>According to research the people who were killed in 1857 - were largely >Christians of any colour. The two star converts (one of them a doctor) in >Delhi were butchered because they had converted. On the other hand those >Whites who had converted to Islam (and at this point there were quite a few - >like the Skinner family in Delhi whose descendants to this days exist in >Meerut) and had a curious way of naming children in their family (they were >always given two names - one Christian and the other Islamic - a tradition >followed to date) were spared. Post grabbing of powers from the EIC - the >biggest setback (if you want to look at it that way) was that religious >reforms imposed by the state were not the norm anymore. The Brits consciously >decided not to interfere in religious matters - save when it suited them. Neha mentions Darlrymple and others reasearch about the British and their policy towards religion and missionaries in India...in fact Darlyrmple's new book is about the clash of English Evangelism and Sufism in India that led to the 1857 crisis. What is often forgotten is that Christian missionaries were not a monolithic group...the Jesuits had a different strategy (in fact they embraced education as their strategy and hence some of best schools and colleges in India are Jesuits), the Lutherans, the Anglicans etc. Many of the missionaries also spent time studying Indian religious texts and became fluent and in their subjects. Here is something that Lord Palmerston said in 1859 or 1860: "It is not only our duty but in our own interest to promote the diffusion of Christianity as far as possible throughout the length and breadth of India. What is interesting to note is that around the the middle of 19th century a group of missionaries and Quakers organized a lobby about how opium was obstructing their missionary activities in India and China. There was a moral dimension to their arguement that Indian opium was ruining the Chinese society and eventually it led to the British Indian govt selling opium to China. But, the point they were making is that missionaries were unable to carry on their activities, esp in China. I think there is lot of scope for new research on this subject and I suspect there folks who are already doing that. There are lots of undiscovered papers and notes tucked away in various libraries and archives...that is what Darlrymple stumbled upon when he wrote his new book. Kamla
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