1

Leonard Theological College, Jabalpur

Assignment Presentation for
Subject: History of Christianity in India
Topic: The Serampore Mission
Submitted to: Sir John Lalnungtluanga Submitted on: January 30, 2016
Submitted by: Ajith Varghese George & Joysamraj K. Jaggil

1. Introduction
History of Christianity in India brings out that Orthodox Churches, Catholic Churches, and Protestant Churches
made greater impact on the growth of Christianity of today. While trying to understand the history of missional
activities though Catholic Church made its ground established still Protestant mission had much more influence
not just in terms of growth in Churches or its members but also influencing reformation in the society. As
studying the History of Christianity in India, it is important to understand the contribution and participation of
Protestant mission in the development of Christianity in India. This paper understands the Serampore Mission
and its role in the Indian society.

2. Early Socio-Political Condition of Bengal:

Bengal became an important place for foreign trade, by 1579 Portuguese established their base. Hooghly
became the most important and the most prosperous of the Portuguese settlements in Bengal.1 With this
settlement, Catholic mission began to establish its root.
In 1765 the East India Company took possession of Bengal Bihar and parts of Orissa. As a result Bengal and
its surrounding lands became the first regions in India to experience the direct impact of British rule. For the
remainder of the eighteenth century and throughout the early decades of the nineteenth century, the British laid
the foundations for civil administration. They established communication and Transport systems, a modern
bureaucracy, an army and police. In 1877, the British declared Calcutta the capital of the British raj. 2
The condition of the people of Bengal was pitiable during the 19'h century because the prevailing social system
was filled with the evils like sati. child marriage, infanticide.-caste system, untouchability and the low status
of women. And after the long years of harassment from the mugal rulers the native people went under the
British as the demoralized multitude lacked in courage and unity. The people hoped that the British would
offer a better deal along with education. But the foreigners were interested in exploiting and economic
domination. Trade and manufacturing industries declined under the East India Company. They took the raw
material from India and sold the manufactured goods to the people of India at expensive price. for example,
the company encouraged the manufacturing of raw silk in Bengal but the manufacturing of silk fabrics was
discouraged. Thus this resulted in the abandoning of many industries in Bengal.3

1
Joseph Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India: Volume II (Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 1982),
454.
2
A. Jayakumar, History of Christianity in India (Kolkata: SCEPTRE, 2013), 59-60.
3
Ibid., 59-60.
 2

3. William Carey (1761-1834) and his ministry in India

Carey landed in Calcutta, as a Missionary of Baptist Missionary Society to India, and he met Dr. Thomas, who
was a great encouragement to him. B.M.S4 in England was not able to raise sufficient funds for the work in
India; even the insufficient funds did not reach Carey on time. Therefore with the help of Dr. John Thomas,
Carey found a job in one of the Indigo Plants owned by an English man. For the first 6 years Carrey did not
have a single convert the reason was he did not concentrate on mission work. Because he wanted so that he
could more effectively present the gospel to the Hindus. After these years of preparation Carey had a very
effective and fruitful ministry.5 After missionary colleagues arrived from England in 1799, he moved to the
Danish colonial enclave of Serampore, 13 miles up to the River Hooghly from Calcutta. There he spent the
rest of his life with Joshua Marshman (1768-1837) and William Ward (1769-1823) in a unique partnership
dubbed by mission promoters “the Serampore Trio.”6
Carey's first convert was Sudra by the name Krishna Pal (a carpenter) and his second convert was a young man
called Krishna Prasad, a high caste, Kulin Brahmin. And since then the number of his converts had been
growing, all of them were Hindu converts. He did not run his church with white people, the church was meant
for the converts. Although Carey knew very well about the caste system Carey neither encourage nor attacked
that evil system but he was very careful to see that his converts had a casteless Christianity. 7
He was instilling missionary zeal in the minds of his converts. This he did out of his own experience, his church
back in England in his younger days did not encourage missionary work at all, in spite of Carey's insistence
that the church must take active part and sending missionaries to places where the gospel had not reached. He
didn't want to make same mistake made by his church members. Therefore from the beginning he structured
his sermons in such a way for his converts as to catch a vision of mission work. And it did bear fruit, Krishna
Prasad went to Manipur and preached the gospel as the first .time for the inhabitants of Manipur. And Krishna
Prasad had converts and they went to Bihar and preached the Gospel. Thus to the mainland North India the
gospel was taken by the North East Indians who were the converts of Krishna Prasad who in turn was convert
of the William Carey. 8 A. Christopher Smith writes, "Carey was much more of a mission motivator and Bible
translator than a pioneer in the heart of India or a mission strategist." At the end of his ministry, he had 420
converts at Serampore. 9

