Introduction: Sermon in the hills
The three closed countries, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, into which no European is allowed to enter, lie round Kalimpong and it is natural that the Missionaries should gaze at them with longing eyes […] Meanwhile there is scope for all enterprise in the valleys and hillsides of Darjeeling and of Sikkim, and a band of men is being trained there in the language, the thoughts, and the ways of the hill tribes, and is thus acquiring knowledge which will stand them in good stead whenever the door shall be unbarred and the light of Christianity admitted into those countries where no white men is able to penetrate.Footnote 1
Charles A. Elliot (1835–1911), lieutenant governor of Bengal (1890–1895)
At the turn of the twentieth century, when Tibetans viewed the British as a threat and Christianity as a bstan dgra (an enemy of Buddhism),Footnote 2 missionaries in the Himalayan region were poised to enter Tibet and convert its inhabitants. The hill stations of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, with their cool climates and strategic proximity to Tibet, Calcutta, Bhutan, and Nepal, were ideal imperial cosmopolitan towns and thus attracted a diverse influx of Tibetans, Nepalese, Indians, Chinese, and Westerners, including transnational missionaries as well as scholars of Tibetan religion and culture.Footnote 3 Hence, the Scandinavian Alliance Mission (SAM) and the Church of Scotland established mission stations there with the explicit goal of converting Tibetan and other Buddhist communities.Footnote 4 At the same time, early scholars of Tibetan studies (for example, Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, Sarat Chandra Das, Lawrence Austine Waddell, Ekai Kawaguchi, Johan Van Manen, and Alexandra David-Néel) also resided in this region. Either driven by the goal of conversion or by intellectual exploration, missionaries and scholars studied Tibetan while relying on the expertise of literate locals to serve as essential teachers and ‘cultural intermediaries’.Footnote 5 Within this context, Johan van Manen (1877–1943), along with Protestant missionaries, encountered Skar ma bsam gtan pa’u lu (1888–1976),Footnote 6 also referred to as Karma Babu, Karma Samten Paul, Karma Sumdhon Paul, and Paul;Footnote 7 Phun tshogs lung rtogs (1882–1926) also known as Gegen Phuntsog and Phüntsok Lungtok; and Trin Chen or Chen Cunzhi (1893–1943, 陳存誌). These three local men represented a new class of modern intermediaries who tutored missionaries in Tibetan, taught at local mission schools, and promoted Christianity among Tibetan communities prior to becoming Johan van Manen’s assistants and clerks. As yet the broader historiography of modern Tibet and the Himalayas has largely overlooked these indigenous intermediaries and the early Protestant missions who engaged with Tibetan communities in the Darjeeling-Kalimpong area. This article positions these interactions as uniquely modern phenomena, emerging along the twentieth-century Himalayan frontier as a direct consequence of this contact with the West. Here, I define ‘modern’ as the era unfolding from the late nineteenth century onwards. It marked the onset of significant British colonial influence in the region, in particular, the arrival of transnational missionaries who introduced a range of Western ideas and institutions (including Christianity, English-medium education, schools, hospitals, and print technology) that fundamentally reshaped Himalayan societies.
During the long history of encounters between Tibet and the West, from classical to modern times, European perspectives and experiences have dominated the literature surrounding this encounter. In fact, the Tibetan perspective has been either largely missing or has remained unexplored in the discourse, partly due to the lack of Tibetan sources on this topic. Hence, the historiography of this encounter by and large has been drawn from Western writings and personnel, namely early descriptions of Tibet and the Tibetans presented by Catholic missionaries from John of Plano Carpini (circa 1182–1252) and William of Rubruck (1220–1293) to those of later protagonists (for example, Ippolito Desideri [1684–1733], Capuchins, numerous nineteenth- and twentieth-century European travellers, and Christian missionaries).Footnote 8 Current scholarship on cross-cultural interactions between Tibetans and specific Protestant missions established in the eastern Himalayas such as the Scandinavian Alliance Mission and the Finnish Mission in Ghoom, the Tibetan Mission in Darjeeling, and the Scottish Mission in Kalimpong remains limited. Framing Kalimpong and Darjeeling as significant twentieth-century ‘contact zones’ with rich transnational connections, the narrative has also largely overlooked early cross-cultural encounters between Protestant Christian missions and Tibetans located at these two towns.Footnote 9 Interestingly, the existing scholarship has largely been pioneered by independent researchers such as Cindy L. Perry, Louis H. Fader, and John Bray, with a notable contribution being the 1998 special issue of the Amnye Machen Institute for Tibetan Studies (AMI)’s Lungta magazine titled ‘Christian Missionaries in Tibet’.Footnote 10 The fact that a planned second issue on Catholic missions never materialized further underscores this field’s nascent state. I must admit, however, that substantial research exists on Rev. G. Tharchin Babu, particularly his Tibet Mirror newspaper, and the Moravian Missions in the western Himalayas.Footnote 11 This article argues that, whereas conversion formed the dominant narrative of early Protestant missions in the eastern Himalayas, their work simultaneously entailed a significant cultural endeavour that transformed these fledging Christian mission stations into crucial sites of encounter. They produced some of the earliest Tibetan-language pedagogical materials in English, thus promoting the study of Lhasa Tibetan, employing native Tibetan teachers, and establishing mission schools.Footnote 12 Focusing on the lives and writings of K. S. Paul, Trin Chen, and Phüntsok Lungtok, I have not only examined the first-hand accounts of their interactions with missionaries, their roles within mission schools, and the impact of these exchanges on their religious but also aimed at positioning their experiences and writings within the broader historiography of modern Tibetan history and the history of Christian missions in the Himalayas.
Sources: Converting life into writing
The emergence of the autobiographies commissioned and acquired by Johan van Manen is furthermore a product of the modern cross-cultural encounters that took place during the early twentieth century. Such writings by ‘ordinary men’ were unprecedented in the history of Tibetan life writings. Historically, the Tibetan autobiographical genre (rnam thar) remained limited to the Buddhist monastic class and the aristocratic elite, resulting in a corpus dominated by male and religious figures.Footnote 13 Kurtis Schaeffer has noted that only four such autobiographies were authored by women.Footnote 14 This scarcity is understandable, considering the fact that printing, textual production, and literacy in traditional Tibet remained limited to Tibetan monastic circles, thus rarely extending beyond monastery walls. It is precisely this historiographical context that causes these early twentieth-century memoirs penned in Lhasa-based colloquial rather than literary Tibetan to be so exceptional within the broader Tibetan Himalayan Buddhist genre of life writing. By commissioning his native staff members and servants to put their experiences into writing, Van Manen did far more than simply add to his personal collection of Tibetan texts. These autobiographies go beyond the status of historical or travel accounts: they are akin to an ethnography, immersing us in the very realms of their authors’ social and lived experiences. These local intermediaries who taught Tibetan, promoted Christianity, learnt English, and underwent religious conversion present us with a fresh chapter in the history of encounters between Tibet and the West. Thus, given Johan van Manen’s central role in conceiving, commissioning, and collecting these memoirs, it is indeed an understatement to suggest that he merely requested their writing. He also provided explicit instructions, directing his assistants to document their lives in great detail, including where they had been, what they had seen, and what they had done in their lives.Footnote 15
The significance of these private memoirs extends beyond their contents and style. Their truly groundbreaking nature lies in the fact that they represent some of the earliest bilingual manifestations of life writing authored by ‘ordinary men’ during the twentieth century. As a result, these are not merely biographical fragments of the lives led by Himalayan individuals scattered throughout Western archives, but consist of a complete set of autobiographies as well as their English translations. They are, to my knowledge, if not the first, then definitely very early bilingual (or trilingual, in Trin Chen’s case) accounts of Tibetan life writing in Tibetan and English. Taking this into account, Van Manen significantly intervened in the historiography of Tibetan life writing as well as in Tibet’s encounter with the West by introducing Tibetans here as historical agents. As we well know, the lives and accounts of many of these intermediaries serving Europeans and the Anglo-Indian government across the Himalayas are overlooked in mainstream imperial history. In fact, only a handful of Himalayan men known as ‘intermediaries’ between Tibet and the West have left us actual accounts of their lives and works dating from the early twentieth century.Footnote 16 The most notable of these are Tharchin Babu’s (1890–1976) biographyFootnote 17 and the recent publication dedicated to the life of S. W. Laden La (1876–1936).Footnote 18
Following Van Manen’s death in Calcutta, the autobiographies of K. S. Paul, Trin Chen, and Phüntsok Lungtok found their way to Leiden. They are now housed in the Special Collections of the Leiden University Library and the Wereldmuseum, Leiden. The English versions of these texts have emerged in two different iterations: contemporaneous translations by Trin Chen and K. S. Paul, and an abridged summary of the autobiography presented by Peter Richardus based on the English manuscripts translated by Trin Chen and K. S. Paul.Footnote 19 Besides Peter Richardus, I am not aware of any scholar who has worked on these autobiographies in the past. For this article, I draw primarily upon the Tibetan-and English-language autobiographies authored by Karma Sumdhon Paul,Footnote 20 Trin Chen,Footnote 21 and Phüntsok Lungtok.Footnote 22 The first section of this article will examine the missionary activities of the Scandinavian Alliance Mission (SAM), paying special attention to its role in producing some of the earliest Tibetan-language learning materials in English based on Lhasa Tibetan.Footnote 23 Many of these Westerners relied on native Tibetans from Lhasa in the preparation of these textbooks. Yet the emergence of Lhasa Tibetan as the standard language for English-language pedagogical materials, as well as the contributions of Tibetan informants, have received little or no attention from scholars of Tibetan and Buddhist studies. I will then explore the accounts recorded by Karma Sumdhon Paul, Trin Chen, and Phüntsok Lungtok regarding their experiences as both members of Protestant missions and as Tibetan-language teachers at mission schools: Karma was associated with the SAM and its mission school located in Ghoom (near Darjeeling), Trin Chen with the Tibetan Mission School in Darjeeling, and Phüntsok Lungtok with the Scottish Mission School in Kalimpong.
