Inter-Weaving of Local and Global Discourses: History of Early Pentecostals in Kerala

Abstract

Even though the Pentecostal movement in Kerala, South India, is a unique expression of Global Christianity, it has not been given due recognition either in the history of Kerala Christianity or Global Pentecostalism. It was rooted in both local and global discourses of the early 20th century. So, in order to understand the origin and early history of the Pentecostal movement, we need to delve deep into the history of socio-religious reform movements, which were enthusiastically embraced by Dalits, women, and other marginalized sections of Kerala. Unique features of Kerala Pentecostalism were shaped by various revival and reform movements among Christians in Kerala. With the arrival of American missionaries associated with the Azusa Street revival, the homegrown brand of Kerala Pentecostalism engaged in the global discourse on Pentecostalism. It equipped Pentecostals with the language and interpretations to make a break with the past and carve out a new identity for themselves. The usual method of approaching it as an extension of global Pentecostalism will not help us to understand how Pentecostals in Kerala creatively engaged in local and global discourses at the turn of the 20th century.

1. Introduction

This is a project in progress about the origin and development of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala.1 Many scholars have approached the Pentecostal movement as one of the denominations that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century within the thick and rich Christian landscape of Kerala.2 The major focus of their study, thus, was to analyze the role and contributions of certain American missionaries and elite indigenous leaders. However, we would like to place the Pentecostal movement within the 19th and early 20th centuries’ discourses on modernity, which was characterized by the emergence of unprecedented socio-religious reform movements among various communities in Kerala. American Pentecostal missionaries initiated the early Kerala Pentecostals into a discourse on global pentecostalism, which endowed them with Biblical and theological resources to engage in existing local and global discourses. In the process, they created a discourse on gender, caste, and religious authority, which helped them to carve out a new identity for its members within the caste-stratified patriarchal society of Kerala. So, everyone who is concerned about the modern history of Christianity in Kerala and global Pentecostalism cannot brush off the early history of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala. Even though its significance was nothing less than other major socio-religious reform movements at the dawn of the 20th century, secular historians haven’t made any serious attempt to locate its role and place within the history of discourse on modernity in Kerala. This article attempts to accentuate various discourses and movements that shaped the origin and development of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala and flesh out its engagement with Global Pentecostalism.

2. Significance of Discourse Analysis

Church historian Douglas Jacobsen introduces Pentecostalism as one of the four Christian mega-traditions (Jacobsen 2021, pp. 49–61). According to him, 20% of the world’s Christians are now Pentecostals. The growth of Pentecostalism is considered “one of the most dramatic developments in all of Christian history.” (Jacobsen 2021, p. 60). Even though the Azuza Street Revival that began in Los Angeles in 1906 is generally considered the birthplace of the global Pentecostal movement of the 20th century, scholars argue that prior to or independent of it, in various places, people had Pentecostal experience. It is recorded that in 1906 and 1907, people experienced a Pentecostal-like religious revival at the Mukti Mission of Pandita Ramabai in Pune, India (Joshua 2022, pp. 52–59). Even though one can identify common vocabulary and grammar among various Pentecostal traditions around the world, each tradition has been locally rooted and, therefore, unique in its origin and development. Taking into consideration the distinct features and characteristics of various Pentecostal traditions, therefore, we can argue that Pentecostalism is not a monolithic tradition. Even though a large number of Pentecostals (in Asia, Africa, and Latin America) were poor, the rich in Global North also embraced it. Though women outnumbered men in Pentecostal churches everywhere, men contributed tremendously to the spread of the Pentecostal movement. Both urban and rural populations, as well as people of Global North and Global South, embraced Pentecostalism. So, the question is, what is the relevant methodological approach to studying varied traditions within global Pentecostalism? While studying the origin and development of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala and its indebtedness to global Pentecostal traditions, it is important to acknowledge the religious and societal forces of the 19th and 20th centuries that shaped its distinct features. So, while it is possible to compare and contrast the Pentecostal movement in Kerala with that of similar movements in other parts of the world, we feel that such an approach will not help us to understand the rootedness of Pentecostals within the Kerala society and its engagement with the global traditions at the beginning of 20th century.

