भारतीय समाजव्यवस्थेत दलितांना किंवा पूर्वाश्रमीच्या अस्पृश्यांना पौरोहित्याचे अधिकार नसायचे, आजही नाहीतच.

नजिकच्या काळात हा अधिकार मिळण्याची धुसरही शक्यता नाही.

ख्रिस्ती धर्म स्वीकारल्यानंतर मात्र या उपेक्षित समाजघटकांना धर्मगुरू होण्याचे आणि पर्यायाने धर्मग्रंथ वाचण्याचे, शिकवण्याचे अन पौरोहित्याचे इतर सर्व अधिकार मिळाले.

महाराष्ट्रात या समाजातील पहिले धर्मगुरू होण्याचा मान भारतात स्वातंत्र्यपूर्व काळात म्हणजे अस्पृश्यता कायद्याने गाडण्याआधीच मिळाला.

नगर जिल्ह्यातील राहुरीजवळच्या चिंचोळे गावचे जोसेफ मोन्तेरो हे १९३० साली कॅथोलिक धर्मगुरू बनले.

महाराष्ट्रात प्रोटेस्टंट पंथांत मात्र हे खूप आधीच घडले होते.

तिथे ब्राह्मण असलेल्या नगरचे रामकृष्ण विनायक मोडक, हरिपंत रामचंद्र खिस्ती, नारायण वामन टिळक, नारायणशास्त्री शेषाद्री, नीळकंठशास्त्री गोऱ्हे यांच्याबरोबरीने बहुजन समाजातील बाबा पद्मनजी, कृष्णाजी रत्नाजी सांगळे भास्करराव उजगरे वगैरेना 'रेव्हरंड' पदाची दीक्षा आधीच मिळाली होती.

वैजापूर तालुक्यातील माळीघोगरगाव येथे फादर जोसेफ मोन्तेरो यांचे १९७९ साली निधन झाले.

मराठवाड्यातील हे माळीघोगरगाव हे माझे आजोळ. तेथेच फादर मोन्तेरो यांची समाधी त्यांचे गुरु फ्रेंच फादर गुरियन जाकियरबाबा यांच्या समाधीशेजारी आहे.

संगमनेर येथील थॉमस भालेराव हे 1965 साली पहिले स्थानिक येशूसंघीय किंवा जेसुईट धर्मगुरू बनले.

हेच फादर भालेराव १९८९ साली या दलित समाजातील पहिले आणि एकमेव कॅथोलिक बिशप बनले.

नाशिक डायोसिसचे पहिले बिशप भालेराव यांचे २०१५ साली निधन झाले.

त्यांच्यानंतर इतर कुठलीही स्थानिक दलित व्यक्ती आजपर्यंत कॅथोलिक बिशप बनलेली नाही.

प्रोटेस्टंट पंथात मात्र आज महाराष्ट्रात अनेक दलित बिशप्स आहेत.

भारतातल्या ख्रिस्ती समाजात स्थानिक विविध जातीजमाती आहेत. त्यामध्ये उच्चवर्णीय आहेत तसेच दलित आणि आदिवासी लोकांचे प्रमाण खूप आहे.

अनेक दलित आणि आदिवासी ख्रिस्ती व्यक्ती आतापर्यंत बिशप बनल्या आहेत.

पूर्व भारतातील आदिवासीबहुल राज्यांतील अनुसूचित जमातीतील काही व्यक्ती आतापर्यंत कार्डिनल्स झालेल्या आहेत.

भारतात दक्षिणेतील काही राज्यांत कॅथोलिक बिशपांमध्ये अनेक दलितसुद्धा आहेत.

मात्र अलीकडच्या काळापर्यंत या कॅथोलिक दलित बिशपांमधून कार्डिनलपदावर कुणीही पोहोचले नव्हते.

पोप फ्रान्सिस यांनी २०२२ साली हैदराबादचे आर्चबिशप अँथनी पुला यांची कार्डिनलपदी नेमणूक केली आणि कॅथोलिक चर्चच्या इतिहासात नवा विक्रम घडला.

अँथनी पुला यांच्या रुपाने कॅथोलिक चर्चमध्ये पहिल्यांदाच एखादी दलित व्यक्ती कार्डिनल बनली होती. .

गेली अनेक शतके अस्पृश्यता आणि जातीभेद या प्रथा भारतीय समाजपद्धतीचा एक अविभाज्य भाग राहिल्या होत्या, आजही यात फारसा फरक पडलेला नाही.

