Christianity In Tripura Before The Arrival Of The New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society (NZBMS)

Abstract

The earliest reference to Christianity in Tripura can be traced to the period between 1676-1685. It was during that period the Maharaja of Tripura Ratna Manikya invited the Jesuits, Roman Catholic Missionaries to come to his palace and preach the Gospel. The Maharaja before adopting the Hinduism as the religion of his kingdom wanted to hear about the Gospel. However, the seriousness of the Maharaja could not be assessed as Sir Edward Maclagan writes, “ In 1676-1685 at one point of time there seems to be a possible outlet in the small kingdom of Tipperah as the people there were less trying than in Bengal, and the raja had invited the Jesuits to come and discuss Christianity with them; but before it was discovered that the Raja was a drunkard and his main object was to secure help against the Mogul officials, so that alternative also had to be rejected.”
The Raja’s interest in Christianity resulted in Ignitius Gomes, S.J. making a visit to Agartala for a missionary in 1683. He returned disappointed. According to him, a good number of “so- called converts” had settled there. He writes disparagingly that “the Christians were not much good; they are little more than baptized Hindus” and the Raja was a drunkard and not serious to the commitment made earlier. The presence of a Portuguese community in Tripura during this period was due to the Raja, like other rulers of India, who used the services of the Portuguese and the Indo- Portuguese to serve as gunners, doctors and surgeons and to man their frontier forts.