Practices of conversion in South India in the 16th and 17th centuries: strategies and narratives

In the 16th and 17th centuries, many Catholic missionaries arrived in the south of India with the aim of converting the native peoples. They belonged to different religious orders: Jesuits, Franciscans, Carmelites, and after 1622 these were joined by secular priests directly subject to the Roman Congregation of Propaganda Fide. The missionaries effected numerous conversions, but the status of converted Indians was ambiguous: a sort of ‘in between identity’ which made it difficult for them to live comfortably in relation to either the native community or the Portuguese colonisers. This chapter explores the different practices of conversion in South India with particular regard to the narrative strategies used
by missionaries to communicate their victories and defeats and to the theme of violence.