Lhasa Tibetan: The Scandinavian Alliance Mission and its Tibetan-language learning
Due to Tibet’s stance towards foreigners and its restrictions on missionary activities, a select group of Protestant missionaries utilized Himalayan frontier zones as a base for their future evangelical endeavours in the trans-Himalayan regions. From the late nineteenth century on, various missionary societies (such as the German Moravians, British Anglicans, Scottish Presbyterians, the Free Church of Finland, and American evangelical groups such as the Scandinavian Alliance Mission) all established churches, schools, orphanages, and hospitals in order to introduce significant transformation in the fields of education, healthcare, and society.Footnote 24 Unlike Jesuit or Catholic priests who had historically dominated Christian missions founded in Tibet, these modern Protestant groups adopted a fundamentally different evangelical approach. In addition to their evangelical work, these transnational missionaries developed a range of pedagogical tools focused on both literary and spoken Tibetan, as well as on studying Christianity. This policy included translating religious texts, most significantly the Bible, into Tibetan, which earlier Jesuit missionaries had not cared to embark upon. Echoing a broader emphasis on vernacular translation, Protestant missionaries in Darjeeling prioritized the study of Lhasa Tibetan, but also began designing Tibetan-language textbooks for Western audiences, particularly by placing Lhasa Tibetan at the forefront of their pedagogical materials. Hence, modern colloquial Tibetan came to be defined by means of Lhasa Tibetan.
As regards evangelical work and Tibetan-language pedagogy, the Ghoom-based SAMFootnote 25 (see Figures 1 and 2) advanced considerably at that time. Founded by the Swedish-American evangelist Fredrik Franson (1852–1908), the SAM (with its primary goal being to convert Tibetans to Christianity) became, according to William Martin, the first American missionary organization to focus its efforts on the Tibetan people.Footnote 26 In the spring of 1892, the SAM, under the leadership of John F. Frederickson (d. 1900), established its first mission not far from Darjeeling in a small village called Jorebungalow near Ghoom. The SAM’s linguistic dedication was observed by Fredrik Franson during his 1894 tour of this mission’s Asian operations. Visiting key Himalayan outposts bordering Tibet (including Darjeeling, Sikkim, Baltistan, Leh, Nilang, Polum Lumdo, and Buxa) he noted in a letter sent from Darjeeling how all eight SAM missionaries stationed at Ghoom spoke fluent Tibetan.Footnote 27 Using Darjeeling as a strategic base, the SAM gradually expanded its operations to other Tibetan frontier regions such as Sikkim, Baltistan, and Garhwal.Footnote 28 The Ghoom enclave evolved into a significant cultural and educational nexus, serving as a dynamic ‘meeting place’, thereby facilitating multiple initiatives such as educating local children through mission schools, fostering linguistic and cultural exchange between Tibetans and Westerners, and advancing knowledge production through the printing of Tibetan-language learning materials and Bible translations.
The Scandinavian Alliance Mission station in Ghoom.
Another picture of the Scandinavian Alliance Mission station in Ghoom.
The SAM’s emphasis on Lhasa Tibetan is clearly reflected in the publications produced by their private printing-press operation, the Scandinavian Alliance Tibetan Mission Press.Footnote 29 During its relatively brief existence, the Ghoom-based Press published several foundational works in Lhasa colloquial Tibetan, for instance, Cecil Henry Polhill Turner’s The Colloquial Language of Tibet, or The Occurrences of Daily Life Indoors and Out, Described According to the Lhasa Idiom in a Series of Exercises, Including Grammatical and Other Notes (August 1896); Edward Amundsen’s Primer of Standard Tibetan (1903);Footnote 30 and the Tibetan translation of the New Testament into Lhasa Tibetan (1903).Footnote 31 While it remains unclear how many other texts were printed, the surviving texts provide us with crucial information on their Lhasa colloquial contents and the collaboration underlying their production. For example, Cecil Polhill (1860–1893)Footnote 32 noted in his preface that two English-speaking Tibetans in Darjeeling had initially translated colloquial English exercises into Tibetan. These drafts were later revised and edited by a young monk from Sera (near Lhasa) named Yeshi, who tragically passed away from tuberculosis shortly thereafter. After nine missionaries in Darjeeling studying colloquial Tibetan found this text to be highly practical, they encouraged Polhill to publish it for wider circulation.Footnote 33 Similarly, Amundsen’s Primer noted in its preface that Part I had been drafted by ‘Tibetan lads’ (no names given) in Darjeeling.Footnote 34 In both manuals, the Tibetan exercises were carefully based on the ‘standard’ Lhasa or Central Tibetan (dbus skad), avoiding other regional varieties and incorporating numerous honorific expressions characteristic of Lhasa Tibetan.
The selection of Lhasa Tibetan was also a strategic decision from the government’s perspective. In Darjeeling during this period, other missionaries, colonial officials, and scholars also helped establish Lhasa Tibetan as the standard language for Western learners. For the British, the use of Lhasa Tibeta was far more practical for corresponding or conversing with the Lhasa government and its officials. Three important contributions are the British missionary-cum-scholar Graham Sandberg’s Hand-book of Colloquial Tibetan: A Practical Guide to the Language of Central Tibet (1894); Sir Charles Bell’s Manual of Colloquial Tibetan (1905); and Herbert Bruce Hannah’s A Grammar of the Tibetan Language: Literary and Colloquial (1912). All three reflect the Lhasa, or Central Tibetan, register in both their colloquial and literary forms, and the contributions of the Tibetan men who served as language teachers and informants. Graham Sandberg composed his manual with the input of two Lhasa natives and other Tibetans that he met during his stay in Darjeeling in 1893.Footnote 35 Sir Charles Bell, who studied Tibetan in Darjeeling, did not name his Tibetan-language teachers in the first edition, but he did recommend hiring teachers from Lhasa after first acquiring basic Tibetan from English-speaking Tibetans in Darjeeling. In his second edition (1919), he reports that his materials were reviewed by Tibetans of various social classes, particularly Phalase of the aristocratic Phala family from Lhasa.Footnote 36 Herbert Bruce Hannah’s text was the result of his years of study with the Sikkimese scholar Kazi Dawa Samdup in Darjeeling.Footnote 37 There was indeed no better location for such a collaboration than the Darjeeling region, given its unique concentration of educated, English-speaking Tibetans and individuals from Lhasa and Central Tibet. These collaborative efforts, often anchored in Darjeeling and involving native speakers hailing from Lhasa and Central Tibet, helped establish Lhasa Tibetan as the de facto standard for modern colloquial Tibetan as encountered in Western pedagogical materials. This preference persists even in recent decades, for example in the Manual of Standard Tibetan: Language and Civilization Footnote 38 which explicitly treats Lhasa Tibetan as the normative standard.