4. Serampore Mission:
Max Mueller, the great oriental scholar referring to the era of William Carey remarked, "The religious reform
which is now going on in India is the most momentous movement of this momentous century." Serampore
Mission did not make an isolated attempt against a problem but launched a movement against all social
cruelties prevalent in Indian society at that time. William Carey the founder of Serampore Mission has been
called the patriarch, apostle, prophet and pioneer of modern missionary movement. 10 Serampore Mission
(1800-1845) India's first Christian missionary organization. William Carey and his two associates established
this mission on 10 January 1800. The Mission started preaching the message of Jesus from two places in
Hooghli district. The first Catholic Church in this district was established at Bandel in 1599. About two

4
B.M.S- Baptist Missionary Society
5
A. Jayakumar, op. cit., 60.
6
http://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/c-d/carey-william-1761-1834/, accessed on 27/01/2016.
7
Ibid., 62.
8
Ibid., 62.
9
Ibid., 62.
10
Ibid., 58-59.
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hundred years later a Protestant Church was built in Serampore (1800). William Carey established this Church
and the mission on 17 August 1761. It was through his initiative that the Baptist Missionary Society was
formed.11 Carey and his co-workers were primarily interested in the contemporary culture and especially the
study of the local languages rather than the cultural heritage of the past. 12 Though the first Christian activity
in Bengal began from 1576 by the Jesuits, the total life of Bengalis were not influenced by it. But the mission
of Serampore trio had a tremendous impact on the life of the Bengal society from 1800. William Carey started
his ministry in Bengal in 1793 and he was joined by Joshua Marshman, a school teacher and WilliamWard, a
printer. This partnership was generally called - Serampore Trio who worked unitedly for many years for the
upliftment of Bengal society in educational, social and religious environments.13 The Serampore mission didn’t
remain as an activity of a group but it became part of the society. Serampore was turned into a sub-division in
the District of Hooghly in 1845 A.D. Serampore Municipality was set up separately in 1865 A.D. Serampore
and its adjoining areas became famous for learning.14 When Englishman William Carey15 arrived in India in
1793, it marked a major milestone in the history of Christian missions and in the history of India. Carey
established the Serampore Mission—the first modern Protestant mission in the non-English-speaking world—
near Calcutta on January 10, 1800.16

5. The Serampore Trio:

In 1798 two young men from B.M.S arrived in Calcutta, although they were English by nationality permission
was denied to them to live in Calcutta. They came there with the purpose of assisting Carey in his missionary
work. As they could no longer stay in Calcutta, Carey found them a place in Serampore, which was then a
Danish Colony; hence the British had no jurisdiction over Serampore. Therefore these two men Joshua Marsh
man and William Ward moved to Serampore, and started their life in India without any harassment from the
British in Calcutta. They were called as Serampore Trio. 17 William Carey and his team strongly believed that
mission was concerned not only to a person but also to his environment. Therefore, there is a wholistic concept
of mission in the ministries of Serampore Trio i.e., mission to the total person in the whole society.18Now as
funds were insufficient to maintain themselves, and Carey took up lectureships at Fort William College in
Calcutta founded by Lord Wellesly, and the income he received out of that was totally given to the B.M.S
mission. The Fort William College was exclusively run for the children of the Britishers who were in
Government service, military service or as businessman. There was a criticism that Carey was getting a higher
income than the Indians or his contemporary white man. But that criticism was baseless because any income
Carey received he did not enjoy it he gave all to B.M.S. 19 Carey believed that Indians could be authentically

11
Sunil Kumar Chattopadhyay, “Serampore Mission,” http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Serampore_Mission/,
accessed on 25/01/2016.
12
J. C. Ingleby, Missionaries, Education and India, Issues in Protestant Missionary Education in the Long Nineteenth
Century (Delhi: ISPCK, 2000), 66.
13
K. L. Richardson, “The Missions Of The Serampore Trio: An Ecumenical Perspective,”
http://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ijt/35-1_029.pdf, accessed on 18/01/2016.
14
Baddhadeb Bandyopadhyay, “History Of Serampore & Its Haritage,” http://www.seramporecollege.org/arts-science-
commerce/wp-content/uploads/201501/talk_on_serampore.pdf, accessed on 18/01/2016.
15
Willam Carey was the first Baptist missionary to arrive in India. He was born on 1761 in England and died on 1834 in
India.
16
Scott Allen, “William Carey: A Missionary Who Transformed a Nation”( September 01, 2011),
http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/william-carey, accessed on 25/01/2016.
17
A. Jayakumar, op. cit., 60-61.
18
K. L. Richardson, op. cit.
19
A. Jayakumar, op. cit., 60-61.
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evangelized only by their own countrymen. He set out, therefore, to prepare converts for this task and
broadened the scope of education in the mission schools. Serampore College was conceived not as a seminary
but as a liberal arts college for Christians and non-Christians.20 Hence forth the trio set out on a path of
preaching gospel and they formed a convent communal mission lifestyle.
The basic principle of communal life was that every member should be, as far as possible, self-supporting. The
objective of the community was to disseminate the gospel in all possible"" ways: by preaching, by teaching
(in schools) Translating literature (translating the Bible into more than 30 languages). Carey's translation
service was noteworthy. He also made available some of the Indian classics and was instrumental in the
renaissance of Hindu culture in the 19th century. 21

