C. T. E. Rhenius

Rev. C T E Rhenius (5 November 1790 – 5 June, 1838) was a German born first CMS missionary for India. With various compulsive options before him, he chose to be a missionary in an alien land after his formal Seminary studies in Berlin. His compassion for the people of other religion made him to befriend many Jains and Hindus, who too whole heartedly came forward to support his social service. During his period of stay in Palayamkottai, the usurped a Mass Movement among the people belonging to the Nadar Caste, which earned him the name: Apostle of Tirunelveli.

• Picture of Rev. C T E Rhenius
  Picture of Rev. C T E Rhenius

His determination to give a proper translation of the Bible in Tamil language propelled him to do the new translation, which he could complete only up to the New Testament. He was a pioneer in writing a grammar book for Tamil, only to be later overshadowed by the work of Bishop Robert Cardwell. Still I would consider Rhenius’ grammar more practical. Still his book will be handy for anyone who is desirous of learning Tamil. A link to this PDF version of the book is also given in this article.

Rev. Rhenius’ uncompromising attitude towards the Christian life style and Worship earned him hostilities from many quarters and as a result the same organization which handpicked him to work in India, terminated his service. Later to earn the pension from CMS, the widow of Rev Rhenius and his son, who was employed with CMS too, had to go along with the CMS, and as a result the chances recording the justification for Rev. Rhenius’ standoff became very remote. The Anglican bishops and British historians who wrote books on Indian Christianity did not give the due recognition to the missionary work of Rev. Rhenius.

When I was a small boy, his tomb used to remain uncared in the street where he lived, as his body was not permitted to be laid to rest at the Cantonment Churchyard, popularly known as English Church. It was Bishop Daniel Abraham, who gave an official recognition to Rev. Rhenius work during the diocesan bicentenary celebration in 1978, where the bishops and presbyters took an oath to follow the path of Rev. Rhenius, regard to the evangelism. This article is purported to bring to the limelight the work of Rev. Rhenius in Megnanapuram circle, more precisely at Solaikudiyiruppu with the first conversion of Velu Muthu Mukandar as Vedha Muthu Mukandar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedha_Muthu_(a.k.a._Velu_Muthu)_Mukandar. I have also uploaded a picture of the Tomb of Rev Rhenius, which currently being maintained as a heritage monument of the C.S.I. Tirunelvelli diocese.

Early Childhood

Charles Theophilus Ewald Rhenius (1790-1838) was the second son of Otto Rhenius, an officer in the Prussian army. When Charles was six years old, his father died. Charles left school when he was fourteen and went to work in his uncle’s office. After he had worked for three years another uncle called him to come and live with him. This uncle was a rich landowner.

God's Call

There were many missionary magazines in his uncle’s house. As he read these, Charles felt God was calling him to go overseas as a missionary. Though his uncle was unhappy about his decision, he accepted it. But his aunt tried to get him to change his mind. Charles had to struggle in prayer to overcome the temptation. As his uncle had no children, he planned to leave all his property to Charles. He was helped by the Bible verses: “I have the strength to face all conditions by the power of Christ gives me” (Phil. 4:13) and “whoever loves father and mother more than me is not fit to be my disciple,” (Matt. 10:37).

Charles went to Berlin to study theology at a missionary college of Basel. When he left home he did not dare to tell his family of his final plans. However, his mother was suspicious and said: “Charles only do not go overseas.” To this he replied: “Dear mother, what am I to do if the Lord should so order it?” After a year at the seminary Charles Rhenius was ordained as a Lutheran presbyter.

CMS Handpicked Rhenius

Church Mission Society were looking for missionaries for Dr John’s Schools of the Danish Mission at Tharangambadi (a Danish settlement), India. Among those came forward, Rhenius and Schmarre were selected and gave orientation on Mission Skills for 18 months in England. In 1813, the British parliament passed a new Act. This Act allowed missionaries freedom to enter India, as the British East India Company was happy with the Brahminical Hindu India. Both could get a berth on a ship only in February 1814. At the last minute his family tried to stop Rhenius going to India. His brother wrote: “Come home, mother is weeping for you.” His resolve to obey God rather than family was strengthened by a farewell meeting arranged by CMS. Over 2,000 people attended the meeting which lasted three hours.

