Saga of proselytisation in Orissa : Past , Present and Future
16/05/2009 10:45:37  

By Debasis
Tripathy in Bhubaneswar

At last the balidan
of swami Laxmananda Saraswati, the venerable saint who emerged as the
nemesis of proselytisation, compelled the state government to confess the
reality, may be in late. The patriotic blood of Swamijee has dragged  the truth out, that “ Conversion to
Christianity is the root cause of all problems in Kandhamal” , what the state
government has submitted before the Supreme Court. It is an official
declaration of the government admitting the allegations of uncontrolled and
unlawful proselytisation, mushrooming growth of which is continuing since 1720
AD, even under the nose of the administration. Anti conversion laws have taken
compulsory retirements in order to appease the evangelical vote bank of the
sate whose number is ever increasing. The govt. has admitted that 24,000 Hindus
have been converted to Christianity in Kandhamal within few years, which is
openly denied by the evangelists. They do not want to loose their minority
identity in spite of possessing an army of proselytisers in many parts of the
state including Kandhamal. A series of church sponsored atrocities and
conversion in the name of service and religious purity, made by the so-called
god men in white gowns, has disrupted peace and composure in the state a great
deal , which is being officially admitted today by the state government.

 

The crusade of proselytisation first started in
Orissa in the year 1720 AD , with a well chalked out plan to make this holy
land of Lord Jagannath , a part of the evangelical empire by destroying
Orissa’s deep rooted enriched culture and heritage. The church people left no
stone unturned to make their unholy mission successful. The first school of
proselytisation in Orissa was opened at Athgarh in Cuttack district , where a Hindu Sadhu namely
Sundar Das was tortured by pastors and he was forced to accept Christianity .
Sadhu bluntly refused to become converted for which he was sent to jail at the
age of 110 years, basing on false allegations manufactured by the evangelists.
How ever his two pupils namely Gangadhar Sarangi and Ramachandra Jachak were
converted to Christianity through allurement that if they would become
Christian, their writings would be published in the Church printing press. This
was the first conversion in Orissa in the month of October 1827. Sadhu Sundar
Das was a preacher of Bhakti Cult who was working as a  soldier in the army of the then king of
Athgarh during his youth. Latter he left army and started studying Sanskrit and
scriptures , became a Sanyasi. The Church people first targeted him and did
every effort to mould him towards Christianity. Two missionaries namely Bampton
and Pegus came to him in the year 1822 and persuaded him to become Christian
but Sundar Das was not ready to discard Hinduism. Sadhu Sunder Das also started
his Sudhi programme and returned back his followers who were baptised by
pastors. Hence he became sole target by the Church and breathed his last on 16^th
April 1838, in a very miserable condition. Though Sadhu Sunder Das was not
directly killed by the Church, but he was compelled to die being imprisoned for
false allegations made by the church people. The same thing was repeated,but in
a different manner in 2008 ,in which Swami Laxmananada was murdered by the
evangelists.

 

Christian Press in
Proselytisation-



 

The evangelists  as a part of their tarnished ploy for
proselytisation, started printing press in Orissa in order to attract people.
As there was no such printing press , people thronged in to their press to get
their literary works published. Taking its advantage, the church started
publishing different blasphemous literatures defaming Hindu deities like Lord
Jagannatah in a most uncivilised manner. 
In 1838, Orissa Mission Press was established in Cuttack and two books were published in Oriya
language namely “ Sat O Asat Jagannath”(
True or False Jagannath) and “ Gundicha
Yatra ra Mahaschrya Phal”  ( The
surprising result of  Car Festival ).
These books openly outraged Lord Jagannath and reprimand the deity and his
devotees in a worst possible manner. Two more 
publications namely “ Kutrabar Patra” and “Gayan Runa” were published
from the said printing press in 1759 and in 1849 respectively by pastor C.
Leysy as their editor. Both these publications worked as the  manifesto of proselytisation through which a
good number of educated people were baptised . Apart from this, the church
people in the name of spreading western education in the state harvested a good
crop of converted Hindus through their mission schools. Convent schools were
opened in different parts of the state. The famous Sunday School was started at
Cuttack in 1822
and other 27 such schools were established in the coastal belt of Orissa during
1897 and the total student strength of these schools were 1248, all most all
were baptised. In 1823 , four English medium schools were opened at Cuttack along with a
boarding school. This boarding school which latter turned into an orphanage,
was a workshop of proselytisation and all the children were converted to
Christianity . Latter , in 1881 CuttackStewartSchool
and in 1882 MissionSchool, were 
established at Cuttack
to fuel the fire of proselytisation.

