{ "book_metadata": { "book_name": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials", "book_author": "M. K. Kuriakose", "publisher": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge", "published_on": "2011" }, "chunks": [ { "chunk_index": 1, "chapter_name": "97. Petition of British Missionaries to the King of Travancore on the Subject of Slavery", "page_numbers": [ 147 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00171-fcabc704d80dd929d4d7.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Petition for Abolition of Slavery", "chunk_data": "97. PETITION OF BRITISH MISSIONARIES TO THE KING OF TRAVANCORE ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY (1847 A.D.) British missionaries working in Travancore took the occasion of succession to the throne of a new Raja to submit a petition asking for the abolition of slavery in his realm. It is an interesting example of the social efforts of the missionaries of this period, and of the extensive documentation used in support of such efforts. Cited in K.K. Kusuman, Slavery in Travancore, Appendix II, pp. 78-80.", "time": { "start_year": 1847, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1847, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1847 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "British missionaries", "The new Raja of Travancore" ], "places": [ "Travancore" ], "event": "British missionaries petitioned the new Raja of Travancore to abolish slavery.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Slavery", "Politics" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 2, "chapter_name": "97. Petition of British Missionaries to the King of Travancore on the Subject of Slavery", "page_numbers": [ 147 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00171-fcabc704d80dd929d4d7.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Missionaries Congratulate the New Raja", "chunk_data": "We the undersigned Missionaries from Great Britain, engaged in promoting the welfare of Your Highness on the occasion of the death of H.H. the late Raja and to offer our congratulation on your succeeding the Government of this fine country and to express our hope that Your Highness' Government will become illustrious by reason of the numerous benefits conferred upon the people.", "time": { "start_year": 1847, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1847, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1847 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "British missionaries", "The late Raja of Travancore", "The new Raja of Travancore" ], "places": [ "Travancore" ], "event": "The British missionaries congratulated the new Raja on succeeding to the government of Travancore.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Politics" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 3, "chapter_name": "97. Petition of British Missionaries to the King of Travancore on the Subject of Slavery", "page_numbers": [ 147 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00171-fcabc704d80dd929d4d7.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Appeal for the Poor and Oppressed", "chunk_data": "Your Highness' extensive intercourse with the people around and consequent familiarity with their condition, beyond that usually falls under the observation of the eminent situation induces the hope that that acquaintance has given rise to wise and kind thought for the poor and oppressed among your subjects.", "time": { "start_year": 1847, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1847, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1847 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "The new Raja of Travancore" ], "places": [ "Travancore" ], "event": "The missionaries appealed to the Raja's familiarity with his subjects' condition and concern for the poor and oppressed.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Social Reform", "Politics" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 4, "chapter_name": "97. Petition of British Missionaries to the King of Travancore on the Subject of Slavery", "page_numbers": [ 147, 148 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00171-fcabc704d80dd929d4d7.webp", "raw\\pages\\00172-95e4b9b2be2719d8119f.webp" ], "chunk_title": "The Slave Population Awaits Reform", "chunk_data": "While we duly appreciate the benevolent efforts of H.H. the late Raja for the improvement of the condition of the people, there is one large and interesting class viz., the slave population invaluable for its services in the cultivation of the country and chief producers of its food, who appear to have been left to give Your Highness the opportunity of conferring a benefit wider in its operation and more beneficial in its character than any which has yet been conferred on Travancore. For the emancipation of this class, we, though foreigners, beg to plead sanguine that Your Highness will rejoice at the opportunity of commencing your Government with so great an act of humanity and kindness.", "time": { "start_year": 1847, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1847, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1847 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "British missionaries", "The late Raja of Travancore", "The new Raja of Travancore", "Enslaved people" ], "places": [ "Travancore" ], "event": "The missionaries praised the late Raja's reforms and urged the new Raja to emancipate the slave population.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Slavery", "Social Reform" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 5, "chapter_name": "97. Petition of British Missionaries to the King of Travancore on the Subject of Slavery", "page_numbers": [ 148 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00172-95e4b9b2be2719d8119f.