According to an ancient tradition, St. Thomas the Apostle came to South India, established Christian communities especially in the South West of India and was martyred in Chennai. Though historical proofs may be lacking, the tradition is strong. There is evidence of Christian communities in India from about the 4th century of the Common Era. These communities trace their origin to the Syrian Church. There was maritime trade between India and the Middle East and Rome in the time of Jesus. The Syrians were well known traders. St. Thomas working in Syria could have accompanied a group to India. Starting with a settlement of Syrian Christians, some Indians may have joined them later and continued the tradition. This group, however, must have lived apart with no religious interaction with the surrounding Hindus. Later in the 16th century Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries came with the Portuguese colonial power. Making some Hindus Christians they also tried to make them Portuguese culturally. Roberto de Nobili, who landed in India four hundred years ago in 1605, was the first to distinguish between religion and culture and assert the principle that Indians can become Christians while remaining culturally and socially Indian. Though this policy was opposed, eventually it came to be accepted. However the relationship between Christians and Hindus remained adversarial.
Hindus Encounter Jesus
The situation changed with the coming of the British colonizers to India. They established schools and offered a British education in the medium of English to Indians. The Indians were exposed to British culture, including Christianity and the Bible. The British (Protestant) missionaries hoped to convert the Hindus to Christianity. But the Hindu elite used British education to reform and renew Hinduism. They tried to rid it of what they considered superstitions like polytheistic rituals and inhuman social practices like the sati – that is, burning of the living wife together with the dead body of the husband. They established groups like Brahmosamaj which promoted a rational Hinduism. Raja Ram Mohun Roy (1774-1833), for instance, was influenced by Jesus, but saw him as a moral teacher. He wrote to a friend in 1815: “I have found the doctrine of Christ more conducive to moral principles and better adapted for the use of rational beings than any others which have come to my knowledge.”
1. Cf. Mathias A. Mundadan, History of Christianity in India: From the Beginning up to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century. Bangalore: Church History Association of India, 2001.
2. Cf. S. Rajamanickam, The First Oriental Scholar. Tirunelveli: De Nobili Research Institute, 1979.
3. For what follows Cf. R.H.S. Boyd, An Introduction to Indian Christian Theology. Madras: The Christian Literature Society, 1979 and S.J.Samartha, The Hindu Response to the Unbound Christ. Madras: Christian Literatur Society, 1974.
4. Cf. David Kopf, The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Mind. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979.
5. Quoted in M.M. Thomas, The Acknowledged Christ of the Indian Renaissance. Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1974, p.9. See also Dobson Collet, The Life and Letters of Raja Rammohan Roy. London, 1900.
Others like Ramakrishna Parmahamsa (1836-1886) were struck also by Jesus’ religious personality. Ramakrishna was a Hindu mystic particularly devoted to the Goddess Shakti. But he was also open to other religions. He saw them as different names for one and the same reality. He made special efforts to relate to God as God is experienced by other believers. For example, having seen a picture of Mary with the child Jesus in the home of one of his devotees, he must have been meditating on that image. We are told that during a walk in the garden “he saw an extra-ordinary looking person of serene aspect and foreign extraction approach gazing at him. Sri Ramakrishna’s heart spontaneously assured him that it was none other than Christ. The Son of Man then embraced him and merged into him, sending him into deep ecstasy.” His disciple Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) saw Jesus as a model that all of us can follow in our search to experience our advaitic (non-dual) oneness with God. He further thought that Jesus was an oriental, born in Asia, and the orientals can understand and follow him better that the Europeans.
This idea of Jesus being an oriental had been was taken up even earlier by others like Keshub Chandra Sen (1838-1884). They tried to show how Jesus lived his advaitic (non-dual) oneness with God and could be an example for every human being for such self-realization in their own lives. They were critical of Western Christians for trying to give metaphysical expression to the being of Jesus, making him simply divine and thus cutting him away from us. For Sen Jesus was a divine-human being. Sen was very devoted to Jesus as a Bhakta. He even founded a group called the “Church of the New Dispensation”.
6. Swami Gambirananda, The History of Ramakrishna Math and Mission. Calcutta, 1957, p.16.
7. Cf. Swami Vivekananda, The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Almora, 1931.
8. See David C. Scott, Keshub Chandra Sen. Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1979; P.C. Majumdar, The Oriental Christ. Boston: 1883.
9. Cf. J. Mattam, The Land of the Trinity. A Study of Modern Christian Approaches to Hinduism. Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 1975.
