The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c24: Chapter XVIII. The Mission of Father Roberto de Nobili
The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c24
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Contents
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Chapter XVIII. The Mission of Father Roberto de Nobili
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SUMMARY.—1. The fruitless mission of Fr. G. Fernandez at Madura. —2. Fr. Roberto de Nobili in Italy, Goa and Cochin.—3. De Nobili at Madura. Investigation of the causes of the failure of this mission.—4. De Nobili's new plan approved by his superiors. —5. He presents himself as a ‘Roman Brahman.’—6. His ordinary life.—7. His mastery of Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu.—8. His mode of dealing with visitors.—9. Albert, the first convert.—10. De Nobili dresses as a sannyasi.—11. Other conversions. Good spirit of the new Christians.—12. De Nobili's method of preaching. The fourth Veda.—13. A number of extraordinary events confirm the Christian Faith.—14. Relations between de Nobili and the Palaiyakarans. De Nobili's dealings with Srivallabha Pandya.—15. Frs. Leytao and Vico at Madura.—16. Criticism of de Nobili's mission.
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CONTEMPORARY SOURCES.—1. Jesuit letters.—2. Du Jarric, Guerreiro, Figueroa.—3. Moncoes do Reino (Pangim Archives).—4. Juvencio.
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ONE of the most important events in the history of southern India during the reign of Venkata II is the establishment of the mission of the Jesuit Fr. Roberto De Nobili ¹. The brief account of it which we give here is an attempt to do justice to that bold but holy undertaking of this famous Jesuit, so differently judged both by his contemporaries and by subsequent historians and controversialists.
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¹ Hence both Mr. Rangachari, History of the Naik Kingdom, Ind. Ant., XLV, p. 107-8, 116-9, etc., and Prof. Sathyanatha Aiyar, History of the Nayaks, p. 93-5; 106-8, speak at length of this missionary enterprise.
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In the year 1596 Fr. Gonzalo Fernandez arrived at Madura from the Fishery Coast. Here he settled down in order to look after the spiritual welfare of the Christian Paravas of Coromandel, who occasionally went to the capital on business ². Fr. Guerreiro, relying on the missionaries' letters, says that Fr. Fernandez stayed at Madura to negotiate with the Nayak about the affairs of the missionaries on the Fishery Coast ³. What these ‘affairs’
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² Besse, La Mission du Madure, p. 199.
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³ Guerreiro, Relacam Annal...no anno de 606. & 607., p. 112.
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were is not stated in this work; but we feel sure that the frequent irruptions of the Nayak's soldiers into the villages of the Paravas proved the necessity of such an agent at the court of Madura. Kumara Krishnappa Nayaka II, the then ruler of Madura, received the missionary amicably and granted him permission to build a church in his capital. Accordingly Fernandez erected a church, not so magnificent as the Hindu temple, says Du Jarric, but yet beautiful and pious ¹.
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¹ Du Jarric, I, p. 649. Cf. D'Sa, History of the Catholic Church, II, p. 31.
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Madura was a new field to work in. The faith of Jesus Christ had never been preached in the old Pandya capital, and the zealous missionary did not lose his golden opportunity. He spoke about Christ and his holy religion in his conversations with the people of the town ². Frequent religious disputations were held at his house between the missionary and the Brahmans, who were often attracted thither both by the Father's benevolence and by their natural curiosity. Moreover the Jesuit established a dispensary and hospital, where everything was administered free to Christians and Hindus alike ³.
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² Guerreiro, l. c.
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³ Du Jarric, I, p. 649-50.
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It has been often said that Fernandez's labours bore no fruit, a statement which is not founded on contemporary Jesuit authorities. The only information about this particular point is found in Guerreiro, who says that 'the Badagas (Telugus) greatly admired the holiness of the Father and specially his chastity'; but he also states that 'in the conversion of Hindus he did very little' ⁴. This means, no doubt, that some conversions to Christianity were made, but the success was by no means encouraging. For a time Fr. Nicolao Levanto was sent there in order to study Tamil ⁵. But he was soon sent to St. Thome, and Fernandez once more remained alone.
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⁴ Guerreiro, l. c.
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⁵ Du Jarric, I, p. 650.
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Muttu Krishnappa Nayaka followed the policy of his uncle in his dealings with the Father, and the bonds of friendship between the two were as close as ever. The King of Portugal, in a letter to his Viceroy dated February 26th, 1605, says that he is aware "that the Naique (the Nayak of Madura) made his salutations to a religious of the Society (of Jesus), who was conducting some business there"¹. Great friendship must have existed between Muttu Krishnappa and Fernandez, if the knowledge of it reached the ears of even the King of Portugal.
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¹ From King Philip III to the Viceroy Martim Affonso de Castro, Lisbon, February 26th, 1605, Ap. B, No. VIII.
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2. Such was the position of the mission of Madura when Fr. Roberto de Nobili was sent there in 1606.
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The new missionary had been born at Montepulciano, Italy, in September, 1577 ², of a very noble family, related to Popes Julius III and Marcellus II and to the Cardinals Sforza and Bellarmino ³. Another of his illustrious relatives did perhaps greatly influence Roberto's career. This was his uncle and namesake, Cardinal Roberto de Nobili, who died some years before Roberto's birth, at the early age of 18 years ⁴. "Roberto de Nobili", says Pastor, "was a Cardinal upon whom the representatives of the Catholic reform party could rest their greatest hopes. Highly gifted from an intellectual point of view—he is said to have spoken Latin and Greek at ten years of age—he distinguished himself still more by his great piety. Like Aloysius of Gonzaga, whom he particularly resembles, he was scrupulously pure of heart. He could never do enough in his ascetic exercises; he fasted strictly, slept on a board, wore a hair-shirt, assisted at Mass every day, listened frequently to sermons, and often received Holy Communion, and from motives of humility would not allow his portrait to be painted. The dignity of the Cardinalate, which he had received from Julius III, was only used to assist the needy. He repeatedly thought of renouncing this dignity and of retiring into a religious order; but his confessor, the Jesuit Polanco, dissuaded him from this step. Assisted by him he died after a painful illness, with the most perfect resignation to the Divine Will, on January 18th, 1559. Men like Charles Borromeo, Bellarmino and Baronius venerated as a saint this Cardinal, who was so early called away to a better life¹.
