INDIA

INDIA. – By this name is understood both the historical region of southern Asia corresponding to the triangular peninsula, situated between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, with the low plateau of lands that connect it to its northern mountain rim (Mount Suleiman, Himalayas), and the political entity that took shape there with the British conquest (Indian Empire), and, after the Second World War, the larger of the two independent States that are consolidating there (Indian Union and Pakistan).

SUMMARY:

I. Geography

II. Political history

III. Non-Christian religions of India

IV. History of Christianity

V. Christian antiquities

VI. Art

VII. Educational system.

I. GEOGRAPHY

The Indian territory, extending over more than 20° of latitude, essentially consists of three great natural units: the arc of majestic mountain ranges that borders it to the north (in which, despite the exclusion of its highest sectors, several peaks exceed 7,000 m.); the actual peninsula, which is also a highland, but now with flattened and worn forms, though raised along its edges (Ghats, or “hills”: 2,670 m. to the west), which in turn rise precipitously above the coasts; and the alluvial belt stretched between these two regions by the Indus (Punjab) and the Ganges (properly speaking, Hindustan), very humid in the east, gradually drier to the west, where it ends in a sandy desert (Thar). The climate varies naturally from zone to zone, but overall it has tropical and subtropical characteristics (high and constant temperatures) and seasonal rains (April–November) linked to the monsoon regime. The quantity and regularity of these precipitations, however, depend above all on the arrangement of the mountain ranges relative to the direction of the winds; thus, from areas that rank among the rainiest in the world (Cherrapunji, in Assam, averages 12,000 mm. annually), one passes to arid districts (Punjab, Sind), where annual rainfall varies so much as to cause severe famines (about half of India’s territory remains under this threat). In any case, the harvests and the existence of the great mass of the population depend closely on the behaviour of the rains and on the possibility of irrigating the land (the frequency of irrigation, which is 10% of cultivated land in the east, rises to 75% in Sind). Similarly, the luxuriant tropical vegetation (jungle) of Hindustan and the Tarai, where the fauna also appears abundant (large felines, many animals harmful to humans), contrasts elsewhere (lower Indus) with steppes and treeless zones, and even with completely barren wastelands.

The racial and ethnic picture of the Indian population is among the most complex, due to the variety of crossings, whose effects, combined with those of the caste system, explain the large number of groups that modern scholars recognize there. A basic distinction between Dravidian (the older element remaining on the plateau) and Indo-Aryan (who penetrated later into the country and are still prevalent in Hindustan), dear to tradition, no longer has any discriminating racial significance. Less uncertain is the linguistic terrain: of the more than 200 different languages brought to light by censuses, the Indo-European ones account for about 60% of the inhabitants of the entire Indian region, with the absolute predominance of Hindustani, which, with political independence, became the official language of the State. Equally notable are the religious divisions, which essentially account for the secession of Muslim Pakistan.

---

**INDIA – 1) State boundaries; 2) ecclesiastical district boundaries; 3) railways.**

**Map:**

- **1° GONIA ET DAMANENSIS**
- **2° DE JHANSI**
- **3° BELLARYENSIS**
- **36°**
- **32°**
- **34°**
- **36°**
- **32°**
- **34°**
- **36°**
- **32**
- **34**
- **36**
- **32**
- **34**
- **36**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32***
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **32**
- **34**
- **32** The Indian population is among the most prolific on earth, but famines, epidemics, and deaths greatly reduce its demographic growth. The highest densities are found in the Indus basin and along the eastern coasts; the lowest in the north-western regions. There are numerous large urban centres: of the 41 that exceed 100,000 inhabitants, two are millionaire cities (Calcutta with 4.5 million, Bombay with 1.5 million) and four exceed half a million (Madras, Haiderabad, Ahmedabad, and Delhi). Delhi, the capital, had 522,000 inhabitants in the last census (1941).

Agriculture is the predominant occupation, still practised overall with backward methods, but steadily progressing (irrigation, mechanisation) and increasingly diversified in its products. Rice, wheat, and sorghum dominate among cereals; cotton, jute (for which India holds almost a world monopoly) and oilseeds (groundnut, sesame, colza, linseed, castor) among industrial plants; tea and coffee among shrub crops. Notable also are the cultivation of sugar cane and tobacco. The livestock heritage is substantial (with 136 million head of cattle and 46 million goats, India holds two world records), but livestock farming is far from realising its immense potential; the same can be said of forestry, which, despite abundant reserves and high-quality timber, remains underdeveloped. Coal and iron are present in numerous and rich deposits, and manganese, mica, copper, gold, petroleum, precious stones, etc., are also found, but industrial development is still limited, except in the textile sector (cotton mills and

II. POLITICAL HISTORY.

I. FROM THE ORIGINS TO THE MUSLIM CONQUEST

The sources for the history of India (I.) for the Hindu period are above all epigraphy, numismatics, and the accounts of foreign travelers, especially Chinese; Indian literatures, with minor exceptions, do not contain properly historical texts. Later, the rich historiography of Muslim India, written in Persian, comes into play. The natural foundations of the history of the peninsula are represented on the one hand by its inaccessibility from every side except the sea and the passes of the north-west frontier; on the other hand, by its natural division into three great regions: the Indo-Gangetic plain, the Deccan, and the extreme south. The historical development of each of these areas was largely independent.

I. Prehistory and Protohistory

India begins to be inhabited by man in the early Pleistocene. Of the Paleolithic period, numerous sites remain in the Deccan and in southern India; the use of quartzite constitutes the main characteristic of the Indian Paleolithic. The Neolithic period is distinguished by abundant but coarse pottery; unlike later periods, the dead were inhumed rather than cremated. Neolithic sites are found throughout the country, but especially in the north. From the Neolithic, India passes directly to the Iron Age; there are no traces in India of a Bronze Age civilization.

In the transitional period between the Neolithic and the Iron Age, in the first half of the 3rd millennium B.C., there appears the first great Indian civilization, the civilization of the Indus (v. MOHENJO-DARO).

After the end of this civilization, darkness again descends upon Indian history. It is known only that at a later time (the 2nd millennium B.C.) the Aryans (or Indo-Europeans) penetrated into India from the north-west, pushing the Dravidians southward and largely submerging the Munda, the two groups of peoples who previously inhabited the peninsula. Theirs was a civilization of herdsmen and cultivators, living in small villages and divided into numerous tribes. Initially confined to the Indus basin, they slowly extended until they occupied the entire Ganges basin and much of the Deccan. In the course of time, this amorphous Aryan population crystallized into a series of small states. Its social structure also slowly changed, evolving, among other things, the system of the four castes (varna), which from then on constituted the cornerstone of Indian society. Thus, one passes from the Vedic age to that of the Brāhmaṇas and then to that depicted in the two great epic poems: the Mahābhārata (v.) and the Rāmāyaṇa (v.) (first half of the 1st millennium B.C.): an aristocratic, chivalric, and warrior society, stirred by a great ferment of religious renewal, which gives rise to the lofty speculations of the Upaniṣads.

