Christianity in Maharashtra

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Interior of the Cathedral of the Holy Name, Colaba, Mumbai

Protestant with a small Roman Catholic population.[citation needed
]

Aurangabad, and Jalna, are called Marathi Christians; they were evangelized by British and American missionaries during British rule in the Bombay Presidency
.

The

Anglican Church. There are also some members of the Christian Revival Church
in Maharashtra, who live mostly in the western coastal regions of the state.

Christians in Maharashtra
Year Number Percentage
2001[1]
1,058,313
1.09
2011[2]
1,080,073
0.96
Part of a series on
Christianity
Principal symbol of Christianity
Theology
Nicene
Restorationist
Related topics

History

Crucession by Marathi Christians in Mumbai

Christianity was brought to the North

Severac (in south-western France) started evangelizing activities in Thana and Sopara and was the first work of Rome in North Konkan.[3]

Most of the history of the church in India is lost between the 9th and 14th centuries, as Persia went over to

Charter Act of 1813
by the British parliament.

East Indians (Mobaikars)

Main article: Bombay East Indians

East Indians, also known as Mobaikars,

Greater Bombay, from those of Goa and Mangalore who came to Mumbai in search of jobs, on the occasion of golden jubilee of Queen Victoria.[citation needed
]

They are engaged in agriculture, fishing and other occupations handed down to them by their ancestors. Bombay East Indians are generally more anglicised than other Maharashtrian Christians. The influence of the

Mahratta Confederacy seized control of Konkan in 1739 AD.[citation needed
]

Bardeskars

Further information: Goan Catholics

A

North Canara & Dharwad districts.[10] They belong to the Konkani ethnicity and Konkani is their first language.[11] Marathi and Kannada are among the other languages spoken by them.[12]

Kudali Catholics

Further information: Roman Catholic Diocese of Sindhudurg

Catholic Christians of Kudal, Sawantwadi & Ratnagerry speak the Kudali or Malvani dialect of Konkani.[13][14][15]

Marathi Christians

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Pune
Hume Memorial Church in Ahmednagar
Main article: Marathi Christians

Roman Catholics. They belong to several Protestant denominations, but mainly the Church of North India. British missionary William Carey
was instrumental in translating the Bible into the Marathi language.

In Maharashtra, Protestant Christians are mainly converts from Hinduism and some from Islam. The first Protestant mission to India was the

Protestant
mission in the district was opened in 1831 by the American Marathi mission.

In Maharashtra, the Protestant missionaries concentrated not only on direct evangelism but also founded numerous small vernacular schools. Scottish

John Wilson built Wilson College, Mumbai.[citation needed
]

Miri-Maka

Culture

There are similarities of customs and culture between Hindus and Marathi Christians, such as dress, food, and cuisine. The Hindu custom of wearing

Narayan Wamanrao Tilak realised that a Hindu–Christian synthesis was simply not possible, unless the Christian religion had deep roots in the Indian culture. He trained the Marathi Christians to worship and sing bhajan and kirtan. He showed Christian faith in a genuinely Indian way.[citation needed
]

List of denominations

[17][18][19]