Different approaches can be employed to study the origin and development of socio-religious movements, such as the Pentecostal movement in Kerala. Talal Asad, an anthropologist of religion, challenged the Euro-centric preoccupation that reduced religious traditions to mere doctrinal and propositional statements. Such an approach understood religions as monolithic and trans-historical traditions. Thus, the study of religions was reduced to studying scriptures and other written sources. Even though they can help us to understand the common vocabulary and grammar of religious traditions they are not adequate enough to explain the historically specific beliefs, practices, rituals, symbols, and language that formed a religious tradition. Asad, therefore, has argued that no religious tradition is monolithic and, therefore, it needs to be approached as discursive tradition (Asad 1983, pp. 237–59). Religious traditions are not formed in isolation but rather through intense power negotiations with local and global forces. Discourse analysis, therefore, is an effective method to study the emergence and development of religious movements. Using discourse analysis to study Pentecostalism in Kerala will help us to realize both its connections with global Pentecostalism and its locatedness within the societal and religious landscape of Kerala.

Discourse, the mechanism of social discipline and conformity, is a vital part of the formation of a community. It is essential to the operation of power and essential to resistance. “Discourse transmits and produces power; it reinforces it, but also undermines and exposes it, renders it fragile and makes it possible to thwart.” (Foucault 1998, pp. 100–1). Discourse analysis, therefore, captures the ideas and large patterns of thoughts embedded in the negotiations of power. It pays attention to dominant discourses a community engages with, its mechanism of separating truth from false, its reinforcement of certain interpretations of the Bible, and its propagation through official channels of communication networks. In this paper, we are not examining the linguistic or semantic dimensions of discourse; rather, our attempt is to understand the various dimensions of discourse on modernity in Kerala in the 19th and early 20th centuries. What were the salient features of discourse on modernity in Kerala? Who engaged in discourse? Why did they engage in it? How did discourses impact various communities? How did it trigger internal reforms within a community and create a new sense of identity for itself? How has identity formation helped the community to demand greater access to education and employment? (Waitt 2010, pp. 217–40). Discourse analysis, therefore, helps us analyze the past, understand the present, and perceive how a community looks to the future.

Unlike several other regions of Asia and India, Kerala has one of the oldest Christian traditions in the world. However, Christianity in Kerala can be traced back clearly to the ancient Orthodox tradition that emerged from Syria. The arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century introduced Catholic traditions in Kerala. European missionaries ushered in various Protestant denominations to Kerala in the 18th and 19th centuries. So, at the dawn of the 20th century, Pentecostalism emerged within the thick and diverse Christian landscape of Kerala, where Christians were a socially and culturally privileged community (Frykenberg 2008, pp. 225–30; Brown 1956). Pentecostal movement in Kerala, which is one of the unique expressions of global Christianity, began as a movement of people—women, the economically deprived sections of society, and the Dalits or “untouchables”—who did not find a place of belonging among traditional Christianity in Kerala. After a century, even today, Pentecostals are a tiny minority among the Christian population of Kerala (Zachariah 2016). This article argues that the modern history of Christianity in Kerala, especially how missionary activities and socio-religious reform movements revived and revitalized the Christian community, cannot be understood without paying sufficient attention to the origin and development of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala.

Generally, the beginning of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala was marked by the arrival of US missionaries George Berg and Robert F. Cook at the beginning of the 20th century.3 So highlighting the contributions of Berg, Cook, and indigenous leaders such as K. E. Abraham has been the major preoccupation of those who studied the history of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala.4 Such a preoccupation is inadequate to explain the continuity and break between the socio-religious reform movements among Christians and other communities in Kerala of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the Pentecostal movement. In this paper, therefore, our focus is on the early history of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala, especially its antecedents and deeply rooted engagement with precursor Christian movements. Moreover, we would like to explore how their engagement with global Pentecostalism equipped them with sophisticated language and theological acumen to create a new discourse on caste, gender, and religious authority. It implies that we cannot understand the history of the Pentecostal movement without placing it within the discourses on Kerala modernity and global Pentecostalism. Moreover, we may not sufficiently understand the features and characteristics of Kerala’s modernity without paying sufficient attention to Pentecostal discourse on caste, gender, and religious authority.

The voices of foreign missionaries and elite indigenous leaders have been recorded in missionary reports and official records of various Pentecostal churches. Several scholars have studied these writings and brought out the contributions of elite missionaries and leaders to the emergence of the Pentecostal movement. However, the voices of women, Dalits, and other marginalized communities who constituted the majority of early Pentecostals were not recorded in the institutional and communication network. It may be the reason why their voices have not been commonly heard in the studies of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala.5 Material needs and aspirations for human dignity and recognition of marginalized sections among Pentecostals were not different from that of other marginalized sections of Kerala society. Regardless of their religious affiliations, Dalits were dispossessed and marginalized by non-Dalits, including Christians. Women, irrespective of their religious affiliations, were a suppressed group within society’s patriarchal structures. The material conditions and needs of the poor sections of society were more or less the same. The early Pentecostal discourse in Kerala will have to read in continuity to their collective aspirations and desires to create a new future for themselves. So, we argue that listening to their discourses of the 19th and 20th centuries will help us to hear the hitherto unheard or silenced voices of Dalits, women, and the poor among the Kerala Pentecostals and write it back into history and give them their due place. In short, in order to study the origin and early history of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala, we need to study the materials available in missionary and church archives along with discourses of various non-Pentecostal and non-Christian communities in Kerala, especially on caste, gender, and religious authority.