10. Cf. B. Animananda, The Blade. Life and Work of Brahmabandab Upadyaya. Calcutta: Roy and
11. Son, c.1947. See also Jacques Dupuis, Jesus Christ at the Encounter of World Religions. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1991, pp. 37-42; Julius Lipner and George Gispert-Sauch (eds), The Writings of Brahmabandab Upadyay. Bangalore: UTC, 1991.
Indian Christians Encounter Jesus
In this early period, some Hindus had become Christians, wanting however to preserve their Indian (Hindu) cultural identity. Brahmabandab Upadyaya (1861-1907) called himself a Hindu-Christian: Hindu with regard to culture and Christian with regard to religion. He used the term Saccidananda to refer to the Trinity. It consists of three syllables: Sat (Being- the Father), Cit (Consciousness – the Son) and Ananda (Bless – the Spirit) The divinity of Jesus is assured by identifying him with Cit. He wrote two hymns in Sanskrit, one on the Trinity and another on Jesus Christ. The second one is worth quoting here since it shows how Jesus can be understood in India using Hindu religio-cultural terminology. The English translation, however, lacks the Indian flavour, as it misses Sanskrit terms like Cit, Nara-Hari, Brahman, Saguna, Nirguna, etc. The imagery, rich in Indian background, comes through even in translation, though it misses the Indian tone or music.
The transcendent Image of Brahman,
Blossomed and mirrored in the full-to-overflowing
Eternal Intelligence –
Victory to God, the God-Man.Child of the pure Virgin,
Guide of the Universe, infinite in being
Yet beauteous with relations,
Victory to God, the God-Man.Ornament of the Assembly
Of saints and sages, Destroyer of fear,
Chastiser of the Spirit of Evil –
Victory to God, the God-Man.Dispeller of weakness
Of soul and body, pouring out life for others,
Whose deeds are holy,
Victory to God, the God-Man.Priest and Offerer
Of his own soul in agony, whose life is sacrifice,
Destroyer of sins’ poison, –
Victory to God, the God-Man.Tender, beloved,
Soother of the human heart, Ointment of the eyes,
Vanquisher of fierce death, –
Victory to God, the God-Man.
P. Chenchiah calls Jesus the Adi Purusha – the Primordial Man. We have in the Vedas the image of the Adipurusha, who sacrifices himself and gives birth to the whole of creation. He is the source and head of the universe. We can see how this links to the Pauline vision of Christ who is at the origin of creation and in whom all things in heaven and on earth will be reunited. The theme of sacrifice as creative self-gift is also worth noting. A.J.Appasamy saw Jesus as the Avatar, the only true one. As the Avatar God, Jesus can become the focus of the bhakti marga or way of love and devotion. Indian Christian poets use many images taken from their experience to refer to Jesus. H. A. Krishna Pillai (1827-1900) sings of him as the river of life from heaven (Ganga), the mountain of salvation, the ocean of bliss, the cloud that showers the rain of grace, life-giving medicine, gem of gems and finally mother. This image of mother is also usesd by another Christian poet, Narayam Vaman Tilak (1862-1919): “Tenderest Mother – Guru mine, Saviour, where is love like thine?” The association of mother, guru and saviour in one line is interesting.
11. Quoted in Boyd, An Introduction, pp. 77-78.
12. Cf. Cf. D.A.Thangasamy, “Chenchiah’s Understanding of Jesus Christ”, Religion and Society 11,3 (1964) 72-90.
13. Cf. A.J.Appasamy, Christianity as Bhakti Marga. Madras: The Christian Literature Society, 1928.
14. Cf. Boyd, An Introduction, p. 113.
15. Quoted in Boyd, An Introduction, p.115.
In this line of Christians encountering Jesus in India we must also place Sara Grant. She was a British, but spent much of her adult life in India, many of those years in an ashram. She speaks of Jesus as a dancer.
The Word who became flesh and dwelt among us, who underwent death and is alive unto endless ages, can surely be called Lord of the Dance, who makes visible for us the hidden rhythms of the Creator Spirit at work within us and in our confused and torn-apart world to bring all things to their mysterious consummation. In doing so he does not in any way diminish or destroy the marvelous variety of his creation, including the intuitions of the different cultural and religious traditions, but throws into brilliant relief all the treasures of inspiration and beauty they contain, his own truth and beauty in turn being enhances in our eyes by their radiance.
