Mangalorean and Odisha Church's History

THE KANARA MISSION VIS-À-VIS THE TRIBAL MISSION IN ODISHA (ORISSA)

Fr. Freddie Santhumayor SVD

The present diocese of Mangalore is a part of the larger mission called the Kanara Mission, consisting of the former North and South Kanara districts of coastal Karnataka. I, a Mangalorean Catholic now working as an SVD missionary among the tribals of western Orissa, would like to share with you my musings on the history and cul­ture of  Kanara Christians and com­pare them with my present tribal mission.

                

Tippu Sultan, who was the ruler of Kanara some 200 years ago, sus­pected that Christians of Kanara were supporting and helping his bit­ter enemy, the British. So he or­dered his troops to round up all the Christians and deport them on foot to Srirangapatanam (261 k.m. from Mangalore) on Ash Wednesday, 24th of February, 1784. On that fateful day, our ancestors began their bitter and agonizing "way of the cross" which lasted for 15 years. Various authorities have put the number of Christians taken into captivity between 30,000 to 50,000. It is said that 75% of Christianity was wiped out from Kanara. 26 churches out of 27 were destroyed by Tippu's troops. All the lands of Christians were distributed to Hin­dus, Muslims and others. Many died on the way due to illnesses and fatigue. After reaching Sriranga­patanam, men were forcibly circum­cised and converted to Islam and women were sent to the harem. Quite a few died as martyrs.

                

While in captivity, our ancestors had no access to either priests or sacraments. They kept up their faith just by secretly praying the rosary. Later on, when Tippu was defeated by the British in 1799 only 10,000 to 15,000 Christians re­turned to Kanara with empty hands and started their life from scratch. They abjured Islam and returned to the Christian fold.

                

Though the church was persecuted much more than this from its very birth, there seems to be no parallel to this sort of depor­tation of a whole community in the history of the church. The only other parallel which comes to my mind is the (in) famous Babylonian Captiv­ity of the Jews for 50 years. As the Jews wept by the rivers of Babylon, as the song goes, when they remembered Zion (Psalm 137), I too am led to reflect on the implications of the bitter agony and persecution of our ancestors to my missionary life in Orissa.

                

Now in some parts of India, we can see some "Tippu Sultans” just waiting to hit their targets at the next opportune time. You are aware of those forces. A great example is set by the laity of Kanara for us priests and religious missionaries working in North India during these trying times. It gives us a lot inspiration to face persecution courageously, if it will come.

                

Secondly, just like the Kanara Christians who were Christians for over hundred years only when this deportation and persecution took place, our tribals in Chhotanagpur (to which tribals of western Orissa belong) are also Christians for more or less the same number of years. Naturally, a question comes to my mind whether our tribal Christians will keep up their faith if anti-christian forces will suddenly strike like Tippu Sultan. From the lesson drawn from the Kanara Christians, and also from what happened in Eastern Orissa (namely the persecution in Kandhamal) I firmly believe that most of them will keep up their faith in such an eventuality, though some may relapse. This happened even to Kanara Christians. Some of them became Muslims 

and remained in Srirangapatanam after their re­lease. I believe, the present ‘Tippu Sultans’ may persecute Christians, but they will not be able to wipe out Christianity in the tribal or Dalit scoieties. On the contrary more tribals and Dalits will em­brace Christianity. But like Kanara christians, some (priests, religious and lay people) may have to die as martyrs. The well known dictum, "The blood of martyrs is the seed of faith" will become true here also!

THE LORD OF HISTORY OR MIGRATION?

Though in Biblical Theology, God is called the Lord of history, in the case of Kanara Christians and tribals he is also the Lord of migra­tion; that is a God who directs mi­gration of people according to his plan. Most of the Mangalorean christians are the descendants of Saraswat Brahmins of Goa who migrated to Kanara after their con­version to Christianity by the Por­tuguese. It is said that Saraswat Brahmins had settled on the banks of now extinct river Saraswati in Punjab after their migration from Central Asia and later on moved to Trihotrapur in Bihar. After many years again they migrated to Goa and from there a number of them migrated to coastal Maharashtra and Kanara for two reasons: (1) to escape the harassment and threat of the Marathas under Shivaji and his son Sambhaji who used to fight the Portuguese in Goa; and (2) to escape the inquisition imposed by the Portuguese clergy on the new converts for practicing Hindu cus­toms and rituals. After the depor­tation under Tippu Sultan, some of them settled down in Western Ghats (Chikmangalur), Coorg and Malabar since they didn't want to return to Kanara from Srirangapatanam.

                

God's ways are mysterious indeed. Since these Saraswat Brahmins came to Goa, they came into contact with Christian faith, and due to his­torical reasons mentioned above, through them Christianity spread to coastal Maharashtra, Kanara, Chikmangalur, Coorg and some parts of Malabar. The Lord of his­tory used all these migrations and historical events to give us the Good News of Jesus Christ and through us to others.