2. Hindu Period

At the end of the 6th century B.C., with the rise of the two great religious reform movements, Buddhism (v.) and Jainism (v.), northern India emerges from the darkness of protohistory. Divided into a certain number of kingdoms (traditionally sixteen) and aristocratic republics, it sees the rise and expansion of the Kingdom of Magadha (modern Bihar). In the first half of the 5th century B.C., the entire Ganges basin is subject to Magadha. At the same time, around 516 B.C., the Indus basin was conquered by the Achaemenids and remained for nearly two centuries a satrapy of the Persian Empire. It was then that that profound Iranian influence began in the Indus Valley, which, assuming a religious aspect later with the advent of Islam, would in the 20th century lead to the separation of the region from India. The 4th century B.C. sees the decline of Magadha and the temporary incursion of Alexander the Great, not into India but into the Indian provinces of Persia. At the end of the century, a sudden movement of national unification brings Candragupta, founder of the Maurya dynasty (321 B.C.), to subjugate much of India and to obtain from Seleucus the cession of the Indus basin and Afghanistan. The Greek Megasthenes visits his court and leaves a brilliant description of II.

| Area in sq. km. | Pop. (1000 inhab.) | Density per sq. km. | Capital and its population (1000 inhab.) |
| Federal Units | 326,732 | 49,342 | 151.0 |
| Madras | 197,904 | 20,850 | 105.3 |
| Bombay | 71,859 | 21,211 | 295.1 |
| West Bengal | 275,515 | 55,021 | 199.7 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 95,069 | 12,617 | 131.4 |
| East Punjab | 180,619 | 36,340 | 201.1 |
| Bihar | 255,280 | 16,813 | 65.8 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 130,252 | 7,471 | 57.3 |
| Assam | 83,383 | 8,728 | 104.6 |
| States (formerly provinces) | 1,617,573 | 228,393 | 141.2 |
| Saurashtra | 45,902 | 2,885 | 62.8 |
| Rajasthan | 332,580 | 13,085 | 39.3 |
| Vindhya Pradesh | 63,733 | 3,569 | 55.9 |
| Madhya Bharat | 120,040 | 7,150 | 59.5 |
| Patiala and East Punjab States Union | 26,153 | 3,424 | 130.9 |
| Travancore and Cochin | 2,709 | 7,500 | 310.3 |
| Unions of States | 612,117 | 37,613 | 61.4 |
| Hyderabad | 213,166 | 16,338 | 76.6 |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 213,024 | 4,021 | 18.8 |
| Mysore | 76,287 | 7,329 | 96.0 |
| Princely States | 502,477 | 27,688 | 55.1 |
| Delhi | 1,486 | 2,000 | 134.5 |
| Ajmer | 6,215 | 700 | 112.6 |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 8,139 | 28 | 3.4 |
| Union Territories | 19,965 | 2,897 | 145.0 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 27,451 | 936 | 34.0 |
| Cutch | 21,912 | 500 | 22.8 |
| Bilaspur | 11,731 | 110 | 9.3 |
| Bhopal | 26,125 | 1,331 | 50.9 |
| Rampur | 2,315 | 477 | 206.0 |
| Cooch-Behar | 3,413 | 640 | 187.5 |
| Tripura | 10,659 | 512 | 4.8 |
| Centrally Administered States | 125,929 | 5,018 | 43.4 |
| Indian Union | 2,878,061 | 301,609 | 105.1 |

The successors of Candragupta, Bindusāra (297–74) and Asoka (274–36), ruled from their capital Pātālīputra (modern Patna) over the entire peninsula except the extreme south; for the first and only time, north and Deccan were unified under an Indian king. Asoka, a peaceful ruler, actively promoted Buddhist propaganda. His edicts, carved in stone at the four corners of India, stand as a monument to his religious zeal and political moderation. His empire, remembered in Buddhist tradition as a true golden age, did not survive him; only fifty years after Asoka’s death in 184 BC, the Maurya dynasty gave way to the Śūṅga, whose rule, confined to the middle Ganges basin, marked an early reaction of Brahmanism. Then the Magadha, weakened by its imperial effort, long ceased to be a political center and even fell under the influence of the Andhra of the Deccan. Meanwhile, the Greeks of Bactria had appeared in the Indus basin; after 180 BC they established their own Indian domain there. Continuously torn by internal strife and divided among various kings, the middle Indus basin nonetheless became the refuge of the Greeks when around 130 nomads drove them from Bactria. The Indo-Greek kingdoms of the Panjab and Afghanistan, lasting until the early years of the Christian era, introduced artistic influence into India that would later give rise to the Gandhāra school of Indo-Greek art; through the same channel, Greek astronomy also entered India. Taxila was a city largely Greek, as its ruins still attest. But the Greeks in India were pursued by the same peoples who had expelled them from Bactria. The Śaka, who founded ephemeral kingdoms in the northwest, managed to hold on until the 4th century AD under the Persian title of kṣatrapa in central India. The Parthians also made their appearance. In the 1st century AD, however, both Parthians and Greeks were swept away by the Kuṣāṇa, a dynasty of Śaka origin, which established a strong state astride the Hindukush, from the Syr Darya to the Ganges. In their realm, artistic and religious influences from Iran, Central Asia, the Roman Empire, and even China converged. Their greatest ruler, Kaniṣka (78–103 [?]), was a great patron of Buddhism, and Buddhism together with Hellenistic art contributed to the flourishing of the splendid Gandhāra school. In the 3rd century the Kuṣāṇa empire declined and vanished from the Indus basin. India turned inward again, and the following century saw the sudden reassertion of Magadha’s power. The Gupta dynasty (from 320), especially through the work of its second ruler, Samudragupta (325–75), once more unified the Ganges basin and central India as far as Gujarat, though without the strength to penetrate the Indus basin or the Deccan. A Vaiṣṇava dynasty but tolerant of other religions, the Guptas mark the apogee of Indian civilization; Sanskrit literature flourished, culminating in the greatest poet of India, Kālidāsa; art cast off foreign influence and found its way back to the purest Indian tradition. Yet the Guptas did not last long. In the second half of the 5th century they were worn down repelling the invasion of the so-called White Huns from the northwest. By the mid-6th century, the Huns, who for a moment seemed about to overwhelm northern India, had been decisively driven back. But after their disappearance the Gupta empire was only a memory. Once again a ruler, Harsa (606–47), attempted to unify the north; at his court stayed the most famous of Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, Hsüan-tsang. But Harsa left no successors; after his death, northern India entered an era of great regional states that pursued a policy of pan-Indian balance rather than imperial ambition. Kanauj took the place of Pātaliputra as the metropolis of the north. There reigned the Gurjara-Pratīhāra (805–1040), who had come from central India and wore themselves out in continuous struggle with enemies from the south and east, finally succumbing to the Muslim invasion of Maḥmūd of Ghaznī in 1019. After decades of confusion, they were succeeded by the Gāhaḍavāla, whose historical role for a time was to defend against the now-imminent Muslim threat, until they failed in their mission; by the end of the 12th century Kanauj had passed into Muslim hands. The supreme resistance to the invaders, however, was the work of the Cahamāna, a Rājput dynasty that extended northeastward to include the territory of Delhi, whose position as metropolis of India dates from them. Their last king, the heroic Prithvīrāja III (1179–92), for many years held back the invasion under the command of treacherous coalitions of Indian princes, until his defeat and death on the field of Taraori (1192) marked the transfer of northern India to Muslim rule. The Hindu military resistance, overwhelmed on the Ganges plain, took refuge in the hills and deserts of Rājasthān. There the various Rājput princes preserved their proud independence for centuries. Tenacious and valiant to the point of folly, they lacked political skill and were unable to unite. Yet the Muslims never subdued them by force, and only the emperor Akbar in the second half of the 16th century succeeded in drawing them to his side through the magnetism of his powerful personality and the chivalrous trust he showed them. For a century the Rājput princes were among the finest generals of the Mughal empire.

