Madras Christian College Magazine, 1883-1990

From the Library of the Madras Christian College, Madras, India

28 reels 35mm silver microfilm, ISBN 1 897955 14 6

List price: POA

In the words of the Rev. Dr. William Miller, Principal of Madras Christian College from 1862 to 1909 and founder of the magazine, the aim was to be a voice of free thinking, and to provide stimulation, enlightenment and direction to the “awakening mind of India”. This lofty aim was stated two years before the founding of the Indian National Congress. The mood of the time was one of Indian intellectual ferment, opening up to new ideas of nationalism, socio-religious reform movements and cultural renaissance. Madras Christian College Magazine was launched at this crucial phase, providing a forum for the open expression of all aspects of this intellectual upheaval, maintaining a high standard above sectarian interests.

Although the magazine functioned as an arm of the mission Christianity was written about in every issue without the narrow condemning attitude towards Indian religions and culture present in other Christian evangelical literature of the nineteenth century. The magazine aimed to counteract the widely prevalent accusation that Christianity has a tendency to denationalise Indian Christians.

Even more significant was the emphasis of the magazine on development of the “national impulse and aspiration” which could guide the spirit of the social and moral revolution from within. The founders believed that such a transformation of Indian life could not be borrowed from the West, and therefore the magazine held as its purpose the exploration and promotion of knowledge about all that was Indian.

The magazine was officially described as a monthly periodical of Literature, Philosophy, Science and Religion and its subject headings included Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture of India, Education, Genetics, History, Historiography, Linguistics, Literary Criticism, Missiology, Natural Science, Numismatics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion and Theology, Women's Upliftment.

Among the many contributors may be mentioned Vengal Chakkarai (editor of the Christian Patriot and leader of the Christo Samaj, active in both nationalist and trade union movements), Henry Gulliford (a Wesleyan missionary in Mysore and editor of Harvest Field), S.M. Natesa Sastri (a pioneering and prolific novelist, historian and chronicler of Hindu customs and practices and the folklore of South India), Krupabai Satthianadhan (one of the first three women to write a novel in English), John Lazarus (Tamil scholar and translator of the Kural).

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