                

When I came as a missionary to this tribal belt, I became aware of the fact that the Chhotanagpur tribals are also always on the move. Their history is also full of migrations. Some of them belong to the Austroloid race while some others to the Dravidian. Both these groups arrived in India before the Aryans to which Saraswat and all other Brahmins belong. Since these tribes moved from the Indus river valley to Chhotanagpur, they came into contact with Christianity more than a hundred years ago. From the present Jharkhand many of them moved to Orissa (mostly to Sundargarh and Sambalpur dis­tricts). The tribals are still con­stantly on the move mainly for two reasons: (1) in search of land and (2) due to eviction from their land caused by the setting up of indus­tries and construction of dams. Now they are further spreading towards the central and eastern parts of Orissa. Though this leads to impov­erishment and insecurity of tribals, we can observe that this also leads to the spread of Christian faith to other parts of Orissa.

PRESERVATION OR DE­STRUCTION OF NATIVE CULTURES?

The missionaries are often accused of destroying native cultures. Though there is some truth in it, there are many examples of preser­vation and adaptation of local cul­tures. One of the reasons why the ancestors of the present Mangalorean christians left Goa was to uphold their culture. Due to this they developed their own cul­ture by wonderfully assimilating and adapting Hindu-Christian tra­ditions. Thus the culture of Mangalorean Christians became more indigenous than that of the Goans. Though in liturgy there was hardly any adaptation before Second Vatican Council, in social life there was a lot of it including dress, folksongs, dances, musical instru­ments and above all, the Konkani language.

                

Let me cite only three examples : (1) As per the marriage custom of Mangalorean Catholics, both the bride and the bridegroom are anointed with coconut oil and bathed with coconut juice on the eve of their wedding in their respective homes. This ceremony called ‘roce’ (= coconut juice) is conducted by inviting all the relatives and neighbours. It is interesting to note that the same ceremony is repeated on the dead also. They too are anointed with coconut oil and washed with coconut juice while preparing them for funeral. Traditionally the dead too were dressed with the same dress worn on their wedding day. Especially if women died while their husbands were still living, they were dressed with a special pink sari called 'sado' which they wore on their wed­ding day.

                

What must be the sig­nificance? For the Saraswat Brahmins the coconut tree was like the mythical 'Kalpataru' of paradise, a tree which satisfies all desires and fulfils all needs. Hence the bride and the bride­groom are blessed with the wish that their mar­ried life may be fruitful and may all their desires be fulfilled. The dead are also honoured and pre­pared for another 'wed­ding'. This is a clear case of christianisation of lo­cal custom: as per the biblical symbolism, Christian death is a wed­ding-feast in heaven. What a rich adaptation!

                

(2) The Kanara Christians had their own folk dances and folksongs accompanied by a drum called 'gumat'. In addition to the traditional social themes, they added Christian and biblical themes to these folksongs. Similarly, the tribals of Chhotanagpur also have added many Christian and biblical themes to their traditional folksongs and dances accompanied by drums called 'mandar', 'dholki' etc.

                

(3) The Mangalorean Christians, though settled in South India, don't belong to the Dravidian race of most of the South Indians. Both racially and linguistically they belong to the Indo-Aryan race of most of the North Indians. Their mother-tongue Konkani is derived from the Indo-Aryan languages. But after coming to Kanara they didn't force their language on others; instead they adopted the Tulu language of Dravidian people as lingua franca of social communication. Moreover they liberally borrowed many Tulu and Kannada words and expres­sions for Konkani language. Now the Mangalorean Konkani is so much mixed with Tulu and Kannada that Goans and Mangaloreans cannot easily under­stand each other though they speak the same language. Thus the Mangalorean Konkani built a bridge connecting the North and South of India, linking Mangalor­eans to both the cultural and lin­guistic groups.

                

Due to this, though Konkani lost its purity, it became like an ocean which absorbs water from all riv­ers. It has even many Portuguese words. Mangalorean Christians follow the three-language formula from childhood: Konkani at home, Tulu in the market or while speak­ing to non-christians, and Kannada at schools and offices. Thus they be­come more cosmopolitan in their outlook from childhood itself and get acquainted with the two major language groups of India (Aryan and Dravidian). This is a big advantage for missionaries and job-set­tlers, since this makes it easy for them to learn other Indian lan­guages from both the major groups. Due to the experience of living with Hindu-Christian and Aryan-Dravidian traditions from child­hood, Mangalorean Christians become more receptive to other cultures.

                

To my great surprise, when I came as a Missionary to this tribal area, here too I found that the three-language formula is operative among the tribals here. They have their own mother-tongues like Oraon, Kharia, Munda, etc. and a lingua franca called Sadri for inter-tribal communication and Oriya in schools/of­fices. Like Mangalorean Christians, tribals are also acquainted with at least three languages from childhood (sometimes even more than three). They too enjoy the same ad­vantage as Mangaloreans as far as cultural adaptation and learning of new languages is concerned.

                

It is fitting that we praise and thank the God of history and all cultures, for He has done marvel­lous deeds for us through the annals of history and cultural patterns of our people. Though the church has done a lot of good to humanity, she has also done some mistakes such as condemning and suppress­ing all cultural expressions as 'heathen' and devilish practices; hence sinful. This mentality caused so much pain and loss of cultural identity to our ancestors in Goa, tribals in Chhotanagapur and many other natives all over the world. Now the Church has come to the realization of this mistake especially after the Second Vatican Council. May the Lord of history, the Lord of cultures and languages, and above all the Lord of liberation supremely reign over humankind now and for ever.