ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the history of Hindi as a political tool in independent India. It identifies two types of Hindi Christian literature, draws a map of Hindi Christian literature, and adds political texture to this cartograph. To do this, the chapter first traces the development of Hindi Christian literature using mission history. It then sheds light on the politics of Christian uses of Hindi in modern India. This chapter compares translation choices of foreign missionaries to that of Indian Christian authors in Hindi, explores Hindi Christian claims on discipleship, examines public portrayals of Christianity, and discusses the Indianness of Indian Christianity in terms of its Hindi-ness. This chapter explains the central goal of Hindi Christian literature: to present Christianity as Indian and domestic as rooted in idiomatic Hindi.