6. Contributions of Serampore Mission:

Although the Serampore missionaries came to India primarily for the purpose of preaching the gospel of Christ,
they dedicated themselves to the service of the ailing and distressed people in and around Serampore, spreading
education, social reforms and social reconstruction. Rev. John Clark Marsh man wrote, 'The Serampore
missionaries considered it their duty to take an active interest in every measure calculated to relieve the
wretchedness of the people".22 During the period of 1816 to 1837 Serampore mission worked independently
from its parent BMS, and it this time the missions were undertook in Assam and Meghalaya.23

6.1 Education:
William Carey established a charity school for the boys in at Mudnabutty. After moving to Serampore in 1800,
he established a school with hostel facilities for foreign nationals on payment of fees and on the other hand in
June 1800, he started a school to give free education to the natives. Within a few years they could establish
number of schools and also produce text books for the students. Carey gave importance to vernacular education
over English education because learning their own language would make more sense to them. Carey and his
colleagues had founded and supervised, by the year 1818, no fewer than 126 native schools, containing some
10,000 boys, of whom more than 7000 were in and around Serampore. In India at that time the girls were not
sent to schools. The Serampore missionaries were sensitive to the lack of female education in the conservative
society. They encouraged the girls to attend the schools. In 1816, the girls were allowed to sit behind the
curtains and attend classes in boys' school but this attempt was not successful. In 1822, a separate school for
girls was established by the Serampore missionaries. 24 As part of missionary work in North-east Indian in
1829, a School at Guwahati was set up.25
The unprecedented response of the schools triggered the inquisitive mind of Carey to work for the
establishment of a College. On 15th July 1818, Carey sent an appeal to the Governor of Denmark for the
sanction of a college at Serampore. The Danish government happily gave their permission. The College was
established for the instruction of Indian youth in Christian knowledge and secular education. 26 Serampore

20
Ibid., 60-61.
21
Ibid., 60-61.
22
Ibid., 62.
23
Frederick S. Downs, History of Christianity in India: North East India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Volume V, Part 5 (Bangalore: The Church History Association of India, 1992), 65.
24
A. Jayakumar, op. cit., 63.
25
Frederick S. Downs, op. cit., 67.
26
A. Jayakumar, op. cit., 63.
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College was established in 1818 with the primary purpose of training Christian Indians to be missionaries to
their own people.27

6.2 Translation:
Translation and publishing of Bible, mainly the New Testament occupied a major mission of Serampore
missionaries, who in 1801 printed Bengali New Testament.28 Assamese New Testament was published in 1819
and Bibvle in 1833. Khasis New Testament in 1824. Manipuri New Testament in 1827.29 By 1834, when Carey
died, six versions of the whole Bible had been published, twenty three of the New Testament only, and smaller
portions had appeared in ten other languages. The languages, besides major and minor ones spoken in India,
included Burmese, Javan, Malayan and Chinese.30

6.3 Serampore Mission Press:

In 1800, William Carey established a Mission Press in Serampore for the initial purpose of publishing scripture
translations, and in May 1800, the first leaf of his Bengali New Testament was published in Serampore. 31 As
the Mission Press was set up, it was Panchanan Karmakar whose unceasing efforts made possible to set up
sets of Bengali fount in Serampore Mission Press. Monohar Karmakar, son-in-law of Panchanan, was
exceptionally skilled in the works of foundry and within a very short period founts of Maratha, Tamil, Telegu,
Burmese, China, Arabic, Urdu, Persian etc. were being developed at Serampore Mission Press and the foundry
became the largest in Asia.32
Serampore Mission Press is the father of Printing Technology in Bengal. Though Printing Press was available
in Calcutta in Pre-Mission period, yet printing technology had a surprising uplift with the efforts of Serampore
Mission. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the epics, were published from Serampore Mission Press in
five (5) and three (3) volumes respectively. 33