Western engagement with Lhasa Tibetan in Darjeeling was not limited to the production of Tibetan-language primers. A significant milestone in the translation of Christian literature into Tibetan was achieved when a committee of missionaries, appointed by the Darjeeling-based British and Foreign Bible Society, produced the first Tibetan translation of the New Testament in Lhasa Tibetan. Known as the Ghoom Bible, it was printed by the Scandinavian Alliance Tibetan Mission Press in 1903.Footnote 39 This committee comprised five members: A. W. Heyde (1825–1907), Edward Amundsen (who had moved with his wife from China to Darjeeling in order to replace the late SAM missionary John FredericksonFootnote 40), David Macdonald (circa 1870–1962), Evan Mackenzie (1868–1934) who we know, from Phüntsok Lungtok’s accounts, spoke fluent Tibetan (see below), and Graham Sandberg. As noted by P. Klafkowski, this committee convened regularly in Darjeeling, working in collaboration with Tibetan converts. Regrettably, we know very little about these early Tibetan converts. A former Tibetan Buddhist monk named Kjenrab was also part of the translating committee.Footnote 41 As with so many intermediaries active during the colonial era, the lives and contributions of these Tibetan/Himalayan individuals remain largely obscure. It is clear, however, that Tibetans were involved in cooperating with missionaries. The fact that they offer crucial first-hand perspectives on these frequently overlooked local actors is precisely the reason why the autobiographical accounts of Karma Sumdhon Paul, Phüntsok Lungtok, and Trin Chen are so relevant. Protestant missions in Darjeeling and Kalimpong functioned as key locations to find employment, encounter Christianity, and engage in English-language tuition. Moreover, all these men were recruited thanks to their linguistic expertise: Karma Sumdhon Paul was multilingual and an Anglophone whereas Trin Chen and Phüntsok Lungtok, both originally from Lhasa, were valued for their advanced Tibetan literacy and command of the Lhasa spoken language.
From Buddhism to Christianity and back: Karma Sumdhon Paul’s conversion experience
The Ghoom-based Scandinavian Alliance Mission (SAM) underwent a significant reorganization in 1906, when it was agreed that its members would shift their focus to evangelizing the Bhil tribal groups located near Bombay (Mumbai). Next, the mission transferred much of its northern Himalayan outreach activity to the Finnish Mission. With the arrival of new workers active in the Free Church of Finland, the mission (now renamed the Finnish Alliance Mission) expanded its evangelical and social work among Himalayan communities by establishing orphanages, schools, and other social services for children (see Figures 3, 4, and 5). One such institution, the Ghoom Mission School, became a key educational centre where Karma Sumdhon Paul was appointed as the first headmaster. Born and raised in the cosmopolitan environment of Darjeeling, his life, career, world view, and religious beliefs were profoundly shaped by interacting with Westerners. His early education reflected regional cultural and linguistic diversity. Having studied Tibetan with a Mongolian monk, Geshe Sherab Gyatso (dge bshes Shes rab rgya mtsho), the founder of Yiga Choeling Monastery (yid dga’ chos gling)Footnote 42 in Ghoom, he also learnt basic literacy in Hindi at a local school, acquired the English language from David Macdonald, the well-known Ghoom-based Scottish-Sikkimese figure, and attended a Christian mission school before enrolling at the prestigious English-medium Darjeeling Government High School which he referred to as the ‘British Highschool’.Footnote 43 Karma’s fluency in Tibetan and English enabled him to serve as an interpreter for the Ninth Panchen Lama (1883–1937) during his 1906 visit to British India. He later worked as a translator for the medical officer Captain R. Steen at the British Trade Agency in Gyantse (Central Tibet), before being dismissal by the then Lieutenant F. M. Bailey on 14 November 1908.Footnote 45
The Finnish Mission Church in Jorebungalow, Ghoom (side view).
The Finnish Mission Church (rear view).
The Sparrow’s Nest orphanage. According to Noel Gurung, this building formerly housed an orphanage established by Finnish missionaries to accommodate orphans from Ahmedabad.Footnote 44
Let us begin with the life and times of Karma Sumdhon Paul, for his writings represent one of the earliest accounts penned by a Tibetan who not only received a modern education but also documented his encounters with the West in both Tibetan and English. The emergence of Tibetan writing in English as well as the growth of a Tibetan Anglophone intellectual tradition is generally treated as a phenomenon that emerged in exile after the 1959 uprising.Footnote 46 However, individual cases, as with K. S. Paul, suggest a more complex and earlier genesis. His first-hand narrative of his experiences at the Finnish Mission while serving as a Tibetan-language tutor and headmaster, as well as changing his faith, constitutes one of the first written records in the English language by a Tibetan convert. Notably, Nathaniel Soepa Gyaltsen (Bzod pa rgyal mtshan), a Tibetan lama from Lhasa who was baptized in 1872, having assisted the German Moravian F. A. Redslob (1835–1891) in translating the Old Testament in Leh (Ladakh), was probably the ‘first’ Tibetan convert.Footnote 47 Nevertheless, we know next to nothing about this monk’s life or his personal encounter with Christianity. When discussing prominent Tibetan Christian converts from the twentieth century, one invariably turns to Tharchin Babu (1890–1976; Mthar phyin rdo rje),Footnote 48 the renowned publisher of the Tibet Mirror newspaper. By contrast, men such as Karma Sumdhon Paul have largely been omitted from modern historical accounts. He was, however, not only a contemporary but also a mentor and brother figure Footnote 49 to Tharchin in Ghoom (see Figures 6 and 7). As Karma writes in his autobiography:
Tharchin is a Ladakhi Christian, who joined my Mission School in 1912, where he worked as an ex-assistant teacher for about five years […] I helped Tharchin by teaching him English and Hindi, as well as Tibetan, in addition to his own school work.Footnote 50
Ghoom schoolteachers and orphans at the mission. Standing, from the left, Marcus (a Hindi-language teacher), Tharchin Babu, K. S. Paul, Karma (another orphaned Tibetan from Ghoom), and John from Ahmedabad; seated, from the left, we see Simon, James, Prem, and David; the remaining two boys are the sons of Sikkim-based Christians studying in Ghoom.
Students and teachers at the Finnish Mission School in 1913. Karma Sumdhon Paul is seated in the centre, second from the right.
This account is corroborated by Tharchin’s own biography, which confirms that he knew very little English or Hindi upon arriving at the Ghoom Mission in 1912.Footnote 52 Tharchin’s path to Darjeeling was itself shaped by the SAM or Finnish Mission world. After seeing the Ghoom Bible in Delhi, he applied for work at the SAM’s Tibetan Printing Press but was offered a position at the Ghoom Mission School instead. This decision, which ultimately placed him under the direct guidance of K. S. Paul, marked the beginning of his transformative journey in Darjeeling.
