also an Astronomical Epocha, in which, according to the modern Tables, the middle conjunction of the Moon with the Sun happened the 24 of March, according to the Julian form re-established a little after by Augustus, at one a clock and a half in the morning at the Meridian of Jerusalem, the very day of the middle Equinox, a Wednesday, which is the day of the Creation of these two Planets.

De Trin. 1. 4. c. 5.

The day following, March 25th, which according to the ancient tradition of the Church reported by St. Augustine, was the day of our Lords Incarnation, was likewise the day of the first Phasis of the Moon; and consequently it was the first day of the month, according to the usage of the Hebrews, and the first day of the sacred year, which by the Divine Institution, must begin with the first month of the Spring, and the first day of a great year, the natural Epocha of which is the concourse of the middle Equinox, and of the middle Conjunction of the Moon with the Sun.

Eclog. 4.

This concourse terminates therefore the lunisolar periods of the preceding Ages, and was an Epocha from whence began a new order of Ages, according to the Oracle of the Sybil, related by Virgil in these words:

Magnus ab integro Seclorum nascitur ordo:
Jam nova progenies Coelo dimittitur alto.
[Google translate: A great order is born from the entire ages
Now a new generation is released on high heaven.]

Original Source of NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM: Motto at the Foundation of the Unfinished Pyramid on the Great Seal
by GreatSeal.com
Accessed: 6/9/22

The motto Novus Ordo Seclorum was coined by Charles Thomson in June 1782. He adapted it from a line in Virgil's Eclogue IV, a pastoral poem written by the famed Roman writer in the first century B.C. that expresses the longing for a new era of peace and happiness.

The original Latin in Virgil's Eclogue IV (line 5) is: "Magnus ab integro seclorum nascitur ordo."

For a better sense of its meaning, below are two translations (by James Rhoades and by C. S. Calverley) of the passage at the beginning of Virgil's poem which refers to the Sibyl who prophesied the fate of the Roman empire.

Now the last age by Cumae's Sibyl sung
Has come and gone, and the majestic roll
Of circling centuries begins anew:
Justice returns, returns old Saturn's reign,
With a new breed of men sent down from heaven.
Only do thou, at the boy's birth in whom
The iron shall cease, the golden age arise. . .

Under thy guidance, whatso tracks remain
Of our old wickedness, once done away
Shall free the earth from never-ceasing fear.
He shall receive the life of gods, and see
Heroes with gods commingling, and himself
Be seen of them, and with his father's worth
Reign o'er a world at peace.

Come are those last days that the Sybil sang:
The ages' mighty march begins anew.
Now come the virgin, Saturn reigns again:
Now from high heaven descends a wondrous race.
Thou on the newborn babe – who first shall end
That age of iron, bid a golden dawn. . .

Thou, trampling out what prints our crimes have left,
Shalt free the nations from perpetual fear.
While he to bliss shall waken; with the Blest
See the Brave mingling, and be seen of them,
Ruling that world o'er which his father's arm shed peace.

That key phrase (bolded above) has also been translated as: a "great series or mighty order of ages is born anew."

Charles Thomson was a former Latin teacher, and Virgil was one of his favorite poets. Inspired by the above passage, he coined the motto: "Novus Ordo Seclorum" and placed it beneath the unfinished pyramid, where he explained it signifies "the beginning of the new American Æra," which commences from the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

An accurate translation of Novus Ordo Seclorum is: "A New Order of the Ages."

Virgil's The Georgics inspired Annuit Coeptis, the motto above the eye of Providence. Also, his epic masterpiece, Aeneid, describes an ancient symbol of peace held by the American Bald Eagle, the olive branch.

This Oracle seems to answer the Prophecy of Isaiah, Parv___ natus est nobis; c. 9. v. 6. 8c7[?], where this new-born is called God and Father of future Ages; Deus fortis, Pater futuri Saculi.

"Puer natus est nobis" (A boy is born for us) is a Gregorian chant, the introit for Christmas Day. Thomas Tallis wrote a Christmas mass on the chant.

The text of the antiphon is taken from Isaiah 9:6, while the psalm verse is verse 1 from Psalm 98, "Sing a new song to the Lord".

Puer natus est nobis,
et filius datus est nobis:
cuius imperium super humerum eius :
et vocabitur nomen eius, magni consilii angelus.
Cantate Domino canticum novum:
quia mirabilia fecit.

[Google translate: A child is born to us,
and a son is given to us
whose government is on his shoulder
and his name will be called the angel of great counsel.
Sing to the lord a new song:
because he did wonderful things.]

-- Puer natus est nobis, by Wikipedia

The Interpreters do remark in this Prophecy, as a thing mysterious, the extraordinary situation of a Mem final (which is the Numerical Character of 600) in this word [[x] Hebrew] ad multiplicandum [to multiply], where this Mem final is in the second place, there being no other example in the whole Text of the Holy Scripture, where ever a final Letter is placed only at the end of the words. This numerical Character of 600 in this situation might allude to the periods of 600 years of the Patriarchs, which were to terminate at the accomplishment of the Prophecy, which is the Epocha, from whence we do at present compute the years of Jesus Christ.

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Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
by Wikipedia
Accessed 6/15/22

Not to be confused with the Catholic Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

On June 20, 1712, Ziegenbalg wrote to the Society for promoting Christian knowledge in London that the mission schools were the "fruitful seed plots of the church" that would prepare scholars to serve the mission "as writers [i.e., clerks and accountants], school masters and catechists" (SPCK, ME Cr 1, page 114). In a letter to George Lewis, a chaplain of the English East India Company in Madras in 1713, Ziegenbalg and Grundler mentioned that the children growing in the "knowledge and fear of God, may, by the divine blessing become a means of planting a church of Christ, deeply rooted in the Word of truth" and contribute to "the future happy enlightenment of Christ's church in the east" (Ziegenbalg, A letter to the reverend Mr. George Lewis, 1715, 2 and 23). Hence, the schools were meant to be part of a "missional church." Ziegenbalg and his colleagues maintained a positive view on the nature and capabilities of the school children. On December 7, 1709, Grundler reported that the Indian school children were more industrious, hard-working, obedient and talented in learning than the European school children,37 [HR, 1, 4, Con., 179; in the mission library of the Franke foundation a copy of the Halle reports is available that belonged to Benjamin Schultze and bears the call no. "A:1, Teil 1." In the margin Schultz corrected Grundler's observation and wrote that mischievousness, wickedness, obstinacy and carelessness were found among those children in the Portuguese school in Tranquebar, who were used to wearing European clothes.] mainly because the school education was built on the interests, experiences and life situation of the Tamil children. Like the ancient Indian Gurukula-system of education, the teachers and their students lived together and imparted what they lived by. This made their learning experience easier. Moreover, they grew emotionally and intellectually stable so that they could achieve all-round development.

The medium of instruction in the schools was Tamil. On August 28, 1715 Grundler, after eight years of work among the Tamil people, affirmed that "everyone learns the principles of Christian religion and his mother tongue" (SPCK, ME Cr 2, Page 3).

-- Genealogy of the south Indian deities, by Daniel Jeyaraj, Professor of World Christianity [Christian propaganda]

2. Travancore. The most remarkable man among the first group of South Indian missionaries was Ringeltaube. He was a Prussian, and was born in 1770. He studied at Halle, and while there was so powerfully impressed by the life of John Newton, that he was led, like Newton, to seek the Lord with all his heart, and to be ready for any sacrifice at the Lord's call. He was ordained in 1796, and in the same year accepted an offer to go to Calcutta as an agent of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge....

From 1806 to 1810 Ringeltaube carried on an active evangelistic work in Tinnevelly, with Palamcottah as his centre, paying also frequent visits to Travancore. Tinnevelly at this time contained about 5,000 Christians, under the care of native agents supported by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Ringeltaube worked much at first among these people....

From 1815 to 1825 there was extraordinary activity and growth in missionary enterprise in and around Calcutta. The Serampore Mission was in full work, the Church Missionary Society, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Baptist and the London Societies were all most energetic. Many auxiliary Societies were initiated, and when Mr. Tyerman and Mr. Bennet visited Calcutta in 1826, they say in their report: 'By the concurrent testimony of all ranks and parties, the change for the better in India within twenty-five years has been surprisingly great in both the manners and practices of natives and Europeans. Irreligious persons acknowledge the change, and confess it has been a good thing to have such an increase of ministers and churches in Bengal and the North-West....

The Madras Mission. Madras, like the other great Indian cities, and especially the great ports, has always been a difficult centre for Christian work. Yet many of the great Societies have felt it imperative to maintain there a staff of workers, and have devoted much time and money to Christian service. Here, as in the case of Calcutta, it would be a pleasant task to indicate the good work which has been carried on there throughout the century by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Church Missionary Society, the Wesleyan, and many other Societies, and also to indicate the great and beneficial results achieved by the two great educational institutions under the care respectively of the Free and Established Churches of Scotland. But we can deal only with the work of the London Missionary Society....

Two remarkable men were at this time connected with the Madras Mission, but each only for a short period. John Bilderbeck, after being received into the Church at Black Town by Mr. Smith, after visiting England in 1831, was ordained and appointed to Madras. He laboured there during 1832 and 1833, and in the latter year removed to Chiltoon. In 1841 he resigned, and later on joined the Church Missionary Society. Robert Caldwell, B. A., was appointed to Madras in 1837, and from 1838 to 1841 was active in the work of the mission. In 1841 he joined the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and for the next fifty years was famous among the great Indian missionaries of that Society. In 1877 he became Bishop of Tinnevelly, and he died at the Pulney Hills, South India, in August, 1891....

COMBACONUM AND CHITTOOR. — Combaconum is a town situated on the south of Madras about twenty miles north-east of Tanjore. Its population is about 40,000. In 1825 Mr. Mead, leaving Travancore in consequence of ill health, commenced a mission there with the assistance of six native readers, and at once entered on evangelistic work in the town and neighbourhood, and by degrees opened schools. The Directors of the Society for a time deferred giving their approval of the occupation of this town as a permanent station, probably on account of its proximity to Tanjore, an old and important centre of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel....

In June, 1835, Mr. Crisp left Combaconum to proceed to Madras to take the place of a member of that mission whose health had failed. Mr. Nimmo was thus left in sole charge of the work, and in March, 1837, was ordained and placed on the list of the Society's missionaries. From this time until the close of 1851 he conducted the work with much efficiency, his long experience and his intimate acquaintance with the people and their customs well qualifying him to meet the various demands of the position. But in January, 1852, by the decision of the Directors, the station and district was handed over to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, a step rendered advisable by the near neighbourhood of Combaconum to Tanjore. Mr. Nimmo therefore removed and took up work at Tripassore....

In the year 1842 Mr. Howell left the mission and joined the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. After his departure the work was left in the charge of a native catechist, but was superintended by missionaries at Bellary and Madras.

-- The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

SPCK has worked overseas since its foundation. The initial focus was the British colonies in the Americas. Libraries were established for the use of clergy and their parishioners, and books were frequently shipped across the Atlantic by sail throughout the 18th century. By 1709, SPCK was spreading further afield: a printing press and trained printer were sent to Tranquebar in East India to assist in the production of the first translation of the Bible into Tamil. This was accomplished by the German Lutheran missionaries Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Pluetschau from the Danish-Halle Mission.

-- Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, by Wikipedia

Hinduism. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 1877, by Sir Monier Monier-Williams KCIE

-- Monier Monier-Williams, by Wikipedia

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
Abbreviation: SPCK
Formation: 1698
Founder: Thomas Bray
Type: Church of England; Christian media; Christian charity; Christian mission
Headquarters: 36 Causton Street, London, SW1P 4ST, United Kingdom
Website: spckpublishing.co.uk

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity (registered number 231144). Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and across the world.

The SPCK is the oldest Anglican mission organisation in the world, though it is now more ecumenical in outlook and publishes books for a wide range of Christian denominations. It is currently the leading publisher of Christian books in the United Kingdom[1] and the third oldest independent publisher in the UK.

The SPCK has a vision of a world in which everyone is transformed by Christian knowledge. Its mission is to lead the way in creating books and resources that help everyone to make sense of faith.

History

Foundation

On 8 March 1698, Rev. Thomas Bray met a small group of friends, including Sir Humphrey Mackworth, Colonel Maynard Colchester, Lord Guilford and John Hooke at Lincoln's Inn. These men were concerned by what they saw as the "growth in vice and immorality" in Britain at the time[2] which was owing to the "gross ignorance of the principles of the Christian religion".[3] They were also committed to promoting "religion and learning in the plantations abroad".[3]

They resolved to meet on a regular basis to devise strategies on how they could increase knowledge of Anglican Christianity. They decided that these aims could best be achieved by publishing and distributing Christian literature and encouraging Christian education at all levels.

These foundational aims and methods continue to direct the activities of the SPCK today.

Priorities to help lowly people to be good Christian people and learn the faith

Education

Unsurprisingly, education has always been a core part of SPCK's mission. One of the key priorities for Bray and his friends was to build libraries in market towns. In its first two hundred years, the Society founded many charity schools for poor children in the seven to 11 age group. It is from these schools that the modern concept of primary and secondary education has grown. Evidence of the SPCK's impact on British education can still be seen in the many Church of England primary schools today. The Society also provided teacher training.[4]

Evangelism overseas

SPCK has worked overseas since its foundation. The initial focus was the British colonies in the Americas. Libraries were established for the use of clergy and their parishioners, and books were frequently shipped across the Atlantic by sail throughout the 18th century. By 1709, SPCK was spreading further afield: a printing press and trained printer were sent to Tranquebar in East India to assist in the production of the first translation of the Bible into Tamil. This was accomplished by the German Lutheran missionaries Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Pluetschau from the Danish-Halle Mission. For its time, this was a remarkably far-sighted example of ecumenical co-operation. The SPCK has continued to work closely with churches of many different denominations, whilst retaining a special relationship with churches within the Anglican Communion.

As the British Empire grew in the 19th century, so SPCK developed an important role in supporting the planting of new churches around the world. Funds were provided for church buildings, for schools, for theological training colleges, and to provide chaplains for the ships taking emigrants to their new homes. While the SPCK supported the logistics of church planting and provided resources for theological learning, by the 19th century it did not often send missionaries overseas. Instead, this sort of work had passed to other organisations, such as its sister society the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG), which was also founded by Bray.

SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL

More commonly known as the SPG. This society (full title, Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts) was founded under royal English charter in June 1701 as the official overseas missionary body of the Church of England. Its leading promoter was Rev. Thomas Bray (1656–1730), also one of the founders of the society for promoting christian knowledge (SPCK), who had been Ecclesiastical Commissary for Maryland in 1699–1700. The impulse for the SPG's organization came from a belated but nonetheless fervent Anglican recognition of the need to carry the Christian Gospel beyond England. In this sense it was a part of the great worldwide Christian revolution, which eventuated in the emergence of Christianity as a genuine universal faith during the following 200 years. According to the terms of its charter the SPG was incorporated for the purposes of (1) "providing a maintenance for an orthodox Clergy in the plantations, colonies, and factories of Great Britain beyond the seas, for the instruction of the King's loving subjects in the Christian religion"; (2) "making such other provisions as may be necessary for the propagation of the Gospel in those parts;" and (3) "receiving, managing, and disposing of the charity of His Majesty's subjects for those purposes." During most of the 18th century the Society's activities were confined to the British colonies of North America where it was active not only among European colonists but undertook the conversion of Black slaves and Native Americans. Prevented by the terms of its charter from continuing in the United States after the American Revolution, the SPG shifted its activity, first, to Canada and, after 1823, to non-Christian regions of Asia and Africa. On the whole, the SPG tended to develop the community type of mission and usually carried on its activities under the direct superintendence of the diocesan bishop in the mission field. Its close identification with Anglo-Catholicism during much of its history and the founding by the Anglican evangelicals of the Church Missionary Society in 1799 somewhat limited the Society's activities. Nevertheless, during the course of the 19th century it spread extensively into South Africa (1821), Bengal and South India (1823), Borneo (1848), Pacific Islands (1862), North China (1863), Japan (1873), Korea (1899), Manchuria (1892), and Siam (1903). Its greatest mission successes were won in India where it still has great influence. The 20th century has witnessed some diminution of the Society's activities as the former holdings of the British Empire have contracted. Even so, it continues to play an active and effective role as a mission agency in the British Commonwealth.

Bibliography: h. p. thompson, Into All Lands (London 1951). c. f. pascoe, Two Hundred Years of the S.P.G., 1701–1900 (London 1901). r. p. s. waddy, "250 Years of Patrologia Graeca," International Review of Mission 40 (1951) 331–336. b. c. roberts, "SPG: How It Works," Church Quarterly Review 157 (1956) 136–143. w. a. bultmann and p. w. bultmann, "The Roots of Anglican Humanitarianism: A Study of the Membership of the SPCK and the SPG, 1699-1720," Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church 33 (Mar 1964) 3–48. g. j. goodwin, "Christianity, Civilization and the Savage: The Anglican Mission to the American Indian," Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church 42 (June 1973) 93–110. m. a. c. warren, "The Missionary Expansion of Ecclesia Anglicana," in New Testament Christianity for Africa and the World (London 1974) 124–140. b. hough, "Archives of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel," Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church 46 (1977) 309-322. r. h. s. boyd, "The Patrologia Graeca in Ahmedabad: 1830–1851," Indian Church History Review 12 (June 1978) 54–66. a. k. davidson, "Colonial Christianity: The Contribution of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to the Anglican Church in New Zealand 1840–1880," Journal of Religious History 16 (Dec. 1990) 173–184.

-- The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, by Encyclopedia.com

In Ireland, the APCK was founded in 1792 to work alongside the Church of Ireland; in south India the Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was established to support the Anglican missions in that region and is affiliated with SPCK.[5]

During the twentieth century, SPCK's overseas mission concentrated on providing free study literature for those in a number of ministerial training colleges around the world, especially in Africa. The International Study Guide series was provided, free of charge, to theological training colleges across the world. They can still be purchased from the SPCK website,[6] although the focus of SPCK's worldwide mission is now on developing the African Theological Network Press.

Supporting the Church of England

From the late 1800s to the early 20th century, SPCK ran a Training College for Lay Workers on Commercial Road in Stepney Green, London.[7] This was set up to provide a theological education for working-class men, with the aim of better helping clergy to conduct services. It was also anticipated that with a firmer understanding of the Bible, theology and the values of the Anglican church, these men might be able to instruct their own communities. The college was still handing out medals to graduates in 1908.

Throughout the 20th century, the SPCK offered support to ordinands in the Anglican church. These were men in training to become priests in the Church of England, who had fallen upon hard times and may have otherwise been unable to continue their studies. Today, this support continues through the Richards Trust[8] and the Ordinands Library app.[9]

Supporting the vulnerable

SPCK was involved in tackling a number of social and political issues of the time.[2] It actively campaigned for penal reform, provided for the widows and children of clergy who died whilst overseas and provided basic education for slaves in the Caribbean.

Distribution and bookshops

SPCK's early publications were distributed through a network of supporters who received books and tracts to sell or give away in their own localities. Large quantities of Christian literature were provided for the Navy, and the Society actively encouraged the formation of parish libraries, to help both clergy and laity. By the 19th century, members had organized local district committees, many of which established small book depots — which at one time numbered over four hundred. These were overseen by central committees such as the Committee of General Literature and Education. In 1899, the addresses of their "depositories" in London were given as Northumberland Avenue, W.C.; Charing Cross, W.C. and 43 Queen Victoria Street, E.C..[10] Six years later, in edition 331, the depository was closed at Charing Cross, but a new one added in Brighton: 129, North Street.

In the 1930s, a centrally coordinated network of SPCK Bookshops was established, offering a wide range of books from many different publishers. At its peak, the SPCK bookshop chain consisted of 40 shops in the UK and 20 overseas. The latter were gradually passed into local ownership during the 1960s and 1970s.

Holy Trinity Church, Marylebone, Westminster, London is a former Anglican church, built in 1828 by Sir John Soane. By the 1930s, it had fallen into disuse and in 1936 was used by the newly founded Penguin Books company to store books. A children's slide was used to deliver books from the street into the large crypt. In 1937, Penguin moved out to Harmondsworth, and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge moved in. It was their headquarters until 2004, when it moved to London Diocesan House in Causton Street, Pimlico. The bookshop moved to Tufton Street, Westminster, in 2003.

On 1 November 2006, St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust (SSG) took over the bookshops but continued to trade under the SPCK name, under licence from SPCK. That licence was withdrawn in October 2007. However, some shops continued trading as SPCK Bookshops without licence until the SSG operation was closed down in 2009.

Publishing

Thomas Bray believed passionately in the power of the printed word. From its earliest days, the SPCK commissioned tracts and pamphlets, making it the third-oldest publishing house in England. (Only the Oxford and Cambridge University Presses have existed longer.) Early member George Sale's translated AlKoran was published in the 1730s and was praised by Voltaire.

Throughout the 18th century, SPCK was by far the largest producer of Christian literature in Britain. The range of its output was considerable — from pamphlets aimed at specific groups such as farmers, prisoners, soldiers, seamen, servants and slave-owners, to more general works on subjects such as baptism, confirmation, Holy Communion, the Prayer Book, and private devotion. Increasingly, more substantial books were also published, both on Christian subjects and, from the 1830s, on general educational topics as well.

Now, the SPCK's publishing team produces around 80 titles per year, for audiences from a wide range of Christian traditions and none. The SPCK publishes under three main imprints:

SPCK

SPCK Publishing is a market leader in the areas of theology and Christian spirituality.[11] At present, key authors for SPCK include the Anglican New Testament scholar N. T. Wright, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Paula Gooder and Alister McGrath. Recent additions to SPCK's list include Guvna B, and Ben Cooley, founder of Hope for Justice.