The term “Lord of the Dance” refers certainly to Nataraja, the Shivite image for God, in which God is seen as dancing the world into being, in evolving and in reaching consummation involving death. Similarly, Jyoti Sahi, an Indian Christian artist, often depicts Jesus as a dancing figure, especially the risen Jesus. He links dancing to healing and liberation. He explains:
To dance is to celebrate the body, to discover a new kind of freedom which is spirit-filled. The spirits can chain the body, making of it a prison. But the spirit of life can liberate the body, and convert it into an instrument of joy. The healed person leaps for joy. This leap into the future is the essence of dance. To dance is to leap, to step over all the obstacles which hinder us on the way.
Jesus is the liberator who leads all the liberated in a dance with him. This helps us to take the next step to see how the Hindus have also seen Jesus as the liberator.
Jesus, the Liberator
Mahatma Gandhi saw Jesus as a perfect Satyagrahi. A Satyagrahi is some one who is committed to Truth or God and holds on to it. Truth can however be attained only by non-violence, because end does not justify the means. So a Satyagrahi is non-violent. In the pursuit of truth s/he is ready to suffer. But s/he would not impose suffering on others. Non-violence treats the opponent as a human being with intelligence and good will. By non-violence the ‘reasonable’ other is challenged to reflect and question him/herself. This can lead to a conversation, negotiations, if necessary, and conversion. Non-violence requires inner conviction and strength. It believes in the justice of it cause. It is sure of ultimate victory. The opponent then becomes a friend and a companion. Gandhi says:
The gentle figure of Christ, so patient, so kind, so loving, so full of forgiveness that he taught his followers not to retaliate when abused or struck but to turn the other cheek – it was a beautiful example, I thought of the perfect man… Through I cannot claim to be a Christian in the sectarian sense, the example of Jesus’ suffering is a factor in the composition of my underlying faith in non-violence, which rules all my actions, worldly and temporal. Jesus lived and dies in vain if he did not teach us to regulate the whole of life by the eternal Law of Love.
16. Sara Grant, The Lord of the Dance. Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 1987, p. 195.
17. Jyoti Sahi, Unpublished Manuscript.
18. Cf. I. Jesudasan, Gandhian Theology of Liberation. Anand: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 1987.
The cross and the Sermon on the Mount become thus symbols of a way of life. Gandhi finds them valid always and everywhere. “Living Christ means a living cross, without it life is a living death… Joy comes, not by the infliction of pain on others, but of pain voluntarily borne by oneself.” Here is Gandhi’s assertion of the universality of Jesus.
I refuse to believe that there now exists or has ever existed a person that has not made use of his example to lessen his sins… The lives of all have, in some greater or lesser degree, been changed by his presence, his actions, and the words spoken by his divine voice… He belongs not solely to Christianity but to the entire world, to all races and peoples even through the doctrines they hold and the forms of worship they practice might be different from each other.
Hindu artists have painted Jesus. They are usually attracted to depict the child Jesus with his mother and the suffering Jesus on the cross. The suffering Jesus is seen as the symbol of human suffering. K.C.S. Panikkar, painting the suffering Jesus, told a friend that he was painting the ‘agony’ of the humans and Jesus seemed to be an appropriate subject. Arup Das, commenting on one his art shows titles ‘agony’, said:
There is no room for the good man on earth when he does appear amidst us. His life is cut short by the same people whom he loves. One such soul was Jesus of Nazareth. Near home we had Gandhiji… I chose Christ to Gandhi quite unconsciously in the beginning and then I realized that nobody suffered as much as He is all history. His crucifixion was transcendental and his agony unparalleled. In fact Agony is the theme of my paintings: agony, not of Christ and Gandhi alone, but of Man, miserable man.
19. M.K.Gandhi, The Message of Jesus Christ. Bombay, 1940, p. 79.
20. Ibid., p.36.
21. Young India, December 31, 1931. Quoted in S.J. Samartha, The Hindu Response, p. 93.
22. M.K.Gandhi, The Modern Review, October 1941. Quoted in Samartha, The Hindu Response, p. 94.
23. See Richard W. Taylor, Jesus in Indian Painting. Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1975.
25. Ibid., p. 72.
26. Ibid., p. 83.
Jesus thus becomes the symbol of the people suffering in whatever way.
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy has said that the two perfect images created by Indian art are the seated Buddha radiating peace and contentment and the dancing Nataraja – the King of dancers – which is an expressions of pure, creative movement. To this we can add the suffering Jesus. It is perhaps that, just as the Hindu artists seek to portray the suffering Jesus, Indian Christian artists picture Jesus as seated like the Buddha in meditation or while preaching or as the Nataraja dancing in creative joy.