3. Discourse on Modernity in Kerala

In order to explain how we come to approach religions as monolithic and transhistorical traditions in the modern period, Talal Asad argued that secularism and religion are similar to Siamese twins in the West (Asad 2001). Consequently, we cannot understand the genealogy of one without the other. In this section, our objective is not to delve into the genealogy of either religion or secularism but rather to analyze the features and characteristics of European modernity in order to learn how Kerala modernity is different from it. The intellectual and ideational origins of European modernity can be traced back to the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and Enlightenment traditions. In Europe, discourse on secularism eventually resulted in nation-states controlling religion and relegating it to personal and private spheres of life. Reason and science became the criteria to decide the truth of the religious claim. It eventually resulted in removing religion from secular space (politics, culture, and society) in Europe and religious expressions from the public sphere. With colonialism, European discourse on modernity spread all over the world and became the dominant paradigm to measure all other traditions of modernity. The notions of science, technology, and rationality independent of traditions gave European modernity an edge over other modernities, which eventually elevated Europeans over non-Europeans (Abraham 2014, pp. 6–10). Universal humanism of European modernity provided the framework to critique unjust social hierarchies based on caste, gender, and religious identities (Chakrabrty 2000, pp. 4–5).

Pre-colonial Kerala society was a feudalistic agrarian society organized on a rigid hierarchical caste system with Brahmins at the top and ‘low caste’ people at the bottom. Millions of people who came to be known as Dalits, meaning ‘crushed ones,’ did not have access to public squares, temples, baths, roads, hospitals, and schools and were placed outside of the caste structure.6 The arrival of Protestant missionaries at the beginning of the 19th century and their egalitarian message of ‘equality of all before God’ and ethos gradually transformed the power equations based on land ownership and rigid caste hierarchy. The radical English evangelical missionaries, harbingers of the discourse on modernity in Kerala, were at the forefront of the permeation of the key ideas of human rights, dignity, and equality among the masses. Further, the Church Missionary Society (CMS), London Missionary Society (LMS), and Basel missionaries were strongly established in Kerala for over a century before the emergence of the Pentecostal movement.7

English missionary work in Kerala received the express consent and active support of the British colonial establishment. Moreover, the progressive outlook of the rulers of Travancore and Cochin princely states and their desire to create modern states cannot be ignored. In order to become a ‘modern’ state, during the second half of the 19th Century, it was essential for state governments to promote modern education and literacy at the popular level. As the princely states of Travancore and Cochin lacked adequate resources and expertise to achieve it, they invited missionaries to take over the task. So, at the turn of the 19th Century, missionaries started several elementary schools and technical institutions in Kerala and promoted education along with their proselytizing efforts (Kawashima 1998, pp. 82–113).

What is significant for us to note here is how these educational advancements towards modernity triggered socio-religious reform movements among various communities in Kerala (See George 2007, pp. 101–28; Tharakan 1984). Until then, access to education was considered as the exclusive prerogative of the high-caste people of Kerala. So, one of the primary demands of the Christian converts from the lower rungs of society was that missionaries open elementary and primary schools and exert their influence on the government to bring legislation that permits them to join government schools. Dalits, women, and the socially marginalized sectors of society enthusiastically embraced modern education when the government made it open to the public. Thus, popular demand for educational opportunities and access to employment in government sectors became the hallmark of Kerala society’s transition into modernity.

Another facet of the discourse on modernity in Kerala was the popular uprising of women and Dalits challenging systemic oppression and demanding their civil liberties and rights. Here also, we should not overlook the contributions of radical evangelical missionaries and their campaign to abolish slave labor and remove social and civil disabilities for the Dalits and women. With the support of colonial establishments, missionaries succeeded in passing legislation to guarantee the rights of the marginalized. However, the passing of legislation was not enough for women and Dalits to secure their rights and dignity. They had to organize themselves and defy oppressive caste rules publicly in order to secure their rights, which had been denied for centuries by high-caste people. Popular uprisings resulted in the removal of severe forms of untouchability, which allowed Dalits to secure their right to walk freely on public roads and to obtain admission to government schools.