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² Brucker, *Malabar Rites*, The Catholic Encyclopædia, IX, p. 558, says Roberto de Nobili was born in Rome. I prefer the authority of Dahmen, *Roberto de Nobili, S.J.*, p. 1.
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³ Juvencio, *Epitome Historiae S.J.*, IV, p. 74-5. Guerreiro, l. c., says that he was a nephew of Card. Sforza. Card. Bellarmino was his father's uncle. Cf. Dahmen, l. c.
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⁴ Dahmen, o. c., p. 2, note 1.
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¹ Pastor, *History of the Popes*, XIII, p. 176-7.
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The pious nephew, moved perhaps by the example of his uncle, in order to avoid any probability of his elevation to high eccleciastical dignity, joined the Society of Jesus in 1597 at Nocera, in the 19th year of his age. The famous historian of the Society, Fr. Nicolao Orlandini, was his novice master². Four years later, though not yet a priest, he requested his superiors to send him to the missions of India³. In 1604 his wishes were fulfilled. He reached Goa in September, 1605, and was despatched shortly after to the College of Cochin, where he finished his studies in Theology⁴. One of his letters to the General, written at Cochin, shows both the state of the missions of southern India on those days, and his enthusiasm to undertake missionary life in the interior of the peninsula. It runs as follows: "It is but too true that till now our Fathers have hardly tried to get into touch with the people of the interior. With the exception of a few towns owned by the Portuguese and a few stretches on both coasts depending on them, where they had minor settlements, all that immense land of India, where the power of the King of Portugal never possessed any sort of influence, and where consequently one cannot expect any help from that power for the promotion of the missions, continues to grovel in the darkness of idolatry. Thus the way to the conversion of India is closed; and of our best missionaries all are content to employ themselves in the Colleges of Cochin and in the four residences we have along the coast, and close their eyes to the innumerable multitude of souls living in those wide-spread lands of India. Only a few try to penetrate into the interior"⁵.
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² Dahmen, o. c., p. 2.
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³ Ibid., note 4.
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⁴ Ibid., p. 3-5.
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⁵ Castets, *The Madura Mission*, p. 25. The last allusion of de Nobili is most likely to those who were at the court of Venkata II.
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3. Finally in 1606 Father de Nobili himself ventured into ‘those wide-spread lands.’ In the middle of this year Fr. A. Laerzio, the Provincial of the Malabar Province, when going to pay his annual visit to the missionaries, took Fr. de Nobili along and left him at Madura. The same Provincial, in a letter written towards the close of the following year, says: “One year and a half elapsed since we sent Fr. Roberto de Nobili to the residence of Madura in order to learn the language of that country to perfection” ¹. And in another Jesuit letter of the same year, 1606, we read again: “In November last Fr. Provincial, passing through that residence (of Madura), left Fr. Roberto de Nobili there to help Fr. Goncalo frz (Fernandez), and to learn the more correct language of the court; and also to relieve the Father who, being old and sickly, required a successor” ². De Nobili was then 29 years old.
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¹ From Fr. A. Laerzio to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Cochin, November 20th, 1607, Ap. C, No. XX.
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² Litterae Annuae of the Province of Malabar, 1606-1607, Ibid., No. XXVI.
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We find the first impressions of de Nobili after his arrival at Madura in a letter dated December 3rd, 1607, to his godfather the Marquese D. Gregorio Boncompagno: “This,” says he, “is the chief city of the kingdom. It is thickly populated by men that are indeed rich and brave in war, but who have as yet no knowledge of the true God. They are addicted to a very wicked idol-worship; and our Fathers who work here find themselves confronted with such insuperable opposition that after twelve years they have not made a single convert, except three or four sick persons who were baptised shortly before death. Yet our Fathers, who have been at work so long here, are men of outstanding virtue and true ability” ³. De Nobili, in another letter to his cousin the Comtessa de Santa Flore, compares the idolatry of Madura to the idolatry of the old city of Rome: “I am now”, he writes, “in a famous city of this country called Madura, crowded with wicked idols, as was formerly the famous city of Rome” ⁴.
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³ Dahmen, o. c., p. 4.
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⁴ Ibid., p. 12, note 1.
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Naturally de Nobili investigated the causes of the failure of Fr. Fernandez, and finally discovered them. "There might, of course, be other explanations", says Fr. Dandoy here. "But one seems to have suggested itself at once to the clear and keen mind of the princely Tuscan missionary. There is an old proverb about the Rome to which de Nobili compared Madura: 'Si Romae vivis Romano vivito more', (when thou art in Rome, do as the Romans do). In other words: one must adopt the customs and ways of the country one lives in. Nobili realised that one of the mistakes of his zealous brethren was that they not only failed to observe Indian customs, but by their example at least taught their converts not to respect them " ¹.
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¹ Dandoy, *A Sannyasi from the West*, The Light of the East, July, 1924, p. 6.