The other great regional kingdom of northern India was Bengal and Bihar, where the Pāla (c. 765–12th century) marked a final flowering of art, Sanskrit literature, and Buddhism before the latter definitively disappeared.

Peninsula of Malacca. Exhausted by immense effort, the Cola, great builders of wondrous temples, vanished in 1279 before a revival of the Pāṇḍya. Then came fragmentation, complicated by the Muslim invasion of 1310. The foreign threat, however, produced a coalescence of all radical forces around a new state that arose from the ruins of the Hoysala-Ballāla kingdom, taking its name from the new capital Vijayanagar, founded around 1336. Vijayanagar’s historical mission was to defend Hindu civilization against the Muslims of the Deccan, a task it fulfilled for more than two centuries with alternating victories and defeats, until it was overwhelmed by a Muslim coalition at Talikota in 1565; but by then Islam in the Deccan had lost its power to expand and Hindu civilization was saved. Southern India knew no Muslim period but passed directly from the Hindu era to the English.

II. FROM THE MUSLIM CONQUEST TO THE MUGHAL DYNASTY (711–1526)

In 711 Muḥammad b. Qāsim occupied Sind and the southern Panjāb as far as Multān. The region remained under Arab governors, who, as the caliphate grew weaker, became practically autonomous. The Muslims subjected the local populations to tribute, collected as usual through indigenous administration. Unlike other lands conquered by the Arabs, conversions were few and Islam remained a minority in India. Meanwhile, peaceful Arab penetration by sea was taking place on the Malabar coast, with the establishment of trading colonies.

A new phase of conquest occurred with the Afghan dynasty of the Ghaznavids (962–1186). Subuktigin (976–97) occupied the region west of the Indus, establishing the capital at Peshawar. Maḥmūd (998–1030) advanced, in a subsequent series of expeditions, into Kashmir, Hindustan, and Gujarat; he permanently occupied the Punjab, transferring the provincial capital to Lahore.

In 1186 the Ghaznavids were supplanted in India by the Ghūrids (1148–1215). With them the Muslim conquest made further progress. Muḥammad Ghūrid occupied between 1186 and 1206 all of Hindustan, transferring the capital to Delhi.

At the death of Muḥammad Ghūrid, his Turkish slave-governors divided the kingdom. The most important state was Delhi, where five dynasties succeeded one another: the “Slave Kings” (1106–90); the Khaljīs (1290–1320); the Tughluqs (or Taghlāq; 1320–1413); the Sayyids (1414–1511); and the Lodīs (1451–1526). To these dynasties must be added the Afghans, who from 1539 to 1544 temporarily regained power from the Mughals. The sultans of Delhi long exercised supremacy over other states. Iltutmish, of the first dynasty, subdued the governors of Sind and Bengal; in this period there were numerous incursions by the Mongols of Āngiz Khān, who, however, did not remain in India. The Khaljīs advanced into the Deccan, conquering Daulatābād; the Tughluqs, under Muḥammad, pushed even farther south, transferring the capital to Daulatābād. At the death of Muḥammad (1351) the state again fragmented; its decline was hastened by the invasion of Tīmūr Lang in 1398–99. While the sultans of Delhi retained only the territory around that city, independent dynasties arose in the following regions: Bengal (1338–1576); Awadh (1394–1476); Mālwā (1401–1530); Kashmir (1334–1587); Gujarat (1396–1572); Khandesh (1399–1599). In the Deccan the Bahmanid dynasty arose (1347–1526), which in its final period itself split into five states: Berār (Imād Shāh, 1484–1572); Ahmadnagar (Nizām Shāh, 1490–1595); Bidar (Barīd Shāh, 1492–1609); Bijapur (Ādil Shāh, 1489–1686); Golconda (Quṭb Shāh, 1512–1687).

III. THE MUGHAL DYNASTY (1526–1858)

The Mughal dynasty (Mughal) was founded by the Mongol Bābur, a descendant of Tīmūr Lang and ruler of a state in Afghanistan. He invaded India in 1526, defeating at Panipat the last sovereign of the Lodī dynasty of Delhi. At his death (1530) all of northwest India, with its center at Agra, was under his control. His son Humāyūn (1530–1565) lost the kingdom to the Afghans (1539–1545; see above) and only in 1555 managed to recover part of II. The work was completed by his son Akbar (1556–1605): after a new victory at Panipat over Indian forces (1556), he took possession of all northern India, pushing south as far as Ahmadnagar. Akbar was a patron and tolerant ruler; he abolished the special poll-tax on Hindus (jizyah), placing Hindus and Muslims on equal footing; he protected Hinduism, even attempting to establish a new unitary religion (tawhīd-i ilāhī or dīn-i ilāhī); he hosted Portuguese Jesuit missions. His son Jahāngīr (1605–27) had to contend externally with war against the Persians and internally with numerous revolts by his sons. Under him the English East India Company obtained its first authorizations to establish trading posts, which were soon to expand rapidly. Shāh Jahān (1627–58) continued with mixed success the war against Persia and advanced farther into the Deccan. Here his son Awrangzīb distinguished himself; having been supplanted on the throne (1658–1707), he conquered the states of Bijapur and Golconda: all of India was under his power, except the northern extremity, and the Mughal Empire had reached its greatest extent. Awrangzīb pursued an orthodox religious policy, persecuting Hindus and thus reopening a conflict that was to be a major cause of the state’s crisis.