Discourses on religious conversion, modern education, and civil rights initiated by missionaries inspired leaders of various communities to promote socio-religious reforms internally.8 The force of these reform movements came together in such an unprecedented power over all sections of Kerala’s population. So, even though it was European missionaries who planted the seeds of modernity in Kerala, all sections of society played a role in its spread by embracing it and initiating reforms among their own communities. It was the Dalits, the depressed classes, and women who picked it up in the most sea-changing ways than other communities (Bygnes 2008). Epoch-making people movements of Narayana Guru (1856–1928) and Ayyankali (1863–1941), during the last decades of the 19th century and the early 20th century, challenged the oppressive caste system, which paved the way for upward social mobility of their respective communities (Chentharassery 1996).

The consolidation of caste and communal identities and the formation of various associations were other hallmarks of Kerala’s transition into modernity. Sri Narayana Guru, Ayyankali, and Chattampi Swamikal (1854–1924) emerged as popular leaders and reformers among Ezhavas, Pulayas, and Nairs, respectively (Oommen 1985, pp. 97–100; Mohan 2015; Paul 2022). Under their leadership, members of their respective communities united under one umbrella and formed community-based associations. These associations played a crucial role in securing their communities’ educational and employment opportunities and political representation in the state legislative assembly. These associations became the venue for the leaders to conscientize their community members on the need to pursue modern education and to motivate them to send their children, especially girls, to schools. They initiated internal reforms among their own castes by condemning superstitious beliefs and practices that prevented them from embracing science, medicine, and the positive contributions of unfolding modernity.

In short, unlike in the West, discourse on modernity in Kerala was not simply about ushering in scientific or technological advancement. Even though discourse on modernity promoted science, modern medicine, and rational thinking to an extent, it did not result in creating a European model of secular society, the public sphere, and the marginalization of religions to private realms. In Kerala, as in many other places, the transition to modernity manifested itself through many phenomena: the emergence of modern education, increased and more equitable access to the institutions of the state and the public sphere, and the reconfiguration of traditional social relationships, driven in part by increasingly liberal attitudes about the relationship between individuals and communities (Osella and Osella 2000). One major hallmark of Kerala modernity was the emergence of socio-religious reform movements and caste-based associations, which spearheaded anti-caste struggles, championed women’s liberation, and the demand for greater opportunities to obtain education and employment. Our contention is that it is within this crucible that we need to place the reform movements among Christians in the 19th and early 20th centuries and the eventual emergence of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala.

4. Christian Reform at the Dawn of the 20th Century

As noted, Christianity was well-established and a powerful presence in Kerala’s social and religious landscape when the Pentecostal movement emerged. Discourse on modernity in Kerala impacted Orthodox Christianity in an unprecedented way and challenged its notions of gender, caste, and ecclesiastical authority. As a result, churches began to reform themselves. We argue that we cannot understand the emergence and growth of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala without analyzing the revival and reform movements among Christians during the last decades of the 19th century and the early 20th century. The Pentecostal movement in Kerala emerged in continuity and response to these revival and reform movements (John 2018). So, it is impossible for us to divide them neatly, and we can trace back the 19th and early 20th centuries’ Christian reform in Kerala as the harbinger of the Pentecostal movement.

With the arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1498, Roman Catholic Christianity was introduced in Kerala. Since then, the Roman Catholic Church in Kerala has actively proselytized and converted others to Christianity. However, the Syrian Orthodox Church was reluctant to open its door to others, especially Dalits, and hadn’t engaged in evangelistic mission activities until the 1870s (Mundadan 1984, vol. I; Thekkedath 1982, vol. II). As Baiju Markose has argued, the ecclesiology of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Kerala was modeled on the Brahmanic hierarchical structure of Hinduism. Consequently, the priest occupied the pinnacle of this hierarchical ecclesial structure, and the ritual celebration of the eucharist became the highlight of the liturgical worship (Markose 2021, pp. 67–72). The liturgy was still recited in the Syriac language, which was a language foreign to Kerala Christians. Preachings centered on the Bible did not find any place within the liturgy of the Orthodox Church. The Church’s mission was also understood as maintaining the social hierarchy inside and outside the Church. There was no space and freedom of expression within this hierarchical order for the laity, let alone for women. Even when socio-religious reform movements in Kerala championed the rights of women, the Church continued to marginalize women and their aspirations. The arrival of European evangelical missionaries and the dissemination of their radical message via print media shook the Orthodox Church to the core (Brown 1956). When missionaries preached the Gospel to Dalits, who were considered outcastes hitherto by Orthodox Christians, they converted to Christianity en masse. When newly established Protestant Christian denominations accepted Dalit Christians into their fold, it redefined the Christian landscape of Kerala. It challenged the traditional power equations of Kerala society and uprooted privileges enjoyed by Syrian Christians. The Orthodox churches’ mission approach underwent radical change following the pan-Kerala Christian conversion movements. Shaking off these hitherto firmly held social norms seems to have created a conducive atmosphere for the emergence of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala. However, these forces were not enough to undercut the Orthodox Church’s power structure and its hold on the Christian population.