In 1909, following a pilgrimage to Central Tibet, K. S. Paul returned to Darjeeling and accepted a clerical post working for the architect R. M. Robertson.Footnote 53 Shortly thereafter, through his brother Tamding Wangyal, he learnt that Anna Kempes,Footnote 54 a missionary serving with the Free Church of Finland,Footnote 55 was seeking a Tibetan-language tutor.Footnote 56 She initially engaged Karma as her personal instructor. However, within just three months, she had appointed him as a teacher at the mission school (see Figure 7) in Jorebungalow, which then had an enrolment of just seven to ten pupils. In Chapter 15 of his translated autobiography,Footnote 57 he presents us with a first-hand account of his experiences as both a tutor to Miss Kempes and an educator at this school:
After finishing several small school books in Tibetan, she began the New Testament in Tibetan with me. This book which is called the (Christian) gospel (New Testament) was a quite new thing to me, as I have never seen it in Tibetan language ever before. Afterwards, I read and study it with the ‘Yeshu-ani’ (Miss A. Kempes) where I understood it and knew what it was. So I continued teaching this good lady ‘Yeshu-ani’ in colloquial and classical Tibetan for four long years, during this time we studied the gospel very minutely. While we were studying in this way at the time my pupil ‘Yeshu-ani’ used to ask me again and again to believe and to have faith to one so called ‘Yeshu’ (Jesus) at the time. I used to study the gospel and very secretly and I was comparing the two religions Christianity and Buddhism so far as my knowledge permitted me there. While doing so very seriously, I found out that the religion of Jesus is also a very good one and it will be very helpful to all. But I being a follower of Buddhism, I was never glad to know when the Christian speak anything against the images or to monk and to lamas or to the Buddhist custom though I love the ‘Yeshui-chhos’ (Christianity). Because, I too know very well that the monks have faults and are faulty, and I also know very well that the images are made by men, yet, I was dead against the ‘Yeshu-anes and Yeshu sahibs’ lecture or preaching’ when they speak about the above things. But I used to pray in this way to the ‘God’, when I was quite alone in my bed during night time. ‘O God! by Thine great mercy, I have visited almost all the famous Buddhist holy places both in India and in Tibet. Besides, I have been and visited many holy lamas about whom I can’t pen here, so do show me in Thine ineffable mercy, the religion in which I can obtain the salvation.’ So I used to pray just in the dead of night when everything was very quiet. One and all knows these things very well and not by the Christians only that ‘there is no peace in Samsara; no fruits in the riches; and there is no happiness in the world. As I am a lover of the religion from my childhood so, O God! do show me the way for the true salvation, so that I may not suffer the damnation of “God” hereafter. Show me by any religion whether through Buddhism or Christianity or through Hinduism the true salvation. I will follow according to that though it may not be my parents’ religion (Buddhism) if I can find peace in my soul, but let me not stray for their name sakes’, so I prayed to God in that way. So in this way I was studying very carefully the two religions very minutely as far as my brain permits, compare the Christian and Buddhist missionaries, the Christians and Buddhists and I compared my own self with the Christ’s religion i.e. my own inner character f.e. with the teachings of Christ. So I spent several years comparing the Buddhism, Hinduism, with the Christianity so that I may not get stray in my studies as far as the religion is concerned.Footnote 58
From 1910 on, K. S. Paul served as Anna Kempes’s Tibetan-language tutor while simultaneously working as a teacher at the mission school. Despite constant proselytizing pressure from his missionary colleagues, in particularly from Miss Kempes, he did not embrace Christianity immediately. He himself attested to actively defended Buddhism against missionary critiques aimed at Tibetan lamas, customs, and sacred images. It may be added here that this dynamic recalls an earlier tendency among Catholic missionaries to distort Tibetan Buddhist practices into a degenerate form of their own faith or, even worse, as demonic.Footnote 59 Nevertheless, conversion to Christianity seemed inevitable for many working for missionaries. During several years of tutoring Miss Kempes, K. S. Paul, having been gradually introduced to Christian teachings, began following Bible lessons from her and others. Thanks to dedicated Bible study, a rigorous comparison of two religions, and solitary prayer, a profound internal transformation began to take shape. Then, in 1913, a major turning point arrived, either due to sustained pressure, personal conviction, or a combination of both. Much to the frustration of his Buddhist friends and family, after converting to Christianity, he later described his new life in terms of a ‘spiritual awakening’, characterized by an experience of ‘eternal bliss’.
At last I had a very strong belief in the Christianity and I felt in my spirit that ‘God told me that Christianity is also a very good religion and if you will follow it there is no fear for your future damnation of hell f.e..’ Yet I cared nothing about my spiritual fight so a few years passed away in the mean while, at last on the 21st September in 1913 A.D. I openly confessed Christianity, when I asked the preacher of the religion i.e. to the Missionaries to give me baptism according to the Bible teaching where they kept me waiting for about two months i.e. on the 5th November, 1913 A.D. I was baptized with my late dearest wife. After this many of my intimate friends and acquaintances with my own brother and sisters approached me for several times and asked me not to accept the Christianity at all. But I had to obey ‘God’ more than my friends, dear brother and sisters, so I could not comply them as far as this matter was concerned. Moreover God’s word is the precious word and I must do that thing which suits my own spirit. After my conversion into Christianity I felt that I have obtained the eternal bliss [emphasis added to original] now by the help of God. The reader of the book will know clearly how I worked hard for the sake of my religion (i.e. to get salvation) by visiting holy men, monasteries, and pilgrimages f.e. yet I have not got the peace what I have wanted in my spirit. I couldn’t make out in the real sense what is a religion and a sin, so after coming back from Tibet I joined the Mission house at Jorebungalow where I felt that I am going to get the things for what I was working so hard. Therefore, I accepted the Christianity afterwards though I have visited a many holy places f.e.. ‘Now it was my earnest prayer that may the religion of Jesus (too) spread in every crack and corner and save many who reads this book of mine and may many Tibetans get save through Christianity,’ for this reason I have written passages here for your own good.Footnote 60
Much like a typical conversion narrative, Karma’s fresh identity as a Christian man stood in sharp contrast to his former Buddhist self. He characterized this transformation as a profound spiritual awakening, describing it as an experience entirely absent in his life before conversion. He claimed that only after joining the Finnish Mission did he feel he was nearing his spiritual objectives. As one of the earliest Tibetan converts, his conversion was particularly significant as it occurred at a time when the missionaries were facing considerable difficulty in securing conversions among Tibetans. Consequently, he became a poster child of sorts for the mission: an educated, multilingual Anglophone from a Tibetan Buddhist background, now baptized. Therefore, the 1918 manuscript of his autobiography, composed while he was a devout Christian, was more than a personal history: it functioned as a testimonial aimed at persuading other Tibetans to embrace Christianity.Footnote 61 His profile offered a powerful model of successful conversion. Hence, the Finnish Alliance Mission featured his story in their Finnish-language magazine, Suomen Viikkolehti, in 1914. Interestingly, this missionary publication presents us with a narrative that contrasts starkly with the introspective and comparative process of spiritual quest described in Karma’s own autobiography. The January 1914 edition reported a dramatic scene of rupture: at the moment of his conversion, he allegedly ‘burned Tibetan Buddhist texts on September 21st, and told his wife [Karma Yangzom (Skar ma dbyangs ‘dzoms)] that if the Buddhist statues in their home were real, they would take his life—and if not, [he] would convert to Christianity’.Footnote 62 It is a moot point whether he actually did engage in these specific sacrilegious acts; however, such dramatic gestures of renunciation, to wit, burning texts and challenging statues, are conspicuously absent from all extant manuscripts of his autobiography.
Yet, there is a crucial evolution within K. S. Paul’s own voice over the various drafts. A comparative reading of the writings dealing with his conversion reveals a significant ‘reordering’ and ‘reshaping’ of this experience, reflecting his evolving attitude towards his own religious transition.Footnote 63 These deleted passages from the original 1918 version of his autobiography (which portrayed Buddhism in unflattering terms and expressed reverence towards Christianity) were not only omitted from the final 1928 fair copy but also do not appear in the English translations. For instance, in the 1918 version, he is highly critical of Tibetan cultural and religious practices, stating: ‘Our Tibetan religions are fundamentally customary, and there is no hope for the attainment of enlightenment/salvation’ (nga rang tsho bod pa’i chos de tsho ni lugs srol gcig po red ma gtogs de ni thar lam thob pa’i re ba yod ba ma red) [crossed out].Footnote 64 Similarly, he wrote: ‘though, I have visited many holy places and served high lamas, because things are not like Christianity, I gave up, [crossed out], I started to have faith in Christianity’ (byas tsang nga rang gis yang gnas rtsa chen po de ‘dra mjal bla ma rtsa chen po de ‘dra’i zhabs phyi zhus myong na yang gtso bo ye shu gi chos ‘dra po med pa’i don la spangs bzhag pa yin la dad pa byas yin).Footnote 65 The sharply critical tone towards Buddhism in the early draft suggests he probably censored these passages himself after later renouncing Christianity and returning to Buddhism. This pattern of revision is part of a broader trend of elisions and amendments found throughout his manuscripts. Further evidence of this evolving self-presentation can be seen in his use of Tibetan Buddhist terminology in order to describe Christian concepts. During his Christian phase, he referred to Jesus Christ using Buddhist terminologies that are limited to high lamas or reincarnated beings like ‘the precious one’ (Rinpoche)’, ‘the name of the Rinpoche of Christianity’ (ye shu’i rin po che yi mtshan) [crossed out], and his teachings as ‘the precious holy doctrine or Dharma of Lord Jesus’ (gtso bo ye shu’i dam chos rin po che) [crossed out].Footnote 66 After converting back to Buddhism in 1920, he returned to his manuscripts to add four new chapters (16–19) in 1928. These additions detailed his life events between 1918 and 1928, effectively creating a meta-narrative concerning his entire experience of conversion. Most significantly, he titled Chapter 17 ‘My giving up the Christianity’, in order to explain his initial reasons for converting, the challenges he faced as a convert, and his ultimate reasons for returning to his ancestral faith.
