Religion and Public Culture by Keith E. Yandell Keith E. Yandell John J. Paul

Author:Keith E. Yandell Keith E. Yandell, John J. Paul [Keith E. Yandell Keith E. Yandell, John J. Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138878884
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2015-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

The foregoing discussion on judgments related to conversion of high caste youth provides unique glimpses on south Indian society during the nineteenth century. Few though are the judgments examined in this essay, they do provide a broad historical and legal framework in assessing the periodic conflicts that arose between parents and missionaries. The discussion raises several unexamined issues vital to an understanding of religious propaganda and conversion in mission institutions: the nature of evidence, the changing boundaries of law and its application in determining majority, the reasons or circumstances behind the contradictory judicial interpretations in resolving the question of minority, and the judges' sympathy or apathy towards missionaries themselves.

Despite the small number of upper caste conversions, mainly youths from brahmin communities, as Oddie has shown,88 this essay argues that whenever such conversions occurred (or where a potential existed) missionaries did not shy away from getting involved in legal disputes which consumed so much of their time and precious resources. This was understandable because the unprecedented and alarming number of conversions of lower caste people provided opportunities for missionaries' opponents to identify Christianity as a "pariah religion." Many upper caste individuals, consequently, had nothing to do either with the missionaries or Indian Christians in order to avoid criticisms from families and friends. Yet when upper caste individuals did become Christians, missionaries were quick to point out to their "enemies" that their religion transcended caste barriers – even though the positions of converts within the church varied widely in principle and practice; every conversion of upper caste Hindus seemed to have reinforced the claims of this argument. Although many factors and motives crisscrossed the decision of youths in embracing Christianity, missionaries also operated with multiple motives. That they sought converts by providing numerous services through schools, hospitals, and relief centers is commonly known but what really induced them to get involved in legal disputes, defending the rights of children – like Raghaviah, Muniatha, and others – in the exercise of their conscience, is a question that awaits further research. In many ways, certain missionaries' attitude and behavior had been anything but "Christian."

The nature of the law itself, applicable to questions on majority, remained unclear or continued to change during the nineteenth century. The judgments consulted in this essay illustrate that the law had several loopholes which provided much latitude for judicial officers to decree what they thought was best for the minor. According to the common law a boy of fourteen was competent to contract marriage, and the Hindu law enjoined that at sixteen he could inherit property and become the head of a household – how often the Hindu joint-family system permitted him this is a different question, but under the Act VIII of 1890 a minor attained majority only at eighteen. When litigants sought custody of his minor he took refuge under the Indian statute but Chamberlain's response was that under Law and Equity "the relief sought for . . . {was} illegal and improper."89 In Reade vs. Krishna, the

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