Early days of Christianity in Andhra Pradesh
V. Chowdary Jampala
The following was published in the December
1993 issue of TANA Patrika. For more information
about TANA Patrika, please check http://www.tana.org
Happy Holidays! --- V. Chowdary Jampala
------
Early days of Christianity in Andhra Pradesh
--- V. Chowdary Jampala
(Editors note: We present this article during this
season of Christmas and holiday festivities and
wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year)
Christian religion first appeared in southern India
as early as the first or second century AD. At that
time, however, it seems to have been confined to
some areas of Kerala and Tamilnadu, and did not
come to the Telugu land until eighteenth century AD
when Father Mandwit, a Roman Catholic priest from
the Karnatic mission, converted a Telugu velama
family from Punganooru in Chittoor district in 1701.
By 1720, Christianity was embraced by several
families in the villages of Maadigubba and Alamooru
in Anantapur district. It appears that Tamma
Raayapa Reddy, a local landlord, was relieved of a
chronic illness through the prayers of a Christian
missionary, Father LeGac. Raayapa Reddy converted
to Christianity, and encouraged all his relatives
and other reddy families in the area to convert.
Some of these reddy families from Alamooru and
Maadigubba later migrated from Raayalaseema to
Bukkapuram in Darisi taluk of Prakaasam district
(then Guntur Circar) and propagated the religion in
the reddy families of that area. One important
feature of this proselytization was the deference
paid to the local caste customs by the missionaries.
People of lower castes would not be allowed to be
present when people of higher castes were being addressed.
The reddys of Bukkapuram were instrumental in the
propagation of Christianity in many parts of Guntur
district by 1750. The establishment of French rule
in coastal Andhra was an additional influence.
Polavarapu Chinnayya, a revenue official in Guntur,
converted to Christianity when he was employed at
Puduchheri, and worked with the Bukkapuram reddys
to propagate his new religion in Guntur district.
He influenced several kamma families in Narasaraopet
to convert to Catholicism. By 1770, Christians from
other areas of the state began to congregate in
Guntur district, as local conditions made it difficult
for them.
Christian religious literature written in everyday
(vyaavahaarika) language began to appear in 1720.
The availability of Telugu printing press in 1746
also helped the propagation of the new religion.
Pingali Ellana, a brahmin scholar, dedicated his
Christian religious work "Tobhya Charitram" to the
aforementioned Tamma Raayapa Reddy. In 1750,
Mangalagiri Ananda Kavi dedicated his christian
religious philosphical work, "Vedanta Rasaayanamu"
to Daasappa, a converted Christian official from
Puduchheri, stationed in Machilipatnam representing
the French.
Even though Christianity began to spread its roots
in the rest of the country, it did not come to the
Telangana region until the 19th century. The first
catholic mission in that region was established in
Hyderabad in 1834.
Until the beginning of the 19th century, Catholicism
was the predominant Christian denomination, and the
various Protestant denominations came in later. The
London mission, the first Protestant mission in Andhra,
was established in Visakhapatnam in 1805. A converted
brahmin, Subbarayudu, was very active in this mission.
In 1841, Church Missionary Society came to Machilipatnam,
and began a new approach. They reasoned that English
education would lead the natives to Christianity.
Noble, from this group, started an English school, that
later became the Noble College. In its early days, only
students from upper castes could join this school. Despite
criticism of this caste policy from some members of his
mission, Noble persisted with it, and converted several
people from the upper castes. About the same time, another
missionary school was established in Nellore.
Eventually, the Christian missionaries began to
target the people from lower castes. Church
Missionary Society took the lead. Pagallu Venkayya,
from one of the lower castes, converted to
Christianity and actively helped other members of
the lower castes to convert. American Baptist
Mission came to Ongole in 1866, established a
school, and began an active campaign to convert
the natives with the help of Erraguntla Perayya, a
local missionary. Several locals belonging to the
maadiga caste took the new religion. During the
1876 famine, this mission was converting up to 100
natives a day, and was criticized by other
Christian organizations for exploiting the famine
stricken poor. In time, several foreign missions
came to the Telugu land and Christianity gained a
strong following. Eventually, local organizations
like Telugu Baptist Home Mission Society became
active, and the natives began to take leadership
roles in foreign based missions as well.