SPCK is also increasingly gaining recognition in the secular space in genres such as history and leadership. SPCK represent authors such as Terry Waite, Melvyn Bragg and Janina Ramirez.

IVP

SPCK merged with Inter-Varsity Press (IVP) in 2015.[12] IVP maintains its own board of trustees and editorial board. Key authors for IVP include John Stott, Don Carson, Amy Orr-Ewing and Emma Scrivener.

Lion Hudson

SPCK purchased Lion Hudson in 2021.[13]

Marylebone House

In 2014, SPCK launched its fiction imprint, Marylebone House,[14] which publishes a range of contemporary and historical fiction, short stories and clerical crime mysteries,[11] with Christian characters and Christian themes.

Assemblies website

As the state increasingly took control of providing primary education throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the SPCK looked for new ways in which it could promote Christian knowledge amongst the youth of Britain.

In 1999, the SPCK created the assemblies website. Schools in England and Wales are legally obliged to provide daily collective worship for all of their pupils and this should be of a broadly Christian nature.[15] The aim of the assemblies website is to provide teachers with easy access to free resources, empowering them to deliver high-quality assemblies that make their pupils explore faith and their own beliefs.

Since it was created, the assemblies website has become a web community, on which experienced teachers and youth leaders can share their ideas, assembly scripts and tips and tricks for delivering engaging assemblies.[16]

There are now over 1500 assembly scripts on the website and these are added to every month. Each month, SPCK commissions 16 new assemblies; 8 for primary schools and 8 for secondary schools. In addition to these, 'rapid response' assemblies may be added within 24 hours of momentous world events.[17] Many assemblies focus on Christian themes, but many simply address pastoral issues that come up time and time again within schools. The Festivals of World Religions section also encourages awareness of other religions and enables teachers to celebrate children of other faiths.[18]

Every month, the assemblies website attracts over 50,000 unique visitors and the most popular assemblies are viewed over 10,000 times.[17]

In 2018, the SPCK also redeveloped its Welsh language offering. There is now a bank of 600 Welsh language assembly scripts that can be easily accessed, viewed and used within Welsh language schools.

Diffusion Prison Fiction

SPCK also owns the imprint Diffusion, which has published 12 titles which were especially commissioned for adults who struggle to read. These titles are divided into two series, "Star" and "Diamond". Star books are written for adults who are new to reading and need to improve their very basic skills, while the Diamond series is more appropriate for learners who want to develop their reading confidence further.[19] All of the books are written with engaging plots, suitable for adults, but in a style and typeface that is accessible to people with very basic literacy skills.

SPCK provides these books for free to prisons including to individual prisoners, prison libraries and prison reading groups. This is done with the aim of addressing two major causes of re-offending: lack of employment on release and lack of support from family and friends. At the end of each chapter, the Diffusion books contain questions which can be discussed in a reading group, thereby developing verbal communication and social skills. These questions focus on developing empathy by asking questions like "what would it feel like to be in that character's position?" and encourage self-reflection by asking "how does this example apply to my own life?". Each book fosters a sense of personal responsibility, and demonstrates that every action has consequences.[20]

In these ways, the Diffusion prison fiction programme not only develops hard skills, such as literacy, but also soft skills such as the ability to develop positive personal relationships with others.[19]

By the end of 2018, the SPCK had sent Diffusion books to 70% of prisons in the UK. In 2018 alone, it sent out over 6,500 books.

It is now looking at ways of expanding the programme to reach more vulnerable adults, including refugees and the homeless.

The African Theological Network Press

Together with the Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture, the Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa and Missio Africanus, the SPCK has founded the African Theological Network Press (the ATNP).

The aim of the ATNP is to be "an ecumenical press serving the church in Africa and the Diaspora through affordable, high-quality, scholarly publications accessible on the continent and globally"[21] The ATNP is a centralised commissioning and editorial unit, based in Nairobi. The material will be distributed across Africa to be printed locally. In this way, the ATNP will overcome the problems of localised publishing, which has the unfortunate consequence that books rarely make it outside the country in which they are published.

The ATNP will also address the dependence of African theological study and teaching on publications from the global North. Too often, African theology is published in the global North and never returned to Africa, or if it is, it is returned at prices that few African Christians can afford.[22]

The ATNP will publish theology, written by Africans on topics that matter to African Christians.

The SPCK has always been actively engaged in worldwide mission, but this innovative approach reflects the extraordinary growth of Christianity in Africa. No longer is mission an asymmetrical process of giving and receiving, but a mutually beneficial experience. There is much that Christians in the UK can learn from the joyful expression of African Christianity. The SPCK hopes that, by supporting the sustainable development of the ATNP, it will "unlock the treasure trove of African Christian thought for Africa and the whole world".[22]

Prominent members

• James Catford, chair of trustees
• Sam Richardson, CEO
• Bishop John Pritchard, former chair of trustees

SSPCK in Scotland

The Scottish sister society,[23] the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK), was formed by royal charter in 1709[23] as a separate organisation with the purpose of founding schools "where religion and virtue might be taught to young and old" in the Scottish Highlands and other "uncivilised" areas of the country. It was intended to counter the threat of Catholic missionaries achieving "a serious landslide to Rome" and of growing Highland Jacobitism.[24] Its schools were a valuable addition to the Church of Scotland programme of education in Scotland, which was based on a tax on landowners to provide a school in every parish. Some — but by no means all — Society schoolmasters were inferior in comparison to burgh and parish schools, however, "particularly in [their] acquaintance with the Evangelical System" rather than more pragmatic literacy, numeracy and teaching ability.[25] The SSPCK had five schools by 1711, 25 by 1715, 176 by 1758 and 189 by 1808, by then with 13,000 pupils attending.[26]

At first, the SSPCK avoided using the Gaelic language, with the result that pupils ended up learning by rote without understanding what they were reading.[27] SSPCK rules from 1720 required the teaching of literacy and numeracy "but not any Latin or Irish"[23] (then a common term for Gaelic on both sides of the Irish Sea), and the Society boasted "that barbarity and the Irish language ... are almost rooted out" by their teaching.[28] In 1753, an act of the Society forbade students "either in the schoolhouse or when playing about the doors thereof to speak Erse, under pain of being chastised".[25]

In 1741, the SSPCK introduced a Gaelic–English vocabulary, then, in 1767, introduced a New Testament designed with facing pages of Gaelic and English texts for both languages to be read alongside one another,[29] with more success. In 1766, it allowed its Highland schools to use Gaelic alongside English as languages of instruction.[25] In 1790, a Society preacher still insisted that English monolingualism was a Society goal[30] and a decade later Society schools continued to use corporal punishment against students speaking Gaelic.[23] In the early 19th century, the Society activity declined. Its educational work was taken over by the Gaelic Societies of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness.

See also

Notes

1. "IPG Independent Publishing Awards". Retrieved 24 August 2017.
2. Collins, Sian (16 March 2017). "Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK)". Cambridge University Library. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
3. SPCK: Past & Present. London: SPCK. 1994.
4. "Schooling before the 19th Century". Living Heritage. UK Parliament. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
5. "About". Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
6. "Search results for: 'ISG'". SPCK Publishing. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
7. "A Very Brief History of SPCK's Charitable Work". SPCK Publishing. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
8. "Grants". SPCK Publishing. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
9. "Ordinand Library". Sons and Friends. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
10. "The Dawn of Day", 256th edition
11. "About SPCK". SPCK Publishing. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
12. "SPCK moves to secure future of IVP". The Bookseller. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
13. "SPCK buys Lion Hudson's publishing business". The Bookseller.
14. "Home page". Marylebone House. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
15. "Religious Education and Collective Worship" (PDF). Department for Education. 31 January 1994.
16. "SPCK Assemblies - About". Assemblies. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
17. "School Assemblies". SPCK Publishing. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
18. "School Assemblies - Primary". Assemblies. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
19. "Diffusion Books". SPCK Publishing. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
20. "What We Do | Improving Literacy". Diffusion Books. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
21. "Mission and Vision". Retrieved 8 March 2019.
22. "African Theological Network Press - ATNP". SPCK Publishing. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
23. Tanner, Marcus (2004). The Last of the Celts. Yale University Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-300-10464-2.
24. Porter, Andrew (2004). Religion Versus Empire?: British Protestant Missionaries and Overseas Expansion, 1700–1914. Manchester University Press. p. 9. ISBN 9780719028236.
25. Mason, John (1954). "Scottish Charity Schools of the Eighteenth Century". Scottish Historical Review. 33 (115): 1–13. JSTOR 25526234.
26. Hechter, Michael (1977). Internal Colonialism: The Celtic Fringe in British National Development, 1536–1966. pp. 113ff. ISBN 9780520035126.
27. Anthony W. Parker (2010). Scottish Highlanders in Colonial Georgia: The Recruitment, Emigration, and Settlement at Darien, 1735–1748. University of Georgia Press. p. 33. ISBN 9780820327181.
28. "Our Gaelic Bible". The Celtic Magazine. Edinburgh. 4: 43. 1879. Cited in Tanner (2004).
29. MacKinnon, Kenneth (1991). Gaelic: A past and future prospect. Saltire Society. p. 56.
30. Macinnes, J (1951). The Evangelical Movement in the Highlands of Scotland, 1688 to 1800. Aberdeen. p. 244. Cited in Tanner (2004).

Further reading

Books

• Allen, William Osborne Bird & McClure, Edmund (1898) Two Hundred Years: the History of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1698–1898 online
• Clarke, W. K. Lowther (1959) A History of the SPCK. London: SPCK
• Smout, T. C. (1985), A History of the Scottish People, Fontana Press, ISBN 0-00-686027-3

Articles

• Grigg, John A., "'How This Shall Be Brought About': The Development of the SSPCK's American Policy," Itinerario (Leiden), 32 (no. 3, 2008), 43–60.
• Nishikawa, Sugiko. "The SPCK in defence of protestant minorities in Early Eighteenth-Century Europe." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 56.04 (2005): 730–748.
• Simon, Joan. "From charity school to workhouse in the 1720s: The SPCK and Mr Marriott's solution." History of education 17#2 (1988): 113–129.
• Threinen, Norman J. (1988) Friedrich Michael Ziegenhagen (1694–1776). German Lutheran Pietist in the English court. In: Lutheran Theological Review 12, pp. 56–94.
• Withrington, D. J. "The SPCK and Highland Schools in Mid-Eighteenth Century." Scottish Historical Review 41.132 (1962): 89–99. in JSTOR

Journals

• Theology
• Readings In Indian Christian Theology

External links

Websites

• SPCK Publishing, official website for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
• The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge/USA official website
• Education and Anglicisation: The Policy of the SSPCK toward the education of The Highlander, 1709–1825 by Charles W. J. Withers
• SPCK SSG: News, Notes & Info
• Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge official website of the SSPCK

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Chapter III: Pioneer Work in South India: 1804-1820, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895
by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]
In Two Volumes, Volume II
1899

-- The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett, 1851-1904

-- London Missionary Society, by Wikipedia

-- Chapter I: India in 1795, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter II: Nathaniel Forsyth and Robert May, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter III: Pioneer Work in South India: 1804-1820, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter IV: Pioneer Work in North India, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter V: South Indian Missions: 1820-1895, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

CHAPTER III: PIONEER WORK IN SOUTH INDIA: 1804-1820

From 1798 to 1803 the needs of India were before the minds of the Directors, and occupied a large share of their attention; but it was not until 1804 that they were able to send out the first company of missionaries. The conditions under which they were sent and the quality of the workers are quaintly set forth in the Report for 1804: —

'The Rev. Mr. Vos superintends the mission designed for Ceylon. His long standing in the Christian ministry, his faithful and successful labours therein, both at Holland and the Cape of Good Hope, added to the experience which he has acquired by his previous intercourse with the ignorant and uncivilized part of mankind, point him out as a person remarkably qualified to fill this station. He is accompanied by the Brethren Ehrhardt and Palm, natives of Germany, who received their education for missionary services at the seminary at Berlin, which was instituted chiefly, if not solely, for this object, and is under the care, as before mentioned, of that valuable instructor, the Rev. Mr. Jaenicke. They have also passed a considerable time in Holland, with a view of acquiring a more perfect acquaintance with the Dutch language, which is used in Ceylon. Mrs. Vos and Mrs. Palm have also an important service to occupy their zeal, in the instruction of the female natives, and in assisting in the education of children.

'Those who are designed to labour on the continent of India are the Rev. Messrs. Ringeltaube, Des Granges, and Cran. The first is a native of Prussia, who has already passed a short time in India, and has since held his principal intercourse with the Society of the United Brethren. The other missionaries have been about two years in the seminary at Gosport; and the whole have been ordained to the office of the Christian ministry, and recommended to the grace of God in the discharge of the arduous and important service to which they are called.

'It has been observed that some of our brethren are intended for the island of Ceylon, this being the station on which the attention of the Society, and of the Directors, is more especially fixed, and where, we trust, they will actually labour: yet, in the first instance, they are to accompany their brethren to Tranquebar, where they will obtain such accurate and comprehensive information as will greatly assist them in forming their future plans; and where they will find some Christian friends, who will promote their introduction, were not this rendered almost unnecessary by the kindness of one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state, who has furnished them with a letter to his excellency Frederick North, the governor of the colony. The Directors have also fixed in their own minds a particular station for the labours of the brethren who are to remain on the Continent, and in which a very extensive field appears ripe for the harvest; this they have more particularly pointed out in their instructions, leaving, however, the ultimate decision to themselves, under the intimations of Divine providence, and the advice of those pious and well-informed friends with whom they will communicate on their arrival.'

No vessel of the East India Company was permitted to grant this company of missionaries a passage, as they went out in face of the open hostility of the Government, so the little band went to Copenhagen. Five of them sailed for India in a Danish vessel, bound for Tranquebar, on April 20, 1804, and were followed by Palm, who left Copenhagen on October 18. The five reached Tranquebar on December 5, and Palm arrived there June 4, 1805.

The Directors had further decided to establish a mission at Surat, and had appointed W. C. Loveless and John Taylor, M.D., to labour there. They sailed from London December 15, 1804, and reached Madras June 24, 1805. By this handful of workers the foundations were laid of the great work in Southern India which has been so successfully carried on throughout the century. From Tranquebar as a base these men, soon supplemented and strengthened by others, originated missionary work in the important fields of Ceylon, Travancore, Madras, Vizagapatam, Surat, and Bellary.

1. Ceylon. From 1805 to 1819 the work of the Society in Ceylon was carried on by four men. Unfortunately all the original records of this work also seem to have disappeared from the Society's archives, and all we know about it has to be gleaned from the somewhat scanty printed reports of the period. The four missionaries were M. C. Vos, J. P. Ehrhardt, J. D. Palm, and W. Read. The last had been for a short time at Tahiti, and was met by Mr. Vos at the Cape, and by him engaged for service in Ceylon. Vos settled in 1805 at Point de Galle, but was soon called to Colombo to take charge of a Dutch church there. Ehrhardt settled at Matura; Palm at Jaffnapatam, and Read at Point de Galle. Obstacles and difficulties similar to those which obtained in other parts of India were soon experienced. The missionaries were at first cordially welcomed by the governor, Mr. North, by whose influence the stations they occupied were assigned to them. The description of their work reads curiously in the light of to-day. 'The liberality of the government provides in part for the support of each of these missionaries, by which the funds of the Society will be relieved. They are actively engaged in acquiring the Cingalese language, in preaching to those who understand Dutch, and in instructing their children.' In Ceylon at this period there were large numbers of nominal Christians, but their condition may be gauged from one of Mr. Vos's letters: 'One hundred thousand of those who are called Christians, because they are baptized, need not go back to heathenism, for they never have been anything but worshippers of Buddha.'

Troubles soon arose. Mr. Vos's ministrations offended the Dutch consistory, and they demanded his expulsion from the island. He left in 1807, and soon after returned to the Cape of Good Hope. In 1812 Ehrhardt became minister of a Dutch church at Matura, and Palm of a Dutch church at Colombo. They both then ceased to depend upon the Society, and to be subject to its control. For two or three years they seem to have been active in educational work under government direction, and the last mention of Ceylon as a sphere of service occurs in the Report for 1817 and 1818. In the former we read: 'Mr. Ehrhardt and Mr. Read continue in Ceylon; the former has been removed by the government to Cultura, where he preaches alternately in Dutch and Cingalese. He has also established a school in which children are instructed in English, Dutch, and Cingalese, and on the Lord's day in the meaning of the chapter which they read. Mr. Read preaches twice a week in Dutch and keeps a day school.'

A few lines in the 1818 Report are the last reference in the Society's official records to this mission. After 1818 Ceylon disappears from the list of stations. That the men did good work is certain; but it is equally certain that as the agents were supported by Government, other considerations than missionary necessities became dominant. The mission became an early example of the unsatisfactory result, during the first twenty-five years of the Society's history, of attempting too soon to make missions locally self-supporting.

2. Travancore. The most remarkable man among the first group of South Indian missionaries was Ringeltaube. He was a Prussian, and was born in 1770. He studied at Halle, and while there was so powerfully impressed by the life of John Newton, that he was led, like Newton, to seek the Lord with all his heart, and to be ready for any sacrifice at the Lord's call. He was ordained in 1796, and in the same year accepted an offer to go to Calcutta as an agent of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. His stay there was brief, because 'he found he was to preach neither in Bengali nor in English, but in Portuguese to a mixed congregation of Portuguese, Malays, Jews, and Chinese.' In 1799 he returned to Europe. In 1803 he was accepted by the Society, and accompanied the others to Tranquebar1 [For much valuable information about Ringeltaube see an article by the Rev. W. Robinson in the Chronicle for January, 1889.]. There he took up with great energy the study of Tamil, and gradually was attracted towards Travancore as his field for service. One reason for this choice he gives in a letter to a friend, dated September 11, 1806: 'Long experience has taught me that in large towns, especially where many Europeans are, the Gospel makes but little progress. Superstition is there too powerfully established, and the example of the Europeans too baneful.' In February, 1806, Ringeltaube journeyed by way of Tuticorin to Palamcottah, and there obtained from the British Resident in Travancore a passport to enter that province. In April he visited Trevandrum, and finally obtained permission to establish a mission at Mayiladi, near Cape Comorin.

Travancore is remarkable for the beauty of its situation, for the character and customs of the people, and for the success which during the century has attended the work of the mission. Before describing the work of Ringeltaube, who can fairly claim the title of pioneer for Travancore — the scene of by far the greatest successes in the way of converts hitherto achieved by the Society in India— we will sketch the country and people in the words of Travancore's literary missionary, the Rev. Samuel Mateer2 [The Land of Charity, pp. 2, 3, et seq.].

'Travancore is a long, narrow strip of territory, measuring 174 miles in extreme length, and from 30 to 75 miles in breadth, lying between the Malabar Coast and the great chain of the Western Ghauts, a noble range of mountains, which, for hundreds of miles, runs almost parallel with the Western Coast of India, and which divides Travancore from the British provinces of Tinnevelly and Dindigul. It will be observed that Travancore thus occupies a very secluded position. The high mountain barrier on the East is almost impassable; the sea forms a protection on the West; it is therefore only from the North and the extreme South that the country is easily accessible.

'From its physical conformation Travancore is literally " a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, that spring out of valleys and hills." Fourteen principal rivers take their rise in the mountains, and before falling into the sea spread out, more or less, over the low grounds near the coast, forming inland lakes or estuaries of irregular forms, locally called "backwaters." These "backwaters" have been united by canals running parallel with the coast, and they are thus of immense value as a means of communication between the Northern and Southern districts. Travellers may in this way pass by water from Ponany, near Calicut, to Kolachel, a distance of not much under 200 miles. The mode of conveyance consists either of canoes hollowed out of the trunks of large trees, pushed along by two men with bamboo poles, or of "cabin boats," built somewhat like English boats, with a neat and comfortable cabin at the stern, which are propelled by from eight to fourteen rowers, according to their size. The principal road in Travancore also runs nearly parallel with the coast at a few miles' distance.

'The distinct castes and subdivisions found in various parts of Travancore are reckoned to be no less than eighty-two in number. All these vary in rank, in the nicely graduated scale, from the highest of the Brahmans to the lowest of the slaves. Occasional diversities, arising from local circumstances, are observable in the relative position of some of these castes. But speaking generally, all, from the Brahman priests down to the guilds of carpenters and goldsmiths, are regarded as of high or good caste; and from the Shanar tree-climbers and washermen down to the various classes of slaves, as of inferior or low caste.

'To give some definite idea of these component parts of the population, four principal castes may be selected as typical or illustrative of the whole. These are Brahmans, Sudras, Shanars, and Pulayars. The Brahmans in Travancore are divided into two principal classes — Namburis or Malayalim Brahmans, indigenous to the country, and foreign Brahmans, originally from the Canara, Mahratta, Tulu, and Tamil countries, but who are now settled in Travancore. The Namburi Brahmans, numbering about 10,000, are regarded as peculiarly sacred, and as exalted far beyond the foreign Brahmans. They claim to be the aboriginal proprietors of the soil, to whom the ancestors of the present rajahs and chiefs were indebted for all that they possessed. In consequence of their seclusion, caste prejudices, and strict attention to ceremonial purity, these Brahmans are almost inaccessible to the European missionary.

'The Brahmans in Travancore have secured for themselves a high and unfair superiority over all other classes. They are the only class that are free from all social and religious disabilities, and enjoy perfect liberty of action. The whole framework of Hinduism has been adapted to the comfort and exaltation of the Brahman. His word is law; his smile confers happiness and salvation; his power with heaven is unlimited; the very dust of his feet is purifying in its nature and efficacy. Each is an infallible pope in his own sphere. The Brahman is the exclusive and Pharisaic Jew of India.

