Jesuit Missions in Coastal and South India (1543-1573)

Jesuit missions in coastal and South India were among the first foundations of the Society of Jesus in the world. They represented models of apostolic action imitated, debated and reformulated in other geographical locations worldwide. This book traces the history of the Jesuit missionary beginning and end in the early modern period, and how they navigated, between European colonial maneuvers and local conversion to Christianity through proselytizing and accommodation. Jesuit missionary efforts were pragmatically divided between disciplining Portuguese and later on French colonial communities and attracting converts living among regional polities under Muslim and Hindu rulers.