The Missionary and the Maharajas: Cecil Tyndale-Biscoe and the Making of Modern Kashmir

Description

As a missionary in Kashmir, India, in the early 20th century, Cecil Tyndale-Biscoe polarised opinion through his unconventional educational methods and his attempt to change the social order of a society steeped in old traditions. He was a man of contradictions: a Christian and a boxer, a missionary who made very few converts, a staunch supporter of British imperialism and a friend of Kashmir's political reformers. Aged 27 when he became the Principal of the Church Missionary Society's school in Kashmir, his vision was of a school in action, vigorously involved in the affairs and problems of the city of Srinagar. He made many enemies in the Hindu establishment, but earned the respect of two successive Hindu Maharajas and the Muslim leader who replaced them. Offering an insight into the history and religion of Kashmir, this book describes Tyndale-Biscoe's unusual approach to education and explores the many challenges he had to overcome in his work as a missionary in the early 20th century.

Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe, grandson of Cecil Tyndale-Biscoe, was born in Kashmir, India, where he attended the school run by his parents. A marsupial biologist best known for his book Life of Marsupials, he served as Chief Research Scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisations Division of Wildlife Research and lectured at the Australian National University in Canberra. In 2018 he was made a member of the Order of Australia.

This book represents personal history at its best ... offers a clarion call and personal testimony that is challenging. * Anglican and Episcopal History * This is a marvellous book written by a gifted and entertaining author, grandson of the remarkable Canon Cecil Biscoe, covering a significant period of history where the subject's involvement in Kashmir resonates to this day, not just in fascinating biographical material, but also in the Kashmiri conflict and geopolitical dilemmas expressed as recently as a few weeks ago when Pakistan downed an Indian jet fighter over the disputed border, a legacy of the powerful, eccentric, and culturally embedded British India vividly evoked in Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe's writing. * Roger MacDonald, author of When Colts Ran (2010), The Ballad of Desmond Kale (2006), and Mr Darwin's Shooter (1998) * An absorbing, balanced and informative record of unrelenting imperial proselytism, personal moral certitude and ineradicable, uncompromising courage in an outpost of the British Empire. * Professor J.A. Mangan, author of The Games Ethic and Imperialism * This is an engaging narrative of missionary work in Kashmir, based on diaries, correspondence and school records. The text is crammed with much fascinating incidental detail. * Francis Robinson, Professor of the History of South Asia, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK *