ABSTRACT
The India of the nineteenth century was vast enough to be called the sub-continent, encompassing what later became India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and, from 1886 to 1937, Burma. The Wesleyan Mission in Asia began in Ceylon, the largest island of the Indian Ocean. By 1900 Wesleyan missionaries were working in Tamil, Kannada and Telugu-speaking areas, though most of their educational work was done in English. In any history of India in the colonial era, the most significant nineteenth century date is 1857-58, when sepoys Indian soldiers in the British army mutinied. Among many causes of rancour among both Hindus and Muslims was the mistaken view that the East India Company was masterminding mass conversion to Christianity. It was only after the rebellion, with the British public now far more aware of India and its army of occupation, that Methodism returned to the north India, with appointments made for the spiritual benefit of the Methodist soldiers in Karachi and Barrackpur.