असे असले तरी ख्रिस्ती धर्मात जातीभेद आणि सामाजिक उच्चनीचता या गोष्टींना अजिबात स्थान नसते.

त्यामुळे एखादा दलित धर्मगुरू, बिशप किंवा कार्डिनल बनले याची चर्चतर्फे कधीही चर्चा किंवा वाच्यता केली जात नाही, टिमकी वाजवणे, गाजावाजा करणे तर दूरच राहिले.

बिशप थॉमस भालेराव आणि कार्डिनल अँथनी पुला यांच्याबाबत सुद्धा असेच धोरण स्वीकारले गेले होते.

मी स्वतः याबाबत लिहिणे याच कारणासाठी टाळले होते.

भारतचे पहिले दलित राष्ट्रपती के आर नारायणन यांना स्वतःला दलित म्हणवून घेणे आवडत नसे.

कुणाला आवडेल?

बिशपपदावरचे पद म्हणजे कार्डिनल.

कॅथोलीक धर्मातील सर्वोच्च असलेले पोपपद रिक्त झाल्यानंतर जगभरातील कार्डिनल्स एकत्र येऊन आपल्यापैकी एकाची पोप म्हणून निवड करतात.

आता अशी परिस्थिती निर्माण झाली आहे. पोप फ्रान्सिस यांचे निधन झाले आणि पोपपद रिक्त झाले.

भारताच्या, चर्चच्या आणि जगाच्या इतिहासात आता पहिल्यादाच दलित समाजातील एक कार्डिनल अशा महत्त्वाच्या निवडणूक प्रक्रियेत सहभागी होत आहे.

मात्र आता पोप पदाच्या निवडणुकीत कार्डिनल अँथनी पुला सहभागी होत असल्याने याबाबत प्रसार माध्यमांत चर्चा होणे साहजिकच आहे.

आफ्रिकन वंशाच्या धर्मगुरूंना बिशप आणि कार्डिनल्स पद देण्यात आले तेव्हाही अशीच चर्चा झाली होती.

भारतात सद्या सहा कार्डिनल्स आहेत. त्यापैकी वयाची ऐंशी पूर्ण न केलेले चार कार्डिनल पोपपदाच्या निवडणुकीत सहभागी होत आहेत,

त्यामध्ये गोव्याचे कार्डिनल फिलिप नेरी फेरावसुद्धा आहेत. इतर दोन कार्डिनल्स केरळमधील आहेत.

वयाची ऐंशी पूर्ण न केलेले जगभरातील १३३ कार्डिनल्स सात मे रोजी नूतन पोप निवडण्यासाठी स्वतःला ऐतिहासिक सिस्टाईन चॅपेलमध्ये कोंडून घेतील.

ते बाहेर येतील ते नव्या पोपची निवड करुनच.

ही निवडणूक किती काळ चालेल याबाबत काहीच सांगता येत नाही.

एक दिवस, एक आठवडा किंवा अधिक काळ. मताधिक्य होईपर्यंत.

यावेळी युरोपऐवजी आशियन किंवा आफ्रिकन कार्डिनल पोपपदावर निवडून येतील अशी शक्यता वर्तवली जात आहे.

आशियन धर्मगुरु म्हणजे भारतीय कार्डिनल पोप झाले तर नक्कीच नवा इतिहास घडणार आहे.

किंवा दलित कार्डिनल पोप झाले तर?

त्यामुळेच पोपपदाच्या या निवडणुकीबद्दल संपूर्ण जगात खूप उत्कंठा आहे.

Ghogargaon – First MSFS mission in Nagpur diocese

Ghogargaon – First MSFS mission in Nagpur diocese

From 

Fr Gurien Jacquier of Ghogargaon   (Catholic Mission in Aurangabad diocese - 1892  onwards)

By Camil  Parkhe 

Published by SFS Publications, Bangalore

Till the middle of the 19th century, Christianity was almost non-existent in Central India. The Christians in this area were mainly the Irish, Goan and Tamil soldiers at the garrisons of the East India Company. The Goan priests of the Golcoda mission used to visit them occasionally.  

The MSFS or Fransalian congregation was founded by Fr Peter Marie-Mermier  (1862) in France on October 24, 1838 under the patronage of St Francis de Sales. The vast mission territory of Visakhapatnam in India was entrusted to the MSFS in 1845. Fr Mermier sent his best six men for the new mission. Fr Jacques Martin, Fr Joseph Lavorel, Fr Jean Marie Tissot, Fr Jean Thevenet, Bro Pierre Carton and Bro Sulpice Fontanel boarded the ship on June 8, 1845 and arrived at Pondicherry on September 8, 1845.

