Christianity in Maharashtra

Pantaneus visited India in about AD 180, and there he found a Gospel of Matthew written in the Hebrew language, left with the Christians there by Barthlomew.

The French Dominican friar Jordanus Catalani of Severac (in south-western France) started evangelizing activities in Thana and Sopara and was the first work of Rome in North Konkan.

[4] When Dominican and Franciscan missionaries arrived in the 1300s with the intention of preaching the Gospel, they were surprised to find a small Christian community already in existence.

Protestant missionaries first arrived in Maharashtra from England and the United States in 1813 after the passing of the Charter Act 1813 by the British parliament.

East Indians, also known as Mobaikars,[5] are an ethno-religious group native to the Seven Islands of Bombay and Mumbai metropolitan area in the northern Konkan Division.

The influence of the Portuguese Bombay and Bassein era can be seen in their religion and names, but their language has dominated by Marathi since the Mahratta Confederacy seized control of Konkan in 1739 AD.

[9] Sporadic settlements of Ghata Voylem Kristanv (Konkani for "Christians from above the Ghats") are also found in the uplands of Kolhapur, Belgaum, North Canara & Dharwad districts.

[16] The main center of Protestant activity in the Maharashtra region during British colonial rule was in Ahmadnagar district.

In Maharashtra, the great Marathi poet Narayan Wamanrao Tilak realised that a Hindu–Christian synthesis was simply not possible, unless the Christian religion had deep roots in the Indian culture.