'Even Europeans would be brought by Brahmans under the influence of these intolerable arrangements, did they only possess the power to compel the former to observe them. During the early intercourse of Europeans with Travancore, they were forbidden to use the main road, and required to pass by a path along the coast where Brahmans rarely travel; access to the capital was also refused as long as possible.

'The Sudras were originally the lowest of the four true castes, and are still a degraded caste in North India. But in the South there are so many divisions below the Sudras, and they are so numerous, active, and influential, that they are regarded as quite high-caste people. The Sudras are the middle classes of Travancore. The greater portion of the land is in their hands, and until recently they were also the principal owners of slaves. They are the dominant and ruling class. They form the magistracy and holders of most of the Government offices — the military and police — the wealthy farmers, the merchants, and skilled artisans of the country. The Royal Family are members of this caste. The ordinary appellation of the Sudras of Malabar is Nair (pronounced like the English word "nigher"), meaning lord, chief, or master; a marvellous change from their original position, according to Hindu tradition. By the primitive laws of caste they are forbidden to read the sacred books, or perform religious ceremonies, and are regarded as created for the service of the Brahmans.

'In consequence of their peculiar marriage customs the law of inheritance amongst the Sudras is equally strange. The children of a Sudra woman inherit the property and heritable honours, not of their father, but of their mother's brother. They are their uncle's nearest heirs, and he is their legal guardian. So it is, for example, in the succession to the throne.

'The Ilavars, Shanars, and others form a third great subdivision of the population. These constitute the highest division of the low castes. . . . The Ilavars and Shanars differ but little from one another in employments and character, and are, no doubt, identical in origin. The Shanars are found only in the southern districts of Travancore, between the Cape and Trevandrum; from which northwards the Ilavars occupy their place. These are the palm-tree cultivators, the toddy drawers, sugar manufacturers, and distillers of Travancore. Their social position somewhat corresponds to that of small farmers and agricultural labourers amongst ourselves....

'The Sudra custom of a man and woman living together as husband and wife, with liberty to separate after certain settlements and formalities, has been adopted by most of the Ilavars, and by a few of the Shanars in their vicinity; and amongst these castes also the inheritance usually descends to nephews by the female line. A few divide their property, half to the nephews and half to the sons. The rule is that all property which has been inherited shall fall to nephews, but wealth which has been accumulated by the testator himself may be equally divided between nephews and sons.

'These strange customs have sometimes occasioned considerable difficulty to missionaries in dealing with them, in the case of converts to Christianity. Persons who have been living together after the observance of the trivial form of "giving a cloth" are of course required to marry in Christian form. The necessary inquiries are therefore made into their history, and into the circumstances of each case of concubinage; deeds of separation, drawn up according to heathen law, are read and examined, and all outstanding claims are legally settled.

'The Shanars of South Travancore are of the same class as those of Tinnevelly, and in both provinces they have in large numbers embraced the profession of Christianity. Their employment is the cultivation of the Palmyra palm, which they climb daily in order to extract the sap from the flower-stem at the top. This is manufactured into a coarse dark sugar, which they sell or use for food and other purposes. The general circumstances of the Shanar and Ilavar population in Travancore, especially of the former, have long been most humiliating and degrading. Their social condition is by no means so deplorable as that of the slave castes, and has materially improved under the benign influence of Christianity, concurrently with the general advancement of the country.

'The slave castes — the lowest of the low — comprehend the Pallars, the Pariahs, and the Pnlayars. Of these the Pariahs, a Tamil caste, are found, like the Shanars, only in the southern districts and in Shencotta, east of the Ghauts; but they appear to be in many respects inferior to those of the eastern coast. Their habits generally are most filthy and disgusting. The Pulayars, the lowest of the slave castes, reside in miserable huts on mounds in the centre of the rice swamps, or on the raised embankments in their vicinity. They are engaged in agriculture as the servants of the Sudra and other landowners. Wages are usually paid to them in kind, and at the lowest possible rates. These poor people are steeped in the densest ignorance and stupidity. Drunkenness, lying, and evil passions prevail amongst them, except where of late years the Gospel has been the means of their reclamation from vice, and of their social elevation.'

The languages spoken in Travancore are Tamil and Malayalim. Tamil is spoken for about forty miles north of Cape Comorin; Malayalim north of the Neyattinkara River. That is, about one-fourth of the inhabitants of Travancore speak Tamil, and three-fourths Malayalim.

It was to this earthly Paradise, but rendered loathsome by the ignorance, cruelty, superstition, and pride of man, that the steps of Ringeltaube were providentially directed. His journal for 1806-7 describes how at Tuticorin the call to enter it came to him: —

'When in the evening, sitting in the verandah of the old fort (formerly the abode of power and luxury, now the refuge of a houseless traveller, and thousands of bats suspended from the ceiling), enjoying the extensive prospect, and communing with my own heart, and the God to whom mercies and forgivenesses belong, something frightened me by falling suddenly at my feet, and croaking, Paraubren Istotiram, i.e. God be praised; the usual words our Christians pronounce when greeting: I rejoiced to see an individual of that tribe among whom I had been so anxious to labour. Entered into conversation with him, as well as I could, to ascertain his ideas about religion, but was soon nonplussed by his stupidity. I could not force a word from him in answer to my plain questions, which he contented himself literally to give back to me. With a sigh, I was forced to dismiss him.'

This interview, unsatisfactory as it was, with a degraded and ignorant Shanar, strengthened the desire which already possessed Ringeltaube to reach Travancore. On April 25, 1806, his desire was gratified. Here is his own picture of the scene:—

'Set out at dawn, and made that passage through the hills, which is called the Arambuly gaut, about noon. Grand prospects of precipices, mountains, hills adorned with temples and other picturesque objects, presented themselves. My timid companions, however, trembled at every step, being now on ground altogether in the power of the Brahmans, the sworn enemy of the Christian name: and indeed a little occurrence soon convinced us that we were no more on British territory. I laid down to rest in a caravansary, appropriated for Brahmans only, when the magistrate immediately sent word for me to remove, otherwise their god would no more eat! I reluctantly obeyed, and proceeded round the southern hills to a village called Mayilady, from whence formerly two men came to Tranquebar to request me to come and see them, representing that two hundred heathens at this place were desirous to embrace our religion. I lodged two days at their house, where I preached and prayed; some of them knew the catechism. They begged hard for a native teacher, but declared they could not build a church, as all this country had been given by the king of Travancore to the Brahmans, in consequence of which, the magistrates would not give them permission. I spent here the Lord's day, for the first time, very uncomfortably, in an Indian hut, in the midst of a noisy gaping crowd, which filled the house. Perhaps my disappointment contributed to my unpleasant feelings; I had expected to find hundreds eager to listen to the Word, instead of which, I had a difficulty to make a few families attend for an hour.

'Travelling pleasantly under the shade of trees across hill and dale, with the ever-varying prospect of the gauts on my right, I reached Tiruvandirem, the capital of Travancore, on April 30. On the road I stopped, as travellers in general do, at Roman Catholic churches. Finding the dialect spoken here differing from the pure Tamil as much as the Yorkshire dialect does from pure English, I was much at a loss to understand them and make myself understood.'

Ringeltaube visited Anjengo, and on May 3 reached Quilon, and then by boat over the backwater travelled to Cochin. Here he met Colonel Macauly, the British Resident in Travancore, with whom he had been in correspondence, and who exerted his influence to get Ringeltaube permission from the rajah to build a church and reside in the country. Ringeltaube, on his return to Palamcottah, thus outlines his plan for the mission, and it is interesting to note that he here sketches the main lines which have been followed in the later development of the mission: —

'1. A small congregation to be begun near the confines of Travancore: £100 to be devoted to buying ground and erecting necessary buildings.

'2. A seminary of twelve youths, drawn from the existing congregations, to be formed: a pagoda and a half to be allowed for every youth per month, viz. 12s.

'3. When prepared, these youths to be sent out two and two, as itinerants, and two pagodas per month allowed as their stipend.

'4. If some of these prove very successful, and are truly gracious subjects, they should be ordained; but previous to this they should take a solemn oath not to exercise their ministry but in such a way as shall be approved by the Church.

'5. These to form an annual synod, under the presidency of an European missionary. Thus they will be gradually taught to govern a Church with prudence and wisdom, which catechists never learn at present.

'6. If any congregation wishes for a stationary preacher, one of these ministers to be given them, and they to stipulate to maintain him.

'7. A printing press to be united with this institution.

'8. Baptism to be administered wherever a true conviction of sin, and a belief in God our Saviour, appears; a promise to be exacted that such persons will be ready to suffer persecution for Christ, if necessary.

'9. A closer communion to be established among real converts, by means of a frequent enjoyment of the Lord's Supper, granted only to such.'

From 1806 to 1810 Ringeltaube carried on an active evangelistic work in Tinnevelly, with Palamcottah as his centre, paying also frequent visits to Travancore. Tinnevelly at this time contained about 5,000 Christians, under the care of native agents supported by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Ringeltaube worked much at first among these people. His method here and at Travancore was rapid itineration. In 1810 Oodiagherry became his centre of work, and in 1812 Mayiladi. In 1812 Ringeltaube's health began to fail. In 1816 he retired from the mission and went to Ceylon, and sailed thence intending to go to the Cape of Good Hope. Then he suddenly disappears, and is never more heard of. As a letter is extant, written from Colombo, stating that his liver was severely attacked, and as he is known to have sailed from Malacca, the most probable explanation is that he died and was buried at sea between Malacca and Batavia1 [See the Chronicle, 1889, p. 16.]. Of how or where his life closed no exact record appears to exist. He vanishes from the Society's story and work in a way which both arouses the desire to know more of him, and also fits in well with the unusual character of his previous career. The foundation of the Travancore Mission is inseparably linked with his name.

'This founder of our Travancore Mission was an able but eccentric man. He laboured devotedly, assiduously, and wisely for the conversion of the heathen and the edification of the Christian converts. Those whose motives appeared worldly and selfish were rejected by him, and all professing Christians were warned and instructed as to the spiritual character of the religion of Christ, and the permanent obligation of all relative and social duties. He was most generous and unselfish in regard to money, and is said to have distributed the whole of his quarter's salary almost as soon as it reached his hands. His labours were abundantly blessed, and his memory is precious and greatly honoured in connection with the foundation of this now flourishing native Christian Church1 [The Land of Charity, p. 265.].'

Prior to Ringeltaube's departure a successor. Mr. Charles Mead, had been appointed. He reached Madras, in company with Richard Knill, in August, 1816, but, owing to illness and to the death of his wife, did not arrive at Nagercoil until 1818. In September of the same year Knill rejoined Mead, having determined to find in Travancore his sphere of service. For two years the mission had been in sole charge of a catechist appointed by Ringeltaube, and he had done much good and useful work. There were when Ringeltaube departed about seven chief centres of work with chapels, five or six schools, and about 900 converts and candidates for baptism. This was no mean record for less than thirteen years of labour.

The Travancore British Resident in 1818 was Colonel Munro, an active friend of the missionary enterprise. Mead and Knill established their headquarters at Nagercoil, four miles from Mayiladi. Munro procured from the Ranee2 [The Queen Consort.] a bungalow for the missionaries, and a sum of 5,000 rupees, with which rice-fields were purchased, as an endowment for education. From this source, ever since 1819, the income of the English seminary has been derived. Munro, also probably in the effort to aid the funds of the mission, secured the appointment of Mr. Mead at Nagercoil as civil judge. Ten years earlier the Directors would have seen little or nothing anomalous in this. Now, although Mr. Mead held the appointment for a year, and discharged the duties so as to win the gratitude of the natives on the one hand, and to secure the external success of the mission on the other, the Board constrained him to resign the post.

'These early missionaries entered upon the work with great spirit and enterprise. A printing press was soon established. The seminary for the training of native youths was opened, and plans prayerfully laid and diligently carried out for the periodical visitation of the congregations and villages. The congregation at Nagercoil alone numbered now about 300, and a large chapel for occasional united meetings at the head station being urgently required, the foundation was laid by Mr. Knill on New Year's Day, 1819. Striking evidence of the strong faith and hope of these early labourers is seen in the noble dimensions of the chapel, the erection of which they then commenced. It is, perhaps, the largest church in South India, measuring inside 127 feet in length by 60 feet wide, and affording accommodation for nearly 2,000 persons, seated, according to Hindu custom, on the floor. Had this fine building not been erected, we should have in later years grievously felt the lack of accommodation for the great aggregate missionary and other special meetings of Christian people, which we are now privileged to hold within its walls1 [The Land of Charity, p. 269.].'

'During the two years after Mead and Knill's arrival, about 3,000 persons, chiefly of the Shanar caste, placed themselves under Christian instruction, casting away their images and emblems of idolatry, and each presenting a written promise declarative of his renunciation of idolatry and determination to serve the living and true God. Some of these doubtless returned to heathenism when they understood the spiritual character and comprehensive claims of the Christian religion, but most remained faithful and increasingly attached to their new faith. There were now about ten village stations, most of which had churches, congregations, and schools, all of them rapidly increasing. Native catechists were employed to preach and teach, and these teachers met the missionaries periodically for instruction and improvement in divine things.

'And now the tide of popular favour flowed in upon the missionaries. Not only did their message commend itself to the consciences of the hearers, but there was doubtless in many instances a mixture of low and inferior motives in embracing the profession of Christianity. The missionaries were the friends of the Resident, and connected with the great and just British nation. Hopes were perhaps indulged that they might be willing to render aid to their converts in times of distress and oppression, or advice in circumstances of difficulty. Moreover, the temporal blessings which Christianity everywhere of necessity confers, in the spread of education and enlightenment, liberty, civilization, and social improvement, were exemplified to all in the case of the converts already made. The kindness of the missionaries, too, attracted multitudes who were accustomed to little but contempt and violence from the higher classes, and who could not but feel that the Christian teachers were their best and real friends. What were these to do with those who thus flocked to the profession of Christianity? Receive them to baptism and membership with the Christian Church, or recognize them as true believers, they could not and did not; but gladly did they welcome them as hearers and learners of God's word. The missionaries rejoiced to think that the influence for good which they were permitted to exert, and the prestige attached to the British nation in India, were providentially given them to be used for the highest and holiest purposes. They did not hesitate, therefore, to receive to Christian instruction even those who came from mixed motives, unless they were evidently hypocrites or impostors. And from time to time, as these nominal Christians, or catechumens, appeared to come under the influence of the power of godliness, and as the instructions afforded them appeared to issue in their true conversion and renewed character, such were, after due examination and probation, received into full communion with the Christian Church. Their children, too, came under instruction at the same time in the mission schools, and became the Christian professors and teachers of the next generation1 [The Land of Charity, pp. 267-268.].'

India

3. VIZAGAPATAM. This important city, with a population of about 30,000, the chief town of a district of the same name, is on the eastern coast of India, 400 miles north of Madras, in the district known as the 'Northern Circars.' Telugu is spoken, the tongue of from fifteen to twenty millions. Work here began in 1805. George Cran and Augustus Des Granges, the only members of the first company of workers for South India left in Madras after the commencement of the Ceylon and Travancore Missions, decided not to stay in Madras, but to take up work at Vizagapatam. The statement is made that Vizagapatam was chosen because of advice to that effect given by Carey to Mr. Hardcastle, with whom he kept up a regular correspondence1 [Life and Letters of Carey, Marshman, and Ward, vol. i. p. 395.]. There is also evidence that the first missionaries realized what very difficult mission-fields the large cities of India are, and that their call was to work among the natives. However this may be, Cran and Des Granges were welcomed by many of the European residents at Vizagapatam, and were invited to conduct English services in the Fort, for which they received a monthly salary from the governor. They also conducted services during the week for both Europeans and natives; and they opened a school for native children, the first three scholars being the sons of a Brahman. By November, 1806, a mission house had been completed, which cost, together with the site, 3,000 rupees. They then opened a 'Charity' School for Eurasian children, taking some of them as boarders. Towards this they received 1,300 rupees from residents and subscriptions for the support of the children. The two missionaries gave themselves with great diligence to the study of the language, and by constantly meeting and conversing with the natives, notwithstanding many disadvantages, made rapid progress in its attainment. They also began the task of translating the Bible into Telugu, and prepared two or three tracts. In these manifold and arduous labours they were greatly aided by a converted Brahman, Anandarayer by name, one of the most remarkable of the early Indian converts. The experience of this man is of exceptional interest, as he was the first Brahman converted in India by a member of the London Missionary Society. Cran and Des Granges sent home the following account of this remarkable and encouraging event: —

'A Mahratean, or Bandida Brahman, about thirty years of age, was an accountant in a regiment of Tippoo's troops; and, after his death, in a similar employment under an English officer. Having an earnest desire to obtain eternal happiness, he was advised by an elder Brahman to repeat a certain prayer four hundred thousand times! This severe task he undertook, and performed it in a pagoda, together with many fatiguing ceremonies, taking care to exceed the number prescribed. After six months, deriving no comfort at all from these laborious exercises, he resolved to return to his family at Nosom, and live as before. On his way home, he met with a Roman Catholic Christian, who conversed with him on religious subjects, and gave him two books on the Christian religion, in the Telinga1 [Now called Telugu.] language, to read. These he perused with much attention, admired their contents, and resolved to make further inquiries into the religion of Christ; and, if satisfied, to accept of it. He was then recommended to a Roman priest, who, not choosing to trust him too much, required him to go home to his relations, and to return again to his wife. He obeyed this direction; but found all his friends exceedingly surprised and alarmed by his intention of becoming a Christian, and thus bringing reproach upon his caste. To prevent this, they offered him a large sum of money, and the sole management of the family estate. These temptations, however, made no impression on him. He declared that he preferred the salvation of his soul to all worldly considerations; and even left his wife behind him, who was neither inclined nor permitted to accompany him. He returned to the priest, who still hesitating to receive him as a convert, he offered to deliver up his Brahman thread, and to cut off his hair — after which no Brahman can return to his caste. The priest perceiving his constancy, and satisfied with his sincerity, instructed, and afterwards baptized him: upon which, his heathen name, Subbarayer, was changed to his present Christian name, Anandarayer.

'A few months after this, the priest was called away to Goa; and having just received a letter from a Padree, at Pondicherry, to send him a Telinga Brahman, he advised Anandarayer to go thither; informing him, that there he would find a larger congregation, and more learned Padrees; by whom he would be further instructed, and his thirst for knowledge be much gratified. When he arrived at Pondicherry, he felt disappointed, in many respects; yet there he had the pleasure of meeting his wife, who had suffered much among her relations, and at last formed the resolution of joining him. He then proceeded to Tranquebar, having heard that there was another large congregation, ministers, schools, the Bible translated, with many other books, and no images in their churches, which he always much disliked, and had even disputed with the Roman priests on their impropriety. The worthy ministers at Tranquebar were at first suspicious of him; but, by repeated conversations with him, during several months that he resided among them, they were well satisfied with him, and admitted him to the Lord's Table. He was diligent in attending their religious exercises, and particularly in the study of the Bible, which he had never seen before. He began to make translations from the Tamil into the Telinga language, which he writes elegantly, as well as the Mahratta. His friends would readily have recommended him to some secular employment at Madras or Tanjore, but he declined their offers, being earnestly desirous of employment only in the service of the Church.

'Having heard of the missionaries at Vizagapatam, he expressed a strong desire to visit them, hoping that he might be useful among the Telinga nation, either in church or school. This his desire is likely to be gratified, the missionaries having every reason to be satisfied with his character; and, upon their representation, the Directors of the Missionary Society have authorized them to employ him, and to allow him a competent salary.

'A gentleman, who knew him well, says: "Whatever our Lord Jesus requires of His followers, he has readily performed. He has left wife, mother, brother, sister, his estate, and other advantages which were offered to him, and has taken upon himself all the reproaches of the Brahman caste; and has been beaten by some of the heathen, to whom he spake on Christianity; and still bears the marks of their violence on his forehead. He declined complaining of it, and bore it patiently."'

The assistance of so intelligent a convert as Anandarayer was a great help to the missionaries in translation work, and by January 20, 1809, Des Granges could write home, 'The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are complete in manuscript, and have gone through the first correction. The Gospels of Mark and John are begun. I have now four Brahmans engaged in this service. Anandarayer takes the lead; the others are all transcribers.' On April 15, 1809, an entry in Des Granges' journal runs: 'The translation of Matthew may now be pronounced complete; it has gone through many corrections. This evening delivered two copies, one for the Rev. D. Brown, of Calcutta, and one for the brethren at Serampore. Wrote also to them.' On May 16, 1810, he writes: 'The Gospel of Luke in the Telinga language was completed this day, and sent off to the Corresponding Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society in Calcutta.' The four Gospels in Telugu were printed at Serampore, whither Anandarayer had gone to superintend their passing through the press, in 1811. Through the Auxiliary which had been formed in Calcutta, the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1810 granted a sum of £2,000 to be devoted to Indian Bible translation work during the years 1811, 1812, and 1813, half to go to the Serampore Mission, and half to the other agencies in India engaged in this work. Out of this grant the cost of printing the first edition of the Gospels in Telugu was met.