After the death of Awrangzīb, the Mughal Empire rapidly declined, fragmenting into autonomous states, the most important of which were the Sikhs in the Punjab and the Marāthās in the Deccan. Under Muḥammad Shāh I (1719–48) the provinces of Hyderabad, Agra, Awadh, Bengal, Rohilkhand, and others became centers of autonomous governments. Nādir Shāh of Persia invaded India in 1739, sacking Delhi and occupying the provinces west of the Indus. A second invasion was led from Afghanistan by Aḥmad Shāh Durrānī (1756–57), who through Sind and the Punjab again reached Delhi. Meanwhile the English East India Company had extended its trading centers, the principal ones being Madras (1640), Bombay (1662), and Calcutta (1698). Competition with the French Company, which had its main bases at Pondicherry and Chandernagore, led to political and military penetration. The English prevailed with the Peace of Paris (1763). In 1765 Shāh Ālam (1759–1806) recognized the Company’s financial administration of the provinces of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. At this point the English government intervened: with the Regulating Act of 1773 and Pitt’s Act of 1784 it assumed control of the Company and appointed its governor-general. While the authority of the Mughal emperors (Akbar II, 1806–37; Bahādur Shāh, 1837–57) remained nominal, English conquest spread: the Marāthās were defeated (1803, 1817); Assam (1825), Coorg (1834), Sind (1843), and the Punjab (1849) were conquered. Under the governorship of Lord Dalhousie, numerous interior states were annexed. This intensified indigenous discontent. In 1857 the Bengal troops (sepoys) rebelled, placing at their head the last Mughal, Bahādur Shāh. The revolt was bloodily suppressed, Bahādur Shāh was deposed, and on 1 November 1858 the British crown assumed direct rule of India, definitively replacing the East India Company.

1811

L’India musulmana, Milan [1941]; L. Suali, Storia moderna dell’India, 2 vols., Milan [1941] (with annotated bibliography); W. H. Moreland – A. C. Chatterjee, A short history of India, 2nd ed., London 1945; H. G. Rawlinson, A concise history of the Indian people, 3rd ed., 1946; R. C. Majumdar – H. C. Raychaudhuri – K. Datta, An advanced history of India, 2nd ed., 1948; R. Grousset, L’Inde, Paris 1949.

On the period 1711–1526: I. Prasad, L’Inde du VIIe au XVIe siècle (E. Cavagnac, Histoire du monde, 8, 1), Paris 1930. On the conquest and religious penetration of Islam: M. T. Titus, Indian Islam, Oxford 1930. On Maḥmūd of Ghazni: M. Nāzim, The life and times of sultan Maḥmūd of Ghazni, Cambridge 1931. On Muḥammad Tughluq: M. Husain, The rise and fall of Muḥammad b. Tughluq, London 1938. On Tīmūr Lang: H. Melzig, Timur, New York 1940.

### IV. HISTORY AFTER 1858

Once the storm of 1858 had passed, several decades of absolute outward calm followed, which nonetheless marked the advent of a new political world. The autonomous imperial policy of the viceroys came to an end, both because of the stricter control exercised by the English government—made possible by the telegraph—and because British rule had reached the natural borders of India. The final contacts in this sense were the Afghan War of 1878–80; the conquest of Upper Burma (1885) and its annexation to India, a serious error that was only rectified in 1936; and the nearly futile expedition into Tibet, instigated by Lord Curzon in 1904.

Under British rule, and especially through the introduction of Western-style university education, a new intelligentsia of lawyers and professionals was gradually developing, while the ancient nobility—the princes of the vassal states, now loyal supporters of England—slowly lost all prestige among the population. In the last decades of the past century, the new classes, excluded from any influence in public affairs by the paternalistic but autocratic government of the viceroys, began timidly to make their voices heard. The organ of their demands was the Indian National Congress, founded in 1885, which for many years confined itself to requesting liberal reforms. The ferment of the times and the growing pressure from below compelled the British government to grant a first series of reforms in 1909 and a second in 1919; reforms that were always partial, insufficient, and lagging behind the times.

During the First World War, the Congress, now oriented toward autonomy (*sward*) and later toward complete independence (*pūrna sward*), came under the influence of a man of genius, M. K. Gandhi, who organized it for active struggle using two typically Indian instruments: nonviolence and noncooperation. The struggle, complicated by growing tensions between the Hindu and Muslim communities, took on highly dramatic aspects especially between 1928 and 1934, and resulted in a third series of reforms (1935), which established provincial autonomy with local parliaments and ministries, while the central government remained for the moment almost autocratic. After some hesitation, the Congress assumed power in most of the provinces (1937), though it relinquished it at the outbreak of the Second World War (1939).

The struggle continued during the war years, alternating civil disobedience campaigns with periods of truce, while more active elements sought to intensify it by collaborating with Japan. Meanwhile, the Muslims, increasingly dissatisfied with the Congress’s attitude toward them, rallied around the Muslim League, demanding a separate state for themselves. With the end of the war and the recognition of the impossibility of holding India any longer, the new British Labour government yielded to the inevitable, while the Congress, having exhausted all attempts at agreement, resigned itself to the secession of the areas predominantly inhabited by Muslims. Thus, on 15 August 1947, two new states were born: Pakistan (v.). The Indian Union faced a severe initial crisis due to an outbreak of religious fanaticism that forced millions of Hindus to emigrate from Pakistan and millions of Muslims to leave India, amid terrible scenes of massacre and looting; an indirect victim of this was Gandhi himself, assassinated by a Hindu fanatic.

With the Constitution of January 1950, India adopted a federal republican form of government, maintaining a vague connection with the British Commonwealth. The issue of the feudal states of the Indian princes was resolved by their suppression or transformation into a few large federal units. The agrarian problem was addressed through a series of bold reforms. Relations with Pakistan remain unsettled, particularly over the disputed Kashmir region. In foreign policy, the government of Pandit Nehru, in power since 1947, seeks to maintain a balance on the Asian stage between the Soviet and Western blocs; whatever the outcome of this attempt, India has already assumed a leading role in Asian politics.

**

---

### III. NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS OF INDIA

These are treated under the following headings: BRAHMINISM; BUDDHISM; HINDUISM; JAINISM; SIKHISM; VEDISM.

---

### IV. HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY

#### I. EVANGELIZATION

Legends claim that Christianity was introduced into India by the Apostle St. Thomas (v. below). According to more reliable data, it penetrated there in the 4th century through Christians who, during the persecution by the Persian king Shapur II (313–81), took refuge in Malabar (v. MALABAR), giving rise to the Christian Church of the Syro-Chaldean rite, known as the “Christians of St. Thomas.” They formed a separate community, almost a caste of their own, holding the same rank as the Nayars (nobles of the region), thus managing to preserve the Christian Church through the centuries. In the 14th century, some Franciscans—John of Monte Corvino, Odoric of Pordenone, and John Marignolli—on their way to China, came into contact with the Christians of St. Thomas. Four other Franciscans destined for China, at Tana and Salette, suffered martyrdom.

Modern Catholic missions began with the arrival of the Portuguese (1498) in Calicut. Secular priests, Franciscans, and some Dominicans established missionary stations in the areas occupied by the Portuguese. The center was first Cochin, then Goa. With the erection of the diocese of Goa (1534), raised to an archdiocese in 1557, with the suffragan sees of Cochin (1557) and Mylapore (1606), and with the arrival of St. Francis Xavier and the Jesuits in 1542, missionary activity began to be better organized. It was, however, initially confined to the Portuguese territories.

