ABSTRACT
Central to Padmanji’s interaction with reformers and religious leaders was his pioneering use of print. This chapter discusses what is probably Padmanji’s most important contribution to Marathi letters, the specific development of a peculiar genre referred as the Christian vernacular genre. This genre is characterised by a combination of fiction, dialogues, didactics, and polemics, all of which are merged to make a powerful intervention in the social and religious debates of the second half of the 19th century. The chapter describes the two genealogically interlinked texts- Strividyabhyasnibandha, on the importance of women’s education, and Vyabhicharnishedhak Bodh, on the eradication of immorality. According to Padmanji, there are two varieties of atheists. The first are internal atheists, whom he likens to tuberculosis patients: they look unhealthily shiny on the outside but are eaten away by disease inside. The second are like patients of herpes, whose disease and religious bankruptcy are evident from the outside.