Neither of these pioneers in the Vizagapatam Mission was long spared to this field of labour. Cran died January 6, 1809, at Chicacole, whither he had gone in search of health. Des Granges died July 12, 1810. The Directors in 1805 and 1806 made strenuous efforts to reinforce the South Indian Missions. In January, 1807, John Gordon and William Lee had sailed for India via New York. There they were detained for a long time, and finally landed at Calcutta in September, 1809. Lee reached Vizagapatam in December, 1809, and Gordon in March, 1810. The deaths of Cran and Des Granges were a great loss to the mission, and very depressing to the new-comer. Both seem to have been men far above the average, both were devoted evangelists, and the latter had in him the making of a first-rate Biblical scholar. Lee and Gordon carried on the work jointly until the close of 1812, when Lee went to Ganjam to open up new work there. After about five years' labour, owing to ill-health, Mr. and Mrs. Lee returned to Madras, the mission at Ganjam was closed, and at the end of 1817 they returned to England and retired from service. Gordon at Vizagapatam had been encouraged by the arrival of a colleague, Mr. Edward Pritchett. He, in company with Mr. J. C. Brain, had been sent to Rangoon, in 1810, to found a mission in Burmah. But war had broken out there, and Mr. Brain died a few months after landing. Pritchett returned to Madras, and settled at Vizagapatam in November, 1811. Anandarayer had rendered Mr. Gordon most valuable services in translation work and in the mastery of Telugu, services similar to those which he had previously rendered to Des Granges. Gordon devoted himself to the completion of the New Testament. The services in the town were maintained, and a school for girls was established under the care of Mrs. Gordon and Mrs. Des Granges. Gordon and Pritchett also itinerated 'thrice a week' among the neighbouring villages. But sickness was frequent, and greatly hindered the work of the mission. In November, 1814, Mrs. Gordon died. She was described as 'truly pious, amiable, and useful.' In 1815 James Dawson joined the mission, and continued there in active service until his death in 1832. In 1818 the first complete Telugu New Testament was printed at Madras. The labour of revision and the completion of the version was the work of Mr. Pritchett. It was printed through the Calcutta Auxiliary of the Bible Society, who submitted the translation to experts in Madras, and upon their favourable report granted paper for 2,000 copies. These were printed in Madras under Mr. Pritchett's supervision during the latter half of 1818.

The conditions of mission-work during these early years are briefly put in a letter from Gordon and Pritchett written in 1813: 'We wish it were in our power to send you tidings of conversion among these heathen, but it is our lot to labour in a stubborn soil. But let none despair of success in the end, nor yet suppose that nothing has been done; for at least the minds of multitudes are dissatisfied in the vicinity of Vizagapatam; many have acknowledged themselves convinced of the evil and folly of their ways; and some that they are Christians at heart but afraid to confess it openly. Were it not for the unequalled timidity of this people, by which they are terrified at the thought of losing caste, and at its consequent inconveniences, we have no doubt we should have many converts. No converts can be gained, not even to a tolerable profession of Christianity, but such as have courage to forsake father and mother, and everything dear to them in this world, and fortitude and humility enough to live despised by all whose good opinion nature itself would lead them to value.'

4. Madras. No one of the original party of five who landed at Tranquebar in December, 1804, remained in the chief city of South-Eastern India. Dr. Taylor and W. Loveless had been sent out to found a mission at Surat. Dr. Taylor went on to Bengal, and on his return to Madras both were to go to Surat. Taylor never reached Surat, and Loveless by an unexpected series of events was led to settle in Madras.  

In Madras, as early as 1726, a mission under the care of Schultze had been originated, chiefly by the aid afforded from the funds of the Christian Knowledge Society. But by the close of the eighteenth century the mission, under injudicious management, had fallen into disrepute. The English community was characterized by an almost utter neglect of both religion and morality. Hough, in his History of Christianity in India1 [Vol. iv. p. 136.], states: 'The Lord's Day was so disregarded that few persons ever thought of attending church. The only exceptions were Christmas and Easter, when it was customary for most persons to go to church. The natives looked upon these festivals as the gentlemen's pujahs, somewhat like their own idolatrous feasts. Every other Sabbath in the year was set apart as the great day of amusement and dissipation.' Dr. Kerr, a chaplain of great spirituality and earnestness, also wrote of this period: 'If ten sincere Christians would save the whole country from fire and brimstone, I do not know where they could be found in the Company's civil and military service in the Madras establishment.'

At this time there were great difficulties in Madras in the way of Christian work among the natives. Loveless was in India only on sufferance, the Government influence was entirely hostile to the evangelization of the natives, and Ringeltaube's opinion, that great cities were most unsatisfactory missionary fields of labour, applied then with special force to Madras. Hence Loveless was practically compelled to devote himself largely to the needs of European residents. He was, however, instrumental in founding two large schools, and in originating the Madras Bible and Tract Societies.

Early in his residence in Madras, and while Cran and Des Granges were still there, by the advice of Mr. Toriano, and through the influence of Dr. Kerr, the chaplain at Fort St. George, Loveless assumed the oversight of the Male Orphan Asylum. In this way he became self-supporting. "A few years later he purchased a piece of land in Black Town, and built Davidson Street Church, which was opened for worship in 1810. This building has ever since been a centre of spiritual life and inspiration. A writer in the Indian missionary paper Forward. for 1893, says:—

'If the old walls of Davidson Street could repeat what they have heard, what "notes of holier days" we now might hear. Hall and Nott, the first American missionaries to Bombay, held service here. Ringeltaube, in 1815, in a "very ordinary costume" — for he had no coat to his back, and wore a nondescript straw hat of country make — preached here his last sermon in India. After which he went on his mysterious mission to the eastward, and is supposed to have been murdered in Malayan jungles. John Hands, ill from overwork in Bellary, came to Madras to recruit himself by change of work. His fervid preaching attracted the multitude, and caused such a ferment in the place, that three young men went to the chapel one night with the avowed purpose of stoning him. The word, however, arrested them, and they departed ashamed, humbled and penitent; one of the three became a missionary in after years. Richard Knill helped on the good work begun by Mr. Loveless, but his service came to a sudden end by illness. It was always a great day when new arrivals from home came to the chapel. They had to preach as a matter of course, and in these occasional services occur the names of Henry Townley, Charles Mead, William Reeve, James Keith, and others whose record of noble service is "written in heaven."'

In 1816 Richard Knill reached Madras, but failure of health sent him to Travancore. A manuscript in Knill's handwriting exists, giving a history of these early Madras days. In it he says: 'For many years Loveless received no pecuniary aid from the Society. Providence so favoured him that he now liberally supports it. This is as it ought to be. This is what every real minister will do, if he can, but every missionary has not the opportunity. His boarding school, which is very respectable, and in which his excellent wife takes a very active and labouring part, affords him a sufficiency to support his own family, and to do good to others. It enables him also to give an affectionate and hearty welcome to the servants of Christ on their arrival in India, many of whom have found his house as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. No missionary on his arrival in Madras should go to an inn for accommodation while Loveless is alive.'

A simple-minded, humble, devoted pastor, teacher and administrator, was the man who, contrary to his own anticipations, thus became a pioneer of the Madras Mission. Mr. Loveless, on the failure of his health in 1824, returned to England and shortly afterwards severed his connection with the Society. Under his care the mission, in which as preacher, evangelist to the natives, superintendent of education, and active agent in the preparation and spread of Christian literature, he had spent nearly twenty years, had been established upon a sound and serviceable basis.

5. Bellary. The foundations deep and lasting of the Bellary Mission were laid by a man whose name must ever stand very high upon the roll of South Indian missionary workers — the Rev. John Hands. He was born at Roade in Northamptonshire in 1780, studied at Gosport under Bogue, and sailed for India in 1809. He reached Madras in February, 1810. He had been destined for Seringapatam, but all efforts to get a footing there proved fruitless. Finally, with great difficulty, and only by the personal efforts of one of the chaplains, permission was obtained from the Government for Mr. Hands to settle at Bellary. This town, also the centre of a great district of the same name, lies north-west of Madras in the centre of the peninsula, about midway between Madras and Goa. Here the missionaries came into touch with people speaking a third great language — Canarese. Telugu and Tamil are also spoken in parts. Recognizing it as the missionary's prime duty to acquire as perfectly as possible the tongue of the people he comes to benefit, Hands gave his days and nights to the study of Canarese. There were no dictionaries or grammars, nor was any Anandarayer available. He therefore set about making for himself the necessary helps. In 1812 a grammar and vocabulary were commenced, and a version of the first three Gospels completed. In the same year a church, consisting of twenty-seven European and East Indian residents, was formed. A native school and also a 'charity' school for 'the education, and when necessary the support, of European and East Indian children were established.'

In 1812 Mr. J. Thompson, intended as the colleague of Mr. Hands, landed at Madras, but as he did not hold the permit of the East India Company — and this, it is needless to state, at that juncture would not have been given — he was ordered to leave the country. While preparing to obey he was seized with illness, and died. In 1813 Mr. Hands decided to make the instruction in the school more distinctly Christian. To this at first the native opposition was very strong, and many children were taken away. But he persevered, the children returned, and soon a second school was required. In 1815 he visited the annual festival held at Humpi, at which about 200,000 natives used to assemble. On this occasion the practice on the part of the missionary and his native helpers of preaching at the festival was begun, a practice which has been followed ever since. Long itinerating journeys for preaching and distributing tracts were undertaken. In 1815 a Tract Society was formed. In 1816 Mr. W. Reeve arrived as the colleague of Mr. Hands. In 1819 the first native convert was received into the Church.

6. SURAT. Although this spot figured in the first paper on desirable missions presented to the Society in 1795, it was 1815 before work was actually begun. Surat is in the Bombay Presidency, some distance north of Bombay itself. In 1804 Loveless and Taylor, who had been appointed to commence the mission, reached Madras; but the former, as we have seen, spent all his missionary life in that city, and the latter — the first medical missionary sent to India by the Society — wasted some years over real or fancied illness, and finally forsook the Society for a Government appointment. The mission was ultimately commenced by the Rev. J. Skinner and the Rev. W. Fyvie.

This sketch of pioneer work in South India may be not inappropriately closed by an extract from the Report of the Society for 1819: 'From the history of Protestant missions in India, particularly during the last few years, it is evident that a spirit of inquiry has pervaded no inconsiderable portion of its inhabitants; that the most obstinate and inveterate prejudices are dissolving; that the craft of the Brahminical system is beginning to be detected and its terrors despised, even by the Hindoos themselves; that the chains of caste, by which they have been so long bound, are gradually loosening; and that considerable numbers have absolutely renounced their cruel and degrading superstitions, and, at least externally, embraced the profession of Christianity. The renunciation of heathenism by numbers of the natives of Travancore, their professed reception of Christianity, the sanction and assistance given to the labours of Christian missionaries by the local authorities, and the translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular language of the country are circumstances which appear to justify the hope that the Almighty, in His designs of mercy towards India, is about to communicate the blessings of pure religion to the inhabitants of this most southern portion of the peninsula.

'To these highly important facts we add the countenance afforded to Christian missions by the British authorities. Not only are the labours of missionaries aided by many of the Company's chaplains, but even by many pious officers in the army, and also by numerous European residents who contribute liberally, and who aid the work by personal counsel and exertion. So great has been the change in India within a few years, that a judge lately returned from that country declares that "individuals who left it some years since, and brought home the prevalent notions of that day, can form no just estimate of the state of things now existing in India."'

This estimate must, of course, be understood as applying only to that section of the population which came under the influence of the missionaries, and which formed only a microscopical proportion of the people of the country.

[AUTHORITIES. — Letters and Official Reports; Transactions of the Society, vols, ii-iv.]  

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Chapter IV: Pioneer Work in North India, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895
by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]
In Two Volumes, Volume II
1899

-- The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett, 1851-1904

-- London Missionary Society, by Wikipedia

-- Chapter I: India in 1795, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter II: Nathaniel Forsyth and Robert May, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter III: Pioneer Work in South India: 1804-1820, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter IV: Pioneer Work in North India, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter V: South Indian Missions: 1820-1895, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

CHAPTER IV: PIONEER WORK IN NORTH INDIA
P. 46-52

Reference has already been made to the work of Nathaniel Forsyth and of Robert May[1] [See Chapter II.] Did space permit, it would be a pleasant task to describe in some detail the work in Calcutta of Kiernander and the influence of the Serampore Mission, and to indicate the powerful stimulus given to Christian work over Northern India by such devoted chaplains of the East India Company as Brown, Buchanan, Corrie, and Henry Martyn.

The removal in 1813 of Government restriction upon missionary labour led to an immediate development of Christian enterprise in CALCUTTA. The Directors of the London Missionary Society at once resolved to found a mission there, and for this purpose appointed the Rev. Henry Townley, with the Rev. J. Keith as his colleague. They reached Calcutta in September, 1816, and conducted services at first in the Freemasons' Hall, and then for a time in the Presbyterian Church, kindly lent to them by the minister, Dr. Bryce. They founded three schools, did a large amount of evangelistic work among the natives, and established, first at Chinsurah and then at Calcutta, a press for printing Bengali and English books and tracts. Mr. Townley also took a very active part in raising the funds for, and in superintending, the building of Union Chapel. For this building, which cost about £4,000 nearly the whole sum was collected in India itself. The foundation stone was laid in May, 1820, and the building was completed in April, 1831. Within three months of the opening services the total cost had been defrayed.

From 1815 to 1825 there was extraordinary activity and growth in missionary enterprise in and around Calcutta. The Serampore Mission was in full work, the Church Missionary Society, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Baptist and the London Societies were all most energetic. Many auxiliary Societies were initiated, and when Mr. Tyerman and Mr. Bennet visited Calcutta in 1826, they say in their report: 'By the concurrent testimony of all ranks and parties, the change for the better in India within twenty-five years has been surprisingly great in both the manners and practices of natives and Europeans. Irreligious persons acknowledge the change, and confess it has been a good thing to have such an increase of ministers and churches in Bengal and the North-West. The truly serious acknowledge that this amelioration has resulted from Divine Providence having disposed Christian people to send out so many pious and devoted missionaries, who have borne faithful scriptural testimony against vice and ignorance, whether in natives or Europeans, and in favour of truth and piety.'

These important and hopeful results had been brought about, so far as the London Missionary Society was concerned, by the labours chiefly of Henry Townley, James Keith, John David Pearson, Samuel Trawin, George Mundy, and George Gogerly. Other workers who were spared for only a brief period of service were John Hampson and W. H. Bankhead. Micaiah Hill, James Hill, and J. B. Warden reached Calcutta in 1822.

Although a foothold had been gained in India in 1813 for the Christian missionary which has never since been lost, the East India Company still exerted much of its powerful influence to the detriment of missions. Before a passage could be taken the missionary was compelled to take out from the India House a special licence, and to find security to the amount of £500 for good behaviour in India, and as a guarantee that nothing should be done to weaken British authority there. Upon landing the missionary found that both Government officials and European residents looked askance at him. As a rule his presence was a rebuke to much in their own lives, and they both did all in their power to belittle the missionary in the eyes of the natives. To these they were described as low-caste people, quite unequal to conversing with Brahmans or even teaching Sudras. While at this period, 1820, there were in Calcutta two Episcopal Churches, two Roman Catholic, one Presbyterian, one Greek, and one Armenian, there was only one Nonconformist place of worship, in Bow Bazaar, where a tiny congregation of European and country-born Christians were ministered to by preachers from Serampore. While idol temples abounded, and idolatry of the most disgusting character was rampant, absolutely nothing had hitherto been done to bring the Gospel to the natives. The Government almost ostentatiously disregarded Sunday, outdoor work of building and other kinds being carried on upon that exactly as upon other days. The Government were dominated by the fear that Christianity, opposed as it necessarily was to caste and Hindu custom, would excite the fears and prejudices of the Hindus, and lead them to acts of violence against British rule. So far was this carried that a nominally Christian Government would not allow a Christian native to enter the Indian army. This unfounded fear, especially in the minds of the Government officials at Calcutta, had been greatly stimulated by the Vellore Mutiny in 1806, which had been, erroneously, attributed by many to the spread of Christianity among the natives. It was this panic that led to imperative prohibitions against the landing of missionaries, and did much to bring about the great reform of 1813. On the other hand, at this period, all over India subject to their rule, the Government were indirectly subsidising idolatry, and aided the officials of Hinduism to collect their idolatrous dues. The most scandalous example of this kind was the placing of the temple of Juggernat under the charge of the State, and thus practically constituting it a Government institution.

In Bengal the Brahmans, who form the highest caste, are divided into three orders, of which the Kulin is the highest. Originally these were orthodox Brahmans, meek, learned, eager to visit holy places, ascetic, liberal. The lower ranks of Brahmans eagerly desire to attain this rank, and can do so only by marrying their daughters to a Kulin Brahman. This custom has led to a wide-spread and degrading profligacy. A considerable dowry is given at the marriage, the wife usually remaining at her father's house. The Brahman often marries into forty or fifty different families, and spends his life in going from home to home among his many wives, honoured as a god, and all the while living a life of sloth and debauchery that would disgrace a beast. So great is the desire to marry Kulin Brahmans, that age, disease, and deformity are no barriers to marriage. While not the most caste-ridden district in India, Bengal has nevertheless all through the century been rendered a hard mission-field by the power and resistance, both active and passive, of this terrible, dehumanizing system.

George Gogerly reached Calcutta in 1819 to superintend the printing press. He was energetic and able, and was largely and liberally aided by the Religious Tract Society, and at once printed and circulated large numbers of tracts and of school-books. The absence of any place of worship was a serious drawback. The first building used was in Manicktulla Road, and was constructed of bamboos and mats with a thatched roof. Here Mr. Keith and Mr. Gogerly preached three times a week. Here too they were on one occasion assailed by some religious ascetics, stoned and driven from the building. It was to supply the need of an appropriate centre of work that Union Chapel was built. Soon after a member of Union Chapel presented the Society with a freehold site at Kidderpore, upon which a chapel and a schoolroom were speedily built. Two other bungalow chapels were also opened in other quarters of Calcutta. In these quiet unpretentious ways the Society began its share in the task of winning the myriads of Calcutta to the Gospel of forgiveness and of deliverance from sin.

At Calcutta, as at all Indian stations frequented by Europeans, in addition to work for Hindus, the missionaries felt bound to do what they could for the evangelization of their fellow-countrymen. The scandalous orgies of both sailors and soldiers outraged at times Hindu sentiment, and the immoral heathenism of not a few so-called Christians was a standing reproach, and caused the Hindus to blaspheme the Gospel which the missionaries preached. To facilitate Christian work among the multitudes of sailors visiting the port of Calcutta, a Bethel Society and Sailors' Home was established by Mr. Gogerly, which, though only partially successful and short-lived, led later on to the founding of a strong Bethel Home by Dr. Boaz. The Hastings Church in the Cooly Bazaar originated in services carried on at this time in an officer's private quarters just outside the Fort, for the benefit of the soldiers.

The losses sustained by the mission during the first ten or fifteen years through illness and death were very severe. This was due partly to the deadly climate of Bengal, partly to the pollution of the Ganges by the revolting customs of Hinduism. Within a brief period Mr. and Mrs. Hampson, Mr. and Mrs. Keith, Mr. and Mrs. Warden, Mr. Bankhead, and Mr. and Mrs. Harle were all carried off by death. Mr. Townley's health failed in 1823, and he returned to England. He died in 1861, and upon that occasion the Directors placed on record their high appreciation of his services as the founder of the mission, the builder and first pastor of Union Chapel; and they also stated that 'the entire expense of his passage, and that of his family, both outward and homeward, as well as his support during his stay in India, was entirely met from his own resources, a rare and noble offering to the cause of Christianity, amounting to several thousand pounds.' During the many years Mr. Townley lived after his return to England, he diligently and ably served the Society as a Director, and he frequently aided its work by generous contributions.

Benares was occupied for the Society in 1820 by Mr. M. T. Adam, who commenced the mission there on August 6. The method followed was similar to that at Calcutta. Services were held whenever possible, individuals were encouraged to converse with the missionary, melas were visited, and in 1836 five schools were maintained. Christian work at Benares has proved very difficult and barren, but to the Deputation in 1826 the sacred city of India seemed a promising field: 'Benares, with its 650,000 inhabitants, Hindoos and Mahometans, in the proportion of five to one, appears to us a most important missionary station. It has also immense accessions of people when the pilgrimages are made and the festivals held. All these hundreds of thousands are accessible; they will hear you, converse with you, argue with you, and, generally speaking, take your books and promise to read them. At their ghauts, in their bazaars, before the schools, congregations may be collected every day.'

Berhampur was occupied in 1824, and in 1826 the Deputation found there Mr. Micaiah Hill, Mr. Ray, and Mrs. Warden. Messrs. Tyerman and Bennet, after their careful visitation in 1826 of all the stations in Calcutta, Kidderpore, Chinsurah, Berhampur, and Benares, sent home to the Directors a sober and yet a sanguine estimate of what had been and of what would be achieved. They note the improvement already wrought in the conduct of Europeans, and also the signs of a weakening of the tyranny of Hindu custom, but they overestimated the pace at which the improvement would go forward. Missionary organization and development were slower in Bengal and the North-West, and although the workers have been brave and devoted, the progress all through the century has been slower and less striking than in the South. [Authorities. — Letters and Official Reports; Transactions of the Society, vol. V; Pioneers of the Bengal mission, by George Gogerly]

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Page 1 of 6

Chapter V: South Indian Missions: 1820-1895, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895
by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]
In Two Volumes, Volume II
1899
P. 52-171

-- The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett, 1851-1904

-- London Missionary Society, by Wikipedia

-- Chapter I: India in 1795, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter II: Nathaniel Forsyth and Robert May, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter III: Pioneer Work in South India: 1804-1820, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter IV: Pioneer Work in North India, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter V: South Indian Missions: 1820-1895, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

CHAPTER V: SOUTH INDIAN MISSIONS: 1820-1895

Each great centre in India occupied and worked by the Society affords material for a volume full of instruction and full of attraction to the student of missions, and to the disciple who is praying for the triumph of Christ's kingdom. But to trace in detail the full course of these many streams of blessing is impossible. The broad features of the work are alike in both Northern and Southern India; but during the century Christianity found more fertile soil in the south among the low-caste section of the Tamil, Telugu, and Canarese countries, than along the valley of the Ganges; it received a much more cordial welcome among the devil-worshippers of Travancore than among the haughty Muhammadans of the north. We shall, then, first trace the stream of Christian influence as it flows and broadens through Southern India. And it seems on reflection to be most satisfactory to allow the three great languages of Southern India to define the course taken by history.