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One of the missionaries residing at the court of Venkata II, Fr. Antonio Rubino, after studying the causes of the lack of conversions, arrived independently at the same conclusions almost at the same time. In one of his letters to Fr. C. Aquaviva, he wrote: "It is astonishing how well barred is the entrance of this kingdom against the Holy Faith. This comes from the aversion and implacable hatred they have (towards us), based on the impression that we are the priests of the Portuguese, who eat beef and drink wine... We keep ourselves away from all these things, in this kingdom. Yet our black dress is quite enough to rouse such opposition and abhorrence; we are therefore looked upon by them as a pestilence. And to them it is quite enough, as said before, that they know us to be the priests of the Portuguese. It is necessary, in order to obtain different results, to dress oneself, to eat, and to keep other social customs, just as they do, in quantum fieri potest (as much as possible). I often wrote this to Fr. Provincial. He wishes to send me, dressed according to their fashion, to a city of this kingdom where I am unknown " ².
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² From Fr. A. Rubino to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Vellore, September 30th, 1609, Ap. C, No. XXVII.
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This was neither the only, nor the main cause of such an aversion towards the Catholic priests. On account of a fatal misunderstanding the Paravas and their missionaries were called Pranguis; and the missionaries themselves, unaware of the real meaning of this word, had accepted it, and even called the Catholic Religion, ‘the Religion of the *Pranguis*’. Christianity had been wrongly identified with *Pranguism*¹. De Nobili, after a careful study of the meaning which the people attached to this word, realized the great mistake of his predecessors. “The word *Prangui*”, he wrote some years later in his *Apology*, “does not, in the mind of this people, signify either Portuguese, or European, or Christian; for they do not exactly know either the one or the other. It means a vile class of people, despicable to a degree not far removed from the beasts—people without virtue and modesty, given to drink, feeding on unclean meat and even human flesh, incapable of science, divinity or religion. The Hindus”, he continues, “have seldom met men of the illustrious Portuguese nation... The men who come here (from the Portuguese possessions) may be reduced to two classes. They are either men who, being born in India, have no Portuguese blood in them whatsoever, yet think that, when they have learnt by heart four Portuguese words and have dressed themselves like the Portuguese, they have changed their race and have become Portuguese; these we call *Topazes*², and the Indians call them *Pranguis*; hence it is clear that it is not only white men whom they call *Pranguis*, but anyone who, whatever his colour, dresses as a Portuguese. Or they are men who were born Jews, but came to some agreement with the Portuguese, and travel on business. These also the people of Madura call *Pranguis* without any qualification. Now anyone who has to deal with them knows the nobility, the reliability and the cleanliness of these two classes! No wonder then that the *Pranguis* are held most vile”³.
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¹ The word *Prangui* is borrowed by the Hindus from the Muhammadans to designate denationalised people. This word, in Sanskrit *Phitanguin* and in Persian *Prangui*, was the name given by the Muslims first to the Franks, and then to all the Europeans in general. The special meaning attached to it in southern India, in Fr. de Nobili's days, was quite different.
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² One who uses two languages. *Cf. Ceylon Antiquary*, VIII, p. 210.
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³ Dahmen, o. c., p. 6 and note 1; Bertrand, *La Mission du Madure*, II, p. 151.
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4. The careful consideration of all these prejudices led to the natural conclusion that the mode of living of missionaries had to be changed in order to attract the Hindus to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Blessed John de Britto, in a letter of 1683, wrote to this effect: "Fr. Roberto de Nobili, of revered memory, that great servant of God and that model of missionaries, having acquired a most complete knowledge of all these prejudices, and being persuaded with St. Ambrose that *primus discendi ardor nobilitas est magistri*¹, made himself all things to all men that he might win them all to Jesus Christ" ².
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¹ The eminence of the master excites the first desire to learn from him.
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² *Litterae Annuae* of the Madura Mission, 1683, Castets, *The Madura Mission*, p. 24.
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But before taking any step in carrying out his new plan, he consulted his superiors about the matter. The Provincial Laerzio thoroughly approved of de Nobili's plan, and mentioned his approval in a letter to Fr. General, written in 1609 ³. His ecclesiastical superior, Mgr. Francisco Ros, Archbishop of Cranganor, and a Jesuit, says: "Before adopting this manner of life, Fr. Roberto first consulted me, who am the pastor of that church. When we had decided between ourselves on a plan to be adopted, the Father gradually carried it out, whilst I decided to continue to be, in a certain fashion, his fellow-worker, and to assist him in so holy an enterprise. I first read books on Hindu idolatry, the subtlest that exist; next I sought the advice of the best theologians of the Malabar Province, of the Goan Inquisitor and of the Most Illustrious Primate, Dr. Frey Alexis Menezes, now Primate of Braga and Governor of Portugal; and on finding that their views agreed with what I had gathered from long experience of those parts of India, I gave my full sanction to the method followed by Fr. Roberto in the formation of his Christians. We declare in particular that the thread worn by the Brahmans, and the *kudumi* or tuft of hair which caste Indians grow on their heads, the sandal paste and other social customs, were not marks of a religious sect, but only distinctions of nobility, caste or family, and that the converts might keep them without any scruple" ⁴.
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³ From Fr. A. Laerzio to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Ap. C, No. XXVIII.
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⁴ From Mgr. F. Ros to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Cochin, November 19th, 1613, Castets, o.c., p. 29-30.