Like St Paul, the new CMS missionaries has an exiting journey. Once a fire broke out in the ship. It was put out with some difficulty. When the ship was closer to the Maldives, the ship was about to wreck. They reached safely Madras, only to know the bad news that Dr John, under whose aegis, they had the plan to work as missionaries. They managed to stay for two weeks with the Chaplin of the British East India Company in Madras. Then they went to Tharangambadi for learning the Tamil language.

Rhenius’ Missionary Work in Madras

After five months of language training, Rhenius was asked to come to Madras, as CMS had decided to engage him in their own mission called Mission in Madras, instead of helping Danish Mission in Tharangambadi.

The Madras Governor gave permission to work in the Black Town of Madras. The rented house, where Rhenius was belonged to a Hindu. This facilitated to study the Hindu scriptures and he visited the Kanchipuram temple as well. Through these, Rhenius understood that originally the Hindus had believed in one supreme God. Over the centuries this belief had changed into the present state of belief in many gods. So, whenever he talked with people he tried to lead them back into belief in one God – God as revealed in Jesus Christ. He started a school in the Black Town, Madras. Later the Hindus in Kanchipuram too invited him to start a school, for which he extended his helping hand. After starting several schools in Madras, he extended his work to Palmaner and Vandavasi, where he was exposed to the religious doctrines of Jainism. During his travel the Caste Hindus will not allow him to enter their house. In his diary he wrote that in one village, he had a comfortable night in a cow shed!

In 1815, the Bible Society in Calcutta decided to revise Fabricius version of the Tamil Bible. Rhenius was asked to help with the revision. Assisted by a munshi he set to work with great zeal. On his travels Rhenius had talked with many Hindus. He found that very often they could not under stand the Bible translation of Fabricius. Further a conversation with a Brahmin showed what great care was needed in translating the idiomatic expressions. They were discussing Matthew 3:7, “you snakes …. “. The Brahmin took the words literally; he thought the people had really turned into snakes! This made Rhenius realize that a revision of the Bible was not sufficient; a new translation was necessary. So, he started on what proved to be a lifelong job of completing only the New Testament. When he showed his translation to his Hindu friends, they had said that they could understand his translation. So he wrote down some principles of translation. Those were not accepted in his time; but they were very similar to the principles used by the Bible Society today. Rhenius was ahead of his time. On 5 November 1817, a group of Protestants, Roman Catholics and Hindus met in Madras and formed the Tamil Bible Association.

Before Bishop Caldwell could bring out the grammar book for Tamil language, to make the foreigner better the Tamil grammar, he had written a book: [A Grammar of the Tamil Language: With Appendix] http://ia341028.us.archive.org/2/items/grammaroftamilla00rhen/grammaroftamilla00rhen.pdf.

Rhenius As Apostle of Tirunelveli

In 1816, the Rev. James Hough, the historian was the chaplain to the English garrison in the Palayamkottai Fort / Cantonment. He was interested in village ministry. Hence he wrote to CMS asking for a missionary. Already the differences of opinion had grown between Rhenius and the Madras Committee of CMS. Rhenius was at that point of resigning and going home. However, the CMS did not want to loose a gifted worker. They suggested that he could go to Palayamkottai to assisit Rev. J Hough. With much sorrow he left Madras and his beloved Jains.

First CMS Church & Seminary

Rhenius set foot in Tirunelveli on 7 July 1820 and the first CMS congregation in Palayamkottai (current Holy Trinity Cathedral, Palayamkottai) came into existence on 10 March 1822 and adjutant (current venue of Cathedral Higher Secondary School, Palayamkottai) to the CMS Church, Murugankuruchi, Rhenius started the Palamcottah Preparandi Institution. In 1824 he purchased valuable property to the north of the High Road in Palayamkottai (current venue of the Bishop Sergeant Training School, Palayamkottai) from his Hindu friend and philanthropist, Vengu Mudaliar, for a confessional price of just Rs. 750.00 and shifted the Preparandi School to the newly acquired campus.

Meeting Vedha Muthu (a.k.a. Velu Muthu) Mukandar - First Protestant Christian Convert of Megnanapuram Circle

Operating from Palayamkottai, Rhenius touched a number of villages all over the Tirunelveli district, which include the current Thoothukudi district and part of Ramnathapuram district and planted small congregations. Solaikudiyiruppu is one of the oasis villages in the Sandy Dunes of Kudiramozhi Theri. When Rhenius visited Solaikudiyiruppu, the Mukandar of Solaikudiyiruppu Village was Velu Muthu Nadar. After Rhenius' success in leading few to Christ in Sathankulam in 1823, Rev. C T E Rhenius met Velu Muthu Mukandar and shared the love of Christ. The Mukandar (who had special gift of prophecy and wisdom), who was in search of the right spiritual path, was getting an insight that his search could end by starting a journey with Christ. Hence he took baptism with a new name - Vedha Muthu, which made him to be the First Protestant Christian in the Megnanapuram Circle.