Around Goa and Bassein, where a small territory was under Portuguese rule, and in the cities where the Portuguese had built fortresses and trading posts. From the territories occupied in the 16th century, Muslims and Hindu priests were expelled and the pagodas destroyed. The work of converting the indigenous people was entrusted to the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits, and from 1572 also to the Augustinians. In other territories under the rule of indigenous princes, the fruits of the apostolate were very meagre. Greater success was achieved, however, only on the southern coast. In the Fishery, the Parava caste, numbering 20,000 in all, placed themselves under Portuguese protection. The Paravas were baptised by the vicar general of Goa, Miguel Vaz, in 1536. St Francis Xavier was sent to instruct them and organise the mission. In 1546, the same Xavier converted the Macua (Macavan) caste on the Travancore coast. The two missions were continued by the Jesuits. The missionary activity undertaken by the Jesuits in the Mughal Empire did not achieve the hoped-for conversion of Emperor Akbar, but led only to the founding of some Christian communities in the north. The most significant missionary success of the 16th century was the union of the Christians of St Thomas, brought about by Archbishop Alexis de Menezes (1594–1610) at the Synod of Diamper (1599). For them, the diocese of Angamale was erected, transferred in 1605 to Cranganore, first as a suffragan of Goa, then elevated to an archdiocese in 1608.

In the 17th century, the Jesuit mission in the interior of southern India, in non-Portuguese territory, achieved great success through the method of adaptation employed by Roberto de Nobili and his successors, especially in Madura and Trichinopoly. The other missions, however, outside Portuguese possessions and sphere of influence, did not achieve great results. In one of the various regions of Bijapur (1637), to which were later added the kingdoms of Golconda and, subsequently, the Mughal Empire, under indigenous apostolic vicars such as Matthew de Castro (1637–77) and Custodio de Pinho (d. 1697), as well as the apostolic vicariate of Canara (1671) under the indigenous Thomas de Campo (d. 1683), and despite the arrival of the Discalced Carmelites (1615), the Capuchins (1639), and the Theatines (1642), no significant numerical success was achieved. These developments gave rise to the first difficulties and conflicts between the Padroado missionaries, dependent on the Portuguese Padroado, and the Propaganda Fide missionaries, sent by the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide. The occupation of Portuguese forts in southern India by the Dutch destroyed Portuguese missions, but not those of the Italian Carmelites; likewise, the Christians of the interior, subject to indigenous princes, in the Jesuit mission, preserved their faith. Towards the end of the 17th and during the 18th centuries, they suffered greatly from wars and persecutions by the princes. The Christians of St Thomas apostatised in 1653; a large part of them returned to union through the work of the Carmelites, especially the apostolic vicar Joseph of St Mary Sebastiani. The separatists largely became Jacobites. For the united Christians, the apostolic vicariate of Serra or Malabar was created under the indigenous vicar Alexander de Campo (1663–87). The apostolic vicariates of Malabar and the Mughal Empire passed towards the end of the 17th century into the hands of the Carmelites. The flourishing Jesuit mission extended widely, including Tanjore, Mysore, and Carnatic; at the beginning of the 18th century, it suffered greatly from the painful controversy over the Malabar rites. Opposition arose again against the adaptation method of de Nobili, despite the approval by Gregory XV in 1623 of four Malabar usages proposed by de Nobili. The apostolic visitor Charles Maillard de Tournon, appointed in 1701, issued a decree in 1704 condemning several practices tolerated by the Jesuits. The decree was approved in Rome. The Jesuits contested it until the definitive decision by Benedict XIV in 1744. The issue caused serious harm and continuous agitation to the mission. The expulsion (1760) and suppression (1773) of the Society of Jesus, and the severe persecutions by Indian princes in the second half of the 18th century, particularly that of Tipu Sahib of Mysore in 1784, caused a serious decline in the southern missions. The Paris Foreign Missions Society replaced the Jesuits from 1776 in part of the territory, though without managing to stem the decline. The mission to Tibet, entrusted to the Capuchins in 1703, initially succeeded, especially under Horatio della Penna (d. 1745), but in 1745 the expulsion of the missionaries put an end to II. The Capuchins then undertook the less fruitful mission in northern India, which in 1784 was detached from the apostolic vicariate of the Mughal Empire.

The revival of the missions began in the 19th century under Gregory XVI. The erection of new apostolic vicariates from 1832 and the practical, if not legal, elimination of the Padroado dioceses of Cranganore, Cochin, and Mylapore through the brief *Multa praeclare* (1838) led to the so-called Goan schism. The issue was partly resolved by the Concordat of 1837, which introduced dual jurisdiction, and more fully by the Concordat of 1885, which restored the dioceses of Cochin and Mylapore, created that of Daman, and through the agreement of 1928, incorporated Daman into the archdiocese of Goa and abolished dual jurisdiction. The dioceses of the Portuguese Padroado, which had suffered severe damage due to the expulsion and suppression of all religious orders (1832–34), were reorganised and reformed by energetic new archbishops and bishops. Today, under Portuguese bishops and with largely indigenous clergy, they have thriving Christian communities.

In the apostolic vicariates, the primary task was to revive existing Christian communities, to expand the field of activity, and, competing with the British government and Protestant missions, to give due importance to the development of schools. To the Carmelites, Capuchins, Paris Foreign Missions Society, and Jesuits (who returned in 1836), other orders and congregations were added: the Sylvestrines (1842).

and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (1847) in Ceylon, the Missionaries of St Francis de Sales (1848) in Vizagapatam, the Congregation of the Holy Cross (1853) in Bengal, the Foreign Missions of Milan (1855) in Hyderabad and Bengal, the Mill Hill Missionaries (1875) in Madras, the Salvatorians (1889) in Assam; later in the 19th century the Salesians of Don Bosco, the Dominicans, the Lazarists, the Verbiti, the Franciscans and Premonstratensians. Female congregations also entered the mission in great numbers, mainly for schools, hospitals and dispensaries.

The mission among the pagans developed on a larger scale only towards the end of the 19th century, penetrating especially into regions inhabited by aborigines, and among depressed castes and the pariahs. Most famous of all was the mission of the Jesuit Constant Lievens (1856–93), with extraordinary results among the Khols of Chota Nagpur. Among the higher castes only modest success was achieved by the Jesuits among the Brahmins of Trichinopoly. Generally insurmountable difficulties hinder conversion: the harsh laws of caste, which exclude Christians from the rights and advantages of Hindu religion and cultural life; Islam in the northern and eastern regions; the ideas imbibed by the ruling classes in their studies in Europe; in recent times national pride and the communist danger have been added.

from the rights and advantages of family life; the fascinating splendor of the Hindu religion, intimately united with all cultural life; Islam in the northern regions; the ideas imbibed by the ruling classes in their studies in Europe; in recent times

from the rights and advantages of Hindu religion and cultural life; Islam in the northern and eastern regions; the ideas imbibed by the ruling classes in their studies in Europe; in recent times national pride and the communist danger have been added.