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5. With such a full and encouraging approval from the Archbishop, de Nobili separated himself from his confrère Fernandez, and started his new mode of life, in 1607, a year after his arrival at Madura. Let us hear again the Provincial Laerzio, in one of his letters to Fr. C. Aquaviva. "God in his mercy", he writes, "has at last heard the prayers we addressed to Him long ago and crowned our hitherto fruitless efforts with success. A new field is open to our apostolic zeal; and everything makes us hope that it will be fertile in the labour, merit and fruit of salvation, to the greater glory of God. I mean to speak to Your Paternity about the Madura Mission, by whose beginning such brilliant hopes have been raised. Fr. Roberto de Nobili was moved by the deplorable blindness of those people, who are buried in the darkness of death, and was filled with the great thought that Jesus Christ had come down for the salvation of all men, and must everywhere triumph over the devil, destroy his empire and wrench all his slaves from him. So after discovering the true cause of their obstinacy, he resolved to bring an efficacious cure to such an evil. After the example of St. Paul, who made himself all to all, and specially after that of the Eternal Word, who made himself man in order that men might be saved, Fr. Roberto said to himself: I too will make myself an Indian to save the Indians.
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"With my approval, and with the authorization of His Grace the Archbishop of Cranganore, he presented himself to the Brahmans, protesting that he was neither a Prangui nor a Portuguese, but a Roman Rajah¹, i. e. a man of high nobility; and a sannyasi, that is, a penitent who has forsaken the world and all its enjoyments. The life to which he has bound himself by such a profession is very hard and very difficult; but there is nothing that does not become easy to a man animated with a true desire to make Jesus Christ known and to gain souls to Him.
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¹ Such is the statement of Laerzio, followed by Fr. Castets, o.c p. 24, note 2. It is however contradicted by both Mgr. Ros and Blessed Britto, as we shall see later on. Moreover Fr. Juvencio, who based his work on the accounts sent annually to Rome, says expressly that de Nobili declared himself a Brahman, and adds: "Id quod vere predicare poterat, quippe qui e nobilissima inter Italicas gente ortus". Juvencio, *Epitome*, IV, p. 74. The same
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¹ From Fr. Laerzio to Fr. C. Aquaviva, December 30th, 1608, Castets, o. c., p. 26-7.
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"From that moment, Fr. de Nobili admitted none but Brahmans into his service. Rice, milk, herbs and water, taken once a day, constituted his only food.
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"He also thought it necessary to separate himself from Fr. Gonzalo Fernandez and having built for himself a house and a chapel, on a site given him by a pagan of high position in the Brahman quarter, he made it his own special home" 1. Guerreiro's account states that the house was given him by the Governor of Madura 2.
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Blessed John de Britto, writing on de Nobili's change of life, says that he adapted himself strictly to the Brahmanical manner of life, "used only Brahmans as servants, and gave himself out as a Roman Brahman Sannyasi, or in other words, a religious sage from Rome. Conformably to the social usages of the country, he avoided all public intercourse either with Europeans or with Pariahs" 3.
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Moreover Mgr. Ros, while speaking of this strange evolution, says that 'he transformed himself into a Brahman
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Fr. Laerzio, in another letter written one year later, November 20th, 1609, states that Fr. de Nobili put on the thread of five strings, because the Brahmans wear one made of three threads (Italics mine). Cf. Ap. C. No. XXVIII. Moreover all the sources affirm that de Nobili's new house was placed in the Brahman quarters. Guerreiro, l.c., not acquainted with Indian things and customs says that he presented himself 'como Brahmene or Rayo'. In one of the contemporary letters there is an anecdote which might perhaps create some confusion. Once the Nayak Hermecutti (Erumei Chetti) sent soldiers to arrest one of de Nobili's disciples. At the official's request the missionary answered: 'If His Lordship wants my head, let him cut it off; but let him not expect from me a deed unworthy of my rank'. At these words one of the soldiers, who was a rajah by caste, was heard to murmur with some pride: 'Here is a true rajah. I know his caste from the way he behaves'. Bertrand, o.c., II, p. 94. Is Bertrand reliable here? I was unable to see the original of this letter.
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² Guerreiro, o. c., p. 112.
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³ Litterae Annuae of the Madura Mission, 1683, Castets, o.c., p. 24.
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philosopher’¹. Accordingly he was called thereafter Tattva-bodhaka Swami, the Philosophical Doctor.
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¹ From Mgr. F. Ros to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Ibid, p. 29.
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6. De Nobili himself, in a letter to Cardinal Bellarmino, dated Madura, December Ist, 1607, describes confidently his ordinary life in his new settlement. “I now dwell”, he says, “in a mud-house covered with straw, which is to me more useful and gives me more satisfaction than a rich palace. I hold it to be most certain that there is no consolation comparable to that enjoyed by one living in this voluntary sort of exile for the love of God, and toiling much for His sake. Nevertheless at times the labour I have undertaken becomes wearisome to me; and when the thought rushes on me, that I shall have to continue amidst such toil and fatigue all my lifelong, I begin to be apprehensive that I shall not be able to persevere to the end. But when I turn my thought from this to heaven, I am reminded of what Your Excellency used to say, explaining those words of King David: ‘Qui posuit fines tuos pacem’. I feel that my fear has vanished, and I am consoled at the thought that, since such peace and repose await us in the end, a longing for rest here on earth is simply unreasonable.
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“My way of living is as follows : I remain continually shut up in my little mud-house. Thereto, every day, after I have said Mass and commended myself to the Lord, I give free admittance to whoever likes to speak to or to discuss with me. The time left to me, which is very short, I spend in writing, in the language of the country, the refutation of some of the false doctrines upheld by various leaders of thought among these people. As I am thus obliged to keep continually to my house, or rather to my single little room; and as the food I eat is not very substantial, since neither meat nor fish nor eggs ever so much as pass my door, I am always sickly; and few are the days in which I do not feel some pain either in the stomach or in the head. My food consists of a small quantity of rice, of which there is abundance in this country, and some herbs or fruits. This manner of diet I must observe; because if these people did not see me following this penitential kind of life, they would not consider me fit to teach them the heavenly way. For so are their doctors wont to live, and some of them even follow a harder and austerer kind of life. There are those in fact who do not even touch rice. Now if Your Excellency reflects that here the use of bread is unknown, and that as to wine, I use it only for Mass, Your Excellency may gather how little a man has to feed upon if he abstains from rice. As for me, I do not venture so far; because what I already do, namely abstaining from flesh and fish and eggs, suffices in order that those people may condescend to consider me as a true teacher of religion. At this very moment I am suffering from such a strong fit of asthma that I can scarcely breathe; and so I finish my letter bit by bit as I can" ¹.
