Colonial Registers of a Vernacular Christianity

This paper with its focus on writings by Indian catechists, discusses issues of colonial conversion and questions of vernacular translation that lie embedded within processes of evangelical entanglements between western missionaries and 'natives'. In their 'diaries' and 'daybooks' that recount the dissemination of the Book in 'heathen' spaces, the catechists' accounts appear out of tenor with missionary stipulation. These accounts point toward critical considerations not only of evangelical entanglements, but also of enduring enchantments of tradition and community, colony and modernity. Moreover, they proclaim a particular Christianity - historically contingent, distinctly Indian.