Velankanni and Christian Missionaries

Vasco da Gama on the Malabar Coast - Copilot Designer

The Portuguese did not come to India to propagate Christianity. Their immediate attraction was trade, particularly spice trade. Europe had an enormous appetite for Indian and Asian products such as pepper from the Malabar Coast, cinnamon from Sri Lanka, cloves and nutmeg from the Indonesian archipelago, and fine cotton textiles from India.

It was not easy to establish trade connections with Malabar because Muslim merchants were already well-established. Serious conflict gradually developed between the Portuguese and the Muslim merchant communities. It was not a simple religious confrontation between Christians and Muslim. Commercial rivalry, political interests and control over maritime trade were fundamental.

The Hindu ruler of Calicut kingdom, the Zamorin (Samoothiri in Malayalam), initially entertained the Portuguese, but the relationship deteriorated as the Portuguese attempted to secure trading advantages. The competition soon became increasingly militarised.

Vasco da Gama left the Malabar Coast in August 1498 and returned next year with an army. Soon the Portuguese Empire emerged in South India.

Christian missionaries followed soon. Eight Franciscan friars landed in Calicut on 9 March 1500. The Zamorin permitted the Portuguese to establish a trading station. But tensions developed between the Portuguese and the Muslim merchants who were already well-established. On 16 Nov 1500, violence broke out in Calicut. Three Franciscan missionaries were killed. The surviving missionaries subsequently moved to Cochin (Kochi today) where they established themselves successfully. Cochin thus became an important early centre of Catholic missionary activity in India.

Soon the missionary activity extended and reached Nagapattinam. The Franciscans established their friary there in 1506. Francis Xavier visited Nagapattinam in 1545. Franciscans remained the principal religious order there until almost the end of the 16^th century.

The Franciscans did not merely preach Christianity. They established churches and maintained friendly relationships with the local people. The Portuguese monarchy funded missions, supported church construction and exercised considerable influence over the appointment and administration of Catholic clergy.

Religion and commerce were closely intertwined. The merchants wanted secure trading establishments. Missionaries wanted to expand Christianity. The monarchy wanted to extend its political and cultural influence. These objectives often reinforced one another.

Before Francis Xavier arrived in India, a major conversion movement had already taken place along the southern Tamil coast. The people involved were the Paravas, a fishing community traditionally associated with pearl fishing in the Gulf of Mannar. Pearl fishing was a lucrative occupation. It was also dangerous, involving considerable competition over fishing grounds, taxation and commercial rights. The Paravas faced pressure from competing political and commercial interests, including Muslim maritime merchants and local rulers.

In the 1530s, some Parava leaders approached the Portuguese seeking military and political protection. The Portuguese offered assistance, and a large-scale conversion to Catholic Christianity followed in 1536-1537. The conversion was not simply an isolated religious event. It was connected to the community’s economic security and its relationship with Portuguese power. The exact number of people converted is disputed in historical accounts, but it was a substantial movement.

Franics Xavier had nothing to do with that mass conversion. Because he arrived on the scene after that.

Francis Xavier first landed in Goa. Goa had been conquered by the Portuguese in 1510 and had become the centre of their Indian empire. The city was also an important centre of Catholic missionary activity. In Oct 1542, Xavier travelled to the Fishery Coast, a region that extends through present-day Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli districts.

Xavier discovered that many people, like the Paravas, had been baptised without receiving adequate teaching about Christian beliefs and practices. He therefore set about organising the community. His missionary activities were not confined to preaching. He also intervened when Christian fishing communities faced violence and hardship. For example, when soldiers of the Vijayanagara Empire attached Christian villages, Xavier arranged for food supplies to be transported by sea and confronted the authorities.

Christianity appealed to people particularly because it cared for their welfare.

Britannica

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