The celebration of the completion of the first twenty-five years' history of the Society gave a great impetus to the work in South India. The reports which had been sent home by Messrs. Tyerman and Bennet of their visits to the Indian stations, and the great influence of the latter on the Board for many years after his return, led to considerable development of the Society's work in India.

I. Tamil Missions. This great Dravidian language, rich in the possession of a varied literature, is spoken along the whole south-eastern coast of India from Madras to Cape Comorin. It is the vernacular of about 15,000,000 people. With the exception of South Travancore, all the chief stations where Tamil is spoken are in the Madras Presidency.

I. The Madras Mission. Madras, like the other great Indian cities, and especially the great ports, has always been a difficult centre for Christian work. Yet many of the great Societies have felt it imperative to maintain there a staff of workers, and have devoted much time and money to Christian service. Here, as in the case of Calcutta, it would be a pleasant task to indicate the good work which has been carried on there throughout the century by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Church Missionary Society, the Wesleyan, and many other Societies, and also to indicate the great and beneficial results achieved by the two great educational institutions under the care respectively of the Free and Established Churches of Scotland. But we can deal only with the work of the London Missionary Society.

In a missionary magazine entitled Forward, edited by W. Robinson, and first issued by him at Salem in 1893, there is a graphic sketch of the course of the Madras Mission after Loveless returned to England:—

'Before Mr. Loveless retired, the Directors of his Society greatly cheered him by sending out to Madras five missionaries, four of whom were remarkable men. Crisp, Nicholson, Massie, Knill, Traveller, all laboured in Madras, and the results of their labour are still seen. With the exception of Nicholson, who was cut off by cholera in a few months after his arrival, the other missionaries did a noble work, and helped to make the historic past of the London Missionary Society. Like most men of strong individuality, Traveller and Massie went their own way, and it was not the way of the Directors at home. Traveller built Pursewaukum Chapel in an incredibly short time after his arrival in Madras. On the day he arrived the idea was mooted, and he took it up with red-hot enthusiasm; he could not, like Mr. Loveless, be content to hasten slowly, and he went dead against the prejudices of certain Anglo- Indians. Probably if there had been less driving and more leading, things would have turned out more happily than they did. Mr. Traveller's connection with the Society ceased in 1823, but it is significant to note that he ever remained its faithful helper, and took the warmest interest in its welfare.

'Dr. Massie was simply a tornado let loose. He anticipated much of the later scheme of missionary higher education, but he was before his time, and would not wait until his ideas had taken root and fructified. His idea was to found a Christian University for India to be established at Bangalore, and he threw himself into the work of carrying it out with tireless energy. The difficulty is to find out where he did not go to secure subscriptions, for money poured in from all quarters. In those days of slow locomotion and costly postage it was a record feat to have accomplished what he did for his Mysore College1 [See p. 105.]. In other respects he was out of the common run of men — thus, he was married five times. "Last of all the man died also," but not before he had left behind an extraordinary impression of his indomitableness. Dr. R. W. Hamilton once declared that the futility of resisting a certain measure was like attempting "to resist the rush of the Mississippi, or the impetuosity of Dr. Massie."

'Edmund Crisp was a striking contrast to the brilliant but erratic men who were with him in Madras. His devotion to his work never flagged, and he excelled in all departments of it as pastor, preacher, theological tutor. From the Tamil Seminary at Bangalore he sent out some of the ablest native ministers the Tamil churches have had. He was in charge of Davidson Street until the Rev. J. Smith came out in 1828. John Smith was the brother of Mary Moffat, and had his sister's enthusiasm and love for missionary service. He soon had fruit to his labour; the soldiers of the Cameronian Regiment liked his preaching, and some of them joined the church. A godly Sergeant-Major named Symonds opened his house in the Fort for morning and evening prayer; from ten to twenty soldiers regularly attended the meeting, and this is but one evidence of the spiritual activity which abounded in the church.

'Mr. Smith soon gathered round him an interesting band of young men of proved aptitude for spiritual work. The church has never been numerically strong, but its quality has been of the very best. In the fifteen years Mr. Smith had charge of it, the Church sent out the following missionaries: — the Revs. J. Bilderbeck, J. Gordon, J. A. Regel, H. Bower, D.D.,W. Dawson, R. D. Johnston, C.E. Thompson, E. Marsden and others, who were valiant soldiers for the truth in South India.

'In 1843 Mr. Smith went to an Ordination Service at Vizagapatam. Two of his students were set apart for work among the Telugu people. Mr. Smith embarked in the Favourite, a coasting boat, for Madras. It was a dangerous part of the year — the month of May — and the boat is supposed to have been overtaken by a cyclone. Nothing was heard of her or her passengers again.

'William Porter has left the memory of his service deeply graven in the hearts of the people. His was an earnest, unobtrusive ministry. Singularly calm in judgment, warm and devout in feeling, he "Allured to brighter worlds and led the way." Other men have entered into his labours, but he is still remembered with great affection in Madras. Among Mr. Porters successors, the Rev. S. W. Organe, who took charge of the church in 1867, has been conspicuous for his missionary devotion to the interests of Davidson Street. During his time the English Church, being self-supporting, ceased to be an integral part of the mission. The congregation has had much to contend against in the rivalry of other churches which have arisen. Black Town again has grown more and more the centre for mercantile offices, stores, and warehouses. The people have been driven into the suburbs, but they still cleave to the time-honoured chapel, believing that

" Where saintly memories abide,
Perpetual benediction falls."

'The other church around which mission-work centred in Madras in these early days was Pursewaukum, founded, as we have seen, by Mr. Traveller. When his connection with the mission ceased, the Rev. William Taylor succeeded to the oversight of the Tamil and English churches. He was an Oriental scholar, and the list of books and tracts he prepared in Tamil is formidable. He had large private means, and these he devoted liberally to the poor and to deeds of charity. In 1834 he retired from the Society's service.

'Taylor's successor was W. H. Drew, whose memory is held in grateful reverence by Christians all over South India. His ministry was blessed above that of most men. Under his fostering care the Tamil Church grew strong, and he had crowded congregations in Pursewaukum. William Drew went in and out among the people, and won them by his gentle goodness and his glowing piety. The call to rest came to him at Pulicat in 1856, where he was stricken by cholera. He had just time to reach his home in Vepery, and soon after "he was not," for God had taken him.'

As early as 1832 Mrs. Drew initiated girls' schools, and in later years her work was carried forward by Mrs. Porter. When the latter left in 1856, there were 98 girls in the boarding school, and 120 in the day schools. In 1834 a school was begun in Black Town, and Mr. Drew tried, without success, to establish a mission there.

Two remarkable men were at this time connected with the Madras Mission, but each only for a short period. John Bilderbeck, after being received into the Church at Black Town by Mr. Smith, after visiting England in 1831, was ordained and appointed to Madras. He laboured there during 1832 and 1833, and in the latter year removed to Chiltoon. In 1841 he resigned, and later on joined the Church Missionary Society. Robert Caldwell, B. A., was appointed to Madras in 1837, and from 1838 to 1841 was active in the work of the mission. In 1841 he joined the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and for the next fifty years was famous among the great Indian missionaries of that Society. In 1877 he became Bishop of Tinnevelly, and he died at the Pulney Hills, South India, in August, 1891.

In 1851 the school in Black Town for native boys was established. It has ever since been known as the English Institution, because the instruction was given in English, and it has had a most successful history. The first superintendent was the Rev. F. Baylis, who began work there in September, 1851, By December, 1852, the number of pupils had mounted up to 220. Of these, 165 were Hindus, six Muhammadans, thirty-one native Christians, and eighteen East Indians. The second annual report thus describes the work done: 'Besides a good amount of Scripture, the boys have studied history, geography, grammar, and other subjects to a considerable extent. Only those who have engaged in the work can fully realize the difficulty of communicating knowledge through the medium of a foreign language.' In 1853 Mr. Baylis was transferred to Neyoor; in April, 1854, the Rev. George Hall, B.A., took charge of the Institution. He had been transferred to Madras from Jamaica. Mr. Hall continued in charge until 1876, when ill health compelled the relinquishment of the work which for twenty-two years he had carried on with conspicuous success. In 1857 a native church in Black Town was formed in connection with the Institution, and in 1861 Mrs. Hall established a high-caste girls' school in Vepery. The Rev. J. P. Ashton, M.A., who was appointed to Madras in 1859, and who became associated with Mr. Hall in 1860, taking sole charge of the Institution during Mr. Hall's furlough, has also placed on record in the columns of Forward his recollections of life and work in Madras and the Madras Presidency in the middle of the nineteenth century. Writing of the year 1860, he says: —

'Under Mr. Hall's able guidance, my work commenced in the Institution and the theological class, then half through its course of studies. It was a privilege, which I can never value too highly, to help those noble young men in their studies. My work in the Institution prevented my touring except in the winter vacation, but this sufficed to give me a good insight into that department of work. But the experience I thus gained, combined with my frequent visits to the schools in the Tripassore and Pulicat districts, filled my mind with the importance of the work and the great call for more labour in a semicircle of thirty-five miles' radius round Madras as the centre. The matter was brought before the Madras Missionary Conference, and a map was drawn of the district with a view to subdivision of the work among the missions. The grand example of Ragland, Fenn, and Meadows in North Tinnevelly was fresh in our minds, and great resolutions were taken; but obstacles arose, and the enthusiastic proposer, left in sole charge of the Institution, Black Town Church work, and out-stations, was too much involved in other duties to lead the way.

'The District Committee of those days was a curiosity. It consisted of Hay of Vizagapatam, Porter of Cuddapah, Addis of Coimbatore, and Hall of Madras, and no additions of new men were allowed. It having been found that the brethren agreed better when apart than when together, no meeting had been permitted for a space of twelve years. All business was transacted by correspondence; and in those days, when there were no railways, and Mr. Porter was ever on the move, a letter would take a week or two before it could overtake him in the district, and a circular seldom returned to head quarters under three months; and if there was division of opinion, it might take another three months to go round again. This anomaly continued, though several new men had arrived and new stations were in process of opening in the Coimbatore and Salem districts. When Mr. Hall went on furlough, Mr. Corbold acted as his substitute, but was not allowed to be a member. He and I felt that this anomaly ought not to continue, but there appeared to be no means of redress.

'In the meantime the students above referred to had been located in Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Sunkerydrug, Tripatore, Tripassore, and elsewhere. Some prejudice was felt against these city men of high education, who were not so subservient as the worthy old catechists who were their predecessors. Corbold and I thought it would be a good plan to have a Conference of all the Tamil missionaries along with a gathering of these men for examination in a course of private study. Two of the best of the old set, Unmeiudian and Suviseshamutthu, were added to their number. The Directors favoured our plan, and we all had a happy and memorable meeting at Salem, in that grand old compound of ninety acres, in which the large Church, the Mission House, the two Boarding Schools, and the splendid Industrial School were situated.'

Mr. Ashton's graphic picture of the South India District Committee of 1860 must not be taken as applicable in any degree to the committee of recent days. For very many years the South India Committee has been the largest, the best organized, and the most business-like of the Society's Indian Committees. This is not due to deficiencies on the part of the other committees, but to the fact that the number and importance of the South Indian stations necessarily brings to that Committee a large number of able, experienced, and devoted men.

The Report for 1870 gives the ten years' progress of the mission as follows: — In 1860 the native church had twenty-nine members, in 1870 there were sixty-eight members, with the Rev. M. Cotelingam as native pastor. In 1860 there was a theological class of eleven preparing for the native ministry; in 1870, of these three were ordained ministers and six evangelists; but in 1869 from financial reasons, but with a most mistaken conception of the true conditions and requirements of the work, the Directors discontinued this class. The 389 scholars in the Institution in 1860 had by 1870 become 500; in 1860 there were no fees, in 1870 they realized 4,900 rupees.

In January, 1862, the Rev. A. Corbold reached Madras. From 1851-60 he had laboured in the Gujerat Mission. He took charge of the Tamil Church at Pursewaukum and Mrs. Corbold of the Girls' Boarding School. In 1866 Mr. Ashton was transferred to Calcutta. From 1867 to 1871 Mrs. Whyte superintended the female educational work in connection with the high-caste school, and was succeeded by Miss Gordon. In January, 1872, the Rev. T. E. Slater was transferred from Calcutta, where he had been engaged in the work of the Bhowanipur Institution, to Madras. For three years he laboured in connection with the English Institution, together with the Rev. Henry Rice, and then gave himself to work among the educated natives. This, one of the later developments of mission-work, is assuming great importance in the chief centres of Hindu life. The work consists in visiting native gentlemen at their homes, and in receiving them at the missionary's home; in holding meetings and classes for students and non-Christian teachers; and in giving courses of public lectures1 [For further details of work of this kind, see p. 117.]. In 1875, upon the resignation of Mr. George Hall, Mr. Joss of Coimbatore was appointed to succeed him. Mr. Corbold also resigned this year through ill health. In 1876 the Rev. F. Wilkinson, who had been at work for many years in Travancore, joined the mission, and became General Treasurer for the South Indian Missions. He also took charge of Pursewaukum Tamil Church. In 1881 he returned to Travancore. In 1878 the statistics of the Madras Mission were seven European missionaries — four male, three female — two native pastors, four evangelists, two out-stations, 139 communicants, 226 adherents; eight schools, 879 pupils; native contributions, 307 rupees.

In 1895, connected with the Society, there were six missionaries — three male, three female— three ordained native ministers, five preachers, eight Christian teachers, eight Bible-women, thirty Christian female teachers, 179 communicants, and 446 adherents; twelve schools, and 883 scholars; and the school fees amounted to £271, while the local contributions for the mission amounted to £79.

In 1877 Miss Brown and Miss Bounsall, two of the first lady missionaries appointed by the Society, arrived in Madras. The former took charge of the girls' schools at Chulai, and also in connection with Pursewaukum native church; the latter engaged in house-to-house visitation. In the first instance the houses of former pupils were visited, the wives of native pastors and evangelists rendering helpful service. In her report for 1885 Miss Brown gives some instructive illustrations of how far-reaching very often is the Christian instruction given in these and similar schools: —  

'Two pleasing incidents have lately occurred, showing the value of these and similar schools, and the good they are calculated to do to the girls educated in them. One of the girls educated in Chulai school many years ago (when the late Mrs. Hall superintended it) married, and went to live in Triplicane. She never forgot the Bible instruction she received in school, and lately a strong desire sprang up in her heart to see some Christian women, and to speak about the subjects which filled her mind. A school belonging to the Wesley an Mission is located in Triplicane, and every day she walked past this school in hopes of meeting one of the Christian teachers. As she was looking out in this way for some one to whom to unburden her heart, she happened to meet one of the Zenana teachers belonging to the Church of Scotland Mission, and seeing by her appearance that she was a Christian, eagerly accosted her and asked her to come to her house. This Christian teacher has visited her regularly since then to read and pray with her, and now the woman wishes to be baptized.

'The other incident is quite as striking. When Mrs. Whyte had charge of the Black Town schools, a little girl in school was so impressed by reading the lesson on idols in the second book of the Christian Vernacular Education Society's series (still used in the schools), that she entirely gave up idol-worship, and was so determined about it that her friends seemingly let her alone; perhaps her being a widow made them careless about her, as widows are very unimportant members of a Hindu household. After she left school she was visited by a Zenana teacher belonging to the Baptist Mission, and for some years has been a believer in Christ. For some time back she has been very desirous to take her stand on the Lord's side, and has suffered a good deal of persecution from her relatives on this account; but a few days ago she quietly left them and came to Mrs. Dawson, the superintendent of the Baptist Female Mission, and on Jan. 31, 1885, was baptized at her own request by the Rev. N. M. Waterbury, of the Baptist Mission.'

In her decennial report for 1890, Miss Brown points out that in 1870 there were two girls' day schools in the mission, one with 60, the other with 28 scholars. In 1880 Chulai school had 104 girls, Pursewaukum 85. In 1886 the Chulai building collapsed during the monsoon, and for the next year the school greatly suffered in attendance. But in the course of 1888 and 1889 a handsome new building was put up at a cost of Rs. 7,000 and presented to the Society, and in 1890 there were 188 scholars. In 1890 Pursewaukum had 117 names on its roll. A measure of recent progress is found in the fact that in both schools all the teachers but one were Christians, and that one a widow earning her own living, and one over whom the school was expected to exert a Christian influence.

Miss Brown superintended the Society's zenana work in Madras also, and in the report already referred to she states: —

'Zenana visitation in connection with our mission has rapidly extended within the last few years. It was commenced in 1878, a year after my landing in Madras. We began with three pupils — old scholars of the Chulai school — and as the number of pupils increased, Zenana teachers were engaged to visit them regularly and systematically. We have now a staff of five Zenana teachers, and sixty houses in which are one or more pupils. These houses are exclusive of the houses visited by Rebecca, the Bible-woman. An encouraging feature of our Zenana work is the increasing willingness of our pupils to pay fees, and as education among the women becomes more general and more valued, our difficulty in this matter will become less and less, as has been the case in regard to our girls' schools.

'One great difficulty in carrying on Zenana work is the lack of fully qualified teachers, and I purpose to establish a training class for Zenana teachers. Zenana teachers must be women of mature age and established character — mere school-girls will not do; hence our boarding school cannot supply the need, though it has been very useful in supplying teachers for our schools. An institution to give women a proper training and education for Zenana work would be a very valuable auxiliary to our work.'

Miss Bounsall took charge of the girls' boarding school, and also of the girls' school and the evangelistic work carried on in Kosapettah.

Miss Gordon, who since 1871 had been actively engaged in the work of the girls' school at the other end of Madras, in Black Town, was in 1879 placed upon the Society's staff. She continued her active service without furlough to England till 1889-90, and her death took place at Madras in 1894. She was a grand-daughter of John Gordon, who joined the Vizagapatam Mission in 1810, and daughter of J. W. Gordon, who began work in the same mission in j 835. Her work in Madras for nearly twenty-five years had been very quiet and unassuming, but she won the affection of those for whom she toiled, and she gave freely herself to the support of the mission. During Miss Gordon's absence in 1889 her work was under the care of Miss Lois A. Cox, of Adelaide, sent to India by the Australian auxiliary. Unhappily her health failed in 1891. She returned to Adelaide and died there in August, 1892.

In 1880 the Rev. G. O. Newport removed from Salem to Madras. He superintended the mission until 1885, when he returned to England. In the course of 1883 he had visited Australia as a deputation for the Society. Mr. Newport was succeeded by the Rev. Maurice Phillips, who at Madras has carried on very systematic work in preaching in Tamil to the Hindus. In 1893 the Rev. R. J. Ward, who had been for many years a pastor in England, joined the Madras Mission and undertook the pastorate of Davidson Street Chapel.

During the decade 1880 to 1890, Hinduism in Madras and elsewhere, alarmed at the growing influence of Christianity, and fanned by the Theosophical Society, determined to use Christian methods in defence of Hindu faith and practice, and formed for their advocacy and enforcement a tract society and preaching society. For some years vigorous efforts were made to carry on by these agencies an active defensive and offensive propaganda. In 1887 Mr. Phillips refers to this movement: —

'I cannot describe the religious ferment now going on in Madras, and rapidly spreading all over the Presidency, better than by transcribing a few sentences from a Tamil tract published by The Hindu Tract Society, a Society lately established for the purpose of sending forth tracts and handbills against Christianity and in defence of Hinduism. The tract is addressed to all sects and castes. "Missionaries," says the tract, "come from England at great cost, and tell us that we are in heathen darkness, and that a bundle of fables called the Bible is the true Vedam (inspired book) which alone can enlighten us. They have cast their net over our children by teaching them in their schools; and they have already made thousands of Christians, and are continuing to do so. They have penetrated into the most out of the way villages and built churches there. If we continue to sleep as we have done in the past, not one will be found worshipping in our temples in a very short time; why, the temples themselves will be converted into Christian churches! Do you not know that the number of Christians is increasing and the number of Hindu religionists decreasing everyday? How long will water remain in a well which continually lets out but receives none in? If our religion be incessantly drained by Christianity without receiving any accessions, how can it last? When our country is turned into the wilderness of Christianity, will the herb of Hinduism grow?"

'After this wail over the decay of Hinduism and the apathy of its votaries the plan of campaign is sketched. Learned pandits must go forth and put the missionaries to shame by their dialectics. Tracts against Christianity must be published in all the vernaculars and distributed all over the land. Committees must be formed in all the towns and villages to warn the people against listening to Christian preachers.

'"We must not fear missionaries because they have white faces, or because they belong to the ruling class. There is no connection between Government and Christianity, for the Queen-Empress proclaimed neutrality in all religious matters in 1858. We must therefore oppose the missionaries with all our might. Whenever they stand up to preach, let Hindu preachers stand up and start rival preaching at a distance of forty feet from them, and they will soon flee! Let caste and sectarian differences be forgotten, and let all the people join as one man to banish Christianity from our land. All possible efforts should be made to win back those who have embraced Christianity, and all children should be withdrawn from mission schools."

'These extracts show clearly that Hindu zealots are fully alive to the fact that Christianity is a mighty power in India, and that unless it can be overcome it will ere long destroy the fond superstitions of thirty centuries. No more convincing testimony to the marvellous effect of the Gospel can be given than this of its enemies.'