The Cosmic Christ
The early disciples saw Jesus as the Word and the Wisdom of God, with which they were familiar from the Old Testament. Paul sees Jesus Christ as the central figure in cosmic history. He writes to the Colossians:
He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominations or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church: he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was please to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. (Col 1:15-120)
It is clear that Paul is using here the imagery that the Old Testament uses about Wisdom. The only difference is that he considers Jesus Wisdom incarnate. Compare this text with the following hymn to wisdom from the Proverbs.
The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up, at the first,
before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth –
when he had not yet made earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.
When he established the heavens I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was beside him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race. (Prov 8:23-31)
Paul asserts that this wisdom which was at the beginning becomes incarnate in Jesus Christ and serves as the point of reconciliation for all things in the future. Jesus thus becomes a cosmic figure not only by having both past and a future, but also by having a central place in the process of creation. Paul affirms the pre-existence in a different way in his letter to the Philippians. He speaks of
Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death –
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of the Father. (Phil 2:6-11)
Jesus’ incarnation, death and resurrection then become the focus of a cosmic process. Paul assures the Ephesians that God chooses every one in Christ before the foundation of the world and gathers up all things in him at the end. (Cf. Eph 1:3-10)
John has a similar vision. He sees Jesus as the incarnate Word.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in his was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it… The true light which enlightens every one, was coming into the world… And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only son, full of grace and truth… From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. (Jn 1:1-5, 9, 14, 16)
This fullness finds graphic and personal expression in Jesus’ final prayer to the Father. “That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us.” (Jn 17:21) Jesus acquires thus cosmic dimensions. This is what Asian theologians refer to as the cosmic Christ.
Christ, Unknown and Acknowledged
Once the presence and actions of Jesus are perceived to have cosmic dimensions in this manner it is reasonable to suppose that this presence is experienced and recognized in some way by people, though they may not realize whose presence it is. They may then speak of it in other terms and images. Looking at their religious and scriptural traditions we may be able to discern ‘traces’ of the cosmic Christ. This is what happens in India. A familiarity with the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the poems of the Bhaktas, as well as contact with some of the Hindu holy men like Ramana Maharishi, persuade the Christians that God, Christ and the Spirit has been present and active in the Hindu tradition. Pierre Johanns saw Indian philosophy as a pedagogue to Christ. Swami Abhishiktananda suggested that the mystical advaitic (non-dual) experience of Ramana Maharishi will find fulfillment in the Christian experience of the Trinity. Bede Griffiths sees cosmic revelation in Hinduism. The Indian theologians suggest that the Hindu scriptures may be inspired by God in some way. Raimon Panikkar discerns the “unknown Christ of Hinduism.” He perceives common patterns of divine-human relationship and their historical or transcendental mediations in Hinduism and Christianity. He sees Jesus as the Ishwara of Hinduism. Ishwara is the mediator between the Brahman (the Absolute Self) and the Atman (the individual human self). This can be seen, not as a personal identification, but as a functional one since Ishwara does not have the same historical density and presence as Jesus, at least for us. Others evoke Jesus as the Word and compare him to Vac (Word) of God in the Hindu tradition. Devotees may even give it a sound symbolic for in the term: OM. It is obvious that the Hindus themselves do not make such a comparison or identification.
When Panikkar came out with his book The Unknown Christ of Hinduism, M.M. Thomas countered with another book The Acknowledged Christ of the Hindu Renaissance. Thomas shows that Hindu leaders have been consciously influenced by Jesus Christ. They have been happy to acknowledge this. I have evoked this process in the first part of this paper. What is important to note is that this does not represent an interpretation by an outsider, as in the case of Panikkar, but what has actually happened in the course of Indian history in the 19th and 20th centuries of the Common Era. Here again we see the cosmic Christ in action, but in communities which do not recognize, much less believe and affirm, either his divine or his exclusive status. But his influence is real and personally and socially transformative.
The books of Panikkar and Thomas are not as contrary to each other as we might expect. The “acknowledged Christ” of Thomas is really “unknown” as the Christ in whom the Christians believe: “that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.” (Jn 20:31) The Hindus actually see Jesus as a Guru, as a model. But in spite of their lack of belief in Christ in the Christian sense, the transformative action of Christ in them is no less real. The cosmic Christ, therefore, need not be acknowledged as such in order for him to be the agent and fulfill the plan of God in the universe. (cf. Eph 1:3-10; Col 1:15-20) In other words the action of the cosmic Christ may take many forms and people may be aware of it in different ways. For example, Gandhi acknowledges the inspiration of Jesus Christ in the development of his spirituality of non-violence. But he also traces this back to the influence of Jainism. Later he will consciously relate it to the Bhagavad Gita, reinterpreting it in the process. I am sure that through Gandhi and other Hindu reformers some of the Christian perspectives and principles have become part of the Hindu culture of today. M. M. Thomas himself sees the action of Christ in the movements for liberation, even when they claim to be secular.