The readers can understand now very clearly, how and in what a hazardous way I accepted Christianity. When I accepted it at the time, I was still young, yet I accepted and did according to my own conscience. Though, the general public hates the Christianity and these are numberless, among these there is not a single Tibetan who speaks good of it (Christianity); yet I acted according to my own conscience’s guiding as far as I knew it was right. So I confess the Christianity and get myself converted on the 5th November 1913 A.D. Since then for about seven years, I studied the Christianity in and out without losing any opportunity. And I attended all the religious meetings (such as annual Conventions, Christian Endeavour meetings, Sunday Schools, Public open air preaching works f.e.), and joined all the Christian brethren and sisters (such as Indians, Gurkhas, Europeans f.e.) every where for the religious purposes and passed my life with them. Because I gave up my paternal and ancestors’ religion (Buddhism), and faced the foreigners’ religion, thinking, this must be better than ours […] So while I was deepening my soul deeper and deeper into my spiritual life, earning my daily bread through the school affairs, I had to face unbearable troubles from the false Christians and through the hypocrites, which are innumerable, again and again, yet caring nothing for these difficulties and trials which I knew beforehand waiting for me, but caring very much to get the very thing (i.e. salvation through Christ as per Christians’ preachings) for which I gave up my ancestral religion. Went on bearing patiently the crosses, which were enumerable, that come on my ways daily though at times I felt that I have done wrong by accepting this [funny? not clear] new religion, so bearing them again, though I passed on several years patiently, but in the long run I could not go on with the Christian missionaries at all, and thinking that whatever religion you follow whether Christianity or Buddhism, you follow honestly there you will you get the aimed salvation. Thinking so, I was made to give up the Christian religion for whom I gave one and all, because of such troubles and false accusations coming again and again and for the unbearable oppressions received through the missionaries, so I gave up my new religion in the year 1920 A.D., though I worked hard and suffered much than I can pen here for this new religion, after all, I have been made to face, ‘and accept my own ancestrals’ religion i.e. Buddhism again, in this I have found the real peace and happiness and be a quite free man without any missionaries’ fear f.e.’. But I am not going to pen everything here in detail here as I have no time to do so […] During my this ‘Christian life rather in the slavery life’ I have lost my two precious sons and I buried them in the cemetery according to Christian custom. After this my life-long dearest and the most faithful wife died in 1920 A.D. leaving three sons behind in my charge. Ofcourse her funeral ceremony has been performed according to my own religion ‘the Buddhism’ because we have given up the Christianity a few months ago already.Footnote 67
During his Christian life and embracing a Christian world view and identity, Karma encountered significant challenges, particularly from the missionaries. His early years as a convert in Ghoom were marked by diligent attendance at all religious gatherings, a thorough mastery of the Gospel, and sincere efforts to integrate into the Christian community. Yet his disillusionment was so profound that he later characterized these times as a ‘life of slavery’. Given the complexities of his personal history, as discussed earlier, Karma’s account provides us with an incredibly rare first-hand perspective of a ‘native convert’. His narrative goes beyond the conversion moment to then detail the often-overlooked challenges of living within the missionary community, an experience known only to the convert. Family misfortunes and profound personal tragedies further devastated him during his life as a Christian, factors which presumably fuelled his decision to ultimately leave this faith. In a poignant footnote, he describes standing at the graves of his sons and bidding them farewell: ‘Goodbye dear, I am going back to Buddhism.’ He next directly addresses his readership thus: ‘So the readers can now understand what it meant for me at that time. This was the separation between us, father and sons, for eternity. I don’t know who is to blame for such kind treatments.’Footnote 68 These final words convey not only his personal sorrow, but also emphasize the painful complexity of his predicament: a father, returning to his Buddhist heritage, compelled to leave his children behind in a Christian cemetery.
However, even after reverting to Buddhism, he retained the surname ‘Paul’ and continued to serve as headmaster of the Ghoom Middle English School for three more years. He notes with pride that all Darjeeling-based middle schools fell under the jurisdiction of his institution, indicating that many government-sponsored schools in the area were also administered by missionary organizations.Footnote 69 Ultimately, in 1923, after 14 years of service, he was forced to resign from this school after being, as he writes, ‘wrongly accused’ by missionaries. He took great pride in his role in the school’s evolution from a primary to a middle school,Footnote 70 viewing it as a significant personal and professional achievement. Contemporary reports in Suomen Viikkolehti suggest that his departure resulted from an offer to teach at the first modern English-medium school for Tibetan children, to be opened by the Lhasa government in Gyantse as part of Tibet’s modernization efforts.Footnote 71 However, according to Mr Lhawang Dhondup la, Karma Sumdhon Paul’s great-grandson, that departure was less amicable. The former informed me that his grandfather had proposed expanding the Ghoom Middle English School into a Junior High School, an initiative the missionaries explicitly opposed, stating, ‘We are here only to preach and not to give the highest education.’Footnote 72
Living in the cosmopolitan environment of Darjeeling during the British Raj, it is difficult to imagine a life untouched by Western ideas, languages, customs, and religions. Indeed, within this unique crossroads of cultures and religion, K. S. Paul’s identity was formed. His story entails being a government interpreter for the British Raj, a headmaster at the mission school, a Christian convert and evangelist, a critical intellectual, and a pioneering educator, who ultimately returned to Buddhism. Here the complex, often contradictory, forces of colonialism, modernity, and cultural exchange defining the eastern Himalayan experience during the early twentieth century are reflected. Consequently, his career, religious beliefs, and education must be understood as a product of the modern cultural encounter with the West unfolding across in the eastern Himalayas from the late nineteenth century onwards. K. S. Paul’s was not an isolated case. The Leiden-based Johan van Manen collection contains another autobiography written by a Sino-Tibetan clerk called Trin Chen who worked for this Dutch general-secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Calcutta) as well. Trin Chen also taught Tibetan to Western missionaries in Darjeeling, served their missions, and documented his experiences. The existence of these parallel narratives underscores how their lives are part of a broader, yet often overlooked, history of local intermediaries who shaped and were shaped by their time periods.