Ziegenbalg liked Freylinghausen's teaching so much that in 1709 he summarized Freylinghausen's Foundation of Theology into Tamil and named it Vetacastiram ('Theological Treatise,).13 [HR, I, 2. Con, 83: On December 7, 1709 Grundler, informed that Ziegenbalg had prepared Vetacastiram and desired to send a copy of it to the King of Tancavur to illustrate what the missionaries in Tranquebar were teaching.] Two palm leaf manuscripts of this Vetacastiram are now recovered (AFSt/P TAM 36 and AFSt/P TAM 93), and each manuscript is divided into two parts. The first part contains seven chapters that deal with the attributes of God as revealed in the Bible. Accordingly, God is understood as the One who is eternal, unchanging, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, all-truth, all-wisdom, all-holy, all-justice, all-mercy and all-compassionate (AFSt/P TAM 36, palm leaves 6v-18r). Ziegenbalg uses this definition of God to evaluate the authenticity and credibility of the South Indian deities. The second part describes the nature of humankind (AFSt/P TAM 85 containing 307 palm leaves) as those who are created in God's image. Out of their own free will they sinned against God and misused the ability to discern between good and evil. Their sin damaged the image of God in them. As far as their present worldly life is concerned, they are able to do several things rightly; but their spiritual life is corrupt....

-- Genealogy of the South Indian Deities: An English translation of Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg's original German manuscript with a textual analysis and glossary [Christian Propaganda], by Daniel Jeyaraj

During a phase of persecution in a neighboring region, a Jesuit missionary's library was stored in Tranquebar, and Ziegenbalg found himself suddenly in possession of much interesting materials that included a Tamil translation of the New Testament. This stroke of luck made him an heir to Jesuit research on terminology that had flourished since the days of Roberto de Nobili. In the Bibliotheca Malabarica of 1708, Ziegenbalg already listed sixteen Roman Catholic works and wrote that he had corrected five of them to such an extent that they could be used by his Protestant flock "without any problem" (p. 291-92).

At this early stage he thus began to employ de Nobili's loaded terminology; for example, he often used the word Caruvecuran (Skt. sarvesvara, lord of all) for God. According to Jeyaraj (2003:292), the twenty-six Tamil sermons of de Nobili contain many words picked up by Ziegenbalg -- for example, the Tamil words for God, angels, devil, world, man, soul, death, salvation, remission, and eternal life. Ziegenbalg's Tamil community was likely to learn, just like de Nobili's flock a century earlier, how important it is for manusan (Skt manusa, man) to avoid pavam (Skt. papa, evil), to embrace punniyam (Skt. punya, virtue), and to worship Caruvecuran (Skt. sarvesvara, lord of all) in the form of Barabarawastu (Skt. paraparavastu, divine substance) because there is no other path to the other shore (karai-erutal) of motcam (Skt. moksa, liberation) (p. 292).

Apart from terms for God such as Caruvecuran and Barabarawastu, the juxtaposition of jnana (knowledge, wisdom) and ajnana (ignorance) was particularly important for Ziegenbalg's view of Indian religions and his mission enterprise. The title of the first pamphlet from the brand-new Tamil mission press in Tranquebar reads: "The Veta-pramanam (Skt. vedapramana, Vedic norm) demonstrating that akkiyanam [ajnana] must be detested and how those in akkiyanam can be saved" (pp. 309-10). In the very first sentence Ziegenbalg comes straight to the point: "We have come to you in order to save you from akkiyanam" (Grafe 2004:83-84).

-- The Birth of Orientalism, by Urs App

-- Ezourvedam: A French Veda of the Eighteenth Century, Edited with an Introduction by Ludo Rocher

But in 1891 Mr. Phillips wrote: —

'The glad tidings of great joy have been proclaimed daily in Madras and the out-stations during the year. We held 919 meetings, and preached 2,228 times to 61,063 people. We sold 404 portions of Scriptures, 2.503 tracts, and 3,600 of the monthly paper, The Messenger of Truth, and distributed gratis 10,785 handbills. Three evenings in the week we preached in the Bazaar at Gujelly to large congregations. In previous reports we had to relate how, in consequence of our preaching, Hinduism was rousing itself like a giant from its sleep of apathy, and putting forth all its strength to thwart our work and hinder the progress of the Gospel. Now, however, we are equally thankful that the giant, feeling its strength unequal to the task, is retiring to sleep. In the city of Madras we were seldom annoyed during the year, and indeed only saw the agents of the Hindu Preaching Society once in force.

'Sunday afternoon lectures to educated Hindus have been delivered by missionaries of different denominations. The attendance was larger and the interest manifested was greater than in any previous year. These lectures are the only special agency in Madras for bringing the Gospel to bear on the educated Hindus and Mahometans who have left the schools or colleges.

'Tours have been made as before in the districts connected with the out-stations of Tripassore and Pulicat, and in both centres a living work appears now to be carried on throughout the year. Public profession of Christianity is still accompanied by such serious social penalties that it is rare. The number of members received during the year was only seven, but indications appear from time to time in unexpected quarters of the way in which the Gospel is silently working among the people.'

Madras is the great port of Southern India; it is the gate through which the missionaries enter to pass to their different fields of labour. It has been from early years a great centre of education, steadily growing in efficiency, in importance, and in influence, and as a centre where Western thought and civilization are beginning powerfully to affect the mind of the younger Hinduism.

2. COMBACONUM AND CHITTOOR. — Combaconum is a town situated on the south of Madras about twenty miles north-east of Tanjore. Its population is about 40,000. In 1825 Mr. Mead, leaving Travancore in consequence of ill health, commenced a mission there with the assistance of six native readers, and at once entered on evangelistic work in the town and neighbourhood, and by degrees opened schools. The Directors of the Society for a time deferred giving their approval of the occupation of this town as a permanent station, probably on account of its proximity to Tanjore, an old and important centre of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. For two years Mr. Mead carried on the work with energy and success, but in 1827, as his health had improved, he returned to Travancore, where in August he met the Deputation of the Society, who arranged that he should superintend the western division of the Travancore Mission, making Neyoor his centre. On this account he did not return to Combaconum, but the work there was carried on with a reduced number of readers. In July, 1829. Mr. Edmund Crisp settled at Combaconum as the resident missionary, and work was conducted with an increased number of readers and with much efficiency and success. In 1833, as Mr. Crisp was suffering in health, Mr. Nimmo. an East Indian agent, who for the past ten years had taken part in the work at several stations in connection with the Madras Mission, removed from Chittoor to Combaconum in order to assist Mr. Crisp, and rendered valuable service in itinerating and other forms of work. In June, 1835, Mr. Crisp left Combaconum to proceed to Madras to take the place of a member of that mission whose health had failed. Mr. Nimmo was thus left in sole charge of the work, and in March, 1837, was ordained and placed on the list of the Society's missionaries. From this time until the close of 1851 he conducted the work with much efficiency, his long experience and his intimate acquaintance with the people and their customs well qualifying him to meet the various demands of the position. But in January, 1852, by the decision of the Directors, the station and district was handed over to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, a step rendered advisable by the near neighbourhood of Combaconum to Tanjore. Mr. Nimmo therefore removed and took up work at Tripassore. But the results of the labour of the Society's agents during the twenty-six years of their occupation of Combaconum remained, though not in a form which would appear in statistical tables. Their persistent itineration, their frequent personal interviews with natives of all castes and creeds, their visits at Hindu festivals, their educational work in schools, and the wide circulation of Christian literature had formed a valuable foundation on which others might build.

CHITTOOR, lying about eighty miles due west of Madras, and properly belonging to the Telugu country, must be mentioned here, as it was worked practically as an outstation from Madras. A church of native converts was formed here about 1825 by Mr. E. Crisp of Madras. From 1831 to 1835 Mr. Nimmo was the resident missionary; from 1833 to 1840 Mr. Bilderbeck laboured here, and at Arni and one or two other out-stations of Madras; and from 1840 to 1842 it was under the charge of Mr. Alexander Leitch. Work at Chittoor appears to have been carried on in a somewhat intermittent fashion, and after this period it ceases to appear as a head station in the Society's reports.

3. Salem. This town, about 210 miles south-west of Madras, gives its name to one of the twenty-one districts which make up the Madras Presidency. Salem District1 [In this sketch of the Salem Mission the author is largely indebted to a sketch written by the rev. Maurice Phillips and issued in 1879.], with an area of 7,604 square miles and a population of over 2,000,000, is divided into nine taluks or sections, and these contain 3,594 villages. Except towards the south the district is hilly, with large plains lying between the hills. The chief river is the Kaveri, second in sacredness to the Ganges only. The language, with the exception of a part of one taluk, is Tamil. A somewhat detailed description of this district may serve for many others in central Southern India.

The majority of cultivators are comparatively poor, but seem quite contented with their lot. So long as the wants of the day are supplied, they think little of the future. Their greatest trouble is (like small farmers in England) the payment of taxes! They rise before dawn and go out to their fields, where they labour more or less all day. The morning meal is generally the cold remains of the previous night's supper, the latter being as a rule the only meal cooked. A piece of white cloth round his loins and another round his head form the only attire of an ordinary cultivator. His wife is equally simple in her mode of life. One or two cloths, ear-rings, and nose-rings, more or less costly, as the husband's circumstances admit, together with the Thali (sign of marriage, answering to our ring), form all her possessions. The children up to ten years or more go in a state of nudity, relieved perhaps by a piece of string round the waist. The ravika or jacket is worn generally by Musulmanis and by women of high castes, but rarely by the lower orders, except above the ghats, where the colder climate makes it necessary. The wealthier classes dress more richly in public, but in their houses their attire is very scanty. The people as a rule are well-made and often handsome.

The great bulk of the people, including cultivators, artisans, and pariahs, though nominally ranging themselves among the followers of Vishnu and Siva, worship certain village gods and goddesses, remnants of aboriginal pre-Aryan cult, the most popular of which is Mari-amman, the goddess of small-pox and other ills that flesh is heir to; and hence she is propitiated on the coming of every calamity by the sacrifice of fowls, sheep, and goats. A rude temple to this goddess is found in every village and hamlet of any importance; and there are hereditary priests to officiate before her. If a village be too small to support a priest, his services are divided between two or three villages. All classes and religionists believe more or less in the doctrine of metempsychosis or transmigration of souls.

The Salem Mission was commenced in the year 1827 by the Rev. Henry Crisp. Several schools which had been established and supported by the collector, M. D. Cockburn, were at once given over to the charge of the missionary. Mr. Crisp, after having acquired sufficient knowledge of the language, entered with much energy, zeal, and devotedness upon his work. He built school-rooms and a chapel, and began to preach and itinerate in full earnest; but he died in 1831, only four years after his arrival in the district. His devoted wife had died in 1829.

For nearly a whole year the station was left without the superintendence of a missionary. In the course of 1832 the Rev. G. Walton, an East Indian, was sent from Bellary to Salem. He carried on the work as he had found it with faithfulness, collected a little congregation around him, and selected five or six men to be his assistants as catechists or native teachers. The schools then contained 350 heathen children, and on Sundays the number of hearers had increased from five to fifty. Mr. Walton from time to time, with some of the native teachers, made evangelistic tours to several parts of this vast district, which then comprised more than a million of souls. Their principal work, however, was in Salem and its immediate vicinity.

In May, 1840, the Rev. J. M. Lechler arrived. He was a German by birth, and had been associated with the Church Missionary Society in Tinnevelly, reaching India in 1835. Prior to settling at Salem, he had worked for some months in Coimbatore. In June, 1841, when the Rev. G. Walton died, he took entire charge of the mission, and laboured alone for twenty-one years.

Mr. Lechler was no ordinary man. He possessed both the power to conceive, and the energy and determination to execute, great plans for the propagation of the Gospel and the building up of a Christian church in India. His piety, zeal, earnestness, and reliance upon God, as well as his abandonment of plans when found to be unsuitable, are worthy of imitation by all missionaries.

The first plan which he tried was to establish schools over the greater part of the district where Christian books were taught, and where he and his assistants preached during their periodical visits. This plan failed because the masters were all heathen and could not be prevailed upon to teach the Catechism and Christian lessons.

The second plan was to collect scattered families willing to place themselves under Christian instruction, and to form them into Christian villages, giving them pecuniary assistance to start as cultivators. The catechists in charge proved unfaithful, and the people, when the assistance begun was not continued, went back to their old habits and beliefs! And 'thus,' writes Mr. Lechler, 'the plan of forming Christian villages, and of making them rallying- points for inquirers and depots of Christian truth, also failed almost entirely. In the neighbourhood of those villages, however, much good has been done; many a soul has heard the Gospel, many children have been rescued, brought in and educated in our asylums, and some of the higher castes of cultivators have furnished themselves with copies of the New Testament or portions of it.'

The third and most successful plan tried by Mr. Lechler was the establishment and maintenance of an Industrial School. In 1854 Mr. Lechler visited England and also Germany, and upon his return in 1855 was accompanied by T. G. Kubler as his assistant, and by two artisans, and brought out material for the establishment of this school. The special object was to teach carpentry, smithery, and bricklaying to the boys of the orphanage and any young men desiring to place themselves under Christian instruction. The school, though not fulfilling all of Mr. Lechler's expectations, did good work, and was only abolished after his death, as it was deemed unadvisable to continue it under the altered circumstances of the mission. Many Christian artisans in this and other districts were brought up in the Industrial School, and occupied respectable positions, who otherwise would have been only common labourers.

Mr. Lechler placed a high value on itineration, and 'regarded it as one, if not the most important, means of propagating the Gospel;' but he felt, as every missionary since in the district has felt, that 'it is to be regretted that it can be practised so little where there is only one missionary in a station.'

According to Mr. Lechler's report for 1859, a year and a half before he died, the statistics of the mission were as follows: — Catechists, 11; out-stations, 4; communicants, 35; 'under Christian instruction, about 350.' The schools were: Boys' Orphan and Boarding Asylum, containing 30; Girls' Orphan and Boarding Asylum, containing 25; Industrial School, 25 lads; and six country day schools containing 75 pupils.

Mr. Lechler died very suddenly on June 17, 1861. Mrs. Lechler was then in England about to embark for India, and the sad news of her great loss only reached her after her arrival in Madras. She survived her husband for over thirty years; and was quite a leading spirit in the mission, especially on the Sherarog Hills, where she resided.  

The Rev. Colin Campbell from Bangalore took charge of the mission after Mr. Lechler's death until the arrival of the Rev. Goodeve Mabbs in January, 1862. Mr. Mabbs, in consequence of ill health, was often away for lengthened periods from the district, so that he was able to do but little; and in November, 1865, he was transferred to Travancore, and the Rev. W. E. Morris took charge of the station. Mr. Morris threw his whole soul into the work, but after three years it proved too much for him. He was obliged to go home in February, 1869, to recruit his shattered health, with the hope of returning; but that hope was never realized.

In January, 1869, Maurice Phillips added the charge of the Salem Mission to Tripatur, where he had been stationed since 1862. He resided at Salem, and itinerated through the district. There were at the end of 1869 eleven out-stations, fourteen native preachers, 129 communicants, 475 baptized persons, including communicants; five boys' schools, containing 125 scholars, and two girls' schools, containing 84 girls, in connection with the mission.

In February, 1870, the Rev. Henry Toller and his wife arrived to take the place of Mr. and Mrs. Morris; but within six weeks of their arrival, he was suddenly attacked with cholera, and died in a few hours. Mr. Toller was a young man who had just left Cheshunt College, full of zeal, who, humanly speaking, had a fair prospect of a long and useful life before him, but God, who does all things well, ordered it otherwise. Mrs. Toller returned home in the ship in which both had come out.

The Directors were greatly perplexed when they heard of the sudden death of Mr. Toller. They felt that they had lost four men at Salem during eight years, two by death and two by illness, and naturally feared the consequences of sending another man there. They therefore contemplated handing over the district to the Arcot Mission. The District Committee strongly and unanimously opposed the proposal. They pointed out the disastrous effect it would have in breaking up the symmetry of the field. If necessary to give up any station, either Belgaum or Vizagapatam, or both, on account of their distance and isolation from all other stations of the Society, could be better spared than Salem. They pointed out that much work had been done in the district; that valuable property for carrying on missionary operations had been procured; that the town of Salem only was unhealthy, and not the district as a whole; that the unhealthiness of the town could be avoided to a very great extent by living in the suburbs; and that as Mr. Phillips had had experience of the place, and did not object to live in it, he should be relieved of Tripatur and devote the whole of his time to Salem. In the end the Directors relinquished the idea of giving up the district, and Mr. Phillips continued in charge of the mission until 1884. During Mr. Phillips' furlough in 1873-74, the Rev. H. Rice, of Tripatur, superintended the work from that station.

In July, 1875, Evangelist Mutthu was ordained pastor over the church in the town of Salem, the church agreeing to pay ten rupees a month towards his salary and all incidental expenses of worship. In the same year the Anglo-vernacular school was raised to the standard of a High School preparing scholars for the Matriculation Examination of the Madras University. The old mission house was turned into a school-room on the completion of a new house erected in a healthy locality outside the town, with the money realized by selling a part of the old mission compound. This High School was designed to give a high-class education on Christian principles in a town containing 50,000 inhabitants, and the capital of a district containing nearly two millions. Such a school has now become a necessity, without which missionaries can never exert the influence in the town and the district which they desire. Boys who have been in mission schools are generally the missionaries' friends, and often protect them from the abuse and insolence of crowds when preaching in the streets; and as they come from different parts of the district to pursue the higher education, they always prepare the way for preaching in their villages. This being a new and a most important work, the Directors transferred the Rev. G. O. Newport from Nagercoil to Salem in March, 1877, to take charge of the school and the work in the town and suburbs, thus leaving Mr. Phillips free to devote the whole of his time to itinerating and the out-stations. Ill health compelled Mr. Newport's removal to Bangalore in 1880.

The statistics of the mission at the end of 1878 were as follows:— Native minister, 1; native preachers, 8; out-stations, 12; communicants, 158; baptized (inclusive of communicants), 790; boys' schools, 6, with 335 scholars; girls' schools 2, containing 138 pupils.

The Rev. W. Robinson, of Tripatur, was formally appointed missionary of Salem in 1885. In December, 1885, he was joined by the Rev. A. A. Dignum, who was transferred from the Gooty Mission. For nearly three years the station then had the benefit of two resident missionaries. Mr. Robinson came to England on furlough in October, 1888, and returned to India in the autumn of 1890. During his absence the Rev. C. G. Marshall, appointed to Tripatur, arrived and resided in Salem for a few months, to commence the study of the language and to become familiarized with mission-work. On his removal to Tripatur at the commencement of 1890, Mr. Dignum was left entirely alone for nearly twelve months. The Rev. R. C. Porter was appointed to the mission in 1893.

Mr. Dignum in the report for 1890 wrote: —

'With reference to evangelistic work in the district, I am afraid that I cannot report anything fresh or encouraging. It is a thrice-told tale that the area attempted to be covered is far too large to be thoroughly worked; or, in other words, that the means at our disposal are all too inadequate for the work that needs to be done. Only one of the four taluks — that of Atur — is fairly supplied with agents. In Salem taluk, however, which is the most populous and in every way the most important, we have no mission agents outside Salem except at Yercaud and Razipur. During the year I have spent 137 days in visiting the out-stations and in preaching in the villages, and the conviction has been more and more deeply borne in upon me that a visit once, or at the most twice, a year to the larger villages, unless followed up by frequent visits from strong, earnest, Christian native workers, will not, and cannot be expected to, produce any lasting good.'

Evangelistic work has been vigorously carried on in the town of Salem by the Rev. A. Devasagayam and Mr. Pakkianathan, who completed his course of study at Bangalore at the end of 1889.

Educational work has progressed remarkably in both branches. The High School, freed from Government control, has continued to improve. The number on the roll has largely increased. The heads of the most influential and wealthy Hindu families send their sons to the school, though its Christian character is constantly maintained, all the teachers on the staff being Christians. The girls' schools, though not large, have been very successful in educational results.

As in the other South Indian stations, for many years Christian work was carried on at Salem among the women and girls. But in 1891 new life was infused into this department by the arrival of Miss Lois A. Cox. In the year 1889, largely as the result of the visit of Mr. Wardlaw Thompson and Mr. Spicer, the Australian churches resolved to take a more active share in the work of the Society. In connection with this development Miss Cox volunteered for service, and to her belongs the honour of being the first missionary thus sent forth by the Australian churches. We have already referred to her work in Madras, and in January, 1891, she was transferred to Salem. There she was able to organize and commence, by the aid of Australian friends, four schools for girls. Unhappily her health failed, and in January, 1892, she returned to Adelaide, where she died on August 10. Brief as her career was, she has left a deep and inspiring influence upon the Salem Mission.

Only a few weeks before the compulsory retirement of Miss Cox, Miss Annie Crouch, of Hobart, Tasmania, arrived in Salem as her colleague; and only too soon found the main burden of the work resting upon her. The Church in Hobart from which Miss Crouch came, sent to her in December, 1892, a helper, Miss M. G. Lodge. The report for 1895 stated that in the four girls' schools there were 354 scholars, and that there were five Bible-women in active service. A Lois Cox Memorial Home — a boarding school for girls — was erected by Australian friends, and in 1897 contained twenty-one pupils.

Signs of the great change coming over Hindu society in its recognition of Christians and of Christianity have been evident in Salem. The Rev. A. Devasagayam stated in 1890: 'The chasm which once divided the Hindu from the Christian now no longer exists. They rub shoulder to shoulder on every possible occasion. Is it a social meeting, or one for political reform, a religious address, a lecture on science or literature, or a reception to a public benefactor, you are sure of noticing Brahman, Christian, and Mussulman mingling freely and doing their work as if they all belonged to one brotherhood. This is an unmistakable sign of the decay of caste.' Yet persecution and hostility to the Gospel are not by any means dead, and in Salem, as in other centres, the labours of the nineteenth century have been but the preparation for the success of the twentieth.

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Part 2 of 6

4. Tripatur, a town of nearly 15,000 people, was occupied as a new centre of work in the north-east part of Salem district in 1861; and in September, 1862, the Rev. Maurice Phillips arrived from England as the first resident missionary. School work had been already begun there under the supervision of Mr. Lechler, and by 1864 the mission house was completed.