Christianity's spread in Andhra happened relatively
peacefully, without much rancor or bloodshed.
Hindus, used to multiple images of God, seem to
have taken Christianity in stride as another form
of worship. Also, the support of the British rulers
was helpful in spreading and sustaining the new
religion.
In spite of the caste policies of the early
Christian missions and the exploitation of poverty
by later groups, it is clear that Christian
missions worked hard to help people from the lower
rungs of the caste system, and were, in turn,
embraced by them. The various Christian
organizations also helped higher education and took
the lead in bringing modern medical care to the
population by establishing several prominent
educational institutions and hospitals in Andhra
Pradesh,
From these humble beginnings, followers of the
Christian faith have now grown to be about 4% of
the population of Andhra Pradesh. Even among the
Telugus in North America, there is a sizable
Christian population with very active ethnic social
groups, prayer groups, and churches.
--- V. Chowdary Jampala (Source: Telugu Sanskriti,
vol 1. Desamu, Charitra; Telugu Bhasha Samiti,
Hyderabad)
V. Chowdary Jampala
Singareddy Ravindra Reddy
V. Chowdary Jampala wrote:
>
> The following was published in the December
> 1993 issue of TANA Patrika. For more information
> about TANA Patrika, please check http://www.tana.org
>
> Happy Holidays! --- V. Chowdary Jampala
>
> ------
>
> Early days of Christianity in Andhra Pradesh
>
> --- V. Chowdary Jampala
>
> (Editors note: We present this article during this
> season of Christmas and holiday festivities and
> wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy
> New Year)
It's very good article about christianity in Andhra Pradesh.
I am catholic, originally from Guntur.. It is given good
understanding of where we are from..
Thanks a lot for posting this article..
Wish you happy christmas and new year
Have Fun
--
singareddy
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Hari K Tadepalli
V. Chowdary Jampala wrote:
>
> The following was published in the December
> 1993 issue of TANA Patrika. For more information
> about TANA Patrika, please check http://www.tana.org
>
This might be somewhat peripheral: the first piece of
literature ever to have been printed in a modern (?)
printing press is a Bible pamphlet(sorry, no references).
Speaking of "first-ever"s, does onyone know what is the
first ever to have been recorded on a gramaphone record ?
(Is it a song, drama, speech, classical music or a radio
program?, by whom?). Paruchuri Srinivas garu, ....
- Hari Krishna
Sreenivas Paruchuri
In my earlier posting I (wrongly) wrote that the first recording could be
from 1899 and it was made in Salem.
Here is the correct information and a brief summary of the earilest recording
sessions and expeditions. It was mainly two people who carried out these early
expeditions to India; Frederick William Gaisberg (1873-1951) and William Sinkler
Derby.
The first ever Indian recordings were made in London by Gaisberg in
ca late 1898-early 1899, using unlettered Zinc matrices. For the discographers
(if any) among the SCIT-readership the matrix code is not known and the record
numers go from 10000 to 10043. None of these 43 recordings are in south-Indian
languages!! These were manufactured for The Gramophone Company at Joseph
Berliner's Telephon Fabrik, by Deutsche Gramophone GmbH, Hanover Germany,
and released on 7 inch discs between March and May 1899.
In the second session (The FIRST "far eastern" recording tour 1902-1903), again
lead by Gaisberg also no recordings in south-Indian languages were made!!
All the recordings were made in Calcutta, between 8th Nov and early Dec. 1902
(7inch series-E prefix 1000 series-E1000 to E1330, and 10inch series-Eprefix
100 series-E100 to E316, using wax process matrices). These were later
manufactured by: The Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd and sister companies, Hanover,
Germany and The Gramophone Co. Ltd., Calcutta.
Its during the 3rd session (The Second "far eastern" recording tour 1904-05),
under W. S. Darby, records were made in Tamil and Telugu. This time the
sessions were carried out at Calcutta, Delhi, Lahore, Bombay and Madras,
between early Decemeber 1904 and March 1905 (7 inch series - G suffix, 10inch
series - H suffix and 12inch series - I suffix).