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¹ From Fr. R. de Nobili to Card. R. Bellarmino, Madura, December 1st, 1607, Castets, o. c., p. 32-4.
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This food was prepared by a Brahman cook; and he never dared any more to take food prepared by a non-Brahman servant ². He had one daily meal only, and that at four o'clock in the afternoon, according to the custom of the sannyasis ³.
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² Guerreiro, o. c., p. 112.
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³ Figueroa, Historia y Anal Ralacion. Los anos passados de 607 y 608, p. 134-5.
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7. For the rest of the day he was extremely busy with the study of the languages of the country. Shortly after his arrival in Cochin he had taken up the study of Tamil. In his letter to Prince Boncompagno, quoted above, he says: "As soon as I came here I began to learn the language which, on account of its rich vocabulary and its syntax, is difficult. But God helped me, so that after six months I could hold conversation and preach without an interpreter" ⁴. Two years later he wrote again that 'he finds it more difficult to speak Italian or Portuguese than Malabar (Tamil)' ⁵. Writing to Card. Bellarmino, he says: 'I find their language very fine, very copious and very elegant' ⁶. About the same time, Fr. Laerzio wrote to Fr.
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⁴ From Fr. R. de Nobili to Prince Boncompagno, Madura, December 3rd, 1607. Dahmen, o. c., p. 4.
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⁵ From the same to Fr. Fabius de Fabiis, Madura, October 8th, 1609, Ibid., p. 14.
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⁶ From Fr. R. de Nobili to Card. R. Bellarmino, Madura December 1st, 1607, Castets, o. c., p. 33.
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General: "Fr. Roberto charms every one by his conversations, the purity of his High Tamil, and the stories and passages from Indian authors that he quotes from memory 1".
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He now began to apply himself to Telugu and Sanskrit. No European had previously studied the latter language 2. His teacher was a learned Brahman from Madura. In a letter dated April 22nd, 1609, Fr. de Nobili expresses to his Provincial his gratitude to that learned man. "I cannot express," he says, "all the obligation I am under to this excellent Brahman. Besides the knowledge of Sanskrit and Telugu, I owe him a knowledge still more precious: that of the most sacred mysteries of the Vedam. It is considered a crime for a Brahman to write down the Vedam; they only learn it by heart at the cost of incrediable fatigue, and it takes them ten or twelve consecutive years. My teacher has overcome his scruples on this point, which is a shining proof of his faith. He writes down all the laws for me; but this must be done quite secretly; if the Brahmans came to know of it, the least punishment inflicted on him would be the plucking out of his eyes. We spurn the danger because of the utmost necessity of this means: for on the knowledge of these secrets depends the conversion of the gentiles" 3. His assiduity in study was so great that Fr. Vico, one of his companions later on, affirms that de Nobili used to study whilst the barber was shaving him 4.
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In an account of the year 1608 we read as follows: "He has started to learn the Gueredan (Gradonic or Sanskrit) now, and he reads it and speaks it moderately well”¹. Two years later, in a letter dated December 8th, 1610, Laerzio reports that ‘Father Roberto possesses the language, understands it perfectly, and speaks it with ease’ ². Finally in 1613, Mgr. Ros is able to affirm that de Nobili has “learned three very difficult languages, investigated to their very depths the secrets of the sacred mysteries of the heathen and mastered them fully”. And somewhat later on, the Archbishop expresses his admiration for the marvellous knowledge acquired by de Nobili in such a short time: “I have conversed with Fr. Roberto”, says he, “about the languages and manners of these people, and I was so much impressed by his knowledge, that I, who may, however, be said to know something of those languages, am ready to swear, every time I am asked to do it, that this Father cannot have acquired the knowledge he possesses through natural means, any more than he can, without the special help of God, lead the austere life he leads” ³.
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¹ From Fr. A. Laerzio to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Cochin, December 30th, 1608, Ibid., p.
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²⁷ "Sabe ya la lengua Talmul (Tamil), mas cortesana, y pronunciala tan biem que no da ventja a los Bramanes mas entendidos. Lee y escrive ya la misma lengua, y tiene passados muchos libros de sus historias y decorados muchos pasos de su ley, y versos de los mas famosos Poetas de que ellos hacen mucho caso". Figueroa, o. c., p. 135.
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² Cf. Max Muller, The Science of Language, I, p. 143.
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³ From Fr. R. de Nobili to Fr. A. Laerzio, Madura, April 22nd, 1609, Bertrand, o. c., III, p. 49.
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¹ Figueroa, o. c., p. 135.
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² From Fr. A. Laerzio to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Cochin, December 8th, 1610, Bertrand, o. c., II, p. 88.
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³ From Mgr. F. Ros to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Cochin, November 19th, 1613, Castets, o. c., p.
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8. Admiring crowds gathered round the Philosophical Doctor, and curiosity led the men of Madura to see and hear him. Visitors flocked to the small hut to inquire where the new sannyasi came from, what was his caste, his doctrine, his manner of life and his purpose. But de Nobili, knowing the customs of the Indian ascetics, at the beginning did not stir out, and received visitors only with great reserve. When people came to see him, his disciple told them that the sannyasi was engaged in contemplation, or engrossed in meditation upon the divine law ⁴.