In 1863 a woman, the wife of a man who had been converted in connection with another mission, was baptized; and she, her husband, the catechist, and his family were formed into a Christian Church, and the Lord's Supper was administered. A vernacular school was opened in the pariah quarter with an attendance of twenty boys; and an Anglo-vernacular school at Vaniambady, a large town fourteen miles from Tripatur, with an attendance of twenty-six boys. In 1864 the late Mrs. Phillips commenced a caste girls' school at Tripatur, and took great interest in it up to her death in December, 1867.

In 1865 the Anglo-vernacular school at Tripatur was discontinued. The Government school-room was enlarged, and the standard of education raised, so that it was impossible for the small mission school-room and limited funds to compete with it, consequently most of the best boys left for the Government school. An effort was made to avert this. An appeal was made to the Directors for sufficient funds to raise the school to the requirements of the people, but they did not respond.

At the end of ten years after the commencement of the mission there were five catechists, four out-stations, twenty-one communicants, seventy-one baptized persons (including communicants), three boys' schools containing 125 scholars, and two girls' schools containing fifty-five girls. Among the converts of this mission were five Brahmans, but one went back to heathenism under great pressure from his relatives.

In January, 1873, the Rev. Henry Rice was transferred from Madras to Tripatur, and after spending three years there was compelled, on account of ill health, to visit England, when the charge of the mission devolved again on Mr. Phillips.

Tripatur was for many years considered an out-station of the Salem Mission, but it became independent in 1875. Its missionary history since that time is, however, an illustration of the extreme weakness of the mission staff in South India for the purpose of overtaking the vast work which is offering itself on every hand. In 1881 the Rev. W. Robinson was resident at Tripatur in charge of the mission, and continued at his post until 1884. In that year the Rev. M. Phillips, of Salem, came to England on furlough, and Mr. Robinson had to take the oversight of the agents and work at Salem as well as at Tripatur. This double duty he performed in the next year also, and necessarily the larger district claimed a considerable portion of his time. In 1885 Mr. Robinson was permanently appointed to the charge of the Salem district, and removed to that place. But as there was no one else to take charge of Tripatur, he retained the care of this mission also. In 1887 the same arrangement continued, and the mission suffered further loss by the death of the devoted and able native pastor, Rev. C. Sundram.

At the close of 1888 the Rev. C. G. Marshall was sent out to take charge, but of course had to devote himself for the first year entirely to the study of the language. Mr. Marshall entered upon responsible charge of the mission at the beginning of 1890, and has been steadily at work since then. As the result of his growing acquaintance with the district and its inhabitants, Mr. Marshall stated: —

'Many of the villagers seem to know the main features of Christianity very well, and some have renounced idol-worship and have placed themselves under Christian instruction. We have altogether about ten genuine inquirers, some of whom we hope shortly to baptize. In wandering about amongst the villages, one cannot help noticing that there is a restlessness among the people and a pretty general suspicion of Hinduism. The work of the catechists and the spread of Christian literature have done a great deal to produce this. If we had an adequate staff of agents, we might reasonably hope within the next decade to have more than double the number of Christians in the district. But at present, with one European missionary, one Bible-woman, and seven native preachers, we are attempting the evangelization of three-quarters of a million of people scattered over an area of 3,269 square miles! It is needless to say that the work is too much for us to do thoroughly. At best, we are able only to visit the chief towns and villages once or twice a year, and many villages never get visited at all. We are constantly being disappointed in hopeful inquirers, because they live too far away to admit of our visiting them often, and they fall away.'

In 1896 the lamented death of Mrs. Robinson led to a rearrangement of work which transferred Mr. Marshall to Salem during Mr. Robinson's absence in England, and placed Tripatur under the care of Mr. R. C. Porter.

5. COIMBATORE. This district contains 7,842 square miles, and a population of 1,700,000. The town is 306 miles south-west of Madras, and stands at the foot of the Nilghiri Hills. It has a population of about 40,000; Tamil, Canarese, and a corrupt Telugu are all spoken in different parts. The story of the Coimbatore Mission is from 1830 to 1861 the record of the wise and persistent labours of one able and energetic worker, the Rev. W. B. Addis, and his devoted wife. He founded and established the mission. and zealously superintended all its details for over thirty years. In broad features the work at Coimbatore resembled that at Salem and Bellary. Mr. Addis strove, and not without success, to make it a native mission by the securing and superintending of a band of competent native pastors and evangelists. Mr. Sidney Long, who took charge of the mission in 1884, and who knew Mrs. Addis well during the later years of her long and useful life, has given the following sketch1 [This sketch, extending over pp. 80 to 86, is from an unpublished life of Mrs. Addis, of which Mr. Long kindly allowed the author to make use.] of this very important department of the work. Mr. Long's description is important as illustrating the nature and quality of the work done not only in Coimbatore, but over the whole Indian mission-field by the now large army of native evangelists and catechists.

Few missionaries can have had any real experience of India without coming to the conclusion that India will be won to Christ by Indians rather than by foreigners. No workers in India need more sympathy, more prayer, more help than the evangelists and catechists who have sprung from the soil, and who are in much closer touch with their fellow-countrymen than any missionaries from the West can be. They frequently occupy posts of great loneliness, especially when a new station has been opened, and they and their family form the whole of the Christian Church in a dark place.

The catechist goes out morning and evening to deliver his message. He is not usually a man of special culture, and the more educated natives pass him by with a sneer. The Brahmans often despise him: he gets his hearers chiefly from the lower classes, but they are too taken up with the things of this world and often too degraded and poverty-stricken to give much heed to his message. His work he is supposed by those around him to have adopted simply as a livelihood, and he is asked again and again in all seriousness how much money he will give for a convert, and how much he will get from his superior for enrolling new names. Does the missionary find work hard and discouraging? The catechist has the same trials to meet, and has not the same stimulus in Christian literature and often in Christian fellowship. Is it the case that catechists are often time-servers, and without zeal? Before we judge them, let us imagine ourselves year after year in their isolation, not infrequently boycotted and persecuted by the great mass of the people around, and then ask how faithful and how zealous we ourselves should be.

Mr. Addis from the first, realizing the immense importance of so doing, set himself to raise a good class of native agents. He did his best to equip them well, and accorded to them that hearty recognition, and gave them that confidence, which go so far towards ensuring the best efforts that one's fellow-workers can exert.

Another principle of great importance with him was this — not only should the work be done by Indians, but according to Indian methods. 'The mission is a native one throughout,' he often and quite correctly asserted. This meant economy and efficiency. Agents were not encouraged to adopt European style of dress, furniture, and food, neither were they educated in English, but only in their vernacular. Such customs as were good or harmless in their own life were maintained. The rules of the mission were very strict in some respects; one was as follows: 'All agents who appear in public with dirty or ragged clothes, or without having on jacket or turban, or who have long beards, shall pay a fine of one rupee for each offence! 'A set of by-laws was drawn up about the clothing and deportment of catechists. The desire was to keep them as much as possible in touch with, and worthy to receive the respect of, their fellow-countrymen. Neither for them nor for those whom they should evangelize was mere change considered desirable. Change is not necessarily conversion. Mr. Addis was convinced that 'all the Hindus require to make them one of the most happy and contented people in the world is the knowledge of salvation through the incarnation of the Eternal Son of God, and the moral principles of the Bible.'

This avoidance of change made merely for its own sake was the rule throughout the mission, with catechists, church members, male and female scholars, and all whom it influenced. In these later days English education should not; and cannot, be excluded, as was the case from 1830 to 1861, but in other respects the principles adopted by the founder of the mission have generally been maintained. Customs that were oppressive and wrong were of course fought against by Mr. Addis; for instance, in 1849, for the first time in Coimbatore, took place in the Mission Church the remarriage of a Hindu widow, in spite of great prejudice and opposition. She was a Christian, but in later years even non-Christian widows have been publicly remarried in Coimbatore.

Mr. Addis brought two earnest native workers from Nagercoil to help him in starting the mission. They very soon returned to their own country, and he was dependent on the agents he raised locally: his first assistant will be mentioned hereafter. When a few converts had been made, the most suitable of them who were willing were set apart for Gospel work, and received training in the 'preparatory class' which has been mentioned. Their studies were in the Bible, theology, geography of India and Palestine, general history, and simple medicine; they also devoted a short time daily to manual labour of some kind. Practically every agent employed by Mr. Addis during thirty years was thus trained by himself; two or three obtained some additional training in the London Mission Seminary at Bangalore. These workers were arranged into four classes, and were designated 'readers,' 'assistant catechists,' 'catechists,' and 'evangelists.'

When located in distant towns or villages, Mr. Addis was always very particular that they should have a dwelling-house, with a well, a school-house, book depot, and where possible a hall for preaching. This arrangement made the catechist independent, and gave him a modest status among his neighbours. Being provided with a well, he was safe from the worst form of boycot, namely, deprivation of water for drinking and washing purposes. He was, however, still liable to be deprived of the village dhobie and barber. The former he could do without, as he was able to wash his own clothes; but not having a barber's services was more serious, as natives are very particular about removing their beards and also the hair on the forepart of their heads: and they not only find it a great difficulty to do this themselves, but consider shaving a menial and degrading occupation. The monthly salary given was 8 rupees, 5 annas, 4 pies. The evangelists had in addition an allowance of four annas, called batta, for each day on circuit; 'it was left to their conscience to do with less if they could, and in the majority of cases they managed on less.' The catechists also were constantly traveling, but in a more restricted circle. In the report for 1855 Mr. Addis remarked: 'They (nine or ten catechists) travelled between 6,000 and 7,000 miles during the year, and this is about their yearly average; they visited and made known Christ and His glorious salvation to the inhabitants of 2,375 towns and villages, performing all their journeys on foot, only being allowed a boy on one anna a day to accompany them with a bundle of Scripture portions and tracts for sale or distribution. They had nothing themselves beyond their regular salary.' By means of the presence of a Christian family in the midst of a heathen village, by the humble journeyings of these men to festivals and weekly markets for preaching, by their daily visits to villages, by their sales of Bible portions and Gospel tracts, how much has been done towards establishing the kingdom of Christ in India, the Last Great Day alone will declare.

Often they had to suffer from suspicion and from open persecution in various ways, but often also these workers made their way into the hearts of the people, and while in one village there existed opposition to the catechist, in another he was highly esteemed. Many of the catechists had a useful knowledge of medicine, and their skill in this respect was generally found to disarm prejudice. In some instances where a catechist had died or been removed by the missionary, the people begged for a successor, or the villagers in a neighbouring place sent a petition that they might be favoured like those who had a catechist resident with them. In one place the heathen gratuitously helped a new catechist to erect his house, in another gave the choice of a locality to be purchased for such a purpose, and in another even gave the ground. Such kindness could not be refused, and the offers of food and hospitality to the agents when travelling were accepted, but no agent, for medical assistance rendered by him, or for any other service, was permitted to receive money from the people around him. Not infrequently such catechists as had won their way with the people would be detained in the villages they visited for several hours after nightfall by the farmers who had been in the fields all day; a suitable place, and lights and refreshments, would be provided so that they might at leisure read and talk about the Scriptures. In one village where a catechist had been working without any apparent success for some time, Mr. Addis recorded that this worker told the people that 'although he was thankful to them for all their kindness, yet that he had great sorrow of heart because they did not fully receive his instructions by outwardly acting according to them in forsaking idolatry, and that he thought of selling his house and removing to some other place. Thereupon they came to him in a great number and entreated him not to leave them, but to have a longer patience; they even went so far as to hold a consultation and to decide that no one should purchase the house, but that they would more attentively listen to his instructions in the future. This they in part fulfilled, and some time afterwards one of the most influential inhabitants openly declared himself a Christian, and together with his wife and large family, as also with several of his relatives and farm-labourers, constantly attended Divine Service. He was, some time afterwards, publicly baptized, and walked for several years according to the precepts of the Gospel, and died in the faith.'

Mr. Addis hoped to see the time when there should be at least one catechist for 50,000 souls — surely a sufficiently modest desire. That hope was expressed in 1843, over fifty-five years ago, and still such a state of things has not been realized. He felt, as his successors have done, how unsatisfactory is the visit of a missionary to villages two or three times a year, and how much better is the permanent presence of even the poorest Christian worker who has the desire to spread the truth.

As late as 1897 some of the workers trained by Mr. Addis remained in active work in the mission, and they had their own distinctive marks, in the way they dressed, the removal not only of the kudumi, but of all hair from their heads, their skill in medicine, their tidy and methodical ways, not least in their skill as penmen, all having learnt to write a very good hand.

Of these workers, between 1830 and 1861, many interesting particulars might be given. It will, however, suffice if a brief account of one of them be recorded here. The first convert in the mission was Vedanayagam. When Mr. Addis arrived in Coimbatore, he sought, as previously stated, for those who would be willing to teach in a Christian school, and particularly for those who would agree to teach the Christian books used. A learned Hindu who was acting as his munshi recommended a certain 'Nanjen,' an intelligent young man well versed in the Shastras, and a strict observer of his religion. Nanjen agreed, provided he might have one day a week free for his Hindu ceremonies. He taught Watts' Catechism to the younger and Scripture to the elder boys. Others seeing that no harm resulted, volunteered their services also, and within a year six schools were in operation. Meanwhile, Nanjen was invited to the Tamil service in the cottage on the common, but at first refused. After a time his curiosity was too strong for him, and he attended. 'One Sunday,' to quote Mr. Addis's record, 'a tear was observed stealing down his cheek; the following week, when the missionary visited his school, he was surprised to find him at his post, although it was a heathen festival of considerable repute, and upon being asked how it was that he had not attended, he said with much evident emotion, "Sir, I have for ever done with such things." The feelings of the missionary may be conceived, but which of the two was most affected cannot be well said, for he quitted the school, and neither spoke further on the occasion. But now the schoolmaster's trials began — his wife and children left him, and he being a fond father and a domestic man, this was a severe trial indeed, and when he came to the missionary to relate the matter, he could not control his feelings. But on being asked what he intended to do, he answered with much firmness, "Cleave to Christ, let the consequences be what they may."'

After a long period of probation he was baptized, and at the same time the name of Vedanayagam was given to him. This being the first baptism in Coimbatore, it attracted much notice. After some time Vedanayagam's wife and children returned to him and joined the Christian faith, but at first he had no companion like-minded, and his position was both solitary and very difficult. He underwent training and became an able evangelist, serving the mission for fifteen years, during which time no complaint of any sort was brought against him, and this in spite of the fact that latterly he had to act as locum tenens during one or two absences of Mr. Addis on account of ill health. He was cut off at the early age of thirty-seven, and his loss was greatly felt. His funeral was not only attended by those belonging to the Christian congregation, but by numbers of heathen, many of superior caste, and among them real sorrow for his removal was manifested.

Mr. Addis was for some years aided by his son Charles, who though subject to epilepsy did much valuable missionary service, but in 1861 ill health compelled both to resign. Mr. Addis died in 1871, but Mrs. Addis survived in India until 1898. In 1862 Mr. Morris came to Coimbatore, and from 1865 to 1869 Mr. Haslam was in charge. After an interval, in which Mr. Coles and Mr. Henry Rice in succession superintended the mission, Mr. Joss took up the work in 1870. In 1875 he was transferred to the English Institution at Madras, and Mr. H. A. Hutchison became the missionary in charge. The Coimbatore Mission during the last twenty years illustrates the difficulty of keeping up the staff and securing continuity of work in an Indian station. In 1880 there were two missionaries, both young and vigorous men. One of them, the Rev. J. N. Hooker, B.A., who had but recently joined the mission, was a man of exceptional promise, able, devout, enthusiastic. To the outward appearance, therefore, there was the prospect of a decade of very vigorous and successful work, but the hopes cherished were speedily disappointed. Mr. Hooker died in July, 1882, the victim of over-exertion and exposure; and Mr. Hutchison returned to England on furlough in 1883, to retire from missionary work altogether. The Rev. W. Monk Jones joined the mission in May, 1883, in the room of Mr. Hooker, and for eighteen months had the responsibility of this vast district entirely on his own shoulders, though he had only been six months in India when he came to the station. At the end of 1884 the Rev. S. J. Long joined him. By the time Mr. Long had become tolerably familiar with the language, and was able to take his full share of responsibility, the health of Mr. Monk Jones gave way, and in January, 1888, he had to return to England. Again the mission was left with only one missionary for nearly two years. At the end of 1889 the Rev. E. Hawker, B A., was sent out. In 1894 Mr. A. W. Brough, from New South Wales, reached Coimbatore. Under his care a new building for the High School, one of the finest in South India, was erected.

Female mission-work had been carried on since 1882, in which year Miss Horton was appointed, but she left after three months, and no one was sent to occupy the vacant place until Miss Bounsall was transferred from Madras at the end of 1888, to superintend and to develop work among girls and women. Miss Cuthbert reached Coimbatore in 1893, but left on her marriage in 1895, and was succeeded by Miss German.

Such a history of change and disappointment, so strong a contrast to the story of the first thirty years, is naturally the prelude to a story of slow progress and scanty results. Yet in some directions there has been decided progress. The number of catechists and other native workers has increased, and could easily be trebled to supply openings which are full of promise, if only funds were forthcoming for their support. Educational work is in a very healthy condition, notwithstanding bitter and unscrupulous opposition which has shown itself again and again. The High School in the town of Coimbatore attained its highest numbers in 1886. Then came a period of decline, at first on account of the opening of a number of adventure schools, and afterwards in consequence of the fierce anti-Christian agitation in the town, consequent on the baptism, though not in the London Mission, of a young Brahman. The number of scholars decreased to 169 at the end of 1889. The strenuous efforts of Mr. Asirvatham David, the head master, turned the tide, and the school closed in 1890 with an attendance of 221. 'The girls' schools have made steady and satisfactory progress during the decade. The advance is not merely in numbers and efficiency, but in the age to which it has been possible to retain pupils, and the consequent increase of the number of pupils in the more advanced class.'

Notwithstanding this long story and change and disappointment, at the close of the century the signs were all in favour of renewed life and energy and progress in this important missionary district.

II. Canarese Missions. Canarese is one of the four great languages which make up the Dravidian group, of great antiquity, highly developed, and possesses a rich and ancient literature. It is the speech of the inhabitants of the great native state Mysore and the regions contiguous to it on the north, and is spoken by nearly 10,000,000 people. The Society's work in this language has been carried on at three great centres: Bellary, Bangalore, and Belgaum.

1. Bellary. The origin and progress of the work here from 1810 to 1818 has been sketched in Chapter III. The year 1819 was notable from the fact that Mr. Hands then began the printing at Madras of his Canarese version of the Scriptures. In the same year, after nine years' patient labour, the first native member was admitted to the Church, a Brahman, whose after career was, unhappily, inconsistent with his profession. In 1824 a new church, costing 7,000 rupees, a sum raised mainly by local contributions, was built. In 1824 Mr. Reeve returned to England, and Mr. Beynon, who came to take his place, began his long missionary career by three years' service at Bellary. In 1826 a printing press, under the superintendence of Mr. Paine, was established, and for many years rendered service of the highest value, printing the Scriptures, books, and tracts in both Canarese and Telugu.

In 1827 the Rev. Samuel Flavel removed from Bangalore, and for the next twenty years gave most efficient service as a native preacher. This man, whose name stands high in the history of early South Indian missions, was born in Quilon about 1787. While in the service of an official under the Ceylon Government, he found one day, under a tree, a copy of the Gospel in Tamil. This led to his conversion, and he became an eloquent preacher in different parts of Mysore. He was ordained in Bangalore, but the last twenty years of his life were spent in successful work in and around Bellary. He died in 1847. At the end of 1828 Mr. Hands, the pioneer of the mission, after eighteen years' toil, took a well-deserved furlough and returned to England. During this period he had acquired the Canarese language without any of those helps now available; he had translated into that difficult language and printed a large portion of the Scriptures, besides many other books and tracts; in addition to all this literary labour, he had from the first been the centre and life of the mission in all its various activities. He returned in 1832, but in 1835 was compelled to return to England; and though in 1838 he came back to India for a brief stay, he did not return to Bellary.

In 1830 the Rev. John Reid, M.A., took up the work. Like his colleagues in the other South Indian missions, he was deeply impressed by the low moral state of the people, and by the great importance of sound educational work. He established orphan and boarding schools for boys and girls. For several years, as there was no chaplain at the post, he discharged the duties of that official. He continued active in the mission until his death in 1841. The colleagues and successors of Hands and Reid were the Rev. J. Shreives and the Rev. W. Thompson, whose son, Ralph Wardlaw Thompson, in 1881 became Foreign Secretary. Mr. Thompson was connected with the Bellary Mission from 1837 to 1848. In 1842 Mr. Paine died, and in the same year the Rev. J. S. Wardlaw, M.A.. reached Bellary, and founded in 1846 a new English and vernacular school for boys, called the Wardlaw Institution. In 1852 the mission press was given up, and Mr. Wardlaw removed to Vizagapatam. The Rev. L. Valett was at Bellary from 1853-7; J. Macartney, 1857-62; J.G. Hawker, 1866-71; and E. Le Mare, 1873-7. But the chief burden of the work during the last fifty years has rested upon three shoulders: J.B. Coles, 1849-59, 1862-9, and 1875-86; Edwin Lewis, 1865-95; and Thomas Haines, 1870-90.

In 1851 two men from Honoor, a village eighty miles west of Bellary, came to Bellary for religious instruction. Ultimately both were baptized, carried the Gospel back to their village, and between 1851 and 1854 a number of converts, the result of their labours, were baptized.