Revival meetings spearheaded by lay preachers such as Sadhu Kochukunju Upadeshi, K. V. Simon, Poykayil Yohannan Appachan, and preachers of the renowned Maramon annual Christian convention at the end of the 19th century continued the reform and offered an alternative Christian spirituality based on the Bible. In the 1880s, Sadhu Kochukunju Upadesi emerged with a message of Christian revival and reform (Mathai and Bangert 2019). His field of activity was centered among the Marthoma Syrian Christians of the central Kerala region. He preached that Christians are the chosen people of God and called out to live a life of separation and holiness. He invited Christians to live morally, promoting social justice with austerity. His campaign against the practice of the dowry system and to serve poor children fitted well with the message of contemporary social reform movements. Christians from all denominations enthusiastically embraced his revival songs, which were deeply immersed in personal devotion to God and individual consolation. His revival movement ushered in an alternative expression of Christianity, thereby challenging a spirituality based on Syriac liturgy and priestly authority (Daniel 2014). Young and lay people were attracted to his reform movement.

Another prominent lay preacher and poet, K. V. Simon, who was a contemporary of Kochukunju Upadesi, was a great supporter and co-traveler of his revival meetings. Simon was known for his poetic expressions and devotional side of the faith in Christ. While Kochukunju Upadesi remained with the Marthoma Church, K.V. Simon emerged as the spokesperson and architect of a movement that advocated separation from all existing Christian denominations. His advocacy for separation from mainline churches was based on his interpretation of the doctrine of immersion and adult baptism (Simon 1918). K.V. Simon joined the Brethren missionaries in Kerala and was instrumental in establishing Brethren congregations in several places in the central Travancore region. In 1895, the Evangelistic Association of the Mar Thoma Church conceived and launched an annual Christian convention at Maramon, in Travancore, on the bank of the Pampa river, which later grew up as one of Asia’s largest Christian conventions (Alex 2021). The Maramon Convention became another launching pad for Christian reform in Kerala. Maramon convention preachers transformed the very language of Christianity, additionally paving the way for alternative expressions of Christianity which were unthinkable a few decades before.

Whereas the above attempts had focused on reformation among the Syrian Christians of Travancore, Poikayil Appachan’s prophetic Church defied caste norms and formed a revivalist movement among the Dalits of Kerala, questioning the discrimination that they experienced at the hands of Syrian Christians. Appachan’s movement created a dissenting voice, which paved the way for an alternative Christianity named PRDS (Prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha, which can be translated as the Visible Salvation Church of God). PRDS insisted that salvation has to be experienced here and now. Appachan popularized esoteric forms of worship and singing. All these movements appeared on the horizon as if they were the harbingers of the Pentecostal movement (Mohan 2013).

It was primarily Syrian Christians from middle and lower-class families and rebelling Dalit prophets such as Poikayil Appachan who spearheaded these movements (Daniel 2014, p. 126). These revival and reform movements permeated within Christianity and rebelled against Syrian Christian churches in Kerala.9 While discussing these harbinger movements that arose within and without the mainline Christianities of Kerala, we also need to note the systemic stone-walling mechanism that the institutional Church erected to withstand these movements. In response, from the very beginnings of these reform and revivalist movements, there emerged a discourse of ‘separated brethren.’10 It was not an accident that one of the first Pentecostal denominations was named ‘verpadukar,’ literally “separated people.”11 They launched a bimonthly periodical named “Malankara Viyojithor” in Malayalam and “The Malankara Separatist” in English.12 K. V. Simon, one of the main proponents of the movement of separation from the Mar Thoma Church, was its editor. The Brethren movement, which emphasized separation from mainline churches, built church buildings resembling local school buildings. They never erected the symbol of the cross anywhere in their church buildings. Worship was free of the formal liturgy. Members of Brethren assemblies were known for wearing only white clothes, carrying Bibles in public, and preventing women from adorning themselves with jewelry. Adult immersion baptism and the priesthood of all believers were the main teachings of the Brethren movement in Kerala.