Rhenius' Villages of Refuge

During the 18th century, Christian missionaries had witnessed, where ever the number of Christian converts were less, "club-men" from the Princely State of Ramanathapuram descended upon them and "plundered, confined, and tortured" them, pulling down their houses, Prayer Halls and schools, burning their books, and exposing them to insults, intimidation, and violence. This persecution coincided with the Polygar Wars. Hence to protect the new converts, Sundaranandam David, a disciple of Rev. C. F. Schwartz established a Christian satellite village - called Mudhalur, meaning First Village - near Sathankulam, which served as a ‘Village of Refuge’ for the Christians who had to face torture in other places.

Following the Mudalur pattern, to protect the Christians from religious persecution, Rev. Rhenius had started several Christian Satellite Villages, which include: Neduvilai - later known as Megnanapuram (1825), Idayankulam (1827), Asirvathapuram (1828), Nallur (1832) and Surandai (1833).

In 1827, Rhenius created a settlement for the Christians of Puliakurichi in a village he purchased out of money donated by a devout Prussian gentleman, Count Dohna of Scholodin, and named it after him as Dohnavur, which later became the place for Ami Carmichael to start the Dohnavur Fellowship to protect the women rescued from forced / temple prostitution.

Regretful Days

The conflict of interest between the Anglican Diocese of Calcutta and Rhenius, whose background is Lutheran, soared high when six catechist of Rhenius choice refused to get ordained at Madras by the Anglican Bishop Tuner of Calcutta Diocese in 1830. Hence CMS regretfully terminated the services of Rhenius. He handed over all his belongings to Rev. John Tucker and along with his German colleagues left for Thoothukudi, from there hired a boat and sailed to Madras and traveled to Arcot, where Rhenius was planning to start his own mission.

Several catechists from Tirunelveli begged him to return. They offered to send palanquins to carry him back. This was enough to make him change his mind. Soon he was on his way to Palayamkottai to set up a mission there. In Palayamkottai, the supporters of Rev. C T E Rhenius stopped going to CMS Church and started a Prayer Hall for their worship at Aadaikalapuram, Palayamkottai. Similar things happened in all the places, where ever Rev. C T E Rhenius had planted churches, so was in Solaikudiyiruppu. Efforts to reconcile them failed.

Last Act of Service

His health began to fail under the tension and strain caused by the division in the churches. Rhenius wanted every one to have a copy of the Bible in the language they could understand. On 5 June, 1838, he signed notes to be sent to people in Palayamkottai. In these notes, he asked for subscriptions to the Madras Auxiliary of the Bible Society. Such was his concern for the Bible Society. On the same evening at 7:30 pm the Apostle to Tirunelveli quietly entered into the presence of his Lord and Master at the age of 48.

• Tomb of Rev. C T E Rhenius at Adaikalapuram, Palayamkottai, Tirunelvelli, Tamil Nadu, India
  Tomb of Rev. C T E Rhenius at Adaikalapuram, Palayamkottai, Tirunelvelli, Tamil Nadu, India

The tomb of Rev. C T E Rhenius got the due recognition from the C.S.I. Tirunelveli Diocese during the diocese's Bi-centenary Celebrations during 1978. The Tomb, which remained uncared during my childhood days is currently being maintained by the C.S.I. Tirunelveli Diocese Tomb of Rev C T E Rhenius.

By intense and systematic work Rhenius had set up as many as 371 congregations in Tirunelveli all within 15 years, which made Dr. Wolf, the great Jewish missionary – who came and stayed with Rhenius for a week during September 1833 – regard him as the greatest missionary who had appeared since St. Paul. His grave in Adaikalapuram, Palayamkottai just a few yards off the national highway, is being treasured as the resting place of the most restless of the missionaries who ever came to India.

Further reading

1. Christian History & Biography Issue 87, Summer 2005,Vol. XXIV,321How indigenous Christian movements radically transformed entire communities. By Robert Eric Frykenberg

2. A history of Christianity in India, 1707-1858, By Bishop Stephen Neill, Edition: illustrated Published by Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 0521893321, 9780521893329, 600 pages