 

 
 

 

Revolution Against
Church-  

It is a part
of the known history that the Vanvasis of Orissa have been badly affected by
the illegal conversion, their socio-cultural and religious lives have been
contaminated by the church people. Kandhamal is the best example what the
church has done there and how it has been spreading hatred among native
vanvasis and how the same is being protested by the culture-loving tribals. The
church people created panic in the tribal areas of the state through
proselytisation, poor people were searching way how to get rid of the same ,
again spreading of blasphemous imputations against their deities made them
furious . A revolution broke out against Christians 1815 in the tribal areas ,
famous as “ Ghumusar Revolution” and continued up to 1857. The book namely “
Administration of East India Company” authored by Mr. T.W.Kaye is the clinching
evidence of this revolution. At page 595 & 596 , the author writes “  Missionary
activities of Christian Padris all over the estate alarmed the people about the
impending danger to their religion and civilisation and subsequently they took
to arms to defend their faith and culture from being imperilled by the rising
tide of Christianity in the region.”  The revolution first started by Kamal Loachan
Dora Bisoi, backed by the king Sreekar Bhanja and Dhanajaya Bhanja . In 1837,
Dora Bisoi was captured by the British people and was sent to Ooty jail where
he died in 1846. ( ref. letter of captain Macpherson to Mills dtd.27.12.1846.
B.R.A. Vol. 1846 ) . The then princely states were also helping the
revolutionaries to drive the missionaries out of the state in order to save the
Hindu religion and Jagannath cult form destruction and to combat
proselytisation. However , Dora Bisoi ignited the first flame of revolution
against the evangelists in Khurda, Banapur, Puri areas and the same became
successful and took the momentum as the famous Paika Revolution of Khurda of
1817. The second phase of revolution against Christians started by Chakara
Bisoi, Nabaghan Kanhar, Bira Kanhar and others in the year 1846 and continued
up to 1866. [ ref. Letter of Samuels to secretary to govt. dtd. 1.2.1856,
B.R.A. Vol. 1855-57 ]. This revolution spreaded like wild fire against the
Christians far and wide. Chakara Bisoi and his revolutionary friends led the
revolution from Athagarh to Paralakhemundi, from Angul to Ghumusar, from
Patanagarh to Nayagarh, from Boudh to Russelkonda mostly against the
socio-cultural and religious exploitation and conversion by Christian pastors. In
Kandhamal, the Kandha vanvasis killed 13 proselytisers including British
officials at a place namely Udaygiri , which was their spontaneous reaction
against the Christians.

 

While this revolution against the Christians was in
its full swing and was approaching towards its finality, the unfortunate
calamity devastated Orissa , ill-famous as the Famine of 1866. About 10 lakhs
people died out of starvation and the Christians did not miss the golden
opportunity to catch fish from that troubled water. They started  food stalls where the hungry Hindu people
were being provided food in exchange of their religion. These stalls were
working as the open canters of proselytisation. Three evangelists namely
William Brooks, William Billey and John Bookley were in charge of this mass
conversion drive and many Hindus were converted to Christianity being compelled
by the situation. [ ref. Letter of Mr. Derby to Thomas cook dtd.7.11.1888]. This
historic famine broke the back bone of the poor people of Orissa and their
revolution against the church sponsored atrocities was cool down.