The key themes of the 19th-century Christian reform and revival movements included the literal interpretations of the Bible, exposition of its teachings on Baptism, especially the mode of the Baptism, assurance of salvation, and new ecclesiology. The development of these doctrines made them distinct from the Orthodox Christians of Kerala. At the forefront of these assertive and extremely argumentative, hairsplitting biblical literalist interpretations were people such as K. V. Simon, K. E. Abraham, P. E. Mamen, and A. J. John.13 A cursory look at their writings and preaching would reveal that they vehemently defended their separatist position with regard to these theological issues. However, it is significant to note here that creating a wedge or dividing wall to demarcate between Sadhu Kochukunju Upadesi, who remained with the Mar Thoma Church, and separatist K. V. Simon is almost impossible in several areas of their discourses. It implied that the relationship between the 19th-century Christian revival precursor movements and the newly emerging Pentecostal movement was more of continuation and divergence than separation (Mammen 1919, p. 178ff).

5. Continuity and Change: The Paradigm of Early Pentecostal Discourse in Kerala

On the front pages of Kahalam, “Pentecostal Trumpet,” an organ of the Travancore Assemblies of God, which was considered the first periodical of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala launched in 1925, editors asked the following question about the identity of the emerging Pentecostal community within the Christian landscape of Kerala: Are Pentecostals a separated [verpadukar] community? Or are they another Christian denomination? (John 1925, p. 2). Here the term “separated” refers to the Brethren community of K.V. Simon. Editors of the journal argued that Pentecostals neither belong to the Brethren community nor are similar to other Christian denominations in Kerala. Early Pentecostals claimed a distinct identity for themselves. Accordingly, Pentecostals described themselves as a fellowship of ‘men and women believers who were baptized in the Holy Spirit.’14 They claimed themselves as the authentic Church patterned on the early churches of the New Testament times. In this section, we will elaborate on how early Pentecostals continued to engage in the 19th and early 20th centuries’ Christian discourse on caste, religion, and gender in Kerala. Here, we will also discuss how they were ushered into the global discourse on Pentecostalism and analyze how it helped them to carve out a new and distinct identity for themselves.

The precursor movements’ discourse, which we discussed in the previous section, on the Bible, personal devotion, assurance of salvation, daily walk with God, and rejection of the clergy-laity divide were continued into the new dispensation that the Pentecostal movement opened up. In spite of it, Pentecostals were mostly influenced by Brethren separatists than Kochukunju Upadesi’s movement, which remained within the Marthoma Church. Similar to Brethren, Pentecostals wanted to make break from mainline denominations in Kerala and create a distinct identity for themselves. So, they built churches resembling school buildings, in the pattern of Brethren church buildings, rather than the huge cathedrals of Orthodox Christians. Such as early Christians in the book of Acts, met at homes for fellowship and worship. Early Pentecostals did not make a strict bifurcation between the public and religious realms of their lives. They were known for wearing only white clothes and dressing in public the same way they did for church activities. They carried a Bible wherever they went. Unlike other men in Kerala, Pentecostal men either shaved their mustaches or kept a full beard. All these measures helped to create a visible presence of Pentecostals and Brethren in the public square. Similar to Brethren, they were proud to call themselves ‘separated ones.’

In order to develop a distinct identity for themselves, both Brethren and Pentecostals in Kerala followed countercultural thinking. Their actions ran counter to mainstream norms of traditional Christians in Kerala, which further consolidated their ‘separated’ identity. Kerala Pentecostals interpreted the Bible in a way that created a new counter-public for these sections of society. Their worship services were scheduled to start at 10:00 am on Sundays when mainline churches’ services ended. This scheduling made it possible for them to encounter public places non-Pentecostal/Brethren Christians returning home after attending their Sunday services. Similar to Brethren in Kerala, Pentecostals refused to follow the liturgical calendar and celebrate Christmas, Easter, or any saints’ days, and cultural festivals such as Onam. The Bible was their only authority and guide in negotiating religious and cultural issues. Traditional customs and practices followed by Syrian Christians in relation to marriage and wedding ceremonies were rejected. It was common among Syrian Christians to schedule wedding ceremonies on auspicious times and dates prescribed by Hindu astrological calendars. Brethren and Pentecostals even refused to wear and exchange wedding rings, bridal dress (mantrakoti), and the traditional custom of the groom ties a thali mala (a wedding string) around the bride’s neck. Thus the movement’s countercultural dimensions were evident in its theological development and identity formation.