The Tibetan Mission: A Chinese convert in Darjeeling teaching Tibetan
Beyond the SAM and its successor, the Finnish Mission (Ghoom), another significant Protestant society operating among Tibetans in the region was the Tibetan Mission in Darjeeling. According to Theo Sörenson, a member of Annie Taylor’s Tibetan Pioneer Mission, the SAM and the Tibetan Mission were the only two Christian missions actively working with Tibetans in the Darjeeling district. Sörenson also states that the Tibetan Mission was founded by three individuals in 1897.Footnote 73Details on this mission are scarce, yet its 1935 financial report states that it was founded on 1 November 1899 by two women: Miss Bella Fergusson and Miss Margaret Anderson.Footnote 74 Key figures associated with the mission between the 1910s and the 1920s include Jeanie Ferguson, Barbara Mayhew, J. Kelly, Annie Kelly, and E. Mary Menzies. Financial records from these years primarily focused on educational and evangelical work within the Darjeeling area: running a Sunday school, a lower primary day school, weekly children’s meetings, and regular preaching sessions held in the local marketplace.Footnote 75 These events were strategically aimed at educating Tibetan children and proselytizing Tibetan women. In 1914, the Tibetan Mission recruited Trin Chen to teach Tibetan at its school, which he referred to as the Tibetan Mission School. Born in Lhasa in 1893 (the Water Snake Year), he enjoyed a comfortable life until the 1911 Xinhai Revolution.Footnote 76 This upheaval triggered chaos across Lhasa, when looting of the Amban’s office by disgruntled Qing soldiers escalated into communal riots between Tibetans and Chinese.Footnote 77 In 1912, this violence resulted in the expulsion of Chinese from Tibet into British India, thus marking the definitive end of Manchu rule in Tibet.Footnote 78 Along with many of his countrymen, Trin Chen left for India. By 1914, his unique background had led to his employment teaching Tibetan at this mission’s school.Footnote 79
While living in colonial Darjeeling, Trin Chen quickly realized that surviving in British India required proficiency in English. Through his Chinese friend Liu Dechang (劉德昌), he found a tutor called Mr Kelly, a British missionary who spoke fluent Tibetan, according to Liu Dechang.Footnote 80 Financial reports from the Tibetan Mission confirm that Mr Kelly and his wife were active members here.Footnote 81 Mr Kelly provided basic English instruction to Trin Chen and Liu Dechang for one hour daily for over a year (see Figure 8).Footnote 82 Unfortunately, this endeavour was abruptly ended by the outbreak of the First World War, when Mr Kelly was called to serve in that conflict (see Figure 9).Footnote 83 Before departing for Europe, he helped secure Trin Chen a post teaching the Tibetan language to young boys attending the Tibetan Mission School.Footnote 84 He was employed to instruct Tibetan at this school between 10 am and 3 pm. This not only provided him with a livelihood but also allowed him to further develop his English skills through daily interaction with other missionaries. Instruction at this school was apparently conducted in three languages: Tibetan, English, and Hindustani.Footnote 85 Around the same time, the Chinese government offered to repatriate Chinese refugees living in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Calcutta.Footnote 86 Although many of his compatriots hailing from Himalayan border regions opted to depart for China by boat from Calcutta, Trin Chen stayed on. He later recalled this emotionally in his writing: ‘At that time, my brother-in-law also went to China with his newly married Sikkimese wife […] With great sorrow, I had to stay behind in Darjeeling, teaching young children’ (see Figure 10).Footnote 87
Trin Chen and his Chinese friend studying English with Mr Kelly in Darjeeling.
Trin Chen seeing off Mr and Mrs Kelly with their son at Ghoom railway station.
Trin Chen, dressed in a Western-style suit, teaching in the Tibetan Mission School in Darjeeling.
Resulting from these ongoing interactions with missionaries, Trin Chen gradually adopted Western attire, dedicated himself to English-language study, and familiarized himself with Christian teachings. However, this cultural exchange was far from one-sided. Records dated 1917 highlight his active role in the mission’s activities, noting that ‘the day school teacher, a Chinese Tibetan from Lhasa, takes a deep interest in this work and also gives the Bible Lesson to the children in the Day School’.Footnote 88 Nyema Tendzin and Trin Chen (referred to in mission documents as ‘Trin tsen Tru’, a transcription of his Chinese name Chen Cunzhi) were recognized as ‘native helpers’ who assisted missionaries in ‘Bazaar Hall Preaching work’ every Sunday.Footnote 89 Trin Chen’s fluency in Tibetan also created opportunities for the missionaries. His linguistic skills not only facilitated a deeper engagement with local communities but also enhanced the mission’s outreach efforts. During this time, he also connected with an American missionary, Mr Shefflar,Footnote 90 who provided him with a small room in his house in exchange for Tibetan lessons, while Trin Chen received English-language tuition. Reflecting on this arrangement in his Tibetan writings, Trin Chen noted: Footnote 91
{At first, I felt very sorry. I have a big family, and my parent left me property, houses, and money for me. If I had not lost everything, I could have supported myself for life. I am a luckless and unfortunate man, 236–237}Footnote 92 Then one day, I had the opportunity to teach Tibetan to an American sahib named Shefflar. He was around sixty years old and needed an assistant to teach written and colloquial Tibetan. I began teaching him every day. Then he told me I should move into his house and offered me a small room {also learn English from me, 237}. Each day I taught him Tibetan, and he spoke to me in English that improved my comprehension.Footnote 93 {That old American gentlemen was a missionary preaching Christianity to Tibetans, 237}Footnote 94 During that time, I would get up five in the morning and read English textbooks until seven. My {first, 237}Footnote 95 English-language tutor [Mr. Kelly] in Darjeeling was also a Christian missionary assigned to preach among Tibetans. He gave English lessons to both me and my friend Liu Dechang 劉德昌]. But, on Sundays, we were required to attend Christian services, and both of us went to church and listened to all the sermons. The sahib’s Tibetan was not that good, so we did not understand everything completely. Having never encountered Christianity before, we began to comprehend it only slightly after the sahib told us many Christian stories. On Wednesday evenings, we were taken to an elderly Christian sister named Miss [Jeanie] Fergusson for Bible lessons.Footnote 96
For Trin Chen, learning English and attending Sunday church services became an integral part of his weekly routine. Over time, he gradually acquired a greater understanding of both the English language and the tenets of his new faith. However, for the missionaries, achieving mastery of both literary and colloquial Tibetan presented a significant practical challenge. Although they studied this language and delivered sermons in Tibetan, Trin Chen noted he still had difficulty in grasping their words. He also observed that Christian texts translated into Chinese and Tibetan often sounded too artificial:
Then, every Sunday we attended Christian teachings and after a while, we began to understand a little. Then I bought two translations of Christian texts into Chinese and Tibetan, and began to read a little every day […] the texts emphasize the importance of following God’s teachings, including prohibitions against killing, stealing, lying, committing adultery […] mirroring closely the principles outlined in the Ten Non-Virtuous Acts (mi dge ba bcu) in Buddhism […] Christian texts have been translated into multiple languages, such as Chinese and Tibetan, yet they lack the poetic quality (snyan po) and inherent capacity to awaken faith and blessings.Footnote 97
Christian literature translated into Tibetan by these fledgling Protestant missions now flourished. Much of it, however, as Trin Chen observed, remained stiff and unnatural, and lacked the poetic quality of Buddhist texts.Footnote 98 P. Klafkowski mentioned that Tibetan translations of the Bible improved over time, so that twentieth-century translations sounded more natural to Tibetans. A lack of both recruitment and enthusiasm, as observed among the Tibetan-speaking Buddhist population, probably formed the key challenges the missionaries faced here. For instance, Trin Chen’s engagement with the missionaries and his regular attendance at Christian prayer services was met with criticism from Tibetans. He soon became the subject of social mockery as they started making fun of his association with the missionaries and his newfound faith:
Ever since we began attending church, Tibetans have started saying: ‘You should not listen to Christian teachings, listening to Christian prayers will yield negative karma (sdig pa). Christianity is the religion of outsiders (phyi pa’i chos).’