6.4 Journalism:
In 1818 the Serampore trio entered the field of journalism. They launched newspapers "Samachar Darpan''
and "Friends of India" to fight against social injustice. Through these two journals Carey started to promote
social reforms. Samachar Darpan weekly newspaper in Begali is the first ever newspaper to be printed in
oriental language.34Friends of India can be accredited as India's first effort for social journalism. In it
eyewitness accounts of sati were published. Carey used every means possible to educate and uplift the people
with whom he lived and worked. And he also published a periodical, which regularly featured articles on
physics, chemistry, geography and biology. 35
‘Dig Durshun’ was the first periodical published by Serampore Mission in 1818 A.D. It was published for the
period from April 1818 to March 1819, and, further, from January to April 1820. The periodical used to publish

27
Brian Stanley, The History of the Baptist Missionary Society 1792-1992 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1992), 51-52.
28
Cyril Bruce Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History (Madras: The Christian Literature Society, 1976), 149.
29
Frederick S. Downs, op. cit., 66-67.
30
Cyril Bruce Firth, op. cit., 151.
31
http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/baptmisspress/bmp.htm, accessed on 27/01/2016.
32
Baddhadeb Bandyopadhyay, op. cit.
33
Ibid.
34
Cyril Bruce Firth, op. cit., 154.
35
A. Jayakumar, op. cit., 63.
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acticles like ‘Discovery of America’, ‘The Geographical Areas of Hindustan’, ‘The Commercial Products of
Hindustan’, ‘Description of the Court of Krishnachandra’ and so on. 36

6.5 Bengali literature:

Carey learnt the local language of the people to understand the people and their culture. After he learnt Bengali,
he contributed to the development of Bengali literature in two capacities, firstly as a missionary (mainly as a
translator) and as a teacher and scholar at Fort William College. In order to meet the requirement of textbooks
at Fort William's he wrote textbooks and also produced a Bengali grammar and a dictionary. He also laid the
foundation for modern Bengali prose and he is fondly remembered as the father of Bengali Prose.37

6.6 Child Infanticide:

In the first half of the 19th century the social activities of Christian missions were directed towards bringing
about moral reforms in Indian society and to emancipate individuals from the age-old superstitions of Hindu
religion. William Carey played an important role in removing child infanticide. It is said that Lord Wellesley
deputed William Carey to inquire into the sacrifice of children. And on that basis of his report on August 20,
1802 lord Wellesley passed a regulation prohibiting the practice of sacrificing children by drowning or
throwing them into the sea on river. 38

6.7 Sati:
William Carey was very mush instrumental for the abolition of sati in the British territories in India. William
Carey knew that without the government's help and conscientizing the people about the cruel practice it would
be impossible to abolish sati. 39 People were stern practitioners of their faith.
In 1802 Carey submitted a report to the vice-president in council of the East India Company and gave his
suggestion to abolish sati. He with the help of few Bengalis surveyed Bengal and found that 438 widows were
burnt alive on the previous year and submitted the report to lord Wellesley on 15th October, 1804 and demanded
for the abolition on this practice. 40 Even though the government did not want to interfere in the religious affairs
of the people but Carey never gave up, he kept writing to the government and was conscientizing the people.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian who raised intellectuals also came forward to support this movement.
Roy and few others also raised their voices against sati. As a result of their untiring efforts against this practice,
William Bentinck issued an order in 1829; prohibiting Sati in the British territories in India. 41

6.8 Care for leprosy afflicted:

There was another evil practice prevalent in Bengal of killing those suffering from leprosy. Sometimes the
lepers were drowned so that they would be reborn with healthy bodies. At that time there was no treatment for
the lepers. In 1812, Carey saw a man being burnt alive in Katowa in Burdwan district. And he started an
asylum for the lepers in Calcutta.42

36
Baddhadeb Bandyopadhyay, op. cit.
37
A. Jayakumar, op. cit., 64.
38
Ibid., 65.
39
Ibid., 65.
40
Ibid., 65.
41
Ibid., 65.
42
Ibid., 65.
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6.9 Horticulture:
William Carey was so much interested in Horticulture. He gave many Botanical names to many plants, the
names which were given by him remain unchanged even today in the Botanical scholars circle. At that time
he was known all over England as a Botanist and Horticulturist. Some of the Botanical names given by him
are as follows: Onion, Garlic. Clove etc. The Botanical names were given to these commodities and the same
names are used even today all over the world. 43
Carey was amazed at the agriculture potentials in India but disheartened to see the poor stare of agriculture
and poverty of the peasants in general. In 1811, he published his finding in a paper entitled, "state of agriculture
in the district of Dinajpore" in Asiatic researches. His concern led to the ultimate foundation of the "Agri-
Horticultural Society of India" on 14' September 1820. He started the Botanical society of Calcutta, today has
grown to be a government organization.44