In 1886 Leo XIII established the ecclesiastical hierarchy with 7 ecclesiastical provinces and 17 dioceses. Through the work of the Apostolic Delegation since 1884 and the provincial councils held in all ecclesiastical provinces, greater uniformity was achieved in the government of the missions, ecclesiastical discipline and the administration of the sacraments. Moreover, from this time the Catholic Church grew considerably in esteem in southern Italy through the influence of the Orders and Congregations, both contemplative, of schools and charitable works, of scientific studies, of Catholic congresses, and through the formation of indigenous clergy and a lay elite that sought to exert its influence in public life, often with excellent results. The further development of the hierarchy in recent years has led in India, including Ceylon, to 13 ecclesiastical provinces with 48 dioceses and 5 apostolic prefectures.

The Syro-Malabarese, until the end of the 19th century under the direction of the Carmelites, obtained their own organization. In 1887 two apostolic vicariates had been erected for the faithful of the Syro-Malabar rite, but under Latin bishops; in 1896 three vicariates were established with indigenous bishops of their rite, in 1911 another vicariate was added, in 1923 the ecclesiastical province of Ernaculam was erected with the suffragan sees of Trichur, Kottayan and Channagacherry. Of the Jacobite Church, in 1930 two bishops, with numerous clergy and many faithful, were united to Rome; for them the archdiocese of Trivandrum with the suffragan see of Tiruvalla was erected in 1933.

The new political situation created in 1947 by the formation of the two independent States, India and Pakistan, presents the mission with new problems. In Pakistan, where the Church remains a negligible minority, two ecclesiastical provinces, Karachi and Dacca, were erected in 1950, and the archbishop of Karachi was appointed Apostolic Delegate of Pakistan. In the new Italian Constitution religious freedom is guaranteed; the establishment of the Apostolic Internunciature (1948) in Delhi, the capital of the State, has made possible closer cooperation between government and the Catholic Church.

in 1850 apostolic vicariate, in 1886 diocese, entrusted to the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris. – NAGPUR, in 1887 diocese, entrusted to the Missionaries of St Francis de Sales of Annecy. – NELLORE, in 1928 diocese, entrusted to the Society of St Joseph of Mill Hill. – PATNA, in 1845 apostolic vicariate, in 1886 diocese of Patna, from 1887 under the name of Allahabad, in 1919 new diocese of Patna, entrusted to the Jesuits. – PONDICHERRY, in 1836 apostolic vicariate of the Coromandel Coast, in 1850 under the name of Pondicherry, in 1886 archdiocese, entrusted to the Society for Foreign Missions of Paris. – POONA, in 1854 apostolic vicariate, in 1886 diocese, entrusted from 1949 to the secular clergy. – QUILON, in 1845 apostolic vicariate, in 1886 diocese, entrusted from 1937 to the secular clergy. – RANCHI, in 1927 diocese, entrusted to the Jesuits. – SALEM, in 1930 diocese, entrusted from 1949 to the secular clergy. – ST THOMAS OF MYLAPORE, in 1606 diocese. – SHILLONG, in 1889 apostolic prefecture of Assam, in 1934 diocese under the name of Shillong, entrusted to the Salesians. – SIKKIM, in 1931 apostolic prefecture, entrusted to the Canons Regular of St Maurice. – TRICHINOPOLY or TIRUCHIAPALLY, in 1836 apostolic vicariate of Madura, in 1886 diocese under the name of Trichinopoly, entrusted from 1938 to the secular clergy. – TIRUVANDRUM OF THE LATINS, in 1937 diocese, entrusted to the Discalced Carmelites. – TUTICORIN, in 1923 diocese, entrusted to the secular clergy. – VERAPOLY, in 1659 apostolic vicariate of Serra del Malabar, in 1845 apostolic vicariate of Verapoly, in 1886 archdiocese, entrusted to the secular clergy. – VIJAYAPURAM, in 1920 diocese, entrusted to the Discalced Carmelites. – VIZAGAPATAM or VISAKHAPATNAM, in 1850 apostolic vicariate, in 1886 diocese, entrusted to the Missionaries of St Francis de Sales of Annecy.

2. From the S. Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs:
GOA, in 1533 diocese, in 1558 archdiocese.

3. From the S. Congregation for the Oriental Church:
a) for the Syro-Malabarese: CHANGANACHERRY, in 1866 apostolic vicariate, in 1923 diocese. – ERNAKULAM, in 1896 apostolic vicariate, in 1923 archdiocese. – KOTTAYAM, in 1911 apostolic vicariate, in 1923 diocese. – PALAI, in 1950 diocese. – TRICHUR, in 1896 apostolic vicariate, in 1923 diocese. – b) for the Syro-Malankaresi: TIRUVALLA, in 1933 diocese. – TIRUVANDRUM, in 1933 archdiocese.

III. LEGAL STATUS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN INDIA

In its new Constitution, the new Republic declares itself a secular federal State and, setting aside all religious or racial considerations, grants equal rights to all citizens. This declaration and concession are of great importance when one considers that of the 319 million inhabitants a large majority, namely 260 million, profess Hinduism, while the remainder is made up of minorities so divided: 35 million Muslims, 100,000 Parsees, 7½ million Buddhists, 3½ million Sikhs, 1½ million Jains, 4½ million Catholics and 3 million dissident Christians (Orthodox and Protestants).

Thus the Constitution grants the following rights to the members of the various confessions, including the Catholic:

3. Freedom of worship and proselytism

In the section titled Fundamental Rights it is established: “Within the limits of public order, morality and health… all persons enjoy freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practice and propagate religion” (Constitution of India, Part III, art. 25 [1]). It further states: “The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them” (loc. cit., art. 15 [1]). “No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office under the State” (loc. cit., art. 16 [2]). The above is solemnly confirmed by the words pronounced on 6 July 1949 by the first extraordinary and plenipotentiary minister of the Republic of India to the Holy See, on presenting his credentials to the Holy Father: “The Government and people of India assure Your Holiness that all who are religiously dependent on the Roman Pontiff may live in safety in the new State, openly professing their faith without fear, and may also occupy in society the positions due to their merits” (AAS, 41 [1949], pp. 369–70).

4. Recognition of juridical personality

Again in the section of the Constitution devoted to fundamental rights it is laid down that: “Subject to public order, morality and health… every religious denomination or any section thereof shall have the right: a) to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes; b) to manage its own affairs in matters of religion; to own and acquire movable and immovable property; and c) to administer such property in accordance with law” (loc. cit., art. 26). Consequently every diocese (vicariate, prefecture or mission) may obtain recognition of juridical personality by means of registration (Register of Joint Stock Companies and Cooperative Societies). The certificate thus obtained will attest that the religious community has been recognized as a juridical entity with Indian nationality, irrespective of the nationality of its members or administrators.

