Use of ‘Hindu’ Idioms in Christian Worship and Propaganda in Kerala

Abstract

This article looks at the way in which the Christians of Kerala adopted idioms typical of ‘Hindu’ Brāhmanical religion for worship and later for purposes of propaganda. Taken up for detailed study are the works by Rev. John Ernest Hanxledon (1681–1732), a German Jesuit who worked in Kerala in the first three decades of the eighteenth century. Items such as the use of popular Malayalam metres, figures of speech, other literary tropes, the employment of the linguistic technique of social distancing, etc. make for a good study. These have been studied in contrast with the experience of Rev. Roberto de Nobili a century ago.