Jesuit Missions in Coastal and South India (1543–1773) : Between Mission and Empire

Abstract

Jesuit missions in coastal and South India were among the first foundations of the Society of Jesus in the world. They represented models of apostolic action imitated, debated and reformulated in other parts of the world. This book traces the history of the Jesuit missionary activities in the early modern period and shows how the Jesuits navigated European colonial interests and local conversion to Christianity through proselytizing and accommodation. Jesuit missionary efforts were pragmatically divided between disciplining Portuguese and, later on, French colonial communities and attracting converts living among regional polities under Muslim and Hindu rulers.