[… W]e must acquaint ourselves with unfamiliar customs, traditions, and religions, especially, if one wishes to learn the language of a new country. Understanding that nation’s religion and everyday affairs is imperative […] Besides, I thought, if you want to learn the spoken language of a new country, you must also learn its religion and customs.Footnote 99
Most Tibetan Buddhists in this region upheld a strict religious difference between ‘the insiders, i.e. the Buddhists (nang pa)’ and ‘the outsiders, i.e. the non-Buddhists (phyi pa)’, leading to strong opposition towards the evangelizing efforts of the missionaries.Footnote 100 However, for intermediaries such as Trin Chen and Karma Sumdhon Paul, these normative religious identities were not necessarily fixed, but rather fluid. Their religious beliefs and lived experience differed drastically when compared with their contemporaries. Both acknowledged the importance of English education and familiarity with Western ways of life, including Christianity, in making sense of their existence within British India. Unlike K. S. Paul, however, Trin Chen never explicitly gives a reason for his conversion nor did he identify a certain moment in his autobiography when he began to self-identify as a Christian. He professed his new faith only when discussing how K. S. Paul taught him the English language:
At the time, the Ghoom Mission run by Christian sisters established a mission school in Ghoom. I came to know about a teacher named Babu Karma [Sumdhon Paul] La and his assistant Tharchin [Babu] La. I went down to see them in Ghoom. Babu Karma had a Tibetan wife from Tibet and three boys. I requested him to teach me some English {hard words, p. 247} and he was kind enough to agree and taught me three or four times a month. During that time, he was a Christian; I, too, was following Christianity when I was in Darjeeling.Footnote 101
Trin Chen’s contact and interaction with Tibetan converts such as K. S. Paul not only facilitated his language learning opportunities, but also provided him with a supportive community, a sense of belonging, and place in which to explore his newfound faith and existence in exile.Footnote 102 In this way, Trin Chen continued to teach Tibetan at the Tibetan Mission in Darjeeling until at least 1918. He later moved to Calcutta, where he joined Johan van Manen as an assistant alongside K. S. Paul and Phüntsok Lungtok.Footnote 103 Scholars researching religious conversion (such as Andrew Buckser, Stephen Glazier) have observed that a fundamental motif for conversion comprises ‘a quest to be at home’ whenever life feels ‘turbulent’, ‘constraining’, or ‘wanting in value’.Footnote 104 This search presumably drove both Trin Chen, exiled after losing everything, and K. S. Paul, who was dismissed from his government post and left without any prospects despite his British education. For Trin Chen, his conversion can be comprehended as a ‘quest to be at home’ in exile; a practical and spiritual response to his new reality, driven by the understanding that, in a British colony, learning about Christianity and English was just as relevant as learning about Buddhism and the Tibetan language in Lhasa, Tibet. Contrary to K. S. Paul and Trin Chen, Johan van Manen’s Tibetan tutor Phüntsok Lungtok showed little interest in either Westernizing or learning about Christianity while he was employed by missionaries (1908–1909). His autobiographical writings provide us with an insight into his experience as a Tibetan-language teacher at the Scottish Mission in Kalimpong, while detailing not only the missionaries’ attempts to convert him but also his personal response.
On the verge of baptism: Phüntsok Lungtok and the Church of Scotland mission
Not far from Darjeeling lies the town of Kalimpong, once a gateway to Central Tibet. Originally part of Bhutan, it was ceded to the British in 1865.Footnote 105 Over the years, facilitated by the British Raj and the Scottish Mission, Kalimpong not only evolved into a trading town but also became home to modern Western educational institutions, such as Dr Graham’s Homes and the Scottish University Mission Institute.Footnote 106 The Scottish Mission played a pivotal role in promoting both education and evangelism in the region. According to J. A. Graham, as of 1905, the Church of Scotland’s presence throughout the eastern Himalayas included ‘9 male European missionaries (6 of them are married); 9 European lady missionaries; seven ordained native ministers; 20 catechists; 122 teachers; 106 schools; 3760 native Christians; 3232 scholars’.Footnote 107 Despite this extensive network, as noted earlier, very few Tibetans were either employed by missions or sent their children to missionary-run schools during the early twentieth century. It is reported that, in 1914, all 57 students enrolled at Kalimpong’s only high school were Christian, and among them only five were of Tibetan origin.Footnote 108 However, Tibetan Christians such as Tharchin Babu attended the Scottish University Mission Institute in Kalimpong during the 1920s. With support from the Rev. J. A. Graham, he later established the pioneering Tibetan-language newspaper Yul phyogs so’i gsar ‘gyur me long (Tibet Mirror), which he supervised at Kalimpong between 1925 and 1963.Footnote 109 The most significant early link between the Kalimpong-based Scottish Mission and the Tibetans are apparently Evan Mackenzie and Elizabeth Mackenzie (see Figure 11). When, frustrated about the low number of converts and unable to gain access to Lhasa, the Tibetan Pioneer Mission Band left the Himalayas in order to work among Tibetan communities in Gansu, along the Chinese frontier, two of its members chose to remain in Kalimpong. They subsequently joined the Scottish Mission with the explicit aim of working among Tibetans and Bhutanese:Footnote 110
The members of the Tibetan Pioneer Mission Band, organised by Annie R. Taylor, and later on under the leadership of Cecil Polhill Turner, spent a year or more at Kalimpong. They afterwards proceeded to the Chinese frontier to work among the large number of Tibetans who there lived outside Tibet. But two of the band, Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie, joined themselves to the Mission at Kalimpong, and now a worthy effort is made by the Church of Scotland to reach the Tibetans and Bhutanese, and so to directly influence those two closed lands.
‘With best of seasons wishes from the Mackenzies, Kalimpong’, circa 1910. The five children are identified as Christina Elizabeth (b. 1893), Helen Watson (b. 1896), Roderick John (b. 1900), Evangeline Ann (b. 1902), and Evan James (b. 1904). The boy seated next to Elizabeth Mackenzie could be Roderick John, to whom Phüntsok Lungtok taught Tibetan.
The challenges that led to the departure of the Tibetan Pioneer Mission Band created an opportunity for the Scottish Mission. Evan Mackenzie, fluent in Tibetan, having contributed to translating the New Testament into Lhasa Tibetan, took up the task of preaching to Tibetans and Bhutanese residing in and around Kalimpong. Here he met Phüntsok Lungtok, a literate Tibetan educated at Lhasa’s renowned Potala School (rtse slob grwa). Originally from Nyemo (Snye mo) in Central Tibet, this professional scribe later joined the Ganden Monastery and Tashilhunpo Monastery before eventually travelling southwards. Having little difficulty in finding work in Kalimpong, he was approached by both Buddhist and Christian patrons. Initially employed as a scribe by Rai Bahadur Lama Ugyen Gyatso (O rgyan rgya mtsho, 1851–1915) for a year-and-a- half,Footnote 111 he was later recruited by Evan Mackenzie (Church of Scotland Mission). Phüntsok Lungtok documented this experience in ‘My Work as a Teacher at the Tibetan Religious School as per the Order of Mr. Graham and Mr. Mackenzie’:
At that time, in Kalimpong, there were the head of the mission school, Mr. Mackenzie Sahib, and the superior, Mr. Graham Sahib. The one called Mr. Mackenzie Sahib knew Tibetan well. One day, he called me to him and said, ‘You seem to have a good knowledge of Tibetan and other [subjects]. Will you work for me?’ he asked. I replied, ‘I can do the work, but what wage will you give me?’ He said, ‘A wage of 15 rupees per month can be arranged. Furthermore, I can assist you in obtaining a higher wage in the future.’ Relying on this [promise], I began the work.Footnote 112
Phüntsok Lungtok then served as a language teacher at the Scottish Mission for over two years.Footnote 113 Beyond this role he also assumed various church responsibilities: preaching in Tibetan and propagating Jesus Christ’s teachings among local communities.
Every morning at nine o’clock, I would go to Mr. Mackenzie’s house [see Figures 12 and 13] and teach the Sahib for one hour. Then, at ten o’clock, I would go to Graham Sahib’s house, where I taught Tibetan to Topgay (Stobs rgyas), the son of Bhutanese Kazi Ugyen Dorji; Dawa (Zla ba) and Namgyal (Rnam rgyal), the sons of Kumar Sahib; a girl named Choedren (Chos sgron); and Mackenzie’s own son, Roderick (Ro kris). My responsibility was to instruct them in Tibetan reading and writing. Later, in a schoolhouse located below Mr. Mackenzie’s residence, I also taught fifteen Chinese and Tibetan boys.Footnote 114
The Mackenzie Cottage in Kalimpong (front view). The Tibetan text reads ‘Mackenzie Kangsar’ (khang gsar), meaning ‘new house’.
Mackenzie Cottage, Kalimpong (side view).