Notable Marathi Christians

  • Chandu Borde, a former cricket player from the Pune district. He played for the Indian cricket team in 83 matches between 1958 and 1969. His younger brother Ramesh was also a noteworthy cricket player.
  • Vijay Hazare, a cricket player from the Solapur district. He captained the Indian cricket team in fourteen matches between 1951 and 1953. He also captained Baroda, with whom he won the Ranji Trophy in 1959. Hazare is considered by many to be one of the best middle-order bats to play for India.
  • Shahu Modak, a Marathi/Hindi movie actor from Ahmednagar. He primarily acted as Lord Krishna in 29 mythological films.
  • Baba Padmanji, a Brahmin and a Christian convert. An author of over 100 books, his Yamunaparyatan is considered the first novel of Marathi literature.
  • Pandita Ramabai (1858–1922) – a social reformer, activist, Sanskrit scholar and evangelist. She was born a Brahmin and later converted to Christianity.
  • Lakshmibai Tilak (1868–1936) – wife of Narayan Wamanrao Tilak, was a writer who received recognition for her autobiography Smruti Chitre (स्मृतिचित्रे). When her husband died in the process of writing Khristayana (क्रिस्तायन), a Marathi epic about the life of Jesus, she completed it, adding 64 chapters of her own.
  • bhajans in Marathi. He edited the American Marathi mission magazine Dnyanodaya
    for many years. He was the husband of Lakshmibai Tilak.
  • Harish Salve, renowned jurist.
  • N. K. P. Salve, former union minister and Congress leader from Vidarbha.
  • Rajanikant Arole, Magasayse award winner and Padmabhushan.
  • Vinod Kambli, a former cricket player for India and Mumbai, converted to Christianity recently. Many consider him one of the most talented middle-order batsmen to have played for India.
  • Proff.Jayantkumar Tribhuvan, a President Awardee Teacher (1996). He was an educationist and also a notable writer, poet, dramatist, director, radio broadcaster, music director, and lyricist. He was the principal of a well-known school in Pune called Abhinav Vidyalaya High school. His songs are famous especially in the Christian community of Maharashtra. He wrote more than 35 books. He was a Sanskrit scholar. Sanskrit–Marathi–Hindi–English language teaching was his specialty along with his profound knowledge in dramatics. Many of his drama students are very successful actors in Bollywood as well as in Marathi films. He was the community advisor member of the national AIDS research council of India, where he had developed a model of teaching students about AIDS awareness which was accepted by UNO to teach student in their peer age group around the globe. He was also a very successful radio broadcaster who produced, wrote and directed more than 4000 radio programs for short wave radio stations. He dramatized the entire Bible in Marathi radio drama form. Those programs were on air (Radio Ceylon) during 1973–1990.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Total population by religious communities". Censusindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  2. ^ "Indian Census 2011". Census Department, Government of India. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  3. ^ Thana District Gazeeteer Part – I: Population:Christians-History
  4. PDF, 80 KB
    ) article, has been borrowed mainly from Elsie Wilhelmina Baptista's above book.
  5. ^ "Mobai Gaothan Panchayat". Mobai Gaothan Panchayat. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  6. ^ Tracing the history of Bardeskar migration". 23 September 2021. NT Desk. Retrieved on 18 September 2022.
  7. ^ Parkhe, Camil (11 April 2021) "The Bardeskars—The Native Goans And Mystery Of Their Migration From Goa A Few Centuries Ago". Punekar News. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  8. ^ "Diocese of Sindhudurg". UCAN. Retrieved on 18 September 2022.
  9. ^ Luis, Alvarinho (24 August 2022) "St Bartholomew’s footprints in Konkan and Goa". O Heraldo. Retrieved on 18 September 2022.
  10. ^ Noronha, Frederick. (25 April 2021) "Another of Goa’s lost tribes: The Bardeskars". The Navhind Times. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  11. ^ Carvalho, Nirmala (17 October 2019). "Maharashtra, first Bible published in Devanagari Konkani language". Asia News. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  12. ^ Nagvenkar, Mayabhushan (1 December 2014). "Catholics adopt practices of Hindu varkari pilgrims to keep date with St Francis Xavier in Goa". Scroll Media. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  13. ^ https://books.google.co.in/books?id=xmBmAAAAMAAJ&q=kudali Catholic&dq=kudali Catholic&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi9-ujP8KeCAxWTHnAKHeNEBE0Q6AF6BAgJEAM
  14. ^ https://books.google.co.in/books?id=6YbZAAAAMAAJ&q=kudali Konkani Catholic&dq=kudali Konkani Catholic&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjjsaqE8KeCAxX5dfUHHcBWDvIQ6AF6BAgNEAM
  15. ISBN 978-0-8444-0101-0
    .
  16. ISBN 978-0-87808-288-9
    .
  17. ^ World Christian Encyclopedia, Second edition, 2001 Volume 1, p. 368-371
  18. ^ "Calicutnet – Everything about Calicut". 11 September 2021.
  19. ^ "The Pentecostal Mission , Ghorpadi – Pune".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christianity_in_Maharashtra&oldid=1213327276"