The Christian community, despite its two-millennium history in the subcontinent, has a more complex relationship with the state and the people.
Outside of Kerala, which has had an endemic community, of diverse liturgical heritage, from the very early centuries of the Christian era, the religion is still largely seen appended first to the Portuguese colonial presence on the Malabar and Konkan coasts, and then to the larger East India Company and British Raj.
Lost in translation, therefore, has been the participation of Christians, particularly Catholics, in the long struggle against the Portuguese in Kerala and, more specifically, in Goa.
Collateral damage has been to the memory of Christian freedom fighters in the Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta Presidency areas. Even schools run by the Church across the country perhaps have no books documenting the work of these men and women.
Source: UCANews