7. Controversy:
The history of mission in Indian during 1815 to 1837, there was a close rift between the parent society, BMS,
and the Serampore mission. The roots of the controversy were embedded in the status of the Serampore
Mission as a largely self-supporting entity- a status which was founded on fundamental principle, and not
merely on economic necessity.45 Over the years of Fuller’s secretary-ship, the Trio built up a complex of
buildings at Serampore, purchased with their own money, supplemented by loans from the Society. The
premises were held on behalf of the Society, but the legal status of the trust deeds was unsatisfactory. To the
home committee it seemed imperative after Fuller’s death that the mission property at Serampore should
speedily be placed on a basis which would secure its proprietorship to the Society.46
BMS Committee in England wrote to the trio of BMS holdings over Serampore which the Carey, Ward,
Marshman never obliged. The Serampore mission was self-supported and the missionaries had began a
convent community, where missionaries where taken at request. Until March 23, 1827 negotiations were
attempted but then the Committee publicly announced that the BMS and the Serampore mission parted ways.
From 1827-1837 Serampore mission was supported by independent committee. In 1837 a reunion negotiation
took place where the BMS committee excluded the Serampore College from its control. Late in 1855, after
the death of Marshman the last of trio in 1837, the BMS committee included Serampore College into its
governance.47

8. Reflection and Conclusion:

Serampore mission is one of the most inspiring missionary activity that just not only developed Christian
community but rather made a difference for the whole society. Serampore mission did not see preaching the
Bible, leading Bible class, or making members of church made much difference, but the difference in the
attitude to become Christian can only come when the society can understand and learn in their own culture.
The Serampore Trio's contribution to the Indian soil is immense, especially to Bengal. They landed in Bengal
which had barbaric practices like infanticide and sati, and it was their calling to adapt to the culture which then
led for reformation and transformation of the society by offering education and enlightenment to the people.

43
Ibid., 66.
44
Ibid., 66.
45
Brian Stanley, op. cit., 57.
46
Ibid., 57-58.
47
Ibid., 60-65.
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Today it will be noteworthy to look back on the contribution and activities of Carey and his friends. These
Englishmen came as English speaking men rather than making the people like them they became like them
and spoke, ate, lived like them. They came from a higher level of living lifestyle but a lived for people who
were of lower level, for their transformation. Can the Church today stoop down, go into the grass root of the
society to establish its mission? Serampore mission established in the need of a century ago, the social
conditions have changed but a transformation mission is still the need of today.

Bibliography:
Downs, Frederick S. History of Christianity in India: North East India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries Volume V, Part 5. Bangalore: The Church History Association of India, 1992.
Firth, Cyril Bruce. An Introduction to Indian Church History. Madras: The Christian Literature Society, 1976.
Ingleby, J. C. Missionaries, Education and India, Issues in Protestant Missionary Education in the Long
Nineteenth Century. Delhi: ISPCK, 2000.
Jayakumar, A. History of Christianity in India. Kolkata: SCEPTRE, 2013.
Stanley, Brian. The History of the Baptist Missionary Society 1792-1992. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1992.
Thekkedath, Joseph. History of Christianity in India: Volume II. Bangalore: Theological Publications in India,
1982.

Webliography:
Allen, Scott. “William Carey: A Missionary Who Transformed a Nation.”(September 01, 2011).
http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/william-carey. Accessed on 25/01/2016.
Bandyopadhyay, Baddhadeb. “History of Serampore & Its Haritage.” http://www.seramporecollege.org/arts-
science-commerce/wp-content/uploads/201501/talk_on_serampore.pdf. Accessed on 18/01/2016.
Chattopadhyay, Sunil Kumar. “Serampore Mission.”
http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Serampore_Mission/. Accessed on 25/01/2016.
Richardson, K. L. “The Missions of The Serampore Trio: An Ecumenical Perspective.”
http://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ijt/35-1_029.pdf. Accessed on 18/01/2016.
http://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/c-d/carey-william-1761-1834/.Accessed on 27/01/2016.
http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/baptmisspress/bmp.htm. Accessed on 27/01/2016.