Indian Antiquary Vol 45

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 146

138
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[AUGUST, 1916
coffers. They were so numerous and excessive that for every Portuguese laymen there were two of them. Mere numbers would have made them obnoxious to the State, but their "conduct was even more obnoxious. Their over-bearing arrogance reached such a climax, that the number of conventual institutions had to be limited and the establishment of new ones prohibited. They even dared to engage in illicit trade with the Dutch, hoping that their position saved them from suspicion, and special inspectors had to be appointed to check this evil.
Such was the condition of the European nations at the time of Tirumal Naik's accession. The Dutch and the Portuguese were fighting a deadly struggle. The latter were gradually being ousted not only by their loss in war, but by the rotten condition of their empire. The subjugation to Spain, the corruption in service, the bad financial system, the lack of good men for the army and navy, and above all, the presence of the Jesuits and other religious orders, crippled the resources of the State, and made it an easy prey to the Dutoh. One thing is clear in this state of things,-that, while the State was dwindling in strength, the Church was growing at its expense. And the remarkable success which the Jesuit mission was to obtain in Madura and elsewhere during the reign of Tirumal Naik was due to that singular, if unscrupulous, prosperity it enjoyed.
SECTION V.
The Jesult mission controversy. We saw in the last chapter how a new epoch in the labours of De Nobilis71 came into existence on account of the opposition that arose within the church itself against him. The opposition was aroused by the questionable means he employed in his proselytism. Many of his measures were indeed cordially approved by his co-religionists, for example, his insistance on the study of the popular languages, his condemnation of polygamy, his opposition to idol-worship, his advocacy of a better ideal of marriage, his spirit of self-sacrifice and ascetio self-abnegation which was ready to undergo any personal torture ; but with these commendable foatures were combined certain other features which were in the eyes of many of his co-religionists not only heresy but orime. His colleagues and superiors were as a rule, narrow and shortsighted men. Unable to conceive anything original, they became an obstacle to all originality. Common-place in their principles and practices they were the enemies of genius. They took the slightest deviation from the orthodox line for a rank heresy and the slightest concession to the prejudice of converts for an ignoble surrender to the barbarism of the heathon. They were scandalised by De Nobilis' conciliation of Hindu prejudices and acceptance of Hindu social ideals, customs and superstitions. These were the very points which De Nobilis considered to be the fundamental condition and merit of his work. Their crusade therefore struck at the very root of his principles. They denounced his avoidance of intercourse with the Parangis on the ground that it was against the equalising spirit of Christianity. They considered his denial of Parangi birth as a lie. They condemned his adoption of Hindu titles like Guru, Aiyar, Raja, etc., and his wearing the hair, the sacred thread and the sandalwood paste in Hindu fashion. In a word, they considered De Nobilis as an enemy, rather than as a pillar of Christianity. Father Fernandez, who was perhaps actuated as much by jealousy as by sincerity, was the chief spokesman of
TI It may be pointed out here that an English Jesuit missionary, Father Thomas Estavao, worked at this time (1580-1619) in the Canarose districts. He was a great scholar in Canarese. For a short account of his life and labours (based on Hakluyt) see Ante, Vol. VII, 117-18.