This thesis argues that the study of large-scale conversions to Christianity
among the many tribal and Dalit communities in India needs to be done from a
communication perspective. My research attempts this with special reference to the
conversions among the Kui people of Orissa in the Kondh Hills. Christian
proclamation, service and institutions as modes of Christian communication and their
impact on people are examined. The Kui converts' role as agents was vital in the
process of communication and conversion. The period covered is from the campaign
against Kondh human sacrifice in the 1830s to the conversion movement of the
1960-70s. Evidence is gathered from personal and group interviews conducted
among first-generation converts using the qualitative research method, and also from
the archival, library and Mission sources.Significantly, many tribal and Dalit communities embraced Christianity and
led large-scale indigenous conversion movements at a time when all or most
missionaries had left. Yet many critics in India view these conversions as western
missionary products or achieved through force or inducements. They regard the nonliterate
tribals as passive recipients, and their initiative in conversion is ignored.
These explanations fundamentally lack the voice of the very participants of
conversion.I argue that in accounting for religious conversion the indigenous perspective
is the primary reality and the converts are the true agents; that the motivation and
meaning of the conversions need to be found first of all in the converts' witness and
in the role and impact of Christian communication, which influenced the decision for
conversion. The five major means of communication which I have studied in the
Baptist Mission and the Kui Church are: first, the person or message-bearer, the
western missionary or Kui Christian him/herself, who was a medium of the message,
both consciously and inadvertently. Secondly, the spoken word, in preaching and
otherwise, which was a principal form used in direct evangelism. Thirdly, the written
word which was no less important as a major medium, despite very low literacy. The
printed Bible in the mother-tongue mediated the gospel in depth and became a prized
possession. Fourthly, education which was a vehicle of Christianisation and
modernisation and facilitated the important indigenous Christian leadership
development. Fifthly, the medical mission work which visibly communicated God's
care and sent out a message of the power and credibility of the Christian gospel. The
sustained mission work, from a basis in the gospel and the message it communicated,
made a considerable impact on the Kui.The conclusions demonstrate that each of these five major means of Christian
communication has played a vital part and has had considerable impact in
conversion. These conversions have come about in time and terms preferred and
acted on by the converts, and they have developed a distinctive way of being a
church which may even be at odds with, and differ from, the expectations of the
missionaries