27. Pierre Johanns, To Christ through the Vedanta. Ranchi, 1944.
28. Swami Abhishiktananda, Saccidananda. Delhi: ISPCK, 1974.
29. Bede Griffiths, The Cosmic Revelation. The Hindu Way to God. Springfield, 1983.
30. See D.S.Amalorpavadass (ed), Research Seminar on Non-Biblical Scriptures. Bangalore: NBCLC, 1974.
31. R. Panikkar, The Unknown Christ of Hinduism: Towards an Ecumenical Christophany. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1991.
32. London: SCM Press, 1969. Also Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1974.
Conclusion
The experience of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus leads his disciples like Paul and John to see him as the incarnate expression of a mystery that is cosmic, that is to say, beyond space and time, but enclosing both. It is eternal and universal. It is not merely an imaginative projection since this mystery is related to what the Old Testament says about the Word and Wisdom. What the Indian theologians do is to perceive the presence and action of the same mystery in the dominant religious tradition of India, namely Hinduism. The impact of Jesus on the Hindu reformers and leaders in the 19th and 20th centuries shows us that Jesus Christ can influence other believers transformatively even if they do not believe in him in the same way that the Christians do. Hence the action of Christ need not be merely interior and mysterious, but historical.
This recognition of Christ as present and active beyond the borders of the Christian community is important for Hindu-Christian dialogue. Many Christians seek to experience Christ present in Hinduism. This search may lead some to discover aspects of Christ that have not been recognized, emphasized or even present in Christian tradition. This happens through the use of the Hindu scriptures, especially the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the poems of the Bhaktas. The Hindu methods of meditation and concentration are also used. The practice of Yoga is not frequent, but is done. Through these they seek to achieve an advaitic (non-dual) experience of God. Jesus is seen both as an example and as a mediator of such an advaitic experience. Dialogue then can be enriching. We can even say that dialogue is necessary in order to reach the kind of unification of all things of which Paul speaks. (cf. Eph 1:10; Col 1:15-20) The cosmic Christ then becomes the force that motivates and energizes dialogue.
The Cosmic Christ is not the same as the “Christ of faith” of Bultmann. Some times people seem to confuse them. The “Christ of faith” is the product of the imagination of the believing community. The Cosmic Christ, on the other hand, is real, though trans-historical in some way. His presence and action covers the whole of history. Jesus is his historical manifestation. We come to know him in and through Jesus. Some people have difficulty in calling this mystery “Christ”, since this term is always associated with Jesus. It is only an adjective which means “anointed”. We cannot understand it independently of Jesus. But the term “Christ” becomes almost a proper name connected to Jesus and Paul certainly uses it to refer to the mystery of God’s plan. (Cf. Eph 1:3-10) However, if it creates confusion in some minds we can speak of the “Word of God”, following John.
The affirmation of the Cosmic Christ is another way of affirming the uniqueness and universality of Jesus Christ and at the same time of acknowledging the many ways in which Christ is present and active in different cultures and religions. There is still some disagreement among theologians whether this universal presence should be attributed to the Word or also to Jesus, in the name of the unity of person in the incarnate Word. These disputes can be left to the theologians. In practice we seek to discern the presence of Christ every where, acknowledge it and collaborate with it. This is done in dialogue with other believers.
At the same time we should remember that these are affirmations of faith. This does not mean that they are not true, but that they cannot be proved rationally to people who do not believe. We should not be surprised therefore if other believers make similar affirmations. Krishna, the avatar of Vishnu says in the Bhagavad Gita that, though people may worship different Gods, all that worship comes to him (because he is the only true God.) Similarly the Muslims believe that every human is born a Muslim, before being misled into other religions by social circumstances. Buddhists affirm that there is only one path – the Eight-fold path of the Buddha – to achieve liberation, though people may belong to various religious traditions. Therefore what may be important today is to witness to the specificity of Jesus. The way of Jesus is a way of humble service ready to give himself unto death. Universalizing this way of Jesus is more urgent today than any claim to superiority in the name of the cosmic Christ. Awareness of the cosmic Christ, however, assures us of his presence and work everywhere and encourages and enables us to collaborate with him in building up the kingdom of God.
Michael Amaladoss, S.J
Institute of Dialogue with Cultures and Religions,
Loyola College, Chennai, India.