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²⁹ “Suspiciebant (Brahmanes) majorem in modum, tantam in homine Europaeo vernaculi sermonis facultatem, non secus ac si media in Madura et aula fuisset educatus; eruditionem vero in nulla doctrinae Indicae parte rudem.” Juvencio, Epitome, IV, p.
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⁷⁵ “We feel deep admiration for his (Nobili’s) learning and knowledge of Sanskrit, for not only the Sanskrit literature was known to him, but also the Veda, at least one of the Sakhas, the Yajurveda of the Taittiriyas”. Caland, *Roberto de Nobili and the Sanskrit Language*, Acta Orientalia, III, p. 51.
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When admiration and curiosity were at fever-height he received the visitors, but not before they had come twice or thrice. "They tell the porter that they wished to speak with the Ayer (that means the lord)," says Figueroa. "Then after much waiting, as it is there customory, they are admitted to his presence to talk with him. They find him sitting on a dais covered with a red carpet-like cloth; another red carpet is lying before him, and next to this there is a mat. Those who come, even the most noble and principal courtiers, bow reverently before him, raising up their hands over their heads and then bringing them down in profound obeisance. Those who desire to become his disciples bow thrice in this style, and finally prostrate themselves for a while " ¹.
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¹ Figueroa, o. c., p. 135.
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Guerreiro affirms that even Muttu Virappa Nayaka was desirous of hearing the new European sannyasi, and manifested his wish several times to his courtiers; but one of them, who probably knew de Nobili, replied that 'the Father was so chaste, that he never went out of his house to avoid seeing women' ².
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² Guerreiro, o. c., p. 113.
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As a matter of fact, de Nobili spent more than one year in that holy solitude, without having been seen in the streets even for a moment ³. When, after a while, he began to go occasionally to his country-house for some rest, he went in a palanquin preceded by two criers to clear his way. Some years afterwards, however, all this show was dropped: he presented himself as a mere spiritual guru, proceeding simply on foot, with a long staff bearing his insignia and two Brahman disciples accompanying him ⁴. All these ceremonies and honours were far from being dear to the heart of the humble missionary, who had joined the Society of Jesus in order to avoid them; but in his Apology he says that a Hindu pandaram had given him the following good advice: "If you desire your own salvation only, you should retire to a desert, where you can live stark naked. But if, as you tell me, you have at heart the salvation of the people of this land, you must surround yourself with splendour: the spiritual man must be like a corpse who wears with equal indifference silk robes and linen rags, riches and poverty, honours and ignominy ” 1.
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³ Ibid.
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⁴ From Mgr. F. Ros to Fr. Aquaviva, Cochin, November 19th, 1613, Castets, o. c., p. 38.
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³ From Mgr. F. Ros to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Cochin, November 19th, 1613, Castets, o. c., p. 29.
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⁴ Cf. Ch. XXV, No. 13.
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De Nobili’s purpose was successfully attained. Fr. B. Coutinho, in a letter of 1608, speaks “ of the great fruit obtained in Madura by Fr. Roberto, and of the great edification he gives by devoting himself to the service of God in a sort of disguise ” 2. And Mgr. Ros is still more explicit in the following passage of the letter quoted above: “ He (de Nobili) has attracted the hearts of haughty Brahmans, in such a way that not only do they come to see him, and hear from his lips the word of God with incredible admiration, but they go so far,—a wonder which no one could have expected,—as to kiss the ground he has trodden on and to embrace the faith that he preaches. Acknowledging their errors, they openly declare: ‘Never has a man spoken as he does’ ” 3.
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9. The immediate fruit of this admiration and veneration was a large crop of souls. The first Brahman who became a Christian was a teacher in the school founded at Madura by the Jesuits 4. He was a very learned and proud young man, who had despised the Fathers and their doctrine. Fr. de Nobili gave him a Tamil Catechism written by Fr. G. Fernandez, to be translated into Telugu. The reading of this book excited much curiosity in the teacher’s mind. On the occasion of an eclipse of the sun, that took place on February 25th, 1608, Fr. de Nobili refuted several of his ideas and superstitions. That was their first religious talk. After that the teacher was a frequent visitor at de Nobili’s house, and became his constant disciple. Guerreiro gives the matter and order of some of these discussions: “ They first spoke about the plurality of gods. The Father showed him its absurdity based on the argument of the divine perfection? For it is evident that if God were to have partners of his divinity inferior to Him, they would not be gods; if they were equal, none of them would be god, since each would be wanting in the perfections the others had. The teacher easily agreed to this reasoning. Then they discussed whether God had created this world out of nothing. On this point the pagans hold the same error as our ancient philosophers did, viz. that it is impossible to create something out of nothing. De Nobili refuted this as follows :-
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¹ Bertrand, o. c., II, p. 167.
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² From Fr. B. Coutinho to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Vellore, October 11th, 1608, Ap. C., No. XXIII.
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"Everything that exists has its existence either because it has it from itself or because it has received it from another. Your Paju (Pasu) exists; now, this existence is given him by God or it comes from himself.
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"The Hindu replied that it had not been given by God.
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"Hence it comes from himself", added the Father.
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"It seems so," answered the Hindu.
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"Therefore, (replied de Nobili), this your Paju (Pasu) is God, and possesses an infinite being, and this being is not limited by anybody". On hearing this the Hindu remained silent; no answer could be given to the conclusion. Then, in order to convince him thoroughly, the Father proved the same with another more evident argument from the omnipotence of God. If God could not create something out of nothing, he was not mightier than the earth, which produces the trees out of their seeds; nor than the water, which aided by the sun and other circumstances produces fishes and other imperfect animals¹. He would then be like a carpenter, who from a tree makes an image, but he cannot make it without the tree. De Nobili told him at the same time that God, in order to be infinitely powerful, cannot lack any power; but He would certainly lack power if He would need Paju (Pasu) in order to create anything. Hence either He was not Almighty or He was not in need of Paju (Pasu). The Hindu remained satisfied after hearing this reasoning.