In 1857, that is, forty-seven years after the mission was begun, there were at the station 2 missionaries, 4 native teachers, 267 baptized persons, 97 communicants, 10 male and 10 female school teachers, 2 boarding schools, 6 vernacular day schools, and one Anglo-vernacular school.

In a paper read before the Missionary Conference in 1858, Mr. Coles said: 'Those who first entered on this mission had to encounter many difficulties, which are now removed. They prepared the way, and gained experience for those who followed them. For many years the missionaries were the only ministers of the Gospel at the station, and performed all the duties of military chaplains. This, though unavoidable, greatly interfered with the work of preaching to the heathen. Moreover, few missionaries have been able to continue many years at their post. Some have died; others have lost their health, and returned to England, or removed to other stations.'

During the century, in addition to the long list of devoted men and women who have laboured there, Bellary was favoured with the consecrated service of three remarkable men — John Hands. J. B. Coles, and Edwin Lewis. Although Mr. Coles began and closed his missionary life elsewhere, the great bulk of his service was rendered in Bellary. His was one of those unobtrusive lives which deserve remembrance all the more from the fact that with quiet faithfulness they do their appointed work.

Mr. Coles was born in London in 1819, and when he was still quite young his father removed to Portsmouth. The family attended the ministry of the Rev. John Griffin. On deciding to become a missionary, largely through having known Robert Moffat as a guest in his father's house, he studied with the Rev. John Cecil, first at Turvey, and then at Ongar. He was one of the first students at Spring Hill College, Birmingham. He laboured in Bellary, with a short intermission of two years in Madras, from 1849 to 1886. There his life-work was chiefly done, and his Christian influence most widely exerted. A good Hebrew and Greek scholar, he soon became proficient likewise in the Canarese language, through which he drew very near to the native Christians of the country. His life was mainly spent in vernacular preaching, and in guiding and building up the native church; he also served the cause of education, and was for years the head of the Wardlaw Institution; while he rendered an efficient ministry in connection with the English congregation at Bellary, a work refreshing to his own spirit, and greatly esteemed by the English Christians. He was in India during the Mutiny of 1857, and when urged to take refuge with the other Europeans in the Bellary Fort, he preferred to stay at his post in the mission house, surrounded by the native Christians. During the severe famine of 1877-8, he exercised a fatherly care over many orphan boys whom he had gathered in; and these he trained and fitted for useful posts in life. He was a man of remarkably wise counsels, calm, clear judgment, and wide sympathies — a mentor especially in committees. His valuable gifts and accurate scholarship, accompanied by a singular unobtrusiveness and gentle influence, did quite as much for the building up of the mission as did the labours of others who were brought into greater prominence.

Mr. Edwin Lewis reached Bellary in January, 1866, and at once devoted himself to the work of itinerating the Bellary district. Gifted with great linguistic ability, he soon mastered the language, and became a fine Canarese and Telugu scholar. He also learned Hindustani that he might the more freely work among the Muhammadan population. Not only did he acquire unusual control over three vernaculars, but he was also able to render services of the highest value in Bible revision. Mr. Lewis spent the whole of his missionary life, 1866 to 1897, at Bellary. He was a man of fine appearance, of winning manner, of deep faith and simple fervent piety; and he came to be esteemed, by universal consent, an ideal itinerating missionary. He loved the work — the chat by the wayside, the strange and attractive meetings with those willing to hear him, the little Indian villages with their simple life. And wherever he went, the heart of the Hindu responded to the love that throbbed in the great brotherly heart of the missionary, and through that gate of love he entered multitudes of hearts that would have opened to no other influence. There have been throughout the century men equally gifted, equally wise, equally devoted to, and apt at, itinerating work; but certainly no man has excelled Edwin Lewis in this department of service which he made so specially his own.

A few examples and illustrations, in his own language for the most part, will enable the reader to understand better the itineration work done by European missionaries, not alone in the Bellary district, but over the whole of India.

'It is well known that one very important means, to say the least, of spreading the knowledge of the Christian religion in India, is by missionaries going from town to town and village to village, teaching and preaching. This has been my work. We have lived amongst the people, talked with them in their houses, in their shops, in the market-place, in the heathen temple; we have let the people see that we were not in a hurry to speak to them a few words and then depart, but that, cost what it might, we were prepared to show them a new way. We have found everywhere attentive listeners, in many places intelligent and anxious inquirers. Many at home, I know, seriously question the use of this mode of work; but we have tried it; we have seen its effects; we believe in it most fully as one of the most effective means of spreading the kingdom of Christ in India.

'"But do the people who hear you preach in the streets understand what they hear? Do they remember it? Are they in any wise influenced by it?" We unhesitatingly answer, "Yes." Facts show how through this mode of preaching men become generally enlightened concerning Christianity.

'I. Far away from a mission centre, when we were passing through a large village, a number of men came to me, saying, "Are you a padre?" I said, "Yes. Have you ever seen one before?" They said, "We have. He told us about one God, and Jesus Christ who is the Saviour, and we want you to stay and tell us more." I remained some time in the village, and as I spoke to them, much that they had heard before was brought to their remembrance, and they clearly appreciated what they heard.

'2. I visited Adoni on one occasion, and spent some time in the corn-market, speaking with the merchants there. One man in the company came up to me, and pointing to a large stone near, said, "I remember you sitting on that stone a few years ago, and speaking to us of this religion;" and he told me much that I had taught four years before, on that spot, and amongst other things the Parable of the Prodigal Son. He remembered also a discussion that had taken place on religion in another part of the town at that time.

'We preach to different kinds of people in India, and we have to preach to them in very different ways. In Narraindevara Kerry, a considerable town, a great many Brahmans live. Many of them are learned in the sacred books, and men of great intelligence. Once, when spending several days in the town, I sought out all the different classes of people there, that I might preach to them, and amongst others the Brahmans. In the public streets the congregation was assembled; old men from fifty years of age (a man is considered old in India at that age) to boys of eight or ten were there. They all know I am a padre. The lads looked me straight in the face, eager to hear what I had to say; some of the younger men looked amused, others stood aside and looked at me askance, with a half-sneering countenance; some who professed themselves learned — the Shastris — were ready to watch every word, and eager to entangle me in my speech. Not an illustration will be employed, not an argument used, not a statement made, not a doctrine propounded, that will escape their criticism. I know them well; they are prepared to argue, to discuss, to quibble. The older men think it foolish on my part to speak of any other god than the gods they have always worshipped and trusted in, and at the same time are inclined to be angry if anything is said in disparagement of their sacred books or their priests or their gods. A priest from the temple who is present, proud, haughty, and self-conceited, is almost ashamed to stand and listen, but condescends to wait awhile to hear what this white teacher will say about religion, a subject for which he thinks an Englishman cares little. Such is the group, a congregation of veritable Scribes and Pharisees. To denounce the gods of the heathen would be foolishness, to reason with them would be of no use. I begin by telling them my own experience as a Christian; the things I have felt and tasted and handled of the Word of Life; how I believe in Jesus, who came into the world to save sinners. I speak of my trust in God, and confidence in Him through Jesus, of my hope for the future; of the love of God, of the love of Christ to all men; and before I have finished my address, they are ready to ask me questions about the Gospel of Jesus; very few are inclined to cavil, even when in after-conversation I compare their religion with the Christian, and condemn theirs.

'Another class of people I have had much to do with is the Lingait farmers. They are an intelligent and very conservative people; they are worshippers of Shiva, and wear about them the Linga, the emblem of Shiva. I came into a large village called Vicrapoor at a time of great drought; the agriculturists were all at home waiting, they told me, for rain. I had a large gathering, and spent the whole of one day amongst them. This was my first visit to this particular village, and one of the first questions put to me by the people was, "Who are you, sir? Why have you come to our village? What are you going to do?" My answer was, "I am a sower; I have come to your village to sow seed; I hope there is good ground here, that the seed I sow will bring forth a rich harvest." They were a little puzzled for a time, and argued about what I could mean; when their curiosity was greatly excited, I gave them the key by telling them that the seed I came to sow was good teaching of a pure religion. They saw through the whole, and in a moment said, "The ground, then, is our hearts." I then read and explained our Saviour's Parable of the Sower; and before I left they told me the sowing had been done.

'In some parts of the district where we have preached in this way we have already reaped fruit, and have other fruit almost ready to be gathered in. Sundoor is the chief town in a small kingdom of the same name, ruled by a native prince, and is about thirty miles distant from Bellary. Resident there were two young men, Chennappa and Nagappa, both of highly respectable families and well-to-do in the world. Chennappa, a Lingaite trader, was a married man with two children, who had houses and lands and possessions, a mother and several brothers, all of whom were living in adjoining houses; Nagappa was a young unmarried man, a goldsmith, living at home in his father's house. These two young men were companions and friends in their inquiry and desire to embrace the Christian religion. I had often met them alone away from the town, under a tree in the field, or close by the jungle; and prayed with them, and talked with them of Jesus, and invited them to come. I had written to them notes when I could not see them.

'I knew they were struggling to be free, and deeply sympathized with them. It is not an easy thing to break away from father and mother, and home and friends, and to give up possessions and houses; and this they were trying to do. They prayed earnestly for strength, and entreated me to pray for them; and they had great faith in the power of prayer. At length I happened to be staying in Sundoor for twelve days, and saw them publicly or privately every day. They resolved to be baptized. It became known in the town that they were visiting me and likely to become Christians. The young prince, who was very bitter because three or four persons from his town had already become Christian outcasts, sent for them, reasoned with them, threatened them, forced them to place their foreheads upon his feet, and declare that they would never disgrace their caste.

'On the evening of my leaving Sundoor they wished to join me, and come to Bellary to be baptized. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon they left me to go home and see their friends, and were to steal away at 8 o'clock and meet me two miles out of the town, in a narrow glen between two immense rocks, and go on to Bellary. At 8 o'clock I was there; I waited alone till 9, looking and watching for them: they did not come. I looked anxiously till 10 o'clock, but no sign of their coming; 11 and 12 o'clock passed, still they did not come; I was sad at heart, and wearily and heavily went on my way to Bellary.

'I heard nothing of Chennappa and Nagappa for several weeks. Then Chennappa came suddenly to my house in Bellary, and before uttering a word fell down on the floor by my side, and sobbed and wept bitterly. I raised him up, spoke kindly to him, prayed with him; and he said, "My faith failed me. Oh, how weak I am! How will God ever receive one so weak, so faithless as I! Will God ever give me more faith? I must come; I will come; but oh, sir, 'tis hard to break away from all at home. What shall I do?"

'During the next month I went away on another preaching tour; and on my return home on Saturday evening, the first words I heard were, "Chennappa and Nagappa have just come in from Sundoor; they want you to baptize them to-morrow morning." My heart was indeed glad. On Sunday morning, in the presence of a large congregation, these two young men renounced idolatry; Chennappa gave up his Linga, Nagappa his sacred thread, and were baptized as Christians. Nagappa's father, who was himself not far from the kingdom of heaven, rather rejoiced than otherwise that his son had publicly declared himself a Christian. But the following day Chennappa's mother and aunt and brothers and others of his relations came to him, wept and wailed, entreated him. They had brought money with them to pay the priests whatsoever they might charge to purify him and receive him back again to his caste; but he declared to them his faith in Jesus, and begged them all to join him. 'Twas sad to see his mother weep; 'twas hard to resist her entreaties and refuse her requests; but he could not give up Christ to follow her and be with her. They went away home to mourn over him as dead; his wife would not join him; she was taken by her friends, who sympathized with her and pitied her as a widow; the children were regarded as orphans. Chennappa loved his wife, and would gladly have received her; he yearned for his children. He sought several times to see them in Sundoor, but was not allowed. The little boy died and was buried; the father rejoiced that the spirit of his little one had been taken up into glory; he was afraid that his little girl would be badly brought up amongst heathen relations; and we did our best to get her for her father, but every attempt failed.'

Here is another example which illustrates how the Gospel is quietly making way in many parts of India: —

'Years ago, after a long tour, during which we had preached in more than fifty towns and villages, a man of the Rajput caste came to us and said: — "You have been preaching in many places with which I am acquainted; the people are talking about it, and are often conversing on the words you spoke: near the town from which I come is a village called Maruvani, where are several men who have made up their minds to become Christians." We gave Kappa Sing as much instruction as we could in two days, placed some books in his hands, and sent him to his home. Eiyappa, a middle-aged man, a goldsmith by trade, very intelligent, well versed in Hinduism, one of the company Kappa Sing had spoken of, came into Bellary to visit us, and to learn all he could about Christianity; and returned to report concerning what he had seen and heard.

'More than a year passed, when eight men from Maruvani sought us out and declared their wish to become Christians. They had read several Christian books, had heard the Gospel preached, and declared that there were prophetic words in their own Hindu books which pointed them to Jesus as their Teacher and Lord. They seemed to us very much to resemble the wise men from the East, who were guided by the star to where Jesus was; we preached joyfully to them, and every word of the Gospel seemed precious to them. We told them they had better return to their homes and tell their companions what they had seen and heard, and come to us again as soon as they could. One of them, Virabhadrappa, said, "I shall not return till I am baptized; if you are not willing to baptize me at once, I will remain till you see fit." We baptized him, and he went away rejoicing to bring his wife and three daughters.

'In a fortnight five whole families, numbering nineteen persons, came, gave evidence that they were in earnest, proved that they knew a good deal of Christian truth, and were baptized. A few weeks after they returned home, twenty more persons followed their companions, and we had in Maruvani a Christian congregation of forty persons. This was altogether a new experience to us; we had been accustomed to receive one or two or three caste men at a time; and in most instances, on professing their faith in Christ, they had been cut off from wives, parents, and all their relatives. Here were men with their wives and children coming together, the women as earnest as the men — unbroken families. We gave God thanks for this, the beginning of better days! Another most interesting and significant feature of this gathering was that several castes were represented. There were three Rajputs, four Komatis, two families of Kabberus1 ['Fisherman's caste.'], Lingaits, Goldsmiths; and one splendid young man, a priest, who was ruler over a large number of smaller priests, who held the revenues of several monasteries and temples.

'A single family won to Christ from any of the higher castes produces a profound impression upon the whole caste. It is like a breach effected in a strongly fortified castle. During recent years we have had many such additions to our numbers in the Bellary district; the effect has been great upon a large community of the heathen.

'There are many men and women in India who believe in, who love Christ, who have not publicly professed their faith. Amongst such was numbered for years one of the truest-hearted men I have known. We conversed together as Christian brethren, and our fellowship was refreshing and inspiring. I was troubled because he did not profess his faith; and one day said to him, "When will you be baptized?" He replied, "I can't say." I asked him to tell me frankly the cause of his delay. He said with much emotion, pointing to his wife, "She is the cause; she does not believe as I do; she will not give up her caste. I love her dearly; if I were to be baptized she would leave me, and who knows what would become of her. I cannot leave her." We agreed to pray that God would turn her heart. We waited long; prayers were at length answered; the influence of the Christian loving husband wrought wonders upon the wife. One day, on my arrival in the town, he came to me jubilant, and said, "The happy day has at length come, my wife and her mother are both ready; will you baptize us this evening?" After the baptism we had a meal together, and I was struck with her utter repudiation of all caste observances, and said, "I am surprised to see how thoroughly you have put away caste." She caught up my words and said, "Did you say you were surprised? I am astonished that you should be surprised. Did not you and my husband pray that God would cast out all such devils from me, and now that He has heard your prayer and cast them out, and I am sitting in a right mind at His feet, you say you are surprised." This was a triumph of faith and love, for which we praised God with joyful heart.

'The Indian Christian home will be a great power in the land, and do much to commend the Gospel. One of our young men, a convert from Hinduism, married a young widow who was also a convert. The friends on both sides were astonished, and professed to be scandalized. The fathers were dead, the mothers living. The young people were for some time cut off from all fellowship with kindred, by whom they were treated as outcasts. Report said they had a very happy home; old friends could not resist the curiosity to visit them, and the most fastidious stickler for Hindu customs could see nothing to find fault with. The wife's mother was drawn at last, and made most welcome. Provision was made for her to cook for herself; for she could not eat what was cooked by a Christian, though her own daughter. The old lady had never been in such a home before; she was prevailed upon to stay for weeks; her heart was won; caste prejudice vanished; she became a Christian, and has never left the home. The husband's mother came to see her son, and was even more demonstrative than the other in her praise of the Christian home. She said, "I have several sons. One left me and became a Christian, I thought he was an outcast; one became a fakir, and I felt proud of him. I see now for myself what they are. The Christian's home is like heaven, the fakir's home is a dunghill."'

In 1876 and 1877 one of the worst famines that ever devastated India raged over the central and southern portions. The distress in Bellary was terrible, and Mr. Coles and Mr. Lewis gave themselves to the task of distributing relief. Mr. Coles started a famine orphanage where the boys were taught trades. The distress in Bellary, Belgaum, Cuddapah, and other districts was terrible. The people sold their cattle, and houses, and clothes to buy food, and flocked naked and starving from the villages into the towns, there often to die by the hundred. The Government, when once alive to the magnitude of the impending disaster, took active measures to begin public works, and to establish relief camps. The selfish side of heathenism was illustrated by the fact that whilst from England hundreds of thousands of pounds were sent to relieve the perishing, very few wealthy Hindus contributed to the relief fund; and that while Government officials were straining every nerve and exhausting themselves in their efforts to relieve distress, the Hindu officials sometimes enriched themselves by robbing their starving countrymen of the money from the relief funds with which they had been entrusted.

The friends of the London Missionary Society contributed a fund of £10,665 to the relief, and this was distributed by the missionaries. In this labour Mr. Lewis toiled in season and out of season. He gave relief without distinction of caste or creed; and while many in their gratitude were wishful to become Christians, his invariable reply was that they should wait until the famine was over, and then see. He had a great fear of 'rice-Christians.' His services were recognized beyond missionary circles. Sir Richard Temple visited the district three times, and on each occasion sent for Mr. Lewis to get his report on the state of affairs. The Governor-General and the Famine Commissioner also came, and on these occasions Mr. Lewis had personal interviews with them. Although Government officials were often robbed, and although Mr. Lewis often travelled by night, carrying with him five or six thousand rupees, and attended by only his horse-keeper, he was never once attacked.

Mr. Lewis visited England in 1884, and again in 1894. Prior to the last visit he had devoted much time to the Canarese and Telugu Bible revision, the committees for these both meeting at Bellary. In February, 1896, at the request of the Directors, he visited Australia, and travelled there for some months as a deputation for the Society. He returned to Bellary in December, 1896, but was only spared to carry on his loved labour there for a few months. He died after a brief illness, November 15, 1897, after thirty-two years of active service. His son, Edwin Herbert Lewis, joined the Bellary Mission the same year.

In 1887 Mr. Coles, who had been in connection with the Bellary Mission since 1849, was transferred to Bangalore to succeed Mr. Benjamin Rice. From 1870 to 1890 Mr. Haines, as the chief portion of his duties, superintended the educational work of the Wardlaw Institution. The Rev. H. F. W. Lester joined the mission in 1888, and in 1890 the Rev. Bernard Lucas was transferred from Penukonda to Bellary. The present condition of the district at the close of the century is clearly outlined in Mr. Lewis' report for 1890.

'The work in the district grows in importance, in interest, and success from year to year. Preaching tours have always had a charm for us. Years ago we hoped that in time we should see out-stations established and churches formed as the result of our preaching. We had six such out-stations at the close of 1880, with 123 Christian people; at the end of 1890 we had eleven stations, manned by nine catechists, with 236 Christian people, sixty-nine of whom were communicants. In 1881 Gooty was handed over to Mr. Stephenson. In 1889 two others of our old out-stations — Anantapur and Bukkapatnam — were handed over to the new mission, which will in future be known as the Anantapur Mission. Hampasagara and Hadagally were made out-stations in 1883; Guntakal was occupied in 1886; Alur in 1887; Hudevu and Siragupa in 1888; and Kudatani in 1890. In the ten years eighty-four adults and 101 children were baptized in the district; thirty-four Christian people died. Each of the out-stations has become a centre of work and influence, and calls for much more attention than we can give. The power of native Christian home-life is more widely recognized than ever, and is telling upon the heathen population.

'The Church at Hospett, which is one of our oldest out-stations, has supplied us during the ten years with four young men who are employed as catechists, and promises more in a few years. A new chapel was built at Sandur in 1888, at a cost of 2,500 rupees. A chapel is now being built at Guntakal, and a school-room, which will be used as a chapel, is nearly finished in Kudatani.

'Colportage has been successfully carried on during the past decade. There are very few towns in the district where Scripture portions and tracts are not found, and every year we see evidence that the books distributed are read.

'In Bruce Pettah Church, in the town of Bellary, the attendance, both at the Canarese and Tamil services, has been good. A hearty response has always been given to the call for special services. The prayer meeting is well attended. A large proportion of those on the church rolls ten years ago have died; others have taken their places; there are now in the church more young people than at any previous time, and others are seeking admission. The Kowl Bazaar Church has been fluctuating. One year the membership has been strong, another year weak, as our people have been able to get employment in Bellary, or been obliged to seek work elsewhere. The congregation was less at the end of 1890 than it was ten years ago.'

The Wardlaw Institution in 1890, on the transference of Mr. Haines to Belgaum, passed under the care of Mr. J. P. Cotelingam, M.A., one of the ablest and most highly educated native Christians in South India. Under his superintendence the Institution has become even more useful than in the past.

Mrs. Lewis was for many years most energetic in the work of female education. In 1892 Miss Christlieb, Miss Fooks, and Miss Haskard joined the mission, and the two former were stationed at Hospett, Miss Fooks married Mr. Hinkley, of Anantapur, and in 1896 Miss Beatrice Harband took up work at Bellary. Miss Christlieb carried on an active evangelistic work among the villagers around Hospett. Miss Haskard superintended the Bible-women and zenana work.