Visakhapatnam mission then included parts of the present day states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Maharashtra.  Its four mission centres were Visakhapatnam, Yanam, Kamptee and Aurangabad.

Many of the missionaries who came to India learned many Indian languages and some of them even wrote books in these languages. The Visakhapatanam mission was divided into two in 1887, forming the new diocese of Nagpur, with Alexis Riccaz (MSFS) as its first bishop. During the last 125 years, this Nagpur diocese was further bifurcated to form various dioceses including Nagpur (1887),  Amravati (1955) and Aurangabad (1978).  During these years, the Fransalians too have spread out to the other parts of India. This religious congregation today has five provinces in India, namely Visakhapatanam, South–West, North–East, Nagpur and Pune.¹

The first Fransalian missionaries, Fr Jean Thevnet and Fr Joseph Lavorerl, arrived in Central India in 1846. At that time, there were only three priests in the whole central India – Fr Murphy, Irish chaplain at Kamptee, his Tamil assistant Fr Emmanuel and Fr O’Driscoll, a military chaplain in Jalna.

            The Fransalian missionaries made several attempts to open mission centres in central India but they were unsuccessful. Fr Lavorel tried to work in Mandla in Madhya Pradesh. Fr Benistrand tried to work among the Kunbis and the Mangs in the Deccan and among the Kurkus in Vidarbha. An orphanage was also opened at Thana near Nagpur in 1865 but with limited success. ²

            The breakthrough came in 1892 when the first mission centre for the local people was opened at Ghogargaon in Aurangabad district.  There is an interesting story revealing how the seeds of Christianity were sowed in this region, now called Marathwada. 

            A mission among the Mahars had been opened by the Jesuits in neighbouring Ahmednagar district, on the other side of the Godavari River, in 1878. Other Jesuit mission centres followed at Kendal in 1879, Walan in 1889 and Sangamner in 1892. By that time, the number of the Catholic Mahars in Ahmednagar district had risen to 1,000 under Fr Marcel D’Souza, Fr Otto Weishaupt and Fr Kraig.

Some 16 miles from Kendal was Ghogargaon village, on the left side of the Godavari. It had half-a-dozen stone and brick houses, a 100 mud houses. Outside the village lived the Mahars, the Dalits who were one of the untouchable communities during those days. An orphaned young Mahar from Ghogargaon, Nathu Raphael Shingare, had married a girl from Walan. There he saw the Jesuit mission, became a Catholic and later a catechist of Fr Weishaupt. On his return to his village Ghogargaon in 1892, Nathu Raphael gave a glorious account of the Walan mission to his neighbours and relatives. The local people who were denied development and progress for generations were indeed impressed. They immediately sent a delegation to Walan with a request to the Jesuit fathers to start a mission center in Ghogargaon.

Walan parish priest, Fr Kraig, paid a visit to the village to see the situation there. As Ghogargaon then belonged to the Nagpur diocese, he informed the chaplain of Aurangabad, Fr Montagnoux, of the local people’s desire to become Christians. Fr Montagnoux forwarded the request to Nagpur. At that time, Nagpur had no bishop after the recent death of Bishop Riccaz. Thus, in October 1892, Fr Pelvat, Nagpur diocesan administrator, received a letter telling him that several people from the village of Ghogargaon were asking for a school and were desiring to become Christians.

           

Bishop Riccaz had wanted to open a mission centre among non-Christians. Fr Pelvat welcomed the proposal and appointed Fr Thomas Marian to open the first Catholic mission in the Moghulai.

References:

1) Fransalians, website of the Missionaries of St Francis de Sales (MSFS)

2) Fr Francis Moget (MSFS), “The Missionaries of St Francis de Sales of Annecy’, SFS Publications, Vinayalaya, Bangalore, Karnataka 560 055 (1985). Distributors: Asian Trading Corporation, 150, Brigade Road, Bangalore- 560 025 (pages 268-260)

Arrival of Christianity in Nizam’s Hyderabad state

Arrival of Christianity in Nizam’s Hyderabad state

From 'Fr  Gurien Jacquier of Ghogargaon 

(Catholic mission in Aurangabad diocese - 1892  onwards)

By Camil Parkhe

Published by: SFS Publications, Bangalore

Christianity in India is 2000 years old. It was St Thomas the Apostle - one of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ - who first preached the gospel in Kerala, the southern parts of the country. Christianity took deep roots in Goa and Vasai in Thane district in Maharashtra after the arrival of the Portuguese at the west coast of India in the medieval period. A group of Jesuits were also present for some time in the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar in the 17th century. Christianity, however, did not spread in north India during those days.

