6_Glorious_Epochs_of_Indian_History

5TH GLORIOUS EPOCH 215
543. In this brief account one great proselytizing
movement in the fifteenth century deserves some slight
reference. That is the rigorous proselytizing movement
carried on by the Portuguese missionaries after the passing
of Gomantak into the Portuguese hands and the opening of
the centres of Christian propaganda on the Malabar coast.
Their first energetic and determined archbishop to convert
the Hindus by means of any horrible atrocities was Saint
Xavier, who came to the land of Gomantak by about A.D.
1540^*. After moving heaven and earth for the spread of
Christianity (of course in his horrible way), he wrote several
letters to the Emperor of Portugal about the obstacles in
his way of proselytization.
544. In one of his letters to the Portuguese King he
complains that the Portuguese officers in India, in spite of the
fact that they were Christians themselves, irreverently set
at naught his orders in respect of the propagation of their
faith. They were entirely given to lustful pleasures and a
life of luxury, and were always on the look out for every
means to grow rich. Money was their God. To the service
of the true God, to which the missionaries like himself
had dedicated their lives those officers never did lend any
helping hand. "The second necessity for the Christians", he
wrote in his letter addressed from Amboina (Moluccas) to
D. Joao HI, King of Portugal, on May 16, 1545, "is that Your
Majesty establish the Holy Inquisition because there are
many who live according to the Jewish law and according
to the Mohamedan sect, without any fear of God or shame
of the world. And since there are many who are spread all
over the fortress there is the need of the Holy Inquisition
and of many preachers^®." In one of his letters to the Society
at Rome, he wrote, "If it were not for the opposition of the
Brahmins we should have them all embracing the religion
of Jesus Christ*"." These Brahmins were alleged to hinder
the progress of the Christian proselytizing movement. While
the Christian missionaries went on converting thousands of
Hindus to Christianity, these 'wily' Brahmans were found to