So, after this loooong :-) introduction, the answer to earlier query was:
the first recording in Telugu language was made by well known vocalist
Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer. Its "Koniadi Nalai - Kambhoji - Telugu - 3804g",
followed by Lavanya Rama Kanulara Joo Dare - Udaya Ravichandrika - 3805g,
Namgo mu Gangalene (nagu mOmu ganalEni was spelt that way!) - Abheri - 3806g,
etc. etc. Then there are recordings by P S Krishna Iyer, Miss Nagaratnam of
Bangalore, Miss Ammakannu, Miss Dhanakoti, Salem Papa, Miss Godavari of Salem
and Gowindaswami Dasu Band. Apart from compositions by the "trinity" there are
a couple of Javali-s and Padam-s as well.
The only "non-classical" piece I could recognise was by Subramania Iyer
of Madras singing: Hava Peda Nuru - Comic Song - Eka Talam - From Pratapa
Rudriyam - Telugu.
There was one more (the last ??) expedition between May 1906 and mid 1907,
when a recording session was carried out in Hyderabad too, where
Miss Vadammal of Hyderabad sang classical compositions in Telugu and Tamil.
Apart from that it was the same list of artists as above who made 'vocal'
recordings.
Regards,
Sreenivas
--
E-Mail: sre...@ktp.uni-paderborn.de
Sreenivas Paruchuri
<32C062...@ccm.co.intel.com> <5a05cj$t...@lana.zippo.com> <5a8bt8$fqg$1...@news.uni-paderborn.de>
Organization: University of Paderborn, Germany
Keywords:
To: sre...@ktpsp6.uni-paderborn.de (Sreenivas Paruchuri)
Sreenivas Paruchuri (sre...@ktpsp6.uni-paderborn.de) wrote:
Here are a few corrections and comments on my earlier message from Srini
Pichumani who needs no introduction (esp. if you read RMIC).
Over to him!
Regards,
Sreenivas
-------------------------------------------------------------
: So, after this loooong :-) introduction, the answer to earlier query was:
: the first recording in Telugu language was made by well known vocalist
: Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer. : Its "Koniadi Nalai - Kambhoji - Telugu - 3804g",
Sreenivas, this cannot be... Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer died in 1893.
There is an apocryphal story that he was recorded by the Mysore
Maharaja using a Edison drum (not disc)... but that this recording
was destroyed in the fire that gutted the old Mysore palace. Tiger
Varadachariar (1876-1950) and others relayed this story to their
disciples in this century... nothing is known about that recording.
These recordings were of Tanjore Vaidyanatha Iyer according
to Kinnear, if I am not mistaken... now, there is no famous
musician by this name from that era except for a mrdangist
who was the guru of Palghat Mani Iyer (and even he was not
that old in 1905)... hence, my guess has always been that
this is a recording of Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer, a
top ranking musician of that time... alongwith Poochi Srinivasa
Iyengar (Ariyakudi's guru), and Madurai Pushpavanam, to whom
both Madurai MAni Iyer and MSSubbulakshmi are related, apparently.
Kinnear's book just says Vaidyanatha Iyer of Tanjore if I am
right... hence my guess.
Anyway, the above kriti seems to be "koniyADina nApai" which
is a composition of Veena Kuppier, a senior disciple of Tyagaraja,
in Kambhoji... a very popular composition of yesteryears.
There is an apocryphal story that he was recorded by the Mysore
Maharaja using a Edison drum (not disc)... but that this recording
was destroyed in the fire that gutted the old Mysore palace. Tiger
Varadachariar (1876-1950) and others relayed this story to their
disciples in this century... nothing is known about that recording.
These recordings were of Tanjore Vaidyanatha Iyer according
to Kinnear, if I am not mistaken... now, there is no famous
musician by this name from that era except for a mrdangist
who was the guru of Palghat Mani Iyer (and even he was not
that old in 1905)... hence, my guess has always been that
this is a recording of Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer, a
top ranking musician of that time... alongwith Poochi Srinivasa
Iyengar (Ariyakudi's guru), and Madurai Pushpavanam, to whom
both Madurai MAni Iyer and MSSubbulakshmi are related, apparently.
Kinnear's book just says Vaidyanatha Iyer of Tanjore if I am
right... hence my guess.
Anyway, the above kriti seems to be "koniyADina nApai" which
is a composition of Veena Kuppier, a senior disciple of Tyagaraja,
in Kambhoji... a very popular composition of yesteryears.
-Srini.