5. Freedom of teaching

The new Constitution also grants to religious and linguistic minorities, and therefore to Catholics, the freedom to open schools which will be recognized by the State if they meet a need: “All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice” (loc. cit., art. 30 [1]). It also speaks of financial aid to be distributed without discrimination: “In giving aid to educational institutions, the State shall not discriminate against any institution on the ground that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language” (loc. cit., art. 30 [2]). As regards religious instruction, art. 28 excludes it from State schools, requires that pupils not be compelled to attend it in denominational schools, and demands, if the pupil is a minor, the consent of the parents.

6. Marriage

The Constitution does not legislate explicitly on this point. The practice in force under the British regime continues: ministers of various cults are authorized to celebrate marriage rites; after the ceremony, notification must be given to the competent civil authorities.

India — Ruins of one of the Portuguese monasteries at Bassein, south of Bombay (16th cent.).

This policy, in force since January 1949, has in practice made it impossible for new foreign missionaries to enter Burma.

Proselytism is free; it is prohibited only in schools recognized by the government. The juridical personality of the Church is not yet clearly defined; in practice until now the Catholic Church has always been regarded as a moral entity capable of holding property. Now only native ministers may own, buy or sell property in the name of the Church.

In government schools the teaching of the Catholic religion is prohibited during regular class hours. In private schools anything is permitted.

The State no longer subsidizes mission schools as it did before independence. It is the government’s intention to bring all schools under its direct jurisdiction and is working toward this end, but for the present lacks sufficient personnel and facilities; it therefore permits and recognizes private schools, though without subsidizing them.

In practice the population, even the pagan, prefers to send its children to Christian schools, and particularly to Catholic schools, which are flourishing.

Pompeo Borgna

V. ANTICHITÀ CRISTIANE.

The problem of the introduction of Christianity into India is closely bound up with the study of the Acts of St Thomas, a text elaborated in a Syriac milieu and permeated with Gnostic and even pre-Manichaean concepts. This apocryphal work, in so far as it contains historical data, points to the mid-1st century and to north-western India during the reign of the Parthian king Gundophar of the house of the Sūrēn, who certainly reigned from 19 to after the year 45. No other document attests to Christianity in those regions during or after the same period, nor has it left any archaeological trace. Another tradition, documented much later, links the preaching of St Thomas with the communities existing in southern India, in the Coromandel and in Malabar, during the early Middle Ages. When this tradition arose and on what basis is unknown, since although Cosmas Indicopleustes in the 6th century speaks of Christian communities in southern India and Ceylon, he does not connect them in any way with the name of the Apostle.

How such communities came into being may be imagined in the light of the intense maritime traffic with the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf: Christian groups may have passed into southern India from Egypt or the eastern regions of the Roman Empire, as well as from the Sassanian regions of Mesopotamia and Babylonia. Recent excavations at Virapatnam (falsely called Arikamedu) document the existence of a flourishing Roman cultural colony as early as the 20–50 AD; relations are further evidenced by the numerous finds of imperial coins from the 4th century onward (whereas few are found in northern India) and by references in Tamil texts. That East-Christian (Nestorian) elements predominated is shown by subsequent developments, documents and archaeological remains, amid the uncertainty of the earliest sources and the constant ambiguity of the term “India” during the Middle Ages. It is certain that by about 525 Cosmas found at Kālākāva a bishop consecrated to the see of Seleucia, and in Ceylon the clergy likewise came from Persia. He records no trace of Christianity on the Malabar coast. The community in the Coromandel, and especially in Kērala (Travancore), flourished vigorously, probably with the support of the local sovereign. There are indeed two

India — Cross discovered at Alengad (Malabar) with an inscription in Pehlevi.

Throughout the Constitution there is a broad spirit of tolerance and a humane understanding in upholding the concepts of fraternity, justice, and human dignity. Since the Indian Republic is a federation of states enjoying wide autonomy, it is not impossible that in one or another state the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution might, in concrete cases, be interpreted with a certain elasticity to the detriment of minorities. The future therefore of the Church in India (where there are currently some sixty dioceses) depends on how, or by what men, the Constitution will be applied in the individual regions.

7. Legal Status in Burma and Ceylon

Under the Holy See’s representation in Delhi are also Burma and Ceylon. The Apostolic Delegate for India is at the same time Apostolic Delegate for the Island of Ceylon and for Burma. In these two latter states, however, the legal status of the Church is somewhat different. It is quite good in Ceylon, where, as in the other British dominions, the Catholic Church enjoys freedom of worship and proselytism, legal personality, and freedom of teaching; not so in Burma.

The Constitution of the Union of Burma states that all religions (and thus Catholics) may be embraced and professed with the utmost freedom, provided that religion is not used as a pretext for interfering in the political affairs of the Republic. The official religion of the Republic is Buddhism.

As for religious instruction, Article 28 excludes it from state schools, requires that pupils not be obliged to attend it in denominational schools, and, if the pupil is a minor, demands the consent of the parents.

Documents in this sense: the first is an act of King Vira-Raghava-Chakravartin for the merchant Iravikkorran, the second of King Stanu-Rovi-Gupta in which a Marvan-Sapir-Yso (perhaps Maran Sabriso = our lord [Bishop Sabriso]) transfers a piece of land in the vicinity of Quilon to the community of the Church of Tarasa. But the date of the documents is uncertain. Burnell dated the first to 774, while Venkayya places it in the fourteenth century. It seems certain that a strong Christian group coming from Persia arrived in India in the eighth century, contemporaneous with the immigration of the Parsees; it was led by a Thomas of Cana (Kṇāyi Thōmā), and the similarity of the name may have contributed to the formation of the legend of a preaching by St. Thomas in southern India. It is precisely from the eighth century that the oldest archaeological documents of Christianity in India date: these are crosses all similar to one another, proving derivation from one another, all bearing the same inscription in Pehlevi, which proves their derivation from Persia. From this inscription, of which there is still no completely certain and definitive text in every detail, it appears that the archetype was carved by an Afras (p’r’s) son of Sahārbukht (?) the Syrian (swry’y). Two of these crosses are at Kōṭṭayam, one large and one small, and the latter is the oldest of all; two others are at Katamaran and Maṭṭuchira: that is, all are on the western side of India. The only one on the eastern side is that at the shrine of St. Thomas at Meilapore, now a suburb of Madras. The second cross at Kōṭṭayam, besides the Pehlevi inscription, also bears one in Syriac, in Estrangelo characters, reproducing Gal. 6:14. The crosses are carved on rectangular tablets topped at the upper end in a semicircle; only the smallest one at Kōṭṭayam instead of a semicircle has the shape of a pointed arch. The inscription is incised on the raised border of the tablet, which stands out from the central field. In this field is depicted an arch supported by two columns, beneath which stands the cross whose arms end in trefoils; above the cross descends vertically a dove. The cross rests on a mound formed by three steps, and from the point of support two branches with foliage rise upward while streams of two of the four rivers of paradise flow downward. This symbolism is found in Christian sculptures of Mesopotamia and Armenia.