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Travancore Slave Census of 1836", "chunk_data": "By the census of 1836 the population of Travancore was 1,280,668. Of these were Parayar 38,625 entered as 'soil slaves' Pulayar 31,891 Coraivar 3,750 Pallar In all 164,864 slaves, not to mention 16,226 malay vaylar and other hill tribes, many of them in a state of vassalage.", "time": { "start_year": 1836, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1836, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1836" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Parayar", "Pulayar", "Coraivar", "Pallar", "Malay vaylar" ], "places": [ "Travancore" ], "event": "The 1836 census recorded 164,864 slaves in Travancore, alongside hill tribes living partly in vassalage.", "tags": [ "Slavery", "Demography", "History" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 6, "chapter_name": "97. Petition of British Missionaries to the King of Travancore on the Subject of Slavery", "page_numbers": [ 148 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00172-95e4b9b2be2719d8119f.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Harsh Conditions of Enslaved People", "chunk_data": "With the condition of the slaves we have had many opportunities of becoming acquainted and have been distressed to find, in reference to these people, employed in the most laborious and unhealthy services, that even when hardest wrought their food is barely adequate to their sustenance their clothing miserably scanty, their dwellings affording but little shelter from the moisture and cold surrounding them; and that generally no provision is made for their support when their labour is not required or disease or age render them unable to labour—that no medical aid is provided for them when ill—that they can be and are bought and sold as cattle and that in the heartless traffic the husband and wife, the parent and child can be rudely separated and sold in different directions—that they are often subjected to very cruel treatment from their masters, and that owing to their degradation, they are in a great measure deprived of the benefits of the new courts and entirely cut off from all access to their prince.", "time": { "start_year": 1847, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1847, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1847 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Enslaved people", "Slaveholders" ], "places": [ "Travancore" ], "event": "The missionaries described the forced labor, inadequate food and clothing, lack of medical care, sale of people, family separation, cruelty, and legal exclusion suffered by enslaved people.", "tags": [ "Slavery", "Human Rights", "Social Reform" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 7, "chapter_name": "97. Petition of British Missionaries to the King of Travancore on the Subject of Slavery", "page_numbers": [ 148 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00172-95e4b9b2be2719d8119f.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Appeal for Immediate Emancipation", "chunk_data": "Of the above number we have no means of knowing how many are Sirkar slaves. Were not the degradation of all too complete, we should have solicited that a beginning might be made in the emancipation of those; but remembering their extreme misery, and knowing that the British Government has abolished slavery throughout its territories, and recently extended this merciful arrangement to India and other states are initiating the example; we venture to hope that Your Highness will pass a law, in reference to the slave population of Travancore, similar to that passed by the Government of Bengal and now in operation with regard to slaves in the Honourable Company's territories, and thus perform an act of mercy to a numerous class of your subjects which will make your name precious in Travancore for generations to come as the reliever of the oppressed.", "time": { "start_year": 1847, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1847, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1847 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "British missionaries", "The new Raja of Travancore", "British Government" ], "places": [ "Travancore", "India", "Bengal", "Honourable Company's territories" ], "event": "The missionaries urged the Raja to enact a law abolishing slavery in Travancore, following British and Bengal precedents.", "tags": [ "Slavery", "Politics", "Social Reform" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 8, "chapter_name": "97. Petition of British Missionaries to the King of Travancore on the Subject of Slavery", "page_numbers": [ 148 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00172-95e4b9b2be2719d8119f.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Economic and Social Case Against Slavery", "chunk_data": "We venture to submit to Your Highness that the history of slavery shows that it is the most costly labour that it demeans the owners as much as the slaves and that its extinction greatly conduce to the wealth, intelligence, and social comfort of man, wherever it has been achieved...", "time": { "start_year": 1847, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1847, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1847 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "British missionaries", "The new Raja of Travancore", "Enslaved people", "Slave owners" ], "places": [ "Travancore" ], "event": "The missionaries argued that slavery was economically costly, degraded slave owners and enslaved people, and hindered social progress.", "tags": [ "Slavery", "Economics", "Social Reform" ] } } ] }