Phüntsok Lungtok tutored two distinct groups of students: elite children, including the sons of Mackenzie and the Bhutanese official Kazi Ugyen Dorji (1855–1916), and a separate class for students born into ordinary Chinese and Tibetan families. At this mission, his duties extended beyond teaching Tibetan literacy to young children and European missionaries. He prepared a Tibetan primer for teachers, copied hundreds of Gospels, scripture portions, and hymns for distribution, and even authored a brief history of India in Tibetan for the Scottish Mission, a text I have not yet located.Footnote 115 Phüntsok Lungtok demonstrated little interest in learning English or studying Christianity. His two years (1908–1909) spent working at this mission essentially comprised a service provided in exchange for payment:
I consider Christianity a good religion. Each morning around eight or nine, I accompany Mr. and Mrs. Evan Mackenzie, their children, and their servants in reading Christian prayers. On Sunday evenings, I helped with magic lantern shows and sermons on the school campus. As part of these evening duties, around seven or eight, I would accompany a servant boy to the Tibetan residential area. Carrying a flashlight and ringing a large bell, we would announce the event. Upon hearing the bell, Tibetan residents would gather for the show. The presentation began with images of Tibetan and Sikkimese landscapes, followed by depictions of the birth of Christ and other Christian narratives. Finally, after the hymns were sung and pamphlets were distributed, prayers were offered. The event would conclude with singing, prayers, and the distribution of prayer leaflets. It is worth noting that some Tibetans, perhaps unfamiliar with the content, would accept the leaflets and remark, ‘Thank you, Sahib, this will be useful as toilet paper,’ before taking them home.Footnote 116 Additionally, on Saturdays, I assisted Mr. Mackenzie as he preached in the market using a gramophone, delivering teachings in Tibetan on the significance of religion.Footnote 117
If Phüntsok Lungtok had been converted, this would have established a major breakthrough for the Scottish Mission. However, he seemed more interested in merely teaching Tibetan at the mission school. This perspective of transactional exchange was crucial as it allowed him to maintain a clear distinction between his own Buddhist faith and the foreign religion. Moreover, although he taught Tibetan to missionaries, preached the Christian doctrine, and made outreach efforts among his own people, his personal commitment to Buddhism never wavered. In his view, taking refuge in another faith would have meant renouncing his Buddhist vows and ‘turning outward’ (phyi pa), while relying on an external source of salvation. This stance diametrically opposes the very meaning of nang pa, which calls for turning the gaze inward in pursuit of awakening. When faced with the prospect of baptism, despite persistent pressure, he remained unwilling to renounce his Buddhist identity. Then came the decisive moment: one evening after work, Mr Mackenzie instructed him to attend church that Sunday in order to be baptized. Phüntsok Lungtok describes this encounter: ‘I simply said “yes,” because I received my wages from him. But in my heart, I knew I could never forsake my faith to accept Christianity and undergo baptism. I would rather lose my job.’Footnote 118 Yet, in that moment, standing before his employer, he outwardly agreed.
That Sunday, instead of receiving baptism (khrus srol) at the church (Nepali. girjā), I went to a local chang (beer) place, drank three four jugs of pipe chang (millet beer) and sat there singing songs. In the evening, around seven, I went to Mr. Mackenzie’s residence and told him, ‘Sahib, I don’t want your religion, and I won’t teach at your school anymore. Christ is no better than shit.’ I went on, adding other harsh words. The Sahib’s initial response was shocked, muttering, ‘What! What!’—then turned away, retreated into his room, and gave no response at all.Footnote 119
The next morning, Phüntsok Lungtok arrived to teach as usual, but Mr Mackenzie remained visibly shaken by the previous night’s confrontation. When Phüntsok Lungtok offered his greeting, Mr Mackenzie was seated among a group of children and did not respond. Instead, he quietly dismissed the class, announcing that the school would be closed for the day. Covering his eyes emitting a deep sigh, he spoke with sadness: ‘Oh … what have you done yesterday?’.Footnote 120 Struck by guilt, Phüntsok Lungtok explained how he had met a friend on the way who took him to a chang khang (a local tavern), where they had consumed drinks together. ‘Forgive me, sir,’ he pleaded. Mr Mackenzie then said:
Last night I could not sleep because of you. There was another sahib in my house, and we believe the Devil has tempted you. You must confess before Christ (ye shu la mthol bshags) and pray to Him for forgiveness. However, you will not be able to receive baptism for two or three months. This baptism represents the blood of Jesus. Until you receive this baptism of blood, you must remain in your sinful state.Footnote 121
Mr Mackenzie then knelt, covering his eyes in a gesture of reverence, and began to pray:
Oh Lord, my friend here has encountered a devil and was thus unable to be baptized in Your blood yesterday. Please, Lord, help him overcome this evil influence. I pray all this in the name of Christ. Amen.Footnote 122
His baptism pending, Phüntsok Lungtok was nonetheless allowed to continue his work.
Concluding remarks
The production of Western knowledge about Tibet by missionaries, colonial scholars, and travellers was greatly facilitated by means of local intermediaries. Nonetheless, the lives and perspectives of these local intermediaries have long remained missing from the account of Tibet’s encounter with the West. The autobiographies of K. S. Paul, Trin Chen, and Phüntsok Lungtok present us with a rare glimpse of the educated, albeit non-elite, Tibetans and Chinese who not only acted as mission teachers, local intermediaries, assistants, and interpreters, but also forged a unique modern identity by means of Westernizing, learning English, converting to Christianity, and earning a living during an era of immense transition in the Himalayas. As Sanjay Subramanyam mentions in his book Courtly Encounters, ‘Societies do not encounter each other in their entirety; rather, they do so as fractions or even—in extreme cases—embodied in individuals.’Footnote 123
While most Tibetan Buddhist communities in this region resisted missionary outreach and conversion, K. S. Paul, Trin Chen, and Phüntsok Lungtok actively assisted Western protagonists by teaching Tibetan, working in mission schools, promoting Christianity, and translating religious tracts. This article aimed to reconstruct the lives of these three men and to redirect our attention to their reports on encounters with Westerners during a time when transnational missionaries reached the Himalayas with the gospel of modern education, science, medicine, printing, schools, and an interest in Lhasa Tibetan. These language exchanges and educational opportunities that led K. S. Paul and Trin Chen to engage with Westerners in the form of teaching Tibetan and taking English lessons from them were unheard of during preceding centuries. In Ladakh, the pioneer of Tibetan studies Sándor Csoma de Kőrös (1784–1842) learnt Tibetan thanks to local Buddhist monks such as Sangyé Phüntsok (Sangs rgyas phun tshogs).Footnote 124 Indeed, no records exist of these local teachers learning English from Westerners in exchange for teaching Tibetan or, for that matter, writing in English. While we may never know precisely how many locals were converted, the first-hand accounts of these three men, at least, reveal to us how they were approached and, in a certain way, pressured into proselytizing. John Bray, who has researched Christian missions in the Himalayas, notes ‘research on the various Tibetan missions is still at an early stage’.Footnote 125 There is still much to explore in terms of the history of modern missions within Tibetan and Himalayan histories. Compared to our knowledge and understanding of modern Tibetan history from the 1950s on, the closing decades of nineteenth century and early twentieth century remain relatively understudied. Whereas Tibet itself remained closed to foreigners and their missions, towns bordering Tibet (Darjeeling and Kalimpong) became sites of cultural encounters between Tibetans and Europeans, between Buddhists and Christians, and between the English and Tibetan languages. The intersection of dissimilar cultures, religions, and nationalities in the Himalayas highlights a more connected global history rather than isolated Tibetan or Himalayan histories.
Acknowledgements
The first draft of this article was presented during the conference ‘When the Himalayas Encounter the Alps: The Past, Present and Future of Asia-Europe Buddhist and Other Religious Exchanges’, organized by Glorisun and held at the University of Cambridge in August 2024. I wish to thank Berthe Jansen for her suggestions and feedback. I am also indebted to Nils Martin and Samten Yeshi for their helpful comments and to Olli Littunen for providing me with translations of the Finnish-language documents presented in this article. My sincere thanks to Peter Richardus for proofreading this article.
Funding statement
The research for this article was funded by the European Union (ERC Starting Grant project VAN MANEN: Locating Literature, Lived Religion, and Lives in the Himalayas, project number 101078494, based at Leiden University). The views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor can the granting authority be held responsible for them.
Competing interests
The author declares none.
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