It is significant to note that it was mainly with the arrival of American Pentecostal missionaries that Pentecostals began to make break with the Brethren community in Kerala. Even though their values and norms of conduct did not differ substantially from the Brethren, Pentecostal theology and certain interpretations of the Bible created a wedge between them. US missionaries introduced Pentecostalism in Kerala while Christians engaged in discourses on revival and reform. George Berg and his wife, Mary Berg, came to India in 1906 as Brethren missionaries. Later, they returned to the US and participated in the Azusa Street revival meetings and became Pentecostals. So, in 1908, they returned to India as Pentecostal missionaries, settled in Bangalore, and managed missionary work at various places in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. George Berg inspired and invited Robert F. Cook and his wife, Anna Cook, who were also part of the Azuza Street revivals, to come to India as missionaries. In 1913, as a result, after their arrival in Bangalore, they accompanied Berg on his preaching tours to Kerala. Kerala Pentecostals’ opportunity to engage in global Pentecostalism endowed them with a new language, which eventually created a new identity for them. It gave them the power and authority to pray over sickness and evil spirits. So, healing and exorcisms were frequently reported in early Pentecostals’ meetings in Kerala. The Pentecostal doctrine of the Holy Spirit (pneumatology) made the break with the Brethren.

K. E. Abraham (1899–1974) was one of the prominent indigenous leaders of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala. A peek into his life will help us to glimpse how the Pentecostal movement was a continuation of precursor Christian reforms of the 19th and early 20th centuries and also how Pentecostals made a break with it and carved out an identity for themselves. K.E. Abraham was born into a Syrian Jacobite family and attended Sunday school at the Mar Thoma Church, closer to his home. Even though in 1908, at the age of nine, he was exposed to Pentecostal revival meetings, it was in 1914 that he dedicated his life to God’s service while attending a meeting conducted by Kuchukunju Upadeshi (Abraham 1965, p. 60). After his schooling, while working as a school teacher, he attended Bible studies led by K.V. Simon, who rebaptized him by immersion on 27 February 1916. Under the mentorship of Simon, who launched the Viyojitha Prasthanam (the separatist movement) in 1917, he separated from the Syrian Jacobite Church. It is significant to note that he had the Pentecostal experience under the influence of C. Manasseh (1876–1938), an indigenous Pentecostal leader, in 1923 prior to meeting Robert F. Cook. (Joshua 2022, pp. 83–84). In 1925, after distancing from the Brethren movement, he started the South Indian Pentecostal Church of God and began publishing the journal Kahalam (Pentecostal trumpet). In 1926, even though he decided to join forces with Robert F. Cook, he had to separate after three years, and he eventually founded an indigenous church known as Indian Pentecostal Church. Inspired by the emerging national movement, later, he defended the decision to break away from Robert F. Cook as an effort to keep the “autonomy of native churches” and emancipation from “being under the yoke of slavery.” (Pulikottil 2002).

While the early leaders of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala were mainly from the Syrian Christian community, such as K. E. Abraham, a substantial section of the community members were Dalits and women. We argue that the space that women and Dalits found within the Pentecostal movement were what distinguished it from the Brethren and other precursor Christian movements. Early Pentecostals addressed each other as ‘brother’ and ‘sister’—such a way of saluting each other erased notions of superiority or inferiority. Early Pentecostals were known for meeting regularly for fellowship and sharing in a common meal after worship gatherings. If the prohibition from sharing meals was one of the means by which caste hierarchy has been maintained for centuries, Pentecostals broke that tradition; Dalits and non-Dalits Pentecostals’ eating together was more or less a common practice after their gatherings. In-filling of the Holy Spirit empowered Dalits, women, and laity to speak with boldness and power. Many of them were respected for their leadership skills and the ability to exercise the “gifts of the Spirit,” such as speaking in tongues, discernment, and prophecy. Pentecostalism offered them a new possibility of being a Christian, which was not available for Dalits or women in Kerala until the arrival of the Pentecostal movement.

Here it is significant to note the observation of Partha Chatterjee (Chatterjee 1990, pp. 233–53) that women had the burden of preserving and maintaining the traditions. Pentecostal women always covered their hair and were not allowed to wear any jewelry. Even after a century, women continue these traditions. However, the lifestyle changes adopted by the first generation of men at the beginning of the movement were not continued in the subsequent generations. Even though there is no Biblical basis for these practices, women had to continue them as they became the marks of Pentecostal community identity. Right from the beginning of the movement, such as Dalit Christians, women were also recognized for “the gift” of interpreting and speaking the Word of God with authority and power. Consequently, several women rose to prominence and leadership in the movement. There was a strong ‘ashram’ (or monastic) movement under the leadership of Annamma Mammen (1911–2002), who was a leader, songwriter, and itinerant preacher, among women at the beginning of the 20th century. This is an indication that women’s voices and contributions shaped the grassroots Kerala Pentecostal imagination, and several women had dedicated themselves to leaving their homes in order to lead a celibate life and engage in teaching and preaching. Allan Varghese argued that Annamma Mammen’s songs continued to shape the contemporary imagination of Kerala Pentecostals (Meloottu 2020).

