• Vulgaris seu Universalis: Early Modern Missionary Representations of an Indian Cosmopolitan Space

    Author(s):
    Paolo Aranha (see profile)
    Date:
    2015
    Group(s):
    History, Linguistics, Religious Studies, World Christianity
    Subject(s):
    Asia, History, Hindi language, Indian literature, Linguistics, Religion
    Item Type:
    Book chapter
    Tag(s):
    Church history, Missionary history, Missionary linguistics, Capuchins, Jesuits, Asian history
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6SP7T
    Abstract:
    Missionary history has been acknowledged in recent years as a fundamental context for the emergence of European Orientalism. In particular, it is becoming clearer the specific cultural relevance of the Catholic missionaries to India, working under the Portuguese Royal Patronage (Padroado Real), depending from the Roman Congregation De Propaganda Fide or relying on the support of the French Crown. This chapter analyzes the efforts of the French Capuchin François-Marie de Tours († 1709), essential both in the explosion of the Malabar Rites controversy and for the emergence of a corpus of linguistic knowledge on Hindustānī. I argue that these two aspects are expression of a single and consistent effort at building up a “cosmopolitan” Indian Christianity, characterized by social fluidity across caste divisions, physical mobility along the subcontinental coastlines and an avowed openness towards European influences. On the contrary, the Jesuit missions in India (in particular the ones of Madurai, Mysore and the Carnatic) appear as characterized by an extensive adaptation of Christianity to the local social hierarchies and articulated in the South Asian regional languages, many of which boasting a tradition more prestigious than the one of Hindustānī. However, this chapter hints also at a hitherto almost unknown specific Jesuit engagement with Hindustānī, developed in the Mughal mission according to a project distinct from the one unsuccessfully proposed by François-Marie de Tours.
    Metadata:
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    Published as:
    Book chapter     Show details
    Publisher:
    Éditions de l\'École des hautes études en sciences sociales
    Pub. Date:
    2015
    Book Title:
    Cosmopolitismes en Asie du Sud: Sources, itinéraires, langues (XVIe-XVIIIe siècles)
    Author/Editor:
    Corinne Lefèvre, Ines G. Županov, Jorge Flores
    Page Range:
    331 - 360
    ISBN:
    978-2-7132-2492-8
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    7 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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