Dimensions of Indian Civilization - Outsiders’ part in it Christopher Becker SDS and John B. Hoffmann SJ and their contribution to promote tribal communities in India
Dimensions of Indian Civilization - Outsiders’ part in it Christopher Becker SDS and John B. Hoffmann SJ and their contribution to promote tribal communities in India

Summary/Abstract: This article focuses on the outsiders' contribution to the strengthening of the Indian civilisation in its ethnic richness and variety. In this respect the life contribution of two German missionaries is described in more detail - Fr Christopher Becker SDS, who served as the Apostolic Prefect of the Catholic Mission of German Salvatorian missionaries in Assam from 1905 to 1915, and the work and struggles of Fr John Baptist Hoffmann SJ to secure the land title, livelihood and cultural heritage of the tribes in the Jesuit mission in Chotanagpur from 1893 to 1915, the year in which all German missionaries were expulsed from British India.Christopher Becker SDS was highly learned in the cultural anthropology, linguistics, geography and botany of India, especially its northeastern regions. His work The Catholic Church in Northeast India 1890-1915 is an invaluable source of information on the history and culture of the native people of Assam. It demonstrates the positive role of the Catholic missionaries as promoters of education and protectors of the rich cultural heritage of the northeastern Indian indigenous population.John Baptist Hoffmann SJ was one of the most outstanding missionaries and defenders of the cultural heritage of the tribal societies in Chotanagpur in Eastern India. He worked tirelessly for a more just society through provision of better education and reform of oppressive local customs among the indigenous Munda (Adivasi) people in Chotanagpur. He was also a notable researcher on the ethnography and lingustics. His monumental, 16 volumes Encyclopaedia Mundarica contains the accummulated knowledge on the whole culture and civilisation of the Munda people.

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