Little information survives about the Christians of India during the Middle Ages, and it is generally concentrated around the shrine of St. Thomas at Meilapore: only Abū Sāliḥ mentions the dedication of two churches at Kūlam (Quilon), one to the Virgin and the other to St. George, and a church of the Virgin at Fahsūr, an evident scribal error in the only surviving manuscript, perhaps for Palūr or Parūr. The Portuguese invasion led to the spoliation or destruction of ancient Nestorian monuments, thus causing the disappearance of valuable archaeological documents.

VI. ART

Evidence of a very ancient Indian artistic civilization, dating back to 3000 B.C. and thus contemporary with Egyptian and Babylonian civilization, has been found in the Indus Valley. This art reveals notable contacts with Sumerian art, and of it there survive especially large numbers of seals carved in faience, ivory, or stucco, small terracotta figurines, and pottery with predominantly arabesque decorations.

No proper monuments remain, however, even from the immediately following centuries, and this is due mainly to the fact that the Indians had to use wood and bamboo above all for their constructions. A true Indian art can therefore be identified only from the third century B.C. onward, with the introduction of Buddhism into the country by King Aśoka. The first artistic manifestations of this period reveal a strong Persian influence.

Buddhism was certainly decisive for the evolution of sculpture, which, starting from the representation of the deity as a sum of spiritual powers (with the consequent multiplication of arms, eyes, legs, etc.) and passing through a Helleno-Bactrian influence (1st–3rd centuries A.D.), would arrive at the monstrous forms inspired by the Brahminic doctrine of metempsychosis.

There are not many surviving examples of painting, which nevertheless must have flourished in the adornment of palaces; one of the finest remaining examples is the frescoes of Ajantā from the seventh century. Miniature painting on palm leaves from the thirteenth century and on paper from the fifteenth century to the present day is well documented. Industrial arts were also highly developed, favored by the division of society into castes.

Of particular importance is architecture, which, albeit in an approximate way, can be divided into the following periods.

8. Buddhist Period

It extends from about the fourth century B.C. (Mauryan dynasty, 326–185 B.C.) to the fourth century A.D. It is characterized by colossal temple structures called stūpas and dagobas, intended to preserve relics and formed by a stone base on which rises a grand and massive dome often crowned by terraces; the vihāras (monasteries) and caityas (temples for assemblies of the faithful), carved out of rock and rich in squat columns, sculptures, and decorations. One of the characteristics of this period, in fact, is the increasing plastic elaboration and the definitive replacement of wood and bamboo with stone.

2. Gupta or Brahminical Period

This spans from the 4th century B.C. to the 7th century A.D. It is characterized by square-plan temples, also hewn from rock and preceded by a pronaos with columns; the Buddhist dagoba in this period evolves toward the characteristic pagoda.

3. Hindu Period

This extends from the 7th to the 9th century A.D., with styles generally derived from the preceding period, marked by a heightening of all structures and an ever more pronounced interpenetration of sculpture with architecture. Three styles are distinguished: the northern style, with towers of curved lines; the southern style, with straight lines; and the central style, combining both types.

4. Medieval Period

This begins in the 9th century and is documented almost exclusively in the south (in the renewal of the country, architectural flowering peters out by the 13th century), tending at first toward simplification of form (9th–11th centuries, classical age of southern architecture) and then, in the 14th century, to a kind of baroque that would grow ever more pronounced, culminating in a stratified elaboration of ornamental details of entirely scenographic effect.

5. Modern Indo-Christian Art

On the principle that “Indian art must offer its fair vesture to the Christian idea” and that “the conception and the edifice that result will be something new; something different from Indian temples; but Indian and Catholic” (C. Costantini, V. BIBLICA.), a few examples of this missionary adaptation of the country’s architectural tradition may be cited here. A thoroughly modern simplicity characterizes the cathedral of Patna, while Indian influences mingled with Saracen reminiscences are visible in the Anglican church of Dornakal, situated as it is in a region where Muslim influence was strong. A fine model for a Christian temple in Indian style was commissioned by the Spanish Jesuit H. Heras, who was among the most zealous advocates of the new ideas concerning the missionary adaptation of Indian art.

In painting, a flowering of Christian art has occurred only recently, since church painting in general is of European origin or type. The paintings of the Goan Angelo da Fonseca are distinctly realistic and follow Indian tradition, though they also recall Western art at times, evoking the pre-Raphaelites. Another Indian painter is Alfredo Thomas. Minor art is highly developed, producing a variety of ecclesiastical furnishings.

---

VII. SCHOOL SYSTEM

The impetus for the advancement of education in India came from the following measures:

1) The Macaulay Resolution of 1813, which established the introduction of the English language in schools. This resolution opened the way for missionary activity.
2) The Macaulay Memorandum of 1835, which abolished the use of Urdu, except at the Delhi College.
3) The William Bentinck Resolution of 1835, which laid down norms for the education of the Indian people, to be conducted through European classics. It also facilitated the entry of missionaries.
4) The founding in 1862 by Syed Ahmed Khan of a scientific society aimed at education through Oriental classics. Syed Ahmed Khan aspired to a school based on morality, the Muslim religion, and the coexistence of pupils and teachers.
5) The proposal in 1884 by Nawab Imadul Mulk to establish in every village a primary Urdu school, an Anglo-Urdu school for every 10,000 inhabitants, and a higher school in each province.
6) The school reform of Lord Curzon in 1896–97.
7) The school reform of 1907 carried out by Arthur Mayhew and Akbar Hyderi, following the advice of Molvi Abdul Haq and Nawab Imadul Mulk.
8) The founding of Osmania University in 1917.
9) The government resolution of 1920, which decreed that schools should be free from any official interference.
10) The recommendations of the Brahma Samaj regarding women’s education in 1926.

Thanks to these key decisions, by the time of independence India had 168,013 state primary schools, well-organized Middle English, Middle Vernacular, and High Schools, and three types of universities: central government universities, state universities, and private universities. Among the most famous are those of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Punjab, Allahabad, Benares Hindu, Mysore, Patna, Osmania, Dacca, Rangoon, Lucknow, Delhi, Nagpur, and Andhra. It also had 22 colleges for the training of secondary school teachers, 34 intermediate colleges for medicine, 141 intermediate colleges for commerce, 13 intermediate colleges for law, 2 art schools, numerous schools offering unrecognized diplomas such as the Jole’s Sanskrit Schools of the Pandits for Hindus and the Maktabs for Muslims, 2,424 private schools, and the following Catholic missionary schools: 1,326 catechism and prayer schools, 4,260 primary schools, 271 lower middle schools, 200 upper middle schools, 41 normal schools, and 122 vocational schools, in addition to those in Ceylon: 273 catechism and prayer schools, 698 primary schools, 121 lower middle schools, 6 normal schools, and 38 vocational schools.

The education of indigenous Catholic clergy is provided in 4 novitiates, 27 minor seminaries, and 11 major seminaries. There are also schools for catechumens. — See plates CXII–CXV.