Indian Antiquary Vol 46

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

Page 28

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(JANUARY, 1917
broad. The Residences were not permanent. The wars of the age, the quarrels with the Hindu temple authorities, who not unoften owned the Residences, and other difficulties, led to frequent changes. Each Residence was divided into at least two districts. Satyamatgalam, for instance, had two, one of which was healthy, and the other, which included Palghat, so unhealthy that sometimes 2,000 or 3,000 people died of diseases in one season. Similarly the Residence of Kallayi contained the two districts of Koranupatti and Tattuvanjeri. Each district was further sub-divided into provinces-Pasur, for instance, into seven (Salem and Omalur among them). The smallest unit was the village. Each village supported its own church, and all the villages of a given area united in the support of the central church,
The Rise of two types of missionaries. The Sanyasins and Pandarams, With regard to the method, the most important point to be remembered is the establishment of two classes of missionaries. We have already seen how De Nobilis established a mission exclusively among Brahmans and princes and endeavoured to convert them to the religion of Christ, and how he was not quite successful. His scheme of Brahman Christians failed, but his endeavours did not end in nothing. He had at least impressed the superior authorities that, if Christianity was to make a tangible progress in the land, it must be, outwardly at least, an ally and not the enemy of the caste system. The high caste Christians must be kept separate from low caste Christians, for & promiscuous union of both with the consequent annihilation of the country's social system meant the stoppage of Christianity itself. The logical result of this was that the missionaries for Brahmans had to be kept separate from those for the Pariahs. Thus it was that, after De Nobilis' advent, two classes of missionaries were appointed. They might, and indeed did, belong to the same mission, but outwardly they were independent of each other. Those who worked among the Brahmans and the higher classes were called Sanyasins and the others Paņdarams. The Sanyasins had, of course, to live the lives of ascetics. They should employ Brahman servants alone and eat only vegetarian diet. They had necessarily to acquire high linguistic and literary attainments. They could not mix with the Paravans or with the Pandaram missionaries. Sometimes, it is true, the exigencies of service and the opportunities of success made a Sanyasi baptise or work among Paravas; but this had to be done stealthily, during night. The least suspicion of such a circumstance would have resulted in a storm of discontent, a tremendous outburst against the so-called Sanyasin, and the premature collapse of Christian progress among the higher circles. The Pandarams who had non-Brahman servants and worked among the low castes and out castes, also dressed like the Hindus and lived ascetic lives. But the environments in which they worked blackened their name in the eyes of the people, who called them by the contemptuous name of Parangis.'
Their different spheres and methods of work. The Pandârams, 48 a rule, were Portuguese, while the Sanyasins belonged to other nationalities. Ever active and industrious, the Pandârams would not live for more than two months in a place, but would travel on foot in the burning heat, and without shelter at night. They indeed commanded less regard than the Sangasins from the people and