Religious conversion to Christianity as a means of emancipation from caste discrimination for Dalits had already emerged as a powerful discourse by the mid-19th Century (Gladstone 1984, p. 76). Consequently, mass conversion of Dalits to Protestant Churches began along with, and especially after, the anti-slavery legislation of the 1850s. Dalits publicly rejected Hindu religious customs and traditions that perpetuated caste discrimination and marked their protest through their conversion to Christianity. However, they were not embraced as equals and continued to face caste discrimination within mainline Protestant churches. So, we argue that Dalits’ decision to join the newly developing Pentecostal movement in Kerala was a continuation of this discourse on ‘conversion as emancipation’ that was already present in the social landscape of Kerala modernity. Dalits’ abandonment of protestant Churches such as the CMS and the LMS and their affiliation with the new Pentecostal movement of the early 20th century was not only a radical rebuke against the Syrian Christians’ casteist behavior and domination within the established Kerala Churches but also a hopeful leap into a movement which provided more space for their aspirations, dignity, and individual initiative. In some places, they joined Pentecostal congregations en masse. Pentecostal spirituality embraced Dalits’ culture and traditions in several ways. Drums, which are traditionally associated with Dalits, became the major musical instrument of accompaniment in Pentecostal worship. As Dalits and poor were generally illiterate, orality became extremely important for early Pentecostals. Pentecostals’ emphasis on extempore preaching and free worship helped Dalits to realize the theological significance of orality (Paul 2019).

While considering the mass conversion of Dalits and women to Pentecostalism, we should not assume that it was the result of their collective decision. It is significant to note that Dalits were not a monolithic group. Moreover, women from different socio-economic and caste backgrounds embraced the Pentecostal movement. Their decision to join the movement involved a new awakening of self-awareness and self-reflexivity.15 It included accepting Jesus as their personal savior and receiving adult baptism publicly. Remembering the dates of making these decisions have been highly valued among Pentecostals. For some, remembering their born-again experience is much more important than celebrating their own birthday. Sharing personal testimonies of how they experienced the leadership of the Spirit in daily life situations was a significant part of early Pentecostal worship services. These testimonies became extremely significant for the whole community as many early Pentecostals had to break their familial ties and relinquish their right to ancestral property in order to join a Pentecostal congregation. Syrian Christian families and communities condemned Pentecostalism and ostracized their kith and kin who embraced the Pentecostal movement. Listening to testimonies of early Pentecostals will reveal that joining the movement was a major decision that they took consciously in their life, which made them socially and economically vulnerable. Pentecostal worship, as it was not restricted by a liturgical tradition, provided enough space for the personal expressions of women and Dalits. Several of them wrote songs and preached sermons during church services.

Right from the beginning, Pentecostals were engaged in missionary outreach. The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers launched a laity missionary movement among Pentecostals. They preached to Christians and non-Christians as they did not distinguish between them. Everyone who was not a Pentecostal was considered the target of the mission. So when we consider the expansion of the Pentecostal movement by drawing a large number of people from the Orthodox tradition (whether reformed or otherwise), it is significant to note the place of ‘conversion’ discourse that permeated Pentecostal missiology. In that sense, we should see the ‘conversion’ discourse introduced by evangelical missionaries as the most defining precursor to the Pentecostal movement in Kerala.

In short, the Pentecostal movement in Kerala was a unique expression of Christianity within the global Christian movement of the 20th Century. So, its study is significant for all those who want to understand the Christian history of Kerala, global Pentecostalism, global Christianity, and Kerala reform. The Pentecostal movement was part and parcel of Kerala’s history of socio-religious reform movements and the struggle for self-determination of Dalits, women, and economically marginalized classes. Even though global Pentecostalism shaped the theological and Biblical interpretations of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala, this article argued that the 19th and early 20th centuries. Christian reform movements played a very crucial role in shaping its discourse on caste, gender, and religious authority. In unfolding the history of the Pentecostal movement, the usual method of approaching it as an extension of Azusa Street revival and American missionary enterprise and their elite counterparts in Kerala will not help us to understand how preexisting discourse on modernity shaped the movement and its countercultural dimensions. Equally, to understand various dimensions of the socio-religious reform movements and discourse on modernity in Kerala, one cannot ignore a careful study of the Pentecostal movement. In this regard, this study demonstrates how we could approach the early history of the Pentecostal movement in Kerala in order to recover its history, which has not largely found a place in the grand narrative of Kerala Christian history and Global Pentecostalism.