{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 94,
  "chapterName": "1836. Notice Concerning Establishment of a Mission to the Shans in North-Eastern Assam",
  "pageFrom": 132,
  "pageTo": 135,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 132,
      "ocrText": "132\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\n18. It is not our custom to organise torch-light processions on\nChristmas Day.\n19. Charcoal is taken on the closing day of Lent and at\nChristmas-time for making cross-marks on the forehead and for\ntaking a bath the same evening in water mixed with the remaining\nportion of charcoal. This his is not our custom and is not mentioned\nin our canon.\n20. It is also against our custom to smear charcoal on the\nforehead as the Roman Catholics do on Ash Wednesday.\n21. In recognition of the Lord's Supper instituted by our Lord\non the evening of Maundy Thursday a special kind of bread is\nprepared, which the head of the family cuts in pieces and distributes.\nAnother kind of bread is made on the same day and is plied with\nneedles as a sign of blinding the Jew for his act of bringing about\nthe crucification of Christ. This again is against canon.\n22. The practice of praying for the dead and of doing obeisance\nat their graves with lighted candles is common in all the churches\nand is abhorrent to us.\n23. Though the remains of the Saints are holy, it is against the\ncanon to keep them in the sanctuary. In contravention of this,\nthe dead are buried in the sanctuary, lamps are lighted over their\ntombs and images are erected on them. The people are encouraged\nto worship these as if the worshippers would receive benefits out\nof it.\n94. NOTICE CONCERNING ESTABLISHMENT OF A\nMISSION TO THE SHANS IN NORTH-EASTERN ASSAM\n(1836 A.D.)\nThe American Baptists were the first to establish permanent missio-\nnary work in North-East India. The following notice of the estab-\nlishment of that mission is interesting for several reasons. It reveals not\nonly the vast ambitions of the missionaries of that period, but also the\nconsiderable involvement of British officials in missionary work.\nCharles Trevelyan, Civil Servant and liberal reformer, and Francis\nJenkins, the evangelical Governor-General's Agent and Commissioner\nin Assam, played an active role in the establishment and, in the latter\ncase, the continuing development of the Baptist Mission in Assam.\nThe notice was published in the Baptist Missionary Magazine, vol.\nXVI (1936), pp. 19-22.\nMission to the Shans\nWe have the pleasure of announcing to our readers that the\nBoard (of Managers of the General Convention of the Baptist",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 133,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n133\nDenomination in the United States for Foreign Missions, and other\nimportant objects relating to the Redeemer's kingdom) are on the\npoint of realizing their long cherished hopes of introducing the\nGospel of our Lord Jesus Christ among this numerous and benighted\npeople. Rev. Mr. Brown, recently of the Mission at Maulmein,\nhas already been set apart to the work It is expected, also, that\none of the printers at Maulmein, with a printing press, will\naccompany him.\nThe station, at which it is proposed to commence operations,\nis Sudiya, situated in the north-eastern extremity of Assam, about\n400 miles north of Ava (the Burmese capital), and at the northern-\nmost point of territory inhabited by the great Shan family.' The\nattention of the Board has been specially directed to this point, in\nconsequence of a letter addressed to Mr. Trevelyan, of the Civil\nService, Calcutta, by Captain F. Jenkins, Governor-General's\nAgent and Commissioner in Assam, resident at Gowahatti. The\nletter was written in reply to one from Mr. Trevelyan, in which he\nhad enclosed a communication from the Corresponding Secretary\nof the Board to Rev. Wm. H. Pearce, of the English Baptist Mission,\nCalcutta, and is dated Gowahatti, 10th March, 1833.\n'The ground I would particularly wish to bring to their notice\n(Capt. J. says in this letter,) is the north-eastern district of Assam,\noccupied by two tribes of the great Shan family, the Khamtis and\nthe Sing-phos. The dialects of these tribes differ very little from the\nSiamese and Burmese, and the characters in use are essentially the\nsame; and, in consequence of the supremacy of the Burmese being\nestablished over the original provinces whence our Shans came,\nwith the inhabitants of which they are in constant communication,\nthe Burmese language is in a measure known to all these tribes.'\nCapt. Jenkins proceeds to remark that the labours of our Mis-\nsionaries in Burmah 'would be, with very little difficulty made\navailable for the district round Sudiya, and here they (the missiona-\nries from Burmah) would labour under the protection of our govern-\nment, and not be liable to those checks which the Rangoon Mission\nhas constantly suffered from the jealousy and barbarity of the Ava\ngovernment. The Shans, too, with whom the Mission at Sudiya\nwould be brought in contact, are a much finer and more intelligent\nTheir\npeople than the Burmese, and ten times as numerous.\nkindred races extend throughout the country whence arise all the\nmighty rivers from the Burhampooter to Kianguan (the river of\nNankin).. Here is an ample field. It is indeed boundless; for it\nextends over all the north and west of China, (for such is the extent\nof communication that we command from Sudiya,) and it embraces\nsome of the most fertile and most temperate countries on the face\nof the earth.'",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 134,
