Contested Identities: Hindu–Missionary Interactions in Colonial Travancore—1800–1820s

Studies on missionary activities and modernity in the colonial context of India tend to focus on developing new social identities, resistance movements, social reformation, and the agency of the missionaries. In these interpretations, Christian missionary work is seen as an active agency that has broken down caste structure and brought the lower castes to the forefront of society. Such narratives portray Christianity as an agency of social change, insisting on and fostering social equality. While it is true that missionary activities, education and even conversion have played a pivotal role in social transformation, such activities were not without opposition. The resultant social tensions and identity politics remain unexplored. Missionary attempts for proselytization and the resistance of the Hindus resulted in the construction of more complex religious identities. The social history of nineteenth-century Travancore, an erstwhile princely state in India’s south, demonstrates that missionary engagement created many Christians, but the resultant resistance and tensions strengthened Hinduism. The interaction of Hindu–Christian systems and their anxieties have enormously contributed to the strengthening of Hinduism. However, the historiographical narratives, mainly focusing on the role of missionary-Christian-colonial involvement in constructing a model state in the region, do not look at how the Hindus responded to the issues of proselytization and conversions.