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¹ This idea was founded on the ancient philosophical theory of spontaneous generation, which is now thoroughly exploded.
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"On another occasion, another important dispute took place about the transmigration of souls, an ancient dream of Pythagoras. The reason given by the Hindu was founded on the variety of men: some are kings, others are slaves; some are Brahmans, others Pariahs. While explaining his theory the Hindu spoke as a true Pythagorean would have done, since he maintained that the soul was not the form of the body, but was (he said) inside the body as the bird is inside the cage and the chicken inside the egg. It was not very difficult to show him the fallacy of this opinion.
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"You know very well," said the Father, "that when the bird is inside the cage, the cage does not grow; unlike the body, that having the soul inside, grows up to its perfect height. Moreover you cannot deny that the bird out of the cage can beget another bird, and yet you will never state that the soul separated from the body could have sons. Moreover the soul is not in the body in the same way as the bird is in the cage.
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"Then the Hindu asked de Nobili: 'How did it stay in the body?'
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"The Father answered that the soul dwelt in the body as the form and the life of that body, and both together made one thing, called man. The Father proved this by the human operations of eating, walking and running; for these operations cannot be done by the body alone without the soul, but by both together. And for the same reason neither the body alone, nor the soul alone, but both together forming one single thing, make up what is called a man. Hence, it would not be in accordance with justice that any of them separately should be either punished or rewarded for the bad or the good deeds of the man; both together must be either punished or rewarded, since both together have done bad or good things. Then the missionary explained to him how a man dying in a state of sin, that is, in infinite malice, has to be punished with an infinite punishment. But to be a hundred years in the body of a dog was not an infinite punishment; therefore a place was necessary where, after passing away from this life, the sinner could be punished for ever without ever entering another body. As to the variety of men, from which the transmigration of souls was inferred, the Father replied that the potter from the same mud moulds a jar for the king's table and a basin for washing one's feet; in the same way God according to his will creates one to be a king and another to be a slave; and nobody can reasonably complain by asking: ‘Why was I made so?’
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“This disputation lasted a long time. It was started at two o’clock in the afternoon and was not over before eight o’clock in the evening. From this, however, as well as from the preceding ones and from others that followed, in which the mysteries of our holy faith were declared to him, this Hindu was so satisfied and so enlightened, that he soon asked for Holy Baptism, which was finally administered to him after having been carefully instructed for twenty days; and he was named Albert.
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“The Baptism of this fortunate teacher was the beginning of many others, that were subsequently administered to those who were coming to know the most sweet name of Jesus and his holy law. For after a while he baptised another noble youth whom he called Alexis Naique (Nayaka); and two more Badagas (Telugus), and a brother of the teacher Albert, and four or five more nobles, among them a very learned Captain. All this was done with great rejoicing; but secretly, in order that it might not reach the Naique’s (Nayak’s) ears till an occasion for the Father to pay a visit to him presented itself” 1.
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10. But all these conversions could not be made as secretly and silently as de Nobili desired. For Albert had formerly been a disciple of a Pandara, who at once noticed his pupil’s desertion. De Nobili was afraid of this Pandara because of his influence at court; but the man himself, moved by curiosity, once went, exhorted by his disciples, to the house of de Nobili. The missionary received him as kindly as he could; and after they were seated, a religious discussion at once began De Nobili declared to him the tenets of the religion of Christ, and so clearly, that the Pandara openly confessed before his disciples that ‘Chhokkanatha (the god worshipped at Madura) and the ashes they put on their forehead were all sham, and that only the things taught by our holy faith seemed to him true’. On leaving the house, the Pandara told his pupils that those who embraced de Nobili's doctrine were worthy of much praise; and that he himself would help the missionary in his enterprise to the best of his ability. And his first advice to him was of great importance indeed.
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¹ Guerreiro, o. c, p. 113-5. The final refutation of the transmigration of souls is also mentioned in Juvencio, *Epitome*, IV, p. 75-6, and Marini, *Delle Missioni*, p. 119.
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It has been often said that, when de Nobili moved to the Brahman quarters, he also changed his black soutane for the dress of a Brahman *sannyasi*. This is not accurate. Up to this time, *viz.*, towards the middle of 1608, de Nobili wore the black soutane, as contemporary sources clearly show. It was at the advice of this Pandara that he changed his mind once more, and changed his habit too, for that of a *sannyasi*. "He advised him to leave aside the dress of the Portuguese, which was hated by the Badagas (Telugus), and to put on the garments used in that country by the *gurus* and learned people who profess to teach the divine law". De Nobili objected that this dress was too showy and, therefore inconsistent with his vow of poverty; but the Pandara solemnly replied :—
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"Father, if you want to attain salvation yourself alone, you may dress as you like; but if you want to teach others the way to salvation, to be the *guru* of these people, to preach the spiritual law and to have many disciples, you must live according to the customs of this country, as much as you can" ¹.
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¹ Guerreiro, o. c., p. 115-6.
