Quote **** Often mission historiography does not refer to the Protestant missionary work in India, especially in Calcutta before the arrival of William Carey in November 1793. Even the recently published Journal and Selected Letters of William Carey seems to think of Carey as the founder of Protestant mission/church in India. With all due respect and recognition to what Carey had accomplished, it must be emphasized that he was not the first Protestant missionary pioneer in India. For the sake of historical accuracy and more truthful mission historiography, the following is mentioned. Almost 150 years before Carey's arrival in Calcutta the Dutch missionary Abraham Roger, who had spent ten years (1631-1641) among the Tamils in the Dutch colony of Pulicat near Madras, published his famous work entitled Open Door to the Hidden Heathendom (1651). His fellow countryman Philip Baldaeus (1632-1671) spent two year in the Dutch colony of Nagapatnam (1660-1662), not far from the Danish colony Tranquebar. Baldaeus's famous work entitled A true and exact description of the most celebrated East-India coast of Malabar and Coromandel (1672) shows his interest in religious traditions of Tamils and Sri Lankans. Both of them had interpreters to gather religious information. Baldaeus was also interested in missionary work. However, his time in India was too short. Carey knew about the ministry of the Dutch missionaries and of Ziegenbalg in South India. His reference to Ziegenbalg is important because the Tranquebar Mission helped Carey to perceive his work in India in proper context. He knew that he was not the founder of the Protestant mission in India. **** Unquote (snip) http://www.missionstudies.org/rescue/jeyaraj.htm ----- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India