 

 
Table
Showing Christian Population in Cuttack- Bhubaneswar

Source- www.catholic-hierarchy.org

 

 

As per the census of 2001, the number of Christian
population in Orissa has been reported as 1,468,575 out of total population
37,655,762 and the percentage of Christian population is 3.09%. But the data of
Kandhamal district is quite disturbing where the Christian population growth
has been reported as 66%. About 42,353 Hindu vanvasis are converted to
Christianity in Kandhamal during 1991-2001, but among them only two persons
have been converted as per law. According to data
available with the district collectorate, the Christian population in Kandhamal
was 117,950 in the 2001 census, up from 75,597 a decade earlier."The
Christian growth rate in the district is 66 percent as against 18.6 percent for
the overall population growth in the district," District Collector Krishan
Kumar told Organiser .Kumar said that the Orissa Freedom of Religious Act,
which came into action in 1989, allows people to change or adopt any religion
but all such individuals need to submit a form to the district magistrate.” We
have received just two applications not just between 1991 and 2001 but between
1989 and 2008. We must understand that every one must follow law," Kumar
explained.However, he did not specify what action the district administration
has taken to punish those who have violated the law.Asked if he attributes the
growth of Christian population to conversions, he said: "It could be
because of two reasons - conversion and migration. “Of the over 650,000 people
in the troubled district, at least 53 percent are tribals. Of the nearly
118,000 Christians, a majority has converted from Dalit families. Dr. Kumar
said . But on the other hand , Arch Bishop Raphael Cheenath says that
Christians are minority in Kandhamal. But the question arises if only 2 persons
are legally converted in Kandhamal then why proper legal actions are not being
taken against others who are illegally converted and against those who baptised
them unlawfully?

 

The Orissa Freedom of Religion Act,
1964 which was enacted to combat conversion from one religion to another
religion through fraudulent means , allurement or by applying force, has become
a mockery in the hands of the callous executive machinery. This legislation and
the Rule framed there under has been completely paralysed . The Christians
demand for the repeal of the said Act in order to make their illegal
proselytisation free from all barriers. Arch Bishop Raphael Cheenath publicly
outraged this legislation  as a “
Draconian Legislation” and demanded for its repeal . No action has been taken
against them. On the other hand in order to appease the Christian Vote Bank,
the government has turned deaf towards illegal conversions. Late Nandini
Satapathy, the former Chief Minister of Orissa raised this question of
uncontrolled conversion in the state Legislative Assembly and demanded for a
white paper on the issue on 25^th March, 1998. It is a fact that the
Congress governments in Orissa had shown undue favour to the Christians but the
degree of such favour which Naveen Pattanaik has been  showing towards proselytisers has crossed all
limits. In the aftermaths of Kandhamal incident of August ,2008 , about 1285
Hindus have been arrested all over the state and 16543 Hindus are being
prosecuted in different charges, whereas the government has given the Christian
goons free breath. “It is the notorious ploy of Shri Mohapatra, the chief
mentor of the state govt. and political Guru of Naveen Pattanaik to finish
Hindu unity . Shri Mohapatra is an ardent Communist   and hand in glove with Maoist ultras and
Christians.” – says Shri Subas Chouhan, the National Co- Convenor of Bajrang
Dal.   

 

Cultivation
of Souls- A plan for 2000AD.   

 

What is the future plan of evangelists
? The answer is, total proselytisation of Orissa and to establish a Red
corridor starting from Chhatisgarh to Bihar. In order to achieve this aim, they
plan to-

1. 
   Occupy
   Orissa for Jesus Christ 
   


2. 
   Reach at each and every people and village
   
   
   
   
   


3. 
   Construct churches in each and every village
   
   
   
   
   


4. 
   send missionaries to every PIN code areas
   
   
   
   
   


5. 
   Distribute evangelical literatures among every educated
   people.
   
   
   
   
   


6. 
   Display  evangelical
   movies in every village
   
   
   
   
   


7. 
   Fight with the non-believers.
   
   
   
   
   

[ Ref. 2000AD plan for Orissa by
Reverend P.R.Parichha , Tulashipur, Cuttack-8]

Apart
from these, the project Jesua-1 and Jesua-2 are in operation in the state aiming
at complete proselytisation. Time has come , the Hindus must be united to combat
this menace of Proselytisation , otherwise this peaceful state will turn into
an other North East states like Nagaland and Tripura. Awake Hindus awake