AUTHORS: Igor Spanò

WORK PACKAGE: WP4 DamSym

URL: https://iris.unipa.it/handle/10447/699129

Keywords: William Hodge Mill; Hindu–Christian Relations; Sanskrit Studies; Colonial Studies; History of Religions

Abstract
This article examines the figure of the Reverend William Hodge Mill (1792–1853) within the context of British colonialism in India, highlighting the role of Anglican evangelization as an instrument of cultural and political domination. Through an analysis of Anglican institutions in Calcutta—particularly Bishop’s College—and the missionary strategies adopted following the Charter Act of 1813, the study demonstrates how Orientalist knowledge of Sanskrit was mobilized to facilitate Christian penetration among Hindu elites. Central to the discussion is an examination of Mill’s Sanskrit translations of Christian texts and his poetic compositions, culminating in the Śrīkhr̥ṣṭasaṅgītā, a Sanskrit verse “Christiad” that reworks Indian epic models to present the life of Jesus. These works are situated within the broader phenomenon of the so-called Indian Christiad, a body of Christian literature in Sanskrit aimed at rendering Christianity “accommodable” within the conceptual framework of dharma. While displaying considerable philological and poetic sophistication, this cultural project was deeply marked by an ethnocentric ideology, in which processes of Christianization and colonial control mutually reinforced one another.