The British East India established its political rule in India in early 19th century. Its military officials and soldiers were Catholics and Protestants and therefore Christian priests were needed in various cantonment areas to serve as military chaplains. The rulers of various princely states in the country also had Europeans or Goan Christians as officers and soldiers and they too needed Christian priests at their military bases. The rulers therefore donated land for building of the churches. This marked the arrival of the first Christians in different parts of the country, followed by the military chaplains and later the construction of chapels and churches in the nook and corner of the country. For example, the first church in western Maharashtra, Immaculate Conception Church or the City Church, was constructed in Pune on a land given by Savai Madhavrao Peshawa II (1774- 1795) in 1792.¹

  According to Indian Catholic Church’s historian, Fr Ernest R Hull (S J ), since 1812 Fr Lopes da Conceicao, parish priest at this Pune’s City Church, used to visit the Catholic soldiers in Aurangabad where a chapel was built for the soldiers. He also visited the soldiers of the British camp in Sattor (probably Shirur in Pune district) and in Jalna, ministering to the European and Indian troops alike and the civilians. ²

 The first church in Nizam’s Hyderabad princely state was constructed at Sycundarabad by Thomas Midlton, a Protestant priest. The Society for Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) launched its missionary work in Jalna. The school opened by the SPG in Jalna offered education to children belonging to all castes and religions. The schools opened by the Hyderabad’s ruler Nizam had Urdu as medium of instruction and the Muslim teachers employed there also allowed mingling of the untouchable castes children with high castes Hindu children. This used to anger the high caste Hindus who did not wish to send their children to mingle with the children belonging to the lower and untouchable castes. But often they had no other alternative as during those days there were no other institutions offering formal education to children.

The SPG appointed Rev Narayanshastri Sheshadri to its Jalna mission centre in 1862. Rev Sheshadri expanded the missionary activities in this part of the Marathwada region.  Under his leadership, 1011 people belonging to the untouchable castes embraced Christianity in 1868. These Dalits (the depressed people) included people belonging to the  untouchable Mang, Mahar and Chambar (cobbler) castes. Along with his religious apostolate, Rev Sheshadri also worked for the social upliftment of the untouchables. He was one of the veteran social reformers of his age.

Rev Sheshadri had obtained from Sir Salarjung, the then prime minister of the Nizam, the ruler of Hyderabad state, 800 acres of land on 25 years lease without any taxes. On this barren land, Rev Sheshadri established a new village, Bethel, also called Bethelwadi. There, he built a colony for the people who had converted to Christianity, all of whom were untouchables. There he dug up six wells, built a market place, a church and also a  mosque for the new settlement. Dr L Y Aucharmal who has written history of the Dalit liberation movement in Nizam’s Hyderabad state, has said that the establishment of an independent colony for the untouchable community was indeed a revolutionary step taken by Rev Sheshadri. He has said that this independent colony was a big slap for the prevailing social inequality. An independent colony for the untouchables was indeed a better option for these people who otherwise were leading a banished life outside the boundary of the village. ³

When Fr Jacquier arrived in Ghogargaon, Christianity had already made its presence felt in the Nizam’s Hyderabad princely  state. The Catholic Church’s work in Marathwada was, however, confined to the military officers and soldiers employed in the British camps. Fr Marian Thomas, founder of Ghogargaon mission, and his successor Fr Jacquier were the pioneer missionaries working among the local populace in the Marathwada region.     

References:

1) Catholic Diocese of Pune  – Directory 2006, Published by Bishop’s House, Pune  (Page 13)

2) Fr Ernest R Hull (S J ) ‘Bombay Mission History – With a special study of the Padroado question’, Examiner Press, Mumbai, Retailed by B X Furtado and Sons, Mumbai (page 201)

3) Dr L Y Aucharmal, ‘Ambedkari Chalwal Aani Hyderabad Sansthanateel Dalit Mukti Sangram’, (Ambedkarite movement and participation of Dalits in liberation of Hyderabad princely state),  Publisher: Usha Wagh, Sugawa Prakashan, 861/1, Sadashiv Peth, Pune 411 030 (1997)

           

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