      "ocrText": "134\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nA copy of the letter from which we have made the above\nextracts, was forwarded to the Board, with other documents, by\nMr. Pearce, under the date Calcutta, April 21,' and was received\nprior to the departure of Mr. Malcom, in September. A duplicate\nof the same was transmitted to the Mission at Maulmein. Within\na few days, letters have arrived from Maulmein, giving intelligence\nof the reception of Mr. P's communication, and of the measures\nimmediately consequent thereon. The following is an extract from\na letter of Mr. Brown, dated Maulmein, June 9. We present this\nat this time on account of the interesting view it gives of the relation\nwhich the mission at Sudiya will bear upon other operations of the\nBoard in South-Eastern Asia. Referring to the eventual establish-\nment of a 'connected line of operations from Sudiya, so as to meet\nthe labours of Mr. Jones and the other Siam missionaries, at the\nother extremity of the region occupied by the Shans, Mr. B. says,\nYou will easily see, by inspecting the map, that br. Jones can\nascend the Siam river about two thirds of the distance to Sudiya.\nA large portion of the remaining distance is traversed by the\nnorthern branches of the Salwen and Erawadi. This chain being\ncompleted, the whole western border of China will be open to us.\nThere is little doubt, Mr. B. adds, that at the present time, Sudiya\nis the most feasible entrance, from the interior, to the empire of\nChina. It is, in fact, precisely such ch a point of approach as the\nBoard contemplated in their late resolutions. It is situated near the\nhead waters of the Kiangku or Nankin river, which runs directly\nthrough the centre of China. Mr. B. also speaks of a line of\ncommunication that may be formed with the Mission at Ava,\nthrough the Katheh or Cassay country, the capital of which is\nManipur, nearly in a line between Sudiya and Ava, and about 200\nmiles distant from each. Manipur district is said to be a very\npopulous and fine country, and is independent of the Burmese\ngovernment.'\nIt will be gratifying to our Christian friends to know that the\ndesignation of Mr. B. to Sudiya has met his hearty concurrence\nFor the sake of presenting to our readers a further view of the\nimportance of Sudiya as a missionary field, especially in the facili-\nties it affords for extending the knowledge of Christ throughout\nadjacent provinces, and for the enlargement and success of the\nMissions already organized to evangelize Burmah, Siam and China,\nwe subjoin a few remarks from Messrs. Trevelyan and Pearce,\naccompanying the above communication from Gowahatti. Mr. T.\nsays:-\n'From this point (Sudiya) an impression may be made upon\nBurmah, from an exactly opposite quarter from that at which it\nhas been heretofore entered by the missionary. The communica-\ntion is open with Yunnan, the westernmost province of China, and",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 135,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n135\nit is the intention of the Indian government to send a mission there by\nthis route, next cold season for the purpose of inquiring about\nthe culture of the tea plant. On the other side, Bhutan, and Thibet,\nand more countries and people than we have any accurate know-\nledge of at present, are open to the messengers of the Gospel ; and,\nlastly, the Shan language, which is near akin to the Burmese and\nSiamese, and belongs to the Chinese family, furnishes a ready\nmeans of intercourse with perhaps a greater number of people than\nany other language in the world, except Chinese itself.'\nWe would here take occasion to acknowledge the truly Christian\nkindness with which, from the first, Messrs. Pearce and Trevelyan\nhave interested themselves in the establishment of the proposed\nMission, and their prompt and zealous co-operation in furthering\nthe designs of the Board It is also a matter of grateful acknow-\nledgement that God has raised up, for the furtherance of His\ngracious designs in the commencement of a Mission to the Shans,\nso valuable an auxiliary in the gentleman first addressed by Mr. Tre-\nvelyan. Captain Jenkins is represented to be a man of activity,\nintelligence and benevolent feeling, whose character and exertions\nstand very high in the estimation of the Government,' and who will\nprobably retain the situation he now holds so long as he stays in\nthat country. The part he has already taken in favour of the loca-\ntion of the Mission at Sudiya, evinces the keen interest he feels in\nthe object, and assures us that no exertions of his will be wanting\nto secure its successful prosecution. We venture to give the follow-\ning additional extract from his letter to Mr. Trevelyan, as indicative\nof his views in regard to the importance of the measure. 'No\nattention of mine should of course be wanting to make the place\ncomfortable to any missionaries, and I will be willing to contribute\nmy mite to their establishment. You may mention, that I will\nsubscribe 1,000 rupees, if a family is settled as a Mission at Sudiya,\nand whenever they have had a press at work for six months I will\nbe happy to double that sum, if I remain in charge of the Province.'\nIn view of the facts which we have now presented, who will not\nheartily respond to the flowing language of of Mr. Judson: My\nheart leaps for joy and swells with gratitude and praise to God,\nwhen I think of br. Jones at Bankok, in the southern extremity of\nthe continent, and br. Brown at Sudiya in Assam, on the frontiers\nof China-immensely distant points, and of all the intervening\nstations, Ava Rangoon, Kyouk-Phyoo, Maulmein and Tvoy, and\nthe churches and schools which are springing up in every station\nand throughout the Karen wilderness. Happy lot, to live in these\ndays! O happy lot, to be allowed to bear a part in the glorious\nwork of bringing an apostate world to the feet of Jesus! Glory,\nglory be to God!'",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}