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De Nobili followed the advice of the Pandara, and on this occasion he took to the dress of the *sannyasis* ². This dress is described in one of the letters of Fr. Laerzio as "a long robe of yellowish cloth, with a sort of rochet of the same colour thrown over the shoulders, a cap in the form of a turban on his head, and wooden slippers fixed on supports two inches high and fastened to each foot by a peg passing between the toes". "To this", Fr. Laerzio continues, "he adds a string, the distinctive sign of the Brahmans and of the Raju caste; but instead of the three threads of which it is generally made, he uses five, three gold and two silver ones, and a cross is suspended in the middle. The three gold threads, as he explains, represent the Holy Trinity, and the two silver ones the body and the soul of the adorable Humanity of Our Lord; while the cross in the middle represents the Passion and Death of the Saviour " 1. Figueroa, after having described de Nobili's costume in accordance with the preceding extract, adds the following consideration to the explanation of the string of five threads: " Thus with this string he publicly announces in that country the mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity of the Incarnation and of the Redemption " 2. Later on de Nobili ascertained that a solitary ascetic need not wear the thread, and thenceforth he discarded it 3.
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² Juvencio, *Epitome*, IV, p. 76.
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² Figueroa, o. c., p. 134.
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XVI. Fr. Roberto de Nobili, S. J., in the costume of Brahman Sannyasi. An ink sketch by a contemporary missionary Fr. Baltazar da Costa, Biblioteca Nacional, Panjim.
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II. The number of conversions was gradually increasing. At the end of September, 1608, he baptised four prominent men of Madura—Dadamurti, the owner of the agrahara where Fr. de Nobili lived; Chritinada, a craftsman of great repute with the Nayak and the nobles of the court; Golor, brother of the chief porter of the Nayak's palace; and a fourth, whose name is not given. At the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, December 21st, nine others were also baptised 4.
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In the following year, one of the most illustrious converts was de Nobili's own teacher of Sanskrit and Telugu. When their friendship began, the proud guru nursed fond hopes of converting the Christian *sannyasi* to Hinduism; but the result turned out to be quite other than he had foreseen or even hoped for. On June 7th, 1609 de Nobili announces this event, showing in his words the joy of his heart and his thankfulness to God: "Today", says he, "the feast of the Holy Ghost, I have baptised my beloved teacher: I cannot sufficiently express his joy, mine, and that of all the Christians. He has received the name of God-given. I trust he will do much for the conversion of the Gentiles, for he is a young man well known throughout Madura for his nobility, his cleverness, his erudition, and his profound knowledge of the sacred laws; and, what I esteem most, he has ever led a pure and regular life " 5.
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The number of conversions cannot be ascertained with precision. Fr. Besse, after an examination of de Nobili's letters, records their number at 71 for this first period of his work, from 1607 to 1614¹. The letters of de Nobili and his companions often commemorate the virtues practised by these Christians, that recall to our mind those of the first Christians of Rome. Alexis Nayak is mentioned as an example of humility and Christian perfection ². His brother Vihuuada (Vihuvada) Nayaka preferred to be dismissed from the retinue of Kasturi Nayaka, a cousin of Muttu Virappa Nayaka, rather than mark his forehead with the sacred ashes as in former days ³. Another called Calistri (?) is shown as busy spreading the Christian faith among his old friends and always desirous of the palm of martyrdom ⁴. The craftsman we have mentioned above was offered great quantities of money to induce him to make several statues of idols; but he always refused them, preferring a life of poverty to contributing any more to the splendour of that cult ⁵. Fr. Buccerio, a companion of Fr. Fernandez, by whom he was later on influenced against Fr. de Nobili, wrote a brilliant apology for the converts of de Nobili. "I observed in that Christian community", says he, "two other things well worthy of the highest praise, and exceedingly rare in India, among those who wish to become Christians. I may speak from experience, for during my long apostolate the Lord sent me many to be instructed and baptised.
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Those who thus present themselves generally come to us either because of the interest they find in joining Christians of their caste, or because of the difficulties they experience in remaining pagans or Muhammadans, or because they hope to secure some temporal advantage, or for other interested motives. For these reasons they are often he cause of great difficulties to us. What can we give them? How are we to clothe or protect them? At the same time we must give them much instruction in order to teach them to purify their intention, and to make them understand that in our religion alone can they find salvation. But, on the other hand I observe that, in Fr. Roberto’s community, those new Christians have come with no other end in view than their salvation; also after having attended, during several months, the instructions of the Aiyer (de Nobili) and understood that our religion is the only true one, they asked to be baptised and to be made Christians, solely to please God and to save their soul. The Aiyer has never to give anything to his Christians; it is rather they who, on the day of their baptism, are wont to present the Aiyer with some little offerings for the use of his church, or for other similar purposes. We, on the contrary, are all our lifelong beset with cares and anxieties to find out how we may help our Christians, who are continually begging. Some of them have even come all the distance from Cape Comorin to this city, in order to approach me for some help.
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The second thing which I always tried, though in vain, to make both Christians and Pagans understand, is that our religion is no more the religion of the Portuguese than of any other nation; and that by becoming a Christian an Indian does not lose his honour or his caste, but rather keep all the honour he had, and adds to it the much greater glory of becoming an adopted son of God. But it is useless for us to speak to them in this way; we fail entirely to persuade them; for those who come to us are invariably regarded by Christians and Pagans as joining the caste of the Pranguis or Portuguese, or of that of the Paravas, according to the nature of the converts; and the Pagans look down upon us in the matter of caste, as being below everything. In consequence respectable Pagans, or even the Christians of St. Thomas, refuse to admit those converts into their houses or to their churches. Fr. Roberto has obtained totally different results. Hence, though both Christians and Pagans well know that the law he preaches is the same as that of the Portuguese (as is proved by the crosses and other pious objects which those Chrstians wear in place of the image of their gods), the Christians (of de Nobili) have the satisfaction of being assured that the Father is not a Prangui; and the Pagans, who have the same conviction, are appeased and have no difficulties in dealing with the Christians in all social or civil matters” ¹.
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- Veda — Sanskrit